US Long Course National Championship, Oct. 18, 2008

I was really excited about this race. It was the 2008 US Long Course Triathlon National Championship, and the qualifier for the 2009 Team USA World Championship team. I was my best shape ever, and just come off a Half Ironman PR 3 weeks ago in South Carolina. Today I had a great swim and was up with the leaders on the bike until . . . disaster in the desert. Ugh!!! Here’s how it went.

I have raced Ironman and Half Ironman triathlons all over the world - Sweden, Denmark, the Caribbean, Australia and all over the United States - but this race in the desert outside Las Vegas may be the most beautiful course I have ever raced. Also might be one of the hardest. The swim was in Lake Mead, the man-made lake formed when the famous Hoover Dam was built in 1935 to control the Colorado River after is passes through the Grand Canyon. Absolutely stunning scenery around this lake. Red rock mountains rising among miles and miles of endless desert and canyons.

I knew the bike course was going to be hilly. Previewing the course by car the day before already made my legs start to hurt. No lights, stop signs, or civilization. Just the road and desert. Over 6,000 feet of climbing in just 56 miles. Then run a 13.1 half marathon. All in the desert. Ouch. I told my wife Anna that if I did not come back from the bike, come look for my body before the buzzards and rattlesnakes got me.

Two transitions. The swim-to-bike (T1) was down by Lake Mead, and bike-to-run (T2) was about 1500 feet above the lake in the little town of Boulder City, NV. Boulder City started as a tent village high above the Colorado River housing the workers building the Hoover Dam just after the Great Depression. It is now the only town in Nevada that does not allow gambling, thus is quite charming and does not have the ugly excess commercialism of Las Vegas and casinos.

Race morning was the usual buzz of excitement and adrenaline. There were 3 races that morning, a sprint distance, Olympic distance and the Half Ironman. Thus, there were several thousand athletes milling around in transition. I even bumped into 2007 Hawaii Ironman Champion Chris McCormack the day before at registration. He was doing the Olympic distance. Nice to see him there just 6 days after his bad luck in Hawaii, breaking a shifter cable during the bike and forced to drop out. Tough way to end your season, building for the biggest race and have a mechanical problem ruin everything. (Hmmm, I wonder what that feels like. Read on.)

I usually get a little nervous (anxious? focused?) before races, I’m no different than everybody else, but I think I worry about different things - my blood sugar, how much and when to eat and drink. I also think a lot about protecting my Omnipod insulin pump from getting ripped off in the swim. Since I expect to do well, I keep an eye on the competition, especially in a race like the National Championship where I have to finish top 10 to qualify for the 2009 World Championship in Australia with Team USA. But for the first time in many years I knew absolutely no one else in the race. Athletes were from all over the US, many from the west coast. I usually key off top guys I know I need to watch. Since I recognized no one in the dark race morning, I just assumed they were all top guys. I was calm and content in my own anonymous world. Anna and I even got to visit a bit by the lake right before the start. My last check of my blood sugar on my One Touch UltraMini meter was great, 130 Mg/dl, so I’d drink a few more carbs just before I hit the water. Everything felt right. I was ready to go fast.

Lake Mead was stunning at sun rise. It was a mass start of about 1000 males in the Half Ironman. I got off to a good start. For some reason, today I did not push too hard the first 300 meters like I often do. Must have been thinking about the 6,000 feet of desert climbing ahead. Being a mass start, there were a lot of feet to follow, if I could just find the right fast ones! Lake Mead is a beautiful cool, clear lake. The water even tasted fresh and clean. (We triathletes swallow a lot of water, especially in mass swim starts of 1,000 people.) After about 500 meters I could tell I was in the top quarter, and feeling really comfortable. My feet kept getting tapped and grabbed from guys behind me and I surged several times to break. After another 500 meters, I was passing guys right and left, and my arms felt super strong, body rotation was great. I found some great feet to follow with about 1000 meters to go and enjoyed a great draft until he began to tire and I surged around him. With 500 meters to go I still felt super and now like I was in the top 10% to 15% of the field.

When I came out of the water, we had to run 100 meters what seemed like straight up hill to the bike transition. At my bike I struggled to rip off my wetsuit (I hate it when the race does not have wetsuit strippers). It felt like a black Boa Constrictor wrapped around my ankle. Augh! That took more effort than the swim. Must have been the long run uphill in it. I grabbed my bike and ran with it another 100 meters up hill to start the bike. That uphill transition run was like an extra event!

My blood sugar on my One Touch UltraMini in T1 was 190 mg/dl. Not too bad. I did not bolus any insulin on my Omnipod pump, which by the way, had stayed rock solid on my arm during the swim. I knew (hoped) my basal rate and pounding my quads up and down climbs for 56 miles in the desert would bring it down. I saw Anna just as I mounted my bike outside transition. Later she told me she estimated I was in the top 50 at that point, but I think it was more like the top 75 or 100, but either way, that was a fantastic swim for me (my weakest event) in a national championship race of 1,000 top males from the US.

The bike course was one steep rolling hill after another. That meant you could not hammer out of transition like happens in most races. It was climb, climb, climb for about 5 minutes, then rip a screaming descent for about 2 minutes. On one descent in the first 5 miles I hit 47 mph. I was feeling good and passing guys like I usually do. It was an out and back course. I knew there was one right turn at mile 10, then 14 miles to the turn around point at mile 24, then 32 miles back the same way past T1 by the lake and up the mountain to T2 in Boulder City for the run. By the turn at mile 10 I was feeling great, passing the good swimmers who always get ahead of me. Occasionally getting passed by some of those little water bug guys on the climbs who weigh about 145 lbs, but I expected that. I’d catch those little dudes on the flats and descents. The air was cool and, of course, very dry. Felt like, uh . . . a desert. I concentrated on drinking and pushing the pace hard on all down hills and flatter sections, and pacing smart up the climbs so not to blow my legs for the final climb and run.

