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Flat

The bachelorette wine tour!

No, not my tires. My Legs. That is the Long and the short of my Syracuse Race Recap.  I had a poor start on the swim, due to a last minute emergency. Luckily my Zoot Wetsuit slipped on and off and on again like a glove! After the swim we charged up a 10 mile climb. Joseph Major came around me, and I thought oh this seems manageable...for about 30 seconds. Unfortunately the same thing happened when Angela Naeth went around me about 10 miles later. This left me in no mans land behind the group I wanted to be running with. This lead me down a long road of negative thought, and slow running. On the plus side, I get to throw it out there the next two weekends as well! I hope I can shake off the flat feeling and really give it a go soon. The highlight of Syracuse was the support crew. I was rolling deep with local family and friends at the race site. This makes even the most lack luster performance FUN! That is why we race triathlon, right?

My Grandmother, constant Inspiration 

The Family Flying V

The real reason I am in Central New York is family and fun. On Saturday my sister became a wife. My girlfriend Amy, cousin Natalie, and I flew in from Arizona to add a little life to the party! Which we did, the wedding was a great time. It was amazing to see so many family and friends all together sharing memories and new stories. My gramma Vondracek did some serious dancing, when I commented on her skills she said, "Jesse, Always Have Fun."

Local Star Status

Secrets of Success

Secrets of Success. Well, not secrets, What everyone knows, and triathlete mag writes an article about every year. The new news is this: If it is your 100th triathlon, 56th Ironman, or your first rodeo, it is always important. So, all that nervous energy you honed in for your first race, laying out your "Super Hero" suit with your ankle strap place on the pillow of the hotel bed next to you, coffee maker preset, tattoos lying out...you know the drill. You did that for a reason. So, at my last race I took ALL of these things for granted, and expected to pull a PR out of my a**. Guess how well that worked?

• Travel ~ it is tiring, plan accordingly, extra sleep time, and rest time after. DO NOT show up at midnight the night before a race.
• Rest ~ sleep is important, the week leading up to a race, you need good sleep! So, do not have a race coincide with an event, like the last week of school that takes away from sleep.
• Stress ~ Racing is a huge stress, you need to be ready for it, you cannot go in  with other stresses. Some examples include, stress from the school year ending, fractured ribs, your girlfriend's marathon, students test scores, if your car will make the drive etc.
• Pre-race ~ even at Ironman 100, dinner the night before and the rest of the meals prior are important. It is a bad idea to race on car snacks.
• Acclimate ~ humidity, altitude, heat and cold; these conditions make a huge difference. Your body needs days to properly get used to this. 6 hours is not enough. 

Okay, that is it, just a few quick reminders going into the summer racing season. Remember, it is okay not do these things, just align your goals accordingly! A PR means you were well trained and well rested. Train Hard, Race Smart!!

Straws

IRONMAN ST. George

This should have been the hardest race of my life. The conditions were crazy. The course is challenging, and the field was surprisingly good, but small. A few factors came into play that took me out of this race. My build from a mediocre Oceanside until 4 weeks prior to the race was solid. I was nailing workouts and feeling strong. Then about 3 weeks out, a crucial time, the stress at work got a little out of control. I was told my position depended on how my students scored on a state test. The stress sent me into a tail spin that lead to a cold. I went into the race full of mucus, with a poor tapper, and low confidence.

I was nervous about all of this when I hit the water. But hey, that’s life. I went after the swim, and got tossed around like a rag doll (like we all did)! I was shocked to come out if the water in under an hour, I knew I was doing alright even though I could not see anyone on the swim because of the waves. I was more tired than usual do to the chop, and I felt beat up. My new ZOOT suit felt awesome though! I swam in it for the first time the day before, and I did not love the way it felt. I was no comfortable in it all. This was it’s madden voyage. On race day, since it had been worn once it slipped on like a glove, and the fit and shoulder mobility was perfect.

I jumped on my Q.R. and immediately regretted my wheel choice. I rode a disc, 1080, aka a rear and front sail. I rode like a ping pong ball bouncing from one line to another. Again, I am sure any race recap would sound the same here. BUT, then I fell short. I did what I pride myself on never doing. I gave up. The snot on my face, and in my throat; Wind, sun, hills…and eating away at the back of my mind… do I have a job? I have a mortgage, student loans, and a nice credit card bill… but an income? Maybe I could have made it through a ‘normal’ ironman, but there were just one too many straws. I cracked.

not going to make it for dinner...

I soft pedaled the bike in and was getting ready to go sulk in my hotel. Then I saw the fans, and the other racers heading out on their second loop. They had 45 more miles to ride, and a marathon. I just had to run around town a bit. So I ran. I no longer had goals or motivation to do well. My competition was 45minutes down the road. But I knew I could finish, and I have never DNFed, so why start now?

The Moral of the story: Never Give Up.

After the race, I got some great advice; that was not the last Ironman. The fitness gained in the build is still there. Good luck and happy racing to all.

