The sickest sprint finish ever

Over the past weekend at the Hyvee World Cup race, 6 athletes finished within 5 seconds of the winner's time. Simon Whitfield won with an absolutely vicious kick and took the $200,000 first prize check by tenths of a second. He's still got the best kick in the business!

Silicon Valley Pro Challenge

The 2009 Silicon Valley Triathlon featured a very unique format for the pros. There was a 40k bike time trial in the morning followed by a swim-run-swim-run race in the afternoon. I guess the point of the format was to make the triathlon more spectator friendly, and in the process, make it one of the hardest races of my life. I mean the run out in between swim laps is bad, but this took it to a new level - I thought I was going to have to utilize one of the lifeguards to save me on that second swim!
The day started off well with the 40k time trial on a mostly fast course with one hill halfway through the bike. I have done this tri a couple times before, but never done an all out ITT of that distance before. And true to form, I went out just a little too hard. That one mile climb seemed more like Mt. Diablo after the House of Pain ride! Anyway, I would have been ecstatic with my 54:53 time, had I not found out that Mr. Lieto biked a 49:46!!! Yes, he put 5 minutes on me on a 24.8 mile bike. Mad props to him - he's such a stud! There's a reason why Trek gave him a prototype TT rig that only he, Lance and Alberto have.
So, that meant Chris started the swim-run-swim-run 5 mins in front of me, David Thompson and Lewis Elliot had two minutes on me, Greg Remaly 30 seconds, Chris Foster 15 seconds and Brian Lavelle only 3 seconds back of me. I was super happy just to be in the mix with these superstar athletes. I drank lots of Fluid in between races to stay hydrated and aid in my recovery. Big thanks to Dave and Rich for the support!
On the first leg of the swim, I managed to only catch Chris, only to get demolished by him once we were on land. Brian also ran away from me on that run, so I know I had my work cut out on the second swim. I have never swam so hard in my life and by the end of the 750m swim, I realized that I had caught 4 of the guys ahead of me and had a real shot at getting 3rd and making some money. The second run hurt! I think the format was created to just see how much pain the pros could put ourselves through. Despite my best efforts, Chris, Clayton and Greg passed me on the run and I ended the day in 6th place. As Manny would say "I was leaking oil" badly during that second run, but all in all, it was a very fun day. Chris absolutely dominated the field. They might as well rename the race to the Chris Lieto Pro Challenge for next year.
I am currently getting in some quality training so I will be ready for TI and Vineman in a couple weeks. Today, I just finished my test set track workout of 20x400s on :75 or better with 30 sec rest. Made each one, so my run is getting there. It was the first time I made the intervals with a couple of running partners to suffer with. I think my HS football team thought I was going insane yelling at myself in between 400s. Anyway, I can't have another repeat of Wildflower at Vineman. Then again, I don't think that would be possible - at least I hope so!

I added some pics from the race. The first one was the two exhausted Fluid athletes - me and Chris. The second one was taken before I knew what I was getting myself into. And the last one was me suffering on the run. Thanks Dave for the pics!

Escape from Alcatraz

Despite the fact that I live in San Francisco and have more than ample opportunities to practice the Alcatraz course, that race kicked my butt for the second year running. Once again, the swim killed me! Although last year, my swim fitness was pathetic and I deserved being thoroughly whooped by the Potts and Sanson express train, this year was a different story and I was swimming faster than ever in workouts. As usual, I had an awesome start – how I wish every race had a pontoon start or a dive off of a boat – and quickly settled into a nice pace. However, I am not sure why I decided to do this, but I decided to take a different line than the lead boat. Halfway though the swim when I realized that no one was going around me I took a couple of backstrokes and realized that I was leading a renegade pack of about 5 swimmers way off course. That pack of seagulls that I thought was in the water a solid 200 yards to my left was everyone else. I tried to correct my line and drift over to them, but in the end went too far left and got into the rocks. My best bet would have been to stay my course since the current was not as strong as in years past, but oh well. When I exited the water with a couple of the female pros I knew I had some work to do on the bike. Once I was on my bike I started picking up athletes and got into a really nice rhythm. I was really happy with my decision to ride a tt bike and entered t2 in 9th place. Onto the run, I tried to maintain good form, but I could tell that my bike effort was going to hurt me on the run. A fast moving Lewis Elliot flew by me. The next athlete was my good friend Matt Seymour and Matty offered me some words of encouragement when he went by. I tagged along with him until the downhill to Baker Beach where his foot speed combined with my toasted quads gapped me by about a hundred yards. The second half of that run was uneventful as I could not close the gap that Matty had on me and finished in 11th place. All in all it was a fun race and it was great seeing familiar faces like my good friends from Cal – Melissa, Maggie, K Hass and Brandon cheering for me on the flat stretch and Dave and all the Pac Bikes crew scattered throughout the course. You guys carried me through after my awful swim and allowed me to dwell on the good parts of my race, like not giving up after the swim and my solid bike. Thanks for all of the support! And Mags and Melissa, those custom nose strips were a super hot look!

What exactly are we swimming in?

I just read this pr about the Pan Ams Champs last month. Makes you wonder just how safe that water you are diving into actually is.

OSDH Announces Results of Triathlon Illness Investigation
The Oklahoma State Department of Health (OSDH) announced today that an investigation of gastrointestinal illness reported in a recent Oklahoma City triathlon was related to exposure to water during swimming practice sessions or during the swim portion of the event.The OSDH began its investigation after receiving reports that some participants became ill following their participation in the Boathouse International Triathlon held in Oklahoma City May 16-17. State health epidemiologists queried participants through an online survey to try to determine what event or personal exposures could have led to diarrhea, vomiting and other gastrointestinal symptoms. Of the 367 participants, 218 responded to the survey and of that number, 45 met the OSDH case definition for illness, which was an acute onset of diarrhea in a 24-hour period and/or vomiting following the event. Health officials also sought stool specimens from those reporting illness.

The rest of the article can be found at http://www.ok.gov/health/Organization/Office_of_Communications/News_Releases/2009_News_Releases/OSDH_Announces_Results_of_Triathlon_Illness_Investigation.html

HS student denied diploma

This seems really harsh to me, especially since the poor kid will never get a second shot at walking at his hs graduation. If the same etiquette codes were enforced at Cal's graduation, half the student body would walk sans diploma.
I read this article on yahoo news:
A Very Costly Kiss: Senior Denied Diplomaby by Mike Krumboltz For teens, there is no greater joy than graduating high school. Shaking off the shackles of education and claiming that hard-fought diploma is truly an epic day. Unfortunately, for several students at Bonny Eagle High School in Maine, their natural exuberance has led to some surprisingly serious problems.On Friday night, when the senior class was waiting to graduate, excitement began to grow. Students bounced a large inflatable rubber duck. The noise level rose. And then came "the kiss." When called, one student walked on stage to receive his diploma and blew a kiss to his family. The school administrator, clearly not the sentimental sort, sent the student back to his seat ... sans diploma.
The rest of the article can be found at www.yahoo.com/buzzlog/92681?fp=1