BEast of the Southeast Super Sprint

It was my very first time competing triathlons that I toed the start line with the professionals, the very best off-road triathletes of the world. I wasn't as scared as it sounds, in fact I was rather excited to see how I fare against them. I was rather afraid of the course itself and how my recent muscle strain will affect my race. I happened to fall during pre-riding the course just hours before the race and pulled my neck muscle bad enough to give me discomfort while turning my head or bending over. The water was very shallow so we had to line up quite far from the shore. The swim was fast and short. At around 200yards it ended before I could have picked up the pace. I am not sure if I wasn't the last out of the watet but I sure wasn't the last leaving T1. I quickly passed another athlete then another who happened to get stuck on a tree that went through his spokes. I rode in no man's land and got of the bike about 1000m behind the leaders. Ohh well.. I knew I wasn't going to be in contest with the best but I sure didn't want to take last either. I missed going through the finish line just before the T2 instead had to back track an go through tapes to find my way into the transition. I sprinted out and sprinted almost the entire 1.3 miles through the technical forest and caught Damien Gonzalez only about 500m to go. He hrld off good going downhill so I had to find some long-time-used gears to go past him. The race was rather quick for me and had hard time finding the rhythm (all- out speeds). When I am typing this I had to forfeit the pro race at noon on Saturday because I woke with the worst neck and shoulder pain I have ever had. I will have to call it a day and just watch the pros and amateurs doing the short course mtb race and hope that I will get better by tomorrow morning where I can compete in the amateur off-road tri at 9am. I am excited to race and see how I'll do on this quick but technical course. We shall see. 

XTERRA Southeast Championships trail run recap

Because the race a day ago didn't quite turn out the way I had hoped for I wanted to make up for it at the trail run. I figured if there was anyone to run with I will try to hang on and relax for the first loop then pull away if I had more left in the tank. As we lined up at the start line I noticed the winner of the Vegas half marathon winner, Roberto Mandji and the uber athlete Josiah Middaugh. I already knew it wasn't going to be an easy stroll. What I wasn't sure was how much the triathlon took out of Josiah. Well.. I received the answer rather quick. 5 of us stayed together for a good while then it was just Roberto, Josiah and me. We were started 10 minutes after the 10k mu run participants and quickly caught up to them. On the twisty- turny singletrack trails it was rather difficult to pass them. We managed to go the loop with only one hiccup when Roberto tackled a gal. Funny thing was as we both tried to help Roberto up then ran off inly to hear the gal shouting after us that " .. and don't worry about me, I'm OK, too". I felt bad for her. Though it happened so fast I didn't see her. We completed the first lap in just 7.5k only to question the actual distance we will cover by the end. It was at the start of the second loop when I dropped the band I was given, lost some fround on the guys and took me a while to recover. When I caught up we just reached the trails again and my feet strted hurting, too. I happened to run in my Pearl Izumi Iso Seek tri shoes with loose lacing.. What was I thinking? At every turn when I had to support myself my feet were sliding in the shoes, generated some friction and eventually created some nice blisters. I hit the wall sometime around 10k then just cruised to the finish as I had no one in front of me nor behind me. It's odd how you feel going fast in the trails but in reality you ain't. My 1:04:10 time over the 15k distance is no where near 4min/km pace. Unless my gps tricked me and/ doesn't measure properly under trees and when making sharp turns every 10 meters. The blisters were so bad I wasn't able to walk normally for days. They're getting better now but with only a few hours away from the BEast of the Southeast opening race still not 100% ready.

XTERRA Southeast Championships tri and trail run

We were on the road for 52 hours before arriving to Pelham, Alabama where the XTERRA Southeast Championships took place last week. Sure that 52 included two stops during which we visited a friends and another stay in a hotel along the road. I had not much time left to ride and get to know the course before the rain caught up to us. Saturday everything started OK. Sure it was rainy but I wasn't too worried as the whole bike course was under thick foliage of tall trees. My swim was exceptionally fast in the new De Soto Concept 5 wetsuits that I had not worn prior to this event. I was also passing a lot of age groupers and pros already on the bike course when I heard a pop from my rear tire and the air leaking out. It all happened at mile 8 of the 19 mile course so I immediately knew that was the end of my race as I had no tube to put in my tubeless set up and no co2 or even a tool with me. I was just behind the guy who eventually took 3rd overall amateur and I know I had the running legs this time as the bike course was rather twisty than grueling. Oh well, I figured. At least I will be fresh for the trail run on Sunday. Sure it wasn't that easy to digest at first but a few miles walk made me think the bright side of all the bad things.

New ride- 2013 Specialized Epic Comp Carbon 29er.

After close to a year contemplation I have decided to spend a lot on a new bike that will hopefully fly me faster on the trails, save my lower back and enable me to run faster. This, of course is a product of my wife's approval as I would have not spent that amount of money on a bike if: 1. It wasn't necessary to take my game to the next level, 2. Had the resources laying around, 3. Had my wife's approval, 4. well.. you can think of something. So the new bike is the pictured Specialized Epic Comp Carbon 29er. I have already fallen in love with it and can't wait to first race with it on a back-to-back weekend down in Alabama and Tennessee starting May 18. Big things are in the making! Thanks to Epic Sports for their continuing support!