EverymanTri.com

Rude dogs, angry bees, and a DNF makes for a memorable first half IM

The date was June 13 2004. I’ll never forget this day, as it was my first half Iron distance race. The race was called the Colorado Triathlon. It is now thankfully defunct.

I was about 30 pounds overweight, or as I like to think of myself, right in the prime of the Clydesdale group. I was big-boned in an endurance athlete sort of way. I was packing plenty of self-nutrition. I had my own built in floatation device…my stomach.

I should have known I was heading for trouble earlier in the year. It was just a few weeks before the big race, and I was doing a practice swim in the soon-to-be race lake, when a suspicious object floated by my face.

Inaugural Triathlon America conference kicks off in California

Editor's Note: Our reporter Ben Greenfield is attending the inaugural Triathlon American conference in California and will be filing reports this week. Here's his first report.

Kicking off with a keynote speech by Michael Kingston, executive vice president of Ann Taylor, Inc., and a round-table discussion on the "Business of A Pro Triathlete" the inaugural Triathlon America conference has officially begun.

From February 27-March 1, triathlon industry leaders, coaches, athletes, vendors and race directors will gather together to for workshops, networking opportunities and a multi-sport expo.

Over the next couple days, stay tuned as we bring you video highlights, interviews and photos of the event.

Video: Thin triathlete on a fat bike

Editor's Note: Dave Erickson recently had the chance to see how the other half lives and filed this story for his local TV news.

I know a lot of my fellow cycling enthusiasts and triathlete friends here in the Inland Northwest are itching to get outside to go for a bike ride.  It's not that easy though when there's more than a foot of snow on the ground and the roads are covered in snow and compact ice.

Friday I was given the 'tough' assignment to report on a mountain bike for sale in downtown Spokane that has exceptionally wide tires made specifically for snow.  It's called a Surly Pugsley Fat Bike.  You can also find them at www.fatbikes.com.

The Fat Bike has four inch wide tires which helps it 'float' over snow or sand, anything with a soft uneven surface.   The owner at Two Wheel Transit, Geoff Forshag says think of it as snow shoes for a bike.

Video: Horrific vehicle attack with dozens of cyclist mowed down by car in Brazil

This video speaks for itself as dozens of cyclist taking part in a critical mass ride are mowed down by a car in a blatant attack on cyclist in Brazil. Warning: This video is disturbing and should be watched at your discretion. The complete story and more vids are HERE.

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Top 10 fast healthy meals for endurance athletes (part 2)

Editor's Note: This is just part two of Ben's story. You can find part one HERE.

There comes a time in the life of a busy multi-sport athlete (and especially the longer, time-crunched, endurance athlete) when you must eat, it must be a complete meal, and it must be quick.

In no particular order, here are the top 10 meals that I personally make and have committed to memory as my complete fall-back nutritional options. Hell, some of them don't even have a name, so I had to make up a title on the fly while writing this article. And if you're wondering how you can ask me questions about these meals, see the snippet at the end of this article, along with a bonus Paleo meal.

Just in case you missed it: Triathletes training like footballs players in New York

Surrounded by over-sized locker room lockers, enormous dumbbells and a football-player sized cafeteria, Team Timex got together last weekend for their official camp in New York, at the Timex Performance Center and the Meadowlands Stadium, home of the New York Giants.

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Carina Wasle repeats win from 2009 at XTERRA South Africa Championship

Grabouw, Western Province (February 26, 2011) In the women's race Austrian XTERRA standout Carina "Ini" Wasle won the XTERRA South Africa Championship for the second time in three years, having also won in 2009.  The victory marked a terrific start to an early season XTERRA World Tour adventure that will take her to the inaugural XTERRA Philippines Championship next week, and the XTERRA Saipan Championship the week after.

Wasle (pictured courtesy Hendrik Steytler) now has seven XTERRA championship wins to her credit since winning her first of three XTERRA Germany titles back in 2005 (she also has two XTERRA Czech Championships).

“I had a very good race today," said Wasle.  "After a great swim, I exited the water in second place behind Carla van Huyssteen.  Managing to catch her within the first 5km of the mountain bike discipline, I kept a steady pace and basically lead until the finish.  I enjoyed the run discipline the most as it included a lot of up-hill running.  The DUESOUTH XTERRA Grabouw is one of my favourite events.  It features extremely beautiful landscapes, while the people are really friendly.  I am definitely going to try my best to be back next year.”

Dan Hugo wins opening race of XTERRA World Championship Tour in South Africa

Grabouw, Western Province (February 26, 2011) – There's no place like home for XTERRA star Dan Hugo as the 25-year-old won the eighth running of the XTERRA South Africa Championship at the Grabouw Country Club in the Western Province for the third time in four years today.

Hugo (pictured here courtesy oakpics.com), who's hometown of Stellebosch is less than an hour away from the course, finished the 1.5km swim, 25km mountain bike and 10km trail run in 2:15:30 - nearly four minutes ahead of runner-up Kent Horner. Hugo, who picked up his first XTERRA championship win in Grabouw in 2008, also won here last year. The sports rising star now has six championships to his credit, including three on his home course, plus XTERRA Mexico and Brazil championships last year, and the XTERRA Northwest Cup in Idaho in 2009.

Top 10 fast healthy meals for endurance athletes (part 1)

There comes a time in the life of a busy multi-sport athlete (and especially the longer, time-crunched, endurance athlete) when you must eat, it must be a complete meal, and it must be quick.

You see, your body can only support high volume training, proper performance, and immune system health for a limited period of time if all your quick meals consist of microwaved Lean Cuisines, gas station trail mix, and even "all-organic" food bars. You'll eventually crash. So you have to make a habit of regularly eating fast healthy meals and wholesome foods without heavy amounts of preservatives, salts, sweeteners, and synthetic chemicals, and you have to figure out how to do it without huge sacrifices of time and preparation.

Run for Christchurch aims to raise money for Kiwi earthquake relief

Editor's Note: We recieved this email recently from Pip, a reader in New Zealand. If you can run...pleae run. If you can help...please help!

I've been a blog reader for a while now and I've noted that you quite often feature New Zealand triathletes and events.  I was therefore wondering if you might be able to help spread the word about our fundraising event, raising money to help people affected by the earthquake which hit Christchurch, New Zealand on Tuesday. 

A group of us here in New Zealand have gotten together to organise a virtual run to raise money to help out other Kiwis in Christchurch.  123 people have been reported dead so far and many more are still missing.  There is extensive damage to infrastructure and housing, and it will take years to recover.  There's a link to a New Zealand news site with details HERE.

Zen and the Art of Triathlon podcast: Join Brett as he runs the Rocky Raccoon 100

Click Here to Listen to the Show!

Join in for a fantastic interview with form pro Jessi Stensland and exclusive audio from running the Rocky Raccoon 100 mile ultramarathon.

Jessie talks with us about how to train better by holding good form for as long as possible.  It's a great training method that can make you faster, stronger, and prevent injuries.

The Rocky Raccoon 100 took 26 hours of non-stop running to complete.  Listen in for details on how to pace and eat to keep going during an ultramarathon.

Live video: The first ever robot marathon being run now in Japan

Somehow it just seems like if you had a pick a place to hold the first ever Robot Marathon... Japan would be that place.

About a half a dozen knee-high robots are in the process of running 423 circuits of a track in a big room in Osaka, Japan today.

The first ever robot marathon (26.2 miles) is called the Robomarafull and is expected to take until Sunday to complete.

If you watch the video below of the start of the race you'll note that perhaps it should be called the Robomarafall, but suppose that robots first have to learn to get-up before they can run. They seem to spend a lot of time falling down.

Unlike IBM's computer Watson, that recently easily beat the best human contestants humans in the game show Jeopardy, Paul Radcliffe and Haile Gebrselassie have nothing to fear from these mechanical marathoners.

USA Triathlon Elite Race Series set for March 5 in Clermont, Florida

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - U.S. Olympians Sarah Haskins (Colorado Springs, Colo.) and Jarrod Shoemaker (Maynard, Mass.) highlight the start list for the opening event of the 2011 USA Triathlon . The race also serves as the first-ever USA Triathlon Elite Sprint National Championship.
 
More than 50 Americans are scheduled to compete in the sprint-distance event, which consists of a 750-meter swim, 20-kilometer bike and 5-kilometer run. Also an International Triathlon Union Pan American Cup, the race will be held in conjunction with the Draft Legal Challenge at Clermont.
 
The elite women's race will begin at 11:45 a.m., followed by the elite men at 1:30 p.m. at Lake Louisa State Park.
 
In addition to the duo of Olympians, the majority of America's top draft-legal athletes will be in action. Nine of the 13 U.S. men that earned a spot in 2010's final ITU World Championship Series rankings are slated to race, including top-ranked Americans Shoemaker, Manuel Huerta (Miami, Fla.), Chris Foster (Redondo Beach, Calif.) and Kevin Collington (Orlando, Fla.). Visit triathlon.org for a full men's start list.

Everyman Endurance Podcast: The most mentally & physically challenging race in the world

They call it – “the most mentally and physically challenging endurance event in the world.”  It is the Death Race and the marketing for the race reads, “you may die”.

Only 200 people every year can take part and thousands are turned away according to the race’s creator Joe DeSena.

What’s perhaps more interesting is that only about 20 to 40 of the amateur athletes that start the race actually finish.

Click HERE to listen to the podcast now.

USA Triathlon anti-doping testing at age-group National Championship deemed a success

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. -  today announced the successful culmination of its inaugural anti-doping testing for an age group event at the 2010 USA Triathlon Age Group National Championship in Tuscaloosa, Ala. This event marked the first time age group athletes were tested in-competition, with the program conducted by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA).

Competing athletes supported the efforts, praising the program as well-organized and professional, and welcomed the added level of confidence in fair play that testing for performance-enhancing substances can provide. In addition, USA Triathlon is pleased that results returned to tested athletes have all been reported negative for the presence of banned performance-enhancing substances.

"I was really impressed with the attention to detail that was given to the entire process, so that I knew I could have confidence in the integrity of the sample collection," said Bruce Gennari, 44, of Brentwood, Tenn.

17 Hours (the 2010 IM World Championships movie) now available on Amazon

It has been two years since someone else besides Craig Alexander and Chrissie Wellington won the Ford Ironman World Championships. But all of that changed this year when Chrissie Wellington dropped out before the start of the race and Craig struggled to stay with the leaders on the bike.

17 Hours (the 2010 IM World Championships movie) is now available right for $1.99 USD...as a high definition Amazon rental or a $9.95 Amazon purchase HERE.

Our cameras followed all of the action before, during, and after the race. Not only did we capture the best triathletes in the world racing for the most prestigious title in the world, but just as importantly we were filming during the parade of nations, the annual underwear run, the awards ceremony after the race, and of course those magic minutes as 17 hours clicked down to those magic minutes before midnight.

We've edited countless hours of the best Ironman Kona video into 17 hours---the movie.

If you love the passion, power and personalities of Ironman triathlon racing, you'll love this insider's HD view of the 2010 Ironman World Championships.

Once again you can now rent or buy it HERE from Amazon.com and you can check out the trailer for the movie below.

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