As much as I was concerned about this intimidating bike course, I was amazed at how time flew by. I usually never look off the course but today I could not resist. The scenery was stunning in the early morning hours, no traffic and no signs or sounds of humanity for miles. The miles just seemed to blaze past. About 2-3 miles from the turn around at mile 24, on a long climb I encountered the first guys heading back down the other way. I started counting and got to about 40 before I hit the turn around myself. I knew I was in a great position at that point and would probably catch a bunch of them the next 32 miles before we got to the run. I hit the turn around in 1 hour, 10 minutes, so I guess I was averaging about 21 mph for the first 24 miles. I’d take that on about 3,000 feet of climbing. I was hoping to average about 21 mph for the whole bike, down from my usual 23-24 mph race average, but this one had way too much climbing.

On the return I still felt good, passing guys about every 5 minutes. With all the climbs drafting was not a problem. It’s a good thing, since the officials never would have caught anyone anyway. Unlike the stealth Honda Gold Wings they usually ride, these officials were riding the back of Harley’s. Unbelievable. I could hear them coming from miles away. Like helicopters across the desert.

Reaching the top of a short climb at about mile 30, I was startled by a cyclist passing me on the left, followed closely by another, and another, with another by his side and another behind him. What the ??? I did a double take. I don’t know how long these 5 or 6 guys had been riding like this, but they were drafting like a mini peloton.

“Good lord,” I manage to grunt at them, short of breath on this climb. “Can I get a seat on this train?” They got the message and broke up around me.
One guy hovering on my left side obviously saw my Omnipod on my triceps. “What’s that on your arm?”
“Insulin pump,” I said. “I’m diabetic.”
“Oh. Wow. Good job man. My sister is diabetic. She’s on the list for a kidney transplant.”
Oh, that’s a nice thought during my race. Diabetes and kidney failure. “Good luck to her,” I said. Cresting the hill I surged ahead on the descent, caught the first guy and never saw any of them again.

I was really feeling good now. I made the climb back to the left turn at the 10 mile point going out, now mile 38 for me going back. This turn is at the small Lake Las Vegas, a small man-made pond and oasis in the desert for a Ritz-Carlton hotel and a few homes. Seems like a crime against nature, robbing the earth of precious water in the desert to build a hotel. There’s reason nothing grows out here.

I had slight tightness in my quads now, but I expected that. I had plenty left in the tank for the last 20 miles, including the brutal final 6 mile climb at 8% grade coming up at mile 50. I was just pacing now, concentrating on drinking. The dry air is so different from training at home in the sweaty, humid southeast US. In the desert your sweat evaporates immediately and you’re dehydrated before you know it.

At mile 44 I’m charging down a descent, pushing the biggest gear I’ve got at about 35 mph . . . when something doesn’t feel right. My pedals seem to skip. I push down but the crank arm jumps, but the bike doesn’t surge with it. Sort of like trying to ride with my back tire spinning in mud. At first I thought my crank arm was loose. I looked down and moved my foot side to side. No, not the crank arm. I pushed again. Slip. Slip. Same thing. Uh, oh. Something weird is going on here.

I hit the bottom of the climb and started pedaling, but the bike would not respond. My crank arms and pedals would rotate, but the bike would not go. I pulled over, jumped off and started looking. Crap. I’m thinking, looking. Crap. Not now. Things were going so well. Crap! What’s wrong here? Cranks are good. Not a flat tire. Racers zip by me about every 15 or 30 seconds. Crap!

I pull off the rear wheel and the cassette is completely loose. What in the world? That’s never happened before. I pulled out the skewer and tried to line up the cogs, replacing them back in line. The lock ring was loose and tightening a cassette is not your normal roadside repair. I did not have the right tools, so I jammed my skewer on it to see if I could get it tightened enough to get me going.

About 5 minutes had passed now. Racers kept going by me. Crap!

Since these mechanical problems happen suddenly without warning in a race, the adrenaline often clouds the mind. I remember now I actually spent about 30 seconds looking around my bike on the side of the road for the tool to tighten the cassette, like it was supposed to be attached. You never carry that tool with you, even on a training ride and certainly not a race. It was back in my bike tool box 1,500 miles away in South Carolina. It took me about 30 seconds to come to my senses.

I put the wheel back on and spun the pedals. Uh oh. Still no good. The cassette spun but the wheel did not.

Cyclist still whizzed by me.

Everything stopped for me at that point. A sinking feeling set in. The hub on my wheel was broken. I was finished. My race was over.

I crossed to the opposite side of the road to get out of the way of athletes from behind, and started walking with my bike. A slow, mentally tormenting walk . . . alone in the desert. I did not know when a support vehicle would come by. Until then, I had no choice but to just walk toward the next aid station.

I walked about a half mile until a support vehicle came by and gave me a ride up the mountain to Boulder City and the run transition. Anna saw me walking with my bike about 100 meters away and knew it was bad news.

I’ve had lots of disappointing races, but usually it’s my body and performance. This time it was my bike. I keep meticulous care of my bike and race equipment, and had no way of knowing this would happen. I raced this wheel many times this year with no problems, even the SC Half Ironman just 3 weeks ago. Talking to a rep from Zipp wheels (the manufacturer) after the race, he suggested that a little spring inside the hub broke, but I’d never know it was about to happen. After 4 years and dozens of Ironman and Half Ironman races on this race wheel with no problems, I guess I can’t complain. I get my body and everything else in perfect shape, travel across the country and all is lost due to a little spring I’ve never seen. A spring, a spring, my kingdom for a spring!

I’m very disappointed. Anna did her best to cheer me up, even made a little cartoon photo with my bike saying “Help I have a broken hub!” Now I have all winter to chew on this. But frustration makes for determined offseason training.

Thanks for all of your comments and emails. This offseason I’ll be speaking at a lot of events for my sponsors LifeScan (One Touch blood sugar meters) and Insulet (Ominpod insulin pump), Nutrisoda and others so I’ll give reports.

Stay healthy, exercise and eat healthy! Keep going!

