2012

Those who have been reading for a while may remember that 2012 was a breakthrough year for me racing endurance events. I had an unexpectedly successful year:

• 3 wins
• 9 podiums
• 18 top tens
• 26 total races

2012 Race placings

2013

I hoped I would be able to follow that up with a similarly good year in 2013. In the back of my head I knew I was getting older, and I am susceptible to injury, so success was far from certain. Fortunately I stayed relatively healthy and my fitness continued to improve throughout the year. My results far and away exceeded my hopes (I finished either 1st or 2nd in half of my races):

• 5 wins
• 13 podiums
• 21 top tens
• 23 total races

2013 Race placings

I focused more heavily on running in 2013 and less on cycling and triathlon, though I still competed well in the other events. As far as middle distance racing goes I hit my peak at age 17-18. Now focusing on longer distances, at age 34 I set Personal Records across the board:

• 1 mile road (4:47)
• 5K road (16:37)
• marathon (3:02:28)
• 50 mile (7:24:??)
• 8 hour (53.64 miles)

I continued to gravitate from road events toward off-road events.

I competed in three types of races I’d never before attempted:

• obstacle course/mud run
• mountain bike
• off-road triathlon

Here’s my final training statistics for the year:

Running

Month	Distance	# Workouts	Avg per Workout
January	131.5 Mile	13	10.1154 Mile
February	87.4286 Mile	10	8.74286 Mile
March	162.84 Mile	17	9.57882 Mile
April	169.12 Mile	16	10.57 Mile
May	133.61 Mile	12	11.1342 Mile
June	127.39 Mile	16	7.96188 Mile
July	200.4 Mile	21	9.54286 Mile
August	151.34 Mile	14	10.81 Mile
September	249.57 Mile	26	9.59885 Mile
October	159.17 Mile	16	9.94813 Mile
November	144.46 Mile	20	7.223 Mile
December	176.76 Mile	22	8.03455 Mile
Total	1893.59 Mile	203	9.32802 Mile

Cycling

Month	Distance	# Workouts	Avg per Workout
January	3.7 Mile	1	3.7 Mile
February	15.2 Mile	4	3.8 Mile
March	123.14 Mile	16	7.69625 Mile
April	114.22 Mile	12	9.51833 Mile
May	157.33 Mile	14	11.2379 Mile
June	217.6 Mile	10	21.76 Mile
July	223.1 Mile	8	27.8875 Mile
August	105.83 Mile	10	10.583 Mile
September	56.66 Mile	9	6.29556 Mile
October	16.45 Mile	4	4.1125 Mile
November	60.91 Mile	6	10.1517 Mile
December	9.31 Mile	2	4.655 Mile
Total	1103.45 Mile	96	11.4943 Mile

Swimming

Month	Distance	# Workouts	Avg per Workout
January	0	0	0
February	3950. Yard	3	1316.67 Yard
March	18900. Yard	11	1718.18 Yard
April	15600. Yard	10	1560. Yard
May	13200. Yard	8	1650. Yard
June	11580. Yard	8	1447.5 Yard
July	2093.61 Yard	2	1046.81 Yard
August	0	0	0
September	1943.61 Yard	2	971.807 Yard
October	850. Yard	1	850. Yard
November	0	0	0
December	0	0	0
Total	68117.2 Yard	45	1513.72 Yard

Walking & Hiking

Month	Distance	# Workouts	Avg per Workout
January	37.64 Mile	12	3.13667 Mile
February	50.6 Mile	21	2.40952 Mile
March	92.9 Mile	37	2.51081 Mile
April	41.5 Mile	21	1.97619 Mile
May	91.75 Mile	33	2.7803 Mile
June	32.03 Mile	21	1.52524 Mile
July	14.8 Mile	8	1.85 Mile
August	45.35 Mile	23	1.97174 Mile
September	59.8 Mile	19	3.14737 Mile
October	80.37 Mile	20	4.0185 Mile
November	55.77 Mile	16	3.48563 Mile
December	37.13 Mile	16	2.32063 Mile
Total	639.64 Mile	247	2.58964 Mile

2014

While 2013 was really a more-of-the-same (and then some) type of year, 2014 is going to be quite different. We plan to move from Saint Louis to Colorado this spring, so we have some changes in store. As far as training goes, I expect it to actually improve a little bit. The proximity to the mountains and the high altitude can really only help.

