What happened at the Austin Triathlon?

The Swim: The swim was 1500 meters in Lady Bird Lake. The water was pretty warm so it was a non-wetsuit swim but I didn’t wear a speedsuit. I got into a decent rhythm and swam a 23:49 which wasn’t a bad swim for me. I believe I was the 15th man out of the water. Balzas, the Hungarian pro who will also be racing in Kona swam a blazing 18:50 while James Bonney swama 19:17.

The Bike: I was a whole 5 minutes back on the top swimmer so I had a lot of ground to make up. The bike was a total of 40k which consisted of 3 laps. Each lap had a handful of turns with a few 180 degree turns. There were a few hills but nothing too challenging. It was pretty windy out on the course with a few good gusts. I made up a lot of time on the bike and clocked the 2nd fastest time of the day riding a 56:21 which I was happy about without having a disc wheel. I didn’t feel super sharp on the bike because I raced IM Canada the week before. Bonney had the fastest bike split of 56:00.

The Run: James Bonney was the first guy out on the run and was lead with a lead bicycle on the course. Balzas was 2nd and I was 3rd. I started rolling to try to make up some ground. I got to an intersection and then a spectator said that the course runs this way. I continued on the two loop course. I ended up seeing James Bonney and I thought in my head “ hmmm I caught him rather quick, I thought he had a bigger lead” Well when I passed him the lead cyclist was taking me. I started my 2nd loop and came back to that same intersection as the lead cyclist took me around this loop. I realized I had missed it the first time so I ended up running it twice (entered the exact same spot where I missed it the first time) to make up for the first time I missed it. Doing that little loop twice I found myself behind James Bonney again. I got to about 1k left of the course and my friend Steve White said “You’re 26 seconds behind.” I could see him ahead. All we had left was an out and back on the bridge so I motored my way to try to catch him. Then with about 150-200 meters to go I caught him and flew by to beat him 5-6 seconds. My total time was a 1:56:09 and I clocked a 33:00 10k run. James Bonney finished 5 seconds behind me in 1:56:14.

Then I found out that Balzas (who would have most likely won it), myself who finished 2nd, Peter Mallet who finished 4th and another guy who finished 5th all got disqualified because we ran off course. Myself, Peter and the 5th place guy all ran two laps the second loop around to make up for the missed section the first time. Therefore, we all ran the same distance (10k) as everyone else and did not have an advantage at all. Balzas was really directed off course multiple times. Because 1st, 2nd, 4th and 5th were disqualified James Bonney became the Champion of the Austin Triathlon.

The reason why the 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th guys off the bike missed the turn the first time. #1. I was told a sign blew down. #2. I was told that the chalk on the grass blew away. #3. There was not any volunteers that section as myself and 3 other guys missed the turn. Roughly 5 minutes went by and then after they started realizing everyone was missing the turn they put a volunteer there. Peter and I both looked at the run course online before the race too and I knew the course had about 10 turns per lap. With spectators guiding us the wrong way and a course that was not marked properly, no wonder why the 2nd-5th guys out of transition 2 missed it. Now why didn’t James Bonney miss the turn and get mixed up on the course as well? He was first off the bike and had a lead bike guide him through the course.

Overall I was pleased with my performance to bounce back from IM Canada and finish 2nd overall. Unfortunately the top 4 out of 5 guys had to be disqualified at the Austin Triathlon.

Lots of 1st for Ironman Canada.

-First time in Penticton and racing IM Canada.
-First time I change my tubular flat tire.
-First time I broke the 3 hour barrier in an Ironman marathon
-First time I broke 9 hours in an Ironman.
-First time I didn’t get "chicked" (beaten by a girl)in an Ironman…and she broke the 20 year old course record today.


The Swim:
Swam the first 1k with a handful of people. You were suppose to keep the buoys to your right and they were swimming inside where the buoys were on their left. I decided to swim it the right way because I didn’t want to get DQ for any reason. Then I swam the rest of the swim by myself. The water temp was 71.6 so I used my full Xterra Wetsuit and finished the swim in 1:04 which was a PR.