Joslin Under the Stars Benefit Event

If you follow my blog and website, you know I am honored to have a special relationship with the world renowned Joslin Diabetes Center in Boston, MA. Joslin is the best medical facility in the world for treating people with diabetes, and even better, the leading research facility to find a cure.

My wife, Anna, and I, and even our 1 1/2 year old baby daughter Janna, attended the Joslin Under the Stars event in Boston, September 24 -26. Anna could not attend the first day, so baby Janna and I flew to Boston alone and spent the whole day and evening together- 3 airports, 2 airplanes, a cocktail party, and then the Boston Red Sox game at Fenway Park. That was a quite a day with a 1 1/2 year old!

At the pregrame reception, the Boston Globe wanted a photo of me with Sex and the City star Willie Garson, but Janna was not letting go of Daddy so she got her first photo in the newspaper.

The third day Joslin and Walgreen's Pharmacy hosted a fantastic round table discussion for medical staff, researchers and representatives from companies supplying the diabetes community to share ideas, best practices, research and ways to combat diabetes and support those with diabetes. It was a great event!

SC Half Ironman, September 28, 2008 – New Course PR

Hard to believe that this was my 5th year at this race. The only other race I have done 5 times is Ironman Florida in Panama City Beach. I like the SC Half because it is only a 1 hour drive from my home, a challenging course with little vehicle traffic and a super race organizer in Set Up Events. Jeremy Davis at Set Up Events produces over 70 events a year and always puts on a professional race, well-organized, safe, and challenging. Thanks Jeremy.

I feel like I’ve been training and racing well lately, with faster times in recent races than last year, so I was hoping for a good result, maybe even a new PR on my 5th try on this course. But you never know with long distance races. Often it does not matter how fit you are, anything can go wrong, especially with Type 1 diabetes - see my disappointing disaster at the Rhode Island Half Ironman in July.

I’ve also changed my training somewhat this year with no Ironman and 4 Half Ironman races, reducing the volume and mileage and focusing on “quality” workouts. It also allowed me to spend more time with my baby daughter, Janna, time that I used to spend mornings, nights and weekends training. I also spent a lot of time working – as a lawyer, traveling for sponsor appearances, and motivational speaking, designing a new Finish Line Vision website and working on my Finish Line Vision motivational book! Yep, I’m a bit busy! (Guess that’s why it takes me some time to post race reports and update my blog!)

Walking into the transition area at 6:00 a.m. race morning, I immediately noticed that it was much more crowded this year, a lot more bikes and people milling around in the dark. I found out after the race there were 415 males racing this year, up from 315 males in 2008. That’s a big increase (25%) for one year. I could tell from all of the new faces this is no longer just a SC race. Athletes traveled from all over the southeast – Georgia, NC, SC, Virginia and Florida. I love the increased competition, it just means you have to go faster every year to place! More on that below.

If you read my blog and know anything about Type 1 diabetes, keeping my blood sugar stable is always a challenge in these long races. The several hours before the race are full of nervous energy and adrenaline, causing unpredictable affects on my blood sugar, and I also have to eat to fuel the race. I need to get insulin in me for the food, but don’t want to inject too much, but also not too little. With the starting gun counting down . . . it’s a high wire blood-sugar-nutrition-insulin-get-ready-for-the-race balancing act from 3:00 a.m. to 7:00 a.m.

Race day the weather was perfect. Cool temps in the 60s and calm. The water on Lake Greenwood was glass smooth in the sunrise. I was in wave 3, so all 80 guys in my division were in this wave. I started fast to get in the front group in the first 300 meters. Mentally I like to get out front early since swimming is my weakest event, knowing that I will eventually drift back a bit as the faster swimmers pull away.

After about 500 meters I started to feel a bit sluggish. Some days you feel swift and strong, and others sluggish. Today was one of the sluggish, so I concentrated on keeping good form, keeping the arm turnover strong and smooth. I was catching a lot of swimmers from the 2nd wave that started 4 minutes in front of me, but that always happens. No problems with sighting, waves or pummeling from other competitors today. Rounding the final turn buoy for the final 500 meters, I felt okay, so I pushed as hard as I could for the finish. I exited the water a disappointing 29th out of 80 in my division, but I did not know that at the time. But most of the times 5th to 40th were tightly bunched in the 30 to 37 minute range, so I was right in the thick of where I needed to be. I actually swam one minute faster than last year. Hard to compare swim times year to year because conditions change, buoys are often not placed accurately, etc. Swimming has always been my worst event, and this year was the same. Swim grade: C+

My Omnipod insulin pump stayed secure on my triceps during the swim. I can’t say enough about how great that is. As always in long course races, I paused in T1 to check my blood sugar on my super-fast always dependable One Touch Ultra meter, which cost me about 30 seconds to dry my hand, insert the strip and drop of blood, etc. It was a little high, 220 mg/dl. I did not want a repeat of the high blood sugar disaster at Ironman 70.3 Rhode Island, so I quickly gave myself a small 1 unit bolus on my Omnipod insulin pump. I also did not reduce my basal rate for this race. This is the first time I have ever raced a half Ironman without reducing my basal rate usually by 40% or 50%. Today I took the risk that a full basal injection would keep me from going too high, but not drop me too low.

I pushed hard on the bike the first 5 – 10 miles. I was not riding my disk wheel, since I seemed to go faster without it lately in hilly courses (see Tugaloo 2 weeks ago). At about mile 10 I realized that I had not grabbed my 2 gels (each with 100 calories and 25 grams of carbs) in T1. I had my high carb sport drink (56 grams carbs) in one bottle, and Gatorade (35 grams carbs) in another. I’d pick up another Gatorade at mile 30. I would do the whole 56 miles on those 126 grams carbs and water. In the past for a Half Ironman bike, I usually ate an additional 50-75 grams carbs from a couple of gels, or a Clif Bar, but I’ve also had problems with high blood sugar, so I was a little nervous if cutting back would be the right balance today.

