This Saturday I will be competing in the biggest race of my life.  After a couple withdrawals from top US men, I was offered the opportunity to represent the USA at the World Cup, in Mooloolaba, Australia on Saturday.  Getting a start in a World Cup was my biggest goal for the 2012 season, and I am overjoyed to have achieved that goal of racing at the top level in the first race of the year. For all of you baseball fans out there, my Step Dad Brian aptly quoted Bull Durham when I told him the news saying, “You are going to the Show!”

World Cups are always extremely competitive as they bring together the best in the world for 8 series races throughout the year. But with Olympic selection on the line for many countries this weekend, the timing of this race makes it ever more competitive than normal.  Of the 65 guys I will be racing on Saturday, a significant percentage of them will be also racing at the London Olympics in August.  This will be a true test for me against the very best in the world.

I am feeling stronger than ever before. I haven’t been blogging much, because my head has been down focused the past two months during this

Training Session at the Noosa Aquatic Center. Great photos from our friend Wayne Nevrilk

intense training camp in Noosa, Australia. Not only have I had great training partners in my Team Siruis teammates, but many other top pros have been using Noosa for their winter training base. It has been a great learning experience for me to have the opportunity to train with the likes of Greg and Laura Bennett, Tim O’Donnell, Mirinda Carfrae, Belinda and Justin Granger etc. Now its time to put all of this hard work to practice at the World Cup this weekend!

There is some other great news as well. After the World Cup I have been invited to join the USA National Team Coaches and Athletes in Wollongong, Australia for a three-week training camp. The top US Men and Women will be using this camp as a final training block in preparation for the US Olympic Trials selection event.  Although London 2012 is out of reach for me at this point, getting invited to this camp is a great sign that the USA Triathlon Olympic Committee is committed to developing me for the 2016 Olympics. Having the opportunity to train with the top US athletes as they prepare for London will be a great experience for me in my young career. It will give me a first hand look into what it takes, and where I will hopefully be in four years time preparing for Rio.

Me Finishing in Mooloolaba 2010 as an Amateur

Coincidentally I raced in Mooloolaba two years ago as an Elite Amateur shortly before turning pro.  My parents and Jenna were there to see that race. I vividly remember watching the Elite Mens World Cup, and telling my family that one day I would be racing that race.  Fast-forward two years and here I am racing with the best in the world. It feels fantastic to set a goal and achieve it after two years or hard work.  The goal however, is not to just be on the start line. Now the bar is raised. I will use every ounce of strength I have to push my body to its limits on Saturday and truly show I can compete with the best.

The event will be televised online. I am not sure if the coverage is live for Mooloolaba World Cup in the United States, but it will certainly be uploaded after the race for viewing. Tune in: http://triathlonlive.tv/

Yesterday the triathlon world was abuzz with the news that Lance Armstrong will be returning to triathlon after more than two decades away from the sport he dominated as a teenager.  I believe, and it seems to be a general consensus among other professional triathletes that I have spoken with, that this is a great development for the sport.  There is no doubt there are many benefits from the raised profile this will bring to triathlon. With his seven consecutive Tour de France victories Lance has clearly proven that he is one of the best endurance athletes of all time.  It will be great to see him challenge the best triathetes in the world at the Ironman and Half Ironman distance.

Me and Lance at the Nike Pool (January 2012)

A month ago while I was at home in Portland, Oregon for the Christmas holiday, Lance was at the Nike World Headquarters (based in Portland) celebrating the 15^th anniversary of the Livestrong Foundation. I was invited out for a private one-hour swim workout with Lance.  It was a blast to train with him as he prepared to launch his 2012 Ironman racing season.  The main set we did in the swim session was a set of descending 300’s in the 25 yard pool at Nike, with the last 300 being a max effort.  I went 2:59, and Lance went 3:04 from a push to end the workout.  For a guy who has been out of the pool for majority of the last twenty years he can still throw down. I was impressed. I have no doubt he’ll be right in the thick of the front swim pack at any 70.3 or Ironman race.  Clearly he has the skills on the bike, so it will all come down to the run…

Thank you to Yumi Ozawa, Tim Dodson, and Josh Speer for inviting me out to Nike.

Twitter Shoutout

I applaud Lance Armstrong, Livestrong, and the World Triathlon Corporation for announcing a partnership that will raise $1 million this year for people affected by cancer.  Its great to see someone take advantage of their celebrity to do so much to give back. Read more about the partnership here, or about how you can race and raise money as a part of Team Livestrong.

