EverymanTri.com

Racing vs. Cruising

On Memorial Day I had the great pleasure to run the Bolder Boulder 10K twice. Once I raced it and once I cruised it.

I’m sure you know what racing is, but let me explain what cruising a race means to me. It means going to a race and running it as if you are on vacation. In other words, the finish time is not important, but the experience of doing the race is what really counts.

In my case, I got to cruise the race because I ran it with my wife and 10-year-old son who was just happy to be on the course and running. The first time around I didn’t push the pace but never-the-less gave it a pretty strong effort and finished with a time of around 55 minutes. I can’t tell you the exact time because the Bolder Boulder web site is still down as I write this.

The second time around we finished in about 1:23 running it at a very easy jog pace. Can you guess which time I enjoyed the most? I bet you can.

I really enjoyed cruising because it let me:

1) Enjoy the run with my son and wife

2) Soak up all of the sights and sounds of the race

3) Chat with other racers

4) Actually drink some much needed water

5) Thank the volunteers

6) Enjoy some fun people watching

7) Live completely within the moment

All too often I will come home from a race and only remember the pain and the disappointment of just missing some self imposed goal. Or I will come home crushed because of some technical, mental, physical, or nutritional issues that prevented me from meeting my goal. (Eight flat tires come to mind immediately from my first Iron distance experience.)

When I first started racing it was simply enough for me to finish a race. I really had no other goals but just to “Get Her Done!” Once I had completed a certain distance I just jumped to the next logical distance and tested myself against the longer yard stick. But after running several marathons and completing two Ironman races, just finishing is not enough to motivate me anymore.

Been there done that!

So over the years, I started to set time goals. But these became harder and harder to attain. They were certainly within my reach but as with anything in life the curve gets steeper as you get higher. In other words, it took more and more training, luck, preparation, and determination to meet my goals.

So I started to wonder at what expense?

How much more do I have to swim, bike, and run to drop one minute or one hour?

What else could I be doing with that time spent on the bike riding the mandatory century rides ahead of an Ironman?

The answer was lots of things.

When you think about it triathlon (especially at the Iron distance) is a pretty lonely and selfish endeavor. You spend so much time training by yourself to get ready for your one day on Everest.

And that’s fine!

But what if you’ve been to the top of the triathlon mountain several times and now you know you’ll never be the first, fastest or fittest?

What now?

That’s the question that I’ve been asking myself all of this year.

And the answer for me is straightforward:

1) Do the race as part of something bigger (for me that’s team raceAthlete, but for others it could be team in training, or run for the cure, or a friend or loved one who passed away defending this country like all of the thousands of people who ran the Bolder Boulder with that person’s name on their backs on Monday)

2) Include my family as much as possible and picking a destination race. Most importantly bookend a family vacation around the race.

3) Come down from the mountain and climb a few easier hills. Ironman Wisconsin will be my last Iron distance race for a while. That will be three Ironman races in three years. That’s plenty in both expense, and travel for me. We have heaps of great local short course races that don’t involve so much travel or entry fee money. Any race you can drive to within a few hours is a great race.

4) Cruise the race

A good friend of mine likes to say that racing wrecks his training. By this he means that he really loves training but hates racing because of all of the pressure it put on him to perform. He just loves to swim, bike and run for the fun of it.

You know to go for a bike ride simplyto feel the wind in his hair and the sun on his cheeks, instead of constantly pushing the pace.

As I train for my upcoming Ironman, less and less of my training feels like fun and more and more of it feels like work. The pressure to perform is sucking up all of the fun air in the room.

Thank goodness for you great readers that follow my poorly edited ramblings.

And thank goodness for all of my great sponsors that motivate me with their terrific products and services. I can’t tell you what a huge smile I get on my face when I plop my big Clydesdale butt on my shinny red BMC TTO2 and head out on the open road.

So be warned folks, I’m cruising IM Wisconsin. And I’ll be doing it in comfort and style thanks to some pretty terrific training, technology, equipment, and clothing, but never-the-less I plan on cruising.

I figure that IM Wisconsin will have some great moments and I don’t want to miss a single one. I want to hear the crowds cheering, smell the open fields of our countries dairyland again, feel the sun (or rain) on my cheeks, thank the volunteers and my sponsors, and especially see my teammates tear up the course and cheer them on as they blow past me on the bike or run. I doubt I’ll be able to identify them in the pod of penguins (or is it whales) that’s the typical wetsuit swim of an Ironman.

