27 March 2012

Racing Schedule Pt. II - Some Actual Information

Posting again, and it’s only been a little over a week!  I’m trying to post a bit more frequently now before the season really heats up and gets going, at which point my blog could be reduced to nothing more than a litany of race reports.  I have some fun topics I want to cover before that happens.

Also, I realized after my last post that I really didn’t keep you in suspended anticipation at all, because my race schedule is displayed on the right side of my blog.  You could have just looked over there.  You probably already did and ruined the surprise.  At any rate, here is part II of my racing schedule post, the where and why behind those selections.

First, the Spring Classic Duathlon.  This one was a no-brainer.  Everyone loves a spring tune-up event.  A chance to test the legs coming out of the winter training block and see how your fitness is progressing.  And this one is here in Portland!  No travel necessary, I love that.  Because with gas the way it is these days, I have a feeling travel expenses are going to be a bit of an issue this year.  Plus, smaller local races always draw a fun crowd, foster a great environment, and promote local businesses.  So I’m looking forward to testing the waters of the Portland multisport scene in less than two short weeks.  Although that may not be the most apt expression, as I’m sure you all have noticed, it is a duathlon.  Meaning run – bike – run.  Never done one of these before, but it bypasses my weakest event (swimming), so I think it should be a hoot.  And last but not least, I got an aero helmet last year for Christmas and I need to try it out!  Booyah!  I refuse to use it in training, because that would be simply ridiculous (huge poseur alert).  So this is my chance to try out my new aero lid before my first “official” race, which will be…


Pro start at Wildflower
Wildflower!  Really, not much more need be said.  But for those unfamiliar, this is a one of the most iconic and storied classics in our sport.  It’s been around longer than the 70.3 series, or really any half-iron distance race for that matter.  In fact, it used to be “THE” half ironman event, as Kona is to Ironman.  Plus, the environment can’t be beat.  It’s kind of like Dave Matthews Band weekend at the Gorge; camping, cooking and hanging out in the dirt all weekend in the middle of nowhere.  Except instead of going to concerts and relaxing, you go to intense races and beat the crap out of yourself.  This is a seriously hard course, very hilly, with one of the toughest pro fields of the year.  What better place to make my official pro debut?  And to top it all off, the fine folks at TriCalifornia comped my entry, my first official perk of being a pro!
Wildflower transition zone. It's a big boy.

Lance then
Lance now
Next will be 70.3 Florida, without question the farthest I am going to travel for a race this year.  And this one actually comes with a funny story.  Some of you may have heard, but the legendary Lance Armstrong recently announced his return to triathlon.  Believe it or not, he started out as a triathlete in high school before concentrating on cycling full-time, and we all know how that worked out for him.  Bad move, right?  Anyway, I’ve been a big fan of his since watching the epic tour of 2003, when I first “discovered” cycling.  He earned his pro card last year and this winter announced a partnership between his LIVESTRONG foundation and WTC.  I’ll spare you the details, but it’s a great arrangement where everyone wins.  You can read about it here.  He made his race schedule public, and none of them are anywhere near Portland.  But then it occurred to me: I have a free flight on Southwest.  I’d tried to use it several times but kept running into restrictions.  Haven’t been feeling the luv, or however that cute little airline spells it.  Maybe, just maybe, I could use it to fly to Orlando.  I plugged in the dates and BOOM!  Ticket confirmed.  So while I am slightly embarrassed to admit it, yes, I did sign up for this race largely because Lance is in it.  But I will get to tow the line with a living legend on May 20.  That’s probably all I will see of him though, because turns out he is a damn fast swimmer.  But that’s not the only reason.  The stars aligned with the flight, the timing of the race is good and fits in well with my season goals, it’s fun to go out on a limb and see a new place, and my cousin Danman and I are going to make a great weekend out of it.  So pretty pumped for this one!

Fourth will be 70.3 Boise.  Another no-brainer: it’s in Boise, land of my youth, and the city I will always call home.  I have done this event the past couple years and there is just nothing like racing on your home roads, with your home crowd cheering, and your own bed to sleep in after you go to your home pizzeria (FLYING PIE!) and home brewery (SOCKEYE!) after the race.  Tough course too, usually windy, and it’s been gaining in popularity since its inception 4 years ago, which promises a tough field.