The Bike:
I felt strong on the bike and was picking up guys right and left. Especially on the climbs I was catching them like flies. I have to thank the Colorado Rockies for providing me thousands of feet of climbing. Then at mile 80 I got a flat. A race support motor cycle drove by and slowed down and I yelling. “I have a flat, I need help please!” They just sped up and kept driving. I thought that there might be some race support at this intersection a little ways up the road as my front tire was getting close to completely flat. I couldn’t get going cause I was on a hill and was in bike gears as I almost fell off my bike trying to do so. I got off my bike and put it in an easier gear and then made it up the hill to the intersection were I thought race support was. There were about 50 plus people there and they said that it was just a few hundred feet further. NOPE! No race support. I jumped off my bike, took my front tire off and started peeling the tire off. It took me a little bit of time to feel it off because the tire was on there pretty good with glue. I grabbed my spare and tried putting it on. It was sooo tight! Did I pre stretch it? Yes, I did. However I have traveled around with it so much and it has been in my 150+ degree explorer that my spare tire had shrunk a little. I muscled and muscled as I FINALLY got it on. Put some air in it and off I go again. Then about 2-3 minutes later I realized it was rubbing on my brake. I stopped and re adjusted my brakes. Kept riding for another mile and realized it was still rubbing. I stopped again and loosen my brakes. Then I kept riding for another few miles and noticed shards of rubber on my leg. The wheel was rubbing on my fork! I stopped and re-adjusted it so it wasn’t rubbing. (I found out later that there was a chuck of medal in the fork where you put the skewer causing the wheel to rub on the fork) Finally I was on my way and by this time I had probably lost a total of 15 minutes with all of the stops and changing the flat. I was on my was to a low to mid 4:40’s bike split which would have been one of the fastest of the day. I ended up riding a 4:56 instead.

The Run:
By this point it was in the low to mid 90’s. I just got in a rhythm and was clipping some fast miles. The was flat on some sections to rolly with a few challenging hills close to the turn around. I got to the half way mark and it was a 1:25 split. On the way back I closed in a 1:28 and finished up with a 2:54 marathon and the second fastest of the day in my regular training shoes.

The Finish: I finished in 8:59…just enough to break that 9 hour barrier! :) As usual, I finished with a Blazeman roll in memory of my mother and other who have and had battled with ALS. I finished 7th overall. I was really hoping for a top 5 finish. Without the tire incident, I most likely would have finished 4th or 5th. Regardless I am blessed that I was able to fix my tire and end the day on a decent note.

I have had an amazing homestay here in Penticton, BC. I LOVE the area: climate is great, training here is great, community is great and it’s beautiful here! If you ever get the chance to come, do it!

I am about 99% confident that I will be racing in Ironman world championships now :) I'll let everyone know as soon as I find out. It works on a point base system now and they only accept the top 50 in the world.

Ironman Texas Race Report

The swim was about 79 degrees so I used my Xterra speedsuit. The gun went off and I tried to stay on the tail of some women but it was difficult for me to draft. The water was very murky. I swam the whole way by myself. I felt pretty relaxed while swimming. I was hoping to swim a 1:02-1:04 but came out of the water in about 1:07 flat. The great thing is that I didn’t feel exhausted and I was ready for the bike. This was my longest swim since IM Arizona. What I learned about the swim was that I need to do more open water swims that are just long. The good thing is that it was still a personal best time for me swimming 2.4 miles.

Onto the bike I quickly caught a handful of the pro women and a few age groupers. From mile 10-80 I think I might have only passed/saw a handful of riders, if that. It was quite lonely. It felt more like a training ride for me with some great scenery. Leading up to this race I had been sick all week coughing up yellow flem which I was still doing on the bike. I also had a dull headache the whole race. My new Blue Triad SL felt great but I still didn’t feel 100% dialed into position. I got to about mile 50 and my back, shoulders, and neck was tight/sore. I moved into a more forward position and felt a little better. What I learned on the bike was that I needed to do more long rides. My last long ride over 60 miles outside was two months ago back in March. In April I raced every weekend which made it difficult to get a long ride in. What I need to do is to write out my training plans on paper. Regardless of what I need to do for future Ironmans, I still had over a 5 minute personal best time on the bike riding a 4:44 for 112 miles. Thanks Blue Bicycles!

