Wisty's Tri Blog

St. Anthony's Tri

2011-05-09T07:05:00.000-07:00

After a brief hiatus, I am back online. Really going to try and keep up with this thing.

St. Anthony’s is a race I look forward to every year. It was my first pro race four years ago, and I have done it every year since. The flat fast course suits me well and I always seem to have a good race. Unfortunately, this year, due to rough water conditions, the swim had to be relocated and shortened. I still had a great race, and beat my best bike split on this course by about 1 minute. Though, it sucks when you get passed by guys knowing that you usually have a 2 min lead on them out of the water in a normal swim and only had about 30-40 seconds on them with the abbreviated course.

They had told us at the pro meeting that the course change was a possibility, but that they would still try to maintain a 1.5k swim course for the pro’s. However, on race morning we got the word that the course had been changed to a roughly 1k swim to the north of the transition. I would say that given our times, the 50 meter run in, and the ~200 meter run out of the water to the timing mats, that we maybe did about 800 meters of actual swimming. Following the long run out of the water we had about a half mile long run on the concrete sidewalk to get to transition. I was running at a good clip, and my T2 time was still over 3 minutes! A few athletes cut their feet up pretty bad running on the sidewalk. I had a few pieces of skin missing, but nothing major.

On to the bike course, I almost screwed up real bad in the first few hundred yards. Coming out of transition, there is a nasty stretch of road made entirely of brick pavers (think Paris Roubaix on a tri bike). I only carry one water bottle when I am doing an Olympic distance race, which I mount in between my aerobars. I hit a few rough patches right off the bat and my water bottle bounced out of the cage. I caught it with my left hand just as it rolled off my aerobars! Had I dropped it and not recovered it, not only would I not have my sports drink, but I would have been given a 1 minute penalty. In the pro division they make you serve penalties on course by pulling over and unclipping for the full minute!

So, with disaster averted, I settled into my rhythm and got down to business. I knew I was feeling good when I was keeping up with long time pro Brian Fleischman.

Me and Brian rode around each other the entire way, with a few other guys that eventually pulled away towards the end of the bike. I came out of T2 in 18th place and was feeling fairly good. I knew I had pushed the bike hard, but I still had some spring to my step. Kaleb Van Ort and Brian ended up passing me around mile 2 on the run. I wanted to try to stick Brian, but he had picked up his pace dramatically and I could not match him when he went he passed. Kaleb is a sub-4 min miler who ended up running a 31 min 10k, so I did not feel to bad about letting him go!

Once we reached the turn around, I could see that there were several guys all within striking distance of me. With the aid of a tailwind, I started feeling better and picked up the pace a bit. I wanted to maintain my top 20 position, but I was passed at the 5 mile mark by Sean Jefferson (another crazy fast low 29 min 10k runner). I fought to stay on him as the road turned a bit into a head wind, but my legs started to cramp up on me. I almost caught one more guy towards the finish, but just ran out of room. I finished 21st overall on the day about 6 min back from race winner Filip Osplay from the Czech Republic. He sealed the deal with a race best 30:53 10k. This was not my best finish here from a placing perspective, but I was about 1 min faster on the bike and only 30 seconds off my fastest run split. Also, this was by far the most competitive field I have seen at this race in my four years, and by all accounts, the strongest field ever at this race. Of course, had the swim been the normal distance I would have faired better, but I’m not going to dwell on it.

Next up, New Orleans 5150 in on May 15th. Like St. Anthony’s, this race is part of the 5150 Olympic distance race series this year. The course looks flat and fast just like St. Anthony’s, so I’m very excited.

Did I say I was going to update more often?

2009-12-17T19:50:00.000-08:00

Wow, keeping up with this is harder than I thought. Every time I want to write something, I have to create a new password because I forgot the old one. But I'm really going to try from now on.

Well boys and girls, let me tell you what I've been up to. I've been done racing for the season for some time now. I finished up with the season with the Amica Tri series race in Phoenix, AZ back in November. It was a first year event that was putting up some decent money, so I figured I might as well go for it. It was also a great excuse to visit Holli in San Diego afterwards. The race eneded up going well. I finshed 6th overall which saw me going home with a decent little check. That check was quickly spent the following week on my little side trip. The week went by way to fast, and I quickly found myself back in wilmywood. But if the picture below is any indication, my journey left me with a comforting feeling of things to come.Yeah, it was quite nice!

So what have I been up to lately you might ask? Well, due to my deep hatred of laundry and my inability to properly fold a shirt, I'm finding new ways to put together an outfit that is suitable for public consumption. Also, I have let my facial hair roam free for the past month or so and you know what, it 'aint half bad looking. Now I know what your saying "damn Matt, you really let yourself go in the off season, huh". Not so. I will have you all know that I actually got my hair, yes my hair, cut not to long ago over Thanksgiving. "gee Matt, is that cuz your mommy made you go". Oh well you can just go to hell! I mean...she might have had some say in the matter.

In other news, I have also taken up the position of super stoker on a competitive tandem bar hopping team. For those of you not familiar with tandem riding, the stoker person on the back of the bike. So whats a super stoker you might ask? The super stoker is the person on the rear most position on a tandem kids trail-a-bike that is attached to a tandem bicycle.
That's our team ready for battle on the highly competitive tandem bar hopping circuit here in Wilmington. Notice I am wearing my compression socks, so you know I mean business. If it looks like fun now, just wait, it gets even better after 2 am. That's when the real competition starts.

That's all for now. Tune in next time when I will unveil my 2010 schedule as well as some other super special exciting stories from my off season adventures including the Worlds Greatest Talon.

So it's been a while...