I was picking guys off one by one, about every 2 minutes. No one was passing me so I knew I was staying on pace and moving up the field like I needed to be. About mile 25 I caught a group of guys, about 8 or 9, who looked like they were riding a road race pace line. As I passed them I could see they were clearly drafting. Really pisses me off when I see this. Maybe they weren’t trying to draft, but they certainly were not trying to avoid it. I gave one guy a hard glare as I passed him on his left, looking at him, then at the cyclist only about 8 feet in front of him, then back at him. The legal distance is 3 bike lengths, about 21 feet.

Of course, this draft pack tried to stay with me as I got in front. As often happens in races, this group would pass me, slow down, and I’d be forced to re-pass the whole group, only to have the dance repeated again. I tried several times to blow by them and establish a break, but each time after about 3 minutes, I’d hear a bike behind me and here they’d come, passing me again. Finally I decided just to let them go and ride a safe distance behind them, hoping a draft marshal/referee would show up to start handing out penalties and break them up. After about 10 more miles of watching them about 100 meters in front of me, I was pleased to see a draft marshal sneak by me on a super quiet Honda Gold Wing motorcycle and creep slowly up behind the group. I admit I got devilish pleasure watching the marshal sit just behind the group for about 5 minutes with his pad and pen out, taking down race numbers. Thank you! I just wish he had been there at mile 25 rather than mile 40.

With the group broken up by the marshal hanging around, I began to push hard for the last 15 miles, gradually picking each one of them off before the finish. My quads starting cramping really tight, just like in Rhode Island, making it difficult to stand on climbs, so I stayed seated a long as possible. I finished the bike in 2:28, averaging 23 mph, 3rd fastest bike split out of 80 in my division, and 20th out of 600 overall. (FYI, the fastest time in my division was only 3 minutes faster at 2:25 and that athlete clearly spent the whole ride drafting since he received 2 drafting penalties!) It was the fastest I have ridden this bike course, even 9 minutes faster than last year. Bike grade: A-

My blood sugar in T2 was 230 mg/dl (checking cost me another 30 seconds). Still a little high, but not the 300 it was in T2 in Rhode Island. My stomach felt fine, so I gave myself another quick bolus of 1.5 units of insulin, and took off on the run. I knew the run would bring down my blood sugar more than the bike, so I planned to eat a gel about every 20 minutes.

I felt pretty good starting the run (okay, “good” as you can after swimming 1.2 miles and biking 56). Legs really tight and sore, but thankfully no stomach upset. I concentrated on holding about a 7:15 – 7:30 pace the first 6 miles, and assessed my position. I felt like I was currently in the top 3 in my division, and somewhere near top 30 overall. But I also knew there were some speedy runners behind me, and some fast guys in other age groups who started in waves 4 and 8 minutes behind me who were closing the gap. I ate a gel at mile 1, starting the long 1 mile stretch on the open road. I made the turn around at mile 3 and felt good heading back to transition. I was passed a couple of times in the first 4 miles, but I also passed about 5 guys as well. Making the turnaround at the half way point back at transition, I was hurting but still holding pace. Then at about mile 9 I got a horrible cramp in my side. I tried not to think about it, focus on good breathing, and hope it would pass. Fortunately it did after about 10 minutes.

Heading back on the open road at around mile 11, a guy in my age groups passes me, but I could not stay with him. This was as fast as I could go. At mile 12, I grabbed a cup of water at the last aid station and another guy in my age groups slips by me. I guess he had been gaining on me for some time. I did not know my placing, but assumed I had no chance at the podium if I let him go. For the next 200 meters, I ran about 10 meters behind him, trying to stay hidden behind another athlete between us, hoping I could find the energy to re-pass and then open a gap.

I was going to be at my limit for the final three quarters of a mile so I could not go too early or I’d never hold it. I also wanted to pass him with enough speed that he’d not be tempted (or able) to stay with me. This is the bluffing game in endurance sports – running and cycling. You have to make these passes look effortless, like “ho-hum, I could cruise this fast for another 10 miles so don’t even think about trying to stay with me,” even though my body feels like it’s about to explode.

I made the pass with about ¾ of a mile to go, then just started visualizing the finish line(shameless plug for “Finish Line Vision” – yes I really do that in races!). I was running at my absolute limit, but I was trying to hide it well. I visualized the finish line, the relief to sit at the finish with my daughter Janna. With about 800 meters to go I glanced over my shoulder and saw I had opened about a 50 meter gap and he was charging hard to stay with me. I kept pushing. With 400 meters to go the gap was now 100 meters so I felt like I had him, and concentrated on holding the pace to the line. I crossed the line in race time of 4:51:06. My 13.1 mile run split was a disappointing 1:43, three minutes slower than last year. Those 3 minutes (plus 1 minute for checking blood sugars in both transitions) were the difference between 2nd and 7th place. Run Grade: B-

My blood sugar at the finish was a stellar 140 mg/dl, so I was loving that. I could tell it was in the normal range most of the run – no nausea or weakness. Blood sugar grade: B.

Even though my 4:51 was the fastest time I’ve done on this course, my placing was the worst ever, 7th out of 80 in my division, 41st out of 600 overall. That time would have placed me 14th overall in 2004 and 2005, 28th in 2006, and 26th last year. Definitely shows that good competition from the southeast US has found this race. Overall all race grade: B

Next for me is the biggest race of my season, the Half Max US Long Course National Championship near Las Vegas, NV, October 18. See you then!

Tugaloo Olympic Triathlon, September 13, 2008

Tugaloo is one of the hardest Olympic distance triathlons in the circuit. Guess that’s why they make it the Georgia State Championship. Since I’m a SC resident, I was an interloper from across the northern border. I was not eligible for the GA state championship awards, but sometimes I feel like all those speedy whippersnappers from Atlanta and Georgia don’t like me crashing their party when I’m fighting for a top spot with them. I love this race since it’s close to my home in Greenville, SC.