On to the run I felt pretty good minus still having my dull headache. I averaged 6:18 pace for the first 4.5 miles and it felt easy. Then gradually I started to slow down due to getting dehydrated. I was on pace to run just under 3 hours and then at mile 20 I got so dehydrated that I felt my external oblique that I tore back in college. I ran jogged for a mile and a half pushing on my oblique to try to subside the pain. It was about 90 degrees sunny and super humid. I got to the aid station and drank 6 cups of Powerbar Perform (like Gatorade) and water to try to rehydrate which helped me run the last of the marathon on fumes in a time of 3:07.

I finished 14th overall in the pro field. A total time of 9:03 which put me in a nice sandwich of Luke McKenize ahead of me and Michael Lovato behind me. Those guys also had a difficult day at the office. I was the 4th American overall. At the finishline I did the Blazeman roll in memory of my mother and all others who had ALS. The day before the Ironman would have been my mother's 60th b-day. I learned a lot of valuable lessons about training doing this ironman which I will certainly use to my advantage for my next Ironman in two month, Ironman Lake Placid. Regardless of not having the best day I still managed to have a personal best time by 5 minutes. I was the youngest finisher out of the top 40 finishers.

I want to personally thank all of the people out on course cheering for me, especially all of the T3 member and the Tri4Him members. It really helps! I am blessed that I am able to use God’s given gifts/talent and race for him in return :) Thank you everyone who posted on my facebook wall wishing me good luck and congratulating me. Thank you Lisa from Performance Wellness for giving me some great massages :) Body felt great going into the race! Congrats to all Ironman athletes who raced yesterday! :) Thanks Extreme Endurance for leaving me with minimum soreness and helping me recover so fast. I’m about to hop on the bike for a little bike to spin out my legs :)

Results

Pumpkinman Sprint Triathlon

I certainly had a rememorable race at the Pumpkinman Triathlon! The Wednesday before the race I had flown back from Scotland. I was feeling the jet leg since I was up for 22 hours of traveling. The next day I was thinking I could get some sleep but my sister was due with her first baby. Therefore, I was up for another 22 hours! I felt a little sleep deprived going into the race. It certainly was nice to be able to sleep and stay at my sister's house the night before the race. She only lives about 6 miles away from the race venue so I got to the race by hitch-hiking...wait I cycled. Yes, I cycled with Peter Mallet. Wait! Pete forgot his shoes so he had to cycle back to my sister's place to get his shoes. That's Peter Mallet for you! haha

The morning was a brisk ride but when the sun started coming up it quickly warmed up. I made my way down to the lake as I was thankful to wear my wetsuit. It was 9/11 so there was a moment of silence for everyone who lost thier life 9 years ago. Shortly after the cannon went off and all of the elite's took off. Thankfully this was only a 1/3rd mile swim because i haven't been swimming much at all lately. I got out of the swim in arounf 8:27. A solid 2 minutes back from Pete. I knew I had to make some time up on the bike so I quickly ran up the monster hill and hopped on my bike. I had to ride my road bike because that was what i had to use at Duathlon Worlds 6 days ago and it was the only bike I had. I wished i had my TT bike, race wheel and aero helmet but i did what i could on my road bike. I ended up catching all of the guys on the bike except 1 person.

I heard the person in the lead had a 3 minute lead. I wasn't even sure if he was the lead guy because it didn't seem like I passed that many guys on the bike. I was more concerned about holding my position on the run as there was pete and another run on my tail. I started a steady pace and couldn't see anyone infront of me. I kept rolling and right at the end I saw another guy. I started motoring a little faster to try to catch him but ran out of space as I finished only 3 seconds behind him. I had no idea I was gaining on this guy and that he was actually the lead person too! I couldn't complain finishing 2nd overall considering the circumstances I was in. I ended up running a 15:22 for 3 miles. The winner was Dean from Fit Werx, then myself, and Pete wrapped up 3rd overall. It was a great performance from Dean and he is a great guy as well!

Kat (the race director) put on an amazing race weekend! The race was set up well with great food after. I'd certainly recommend this race to anyone and I do plan on racing next year. Maybe i'll do the double?! Sprint on Saturday and Half Ironman on Sunday. race registration opens up on Oct. 31st. http://www.pumpkinmantriathlon.com/

It was a great weekend and race but the bigger milestone is....I am an UNCLE :)

I'm an Uncle!!!