2009-10-06T10:37:00.000-07:00

Due to lack of internet access over the past month or so, I have not been able to update this page. I reporting to you today thanks to the awesome guest computers at the UNCW library. Unfortunatley, I only have an hour a day on these computers, so I have to make every second count. Forgive me if I am brief.

So, I won the Wilmington Tri for the second time 2 weeks ago. I did not feel to great having just come off a long wedding weekend on the outer banks. Basically it turned into 4 straight days of surfing and partying with no training at all. Luckily though, I felt good enough to pull out the overall victory. The win was all the sweeter due to the fact that my girlfriend, Holli, was able to watch me race. Little did we know that a photog from the Lumina News was snooping around at the finish line at caught us in a rather candid moment shortly after I crossed the line. Needless to say, the photo ended up in the paper that week.

Due to my victory at Wrightsville, I am now poised to take over one of the top spots in the NCTS as I get for the final race in the series at Pinehurst this weekend. It certaintly won't be easy with the likes of Tom Clifford, Eric Bean, Tim Surface, and Richard Armstrong racing, but at this point I have nothing to lose. The way I see it, everyone should be worried about what I'm going to do and we'll see how everything pans out when the dust settles.

Ok, only 4 minutes left on the computer. Going to Phoenix on November 1st for the Amica Championship Race. $20,000 up for grabs in this first year event. Afterwards, I'm flying out to San Diego for a week to see my girl for some good old fashioned r&r.

Bandits Challenge

2009-08-10T05:09:00.000-07:00

Just got back from a great weekend of racing and training up in the mountains of North Carolina. On Saturday, I raced the Bandits Challenge Triathlon up in Wilkesboro, NC. This race is often regarded as one of the toughest international distance tri's in the country for its challenging bike course and leg breaking hills on the run. The run in particular has a hill that about 90% of the field end up walking due to how steep it is.

Going into the race, I was not sure how things were going to go. I felt ok, but definitely had some fatigue from the last few weeks of training. Getting in on the swim, I felt smooth, but not very powerful. I still came out of the water first, with my buddy Dave Sokolofsky on my heels and the next closest guy about a minute back. Once I got on the bike though I started to feel a lot better. I managed to lop off 3 minutes from my bike split from last year, and came into t2 only 30 seconds down from Dave. I had worked pretty hard on the bike to try and maintain my lead, so I was a little worried about how my legs would feel once I got off and running. Much to my delight, my legs felt pretty good, and I was able to start turning over a very fast clip. I passed Dave within the first mile and held my lead to the end. I ended up taking the victory by over two and a half minutes and breaking the course record by over a minute. Dave was eventually passed by fellow Wilmington triathlete Tom Clifford, who came in second, while Dave held on for third. Overall, a great day for Wilmington triathlete's, sweeping the top 3 spots at the hilliest triathlon in North Carolina

The day after the race, me, Tom, and a couple guys hung around to ride some mountains for training. We ended up riding the 3 Mountain Madness course in Winston-Salem. Although I was tired and pretty broken down, I still managed to put in three and a half hours of quality mountain riding.

The training we did yesterday combined with the race on Saturday gives me an enormous amount of confidence heading into Nationals in 2 weeks. I was not rested for this weekend, so I'm very excited to see how I feel when I taper down.

Philly Tri, San Francisco, and a little Lifeguard Competition

2009-07-18T05:26:00.000-07:00

So as you may have noticed, I have been slacking on my updates lately. It's been a very chaotic last three weeks. After two tri's and a lifeguard competition later, and I am finally getting back to neutral.

It all started with the Philadelphia Triathlon back on June 27th. This would be my first race back since my accident, and would give me an idea of where my fitness was going into the later half of the season. I was mainly just concerned about how I would feel on the swim, considering the separated shoulder was one of the more severe injuries I sustained. Ironically though, my swim felt great. I was able stay right on the heels on the lead pack of swimmers with relative ease. I had a decent T1, and was quickly out on the bike. The bike course in Philly is quite interesting. It had plenty of dead flat sections along the river, but four decent climbs equally separated throughout the two loop course. I struggled to find my rhythm on the first lap, and not to far in, lost contact with the leaders. I was a little disappointed, but thought it would be better to ride my own race rather than blow up towards the end of the bike. Coming into T2, I had a bit more company. A few guys had caught me towards the end of the bike. Heading out on the run, I felt strong, but was a bit demoralized to see that I had lost two minutes on the group I came out of the water with. I just tried to keep plugging away, and eventually came within striking distance of a few guys, but ran out of room. I ended up 11th place overall, which for getting hit by a car, did not seem all that bad. Nothing to really celebrate about, but still a decent result all things considered. Plus, there was no time to celebrate. After how good I felt on the swim, I figured I should definitely do the San Francisco ITU Pan Am Cup in two weeks.

Upon arriving home, I immediately started laying out plans for San Francisco. It was very short notice, but I was able to get some deals on a flight out of Charlotte and a place to stay. One thing I did not plan on was having my car act up on me again. The damn thing has been giving me issues for several months now. Sometimes it starts fine and then other times I stuck trying to crank it for 20 minutes. I had a switch replaced 2 months ago that was supposed to fix the problem, but it just cam right back. I took the car back in a week before San Francisco only to have them tell me that I need another switch replaced. At this point I'm about to go insane, but I had no other choice but to get this thing replaced. The only hitch was that they did not have the part in stock, so they would have to overnight the damn thing so that it arrived before I had to drive to Charlotte. I was planning on leaving at about 1:30 am on Thursday to make my 8:00 am flight out of Charlotte. The part finally came in on Wednesday morning. I dropped my car off and planned on picking it up after work. So I swung by around 6:00 paid the ridicules bill and hoped in my car. Click! NOTHING. The damn thing still would not start!. I was ready to murder everyone at the shop. Just as I'm going to tell them what happened, a guy walks over and says he thinks its the starter that causing all my problems. So he finds a new starter, installs it in about 30 minutes, and damned if you know it, the car started with no hesitation.