Thank you to Mom, Dad, Amy, Ben, Randy, Elliot, Brian D., Brian M., Tony, Vanessa, The Cobbs, Molly, Pete, Zoot, Quintana Roo, GU, Garmin and the rest of the Zoot Squad.

The Company You Keep

After reading Amy Cole's blog about mindset, I reflected on my own mindset, and how I got
there. A quick rewind of Jesse in triathlon. A guy told me about this long,
hard, hot race in Kona. I thought, hhmm sounds like fun. I borrowed his bike
and raced a sprint tri. I thought, hey that was fun! a few years later I saw
Kona on TV and decided I need to try an Ironman. Sooo...I found a bike and rode
around a bit and raced an ironman. I finished! Goal met, you see then I was in
the company of friends and family that thought I was crazy for entering an
Ironman. My company thought I surpassed all the goals in the world.
Then:
I met some people who had actually raced in Kona! They did well in a domestic Ironman and
qualified! Mindset shift, this company thought getting to Kona was possible!
So.. they taught me how to train smarter, suffer more and RACE!! Made it to
Kona.
The next iteration:
What is after Kona? Do it again? Then I actually met a PRO triathlete. He agreed to go on a
run with me!! Big day. Woke up early, stretch, breakfast, freakout, run! Turns
out Pro's are normal people too! This was the seed; if Pro triathlete's are
normal people, and I am a normal person...could I go Pro? Mindset Shift...
Get a coach; train even smarter (thanks Elliot!) pick a race, BOOM! Pro Card!!
You get the picture... in my case the company I kept gave me the confidence to have a
Growth Mindset.Right now I am trying to train with other Pro's. Other Pro's that have won an Ironman. I hope this will help me maybe go top 5 in an Ironman some day. Then who knows, top 3? Ironman champ? Bottom line, I have to THINK I can win before I step on the starting line. Call it want you want. Grow your mindset to the Mindset of a champ, say to your competition, 'no matter what, you will always be a champion.' Have the mindset of a victor. Don't let your mind be a limiter, our body does a pretty good job of that!
The last Iteration:
Even if you cannot train with your idols, you can read about others that have accomplished
amazing things. So, train hard, think positive, and keep that Growth Mindset.

Like a Runner

After saying OVWA (Zoot kicks rocked it!!) to my old half marathon PR, I decided to take a look at what worked. In order to do this properly, lets go back a step. As a triathlete, I have always been under theimpression that I am not running enough to be a fast runner. To compensate for
this I have spent a long time running my easy runs close to marathon pace. Maybe this works well for some, and maybe it is what has given me a solid endurance base.

BUT, in transition from the offy after a late season Ironman
to starting to train again I went back to something I love. Trail running. I
spent January exploring a myriad of trails I have never run in Tucson. Some of
it ended up being run/walk because it was so steep, okay, yes I have cuts on my
back from a duck and roll. Fine, now I have a weak ankle. A few losses that do
not nearly amount to the sum of gains made.

Since I was on trails, I was running slowly. This allowed me to relax, and not look at pace. Then when it came time to sharpen up with a few track sessions to prepare for my first race, the speed was there. I didn’t know how without any fast running, but it was there. I just ran The Lost Dutchman Half Marathon in a 1:15:59. This was 2:30 faster than I ran Rock ‘n’ Roll half in Phoenix a couple years ago. Yes a lot has changed since then, but this is
the fact I keep on coming back to:

If you want to be a fast runner, run like a runner. Hit your
hard runs HARD. Easy runs are time on your feet, nothing more. Don’t get stuck in the middle. It is never a good place to be. I know, you are saying, ‘but I
only run 45 miles a week, I need to make them count!’ Well, here is my opinion,
you don’t. Run like a Runner. Gain the cardio fitness from the bike and swim.
(Especially if you ride like a cyclist and swim like a swimmer)

What better way to celebrate than a photo shoot with Elliot (slept in) and Amy(ran a 1:22) post race?

Next Up: Turns out Pacing Helps!

Find Happiness

"We must seek the true causes of happiness and satisfaction in ourselves" ~ 14th Dalai Lama

What do YOU want to do?

The biggest thing racing, and wrapping my head around a winning attitude (thanks Hoff) has taught me is this: Be assertive and go after what you want. Happiness is not sitting behind a rock some where waiting for you to find it. It is in you. right now. You need to figure out what that means to you and make it happen.
For me the present is pretty full of it right now, but I am always looking toward the future. I am hoping the it looks like going back to school for PHD in Applied Math. I am just starting the application process, and writing about it seemed like a lot more fun than writing a personal essay to the U of A. In thinking about the application process, I became pretty fired up on life. I love racing, and learning. If all goes well, I will be knee deep in both for 2012. How ever it plays out, I feel like triathlon has but me in the driver seat of my life. I am no longer along for the ride. What ever it is that lights your fire, do it. NOW!!! ROCK ON.