So if are going to be in Madison in September please look for me on the bike. I’ll be the one with the cool raceAthlete jersey and the umbrella and cherry stuck in my water bottle.

The web site is back up

So to make a long story short...

I recently switched DNS registrants to consolidate all of my domains in one easy place and they promised to transfer the all of the relevant DNS setting with the domains.

Guess what? They didn't.

This web site, while still up, was lost to the millions of computers that make up the Internet.

So I had to recreate all of the DNS records and remap the domains and wait for the darn thing to propagate throughout the internet.

Propagate means that it takes time for all of the computers that run the internet to get the message as to where the web site is located.

Thanks for all of your emails and noticing. Sorry to bore you with such a long explanation.

A little exercise goes a long way

For those of us triathletes...shall we say...on a see food diet; we sea food and we eat it. A new study holds out the promise of longevity and even increased heath.

The recent excercise study concludes:

"Aerobic fitness alone is a key predictor of longevity," says Glenn Gaesser, an exercise physiologist at the University of Virginia. It doesn't matter whether the individual loses weight or if they have other risk factors associated with disease, Gaesser says.

Increasing fitness just a little bit, he says, "reduces the chances of dropping dead of a heart attack."

Church's study also found that the more exercise women did, the better off they were in terms of fitness. Women who biked or walked on treadmills for 3 hours per week ended up about twice as fit as those who exercised for just 71 minutes a week.

This study shows people don't have to exercise a lot to start seeing some benefits, says I-Min Lee, a professor of medicine at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston."

Now this does not mean that losing weight is of the menu. In fact if you want to go fast the best way to increase your speed is to lose weight.

Less weigh is a big advantage on the bike, and a huge advantage on the run. From a power to weight ratio perspective the thinner you are, the faster you will go. After all you don't have all of the extra weight to carry around with you on the race course.

But from a longevity perspective this new study confirms what many of us Clydesdale's and Athene's have long suspected: that even a little bit of exercise goes a long way.

Free to Choose

I'm a big believer in choice.

I honesty believe that professional athletes should be free to choose to use performance enhancing drugs if they want to get bigger, stronger, or faster.

At the same time I honestly believe that we as the spectators should be able to choose to watch, cheer and/support the athletes that use or do not use these drugs.

In other words, we should know exactly when an athlete has chosen to use drugs and when they are drug free.

I bring all this up because of what is going on in California at the Floyd Landis hearings. I'm so sick and tired of the debate that is raging both within and outside of professional cycling.

Did he or did he not use steroids to win the Tour De France (TDF) is really the question that has everybody scratching their heads, jumping up on the their soup box, and shaking a defiant fist in the air on one side of the debate or the other?

Anyway, bodybuilding has somewhat solved this doping problem in a very simple way. They now have two different competitions. There are the “Natural” competitions and than there is the Mr. Universe competition.

The natural guys look like Tarzan did in the old black and white movies when he was swigging through the trees. These boys and girls sign a pledge not to use performance-enhancing drugs and they are vigorously tested all the time.

The Mr. Universe boys and girls are wider than they are taller. They are spooky big. You can only really tell the men from the women by the fact that you can actually see the outline of the breast implant in the women’s chest. Otherwise your guess is as good as mine as to the gender of the athlete.

Why not do the same for cycling? Let’s have a natural TDF and a Uberman TDF. The natural boys can struggle up the mountains and collapse on the way, while the TDF boys just adjust their shorts, pop a super-pooper pill, and ride right over the top of the exhausted natural cyclist.

Now I’m sure that’s something that even the big networks would televise.

And if they do, we can choose to cheer for either the natural boys or the Uberman.

Now that's a choice I can live with.

Do what you love, love what you do

Paul Martin is very successful triathlete, runner, cyclist and now father.

He's raced most of the races that many of us dream of racing and his done it by overcoming a huge hurdle. But I'll let him explain in his own words:

"Like many of you, I was not always so sure of how I would live my life, how I would pay the bills, what type of occupation I would have. I’ve been on many courses, the latest of which brings contentment and comfort. Which is a real degree of success no matter how you slice it.

On December 12, 1992, I survived a car accident of my own creation: I had a couple of beers at dinner and fell asleep at the wheel on the way home. This changed my life, quite unexpectedly, for the better. I’m an athlete again; better than I used to be. I have been given the opportunity to share my story and motivate others.

I’d like you all to know why it is I do what I do. I compete in triathlon, cycling and running events for two very simple reasons: I enjoy it and because the opportunity is there. I speak to groups of all sorts and sizes across the country because I truly believe that what I have to say needs to be heard, and - with honesty as a platform in my life - because speaking has become a wonderful occupation!