Ok, so in the interest of time, I'm going to cut to the chase. The race went well. Had a good swim, but ran past my bike, so I missed the lead pack on the bike leg. Came into t2 30 seconds down on the main pack, but was only able to muster a 38 min 10k. A little disappointing, but overall a decent race.

The lifeguard comp was awesome, as usual. I think I have more fun at these things than any other athletic competition. The events are so unique, and the atmosphere is incredible. I managed some top 3 performances in a few events. Most notably, I was second in the run-swim-run event with my two other teammates finishing 1st and 3rd. We crushed everyone, and were basically able to jog the last 100 meters.

The party that ensued Thursday night did not disappoint either. It doesn't get much better than 250+ lifeguards all getting rowdy. And we aint talking regular drunk, we're talking Myrtle Beach drunk!

Ok, I'm almost done with this damn post. I really need to post more often. So, yesterday I raced the innaugural Amica Triathlon at Lake Wylie. I basically needed to do this race in order to get 5 races in for the NCTS by the end of the season. I managed to pull off the victory by about 3o seconds. I'm basically just trying to race myself back into shape right now, so yesterday was really just a good workout.

Alright, I'm done. If you made it this far, I commend you. Next up on the calendar is Bandits Challenge followed two weeks later by Elite Nationals down in 'bama. August is going to be a painful month.

2009 Kestrels Have Arrived!

2009-06-08T05:02:00.000-07:00

So I just got my new 2009 Kestrels in, and lets just say they are the heat! Or you could just say they're awesome, but I like saying the heat. The first one to arrive was the Evoke SL. This is Kestrels classic round (or somewhat round) tube, lightweight road racing machine. The Evoke will be my weapon of choice for all draft-legal tri's as well as any road races and crits I decide to do throughout the season. Right out of the box, you can already tell this thing is built for racing. With its over sized down tube and seat tube, the Evoke has the stiffness to transfer all off your power forward. It's also remarkably comfortable too. The first day I took it out, I went for a solid 60 mile solo training ride over some smooth roads and some not so smooth roads. After the ride, I still felt nice a fresh. No lingering back pains or numbness anywhere. I'm really thrilled about the Sram Rival component spec too. This group performs just as good if not better than my old Ultegra group and at a fraction of the cost. Each shift is accentuated by crisp feedback at the lever. I've ridden Sram's top of the line Red group as well, and aside from weight, they are nearly identical in function and performance. I'm really excited to get out and race this thing as soon as possible.

Like I said, the Evoke will be strictly for draft-legal events due to its reliable handling and agility. For non-drafting events, I have been provided with the Airfoil Pro SL. I just finished assembling the Airfoil yesterday, and all I want to do is ride it. This thing is just begging to be ridden steep and aggressive, just the way I like it. The short head tube allows you to get as low as you could ever possibly need to go. In the past, I have ridden frames were I am slammed down on to the headset with no spacers and still feel like I need to get lower. I like the Airfoil, because you have a very wide range of fit options from super aggressive to relaxed without the need for one of those expensive adjustable angle stems. What was also quite remarkable was the weight. With its deep tube sections, you would think the Airfoil would be a bit on the chunky side. Not the case. My stock 56cm Airfoil without pedals weighed in at just over 17 lbs (17lbs 4oz to be exact). Not bad for an Ultegra build, training wheels, and stock steel railed saddle. Now all I need to do is get fit and I'm good to go.

That's all for now. I'll try and get some pics of the bikes up later today for a little eye candy. Next up on the war path is the NC State Road Race Champs this coming weekend. Following that is the Philadelphia Insurance Tri, which will be my first tri back since the accident. Training is going remarkably well, and I know I'm going to have a great race.

Ok, so I was just riding along....

2009-05-09T08:02:00.000-07:00

Wow, what an interesting past 24 hours. So, you may or may not have heard by now, but I was involved in a slight accident. As the title implies, I was just riding along coming up Waynick Blvd. at Wrightsville Beach when a Blockade Runner employee decides to make a left hand turn into the hotel parking lot. Long story short, he nailed me and I shot across his hood and cracked my helmet wide open. Apparently the force was great enough the my arm/shoulder left a nice indentation trail across his hood. He claims I waved him on, which is a heaping load of shit. Pardon my language, but this guy better get his story straight before I see him again or else I'll straighten it out for him. Why on earth would I stop in the middle of Waynick and allow someone to cut in front of me? The answer is I would not, because I did not. I think he was just scared to admit that he was rushing, late to work, or flat out did not see me.

Either way, what's happened has happened, and it's time to move on. I now need to focus on getting better as soon as possible so that I can get back to training and racing. As of right now, it looks like the Austin Continental Cup is off for me. Not exactly what I want to hear right now, but I need to be realistic. Fortunately, I did not brake any bones although I did have a pretty good concussion. My left collarbone/shoulder is pretty sore and stiff, but should hopefully heal up quickly. My left foot is pretty swollen on top, but my ankle feels fine. Did I mention I had a concussion? (a little humor there). Apparently while I was in the hospital I was asking the same questions over and over again. Everyone was getting a kick out of that. Also, after we found out that I had no broken bones, my next concern was my Assos bib shorts! I was afraid they had gotten chewed up or they were going to have to cut them of me! It's funny the things that go through your head when in such a state.

I'm finally at home now. My good friend Kate to excellent care of me last night and this morning. Also, Melanie was with me the whole time, and made sure I was ok. It's so great to have people that care about you and will drop everything they are doing to help when your in need. As for now I'm just going to rest and ice. Maybe if I get around to it, I'll post a classic "thumbs up" shot like you always see in the paper!

