2009 Race Schedule
March 29 - Shamrock Shuffle 8k (Chicago, IL)
April 25 - USAT Duathlon National Championships (Richmond, VA)
May 16 - Galena Triathlon (Galena, IL)
May 23 - Soldier Field 10 Mile (Chicago, IL)
May 30 - Dam to Dam 20k (Des Moines, IA)
June 14 - Ironman 70.3 Kansas (Lawrence, KS)
June 28 - Hy-Vee Triathlon (West Des Moines, IA)
July 19 - Spirit of Racine Half Distance (Racine, WI)
July 25 - Tall Corn Days 5k (Sioux Rapids, IA)
August 30 - Chicago Triathlon (Chicago, IL)
September 13 - Ironman Wisconsin (Madison, WI)
October 11 - Chicago Marathon (Chicago, IL)

Spirit of Racine Half Distance Triathlon

Spirit of Racine TriathlonRacine, WI

Conditions: Warm (75°F), No Wind

SORT is one of my favorite courses.  Especially with the 'short' swim course, draft friendly bike course and  always hot run course.  While I don't take part in the draft part, I certainly am enjoying the now historically short swim course.  This weekend was fun but not like the last couple of years.  I really missed my tri-buddies Jerry, Denny and Jeremy at this one.  Registration seemed quite lackluster.  The bags they gave us at registration had a 2008 Toyota Catalog and a 2008 race calendar.  Tanya and I had dinner at the Olive Garden the night before and we also spent a good deal of time at Toys-R-Us shopping for birthday gifts.

Race day conditions were great.  The temperature was warmer than last year, no fog issues for the swim.  The swim course is a point-to-point swim, so you have to walk about a mile to start.  The rumor is there is a strong current in the direction of the swim.  I believe it, I was out of the water in a record 25:28.  Yeah, 5 minutes faster than HyVee on a longer course (supposedly).

T1 was in a slow 1:28.

Now it's time to roll on the new ride.  "Scout" as Jerry named it (the result of me misinterpreting a saying which led to a reference to The Lone Ranger, thus concluding in my bike being named Scout.)  I don't mess around with saddling up in my shoes on the bike, I put my shoes on in transition and run with them.  The bike start at SORT is a good example of why.  It starts with a steep hill climb and I'm not about to mess around with my shoes.  I got a good start and headed out.  I was trying to avoid the draft packs but I kept legally close and traded off spots with the same four guys for most of the ride.   I finished the ride at 2:24 with a 23.3 MPH average, great for that course.

T2 was also a weakness at 1:20.

The temperature on the run is usually excruciating.  But the the course does have a lot of water support and a few areas with good shade.  This year the temperature was great, cloud cover kept it reasonable.  With the different age group starts, I had to pass my prime competitor, Coors Lights (Marc) and make sure I put some time differential between us.  That wasn't a problem here, on the long course I have the run advantage on him.  The run is a two lap out and back course, so you get a great feel of where your nearest competitors are.  Last year it was JV, this year my target was Thomas from the WellFit team.  I could see he was struggling on the run and I felt I could catch him.  I gave it a pretty good effort but wasn't able to close the gap.  He beat me by one minute and told me he thought it was my transitions where he beat me, and unfortunately for my pride, he was right.  That and he had been in some kind of accident earlier that week... cheap excuse.  I finished in 1:27:11 (6:40/mile) for a 5th place AG finish.  4:19:26 overall, smashing my previous course time of 4:28 and putting out a PR that's going to be hard for me to beat!

I took home a nice plaque.  I couldn't have done it without my great support team, my lovely wife Tanya and good buddy Jerry.

The New Ride

Look what arrived!  The new ride is in the house and it was masterfully built by Geoff at Get a Grip (http://getagripcycles.com/).  You are looking at  a 2009 Serotta CXII Steel frame (http://www.serotta.com/).  Here's how we fit it out.