Since I’ve already mentioned “70.3” and "WTC" a few times, I should take this time to explain that “70.3” is the official name given to a series of half-iron distance races put on by WTC (World Triathlon Corp.), the same people who bring you all the Ironman races.  So anything named “70.3” or “Ironman” is owned and operated by these folks.  They have literally hundreds of events all around the world at this point, making them the undisputed king of triathlon race management and unofficial stewards of the sport.  And fortunately, they put on a great race.  Pros are a bit divided on their opinions concerning WTC, and I don’t want to get into that right now.  I will say that their races always run smoothly.  I will also say that I am happy to see more and more alternatives to WTC events popping up.

Mt. Hood towering over the Rev3 Portland race venue
Speaking of one such alternative, for my fifth event, I’m excited to be returning to Rev3 Portland for its second year.  Rev3 is a newish series of races that has been hugely successful.  They present themselves as a more family-friendly and athlete-focused race organizer, both of which I can speak to after my participation last summer.  These guys are awesome, and I only wish they had more races out west.  Plus, this is where I earned my pro card last summer.  And also it’s in Portland!  Of course I’m going to do it again.  I hear the course is going to be a doozy this year, zigging and zagging all over the Mt. Hood and Columbia River Gorge Recreation Areas.  This is a great one to put on your list.  And another free entry for me, so that’s nice.

Vineman territory

Everybody's most lovable task force.
I hear they protect the run course.

The remainder of the season gets a little fuzzy.  I’ve penciled in two more 70.3 races I’m looking at: Vineman down in the wine country of California, and Calgary up where all those crazy Canadians live.  Both would be excellent.  Vineman because that is such a beautiful area, and always brings in a good field.  It’s also the week after Rev3 Portland, and I’d like to push my body through back-to-back weekends to see how it responds.  Calgary because I’ve never been up there, and the timing would work out nicely with another trip I'm taking to Montana.  But I’m going to have to evaluate those down the road a little bit.  See how the body and the finances are holding up.

Actually, I’m really hoping to do Calgary, because that is when a few things are coming to a head for me.  My job will be winding down at that point, and my family will be gearing up for a big trip to Europe August 4-22.  Our first time going over there together!  We’ve been waiting and planning for this trip for years, can’t tell you how excited we all are for it.  So anyway, bringing that back to relevant, my season needs to be pretty much over by the end of July.  I would consider a few races in the fall after we get back, but that depends on a lot of unknowns (work, school, no idea!)  So for now, I’m going to have to leave it at that.
Calgary framed by the Canadian Rockies, pretty stunning really, who wouldn't want to race there?
So there you have it, a pretty decent outline.  You’ll get more details – probably more than you could ever want or need – in my post-race reports.  But for now, it is very exciting to look at that list and think about the upcoming season.  Seriously, 90% of the fun for me is planning and preparing for these things.  Then the remaining 10% is split between the race itself and looking back on the experience.  Now those aren’t exact figures, so don’t get all nit-picky with me.  But yeah, I’m pumped.

Up next, a preview of my race-ready minivan: a primer on how to travel to these tris in style.

Best to all,
Andrew

19 March 2012

Racing Schedule Pt. I – Why my legs are like inexpensive china (they are fragile, and they sink)

Welcome back to the triathlon blog everyone’s been talking about!  Was a rainy week here in Portland, but it’s all good and there is a lot of fitness out there for the claiming.  Morale is high.

As promised, what I’m hoping to accomplish with this post is a brief outline of what y’all can look forward to over the coming year.  Which races, in what exotic locations, involving which famous celebrities, and how many nights spent in my van...?  Be warned, it’s actually not that brief at all. In fact, it was so long I decided to divide it into two separate posts.  I realized I got a little carried away and hadn’t even mentioned a single specific race yet.  So this is Pt. I – some thoughts on race types and distances, which certainly determines which ones I actually sign up for.