This platform I refer to is itself quite simple. I believe in and live by the motto “do what you love, love what you do.”

This is the 37th Everyman Triathlon Endurance Podcast. There are several ways to subscribe to the show. You can click on the link below and use Yahoo.com.

You can go into iTunes and:

1) Click on the podcast link in the upper left hand corner of iTunes,
2) Click on the Podcast Directory link on the bottom of the page,
3) Now just use the search box located in the bottom left corner of the music store to locate Everymantriathlon and subscribe to my podcast.

The advantage of this is that you'll automatically get every show episode once I add it to iTunes.

Or you can listen (here and now) to the interview by just clicking the play tab below, or click on the link to the MP3 file and download it to your favorite iPod or MP3 player.

MP3 File

Wetsuit Hickey Avoidance Methods

They say that a picture is worth a thousand words, so here are the pictures.

Yesterday I tried to describe my best way to zip close a wetsuit and leash.

Below are the examples of problematic methods along with my preferred method. Please note that for the purpose of these illustrations I left the zipper top exposed so that you can see where it goes, but when racing it should obviously be under the flap.

Note: Everybody is different. These are just my suggestions for the best methods that work (and do not work) for me. Please use your best judgment for your own preferred technique. Or you can do a like a friend of mine did a few years ago and actually remove the wetsuit during a race. She got a bit freaked out by the tight fit and slipped out of her wet suit half way through the swim. Good thing she a nearby jet ski rider to bring the wetsuit back to shore.

#1 Crazed Killer Phython Method
Velcro the top zipper flap closed and leave leash unattached and hanging down and tangling from the zipper. In this common scenario the leash will inevitably wrap itself around my neck when I begin to swim and try to choke me like a crazed python. I'll spend at least half of the swim trying to unwrap the cagey leash from my neck.

#2 Wetsuit Love Hickey Method
Velcro the top zipper flap closed with leash end sticking out of the top of the flap. This is another common method that people use that drives me crazy. With the leash end under the flap but sticking out of the top, I always end up with a huge red wetsuit love hickey kiss on the back of my neck. The top of the leash rubs against the back of my neck when I swim to such an extent that my wife thinks I've been making out with an octopus.

#3 Cagey Hide and Seek Leash Method
Velcro the leash under the flap but from the top instead of from the bottom. In this problematic method my friendly race day neighbor zips up my wet suit and takes the end of the leash and Velcros it under the flap with the end stuck under the top of the flap. This creates a sort of giant "O"out of the leash as the end stick under the flap from the top instead of the bottom of the flap. The result of this method is that not only will I end up with a wetsuit hickey, but also the giant O leash is almost impossible to grab and pull at the end of the swim. It always seems to deafly defy my probing hands as I try to grab the leash to unzip the wet suit.

#4 The Everyman Recommended Method
The only method that I find works for me is when the leash is closed under the flap from the bottom of the flap creating a sort of U with the leash. And when somebody actually does this for me I smile, and smile, and smile.

Things that make me smile

All too often when I'm training I have a scowl on my face. This could be because, like this morning, I got up to run at a time when most sane people are still comfortably cuddled in their comfy beds. Or it could be because I'm pushing the pace beyond my normal comfort zone of an easy to moderate stroll. So I've come to really cherish those moments that make me smile. Here are just a few examples:

Cars that cross the center line when they pass me:

Whether I'm running or biking I always get a huge smile on my face when a car comes up from behind and actually crosses the center line to pass me. This not only makes me smile, but it makes me giddy with glee as this thoughtful move from the mysterious driver gives me enough room on my side of the road to feel safe and secure.

Thank you mystery drivers for being so considerate and thoughtful!

I sincerely appreciate your small but kind act. I hope someday, when you are out on the open road running or cycling, the idiot driver that scares the hell out of you by almost rubbing his or her side mirror against your elbow (even though there are no other cars within miles) gets a flat tire on a truck clogged highway with no shoulder and no cell phone coverage. Let's see how you like it when something like an eighteen wheeler that weights 1000 times more than them decides to play a cruel game of chicken.

Cyclists who stop and ask if you need help when you breakdown:

I'm so grateful to all of you great roadies, triathletes, and weekend warriors who stop and ask a stranded cyclist if he or she needs help. There are very few things that bring on that sinking feeling in my stomach faster having a mechanical breakdown or flat miles away from home. I'm usually tired and not really prepared for the changing weather when something bad breaks on my bike. And by bad I mean anything really. It is comforting to know that I'm not all alone out in the middle of nowhere.