Good luck to my three teammates Leanda Cave, Magali Tisseyre, and Kevin Taddonio, who will be toeing the start line with Lance in the pro field this weekend at the Ironman Panama 70.3.  Show him how Team Sirius represents!

Watch the video below and hear what Leanda has to say about Lance racing Ironman.

As the final hours wind down on the 2011 year, I want to take a moment to reflect on the year past, and look forward to the year ahead.

2011 was a year of learning and transition. I began the year having never raced professionally in the ITU, and with seemingly strong roots forming with a coach and training environment in Portland, OR.  I ended the year having 10 professional ITU

Always great to be home! Beautiful Columbia River Gorge (Oregon)

races under my belt, and with a wonderful new team, coach, and home in Santa Monica, CA.  At the onset of the year I could never have anticipated all of this change and growth.  One thing I have consistently heard from my coaches and veteran pros is the invaluable importance of experience.  There is no way to gain that needed experience than repeatedly putting yourself on the start line, pushing your limits, and learning from each race.  I feel that I have successfully accomplished all of those things this year, and the experience gained will help me break through to the next level in 2012.

Not all of the experiences have been positive. For example, getting food poisoning in the Philippines the night before the race, and throwing up while standing on the start line, or crashing in Ixtapa and finding myself in a Mexican hospital rather than crossing the finish line.  But in my mind all experience is valuable.  As the Dalai Lama says, “When you lose, don’t lose the lesson.”

There have certainly been some positive confidence building experiences gained in 2011 as well. A few notable experiences include: Towing the start line beside Olympians, having a breakthrough sub 33 min run split in Valparaiso, learning how to manage long haul international travel and still perform, and experiencing first hand the power of the mind over the body through my meditation retreat.

Reflecting on where I was a year ago, versus where I am now makes me very excited for the 2012 season.  Anyone who has truly excelled in triathlon will tell you that consistency is the key to success.  As a result of coaching and location changes these past two years I have never had a full year of true consistency.   After my trials and tribulations in other settings I am 100% confident that I have found my permanent home with Team Sirius.  I am excited to start 2012 knowing that for the first time I will have the same coach and team to support me from the beginning of the year until the end.  Siri is such and incredible coach, and I know I will excel under her guidance.  Having so many other amazing athletes to train with daily has brought my training intensity and focus to a new level.  My biggest success of 2011 has been finding Team Sirius, and with it great teammates and coaching to keep me consistently moving towards the realization of my goals.

Not only will 2012 be a huge year for me professionally, but it is perhaps and even more monumental year for me personally as it relates to my family.  We will be officially welcoming two new members to my family this year.  My sister Eva is pregnant and due in early February, and my sister Caitlin is getting married in June.  Additionally my Mothers campaign for Portland Mayor culminates in the 2012 election.  Hopefully this time next year we will be celebrating my Moms inauguration into office.  Go Mom!

2012 is an Olympic year.  As a result the ITU races in the first half of the year will have an added level of importance as athletes from all over the world try to secure their Olympic selection.  My sights remain set on a 2016 Olympic berth, however, racing beside athletes trying to qualify this year will be another important experience gained for when its my turn in four years.  I’m hoping I will be able to make it over to London in early August to watch first hand the men’s Olympic triathlon race.  I know that being there, will add to the already burning passion I possess to reach my greatest goal of competing in the Olympics in 2016.

Before I get too carried away talking about the summer of 2012, I should get back to the exciting things that will be happening to kick off the year.  Team Siruis will be having our winter training camp in Noosa, Australia along the beautiful Sunshine Coast.  I will be in Noosa training from the end of January through the end of March.  It’s a perfect time to train there as it’s the Southern Hemisphere summer, but also there will be a number of the ITU races held in Australia during this time.  I will be kicking off my season at the ITU race in Geelong, Australia in February, will race at least two other ITU races during my time Down Under.  After two months in Australia I will be returning to my base in Santa Monica, and will continue to race ITU Continental Cups in North and South America. I have posted my tentative race schedule for the first half of the year (2012 Schedule), look for a more complete schedule in the months to come.  My goals is to accumulate enough ITU points in the first half of the year to get my first ITU World Cup start by next fall.

I hope everyone is having a safe and happy New Years Eve!  I cant wait for all that is to come in 2012.

“Should Auld Acquaintance be forgot,
 and never thought upon…”

                                             -Auld Lang Syne

It’s the offseason, and with that comes the time of year when my body gets a little rest from the constant physical pounding of the

This is what I looked like most of the time...

year.  Most other triathletes I know take this time to eat, drink, be merry, and enjoy all of the other things in life that we miss during our usually disciplined existence.  My teammates and friends all called me crazy, but I took this time to dive into the power of my mind by attending a 10-day silent meditation retreat. Keep in mind, I had never meditated a single day in my life, nor would I generally consider myself the typical meditation/yoga/spiritual retreat “type”, and here I was jumping into the life of a monk for 10 days; maybe I am crazy?

