6 more days...

...until Ironman 70.3 Cancun. My -almost- last tri of the season. I say almost because I MIGHT do one more, the St. Peters Rec-Plex Fall Tri on Oct 5th. It's a sprint one: 500yS/21MB/5MR. I did it last year and it's a nice way to end the season. But we'll see, kind of undecided yet.

I see some of the bloggers I read have been working on their 2009 race schedule, which makes me think I should as well, even though I have been thinking about 1 or 2 here and there. I will come up with a list soon.

I also see some bloggers write less and less....(including me) as the tri season ends I can tell triathletes are fading out. On one hand I feel I need a break, months and months of training feel heavy and our bodies are asking for some rest, some bad food and some beer :)

I miss waking up in the morning, looking outside and see daylight, you know?

On the other hand I know after a couple of weeks I will be missing the tri season big time.

My plan right now is to focus on Cancun, have a good race, enjoy it and have fun. We're staying in Mexico for about a week after the race... BUT... things are not over yet for me. I still have the Chicago Marathon... and it's only 3 weeks after 70.3! Wait, before you say how crazy (or dumb) this guy is for registering for these 2 races, let me explain how this happened. Last year, after my first full marathon (December 08 - Memphis, TN) I decided to do one marathon a year, so after Chicago opened registration I went ahead and registered. A few months later, the familia and I were looking to do a vacation, we wanted to go to some beach. Initially we thought FL, looked for prices, they were kind of high so I decided to check Mexico thinking 'what if'... well... I was right. I ended up finding cheaper flights. So in the process of buying the tix it hit me.

PC's brain: "Dude, there's a 70.3 in Cancun!!!" Checked with the wife and the cool, supportive and understanding wife she is, she said: "do it, might as well!" YES!!!!!!

Wait.... the tri is 3 weeks after Chicago... D'oh! But I thought, I could do Chicago any other year (I'm about 5 hrs drive away) and I don't know when I would be able to go to Cancun again, so I registered. And after months of training and some of those months I have been working with Coach, we (Coach and I) decided I still should and could do Chicago even though my priority is Cancun. Obviously I won't be PR'ing in Chicago, still it'll be great to run with so many people.

I've checking the weather for Cancun and man oh man, it's gonna be H O T !

For race day Sun Sept 21 it says: "Very humid with periods of clouds and sunshine. High 88 - Heat index: 105" Wow... it's gonna be interesting.

Good luck to all of you racing next weekend!

PC

Lake Saint Louis Oly triathlon race report and more...

This past weekend (Saturday) I raced LSL (Lake St. Louis) Oly tri.... and allow me to say it went GREAT.. better than expected.... this was supposed to be a B race but I ended up PR'ing :)

Fantastic weather.... in the low 70s.... excellent day for a tri - even though later in the day it got hot.... and humid.

The swim - 0.9 miles
Started feeling a bit tired.... I've been thinking about maybe all the 2008 (and part of 07) training has been building up and I was starting to get tired... and I realized it was more mental than physical. My last swim I felt tired.. heavy arms.. etc... I remember telling one of my friend's right before we started: "I feel like I'm not ready for this tri"
The siren went off and we started.... felt really good and very relaxed.... after probably the first 300 meters I found this guy and I drafted him.. almost the whole swim... AGAIN! I did the exact same thing the previous weekend at the Chicago Oly tri. Felt strong and towards the end I passed that guy and finished hard.
- Swim time: 26min 06sec Swim pace: 1:48/100m (2nd fastest swim in my AG)

T1 time: 1min 52sec

The bike - 24.8 miles
The bike went great. Felt awesome so I decided to hammer it.
Everything worked out perfect... this time the bike shoes on the pedals were fine.
- Bike time: 1hr 11min 38sec Avg MPH: 20.8! My fastest evah!! :)

T2 time: 1min 2sec

The run - 6.2 miles
I was a bit more tired than usual after the bike because I went faster than usual but I thought what the heck.... I grabbed water at each water station and kept going. Close to the finish line I heard all the people, a few people I knew started cheering and I sprinted to the finish line, which was up hill - ouch!
Run time: 47min 24sec Run pace: 7:38min/mile

Hats off to the organizers and race director, who I actually know. He did an amazing job. This year's race was even better than last's.