Dilworth Criterium

2009-05-03T10:00:00.000-07:00

So, spur of the moment I decided to head up to Charlotte for the 36th annual Dilworth Criterium. The Cat 3/4 race was set to go off at 12:30 which is great because this is the time the Austin Continental Cup is going off. I figured it would be the perfect tuneup to race in the heat of the day and throw a quick run in afterwards. Unfortunately, I had to make the trip solo, but I still had a great time.

On to the race. I showed up around 11:45 and had to immediately go register and get set up. By the time I was all suited up though, the maters race was almost done, and I had no time to warm up. After the masters finished, I was able to get in one lap of the course and then we were called to the line. It was a big field (about 50 or so) and unfortunately I had to line up at the back of it.

As is customary in crit racing, we got off to a fast start. There was on tight 90 degree turn at the bottom of a hill on the course which proved to be quite interesting in the first few laps. After about 4 laps, I had moved up to the front about 10 wheels back, and was sitting in good position. However, just as soon as I got there, some one decided to launch a move off the front on the downhill section of the course. I followed the move, thinking it would be nice to hit the turn at the bottom of the hill in the lead. Though, much to my surprise, the move had caused quite a bit of separation from the group as we headed up the one climb on the course. Eventually it was me a three other guys of the front increasing our lead with each lap. We were pushing a very hard tempo for the first 10 minutes, and there were a couple of times when I thought I was going to get dropped. The field was trying to pull us back in, but they could not get organised enough to finish off the job. So we just kept cranking away and eventually made it to about 8 laps to go and we still had a 30 second lead. We pretty much had it wrapped up at that point, but we still had to keep the pressure on.

Then, with just over 2 laps to go, one of my fellow escapees decides to attack when I'm on the front heading up the climb. I tried to follow his wheel, but he had sand bagged the last few laps and made a very powerful move. Eventually with one lap to go, my other two break partners and myself regrouped. We kept working trying to bring him in, but he had made quite a dent. My final desperate move for a win came at the downhill 90 degree bend. I lead into the corner and attacked with everything I had coming out of it. Unfortunately, it was still a ways to go, and I simply ran out of gas. The other two passed me with 200 meters to go and I ended up fourth.

All in all, this was a great race for me. I trained very hard all week, and was far from fresh for this race. I had to really work hard to stick with my breakaway group. I went for a short run immediately after finishing to see how the legs felt. It hurt, but when I'm rested I should be able to hop off the bike and run hard even after an intense effort like this. This was a great day of training and it was made sweeter by the fact that I won back my entry fee and some cash to cover gas money.

Next stop on the list is White Lake Sprint II next weekend. I decided to enter this race at the last minute figuring it would be a good tune up race for Austin on the 25th.

St. Anthony's Report

2009-04-28T10:45:00.000-07:00

Just got back from St. A's yesterday. Wow, what a long trip but it was all worth it. I ended up about a minute and a half faster than last year under much more challenging conditions. As I'm sure many of you have heard by now, they had to cancel the swim for the age-groupers due to rough and windy conditions. Tough call to make, but what are your going to do? Despite the rough conditions, I managed to beat my swim time from last year by about 10 seconds where as a good number of guys were slower. I ended up coming out of the water 11th which made me feel pretty good considering the company I was in. As you might have guessed from the water conditions, there was a bit of wind out on the bike course, but again I beat last years split by about 15 seconds, averaging 25.4 mph. I felt strong the whole way through, and was very proud with that result. On to the run, I was sitting in about 19th overall and still felt pretty good. However, after a mile or so, I just felt flat, and unable to switch into my race gear. Though I still managed to run 35:05, about 50 seconds faster than last year. I would have liked to run low 34's, but I just ran out of gas. I ended up 21st overall on the day against a field that many thought to be one of the strongest ever in the history of the race. I'll try to get some pics up as soon as possible.

Next up on the list is the Austin ITU Continental Cup in Texas against another extremely stacked field. This will be my first draft legal event of the year and I'm really excited for it. I'm completely injury free and ready to build off my good fitness leading into this race. Last year at this time I had to take 2 months off from biking and running due to injury. It's amazing how much more you can get done when your not injured!

Azalea Triathlon Report

2009-03-14T18:27:00.000-07:00

1st race, 1st win. I was successful at defending my Azalea Triathlon title. Although not by much. I took the overall victory today by a mere 2 seconds, the smallest margin of victory in North Carolina Triathlon Series history according to NCTS historians. Tom Clifford, local run coach/tri freak/beer lover, had an awesome race coming in second behind me. His swim and bike have improved a great deal over the past year, and it clearly showed today. It would have been an interesting finale if it was a mass swim start.

The race itself was not all that pleasant. We started off the day with 41 degree air temps and overcast skies with rain likely in the forecast. Fortunately, we lucked out on the rain and only had to deal with the raw temperatures. Due to the cold temps, I decided to warm up on my rollers at my house before the race. I only live a mile or two from campus, so I was able to leave at the last minute and still have time to get everything set up with minimum outdoor time.

On to the race. The swim at Azalea is a 300 yard pool snake swim. Pretty dag gone short and annoying to boot. However, one thing I like about this swim is that I don't get much of a lead going into coming out of the water, which means I have to be spot on for the rest of the race if I want to win. It presents a unique challenge that forces me to focus on my weakness's early on in the season. So anyway, the swim was pretty much business as usual. I think I was about 3:06 at the wall and 3:30 at the pad out the door. Pretty average swim time compared to my past Azalea experiences.