You may be asking, what is a “silent meditation retreat?” Well here are the basics:

-   The meditation is called Vipassana, based on nonsectarian Buhddist teaching (any religious dogma would have sent me packing)

-   The course lasted 11 nights and 10 days, over which time I took a vow of “Noble Silence” that included abstaining from speaking, reading, writing, eye contact, physical or any other form of verbal or
non verbal communication

My 8 x 8 Bedroom, shared bathroom with roommate on other side of the curtain

-   Each day had the same 17 hour rigorous routine beginning at 4am and ending at 9pm

-   12 hours of each day was spent in meditation with the other remaining 5 hours left for teaching discourse, meals and short breaks. (The vow of silence is maintained continuously for the entire 10 days).

- There were only two meals a day, and after 11am all you could have was tea and fruit until 630am the following day

-   The meditation is guided by a teacher, so although students are completely silent, instructions are given throughout the course of the days to teach and guide the proper practice of Vipassana

-   The retreat center is located in Onalaska, Washington amidst rural farmland in the shadow of Mt. St. Helens (about 30 miles south of where I was born in Olympia, WA)

-   33 Men and 47 women attended the course (about 10 quit midway through), but other then time spent in the meditation hall, the men and women are entirely segregated from each other; separate dining hall, residence, walking grounds etc.

-   It is completely free to attend the course. All 250 Vipassana centers around the world exist solely on donations both monetary as well as voluntary staffing at the

Sitting in bed

retreats.

Needless to say this was a huge challenge, considering I don’t think many people who know me would describe me as an introvert.  My inspiration for going was to get in touch with the power of my mind since, in my opinion, the mental toughness required in triathlon is even more crucial than the physical demands it takes to achieve greatness. I certainly accomplished the goal of learning quite a lot about the power of the body and mind as it specifically relates to racing. Overall however, the revelations I had about my personal life upon this lengthy time of introspection were even more profound.

The part of the practice that pertained most to triathlon was the three, one hour “sittings of strong determination.”  Each day morning , afternoon, and evening there were mandatory group sittings in the meditation hall.  We all sat on our predetermined mat on the floor in any posture we wanted (cross leg, kneeling, half lotus etc). However once the hour began [..]

Sunday was the last race of my season and it was certainly one to remember. It was memorable not for all the right reasons

Sean contemplating swimming in toxic waste

perhaps, but there were certainly some positives. It was clear before the race had started that the race organization paled in comparison to Zimbabwe. My hat is off to the Zimbabwe Triathlon federation for putting on the best run race I have ever seen in the entire world. I was in for a shock when I arrived to the race site in Pretoria, South Africa to find the polar opposite; the most poorly run and unsafe race I have seen to date.

Only one of five race officials bothered to attend the race briefing, and the meeting started nearly an hour late.  It was 80 degrees outside, and the elite athletes were chastised by race organizers for asking for water while we waited for the briefing to begin. It was clear that this was not going to be smooth sailing from an organizational standpoint.

The Beautiful Swim Course with Carlyn and Sean

Race morning I felt relaxed and ready to go. I packed up my things, and with fellow competitors Omar Nour (Egypt) and Sean Jeffferson (USA), we drove to the race site. The swim was held in a pond directly beside three huge coal-burning smokestacks. The water was murky and the shore was littered with trash. I tried not to let the nasty aesthetic disrupt my focus.  I went through my usual pre-race warm-up, and found myself at the start line feeling good.

It was my goal to stay with the leaders out of the swim.  I hung on to the lead through the first half of the course.  A couple of the top swimmers in the sport put in a surge on the second lap of the swim and I fought to stay on their feet. They ended up opening up a gap, and I exited the water alone, 45 secs down from the lead group of 5, but ahead of the rest of the field. It was not my best swim, as I know that I have what it takes to exit with the leaders, but considering the travel and altitude (5200 ft), I had a decent swim,

Race Day Packed Full

heading on to the bike ahead of the majority of the field.