Of course, there are drawbacks as well. First, I’m not acclimated to the higher elevation, and I have little experience running big mountain climbs and descents. With time, both of these will improve. The bigger problem is that Colorado is the fittest state in the U.S. while Missouri is, well, near the bottom. So not only are races in Colorado more difficult, the competition is much, much stronger.

If I can continue to stay healthy and my training improves and I’m mixing in with better competition, I hope I can rise to meet the additional challenges. But it’s not going to happen immediately, and probably not at all in 2014.

So I’m not expecting great results next year, but I am looking forward to the challenge.

My fourth and final cyclocross race of the year came December 8th with the Missouri State Championship just a few miles away from home. On the one hand this race seemed like it should be a big deal, given that it’s the state championship. One would think there would be riders coming into town from all over the state. On the other hand this race was still part of the local Bubba Cross series, it’s kind of far away for the Kansas City people to come over, it was bitterly cold, the ground was covered with snow and ice, so maybe the turnout would be small. I should have preregistered for the race, but that never even occurred to me.

When I showed up my brake levers were covered with a coat of ice from the short drive over. I chiseled that off, registered, and got ready. I sat down in the back of my car to put my shoes on to avoid standing on the cold, icy ground. Of course, I didn’t fit with my helmet on so I briefly took it off. I did my warm up and made my way to the start area. Less than 10 minutes before the race I remember thinking my helmet didn’t feel very tight. So when I attempted to adjust it I was startled to realize I wasn’t wearing my helmet… which meant I wouldn’t be allowed to race.

I made a mad dash all the way back to my car to get my helmet and I made it back to the starting line about 3 minutes before the start. All the previous Bubba Cross races have a first-come-first-serve start positioning, so it pays to get there early. Now I wouldn’t get a good starting position, which pretty much pre-eliminated me from a good finish.

But wait, this was a slightly bigger race and I noticed they were lining starters up manually. Phew. Are they lining up starters by previous race results (fingers crossed, as I was in the top ten for the series)? Nope, they’re lining up by race number, which was assigned by when you registered. I was the 38th person to register out of 38 starters.

That’s right, I started Dead Fucking Last.

So my race was over before it even started. I had no chance at a podium finish, and virtually zero chance at even a top ten finish.

The race started and I immediately went out wide through deep leaves on bumpy ground in order to pass 5-10 people before the first turn, then another 5-10 people before the second turn. At that point things settled down a bit and I spent the rest of the race moving up one-by-one. The tight turns on top of snow on top of leaves were interesting to say the least. I did fall (very slowly) at one point on a downhill, off-camber, tight turn. I was able to remount without losing any places. My fingers were numb, but aside from that I was dressed appropriately for the weather, so it wasn’t too bad.

I made it up to 12th place by the end, which was fairly anticlimactic. I just got in my car to warm up and drove home. The race was forgettable. At least I can say I passed more people than anyone else in the race. I also ended up 9th place out of 41 for the series, despite only competing in 4 of the 11 races. I guess that’s something.

Sure, 12th place is fine, but it was my 21st highest placing of the 22 races I did this year. It wasn’t exactly how I wanted to end 2013, which had otherwise been pretty remarkable for me.

And I could have easily avoided it.

But I didn’t.

Running

With no long races coming up I haven’t been running as far as usual, but I almost made up for it by running more frequently. Some days I even run twice (dropping Will off at daycare in the morning and then picking him up again in the evening). The bad news is I still have some lingering soreness in my bad knee from the two long races in October. The good news is it’s definitely not getting any worse and seems to be getting better (slowly).