This was not an A priority race for me, just a good speed workout race prep for the 2 half Ironmans I have coming up in the next month. I had a pretty good race. My time this year was actually over 2 minutes faster (2:24:10) than my 2007 time (2:26:43), so I guess I’m getting faster. Sometimes it’s misleading to compare times year to year since conditions change, wind, heat, current, etc. The real comparison is how you finish in the field each year since everyone faces the same conditions. This year I finished 24th out of 487, better than my 37th overall last year, so I guess I was faster. However, even though I went 2 minutes faster, and moved up 10 places overall, I finished off the podium 4th in my age group this year, when I was on the podium 3rd last year. Guess a couple of fast guys jumped in my age group this year.

Lake Hartwell looks like it is going dry like most of upstate SC and Georgia. It really was sad to see almost 200 yards of sand and dirt that used to be covered by water. The swim is in a narrow channel that was even more narrow with the drought. Next year there may be no water to swim in at all. Time trial start. I started 120th out of 487. I kind of like starting behind my competition in open water swims so I can sneak up on them and they never see me coming. I had a good swim, 11th out of 56 in my age group, almost 90 seconds faster than last year, so that was good. The air was extremely foggy over the water, so foggy I could not see past 20 feet in front of me. Good thing the guys in front were going the right way because I could not see any buoys until I was right on them.

The bike was the same course as last year. Hilly and hard for an Olympic distance. I started pretty aggressive, but not redlining it. As usual for the first 2 -3 miles a few guys starting the bike near me were going hard, passing me, then I’d pass them, but that happens in most races where guys go charging out of transition like someone set their ego on fire . . . and then suddenly hit the wall after about 5 minutes of lactic acid boiling in their legs. I left them at about mile 3 and started picking people off one by one. No one passed me for 26 miles so I knew I was keeping a good pace. I tried to stay on the fine line of pushing hard as I could, but not going over the edge and blowing up. Because of the hills, this year I decided to ride a rear spoked race wheel rather than my disk and I think it was faster. I finished this hilly beast in 1:09:16, averaging 22.6 mph, 2nd fastest out of 56 in my age group and 18th fastest overall.

I came into T2 knowing I’d passed around 100 people on the swim and bike and was probably somewhere near the top 20 now. My plan was to hit the run as hard as possible right from the start and hope I could hold it. I know this run course and it’s hilly and tight, with lots of turns and blind corners, so athletes in front would never see me coming, but I’d also not see those gaining on me. I kept a steady pace between 6:30 and 7:00 minute miles, feeling like my eyes were about to pop out of my skull, but that’s a good feeling when you keep passing people and no one passes you. The trick is to look like you’re not hurting at all when your whole body feels like its about to burst into flames. You don’t want anyone thinking they can surge and catch you.

At mile 2 a guy passes me and I see the age marked on his calf is in my age group. Not good. I was about at my max pace, so I tried to stay steady and hope he would fade a bit. I set out chasing him for 4 miles with him hovering about 50 meters in front of me the whole time. I tried surging several times to see if I could narrow the gap, but could not close it. I had a feeling he and I were fighting for a spot on the podium and I was right. He got the final spot on the podium (3rd) in our age group, 58 seconds in front of me. I had the 4th fastest run in the age group, he had the 2nd.

I finished feeling pretty happy about the speed workout, and pleased that I was over 2 minutes faster than last year. That hopefully is a good sign for the South Carolina Half Ironman in 2 weeks on September 28 and the USAT Long Course National Championship in Nevada, October 18. See you then!

Note: Since it was a short Olympic distance, I never tested my blood sugar during the race. At the end it was a little higher than I wanted, but that’s always due to the adrenaline of such a hard, short race. My Omnipod Insulin pump and One Touch Ultra blood sugar meter both worked perfect!

Column in Diabetes Health Magazine

Diabetes Health is a great magazine about exercise, health and fitness for diabetics. It also offers straight talk and opinion about things important to all with diabetes - what products work and don't work, research developments, and practical advice. The magazine recently asked me to write a regular column for their print magazine and website. My first column is on motivation. They posted my first column on the Diabetes Health website. Watch for me on the cover of the Oct/Nov 2008 issue and my column in future editions.

South Carolina’s Largest Triathlon, Greenville Sprint – 10th overall, 1st age group

The Greenville Sprint Triathlon, August 17, 2008, was the largest triathlon in South Carolina according to the race organizer. 700 entrants. Hard to believe you can squeeze that many people onto a sprint triathlon course, but Set Up Events did a great job as always. I had a pretty good race, finishing 10th overall and 1st in my age group.

South Carolina has been in a severe drought for several years. I can’t remember the last time I trained or raced in the rain in South Carolina. But wouldn’t you know that at 5:00 a.m. race morning the rain was pouring down, with lightening and thunder. At 6:30 the race organizer announced that the race would switch to a duathlon if it did not stop lightening by 7:00 a.m. Fortunately, the sky cleared as the sun rose and the swim was on. 700 athletes, some experienced, but it looked like a lot of the usual nervous first-timers trying a sprint triathlon. The Westside Aquatic Center in Greenville, SC has a huge 50 meter pool with 8 lanes. We would start 2 athletes every 10 seconds for 4 laps, 400 meters. I had an okay swim, about usual for me. I much prefer open water swims. Unfortunately some athletes exaggerate (lie?) their projected swim times to start ahead of the field, so I encountered the usual groups of tired swimmers clogging the lanes as I made 8 swifts laps up and down the pool. The swim was over before I knew it, about 6 minutes, and I was out the door and onto my bike.

The bike course is a hilly 15 miles, about 3 miles longer than most sprint triathlons. I was a little nervous about the dangerously wet roads so I made sure to play it safe and cautious on the turns and descents, and push hard on the climbs and straight sections. I was pleased with my bike split, 37 minutes, 8th overall and 1st in my age group. Again, it felt like it was over in a flash and suddenly I’m back at the transition for the run.