Unfortunately, Set Up had some timing issues and I only have my swim split. Everyone else has their splits without transitions taken out. Figures I would be the only one with all but one split missing. Any who, what can extrapolate from my finishing time of 46:08 is that I was 13 seconds slower than last year, and probably split about the same as last year on the bike and run. So about 23 mph on the bike and maybe a 17 low on the run. Despite coming off a recent battle with plantar faciitis, I felt fantastic on the run. My run split may have even been under 17, but it's so hard to gauge on a course like Azalea which is riddled with 90 degree turns and a 180 degree turn-around that just zap your speed.

One interesting piece of data that I do have is my power readings from the bike leg. I was fortunate enough to be able to borrow our shops powertap wheel for today's race. I have not had a chance to upload it yet, but according to the computer I averaged 299 watts for the bike with an average speed of 23.4 mph. In terms of power, I feel like I had a great bike split. However, 23.4 mph is a little disappointing. My theory is that I was slowing down a lot more due to the damp conditions on the road, which brought my average speed down, but kept my power high due to the accelerations I was having to make. I just did some quick math, and determined that my watts per kilogram was 4.11. I think Lance used to be about 6.8 w/kg, so I guess I still have a ways to go until I win the tour. I'll post more power info once I download the data into the computer.

So another Azalea tri in the books. Maybe one of these years we will have nice weather again at this race. Next up on the calendar is St. Anthony's Triathlon down in St. Petersburg, Fl. This will be my first pro race of the season. The next few weeks are going to be full of some high intensity workouts to prepare myself.

Wolfpack Cycling Classic

2009-02-19T18:42:00.000-08:00

Ok, first race for the 09 season in the books. I always like to start of my early season training with a few road races and crits just to get some race miles under the legs. I really enjoy the Wolfpack Classic. The guys at NC State do a fantastic job and put on a great race. I really like how they are not afraid to make the road race a decent distance (54 miles for Cat 4).

On to the race. As I said, these early season races are more for training than anything else. We had a moderate size field of about 40+ guys to start the Cat 4 race. The first lap went along at a fairly relaxed pace. A few solo breaks went off the front, but were reeled in with little effort. However, as we approached the end of the first lap, I saw a guy about to make a move, and when he did, I decided to go with him. It was a really strong move, a we immediately opened up a 100 meter gap on the field. Unfortunately, once a came through to take a pull, my fellow escapee informed me that he had no intention of staying of for very long. Not exactly what I wanted to hear. At that point we had a fairly sizable gap, so I decided to just keep trucking. He managed to stick my wheel for a while, but we were reeled in rather quickly by a surprisingly hard charging peloton.

After my move on the first lap, I decided to just settle in and recover for the second lap, with hopes of saving energy for a break on the third and final lap. So, about midway through the final lap I figured it was time to try another break. I made a hard charge from about 8 wheels back up and over a small climb and opened up a small gap, only to be swallowed up a few minutes later. At this point I was getting a little tired, so I figured I would wait and see if anyone else was going to have a dig. As expected, a move was made on one of the longer climbs on the course. Three guys surged off the front towards the crest of the climb and opened up a gap on a weary peloton. This move was actually showing some promise. I hesitated for a second waiting to see if anyone else was going to lay chase to the break. No one was attempting to bridge yet, so I went off the front to try and make contact with the three leaders. My legs were burning at this point, so my move was quite as snappy I wanted it to be, but I finally made contact with the leaders. However, I was devastated when I turned around and realized that what I thought was on guy riding me wheel was actually the whole field. Well, the sprinters can thank me for that one!

Coming into the file few miles, I was in desperation mode. I was not in the mood to contest a field sprint. My best chances in winning are in breakaway's. So, my final move came with about four miles to go. I knew there was a 90 degree turn up ahead and I figured I might be able to create some separation if I attack heading into it. About 200 meters out, I made my move up on the inside. My legs were really burning at this point, but I knew I had to try anyway. I nailed the turn at full speed and hammered with everything I had. But, it just wasn't meant to be. The pace up until this point had not been very fast, and the sprinters in the bunch were not going to let anyone slip away this close to the finish. So I settled back into the group and tried to prepare for the sprint. A couple more attacks went, but no one had the horsepower to hold of the group. Coming into the sprint, I felt I could still have a decent finish. I had could positioning about 8 wheels back on the left hand side with a full lane to my left that opened at 200 meters to go. Unfortunately, I waited to long and got boxed in on my left side. The guy whose wheel I was following in front of me also got cut off and almost wrecked. At that point I just sat up realizing that a move up the middle would be to risky. It's not worth crashing this early in the season.

So all in all, a great day of racing. Things did not go quite as planned, but I got a great workout, which was my primary goal. Next up on the calendar is the Azalea Festival Triathlon here in Wilmington. This is always a fun race, and a good early season ice breaker.

Sponsor Update

2009-01-16T11:29:00.000-08:00

Just wanted to take a moment to mention a Power Cordz as my latest sponsor addition for 2009. Power Cordz makes a full line of deraileur and brake cables and housing for both road and mountain bikes. What sets them apart is the fact that there cables are not steel but a synthetic fiber called Zylon HM or PBO. It’s stronger than steel and twice as strong as Kevlar. In addtion, its extremely lightweight. A full Power Cordz System will save you 45-60 grams of weight over traditional systems! Just with cables! Check them out at www.powercordz.com.

Sponsor Update

2008-11-07T07:11:00.000-08:00

Just wanted to take a second to thank my latest sponsor SKINS for taking me on board. SKINS will be my official compression wear sponsor. I have experienced the benefits of compression wear first hand and know that SKINS' products will help me reach my goals in 09 and beyond. Check out their stuff at www.skins.net.

Elite Nationals & Pinehurst Race Reports

2008-10-12T06:49:00.000-07:00

For some reason, I can never remember to post my race reports. So, I'm just going to kill two birds with this one.

First off, nationals. What a trip. This was my first time to the west coast. I flew in on Thursday to a raw and overcast Portland. Quite the shock from the still summer like heat in Wilmington. The next day, I went up to the Hagg lake to do some recon and go to the pre race meeting. Riding and running in this area is absolutely amazing. Beautiful forests and crisp, clean air. We had been told a week before the race that the water was around 73 degrees, however upon jumping in for a quick swim, I realized this was no longer the case. The temp had dropped to 68 in the past week due to below average temps. The ITU wetsuit cutoff is 68 degrees. Just days before, I was swimming in the 82 degree water of the Atlantic, so this was quite the shock. Our race started at 2 o'clock the next day, and I think all of us were hoping that the temp would either drop a half degree or warm up five over night. It did neither. The water temp at race start was a crisp 68.5 degrees under cloudy skies and 60 degree air temps. Needless to say, warming up and then having to get out and wait around for the start was none to pleasant.

Anyways, on to the race. It got off to a fast and furious start (as usual) with everyone jockeying for position. I was tucked nicely in the upper quarter of the group for the first half of the swim. However, it was clear after we hit the half way mark that I was not on good form as I let the lead swim group slip away from me. Still, I led the chase group out of the water which still had some very strong guys in it ( Victor Plata, Jarrod Shoemaker, etc...). Again though, once I hit the bike, I realized that my legs were just not there. I ended up getting dropped from my chase group on the second lap of this very hilly course. I regrouped with on e other guy who came up behind me, and we worked together for the majority of the race just trying not to get lapped by hard charging leaders Reed and Chrabot. We managed to stay away with the help of two other riders who came flying up on us on lap 6. I scrambled to stick there wheels for the last two laps. Once I made it to the run, I was completely exhausted and quickly reverted to a survival pace. I ended up finishing 29th out of 38 on the day. All in all, a very disappointing performance for me. I really wanted this to be a break through race for me. However, there are some positives to take away from this. Firstly, I finished! There were a bunch of guys that had to drop all along the course either because they got lapped or just pulled out. Second, I was racing against the top short course triathletes in the country and world and managed a somewhat respectable result. And third, I have a better understanding of exactly where my fitness needs to be when I compete at these events.

In retrospect, the months leading up to this race were not very good for me as far as training is concerned. I had a couple of rough weeks with work and training where I got extremely exhausted, and instead of taking rest when I needed it, I tried to push through and ended up overtraining. Not a very good situation.

Ok, on to Pinehurst. This is one of my favorite races in the NCTS. Beautiful scenery, a clean lake, and usually some of the best competition of any series race. Ironically though, the course does not suit me at all. The bike very rolling, making it hard for a flat lander like myself to get a rhythm. The run is also very rolling. To top it all off, the swim is wetsuit legal. However, I really enjoy the entire event. Going into this year, I was a little unsure of exactly where my fitness would be on race day. After my race at nationals, there was some doubt as to what I could do. However, the 2 weeks leading up to this race were much different than nationals. I was starting to feel some strength on the bike and my swim was really starting to come around. Figures this would happen after the big race, but you live and learn. So, I had a little more confidence heading into race day.

The Swim: Could hardly see a damn thing. There was a thick layer of fog settling right on the lake surface due to the 50 degree air temps at race start. It was impossible to see any of the buoys. Essentially we just had to swim blind in the direction of the first buoy, and hope for the best. Fortunately, I was able to navigate the course quite well, and opened up a lead of about 45 seconds over my nearest rivals.

The Bike: Like I said earlier the air temp was roughly 55 at race start, so the breeze had a little extra nip to it. My feet quickly went numb, however it really did not bother me that much. I was feeling relatively strong on the bike. Not quite at the form I was in back in April, but still not terrible. I was caught a bit off guard though when Dave Sokolofsky passed me at around mile ten. I had hoped to lead the entire way, but it was clear when he passed me so soon that I was having just a mediocre bike. But, I kept my cool and just tried to keep him in striking distance for the run. Unfortunatley, towards the end of the bike I was passed by two more guys riding the exact same pace (miraculous) and one other about 30 second later.

The run: I came off the bike in fifth place about a minute down from Dave. I had a quick transition and was out on course. I could see all four guys ahead of me on the first straight away. This gave me a ton of confidence as my legs were feeling strong and I had plenty off time to bridge those gaps. I quickly passed Lance Leo for 4th, and set my sights of the next two. I then passed Dave, who was clearly not having a good run. I was inching closer and closer to the two leaders, but I was surprised that I was not bringing them back faster. I finally bumped up to second around mile 3 and maintained my distance for roughly a mile. At mile four, I decided to make my move. I was only 20 meters from first, and figured I could bridge the gap real fast and sit on his hip. Unfortunately, he was watching me the whole time, and surged every time I made an attack. Much to my disappointment, he managed to hold me off to the finish and I ended up second rough 15 seconds back. Later I found out the guy I was chasing was Richard Armstrong, a neo pro at the half distance. This made me feel a little better about losing to him, but I was still very unhappy with the fact that I blew the huge lead I had on him after the swim.

After the dust settled, my finish at Pinehurst was enough to put me into 2nd pace overall in the the Open Division for the NCTS improving on my 3rd overall from last year. All in all, not bad considering I missed the entire middle part of my season due to injury and had to miss some of my best races. Next year I'll just have to move up one more to claim the top spot.

So I know what your thinking, yay Matt, your done for the season, take a break you crazy fool! Oh if only it were that easy. There is one more race on my calender. It is the final race in the Haul to the Great Wall ITU series, the San Francisco ITU Pan Am Cup. Essentially it is the last race on the pro calendar and my last chance to meet the elite re-qualification standards for next year. I needed to place within 8% of the winners time at a pro race in order to re-qualify for an elite card for the next two years. I have was within seconds of making this at St. Anthony's and Musselman, but was unable to pull it out. So, with the money I won from the NCTS I going to buy a ticket to San Francisco. I'm going to stay with my good friend Kevin while I'm out there which will be fun. I guess you could say this is an all in situation. Time to put up or shut up and get the job done. This is not to say that I could not just qualify again next year, but it would make things a lot easier to get it done now.