I realized I had some explaining to do before just throwing you all into the whirling, senseless maelstrom of my thoughts.  So to answer a common question before I get into the deets for the season: how long is a triathlon?  While every race is uniform in format (swim – bike – run, in that order; if it’s not, then it’s technically a different sport), they can be a variety of distances.  The shortest ones are called sprint triathlons.  Exact distances can vary, but these are short and sweet.  Or not so sweet, because you pretty much have to red-line it the whole time.  Very painful but a complete gas and so much fun.  Extend things a bit and you have an Olympic-distance event, so named because that’s the distance they race at the Olympic Games.  The standard length of an Olympic tri is a 1.5k swim, 40k bike and 10k run (for those not metrically inclined, that comes out to a 0.9 mile swim, 25 mile bike, and 6.2 mile run).  These are also relatively short and fast.

Longer still and you have the half-iron distance, which is a 1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike, and 13.1 mile run.  I switched over to the imperial system because the metrics of the half iron distance are just silly (89.6 km bike? Nobody knows what that means.)  The longest of all, and only for the crazy-psychos out there, are the full length ironman races.  These bad boys are twice as long as the half-irons, making them all-day affairs with the fastest pros generally finishing somewhere around 8 hours, depending on the course and conditions.  If someone told me I had to swim a long ways, ride my bike 112 miles then get off and run a marathon, I’d tell them to quit joking around, because that ain’t funny.  If they insisted, I’d be liable to get defensive, project my insecurities, stand there and cry, or some combination of the three.  Suffice it to say, I’m not signing up for an ironman any time soon.

And believe it or not, it actually gets even longer. So if you just can’t get enough distance, take a look at these.
Swim start at the Norseman... in a fjord... in Norway.
Give me a break.
Photo courtesy of guyhuste.blogspot.com

-Leadman Epic Tris – a bunch of crazies!
-Norseman Extreme Tri – what is wrong with these people?
-Ultraman Tris – no comment.

The question that usually follows: how long are the ones I do?  And since this is a blog about me, after all (check the blog title), I feel it isn’t unreasonable for me to respond.  I predominantly compete at the half-iron distance. And that is for two main reasons:

More or less what I look like in the open water.
Although his race suit is better.
Photo courtesy of bordom.net
1. I’m not what you would call a “strong” swimmer.  When you step up to this distance the swim becomes proportionally shorter, a good thing if you have never really been much of a fish.  Which I haven’t.  Also, I have more time on the bike and run to make up all the ground I lost in the water.  I’ve pinpointed the problem: I have sinking legs.  But I can’t seem to channel that
knowledge into a working solution.  If you have ideas please send them my way.

2. I have a fragile body.  I’ve been plagued by running injuries the last few years, usually forcing me to end my season prematurely and take a long break from running.  I’ve never been able to put in the necessary miles to prepare for an ironman.  Besides, those races are too long anyway.  And I’m not a crazy-psycho.

But don’t be worried!  I have been working hard on these two issues.  I’m feeling faster in the pool, and have been slowly transitioning to a new running style that *hopefully* will allow me to run injury free.  Can’t deny that there is a not-so-subtle irony here though, as I have been swimming since I was a wee-lad and I even raced a bit through junior high and high school.  After years of hard work, I remain decidedly mediocre.  On the other hand, despite a fragile constitution, and that it was the last sport I picked up, running is the strongest of my three disciplines.  Who knows?

The pack I wouldn't be in.
Photo courtesy of bleacherreport.com
One final thing I consider in selecting a race is whether or not it is draft-legal.  In most triathlons, you are not allowed to draft off other cyclists during the bike.  This makes it purely a time-trial-type situation, where it is just you out there, riding alone in a one-man bubble.  Allow drafting and all of a sudden the entire dynamic of the race changes.  In a nutshell, if you can’t swim with the lead pack, then you get gapped coming out of the water.  If you get gapped out of the water, you miss the main bike group.  If you miss the main bike group, you ride by yourself.  If you ride by yourself, you lose more and more time to the large “peleton” who has the advantage of working together.  If you keep losing time to the peleton, you come off the bike in a bad, bad way.  If you come off the bike in a bad, bad way, well, your race is pretty much over, and you should just cruise through the run like it’s your own, private, highly-spectated pub crawl.  Take in the scenery, and think about what beer to order.  Because after a long day by yourself, you’ve certainly earned a beer.  Best thing is all the spectators are still there cheering - you are just nowhere near the action.  It seems like they are really excited you are going to get that beer, but it’s the sympathy vote, really.  All this to basically say, I’m not a good enough swimmer to have much success in draft-legal racing.  Looks like a lot of fun, so maybe someday.  But that day is not going to come anytime this season.  Those boys can swim!