And even if I can easily fix the flat, it makes me smile from one ear to the other when another cyclist stops and says, "Are you Ok?" or "Do you need a hand?" I'm Ok but thanks for watching out for my back.

Non elitist/purist Triathletes

In two weeks I'm racing a small little local triathlon that includes a 500 yard pool swim. I always smile inside when I tell somebody I'll be doing the Longmont triathlon and they don't look at me like I'm some rank amateur because I'm doing a triathlon with a "pool swim." All too often I hear these words, "I don't do race with a pool swim," or the opposite "I don't do open water swims." Can we all just all please agree that as long as water is involved somehow or someway (be that in a pool, lake, ocean, river or enormous hot tub) it is indeed a triathlon.

Water = Triathlon

No water = Duathlon

It really is that simple so let's not get all hung up about what holds the water. I really respect anyone who races a triathlon no matter how long or short of swim. There is just something special (it makes me smile) about starting a race with a swim instead of a run.

Encouraging words when being passed

I never does get old. Whenever somebody passes me on the bike or on the run and they say a few kind words of encouragement like, "You are going great," or "keep up the good work." I always smile like an idiot because I know that somebody else who is probably working harder than me has taken the time and energy to help me succeed.

You got to love that!

It's a kind of unwritten bond that says to me we're all in this race together, and while we may be racing I still want to see you do well.

Swimmers who know the basic rules of masters swimming

We have a guy at my masters class who shall remain nameless (actually I don't know his real name) but who has earned the nickname the professional. He has earned that nickname because he considers himself a professional on all matters of novice, masters, collegiate, world class, Olympic and even kiddie swimming. He tends enter the water like many of the former college swimmers do by running to the edge of the lane, jumping in feet first, and immediately swimming at a ferocious pace down to the other end of the pool.

Except that unlike the professional, all of the former college swimmers do not do this when I'm swimming toward then in the same lane as they bound into the water. The other day the professional almost jumped right on top of my head. It almost literally scared the piss out of me. It took a feat of super human pee control to keep me from polluting the pool.

So now I just smile when a non-professional swimmer simple slides into the water and asks me if I wouldn't mind sharing my lane.

Triathletes who know how to close a wet suit and leash

Ok, I admit that this may be something that is unique to me but it does make me smile. For the first time at my last race somebody actually knew how to close the flap at the top of my wet suit. As you may know it is almost impossible to close the top part of the wet suit (the flap that covers the zipper) by yourself. You need to have a nearby triathlete do it for you as you are about to start the race. Most triathletes don't zip the wet suit until the very start of the race as they would quickly sizzle in the suit. However it seems that most triathletes are at a complete loss as to the proper way to close a wet suit and leash. To my way of thinking there is only one proper technique. The following are problematic methods to zip close the wet suit and leash:

1. Velcro the top zipper flap closed and leave leash unattached and hanging down and tangling from the zipper. In this common scenario the leash will inevitably wrap itself around my neck when I begin to swim and try to choke me like a crazed python. I'll spend at least half of the swim trying to unwrap the cagey leash from my neck.

   
   

2. Velcro the top zipper flap closed with leash end sticking out of the top of the flap. This is another common method that people use that drives me crazy. With leash end under the flap but sticking out of the top, I always end up with a huge red wet suit love hickey kiss on the back of my neck. The top of the leash rubs against the back of my neck when I swim to such an extent that my wife thinks I've been making out with an octopus.

   
   

3. Velcro the leash under the flap but from the top instead of from the bottom. In this problematic method my friendly race day neighbor zips up my wet suit and takes the end of the leash and Velcros it under the flap with the end stuck under the top of the flap. This creates a sort of giant "O"out of the leash as the end stick under the flap from the top instead of the bottom of the flap. The result of this method is that not only will I end up with a wet suit hickey, but also the giant O leash is almost impossible to grab and pull at the end of the swim. It seems deafly defy my probing hands as I try to grab the leash to unzip the wet suit.
   

The only method that I find works for me is when the leash is closed under the flap from the bottom of the flap creating a sort of U with the leash. And when somebody actually does this for me I smile, and smile, and smile.

Newbies

Newbies always make me smile because you are the future of the sport. You guys read my grammatically challenged ramblings and you make me feel smart and in the know…which is something that always makes me smile.