So that is where I stand as of right now. I'm feeling very strong right now, and I'm getting in some great workouts. Now I just need to keep this momentum up for one more month and try not to go broke with this last trip. Working all the time and trying to do this pro thing is not always easy. Work is definitely a conflict of interest when it comes to be a top athlete, but you have to believe it what you are doing and know that one day it will all pay off.

Bandits Challenge

2008-08-21T20:10:00.000-07:00

It's been quite a hectic past few weeks. Never really got to put up my Bandits report. Long story short, I came in second and had a strong race. I did not warm up for the swim (or anything for that matter), so it was a little slow going at first. I had a decent bike, but was feeling the fatigue from a week of intense heat and training. Came in off the bike in third and worked my way into second place after a mile or so. I felt strong on the run but was definitely holding back a bit so as to not relive my horrendous breakdown of three years ago.

All in all, a great training race. wish I could have taken first, but I think I was just a little to broken down to pull it out. I'll be racing Lake Norman tomorrow, in my fourth of five races in the NCTS. I am hoping for a solid result to help give me a boost in the overall standings. However, this will still pretty much just be a training race.

Kure Beach Race Report

2008-07-09T05:52:00.000-07:00

Well, its been a while since I have posted anything, so let me bring you all up to speed. My leg is feeling great. I have already been back running for 3 weeks and have built back up to doing hour long training runs. My form has come back fairly quick, and spirits are high.

On to Kure Beach. A few weeks out I while a little worried about trying to race at Kure beach, but in the week leading up to the race, my leg felt great. I ended up having a great race and taking the overall win by 2 minutes. So lets break it down. My first swim was probably the best part of the whole race. There was a very long run-out in shallow water until you were able to swim, so I started dolphin diving in about knee deep water while everyone else was still trying to high step it. This is where years of surfing and lifeguarding experience pays dividends. I ended up putting about a minute on everyone in only 375 meters. Then, the moment of truth: the first run. I settled into a comfortable pace, making sure not to push myself to hard early on and pull something. I soon realized that I was feeling pretty darn good, so I decided to pick it up a bit. For the second run I thought why not see what my leg can do. So, along the straight-away, I really opened up my stride to full race pace and nothing broke! I shut it down a bit towards the end of the run, figuring that there was no sense in pushing it to the point where something would break. I got in for the final swim with a healthy lead, but I still pushed it as hard as I could since there is no substitute for race pace training. Oh yeah, and the bike was good too. I ended up having the fastest bike split on the day. The conditions were challenging, with a tail wind going out and a head wind coming back on the two loop straight out and back course.

So that was my race. This was a great ice breaker, considering I have not done a full tri since April. I'm so stoked that my leg is feeling better and I can finally train again. Looking forward, this was a great tune up race for the Geneva ITU Continental Cup this weekend. This will be my second draft legal race, and my first pro draft legal. I've got my Kestrel RT-800 all dialed in and ready to go. I've already done a few criteriums on it and love the way in handles. For a while I was kind of anti-carbon frames, but I can honestly say I am a believer now. The carbon really does soak up road vibration and keeps you feeling fresher on longer rides.

Well thats it for now. I should have a report posted from my ITU race posted sometime next week.

St. Anthony's Report

2008-04-29T17:59:00.000-07:00

Just got back from Florida last night. I think I have had enough of driving to races already this year. Alabama and Florida were both 10 hour drives.

But anyways, the race. This was hands down the biggest race of my life. It was really something else. There I was, lining up with Greg Bennett to my left and Craig Alexander to my right. Other notable racers were Matt Reed (Beijing bound after last week), Andy Potts, Faris Al-Sultan, Stephen Hackett, Massimo Cignana, Richie Cunningham, and the list goes on.

The swim got off in a hurry, with Reed and Potts not wasting any time and gapping the field before I knew what was going on. I was feeling strong and in control throughout the whole swim, just hanging in the main pack. However, I tried to pick it up a bit to try and bridge up, but I was unable to pick up the pace. I eventually came out of the water with a chase pack of about 11 or 12 guys. Interesting enough, Bennett and I came out of the water side by side, the same as we had entered. I had a solid transition onto the bike and I was off and running. My new Kestrel Talon felt great. My positioning is far far better than my previous setup. I was also borrowing a Zipp disc and Zipp 808 front wheel (thanks Kate) for the race. The combination of the two was phenomenal. I don't think I droped below 25 mph the entire time except for turns. I ended up having hands down the best bike leg of my entire career, averaging 25.3 mph for the 40k. Again, I had a solid transition from bike to run. I took it out strong but conservative, slowly catching two guys by about mile 2. Unfortunately, I have been having some leg issues as of late. I have been stuck on elliptical machines for the past month and a half. I was still in some pain from last weekends effort going into Sunday. Consequently, the second half of the run was a bit rough. I could feel some straining in my lower right leg, and was afraid to over extend myself lest I do something really bad. I still managed to pull off a 35:55 ruin split, but was a little disappointed knowing that, had I been injury free the past month, I could have really busted some heads. Little did I know at the time, but one of the guys I was chasing down on the run was 2005 Ironman World Champion Faris Al-Sultan. Unfortunately I was unable to catch him, but I still feel good knowing I was right there with some of the best in the world. My final time was 1:56.26, a pr for the international distance and good enough for 17th in a VERY stacked pro division.

