Keep your eyes focused on this page for race reports and pictures after each event!

Boise 70.3 Triathlon

Saturday, June 12th

We always say every race has a "story". Well, the Boise 70.3 was no exception to the rule this year. The "story" was early buses, long waits in the sun, 20 mph head winds and dehydration. The positive side of this story was three successful, and FIRST 70.3 finishes.

Jay, Jennifer and Shokofeh made the trek to Boise looking to complete their first 70.3 triathlon. Our trio had been training hard since late winter and gave it their all. Unfortunately the bus that was scheduled to get them to the reservoir at 1:00pm for the 2:00pm start time got them there at noon. With little or no shade under which to seek shelter from the sun (yes, apparently there IS summer in Boise, just not Seattle) they did the best they could with what they brought up to the swim start. What they didn't know at this point was the havoc this heat and early onset dehydration would ultimately have on their day.

With the swim finally underway, all three of our athletes ROCKED it. Jay was 7th out of the water in his age group with Jen and Shok both exceeding their swim goals. The word from all three of them was that the competition was rougher and faster than they expected, but everyone came out very pleased with their swim.

Out on the bikes, it didn't take long for the 20 mph headwinds to take their toll. Combined with the extra long, hot, dry wait for the start . . . the extra workload required by the winds started some bouts of nausea and cramping. Doing the best they could, and remembering everything we worked on in training our Boise crew downed the electrolytes and fluid, but some of the damage was already done. Jen pushed through some very severe quad cramping while Shokofeh and Jay both managed their nausea the best the could.

Glad to be off the bike and onto the run it now became all about getting to the finish. The beauty of getting to this point is that you KNOW you can finish, it's about putting one foot in front of the other and pushing yourself. Muscle cramping and nausea continued to hover above our athletes, but they did it. Big congratulations to Jay, Jen and Shok on keeping their eye on the ball, not giving up when things got REALLY tough and making it to that finish line.

Onward to Lake Stevens for all three of our newly minted 1/2 Ironmen!!

Five Mile Lake Triathlon

Saturday, June 19th

Hmmmm, seems to be a theme here. Summer is never coming to Seattle. Cold, wet, and demi-miserable were the words for the day today. Our gracious hosts, Budu Racing, did all they could to keep spirits high and everyone smiling, but that was a tough assignment at best.

10 Club Emerald Triathlon Team athletes took to the environs of 5 Mile Lake Park to swim, bike and run our little hearts out. This event is our annual "kick-off" for a little race practice and reminder of how much fun this sport can be. Even through the downpour that persisted during the later portions of the bike and run, everyone dug a little deeper, put on an extra layer and made their way to the finish line.

Our biggest and most important finish line of the day goes to Eric! Completing his inaugural triathlon, in less than perfect conditions is an admirable feat. Add to that the fact that Eric didn't know until late in the day Friday whether or not his bike was going to be ready and out of the shop in time (got run over by a van last week!). Quite a happy and well deserved finish Eric!! Congrats.

Beth, Lance and Tom spent the morning hoping against all hope that next Sunday in Coeur d'Alene will NOT be this cold or wet. We used this morning to practice swimming shoulder to shoulder, riding out of the draft zone and running on hopefully tired legs. Great practice toward what I KNOW will be a great day on June 27th!! Oh . . .and did I forget to mention that Beth won her age group and Tom (Rosemary) place second in his???? Wooo Hooo.

Casey had a new first today as he prepared for his back to back 1/2 Ironman and Olympic day at Pacific Crest next weekend. Casey got his first "in-race" flat tire this morning. He made the smart decision based on the short length of the race to simply add air to his tire versus change the tube to get him into T2. Even with the added time to fix a flat tire, Casey was able to cut almost 5 full minutes off his time from last year. GREAT job Casey!!

Richard and Rino, both veterans on this course took the nasty weather and less than ideal conditions in stride and managed to smile through the morning. These are the types of days that make you happy to cross that finish line and get to those yummy bagels with PB&J. Congratulations Richard on your third place age group finish!!!

Last, but certainly not least . . . two of our Boise warriors, Jay and Shokofeh pulled themselves together and joined us in Federal Way this morning. Jen is busy training to summit Mt. Rainier next weekend, so rightfully she had other items on her agenda today. As I was standing next to Shok, waist deep in the water, shivering, we were both commenting on how much easier it is to NOT enter these events. Why weren't we still warm and snug in our beds instead of shivering in the cold drizzle with our toes getting numb?? I don't know whether we will ever be able to answer that question as to what really drives us, but I do know that coming across that finish line it all seems worth it. Shokofeh and Jay both got themselves back together after a grueling physical weekend in Boise and showed up this morning with smiles and inspiration for everyone. To top it off Jay was the third male overall finisher and winner of his age group. Shouldn't he be tired by now???