Build Kit
Crank:  SRAM Rival (68mm, 175mm, 39-53 Crankset)
Derailleur:  SRAM Rival
Cassette:  SRAM 10-Speed 11-26
Brakes:  SRAM Rival
Shifters:  SRAM Carbon TT900
Headset:  Cane Creek
Seatpost:  FSA FR-200
TT Base Bar:  Vision Carbon
Aero Bar:  Vision Clip-On
Tires:  Continental Grand Prix 4000
Wheels:  Courtesy of Denny Remke (Shimano)  (HED 3 shown borrowed from Jerry Cropsey)
Aero Drink:  Profile Design
Carbon Bottle Cage:  Profile Design
Rear Bottle Cages:  Profile Design Dual

Serotta is a custom frame bike, not that well known in the triathlon World, but well known in the road bike community.  Each frame is custom built for your fit at their facility in Saratoga Springs, NY.  The guys at GAG fit me for the bike.  I fit the Cervelo alright, but for a little more money the Serotta would fit perfect.  I won't disagree, after riding JV's Cervelo for a couple months with my fit and getting on this bike, it was a big difference.  I have to thank Geoff, his attention to detail in assembling the bike was magnificent.  I'm looking forward to putting it into action.

HyVee Triathlon

HyVee Triathlon West Des Moines, IA
Conditions: Warm (70°F), Light Wind

The HyVee Triathlon is always exciting because it's a well run race and it's the closest race to home. My parents came out as well as my Sister and her family (although Shaun Johnson may have been the real reason they came.)  The day before the race they have the pro event.  I watched it with Cousin Ross and it was a thriller.  Photo finish.  

This was also the first large venue team race for WellFit, so there were a lot of us coming to town.  Race day was perfect, clear sky and cool temperatures. I signed up for the Elite wave because....I'm on the Elite team, shouldn't I race in the Elite wave?  I was a bit out classed in the water.  It was a downer because  my swim time has improved a lot this year.  But I was the last Elite out of the water in a poor 30:12.

T1 was a little slow too, 1:02.  As you can see from the T1 exit photo, the bike rack was a bit lonely when I arrived...

I made up some time on the bike with a solid split of 1:04:58 (23.5 MPH average).  I had ordered my new bike but it wasn't ready by the time HyVee rolled around, so it was my second go at it with JV's Cervelo.  I was hoping to break JV's record on the bike (sub 1 hour), and HyVee is a great place to try.  With only a couple of hills and a long straight out and back course, you can really fly.  There was a light breeze that slowed me slightly on the out, but back was fast.  I was trying to keep things close so I could have some fun on the run.

T2 was a little slow at 56 seconds.  I'd like to see that under 45 seconds.

The run at HyVee was epic.  I was stupid and didn't get the Garmin on it, so I can't show you my stats.  I love the run because it's hilly and tri guys aren't built for a hilly run to close out a race.  I was catching people fast.  It's an out and back course so I could see my competition and gauge my effort to catch them.  Marc Robertson was 4:36 ahead of me going into the run and this was the third competition in what has become known as the Coors Light (Marc) versus Skim Milk (Me) competition.  The competition didn't exist until the end of this race, let me explain why.  I saw Marc was within range at the turn around, but I was going to have to really move to catch him.  It was on.  I got to 1km from the finish and Coach Sharone was there yelling at me to catch Marc.  I couldn't see him yet but I knew he was close.  I hit the entrance to the finish shoot which is approximately 1/4 mile long.  I was moving at near top speed now and I could see Marc turning  onto the home straight.  Like a thoroughbred turning the last corner of the Kentucky Derby I hit the straightaway.  It was going to be a photo finish.  I leaned my head back and moved with every ounce of strength I had.  I was even with Marc about 3 strides before the line.  Marc knew I was coming so he was trucking as hard as he could to hold me off. I heard him say "damned you Benny" as we hit the line.  I pulled out a 37:48 compared to his 42:42 for a 1 second relative victory.  The competition was now born as Marc had to defend his record against me, which currently stood at Coors Light 2, Skim Milk 1.