My sister had a beauitful baby boy named Adrian Teele Lipsky on Friday Sept. 10, 2010 st 12:16pm. He is 19.5 inches and weighs 7 pounds 11 ounces.

Adrian must had been waiting for me becuase he came the same day I arrived in Maine :) I had just gotten back from Scotland and spent the night at Pete's house in Manchester, NH. The next day I rode my bike a few hours to Durham, NH (UNH) where I went swimming. My sister was suppose to pick me up but Justin (my brother-in-law) did instead because my sister was starting to go into labor. My sister and Justin were certainly blessed with a beauitful healthy boy :)

Duathlon Worlds in Edinburgh, Scotland

I spent a total of a week in Edinburgh and stayed with Jon Kent, Josh Merrick, Dereck Treadwell and Tim (from Hartwick College) in a cozy little apartment. Edinburgh is a beauitful city and have a lot of attractions for tourist. During my time there I went to the Edinburgh Castle, went the Royal Botanic Garden, walked on Calton Hill where there were a bunch of monuments and YES, went to multiple pubs. Don't worry, I went to the pubs on the last day I was there :)

This was my third year on the Elite team and this was certainly the toughest field and toughest course there has been within the last three years. The set of the course was a 10k run, 40k draft legal bike followed by a 5k run.

The first run went out hard as usual. I always hang in the back for the first 1/3rd of the race and run even splits as I catch all of the guys who go out to hard. The 10k run consisted of loops, each loop being 2.5k. It was a gradual up hill and then a pin point turn around down hill. Now I can run up hill pretty well but I can't run downhill and on each downhill it seems like the lead guys were getting a bigger lead on me. I finished the run about 45 seconds back from where I thought i would be.

I knew I had my work cut out on the bike. The bike consisted of a 7 loop course of about 39k. There was a decent climb and decent in the loop. I quickly worked hard on the bike and caught up to Josh Merrick and another guy from the UK. We worked together as we flew past guys that couldn't hang with us. Josh and I were doing the majority of the work. We caught up to a group of about 12 other rides and Dereck Treadwell was in this group. I went right to the front to keep a honest pace as everyone drafted on me. On the last loop I took the lead and pulled hard the whole time into T2. I got off the bike and tried to roll as quickly as I could on my beat up legs. A few people out of the pack of 15 got away from me but I held my own in the last 5k and finished 23rd out of 50 some elite men. I finished up the 4th out of 7 Elite men. A tough race and day but I did the best of what I could to represent USA for Worlds.

August Race Recap

August was a busy month of racing for me. Right after Lake Placid my goal was to start working on my speed for Duathlon World Championships. Two weeks after Ironman Lake Placid i ran a 5k race over in Brockville, Canada. I was certainly pushed as it came down to the last few meters. The guy I was racing ended up beating me by a stride as I crossed the lin in 15:47. It was a good race where I was pushed and ended up with a decent time. I recieved some local organic eggs as a prize :)

The following week I competed in the Thousand Island Triathlon in Brockville in Canada. The swim was the very rough, the bike was an out and back and the run was along the Brockville trail. I ended up taking control on the the run and finished up 1st overall.



The week after I competed in the Norwood Sprint Triathlon. The swim was a nice short one, along with a nice rolly 16 miler and finished off with a 4 mile run. I took the lead and held it to win by an overall 3 minutes. 2nd place was my friend Kevin Beatty from Canada. He just finished his first Ironman (Canada) in 9:30!!! As Kevin and I were cooling down he told me about the Cornwall Duathlon/Triathlon. After pondering about the idea to double, I decided to end up doing to duathlon. It ended up being a great idea after all. The weather was wet but I ended up finishing strong to take another win, along with some prize money. I love racing in Canada because the people are really nice and a number of people actually knew about me. Race results can be found here

The last week before headed off to Duathlon Worlds, my friend Pete came up to trian with me. We got a decent training block in. On Wednesday I ended up hitting a dog going around 23mph. I went flying off and land on my side. Thankfully I had no broken bones and my bike was ok. My had a nice scrape on my left elbow and my left hip hit hard and it was difficult to walk around on. The next morning I had a key running workout of 8x1000 that I didn't want to miss. I am stubburn so I decided to do it. It took me at least 5 miles to warm up to try to loosen my hip up enough so i wasn't limping. Sure enough I was ok and I ended up averaging 3:02 for the 1000 repeats with a 3 minute rest.