Since I race mostly Ironman and Half Ironman races, I really like Sprint and Olympic distances races because I can go all out all the time, no worries about pacing, hydration, nutrition, or even my blood sugar. My legs felt great on the run and I worked hard to keep my pace at maximum. 5k, 2 laps on some road, and gravel and dirt trail. I was truly doing a “sprint” on this run. My run split was just over 19 minutes, about a 6:20 per mile pace, 2nd fastest in my age group. I finished 10th overall out of about 700, and 1st in my age group by over 1 minute, so I was happy with that. Even better was the award – a bottle of wine. Now that’s what I’m talking about. Definitely worth the 1 hour of effort. My good friend and Hincapie Finish Line Vision teammate Dan Moss won the overall and set a new course record.

Next is the Tugaloo Olympic triathlon September 13. It’s the Georgia State Championship so should be a lot of fast guys from Atlanta. Last year I got something like 17th overall, and 3rd in my age group so I’m hoping to better that this year. Should be a couple hours of good painful fun!

Children With Diabetes, National Conference, Orlando, July 23-27, 2008

A few days after I returned from Half Ironman Rhode Island, I gave the banquet keynote at the Children With Diabetes (CWD) national conference in Orlando. CWD is a fantastic organization for families who have children with diabetes (guess you figured that out by the name). Jeff Hitchcock and Laura Billetdeaux started this online community 13 years ago. Jeff and Laura and their spouses have kids with diabetes. CWD has grown tremendously since then. You MUST have a look at their website and attend one of their conferences. It is organization run by families for families with diabetes, where “kids can be kids.” The Orlando national meeting is full of education and activities, theme park visits, and social events. They even have a banquet where they sometimes get a decent speaker! :)

I had a fantastic time speaking at the teens breakout day on motivatation and determination, and that night at the Friends For Life banquet, sponsored by LifeScan, One Touch blood sugar meters. I loved spending time talking to families and signing autographs at the One Touch booth. I look forward to the next CWD event! Maybe I’ll see you there!

Ironman 70.3 Rhode Island, July 13, 2008

Sorry it has taken me so long to get this report up. Like everyone, I get a bit backed up sometimes - training, racing, traveling, working, speaking, creating a new design for my website (stay tuned!), writing a book on Finish Line Vision (it’s going to be great!) and most important . . . spending time with my wife and beautiful 16 month old daughter.

Ironman 70.3 Rhode Island was a race of firsts. (I still can’t get used to saying “Ironman 70.3” instead of Half Ironman, but it’s the race organization’s new thing so I guess I’m stuck with it. An Ironman is 140.6 miles so a half is 70.3 miles. Get it? But have you ever heard someone run a “marathon 13.1?” I haven’t either.) It was the first year for this race, my first flat tire in a race, the first time I had to wake up at 2:30 a.m. (ugh!) for a race, my first triathlon (after 8 years and almost 100 triathlons worldwide) with separate transitions for T1 and T2, 56 miles apart. Besides that, it was a normal race. Here’s how it went.

I’d spent the week before the race in Massachusetts at Camp Joslin, a summer camp for boys with Type 1 (insulin dependent) diabetes, just like me (see other post). I thought why not bring my bike and do the new half Ironman race in nearby Providence, R.I? By the way, this Southern boy is used to training on wide open spaces and lonely mountain roads, so it is amazing how “nearby” everything is in the Massachusetts, Rhode Island New England area. One bike ride and I cross 3 states!

The race started about 40 miles south of Providence on the beautiful Rhode Island beaches of Narragansett, and finished in downtown Providence. T1 was at the beach in Narragansett and T2 was 56 miles away at the finish. Unlike most races where everything starts and ends around one transition area, this one was strung out across the whole state of Rhode Island. That meant a long drive the day before the race in summer beach traffic to check my bike into T1, but it gave me a chance to drive the bike course on the way back to my hotel in downtown Providence. I’m glad I did because the bike course was a challenging maze of hills, turns, and once near Providence, busy intersections and pot-holed (landmined) city streets. At least I knew what to expect race day.

It was an eeaarly wake up call at 2:30 a.m. to catch the shuttle at 3:30 a.m. in downtown Providence for the ride down the coast for the 6:00 a.m. start. I’ve always said that the early wake up call is the 1st event in a triathlon, and this one was so early I might as well not have slept at all. I think they wanted to start the race so early to beat all the city traffic on the bike course, but that didn’t really work (more on that later). It was an amusing collision of time zones as some of the Saturday night Providence bar crowd heading home encountered hundreds of nervous triathletes gathered on the sidewalk at 3:15 a.m. Their day was ending when ours was beginning. Two worlds collided.

How does a type 1 diabetic eat and keep a stable blood sugar for a half Ironman getting up at 2:30 for a bus ride? Requires some planning. I carried my bagel with peanut butter on the shuttle and ate it right when I arrived at transition around 4:30 a.m. As always, I had to carefully plan when I ate and took my insulin to try to keep my blood sugar stable prior to the start. I was not particularly happy that I had to be in transition this early, and then wait over 2 hours until my wave started at 6:50 a.m. I was in the 12th of 13 waves, so I had to watch almost the entire field start and finish the swim before I even started. I had the longest warm up swim of my career, then paced the beach like a spectator in a wetsuit.

They like to start the slowest athletes first and the fastest athletes last (usually males age 30-44) so that everyone is off the bike course sooner. Makes sense, but it means I would spend the whole day passing the field in front of me. My blood sugar was pretty stable between 100 – 150 mg/dl in transition and prior to the start. I reduced my basal to 50% of my normal basal rate right before I left the transition. My first mistake. In the past I usually reduce my basal by 50% on long workouts and races over 3 hours, but lately I've been encountering high blood sugar in races. I was a little afraid it would drop during the swim after this long delay so I drank a little extra of my high carbohydrate drink in the last 30 minutes before my start. My 2nd mistake. I guess I drank too much because my blood sugar was way too high after the swim. That set me up for the blood sugar roller coaster that can destroy my day.