I got on to the bike, and pushed hard up the first climb to see if I could gain on the front pack. It was a untraditional ITU course of just 2 x 20km laps. Immediately I saw an athlete who had flatted 2km into the race on the side of the road.  This was a sign of things to come. The road quality was the worst I have ever seen in a race.  The road was filled with deep potholes and debris. The race official told us that the race course would be closed to traffic, this turned out not to be the case as only the small shoulder was closed, and the road was a major thruway. To add insult to injury, there were at least 15 large speed bumps on the course and many railroad crossings.  Some of the speed bumps came at the bottom of the long descents where we were reaching speeds of 50 mph. While riding with Sean Jefferson on the second lap I watched as his bike was launched several feet into the air each time he hit one of these bumps.  Needless to say the course was not up to professional international standard.

My coach Siri gave me some great advice before the race. She urged me to stay in the moment no matter what was happening, and try to do whatever I could in each individual moment of the race to make the best day out of it.  I used this advice to ignore the disaster of a course and stay focused on pushing my body to the max. I pushed hard for the first 10k mostly uphill on my own trying to catch the main group.  They were pushing very hard and I rode most of the first 20k lap alone.

Disaster struck on the final descent of the lap.  There was a major intersection crossing and the race official manning the intersection mistakenly directed me down the wrong street.  I suddenly realized the mistake as I was headed into oncoming traffic at 50 mph.

Post Race...Happy Offseason!

I locked up both of my wheels skidding to a halt just 5 feet from an oncoming car. Screaming and adrenaline pumping I tried to drop to an easy gear to ride back up the 200 meter hill to get back on course.  Unfortunately, it was impossible to shift from the hardest gear at a dead stop on the hill and I dropped my chain.  I was forced to get off my bike, run it back to the top of the hill and put my chain back on the bike before resuming the race.  I lost at least a minute, but in the big picture I suppose a minute is not so bad compared to what I could have lost crashing head on into traffic.

Again battling adversity I tried to stay in the moment. Fellow American Sean Jefferson caught me after I had lost time due to the mishap, and we rode the second lap together.  We worked hard together to make up the lost time on the leaders. As we were descending the last hill, through the same fateful intersection, the race official made a critical error AGAIN! She sent a car through the intersection as four of us were riding through at top speed.  Again locking breaks up and very narrowly avoiding a second crash the four of us all missed the car by inches.

My legs were hurting from my effort on the bike.  I didn’t seem to have the usual pop in my legs.  The reason became clear when I looked at my bike after the race and found that my rear was flat.  It’s hard to say exactly when it happened, but likely when I locked up my wheels and skidded I must have flatted.  Meaning that I rode quite a ways on a flat tire.  Thankfully my adrenaline and focus got me through the bike leg.

Heading home...Packing up the bikes for the last time in 2011

My legs were pretty blown up from the effort on the bike, but I tried to stay strong on the run.  I didn’t have the run I know I am capable of, but I tried to put my Achilles injury out of my mind and finish the season strong.  I stayed focused and even ran down a Belgian athlete in the last kilometer, finishing 9^th overall. Considering the high drama of the race I was just happy to finish healthy, and with two respectable top 10 finishes on my African adventure.

I recognize there are going to be challenges in every race, and not all racecourses can be the same standard. It is certainly not my nature to complain, but in this instance when the safety of myself and other competitors was blatantly at risk, I cant help but voice my opinion.  South Africa has a very strong triathlon tradition, as well as the experience as a nation of recently hosting the world’s largest sporting event, The World Cup.  It is my opinion that the South African Triathlon Federation and the ITU need to reevaluate their standards for safety in regards to this race.  I was not the only person who had a close call during this race.  Many other competitors at the finish line had similar stories.  Participating in this event were former Olympians from African Nations. The South African Triathlon Federation should make it their upmost priority to protect the well being of their elite athletes.

Nelson Mandela Square... Johannesburg, South Africa

The two races in Africa mark a successful end to my 2011 racing season.  I am proud to have shown tangible improvement over the course of my first year racing the ITU circuit.  I am certain that all of my hard work and experience gained this year will pay off as I continue to dedicate myself to my goals in 2012. I plan on posting a more thorough evaluation of my thoughts on the entire season. However today I am off to meditate in silence for the next 10 days (read more about it here: http://www.kunja.dhamma.org/index.html),  and I wanted to at least get my race report posted.  Stay tuned in the next couple weeks for my complete thoughts on the 2011 season, as well as my experience diving into my mind and solitude for the next week and a half.  Wish me luck!

As always thank you for all of the love and support from around the world. It is all of you that make it possible for me to reach for the stars.

What I'll be doing for the next 10 days...silent meditation here I come!

PS Here is a little two part video of Omar Nour getting detained in the Zimbabwe Airport on account of a broken bike box…we nearly miss our flight to South Africa as a result:

Part 1: 

Part 2: