Heat!

Well, after months and months of cold weather it appears summer has finally arrived in Oregon! Yesterday hit mid to upper 80s and today hit 90 in some parts around Portland. Training has been going relatively well after my CDA recovery. Saturday's effort involved a 60 mile ride and a race pace run right off the bike. I started a little later than normal due to sleeping in (much needed!) and quickly realized how warm it was going to be out there. I stayed on my fluids and sodium as best I could and before I knew it I was almost done with the ride. I really attacked the hills to try and emulate CDA to see how my back would respond. It responded OK, but it is clear I have something going on with it. Off the bike and a quick 20 min run at sub 7 min mile pace. It felt great. Although I must say after this brick I couldn't even keep track of how many ounces of fluid I consumed while laying on my floor under the ceiling fan watching the tour! This Oregon boy is not yet accustomed to this heat.

Today involved a run of just under 2 hours. Again I got a late start after sleeping, but was happy to have my wife with me for this run! Well, she rode while I ran. Meg would talk with me for a bit and then zoom ahead and come back every so often. It was a lot of fun. Well, most of it. The heat really kicked my ass. Again I stayed on top of my sodium and electrolyte intake and was happy overall with the effort, but couldn't believe how hot it was. The best part however was sharing the day with my wife and enjoying a wonderful lunch afterwards. Not a bad way to spend your Sunday. That is it for now. Feeling fit and counting down the days to get it on at Lake Stevens!!

-T

Race Report

There isn't one for the sprint tri I was going to do on Sunday. I woke up to rain, contemplated the fact that they were charging $90 (yes $90) for the event and it was now going to be held in the rain...and went back to bed. I got 11 hours of sleep and then dominated my long run. Best decision I have made in some time I think! So no race. I would like to get back out and race before Lake Stevens so will need to look at the calendar and see what else might work.

Currently Muddy is really focusing me on speed work to gear up for Lake Stevens. The recovery from IMCDA has gone really well and so far I've been able to nail my workouts so far. I'm looking forward to getting up to Lake Stevens in just under a month and letting it rip. Most importantly, I'm looking forward to having fun. I'm not worked up in hitting a certain time or place. Just going up there to kick some ass and enjoy some pain. Find that dark place and embrace it.

Now if we could only get some decent weather in Portland...

-T

Now what?

Well, I've had plenty of time to reflect on Ironman Coeur d'Alene. Ultimately there were a few things, in my opinion, that ended up with me having a slower than anticipated performance. I have started to address this items. Some of this will take me into next year. For example, I wasn't mentally prepared as well as I could have been for trying to take that race to the next level. There is a huge difference between going 10:45 and 9:45. I will argue that I was in shape to go 9:45, arguably faster, but wasn't mentally prepared. Part of this is due to a lack of racing going into the event. It had been 10 months since I had raced. That was too long. I had forgotten what the pain felt like! Despite that, I would have been OK, until I hit that back pain. That is the second item I'm addressing. I'm back to the fitter next week and am stretching and doing exercises to strengthen my lower back in hopes that it will all help. I'm also going to take up yoga.

So, what to do for the rest of the year. Well, I was going to close out with a half Iron somewhere. I was thinking September, but my coach suggested Lake Stevens and it makes perfect sense! I'm in great form after CDA and am now fully recovered. Lake Stevens is a challenging course that I think suits me well. The harder the bike the better. Well, I say that until my back totally locks up and I can't run! Well, hopefully we will have it fixed by then! After Lake Stevens, well there are some possibilities as to what would be next based on that race. I plan on racing into September and then entering into some serious rest before base work to begin in late October, early November. The plan is to do a marathon early spring and then move into the season well prepared this time. So for now the focus is on Lake Stevens next month! But to shake the cobwebs off, I'm racing in a local sprint tri in the am! I can't wait. As coach and I were saying the other day, I'm racing angry now :) Check in soon,

-T

IMCDA Race Report

It's taken a while to put this report together. I will try and keep it as short as possible. Here is the gist...this year was about putting all my cards into trying to get top five in my age group at Ironman Coeur d'Alene, thus ensuring a qualifying spot into the World Championships later in the year in Kona, Hawaii. I hired a coach, got dialed on the bike (while getting a new ride!), and took every precaution with my health to ensure that my sinus infection tendencies and asthma would stay in check. As I drove out of town on Thursday from Portland to Coeur d'Alene, I was convinced I was going to do this.