My time of 2:14:54 was a course best.  Of course this was not the same course as the previous year, so take that for what it's worth.

We had a great time after the race with the family.  The expo area at HyVee is huge with all kinds of free food (and free beer).  We left with huge bags of snacks.  My niece Alexandria also put on a dance show for everyone, it was pretty cute.

Ironman Kansas 70.3

Ironman Kansas 70.3 Lawrence, KS
Conditions: Warm (70°F), Light Wind

Lawrence is nowhere near Chicago, just incase you were thinking about driving. Tanya, Kenny and I drove the 11 hours from Chicago to Lawrence the Friday before the race. The Bimmer had Marc, Kenny and my (actually Jeremy Vs) bike on the roof. Three bikes and two wheels on the roof of a BMW 3-series will yield about 20 mpg on a long distance trip.

Kenny, Tanya and I had a great ride to Kansas which included a mandatory Chipotle stop in West Des Moines. We nearly got lost in Kansas City, but then we realized we actually were in Kansas and we shouldn't take directional tips from a metal guy without a brain and furry guy that's always scared. We dropped off Kenny with Marc just outside of Lawrence and Tanya and I proceeded to our 5-star hotel destination (i.e. America's Best Value Inn.) After checking in we

went to dinner with Tanya's family at Ten. My meal was good and Tanya enjoyed the 'ambiance'.

Tanya's sister Tara lives in Lawrence and her

parents came down for the race weekend. On Saturday Tanya hung out with her Mom and Sister while her Dad went golfing. I hit the race course with Kenny and Marc. Marc's Sister and parents were there grabbing photos of us all. Marc's sister took some fantastic shots. Saturday night before the race we had a fun dinner with Tanya's family at Keller's.

Race day I dropped Tanya off with her parents and I went to the site. If I hadn't mentioned it yet, I'm riding this race on my friend Jeremy V's Cervelo P2C with my friend Jerry's HED 3 carbon race wheels. My bike wasn't going to hack it anymore so I bought a new bike, but it's a custom frame and has not yet been delivered. I picked up the P2C the weekend before, and I'd put about 50 miles on it coming into this race. I ditched my beloved Fuji Bordeaux because of chain and gear issues in the previous two races.

Even though I showed up to the race site way early, I only had a few minutes setting up in transition before it closed... It was a two transition zone race and they were about 3/4 mile apart. I didn't start for about 30 minutes after the pro race so I got to see Luke Bell and Chrisse Wellington go thru T1.

I got zipped pre-race

by a fellow WellFitter whom I didn't know. It was

a guy and girl who were training with the Racine training classed. My wave hit the water (and I saw Tanya and Parents at the start line) and we were off. The water temp was mild, it was a full wetsuit race. I had an uneventful swim, it felt a little slow, but it was only my second open water swim of the year. I finished in 35:50, I predicted 35 flat.

T1 went smooth, a little slow but I wasn't in a hurry. 2:23. It was a big transition area by the way.

I got on J's bike and the race was one. My start wave was the last wave before the relay group so when I got on the bike it was like riding through rush hour traffic. I was passing people left and right (literally so don't tell the USAT officials!) The course was a little hillier than expected. But that plays to a light-weight guy like me. I had one close call... I was passing people on a downhill, doing 35 mph+, and the pass went 3 wide. I was on the yellow stripe and there were guys coming up the other side doing the same. I didn't collide but if felt the air go by, it was close. So I knew I was making good time but when I got close to the finish line my time was sub 2:30, way sub 2:30... Unexpected. 2:25:09

T2 went smooth as well. I had a rock star end spot and Tanya plus parents were there watching. They were strangely silent which I later learned was because Tanya didn't want to throw me off. Little did she know I was taking my time! T2 took a whopping 1:24. I forgot my Garmin so I was going blind on the run.