So thank you Newbies for giving this crazy sport a whirl. You guys are great and I hope that if I ever have the chance to actually pass you in a race I'll say a few words of encouragement like "you are doing great" and hopefully put a smile on your face.

Ouch

A good friend of mine just sent me this from the Onion Store.

Ouch, those Onion guys take no prisoners.

Mr. Bean on Tour

Thanks to Brian McNitt's Blog for this great Mr. Bean YouTube find.

The Secret Sauce

I have a friend by the name of Martin who is an exceptional endurance athlete. I say endurance athlete and not triathlete because he is an exceptional swimmer, cyclist, and long distance runner.

Just to give you an idea of his level talent, I've never seen him place outside of the top ten in any given race he has entered. And that includes triathlons, marathons and long distance swim events. He almost always wins his age group and believe that is saying a lot in a city like Boulder, Colorado that is stuffed to the rafters with highly talented endurance athletes.

So what's his secret? What's the secret sauce that makes him such a winner?

I think I figured it out this weekend on a long easy run with my dog.

For instance, just like my dog he makes running look effortless. I kind of plod along shaking and rattling the ground with my heavy heal strikes while Happy, my dog, just effortlessly trots along next to me looking like she could do this all day and night.

Martin has that same sort of easy and happy-go-lucky running style. He can easily run a sub 2:45 marathon while looking like he's taking a stroll through the park on a lazy Sunday afternoon.

But that's not the secret sauce. I think that has more to do with natural genetic talent and years of hard training. I really believe that if we put in the time, we can all look effortless in any given endurance sport. In the case of running our genetics may not allow us run sub six minute miles, but we can certainly run sub seven or even sub eight minute miles and make it look easy.

So what is the secret sauce that makes Martin such a winner?

I believe it the same stuff that athletes like Lance Armstrong poses in spades. It is the ability to put it all together come race day. This intangible ability is what separates the great ones from the rest of us weekend warriors. It is the ability to harness all of those hours of training and preparation and consistently raise your game to the next level when you need it the most.

I sometimes swim with a guy at masters who always likes to say that racing gets in the way of his training. In other words he loves to train, but hates to race. He says that he swims for the pure love of swimming and that racing would get in the way of his pursuit. I completely understand what he is saying…especially when I'm standing at the edge of the water before a big race. I think to myself "what's the point of all of this pressure," as my stomach does somersaults from all of the tension. "Wouldn't it be enough just to swim for the pure love of swimming or run just for the pure love of running," I wishfully consider just before the guns sounds the start of yet another hard effort.

But once the race starts, and I get past the initial few moments of panic, and I start to feel the strength and power of my muscles and lungs, I understand why never racing would never be an option for me. It is just too much fun, and too much of a reward for all those of training to really ever give up.

But unlike my friend Martin, I cannot consistently put it all together for a winning effort on race day.

I suppose at this point it would be important to define what winning effort means for me because it has changed over the years.

When I first started racing triathlon a winning effort simply meant finishing the race. It seemed like a simple enough goal…just drag my tired and cramping body across the finish line. It really didn't matter if I came in first or last. I just wanted to finish. The problem with this goal was and is (at least for me) is that of you set the goal low the reward tends to be just as low. I would finish a race feeling tired and not all that happy. Sure I had finished, but certainly not in a time or place I could tell my friends about and certainly not with a lot of style. Dragging my sorry butt across the finishing line looking like pale and sick turtle was not something to brag about.

So my goal changed. It evolved from just wanting to finish to wanting to finish strong. To me it meant being able to finish a triathlon running.

Now my old coach Wes Hobson would say that's not really a goal. Since you can't measure it and you certainly can't quantify it. And he's right. A smart goal needs to something that is reachable, attainable and most importantly measurable.

By my second year of racing I was able to finish a triathlon running, but I still wasn't satisfied. So I set a new goal…to just finish my first Ironman. You think I would have learned by now. I was able to finish the Ironman, but it was like my triathlon. Dragging my tired butt across the finish line was great, but something was still missing.

And then it happened for the first time last year at the Chicago Triathlon (Click HERE to read what exactly happened). I got a hold of some of that secret sauce and to my complete amazement I was actually racing for position. And the experience of actually racing was like nothing I had ever dreamt about. It was so much fun that I could not stop smiling for a week. Who would have thought that Lance is had so much fun leading a race. At least I hope he did.

It was fantastic to be fighting it out for the podium…even though I didn't realize it at the time. I only knew I was racing a guy in my age-group to finish.