The feeling continued as race week went on and my family started to arrive. The weather was cold, but all the reports were showing low 70s and sun on race day. Perfect. The course was challenging: cold and choppy swim, hilly bike, and now with a changed run course; a challenging marathon. I went a did an hour ride with some of Muddy's other athletes Saturday am and felt amazing. I racked my bike, dropped off my gear bags, and headed back to the house to put my feet up. I remember walking out of transition looking at all the other athletes. Everyone looked so nervous. I just smiled. I felt so great. Tomorrow was going to be my day.

Race day came and I was up around 3am. About 3:45 I finally started to get up. I shoved some food down: bagel with ham, banana, some cereal, english muffin with toast, and a cliff bar before the swim start. Note: need to spice up the breakfast a little, the bagel sandwich was tough to take down at 4am! Apparently I was supposed to wake my Dad up at 4, but I had no idea so at 4:45 I went to check on him. Well, that's when the day started off on the wrong foot! Poor guy was running around like crazy to get ready so we could head down to the swim start. I was nervously waiting for the rest of my family as they weren't where they were supposed to be by 6:30. Finally I see Meghan. Apparently I had told everyone the wrong meeting point. Bad luck continues as I hug my wife, coach, and father and head off to the swim start. Well, funny thing about this race, there is NO ROOM to get by transition down to the swim start. I should have started my walk MUCH earlier. Shit. I was worried I was going to miss the start. The national anthem started and I still couldn't see the entrance to get down to the beach. I finally started acting like an ass and forced my way through the crowds. I made it down to the lake with 3 minutes to spare. Note to self #2: don't risk being late to the start of an Ironman.

Gun goes off and we rush into the water. I felt good up to the first buoy. Then it got crazy. I have never been punched and kicked so many times in my life. I was very uncomfortable and to be honest, I didn't have the normal fight in me to push through everyone and swim with the big boys. I don't know why. Still don't know why a week later. It wasn't fitness or taper, or anything other than my mental state. For whatever reason I didn't push. The second lap was uneventful and before I knew it I was having my wetsuit stripped and was off to T1. I couldn't feel anything in T1. The water was pretty cold. Actually, it was very cold. I had a tough time getting my socks on for the bike. Eventually I made it out of T1. Looked at my watch for my swim split; 58min. I remember yelling "Fu#k!" as I excited T1 in a rage due to the slow swim.

On the bike and flying. I was feeling good. We did the out and back section and made our way back to town before heading out to the hills. Muddy told me I was in 10th. Damn, a slow swim will do that to you. Oh well, I will crush these guys in the hills was what I was thinking. We hit the hills about 25-30 miles in and I feel it. This was going to be a long day. My quads were already aching and now my lower back was starting to act up. WTF? I remembered the game plan and did my best to spin up the hills but I was getting passed by guys that normally I would eat for lunch. What was going on? We finish the hills and start to work our way back to town. I remember seeing the 40 mile marker and thinking, "Damn, my lower back really hurts. What the hell?!? This is why I spent so much time with my bike fit guru, to avoid all this lower back pain I've fought previously. We had this figured out!! I hadn't had this pain since last year. Oh well, relax Yates. Take some advil and it will pass." Another sign the day was going to hell in a hand basket fast...I had dropped my advil. Note to self #3: Don't forget your Advil. Ever.

Through lap one in around 21mph. 1mph slower than what we had planned. OK, no time to panic. We aren't even half way through this race yet. Put the hammer down Yates. Passed coach, he yelled sodium. I was on the nutrition, hydration, and sodium pretty well so far. As we worked our way back out to the hill section my lower back started to feel slightly better. But at this point, I was a wreck. I wasn't prepared for this additional suffering (although I should have been!) and was having a tough time coping with everything. Instead of pushing the second half of the bike, I just rode. The hills weren't bad the second loop, but I suppose that was because I wasn't pushing. A group passed me about the 100 mile mark. I was fed up with my performance at that point so I put my foot on the gas and rode in the last 10-12 miles with them. As we hammered into town I realized that my split was going to be slow, but not nearly as bad as I had thought. OK, no problem, time to blaze this marathon!!

The mass swim start at Ironman is an amazing sight

My father trying to spot me amongst 2800 other athletes

The *ARMY* starting to look concerned as I wasn't getting out in the time expected.

Beautiful day!