The start of the run I knew I was in for a long day. My quads were locked solid. I had never felt this pain before and it took me awhile to figure out what it was from. It was Jeremy's bike. Turns out, a time-trial bike works the quads while a road bike (similar to what I had been riding for 10 years) works the hamstrings. I probably should have done more than 50 fluff miles on his bike before racing. So I worked out the quad lock after a mile but the legs were very

heavy. This race was over and I knew it. Fortunately...not... the really nice overcast weather had burned off and it was now very sunny. And warm! It was a two lap run with one monster hill. No highlights, it hurt. I was entertained by seeing Luke Bell finish. I was encouraged when I saw how much pain Marc was in and Kenny too. My friend Emily was running a sub 1:30 half so that was discouraging. I struggled to finish, but I did. 1:38:12

4:43:38

135th Place Overall

18th Place AG

A good race from a "lessons learned" standpoint. Don't try something new on race day, like a new bike. Although my bike split was a full minute faster than the phenomenal Chrissie Wellington. Of course I later found out she had a flat that took her four minutes to change. I got to meet her after the race too. Kenny, Tanya and I loaded up the Bimmer and headed back to Chitown the next day (we had to have one more night in the Best Value Inn.) We also got to hit up a kozy little hippie burger joint called Local Burger. I 'highly' recommend this place!

Kenny, Tanya and I did hit the road on Monday for Chicago. It took us a full 11 hours to get back. Kenny was worried about his bike the whole time because it was very windy (and rainy.) Kenny breifly forgot about his bike on the roof of my car while he was getting a job. Congrats Kenny! We're going to miss you. Like Kevin McC says on Facebook, "Kenny come back!"

Love you Tanya :)

Dam to Dam 20k
Des Moines, IA
Conditions: Mild (65°F), Light South Wind

Big year for Dam to Dam as attendance in the 20k was about 7,000 people. They made a big improvement over years past and added chip timing (which didn't help me but took 7 minutes of my dads time.)  The competition was even stronger than last year.   I went out at a 5:20 mile and thought I was dragging because I was in the third group!  I slowed down pretty quickly but never settled into a comfortable pace.  I felt pretty good at the start but my legs felt pretty heavy right away.  By mile 8 I had dropped below my goal pace of 5:45 mile averages and it wasn't any easier.  I finished about 90 seconds slower than last year, but wasn't too disappointed because it's a training run.  My upcoming Ironman 70.3 is the real goal.

The whole family ran at this race.  My Dad ran the 20k with me and Tanya ran the 5k with my Mom (Tanya ran legally this year.)  Everyone did well, the weather was perfect.  Free Coors Light and pulled pork sandwiches at the finsh party, can't do much better than that!

Average Mile Pace: 5:59

Total 1:14:23 (official)

44th Place, 12th Age Group

Soldier Field 10 Mile

Soldier Field 10 Mile
Chicago, IL
Conditions: Mild (60°F), Light North Wind

So last year I said the weather could be better. I think it was better this year! It was beautiful. Low 60's and sunny with a North wind. Now that we moved to the South Loop, this race became even more fun because the start line is only a five minute walk from our home.

I did this race opposite of what I did last year, I went out in 5:20's and 5:30's and came back in 5:40's, 5:50's. Mostly due to the wind. I felt great going out, strong and relaxed. We hit the turn around and the wind slowed me down. I don't feel like I'm in great running shape, and I didn't have that drive I've had in the past to run to exhaustion. I had a lot of gas left when I hit the finish line. I was disappointed to not finish under 58, but surprised I hit a PR. I really didn't feel like I had that great of race, but I guess the solid start made the difference. I was also surprised when my friend Jerry called me later and said I got third in my age group.... Good race, good result, but no free beer at the finish line (boo).

Average Mile Pace: 5:50

Total 58:12 (official)

20th Place (for the second year in a row), 3rd Age Group