Total time: 2hrs 28min 2sec (My last year's time was 2hrs 44min)

AG: 7/34 - OA: 63/327

In other news... Today Coach had me doing an 1hr 15min run in HR zone 1!!!! The whole 1hr 15min! It was cra-zy! Never done it before.... she's so funny, she said: "Embarrassingly slow"
I came home after work got ready and started to pour... bad! Lightning and all. Decided to go to the gym and do it on a treadmill.... the first 30min I was at 15min/mile! LOL and my HR zone was still reaching zone 2, so I had to SLOW DOWN.... it was actually kind of funny. I did it, done.. finished... no mas!!!

(with announcer's voice): Aaaaaaaaand now.. iiiiiiiiit's time to think about IM 70.3!
18 days and counting!

PC

Back in STL

The Chicago race was pretty cool.

Left St. Louis on Fri afternoon - a lot later than expected - and arrived in Chicago after midnight. Went to our friend's place and straight to bed.. exhausted!

Sat am headed to the Expo at the Hilton in downtown Chicago. Awesome Expo, loved it, lots of cool stuff.

Gave my race number, got my bib, got the chip, confirmed it, got my goodie bag and swimming cap. Got body marked. They wrote my wave number on my calf: 46, and the lady told me to go check my wave time on a chart... my start time was 9:21AM! D'oh! Bummer... because they opened TA from 4:15AM until 5:45AM, meaning every single athlete needed to be there in between that time and then out of there.

Sun morning was nice, in the low 70s and no humidity, and it stayed like that pretty much the whole day.

I got there just a bit before 5AM, got all my stuff ready in the biggest transition area I have ever seen.... sadly I don't have any pics of it, I didn't have my cam with me... I know, what was I thinking?!?... sorry! Anyway, done with TA setup and I was like: uh... ok.. now what?!?!? Walked around, saw the sprinters start... walked some more... laid down on the grass, took a 15 min nap.... I tell ya.. it sucked! I was there just walking around for about 5 hrs!

The family got there about 30 min before my start, thank God because I had a bag on me - and even thought they had a check-in bag area, I felt better leaving all my stuff with them. Got ready got on line with my group.

We started right on time, and for the first time I drafted in the swim.... the whole swim! It was awesome! Got behind this girl who pretty much lead me until the end.

- 1,500 meters (.9 miles) Swim time: 26min 15sec

Got our of Lake Michigan and jogged a quarter of a mile to TA!!

Took wetsuit off, grabbed my stuff and took off.

- T1 time: 3min 30sec!!!

I made a very bad/dumb/stupid/rookie mistake on the bike. I left my shoes (on the pedals) but... with the velcro on! So after a few min I was pedaling I reached to get my feet in the shoes and I realized the velcro was on.... I of tried to opened them up but couldn't.. HAD TO STOP!! I was so mad... quite frustrating. Stopped, got off the bike, took the shoes off the pedals with my hands, got the shoes on, clipped them and took off again. Surprisingly enough I had a great ride, in fact my best race ride ever. I ended up with an average of 20.1 MPH, really fast for me considering the bike is my weakest leg. The bike course was pretty flat though, and bumpy too.

- 40Km (24.8 miles) Bike time: 1hr 13min 44sec

Got back to TA, got my running shoes, bib and visor and I was gone.

- T2 time: 2min 35sec

Needless to say my legs were tired for the run and I could tell... I obviously went too hard on the bike... still I felt ok and just ran!

- 10Km (6.2 miles) Run time: 48min 46sec (7:51min/mile)

AG: 64/499

OA: 470/4089

It was a fun race, great experience racing with that many athletes and all but don't know if I would go back. To me it was one of those 'had to do' kinda race.