Ironman Lake Placid Race Report

On Sunday morning I woke up at 3:30am at the Jack Rabbit Hostel in Lake Placid, NY. This was the first hostel I have ever stayed at before. There were many other ironman athletes staying at the hostel. I didn't even know it was a hostel until the day before. The place was very nice and I slept like a baby the night before. Once I woke up I had my daily cup of joe and downed three plain bagels. Then at 4:30 the two other pros (Miranda Alldritt and Raymond Botelhoand) ans I made our way to the transition.


Once we arrived to the transition the announcer said that the water temperature was 74 degrees. This meant that the water was wetsuit legal for the age groupers but NOT for the professional field. This was a disapointment to me because the wetsuit would have helped me out on my weakest leg. I couldn't use my new Xterra triathlon wetsuit :(

The Swim:

I jumped in the water 5 minutes before the start. I hesitated getting in sooner because I didn't want to get my core tempature too cold in the 74 degree water. There were about 30 male pros and 20 female pros. As we all treaded water and waited for the gun to fire. The gun went off amd my adrenaline shot up high! I relaxed and got into a rhythm. Matt Sheeks was right infront of me so the both of us worked together and came out of the water in 36 minutes flat on the first lap. On the second lap the age groupers started catching me. The age groupers started 10 minutes behind the pros but they were able to use wetsuits. They quickly swam over top of me. It was a struggle to just survive the last swim lap. Matt Sheeks was smart and got way on the outside to aviod the rush of wetsuit swimmers. The last 400 meter my calfs started to cramp up a little. Finally I touched land again. I was relieved as I finsihed the 2.4 mile swim in a slow time of 1:17. This was my longest swim ever! I quickly started running into T1. It was about a 400 meter long run just to get into transition.

The bike:
I quickly mounted my Suplicy bike and was on my way as I passed hundreds of people. In the first lap I stayed relaxed because I knew it was a long hilly course. I went through the first 56 miles in 2 hours and 30 minutes. Just where I wanted to be. On the second lap I started to push a little more. In the last 15 miles my body didn't feel like it hard great power but i continued to push the last hilly sections to the finish. I did drop my chain on one of the hills but was able to hop it back on without stopping. Out on the bike course I comsumed First Endurance EFS liquid shot and some First Endurance EFS drink. The volunteers handed out bananas, some cut up powerbars chunks and water which I took at every aid station. Rolling back into Lake Placid one of the volunteers directed me the wrong way back into transition. I started going down the hill. I was forced to hop off my bike and run 100 meter back up the hill with my bike back into transition. I finished the 112 mile bike in 5:05 which was the 8th fastest bike split from the pros. I slowed down about 5 minutes on the last lap but was able to make up a lot of time from my slow swim.

The run:
I felt pretty good right off the bike. I had a First Endurance EFS liquid shot flask in one hand and a bike bottle filled with water to start the marathon journey. My first 3 miles were just under 6 minute pace. However, the first 3 miles were all down hill. I settled in and concentrated on catching a few more people. I was quickly reeling people in as i kept it on cruise control. I went through the half marathon in about an hour and 27 minutes. On the 2nd lap I slowed down a little but finished my marathon in a time of 3 hours. 6:53 mile pace and had the 5th fastest run time out of all of the pros.

The finish:
As I approached the finish I was surrounded a few hundred people cheering. There was the Ironman annoucer but I have no idea what he was saying. He might have called my name or he might have said the famous "You are an Ironman". There was only one thing on my mind which was my mother...the soul reason for doing my first Ironman was in memory of her. I wanted to spread awareness of Lou Gehrig's Disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), the disease my mother had. Through out the whole race I thought of my mother. On my chest I have the ALS logo to help spread the awareness and as I ran down the last 100 meters I pointed to the ALS logo on my chest. I crossed the line in a total time of 9:28:58 and put up my hands in the air. Then I dropped to the ground and did the Blazeman roll in memory of Blazeman, my mother and everyone else who was affected by this disease.

I finished as the 11th male pro overall out of 30. I didn't even know that the 10th overall pro was only 19 seconds infront of me. If I would have known, I would have tried to push a little more to catch him. I can't complain because this was my first Ironman, my first pro race, and my 3rd main triathlon ever.