As usual after the race I went for a nice lunch with some good friends. It wasn't until I got back home to Boulder that another friend told me they had called out my name at the awards ceremony. That must be a mistake I thought, but it wasn't. I had taken second in my race category and it felt terrific.

Who would have known that the secret sauce is not only less filling, but tastes great?

So now I'm completely hooked. I want that feeling of putting it all together on race day for a winning performance again.

I don't just want to finish.

I don't just want to finish strong.

I want to be a winner!

And that really means that the hard work has just begun.

25th Anniversary Wildflower Triathlons Festival Review

25th Anniversary Wildflower Triathlons Festival Review
http://www.tricalifornia.com/wildflower/2007

EveryMan Rating: 2 Brewskis (BYOB as they don’t sell it in the park or within 10 miles of the race)

Rating Scale (based on the amount of beer needed after race)
• 4 Brewskis So excruciatingly painful and lame you’ll need a full year of recovery just to forget this race
• 3 Brewskis The best thing said and remembered about race is; I finished
• 2 Brewskis Challenging race in a masochistic I’d could do it again sort-of-way given enough time and Ibuprofen.
• 1 Brewski Good solid race that exceeds your expectations
• No Brewski A must-do annual event for both friends and family

Got Her Done!

I must congratulate all of team raceAthlete for a tremendous weekend of fun in the California sun at this weekend's Wildflower festival of triathlon.

Just click HERE for just some of the details and race results of team raceAthlete.

It was great getting together with the team and meeting all of the new raceAthletes from around the country. I just hope I did the team and sponsors proud.

Some of the most fun I had was hearing the screams of "Go raceAthlete" from the cheering section. I was great to meet all of you and thanks for the support and encouragement.

Stayed tuned for a complete race review as soon as I get unpacked and settled into a normal routine.

Guess and Win #4

And the winner from last week's "Guess and Win" contest is IM Able.

Congrats you have won a bottle of Nuun active hydration. 

This week I'll be giving away the this great large t-shirt and cool hat from Zipp. Please check out Zipp's web site for the fastest Bike wheels and cutting edge bike technology on both sides of the Mississippi.

So this week again I'm making the contest a bit less Google friendly. You'll noticed I've posted an interesting picture of a bike. If you look closely, the photo has small clues as to the brand and make of this bike.

Your contest assignment (should you choose to accept it) is to identify the brand and model of this bike.

Once you have studied the photo for clues please put your best guess in the comments section below.

The first person who comes closest to the correct answer wins. If you have won in the past please sit on your hands and let somebody else have a crack at it.

Good Luck and have Fun!

Please note that shipping of prizes is only included with the United States. Winner's in other countries are responsible for postage costs.

America voted and...

Last week we had a bit of to do around here when I called the story of Jakob's Bandit Run of the Boston Marathon inspirational.

Well this week America voted and the results are in. And I'm not referring to American Idol.

I asked you, "Was it wrong for Jacob to Bandit (run the race without an official entry) the Boston Marathon?"

It is official: most of you thought what Jakob did was kosher.

So I promise from now on to let sleeping dogs be until Jakob figures out his next endurance challenge.

My Secret Race Weapon

You may be aware that in a few short days I'll be racing for the first time this year at the Wildflower triathlon.

You may also be aware that unlike in previous years, where I actually trained, this year I'm relying on my Cheetah-like muscle memory to crush the rest of the team racing the Olympic Distance Tri on Sunday.

But in the spirit of fairness and and sportsmanship I must confess to you all that I have a secret race nutrition weapon that I discovered earlier this year. This new drink has so changed my racing that it would be unfair to share it with the rest of team raceAthlete.

Specifically, I'll be racing against Iron Wil and Michelle in the hills of California so it would be completely unfair to have such a powerful new race supplement and not share it with them.

I would hate to feel like I devastated my competition on anything but a level playing field. So it is with great sigh of relief that I will share my secret new nutritional supplement with them as well as the entire world.

Not only is this new supplement filled with the perfect mixture of ingredients for your bodies racing needs, it also makes for the perfect race recovery drink. In fact the harder the race, the better this stuff works.

Also you'll note that the designers of this product have packaged it in the perfect size and container for the most demanding of races.

It's like GU but much better...think GU+++++

So gang, just click HERE and my secret race weapon for Wild Flower triathlon is out of the bag!

And yes Iron Wil and Michelle you are free to have my secret race weapon as your own race nutrition supplement. You'll even notice that on the Pocket Shot web site they provide you with a complete list of local merchants that sell their complete line of Pocket Shots.