Off on the bike and ready to rock! Or so I thought!

Off on the run and the legs were feeling good.

I let out of transition with a laser focus to put in a good marathon. I remembered the instructions, no faster than 8 min pace for the first 15 miles. Instantly I knew 8min pace was going to be a struggle as my back was completely seized up. I had never had this type of back pain before. It was a struggle to keep going. I finally found some Advil around mile two. About 5 miles in the back seemed to get a little better. This was about the time you hit the big hill on the run. I was able to run it OK. I made the turn back to town. I saw my coach and father numerous times on this first lap which helped. My coach pleaded to me to to stay strong as there was a lot of confusion in my age group and I still wasn't out of the mix. I tried to keep the 8:15 pace going. I made the turn at the half marathon around 1:50ish (will need to check my garmin). Unfortunately, I was really starting to hurt at this point.

This is on my way out to the second half of the marathon.

I struggled to keep going this second lap. Mentally I was beat. Having to deal with the locked up back on top of all the other pain was proving to be a tough challenge. I gritted my teeth and decided to just keep moving as best as possible. I once again ran the hill, but by now I was jogging more than running. The last 10k was brutal. My pace had slipped to 10min miles and I couldn't seem to improve on it. I was walking every now and then. I tried to run the last 4 miles in, but still had to walk every few minutes,even if only for a few seconds. And then it happened, I saw the magical sign that we all dream about in a marathon. The 25 mile marker. My attitude improved and I picked up my pace. As I was rounding the bend up onto Sherman avenue and the finishing chute I saw people just heading out on the marathon. I had no idea where my time was going to land as I hadn't been looking, but figured it would be around 10:45. As I started to climb the small hill just before the run in to the chute, Muddy was standing on the side to wish me congratulations. This meant a lot to me. I hadn't delivered the race that we had prepared for, but he had stuck with me on a tough day.

Coming into the finish chute at an Ironman is an experience that everyone should have. It is purely magical. I looked hard, but could never find my family. After finishing I instantly found the pizza in the recovery area and waited for my family to show up. Meanwhile, they had thought I was in Medical (my typical post race location) so I started to worry when I didn't see them. I finally found Meg and gave her a huge hug! The day was over. I had fallen short of expectations, but was proud to have another sub 11 hour Ironman under my belt (3 times over now!).

I want to make sure and thank my incredible wife, without whom I would be lost. When it gets really dark out there the thought of the seeing her keeps me going. Also want to make sure to shout out my family (this includes Meg's side, whom I consider my family) who totally rocked the support out on the course and from afar!! The Duck Calls were awesome :) Muddy Waters, you are an amazing coach and friend, and I'm happy to have you leading me. The volunteers. WOW, they are just amazing! And finally, this is my first year racing on the Ironhead team. What a great thing to have so many people (racers and spectators) yell "Go Ironhead!!" at you during the race. Just awesome. I specifically love the teammate that was spectating that yelled at me the following as I headed out onto the second half of the marathon, "Yeah Trevor. You are looking good. You go find that deep dark place out there and you f'ing embrace it man! Get after it!" Love it. Good stuff.

Finish time 10:47

Swim: 58

Bike: 5:32

Run: 407

I'll be seeking some help to uncover the back issues. I'm of a firm belief that the issue is not the bike fit. I believe that we have that dialed. I think my issue is anatomical and will require some strengthening and stretching. Thank you for all the support. I love this sport.

-T

Ironman Coeur d'Alene

Well, the day is nearly here. Race start is 7am Sunday. The trip out was OK. Unfortunately we had a pet get a little sick earlier in the week so things were a little frantic. The house I rented out in Hayden Lake area is great. Plenty of room for the family. And let's talk about the important stuff...the fridge is packed of beer and food for Sunday night! I had the pleasure of meeting my coach and his wife for dinner last night. Tonight I'll consume a ton of spaghetti and then Saturday night is my typical pizza night! I always eat pizza the night before my races.

So between now and Sunday morning I'll be doing a lot of relaxing and trying to keep my feet up. We have a short workout tomorrow morning prior to racking the bike and then it will be chill time back up at the house. In and out when it comes to the Ironman scene. I have no desire to hang around the area longer than needed. It just gets the nerves going too much. Instead I'll come home, watch a movie or two and simply relax.