What I have learned:

I loved racing this new Ironman distance! I went through many feelings throughout the race with my mind, body, and my emotions. The bigger the challenge, the more I love it! I feel that I can improve in all areas in the ironman. I know I need to work on my swim since it is my weakest leg. I started swimming this year and about 6 months ago I couldn't swim more then 400 meter without stopping. Recently, I have only been swimming 2-3 hours a week. Top triathletes swim 8-10 hours. Therefore it is critcal I spend more time in the pool. There is very limited pool time where I am located in northern, NY. There is no masters swim groups either. With this being said, I plan on moving to a triathlon town in the near future. I also feel like I can improve my bike and run splits. I've been cycling about 10-12 hours a week and running about 40-45 miles a week. In build for my next Ironman, I plan on putting a little more volume.


My body has recovered really well from the Ironman. I wasn't as sore as I thought I would be. I was more sore after doing an all day epic hike in the Adirondacks a few months ago. I started running again on Thursday (4 days after). Now I am back in full swing of training again.

Thank you everyone for your all of your support!

Xterra Wetsuits and ready for Ironman Lake Placid!

Only a few days away and I'll be doing my first Ironman in Lake Placid. A big thanks to Xterra Wetsuits as I just recieved the Xterra Vector Pro X2 Wetsuit. With the help of Xterra, I should be able to swim more like a fish :)

For more info on the Worlds Fastest Wetsuits go to: www.xterrawetsuits.com

Mount Washington Road Race (U.S. National Mountain Running Championships)

Mount Washington Road Race Facts:

* The 50th anniversary year.
* The finish 6288 ft.
* The start 1565 ft.
* Elevation gain 4727 ft.
* Length 7.6 miles
* Grade Avg. 12%, extended 18%, final 100 yards 22%
* Road Surface 65% paved, 35% packed gravel

On June 19th, I competed in my second Mount Washington Road Race. I wasn't really sure what to expect. I didn't feel as prepared as I did last year. Last year I was living in Colorado up at 9,000 feet in a yurt, running 70 mile weeks and running up lots of mountains/hills. This year I have been only running about 45 miles a week for the past month, living and training at sea level, and I haven't done any hill workouts at all. The only thing I had going for me was that I felt like I was more aerobically fit due to cycling and swimming.

Last year I ran a 1:06:19 and was 9th overall. This year the field was much deeper, as the Mount Washington race was also the 2010 U.S. National Mountain Running Championships. The top 6 men in this race are the USA Team for Mountain Running World Championships which is in Kamnik, Slovenia on September 5th, 2010. I figured if I ran a 1:06 something I would be happy because of the odds against me in my training this year vs. last year.

The night before I got to Kevin Tilton's house pretty late around 11ish. It took me a little while to unwind and finally fell asleep around 1 in the morning. The morning came quick as i downed a few plain bagels and a coffee. After I drove to the race site and had a nice 3 mile warm up. I saw many familiar faces from Colorado on the starting line. The cannon went off to start us. I stayed relaxed and had the leaders in sight during the first mile. I settled in and pushed a steady pace. I was in about 15th place as I passed the halfway mark and my watch read 31:35. Below is a picture of me close to the half way mark.
















Once I got half way, I started feeling a little better as I was gaining on the people in front of me. Slowly I was able to pass one person at a time. Before I know it someone said that I was in the top 10 with about 2 miles left. I kept gaining on the people in from of me and I felt strong. With less then a half mile to go I saw one more person in front of me a ways away. I pushed hard and was able to catch him right at the end. I finished hard and ended up finishing 7th overall in a time of 1:04:21 (Just about two minutes faster then last year)

I was very thrilled with how the race went. If I was 6th place I could have made the USA World Mountain Team and would have a trip to Slovenia. If I was 6th place, I wouldn't have been able to go because Duathlon World Championships is the same day and its in Scotland. Right after my race my friend Pete and I ended up running down the mountain to make the race into a long run. Once we were at the bottom of the mountain my friend Jim joined us as we all soaked our legs in the stream.

I was happy that I was able to contribute and run as a Central Massachusetts Strider. The team ran well as we won the USA National Mountain Running Team Title.


About 400 meters to go!