Month	Distance	# Workouts	Avg per Workout
January	131.5 Mile	13	10.1154 Mile
February	87.4286 Mile	10	8.74286 Mile
March	162.84 Mile	17	9.57882 Mile
April	169.12 Mile	16	10.57 Mile
May	133.61 Mile	12	11.1342 Mile
June	127.39 Mile	16	7.96188 Mile
July	200.4 Mile	21	9.54286 Mile
August	151.34 Mile	14	10.81 Mile
September	249.57 Mile	26	9.59885 Mile
October	159.17 Mile	16	9.94813 Mile
November	144.46 Mile	20	7.223 Mile
Total	1716.83 Mile	181	9.48524 Mile

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Cycling

I capped off an abysmal year for my cycling with three super fun cyclocross races (and not much else). I even managed to sneak in a win. Expectations are a funny thing. The few (running) races where I’ve toed the line expecting to win I have always failed. Then a few times I’ve won races where nobody was more surprised by the outcome than me.

Month	Distance	# Workouts	Avg per Workout
January	3.7 Mile	1	3.7 Mile
February	15.2 Mile	4	3.8 Mile
March	123.14 Mile	16	7.69625 Mile
April	114.22 Mile	12	9.51833 Mile
May	157.33 Mile	14	11.2379 Mile
June	217.6 Mile	10	21.76 Mile
July	223.1 Mile	8	27.8875 Mile
August	105.83 Mile	10	10.583 Mile
September	56.66 Mile	9	6.29556 Mile
October	16.45 Mile	4	4.1125 Mile
November	60.91 Mile	6	10.1517 Mile
Total	1094.14 Mile	94	11.6398 Mile

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Walking & Hiking

Month	Distance	# Workouts	Avg per Workout
January	37.64 Mile	12	3.13667 Mile
February	50.6 Mile	21	2.40952 Mile
March	92.9 Mile	37	2.51081 Mile
April	41.5 Mile	21	1.97619 Mile
May	91.75 Mile	33	2.7803 Mile
June	32.03 Mile	21	1.52524 Mile
July	14.8 Mile	8	1.85 Mile
August	45.35 Mile	23	1.97174 Mile
September	59.8 Mile	19	3.14737 Mile
October	80.37 Mile	20	4.0185 Mile
November	55.77 Mile	16	3.48563 Mile
Total	602.51 Mile	231	2.60827 Mile

Coming off the previous week’s 1st place finish I had a bit too much confidence leading up to the Bubba Cross #7 race in Chesterfield. It didn’t take long for circumstances to put me back in my place. The instant I arrived at the race venue in what must be the bumpiest field in the midwest, I knew it was going to be rough. Along with wind, excessive bumps put me at a particular disadvantage to the guys I would normally race head to head against, many of whom happen to weigh 30-40 lbs more than me. I spent a lot of time airborne, and I had a very hard time getting any sort of rhythm going during the race.

The temperature was below freezing, which was something I’ve never experienced during a bike race before. I overdressed and shed clothes like crazy between my warmup and the race. Aside from some glazed eyes during the first few minutes, the cold temperature wasn’t really an issue.

I started near the front and hit the first turn in 4th place. The two leaders opened a large gap and after half a lap I passed a guy to move up to 3rd. Then reality set in. I couldn’t power through the straightaways like I normally do. I couldn’t ride in a straight line. I got passed and dropped back to 3rd. Then 4th. Then 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, and 9th. Things were going poorly and showing no signs of improving. Furthermore, I simply wasn’t having fun. Something had to change.

About half way through the race I just grabbed the tops of my handlebars near the stem (to limit the excessive vibrations), shifted to a bigger gear, and just tried to power my way down the bumpy straightaway like I’ve seen Spartacus and Boonen do so many times on the cobblestones. The lack of power in my skinny legs is my achilles heal in cycling, but the straightaways weren’t that long. As the race went on I did better and better by cornering without using my brakes. Other guys were starting to get tired and I was just getting started so I was able make up some big deficits to move up a few places.

I finished the race in 6th place. If it had been 100 meters longer I probably would have made it up to 4th. But I didn’t, and that’s okay. I managed to salvage a race that was going poorly and was unenjoyable for me in the beginning. The next time I face a course this bumpy I’m going to ride my mountain bike.