Health - I feel pretty darn good going into the event. My asthma appears to be under control. I was a little tight when starting my run today but was able to maintain 7-7:30 pace at 140-145 heart rate so that made me feel real good about my asthma. Hopefully everything will be in balance on race day and all I'll have to battle is the course and myself. Would be nice not to have to battle asthma issue for once in a race!

Finally, the weather. It appears like it will be around 70 on race day with sun. Today was pretty cold. The swim course this morning was cold as well. The water was cold and choppy. People were freaking out. I hope it is just as choppy come Sunday. As a good swimmer, the chop is good for me. That being said, I hope it will be a little warmer than expected for the bike. As long as it's not too windy, it will warm up because the sun will be out. And then there is the run. Man, I can't wait for the run. Thanks for all the support (emails, texts and phone calls I've received from everyone). I can't wait to get after it Sunday!

Bib number is 1142 for those that want to follow on Ironman.com on race day.

-T

Final week

IMCDA is now just one week away. It seems like it has taken forever to get to this final week! My preparations have been great. I have recovered well from that bug I had and hope to be close to 100% for race day. Wahoo!! I've been focusing on resting and recovering this past week and it all seems to be coming together well. I have felt strong in all 3 disciplines. Beyond triathlon, I've been preparing for our vacation after. Glacier National Park, here we come! So what am I most concerned about in regards to the vacation? Beer and meats, duh! Seriously though, I will have a cooler filled with spirits (with plenty more ready to enter the cooler as needed) and a cooler filled with cuts of meats for some fine dining by the campfire.

After a long few months of watching my nutrition so closely, it will be nice to relax in a beautiful part of our country after Ironman and not concern myself with nutrition for a week :) The weather is looking great and we are going early enough that we should have our pick of campsites! I haven't looked forward to a vacation this much in some time. More than anything, I think that I'm just excited to spend some time simply hanging with my wife. Work and training has been so time consuming the past 4 to 5 months that we need some chill time.

Well, not much else to report at this point. I'm off for a short run soon and then will be cleaning up my bike and finishing my packing for the race and vacation. My speed concept is totally race ready with my race wheels now on. The machine looks amazing. I'll post some pics. After much debate, I decided to go with my 808 Firecrest rear as opposed to my Rolf disc. This is for many reasons, but primarily because the 808 has proven to be incredibly aero (close to the disc), is much lighter (whether mental or not I can feel this on the hills), and accelerates better than the disc (think corners and after hills, all of which CDA has plenty of). So I'll be running a 58m front wheel and the 808 rear. Later today I will be working out how to fit my spare tubular and tools under my seat. That should be fun!

OK, well thanks for checking in. Looking forward to getting out to Idaho and getting this race underway!

-T

Taper

Well, incredibly Ironman CDA is just over a week away. Seems crazy. I mean, don't get me wrong, I am so happy we are finally nearing the date...but it seems like it was just yesterday that I was cursing the short December days wishing for summer to hurry up and get here. So here we are. I've been getting a lot of questions regarding what the last few weeks looks like for me heading into an Ironman so I thought I would take a minute to explain what I do. First and foremost, my plan seems to change slightly every year and each race I taper for based on past experience and current conditioning and health. This year, the plan relies a lot on my coach's plan. Muddy has me dialed this season and I'm not about to back away from his insight leading into the race.

So, without giving too much away (that's why I pay the guy after all!), here is the gist of my plan. The two weeks leading into the race are about rest, recovery, yet remaining sharp. I have rested too much previously and have been flat on race day. I have not rested enough and have been tired on race day. This year we are after the perfect balance. So we start by resting more than normal and then resuming normal interval training 1.5 weeks out. We will then rest more and take this weekend very easy before getting back to short and fast workouts next week leading into the race. I will stay active every day leading into the race outside of my travel day. Part of this is physical and part is mental. Bottom line, when you are accustomed to putting in hours a day of training, your body and mind crave some sort of activity most days. Especially when you start to rest because you start to feel really good. What we need to avoid during these periods is for the body to enter into full recovery state.

The whole idea of a taper for a full Ironman distance triathlon is still a work in progress among most you ask. Many would tell you just back off a little each week. Others will insist that you must rest and then when you are done resting you must rest some more. The truth, at least for me, lies in the middle. You must allow the body to recuperate, but not allow enough rest that it starts into deep recovery. This will railroad your chances for a solid race. Meanwhile, if you don't rest enough, you run the risk of not allowing your muscles and energy systems to recover properly from the big blocks you put them through. So what is a guy to do? Heck, I got Muddy. I could care less about my taper this year. It's such a nice feeling. I just trust this guy. I also trust myself. I know if I'm not feeling right I will speak up and we will make adjustments. But at this point folks, the hay is in the barn. The only real danger you run beyond resting too much (hard to do really) is to train too hard (easy to do).

