Picture Pages..Picture Pages...Bay Village Tri

This the Huntington Beach/Bay Village Tri via a photo essay by my two youngest fans....

(Dad and the other dads stewing before the race.)

(First Wave into the water...Dad is in the next wave... what should we do?)

(Good time for pre-swim donut...Zoe)

(Dad's wave swimming out to the first buoy)

(Dad out of the water...4th out of the water and off to the bike)

(Good time for breafast for photographer number 2)

(Oops that donut was just too good and Dad zipps by with a good bike... there is his wheel)
(Dad coming up the hill on the run)

(Dad gives us a wave on the way into the finish)

Overall: Dad finished the race in 1:05:57 good for 2nd/32 in his age group and 11th out 292. On to another race, a new essay and, of course, another donut.

Thanks to my youngest fans for the support and pictures.

Training Milestone

Well, this weekend was my first 100 mile ride. I came off the bike feeling good and felt like I could go out for a run. It took about 5 hours 20 minutes to complete the training session. The best part of the ride was the comfortable numbness that came over my whole body while riding. I generally do not where an Ipod on my rides anymore, except for sometimes on long rides. Although, since this ride was going on roads I was not familiar with I did not where it. However, this provides for a lot of time to be introspective and on rides this long maybe too much. So, the best part is part of the ride is where everything is more like a low buzz and your just pedaling.

Otherwise, I had a good 14 mile run on Saturday and my run is progressing well. As for Monday, I think I will take a recovery day, and let my legs rest for a day and prepare for another big week. This Sunday is the Bay Village Tri, which is always a fun race loaded with familiar faces.

One tip I have from the 100 mile ride in 90 degrees is to use extra sun block or this will happen:

Lakeview Park Summer Triathlon Race Recap

5:15 am came early on race day morning.

The night before, Anna and I had gone out with friends until after eleven. I was fairly responsible and only had 3-4 beers over the course of the evening and mixed in some water. After going over my transition bag and getting the kids resettled in bed for the night, it was well after midnight by the time my head hit the pillow. Not necessarily the best pre-race night, but it was only a sprint race, so what was there to worry about.

It was a normal race morning with part of a Cliff Bar, some banana baby food for breakfast, and couple trips to bathroom. Picked up PK on time and was off to the race, which was just a couple towns over. I snuck a peak at the lake before I left for the race and it was like glass. I was still a little tired and my stomach was a little upset.

We got to the race about 7:05 and the parking was packed already, considering registration and transition opened at 7:00. We ended up parking at the back, made our way over to transition, and got decent spots on the racks. I had a fairly easy time getting registered and body-marked for the race.

Looking at my watch, I could tell I was running slightly behind. It was a little bit after 7:30 and I was just setting up transition. While getting set up, I changed routine and decided to eat a gel about fifteen minutes before the start. I think this may have been a mistake.

We got down to the water about 5 minutes before the race (not ideal), but we were able to get in the lake and swim a few strokes before the start of the race.
When this race was originally set up, the 35-39 age group was going out on its own. But on race day, the age groups were combined and everyone 39 and under was in the first wave off the beach. On this small course, this was way too many people.

The plan was to sprint to the first buoy, get ahead of the pack and have a relatively clear swim down the backstretch. Unfortunately, I did not commit as much as I should have and I got pinched in the first turn; then pushed into a break wall. I swam most of the backstretch dodging sunken boulders and wondering, as always, why the hell I was doing this to myself. Much to my surprise, I came out of the water number one for my age group, even though the swim felt less than impressive.

However, as I exited the water I realized I had a problem. The zipper on my wetsuit was stuck and I could not get it unstuck as I ran to transition. Officially, I was now panicking a little – yanking and grabbing at my neck. I was finally able to free the zipper, but I had lost decent amount of time. During this zipper fiasco, I watched a number of guys run out of transition ahead of me.


