Dilworth Criterium

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.