The ocean was pretty choppy and with rolling swells but nothing I had not seen before. The wind was very gusty and strong (and would be especially strong later in the day on the run). I had an okay swim, not pushing too hard, but trying to stay in visual contact with the best swimmers in my wave. That was hard after the first 500 meters with the windswept chop and swells, so I just settled into a somewhat solitary 1.2 mile journey, occasionally passing slower swimmers from waves ahead and others in my wave. I came out of the water in 32 minutes, top 20 in my wave of 150, feeling really good, a decent time considering the wind, current and chop, but it was hard to tell where I was in the main field given that most everyone had started and left long before me.

My Omnipod insulin pump stayed rock solid on my left triceps (see photo). T1 was deserted and eerily quiet since 90% of the field was already gone. I checked my blood sugar quickly on my One Touch UltraMini meter – 250 mg/dl! Ugh! Way too high! I clearly had drank too much carb drink right before the swim, trying to prevent a low. Now I had to make that awful split-second decision, “do I give myself insulin to bring it down, but risk a disastrous low blood sugar on the bike?” or “do I hit the bike and hope it comes down from the activity, but risk 2 hours of high blood sugar?” I knew I had to consume about 60-70 grams of carbs per hour on the bike, mostly from sport drink and a Clif Bar, so I would have to keep eating/drinking carbohydrates for fuel. But if I consumed carbs with my blood sugar already so high, it might never come down and I’d be nauseous, lethargic and probably dehydrated in 2 ½ hours when I would start the half marathon run. Ugh. Diabetes sucks sometimes.

In that split second in transition, I chose not to bolus insulin and hope my blood sugar would come down on its own from the exercise.

The first 20 miles of the bike were flat and fast, with mostly a tail wind coming off the ocean. I was riding my disk wheel on the back and felt great, averaging 25 to 30 mph for much of these stretches, passing hundreds of athletes from waves in front of me. After about 1 hour at around mile 25 the hills started, a gradual stair step of rolling hills and a few steep inclines. Because my blood sugar was too high, in the first 1 hour I drank mostly water and very little of my carbohydrate sport drink. The temperature started to reach the mid 80s and I knew hydration would be important for the run, so I kept drinking. My blood sugar was a big mystery at this point. I could bring my One Touch Ultra Mini meter with me, pull off the course, stop, and prick my finger to check, but I’m not sure I would do anything differently even if I knew what the blood sugar was. I had to get carbs in me to race. I started drinking more of my sport drink and even ate a Clif Bar around mile 35. I continued passing hundreds of athletes who started in front of me, and was passed only 5 or 10 times in the first 50 miles. My right quad started cramping a bit around mile 45 but I knew most of the hills were over and I only had about 10 miles to go. I now entered the congested section of the course outside of Providence, full of cars and turns and pot holes.

At mile 50 I started a long fast descent , doing about 30 mph, mentally preparing myself for the run in about 15 minutes when . . . psssssssss, thump, thump, thump. Oh no. My disk flatted. Ugh! I pulled over quickly, onto a sidewalk and parking lot next to what looked like an abandoned building of some sort. Nice area for a bike race. Athletes I’d passed miles before began to whiz by me as I started the tedious task of removing my disk wheel, ripping the tire off the rim, removing the spare taped under my seat and stretching it around the rim, lined up perfectly on the rim with glue, then filling it with air from my CO2 cartridge. Sounds a lot easier and quicker here than on the side of the road 50 miles into a bike race, when you’re hot, tired, and frustrated. The whole process probably took me at least 10 minutes or more in the hot sun, while at least 150 athletes zoomed by me. I finally remounted and had to take it slow and easy on all these turns because my spare tire would not be as secure on my disk rim since it had less glue. This was also the ugly section of the course with lots of traffic and turns and pot holes. It was a “bad” section of town and the car traffic was not happy about cyclists in the road and police blocking intersections for us. Some intersections had only about 4 feet for us to ride while cars zoomed passed us, scaring me at any moment one would abruptly turn, weave in front of me, or open a door.

I finished the bike in a disappointing 2 hours, 44 minutes. Very bad. I know I lost about 15 minutes changing my flat and taking it so slow the last 6 miles. I got even more bad news when I checked my blood sugar in T2 – 290 mg/dl. Ugh! Still way, way too high. My stomach was definitely feeling it now, and the temperature was in the humid low 90s, making it even worse. I gave myself a quick bolus of insulin from my Omnipod pump of only 1.5 units. Normally on a non-race day, I would take about 4 or 5 units of insulin for a blood sugar that high, but I knew the 13.1 miles of running should bring it down and I could not risk taking any more. I started the run feeling pretty nauseous.

T2 and the finish were right at the steps to the capitol building, with thousands of people packed around it and the streets. My legs felt good running. But my stomach did not. It was all due to the high blood sugar. At mile 1.5 we hit the massive hill, an 8% grade for about ½ mile straight up. I pushed hard to keep running even if slowly up this grade. Many athletes were walking. After about 3 miles the course flattened out until the descent of this same hill at mile 6 and I returned to the finish line area to do it all over again on the 2nd lap. The heat was stifling now, around 90 degrees, and the wind was fierce, gusting up to 30 mph around the finish area. My stomach was in shambles from 4 hours of racing with a high blood sugar. I really struggled on the 2nd lap, barely able to jog even an 8 or 9 minute pace, walking through each aid station to douse myself with water and any sport drink I could keep down. I lost even more time here, but I knew I was well out of contention long ago. Now I just wanted to finish as best I could.

I finally made it to the finish in a miserably slow time of 5 hours, 23 minutes, about 45 minutes slower than my usual time for a half Ironman. Very bad race for me but I know it was all from my flat tire and high blood sugar nausea. I think I will try the next long race at my normal 100% basal rate. Next for me is some shorter triathlons in August and September, leading up to my late season push with the South Carolina Half Ironman September 30 and US Long Course National Championship October 18 near Las Vegas. I’ll have better days to come! Stay tuned!