(I am in the guy in center struggling with his wetsuit)


On the bike, I was feeling some burn in my legs and I strangely had some cotton mouth. Maybe from the gel?...I don’t know. The whole bike/cotton mouth continually returned, except for about the last 3 miles. I had a solid bike – able to maintain a 23.5 mph average through the course and the one climb was strong. There were some good bikers on course ahead of me, but I felt like I was improving my position. Coming into T2 there weren’t many bikes racked yet, which gave me a boost. I came off the bike in 4th place for my age group.

I threw on my racing flats and I was out of T2. The run felt good and so did my Achilles. It took me a while to catch my breath out of T2, and my legs were a little tired as it was my third straight day of running. Overall, I ran a good pace at 6:58/miles and was able to run a solid course.

After it was all said done, I finished in 1:09, which was good enough for 4th in the age group and 15th/200(approx) overall.

It was a little disappointing that I came out of the water in 1st and virtually lost 3 spots in transition. But it was good to get out and race and push my legs a bit.

Editor’s Note: Team MoZo did not represent at this race. Instead (at about the time Scott was finishing the race) we were at the bakery, buying donuts in our pajamas. Morgan’s first question when he got home…“Did you get a medal?”…because we are all about setting high expectations. None of this “participation” crap.

Late Week Training and the Tour

I finished off the week with a 10 mile run. It is good to be back in the double digits. I felt good and my ankle felt strong.


I also got an open water swim in with PK this morning. The lake was like glass just a slight ripple and the water temp was in the mid 60’s. The conditions made for a good 1.5 mile swim. I wanted to swim longer, but I did not want to over swim today.


I followed the swim with a 4 mile run in my racing flats. I thought these shoes may have played a part in my injured Achilles, but the shoes felt good today and my Achilles does not feel the worse for wear. I’ll see how the Achilles feels when I race in the shoes tomorrow morning.


Forgot to mention in my last post that I am sucked in to the Tour de France and it’s only the first week. I will admit that I really have only become a fan since I have started riding in last few years, but now I DVR every stage and watch the races from start to finish.

This week's story has been tale of crashes and tole it has taken on the Americans. Along with the surprising slow start of Contador. I am a Andy Schleck and George Hincapie fan so I am excited to see the battles in the mountain stages. Contador and Schleck are both beasts in the mountains, so it should make for a good battle, especially with Contador having to come from behind. It is simply amazing to watch these athletes work.


I will check in later with race reports from both the Tour and my own.

Weeks in Review

First things first, the boot is off and I am running again.

Week of June 20:

Doctor’s appointment was on Monday and I was cleared to run. Truth to be told, I ran twice before the appointment. I was able to get in two runs this week and each were a little over 7 miles with no pain or swelling. I have switched running shoes to Asics Gel Nimbus, and so far I am happy. Two other high points were a 65 mile ride and 2.5 mile swim.

I was also able to get my in wetsuit on and do an open water swim . I had forgotten how much work open water is…so it was good to get out in the lake and get a solid 45minute swim under my belt.

Week of June 27:

I was able to run 3 times this week and all the runs were between 7-8 miles. I am also still putting in solid long swims. A side effect of the injury has been that my swim stroke has improved and relaxed. The high point of this week was a 75 mile ride, which I will officially say is long time on a bike. I did this ride on my road bike as opposed to my TT bike, and I kept the pace at about 19-21mph.

Also , I had a chance to get another open water swim. It was much smoother this time, but no matter the number of times I practice, I think it will always freak me out a bit.

Week of July 4th:

I was able to run 8 miles on the 4th, which I was psyched about as my legs were shot from the 75 miles the day before. Tuesday I really suffered in the pool, but I swam 2.4 miles. I think the overindulgence of every type of food on the 4th and too many days without break were starting to catch up with me.

Overall: A month ago I had written off the Ironman/Full distance triathlon, but now two weeks after my last appointment I am thinking I may make a run for it. It all depends on how my run shapes up as I progress. I will definitely run the Half at Cedar Point and I have already spoken to registration about upgrading about a month out to the Full. As a side note, I am running a sprint tri this weekend and looking forward to some racing.