So, I'm getting excited for the trip. I've prepared for some time for this opportunity and hope to enter the race healthy for once (knocking on wood currently). I truly appreciate all the support and interest from everyone. More soon.
-T

Patience

Ironman racing is all about patience. Whether training, recovery, or the actual race, patience is key. Having patience can be a challenge. There are times in training when you feel like you need to push beyond what you should. You follow your schedule despite knowing you need to back off. You train while sick or injured. You become a slave to the philosophy that more is better. This is when you must exercise patience. In order to ascend to a certain level in triathlon, especially long course triathlon, you must take some risks. You must, at times, push your body to the edge in training. But once you get there, you must exercise patience and know when to back off.

This year, I feel like I've had to be more patient than ever before. I have chronic sinusitis as well as asthma. I'm on more medication than anyone should be on, especially a healthy triathlete. But, that's my life. And I realize it and have accepted it. In fact, what normally happens to me is I get sick prior to big events. Not like a cold mind you, but anytime I get a cold or the sniffles or whatever, it translates into a sinus infection and an asthma flare up. Hence, the common medical tent story. In fact, I have raced to date: 2 Ironmans, 3 half Ironmans, and dozens of Olympic triathlons. I have never raced a half Iron or longer while healthy. That's 5 for 5 when it comes to being sick. So this year was going to be different! I started seeing specialists. All the time it felt like. I went through all kinds of tests, exams, and appointments. Ultimately it was decided that I did indeed have some bad nasal passageways which, when my immune system was low, were allowing/contributing to sinus infections. Which in turn would compromise my asthma. After IMCDA, I will be having a second surgery to hopefully correct this. Or at least make it better.

So fast forward to this past week. I was finishing my big build. I was feeling pretty good until about a week ago. And then it started. I was feeling run down. My sinus specialist had called in a course of antibiotics that I was supposed to take once I started to taper (the point at which most people contract colds leading into endurance events). But here it was, over a week from taper and I could feel it coming. What was going on? I thought about the patience. Just be patient Yates, you are over thinking it. I slept on it. Still felt run down the next day. Overly tired. I started going through my old training logs and journals and realized something. I don't get sick because of the taper, I get sick prior to the taper! I get sick when I'm putting out the most volume and the stress and anxiety of the race is starting to build!! Damn, how had I missed that all this time? I immediately started on the course of antibiotics. Which was good, because that weekend (last weekend) I picked up some kind of cold. Shit.

I was protected right? I tried to be patient and let this thing take care of itself. But after an off day on Monday, I wasn't feeling much better on Tuesday. And come Wednesday I was devastated. I now had a sore throat and was still tired. I was watching my season and goals fall by the familiar sickness wayside. I was struggling to make it through the day I was so depressed. I was trying to stay positive, but couldn't. All the hard work down the drain. And then I called my Dad. He is a doc, so he immediately handled me like a patient and not a son. He gave me orders of who to call. What to ask, what to say, and ultimately he reassured me that we would get through it. I then talked with my wife. And she helped me get even more positive. I was quickly in contact with my sinus doc. After an exam, I was reassured that I hadn't developed a sinus infection! Most likely because I got started on those antibiotics when I did. I had most likely caught some of this viral crap that was going around. I almost hugged him right there.

So, now we are just over two weeks away from the race. If I had to guess, I'm about 80%, maybe 85% going into this weekend. My asthma isn't great, but it will get better every day without having to fight a sinus infection. What did I learn from all this? You must have patience when dealing with Ironman training and racing. You also must learn from the past. History is there to be studied, not dismissed. And sometimes, shit is going to happen. You can either hang your head (like I did for part of that day) or you can develop a plan to overcome. As I think about the upcoming race, I'm just damn happy I will have an opportunity to toe the line. And hopefully do it as close to healthy as this poor schmuck can get :) Thank you to everyone that was sending me positive vibes over the past week. It helped. 2 more weeks. And then it's on.