Camp Joslin for Boys, Biathlon - July 8-11, 2008

For the 2nd year in a row I spent several days at Camp Joslin for Boys in Charlton, MA with campers age 6 to 14 who have type 1 diabetes, counselors and staff. I also spent some time speaking to the girls at the neighboring Camp Clara Barton for girls with diabetes. At Camp Joslin I hung out in the cabins, participated in activities with the campers, swam in the lake, and ate in the dining hall. It was just like being at camp! This is a fantastic place for boys with diabetes to just be boys – get dirty, play sports, eat well and develop good habits to control their diabetes, but most of all have fun. The Joslin staff is fantastic with counselors, nurses and doctors who all know diabetes and help the boys learn to manage it themselves. On the final day I helped the camp stage the 2nd annual Camp Joslin “Finish Line Vision” Biathlon, sponsored by Insulet – Omnipod. It was even better than last year and so much fun! The kids really pushed themselves, some further and harder than they thought they could go. All to show that diabetes would not stop them! Check out the pictures!

Boston Marathon, April 21, 2008

I ran the 2008 Boston Marathon on April 21. A great race, in a great town, for a great cause – the Joslin Diabetes Center in Boston. Joslin is the world leading diabetes research and treatment facility. While Joslin researchers work on the cure, Joslin medical staff provide the best treatment in the world, and I want to help them do that. Like last year, I ran the marathon as Captain of Team Joslin, 12 runners raising money to help Joslin cure and treat diabetes. Some had never run a marathon before and I am proud that they all finished!

Unlike last year, the weather this year was fantastic- high 50s and sun by the midpoint of the race. (Compare this to the picture at left from 2007 with temperatures in the 30s/40s and rain, sleet, and wind – ugh!) 2008 was great for running and spectators, and boy are there a lot of spectators along the route! The marathon is run on a Monday when Boston celebrates Patriots Day, a state holiday. Schools close, the marathon, Red Sox day game - it’s a big party!

Because of the crowd, we had to be at the start 26 miles out in Hopkinton, MA about 2½ hours before the start. That’s a lot of time waiting with 23,000 runners lying around the athlete’s village (a middle and high school) like a runner's refugee camp. That's 2 hours of checking my blood sugar 3 or 4 times prior to the start. It was good, hovering around 150 mg/dl. I know from experience I’ll need about 60 to 80 grams of carbohydrate per hour during the marathon and I can’t get that from half cups of Gatorade along the route. So I ran with a Fuel Belt with two 10 ounce vials of high carb drink strapped to my waist, and a Clif Bar, 3 sport gels and 1 pack of Clif Shot Bloks in my hands. Not how most run a marathon, carrying a personal carb buffet 26 miles, but they don’t provide nutrition for diabetics to keep our blood sugar up along the course. I also carried my Omnipod personal diabetes manager (PDM) in a pocket on my Fuel Belt so I could set a 3.5 hour temporary (50% lower) basal rate on my insulin pump just prior to the start, and have it at the finish.

Boston is a crowded marathon, over 23,000 in the race. Since I was running for Joslin, I started in the very back of the 10:30 a.m. second wave with the other Team Joslin and charity runners. It’s great to see so many people running a marathon for charities, many of them first time marathoners. But that makes the start in Hopkinton very crowded on narrow roads, and hard to run with 23,000 runners crammed on the road in front of you. Thus, the first 5 miles are very sloooow. I got tripped several times by all the heels and feet, and even ran on the sidewalks a few times. But I was patient and didn’t try to force anything. I wasn’t here to win or knock anyone down. I knew I could start running around mile 6 after swimming through the crowd.

I was runing for charity and not for placing, so I planned to run about a 3:30 marathon- an easy 8:00 minute/mile pace - and enjoy the race atmosphere. The first 4 or 5 miles would be much slower, then I’d pick it up and run 7:30 until about mile 18 when I’d slow on the Newton hills, Heartbreak hill and the final miles of the race. As expected my 10k split was 50:30 minutes, a slow 8:20 min/mile trot. Finally the road opened up and I settled into a quicker 7:30 min/mile comfortable pace.

At mile 12.5 the course passes all female Wellesley College. The entire student body lines this half mile, partying and screaming in a deafening squeal like you’re a rock star, creating the famous “scream tunnel.” That will make you go fast! I felt great at the midpoint, not pushing real hard and just enjoying the tremendous crowds, staying right on my pace for 3:30. I had to run faster in the middle miles 6 to 13 to make up time. I hit the half way point (13.1 miles) at 1:45:05, dead on pace for a 3:30 finish.

I ate my Clif Bar in the first hour, then a gel or Clif Shot Blok about every 20 minutes, and took a few sips of Gatorade and water every couple of miles. By the midpoint I had caught the faster runners and enjoyed the steady pace. At mile 18 the fun starts – the Newton Hills. Up and down and up and down. My quads started really hurting so I pushed hard up the climbs because the descents hurt worse, pounding my quads with each step. The final climb is the famous Heartbreak Hill at mile 20 – a ½ mile steep climb when you are really spent! Lance Armstrong was running the race and said it was harder than he’d been told. I ran Boston last year so I knew what to expect. The best thing about Heartbreak Hill is Boston College at the top, another throng of thousands of college students partying since sunrise screaming at you like you’re winning the Olympic marathon. Awesome! I pumped my arms and slapped their hands for about ½ mile. That about wore me out! Oh yeah, I still need to run 6 more miles.

Miles 20 through 26 were quite painful on my quads, now tight and about to pop. I even stopped a few times for about a minute each to stretch them. I knew I’d be losing a few minutes, but no need to risk an injury. My pace was slower here, but I expected that. The crowd the last 5 miles in Boston is fantastic all the way to the finish!

I finished in 3:35. About 5 minutes slower than I’d planned but overall a fun race. I felt great at the finish with plenty of gas left in my tank, so its good to know I could go a lot faster if I had open road to race at the start. Also a good running base for triathlons coming up this year. It was great to hug Janna and Anna at the finish! Last year at this race Janna was 2 weeks from being born. The year she just liked the finisher’s medal, so I’ll run 26.2 miles for that any day.

Next for me are a few shorter triathlons and then the Rock and Roll Half Ironman, in Macon, Georgia on May 30. Thanks for your comments and emails!