This weekend I got Lake St. Louis Oly tri. Last year my time was 2hrs 44min. And even though this is not an A race for me I am still curious to see what time would I have.

PC

accenture Chicago Triathlon

Tomorrow I am heading to Chi-town for the accenture Chicago oly tri. Can't believe it's already here.. can't believe we are almost done with August!!

This race should be fun and interesting. I read there are over 8,500 athletes registered and probably about 6,500 or so will race. I've been wondering how TA is going to look... it's gonna be massive! I understand the Expo is huge as well and they have a ton of cool stuff... it's gonna be hard not to spend a lot of $$.

Even though it's an Oly distance race they have this feature called: "Accenture Triathlon Alert System" where you registered for free, provide a cell number and/or an email address and a message it's sent each time the registered athlete passes a mat to the cell or email you gave. I just registered so my familia knows where and when to look for me. It's a useful tool since there will be so many people racing.

The weather here in St. Louis has been rainy with temps of 70s - 80s... which is not bad... I would be happier with out the rain though. AccuWeather says this Sun will be in the 80s and no rain in Chicago, I hope it stays that way.

Good luck to the all athletes who are racing this weekend as well and if you are not racing, have fun training! :)

PC

Miscellaneous

Can't believe it's mid August already... 4 more months and 2008 is over! And after that I move to the 35 - 39 age group LOL.... funny how we think about our age like that now.

Aug 24 I have the 'accenture Chicago triatlhon'. And next month my second 70.3 in Cancun, Mexico... can't wait!

Training has been great. Last weekend I had an awesome work out. Sat I did the Ghisallo Scorcher 4 mile race. For the first time ever I felt pukey before the finish... the last .5 mile or so... weird. Time: 27min 34 sec.

Sun met with Coach and some people she knew to do a brick. It was 7 of us, we rode 80 miles and then we ran 2 miles. It was the perfect day for it.
I bought a new saddle for Diabla and tried it on Sun, loved it. It's the Blackwell ISM Adamo Racing/Tri Saddle, very cool!

I haven't been able to swim ever since my tri at Innsbrook (Aug 2). The following Tue after that race I had a mole taken out of my back and got 3 stitches. The doc told me to not swim for at least a week. This past was a week and today I'm going back to the pool for a 1,700 meter swim.
The mole results came back negative, it was just a normal mole.... The stitches need to come off next Tue.

Weather has been excellent. Low to mid 80s and very low % of humidity... Even though I was supposed to be training in the super hot and humid Midwest August weather in preparation for Ironman Cancun 70.3, oh well.

PC

Who Tri's Harder Quartermax - Priority B

I had a pretty good race last Saturday at the "Who Tri's Harder Quartermax" tri. Considering I almost didn't do it. Last Wed I was in bed at 7pm with a fever! Thu felt a bit better and had to go to work since I had some mandatory training I couldn't miss... I was considering not doing the tri by then. Fri I took off work and tried to rest as much as I can and ended up going to Innsbrook, MO (about 50 - 60 mile drive west from St. Louis)

Sat morning I got there at 6:30ish and did the BAU stuff.... set up TA, got body marked, got chip, etc.

Saw and talked to some STL Tri Club peeps and then got with a couple of friends and waited until a pre-race meeting they called right at the lake beach. The race director provided the last updates and we had a minute of silence for the guy who died last year during this triathlon. He had a heart attack during the swim and drawn. It was pretty weird to think it was only a year ago and we were about to get in the same lake....

The Octomaxers went first... guys wave, then ladies wave. Then it was our turn, Quartermaxers.... ladies and then guys, plus relay teams. Great mass start practice. Got kicked and pushed a bit but nothing major. Started pretty relaxed.. stretching and focusing on staying straight towards the buoys. Half way I felt really good so I decided to go a bit faster. Out of the lake and run up hill to TA. It was a long jog.... Grabbed bike and all and took off.... the ride went fine with no issues. Came back, and took off for the hilly run... I could feel the sun by then as well.... and the worst part was the horse flies..... they were everywhere and were chasing me!! Got bitten 5 - 8 times... bastards! - I know what you meant Sam when you ran at WyCo -

1000 yard swim: 16min 31sec - 1:39min/100y

T1: 1:39

28 mile bike: 1hr 21min 20sec - 19.9mph avg

T2: 1:29

6.5 mile run: 48min 42 sec - min/mile: 8:07

Total time: 2hrs 29min 43sec

AG: 7/25 - OA: 60/238

Had a great time and enjoyed it a ton!