-T

Final touches

Well, the last big volume weeks are now behind me. The process of finishing the preparation for Ironman Couer d'Alene has begun. It's funny, I've been so damn busy the last 6 months I still feel like the race is months away. The nice thing is...it's not. It's just over 3 weeks away! So this week Muddy and I backed off the volume and intensity a little which was nice after we really finished last week with a bang. I have another relatively long ride this weekend and then my final long run this Sunday. The week after the foot goes back on the gas with high intensity and then we taper. It is really amazing how fast the time has flown by.

So what goes into these last few weeks? Well, whenever I have a big race coming up I concentrate on my plans. In triathlon you need a plan. At least I do. And my plans need to have back up plans. Ultimately you are required to make "on the course" decisions (especially in long course racing), but you need to have a plan to accommodate the change. Here is an example: I have a very defined nutrition plan. Let's say for whatever reason I'm not taking the calories in properly. Well, you can't race without calories. So, I have an A and B plan to survive. Trying different food, more sports drink, less water, backing off the heart rate to help the digestion, etc, etc. I have pace and heart rate goals for both the bike and the swim. What happens if the heart rate is too elevated on the bike? How do you react. Keep it rolling or back off? I have a plan depending on when in the race this potentially happens.

Why do I concentrate so much on the what ifs? Because, 1) what else are you going to think about when you are training so much :) and 2) this race is important...I want to be prepared for anything. And most importantly, I want to truly enjoy this race. If I know that I have a well thought out game plan then it's much easier for me to go out and simply race.

Speaking of racing. This will be my return to racing in a way. Two years ago I was coming off a pretty good year. I had a couple top 3 age group performances at Olympic distance and had debuted with a 5:01 at the half iron distance while being sick. So going into that summer I was feeling good. I did a tune up race a few months before Ironman Arizona after having a disappointing start to the year (sick again...seeing a pattern?). At this Olympic tune up race (it was a small, local field), I led out of the water and set out onto the two loop bike course. I remember it was raining buckets out there so I had to take the cornering easy, etc. But I remember the main competition that day was this ex pro cyclist. He finally caught me at the halfway mark of the bike, but I had a decent bike and gutted out a tough run for third overall. This was at the end of a large training block and I have to say...it felt great. It felt great to be truly racing out there. Racing for podiums.

Since then I've struggled some. I have fought over-training. I have had some disappointments when it comes to races. Sure, I am proud over going sub 11 at the Ironman distance in my first two attempts. And I'm proud of running sub 4 hours at Ironman Canada this past year. But in each of those events I was capable of more. I promised myself after Canada that I would remove the work behind the sport and hire a coach so I could just enjoy training and racing again. I did. I vowed to get a proper bike fit to help eliminate all this back pain when racing. I did. And ultimately, I committed to embracing and enjoying the process of preparing for a Kona attempt. I have. As Muddy and I put the finishing touches on the preparation for IMCDA, all I can say is...I can't wait.

-T

IMCDA preview weekend

The above pic is the view from out room. In preparation for CDA next month, we decided to take advantage of the long weekend and head out to Coeur d' Alene. For me it is a wonderful opportunity to ride and run the course prior to race day. It's also a great excuse to get in a solid long weekend of training. Because training takes up so much of our lives, I thought it would also be nice for us to simply get away and relax (outside of some of the massive training I have scheduled of course). Unfortunately the weather in CDA is not much different than Portland. 50s and rain. Although, despite a gloomy forecast today, the weather ended up being ok. Actually, I didn't even get rained on!

Speaking of today. I had a long day in the saddle, 105 miles, followed by a 45 min run. I rode the course so my mileage should have been 112 but I missed a few turns apparently! That being said my total elevation was within a few hundred feet of what is posted online so I'm not too worried about it. I'm riding one loop (56mi) of the course tomorrow with a local so I'll make sure to see it all this time! The course is challenging. That being said, I really enjoyed it. The elevation changes are great in my opinion. The hills are much different than what I'm used to riding in Oregon however. These hills are steep and short. And there are a fair amount of them. After spending over 5 hours on the course today I feel really good about the course. I know where to push. I know where to hold back. I know where the turns are (haha, well most of them I guess!). All in all, I was very satisfied with today and will enjoy getting back out there tomorrow.

CDA is a great place. I'm very happy that we will be back here in a month for Ironman. It's a very beautiful town and the people seem very welcoming to all the Ironman athletes (I must have seen 200 riders or so out there training today). Thanks for checking in!

-T