Where I'd be headed.  And a pretty fair rendering
of the ovation I'd receive on my way.
Photo courtesy of mckinnonsirishpub.com


 
So now that all of that is out of the way, what is lined up for this season?  Basically, a bunch of non-drafting, half-ironmans in locations I can drive to.  But more on that next time.  Going to keep you all in suspended anticipation!

Train well!
Andrew

02 March 2012

Some Perspective as I Begin

I’m pretty excited by the initial reception of my highly-publicized blog launch.  Over a million unique pageviews already and I haven’t even posted anything of substance yet!
Of course that’s not all entirely true.  I had a lot of good stuff in that welcome message, I thought.
I was considering this next post and thought it might be a good idea to take a moment to think big-picture here, before all this excitement and attention goes to my head.  I don’t want to confuse or mislead anyone, or worse yet, embarrass myself in a media space as permanent and far-reaching as the internet.  Also, I really enjoy lists, and feel like I’m thriving as I formulate them.  So I am laying down some ground rules for the upcoming year, in no particular order:
WHAT I WILL DO:
-My best.  In my training, racing, eating, sleeping, blogging, and everything else.  You may have been hoping for something more than Andrew Langfield’s best (I know I was).  Hard reality to face, but this is all you’re going to get.
-Show my appreciation to those who support me.  I’ll admit it: this is a pretty self-focused pursuit.  I couldn’t do any of this without the support of many people.  I’ll start right now, by thanking my family and friends who encourage me; my fellow triathletes, competitors and training partners who challenge me; all those who volunteer and work in the triathlon arena; and of course, my inspiration: Sean Moran.  More on him later.  And last but not least, you all, my innumerable fans.  Words cannot begin to repay a debt this grand.
What more need be said?
-Aspire at all times to abide by the “Swanson Pyramid of Greatness."  I may omit certain tenants, including but not limited to: the consumption of skim milk, shaving below the neck, and the wearing of short shorts.  I do all of those things, pretty much all the time.  I also can’t grow any facial hair.
-That’s really all I can control at this point...   I wish I could talk split times and make race predictions, but who knows what will happen?  I could catch the scurvy and be forced to sit the season out.  In which case I’d have to start a new blog about my exploits in quilting and learning French (both things I’d like to do).
WHAT I WON’T DO:
-Make excuses.  It is true that triathlons require a certain commitment of resources: time, money, energy, etc.  We all possess those in different quantities, and we have to deal with it.  I’m lucky to be in this position, so I won’t waste time talking about what might have happened if only ____________.
-Complain, cry, gnash my teeth, or the like.  Sort of a spin-off of the previous point.  But these reactions to a poor result are no more endearing than making excuses, so they warrant mention here.
-Get money, get paid.  I put that on here in an effort to be realistic and honest with myself.  But this one is by no means exclusionary.  If by some act of God I actually do garner some form of financial recompense for my efforts (i.e. place well at a race), I’ll move this one up to the “What I Will Do” list ASAP.
Peering into the abyss of the upcoming season...
...or my illustrated pledge not to be priggish.
(photo courtesy of Bryan Mullaney)
-Take myself too seriously.  And I hope all of you, my loyal and trusted followers, will help keep me honest on this one.  If I start bumming everyone out all the time with my posts, you need to let me know.
-Lose sight of why I do triathlons.  Because they are just so much damn fun.  At the end of the day, I love this sport, and am grateful for my ability to participate in it.
So that’s it.  If you have any suggestions or think I missed something, don’t hesitate to drop me a line or post a comment.  Keep them G rated, of course.  Nearly half of my 1,000,000+ pageviews last week came from the 2-5 year-old age bracket.  And also, please make an effort to keep direct attacks on my character from being too acerbic.  I know the tendency exists.
That’s all I got!  Tune in soon for some thoughts on my (tentative) 2012 racing schedule, what actually goes on at Wildflower, and the prospect of having my ass whooped all over the race course by a celebrity (it's ok, he won the Tour de France 7 times, I'm not embarrassed).
Andrew