As I mentioned above, my leg is not exactly in tip-top shape. However, its nothing that I am to worried about. I just need to keep my mind on the big picture. Therefore, my race schedule might be slightly altered over the next month to ensure proper healing. This will gurantee that I am in peak physical condition for my first ITU races.

2012 Talent ID Invite Report

2008-04-20T13:24:00.000-07:00

Victory! And 600 bucks to boot. After hanging around Tuscaloosa for what seemed like forever, I finally got the chance to race. I felt great on the swim despite the chilly water temps. I came out of the water in third position and felt really comfortable. After the the first lap myself and three other riders formed the lead group. However, one guy from navy took a spill at the turnaround on the first lap. This caused us to lose our rhythm a bit, but we quickly formed a strong group when one other rider bridged up and a very sketchy rider dropped off the back. The three of us got a good rotation going and held the first chase group of 9 riders to about one minute. Coming off the bike Nick Vandamme(sp) and myself stayed together for the first half of the first lap of the run. After taking it the first quarter at a comfortable pace, I made my move on Vandamme and never looked back. I ended up running a 16:51 for the 5k. A solid performance, but I would have liked to have gone under 16:30. Vandamme was able to hold off a hard charger from the first chase group who must have had the fastest run split on the day. Crossing the line in first was a great experience with a whole slew of photographers poised at the finish.

So things are going pretty good. I think I impressed some people today, and I am very pleased with that. It was very satisfying to beat all of the so called "pipeline athletes". In the end, it doesn't matter who USAT thinks is going to succeed and who to support. You just have to go out there and let your racing do the talking. They'll come around eventually.

Click HERE for the story on the USAT website!

Seahawk Invite / Lo Tide 10k

2008-03-17T06:58:00.000-07:00

Wow, what a crazy 24 hours. So basically, at the last minute, I decided to run in a collegiate track meet this past Saturday. I found out, from Tom Clifford, that you could enter and race even if your not a college student. I saw this as an opportunity to PR in the 5k, since I have never ran one on a track.

Leading up to the race, I was not really nervous, but was definitely a bit tired from a tough week of training following Azalea. The race started at 6:30pm, which also made things a little awkward. But once I got racing I felt great. I took the first mile out in 5:03 just cruising along. My 2 mile split was 10:10. At this point I thought, "holy crap, I'm gonna break 16:00!". As the coaches kept on reading off splits, it became clear that I was going to crush my best time. I ended up finishing 7th with a time of 15:51. Unbelievable. This just gives me so much confidence going into this season. I have not even been able to get in any speed work lately, so to run this fast this early in the season is further affirmation that I am going to dominate this year.

Oh yeah, the next morning me and a group of tri geeks woke up and biked down to Carolina Beach at 8am. We then ran in the St. Patrick's Day Lo Tide Run (10K). I ended up finishing second with a personal best time of 34:23. We then hung around for a beer or two and crushed the 20 mile bike ride home.

All in all, a great weekend of racing and training.

Azalea Triathlon

2008-03-10T11:04:00.000-07:00

The first tri of the season is in the books and I am very satisfied with the results. I finished first overall, though only by six seconds. However, with Azalea being a pool swim with a staggered start, there was no exciting neck in neck battle for the line. In fact, we finished about 3 hours apart due to a flat tire that caused Paul to have to start over at a later time. I would have liked to win by a little more, but its hard to be dissatisfied with a win.

Leading up to the race, I was getting flash backs from three years ago when the event was a total washout. Fortunately, the rains that had soaked the roads all day Friday and Saturday morning held off for the entire race. The sun even came out later in the day which made breaking down a little more tolerable. However, the weather still played a major role, as racers had to battle sustained 20-25 mph winds with gusts of 30-40 mph all the way up Wrightsville Ave.

Breaking down the race, I accomplished exactly what I set out to do. I had a strong swim to lead things out, fading a bit towards the end, but still my fastest split in this race to date. Being out of competitive swimming for more than a year now, I was very pleased with this result. I have been working hard to get back into swim shape for the ITU races I will do this season, and it has clearly payed off. T1 went very well, as I was using my new Lake tri shoes. This was the first time I had ever left my shoes clipped in for T1, so I was a bit nervous. However, I had practiced this many times in the weeks leading up to the race and had no trouble at all. Even though I was a bit slower getting in then I had practiced, I had one of the fastest T1 splits. It is amazing to think that if I had used my old shoes, and put them on in transition, I may very well have gotten second. On the bike, I felt very strong even when we hit the vicious headwind on Wrightsville. I was pushing it pretty hard on the bike, so I think that may have cost me a little bit of speed on the run. I really wanted to split under 17 minutes, but was 4 seconds shy. I have not done much speed work at all lately due to some nagging pains, so once I get back on the track, I should be in good shape.

So, in all a very successful day, and a great way to kick off the season. My confidence is high, and I'm ready rip it up this year.

And they're off...

2008-03-07T09:12:00.000-08:00

Welcome to my personal triathlon blog. I never thought I would see the day that I made one of these silly things. I always thought they were a waste of space, and wondered who would bother reading some of the crap people come up with. But here I am, doing the same thing.

However, this is a bit different. My main goal with this blog is to further enhance my triathlon career by creating a place for sponsors, potential sponsors, friends, family etc... to track my training and racing schedules. Throughout the season, I will post pre and post race reports, training logs, goals, schedules, and any other information that will help you follow my progression. In addition, I will probably add some posts from Set Up Events and Wrightsville Beach Ocean Rescue (my current employers) to keep you up-to-date on that side of my life.

I should be posting my first race report some time this weekend following the Azalea Festival Triathlon. This will be my first tri of the season, and hopefully my first win as well.

That's it for now. Thanks for coming by and keep checking back as the site builds.