Last week I sold my Fuji bike to this guy from work.... I liked my Fuji and it was the bike I start doing tris with but I was never fitted to it, so it was big for me. It was time to let go... I needed a different bike anyway to take the familia for rides (My wife and I pull the kiddos in our bikes). The Fuji's gone and yesterday I bought a hybrid: The Trek 7000

Here's a pic of me and my new addition: "Lola" :)

It's been real and it's been fun...

Actually, it's been real fun! :)

Ok, I know I've been slacking here but it's been super busy... familia, training, work, etc... but it's all good.

BALLWIN TRIATHLON (07/20) .-
Ok, so last week I did a sprint tri, very short one: 300 yard swim, 7.4 mile bike, and a 3 mile run. It went great, had a lot of fun and it was excellent transition practice. This was my first time running (in a tri race) with no socks. I was pretty shocked how smooth it went; I only got a tiny blister in the back of my left heel at the very end... and this was with no bodyglide, vaseline, nothing. Surprisingly enough I finished 4th in my age group... that was cool since I didn't really race it 100% Later, looking at the results I saw the guy who got third beat me by exactly 30sec... D'oh! Oh well... no biggie.
It was very hot and humid too!

Men 30 - 34
Place Name Bib No Age Overall Time
4 P CORDERO 203 34 22 53:38
(AG: 4/14 - OA: 26/248)


Yesterday afternoon I decided to learn and practice leaving the shoes on the pedals and putting them on and off while on the bike. I watched a couple of videos on youtube and iTunes (podcasts) about this and went out to try. I probably did it 25 - 30 times and it worked really well. So I decided to do it in today's race. Worked just fine!


TOUR de KIRKWOOD (07/27).-
Today's race was another sprint one, quite similar as the one I did last week. TdK was 400 yard swim, 12 mile bike, and 3 mile run. This tri is a non-competitive race, so basically you get timed but there is no awards; the race lets new athletes experience the thrill of a triathlon. Another cool thing about this tri is that they donate 100% of all registration fees to charities. This was my very first tri last year.

Had a really good race, everything went just as planned.... with the exception of me getting lost..... TWICE!! I'm an idiot. Ok, the first time one volunteer goes: "Right!" and the other one a few feet away from her waves like, go straight... so I went straight.... about a block and a half I was getting close to a highway, yeah so.. wrong way! Turned around and saw the guy getting in his car to go get me...LOL.... too funny! The second one, was after the 2nd and last loop. I go: "which way to transition area". Lady volunteer: "yeah, 2 loops". Me: (kept going). So I'm like, OMG! I need to get baaaaaaack!!! Turned around and found my way to TA. I know, I know... you're probably thinking: "dude, get familiar with the course!!" and you my friends, are absolutely right. I need to be better that and avoid stupid mistakes like those.

Crazy thing is, after all that: 3rd place! First time I place evah (and of course, it had to be in a non-competitive race.. so no awards...LOL) Still... I take 3rd proudly dammit!
Weather-wise: perfect!

Men 30 - 34
PL No Name Swim min/100yds Bike MPH Run min/m Total Time
3 43 CORDERO, P 6:00.4 1:30.1 43:22.2 16.6 21:58.2 7:19.4 1:11:20
(AG: 3/16 - OA: 14/224)


And this coming weekend I have my third olympic distance tri ever. It's the Ultramax: "Who Tri's Harder Quartermax Triathlon" in Innsbrook, MO. We'll see how that one goes.

PC