Soooooo, congrats to all of our athletes on a great job this morning. We are moving forward toward our next set of events including Ironman Coeur d'Alene and Pacific Crest next weekend!!

Pacific Crest Half-Ironman and Olympic

This race report comes straight from Casey's mouth . . . a great, but crazy weekend as he attempted and succussfully completed his first back to back race weekend. Congrats Casey!

Here's my story, written Monday morning trying to recall a long weekend...

Thursday I went for a run with the family: Amy, Bubba and Bellla. Amy was having some issues with the altitude and lack of oxygen up here. I was feeling pretty good.

Friday I went up with my buddy from HS, Eric, to stage the bike and go for a swim. The water was a brisk 57 degrees (not the 63 degrees posted at the Expo) and now I was having issues with the lack of O2; starting to stress...

Half Iron Triathlon Saturday I staged T2 and grabbed the bus to the swim, stagged T1 and put on the wetsuit. I was in the 4th wave - gonna take it easy - and did. I had a bit of going wide but swam steady the whole time and didn't cramp (like last year). Bike was up, up and away followed by really really fast downhill (15 of 30+ MPH) ... Run wasn't the best (I had a 10 minute potty stop) but my time was a PR: 5:56:06

2010 Pacific Crest Long Course Triathlon [36:28swim 3:10t1 2:54:11bike 4:21t2 2:17:56run 5:56:06total]

Amy ran her first 1/2 Marathon without any sideline support. She ran the whole way and had a great time. By the time I finished, she was showered and looking like it was nothing; super woman!

Amy Vietzke Mill Creek, WA 4411 F 34 2:24:49 11:03 http://racecenter.com/results/2010/res_cr10.htm

Olympic Triathlon

Sunday morning. I had the dogs in the kennel so I could get a good night's sleep. At 5:30 am, I woke up and to let the dogs out for a potty break. Bubba goes to his usual spot (around the corner) and after 5 minutes I go looking for them and they're GONE... I run around looking for them for 20 minutes, drive around for 20 minutes ... stress for the full 40 minutes. Bella comes back around 6:15. I grab the leash and Bella and I go for a run looking for Bubba. After 2.5 miles she chases a rabbit and now I think she's just out for a run - so I turn around and run back. Grab the car and go for one last look. I find a police officer and he says that if they find Bubba, they will hold him all day and bring him to the pound in the morning. I find an Volunteer that says he saw a guy that found a dog and has it in the garage. The volunteer brings me to the street where he saw with the guy (doesn't know which house). I call Bubba's name and a nice man comes out of a house - found the guy! - (Bella was about 1/2 mile short). The man called the police and now the police have Bubba. He also said that Bella was hit by a CAR and then ran home...

I drive to the village, found a local, found the police station and found the officer in charge. Bubba is on his way to the humane society (they don't have facilities to hold dogs). The OIC called Adam-Mary-12 and had him turn around. The OIC said that they will drop Bubba of at the house. He also said I was pretty lucky because in 3 minutes Bubba would have been in lock up until Monday...

Well, I have to catch a bus! Amy drops me off at T2, I stage and get on the bus. Then the adrenaline wears off and the emotions flow up! Luckily there was a few nice people to talk to on the bus. I make it to T1 and stage my gear. See some triathlons friends - not to mention my buddy Eric who is staged right next to me...

Swim time, 4th wave again. Go a little harder than yesterday and, oh, just happen to run up the ramp just before Eric :) . Amy made it after collecting Bubba (whew!) She said the only regret was not getting a photo of Bubba in the police car...

We hit the bike and go! I am feeling sore but strong. However, the course is an uphill steady climb or flat - not really my strong suit - so as I slowly burning out and I slowed down to 15 MPH - Eric speeds up, finds his legs and passes me at 22 MPH! At about mile 20 I pushed (downhill) but my legs were pretty much done...

The run was just a pain threshold test. My lungs were ok, no cramps but my legs had nothing. I tried everything I have ever used including prayer and Ironcrew thoughts but nothing was working. I was walk-jogging (wogging) in and even at the 5 mile mark I couldn't get my feet to run. HELP! I was being passed by Duathlon (marked by a D on their legs) and Relay people (marked by an R on their legs), 50+ ... everyone. I was talking to another walker saying "None of my tricks are working - I cannot get myself to run" when a Relay-Duathlon person (marked by an RD on his left calf!). NO WAY! I run up next to this man and start talking to him "Would you mind if I run in with you?" And we ran the last 1/2 mile stride for stride feeling like we were getting stronger and stronger with every step. After crossing the finish line, I shook his hand with tears in my eyes. I shared Rick's story to anyone who would listen... What a weekend!

Also, big congrats to Andrea for another successful Pac Crest Family relay race. Proudly sporting our Club Emerald gear!

Ironman Coeur D'Alene

Sunday, June 27th

Four Club Emerald Ironcrew members with toes on the start line, four Club Emerald Ironcrew members triumphantly across the finish line. SUCCESS!!

Lance, Beth, Tom and yours truly saw the end of five long, sometimes grueling months of training come to an end on this day. We were pleased to awake to somewhat calm water after a very choppy day of swim practice in the lake on Saturday. The sun was shining, our spirits were high and our nerves . . .well, as calm as they could be given the circumstances.

After some much needed hugs and goodbyes from our families and friends, we made our way across the timing mat and onto the beach. Having previously discussed each person's individual strategy on where to start, we quickly separated to find our place in the sand. 10, 9, 8, oh uh, here we go, 7, 6, 5, shoot, am I too far to the back? 4, 3, am I too far up front? 2, 1, don't forget to start your watch, BOOM! The cannon fires and like a freight train coming toward you that you can't stop, we gradually make our way into the water and the inevitable washing machine thinly disguised as an Ironman swim. Unfortunately the water wasn't quite as calm as it looked at the start. A fair amount of chop popped up, then there were some very big rollers from boats cruising around outside of the swim course. Kind of felt like we were swimming during Seafair. Long story short, everyone had good, solid swims. Exactly what we had trained for.

T1 was smooth for everyone. I had thrown out the demi-elusive goal of 5:00 to everyone. We gave it our best shot with times ranging from 5:41 to 10:08.

Out onto the bike we go. Again, solid, smooth performances by everyone. It was slightly windy out there, but that certainly was not the story of the day. We all rode hard and strong, exactly as we had trained. I was lucky enough to see everyone at least once or twice on the bike. Lance and I were jockeying back and forth a lot. It was nice to see a familiar face and jersey out there. We were trading stories about slightly unhappy stomachs, but at the time it didn't seem like too big of a deal. Triathlon Team member Kimmie made the trek to CDA to cheer us all on. It was fantastic seeing Kim out there jumping up and down, waving her hands in the air and keeping us all going. It amazes me every year how much spring it puts in your step to see or hear some encouragement from the sidelines or to know that someone is waiting for you at the finish line.

Tom was FLYING on the bike course and came in with a 5:40:43 split. Great ride. Tom was off on the run as Lance, Beth and I all swept into T2 within minutes of each other. As I said earlier, great rides by everyone.

For T2 I had planted the seed of 3:00 in everyone's head. I know that is a stretch, especially if you need to visit the honeybuckets, but I wanted to put it out there. As I keep reminding all of our triathletes, no matter what distance they are competing in, any time spent standing still in transition, is time spent NOT moving toward the finish line. Our T2 times ranged from 3:50 to 6:39. We're getting there!

So . . .solid swims, solid bikes, can we make it three for three?? Sort of. Tom was out on course so I wasn't able to get a check on him for awhile, but as I saw Beth and Lance on the short out and back in City Park we were all complaining of upset stomachs. It seems the heat had unexpectedly shot up on the bike and caught us all off guard. Even though all four of us were spot on our nutrition and hydration on the bike, we had just not been able to train in any temperature over 70 degrees at all this year. When the heat in CDA on Sunday reached 88 degrees, it definitely created havoc among many of the triathletes, especially those from the Northwest. Beth was able to overcome a very upset stomach in T2 to eventually come out with a run split that was a full 20 minutes faster than 2009. Good job Beth!! Tom, Lance and I battled our bellies and did the best we could. As anyone that has ever competed in endurance events knows, there is no perfect day. You are forced to contend the hand that is dealt, that is part of the game.

Tom and Lance can now proudly call themselves Ironmen. Beth, with Ironman #3 under her belt continues to get faster and more confident and is on her way toward Ironman Canada in August. Both Lance and Beth deserve a big round of applause for their efforts to not only train for and finish the Ironman, but for raising funds to help others along way. Lance joined the Janus Charity Challenge to raise money to help those battling OCD, while Beth joined Team Blazeman to raise funds to help those afflicted with ALS.

In summary . . . it was a GREAT day full of challenges, successes and many lessons learned. Everyone is well on their way toward new goals and challenges for the rest of our season. Tom is looking toward another Iron Distance event in Las Vegas in November, and Lance will be winging his way to Germany to compete in an Olympic distance event in August.

I would like to offer a big, personal thank you to my 2010 Ironcrew for all of their hard work, focus, dedication and trust. You guys have been a pleasure to coach, thank you!!!