Gomez is one of the most decorated short course triathletes in the history of the sport and has multiple non-drafting Olympic distance titles to his credit, and this was his first step up to longer distances. He proved that the extra miles were no problem. He led from gun to tape, coming out of the water with Toft before pedaling to a commanding six minute lead at T2. Gomez then used his 29:30 10k speed to stretch his advantage over the field, winning comfortably.

Many athletes and coaches have speculated for years that Gomez has the capability to dominate the half-iron distance, and his first stab at it proved them all right. Aussie Chris McCormack finished sixth.

Full results to come.

Olympic-distance specialists Cameron Dye (USA) and Nicky Samuels (NZL) shined at the 30th anniversary of the Columbia Triathlon in Ellicott City, Md.

First-year pro Hunter Lessi was the first out of the water with a time of 17:12. Dye and most of the remaining contenders exited the water one minute back of Lessi. As he always does, Dye excelled on the Olympic-distance non-drafting bike course, posting a bike split of 56:17 to head into T2 in first position. He had fellow strong cyclist Andrew Yoder (USA) right on his heels, with two-time Olympic medalist Bevan Docherty (NZL) in hot pursuit. Dye backed his strong swim and bike splits with a respectable 35:02 10K run split to hold off a fast-running Docherty. He crossed the line in 1:51:02 to defend his 2012 victory. Docherty turned in the fastest run split of the day to finish second, with Yoder holding off recent Ironman 70.3 St. George winner Brent McMahon for the final podiums spot.

Two New Zealand ITU specialists, Anna Cleaver and Samuels, were the first pair out of the water with swim times of just over 19 minutes. Cleaver appeared to be working hard on the bike with Samuels not far behind when she suffered a mechanical and pulled out of the competition. With Cleaver no longer serving as competition, Samuels took over the top spot. She biked her way to a strong split, finishing the cycling portion in 1:03:57. She backed up that strong bike ride with an even more impressive run. The 36:40 10K run split was easily enough to give her the 2:01:39 victory. Ironman veteran Meredith Kessler (USA) shined in her Olympic-distance debut, finishing second with strong splits across swim, bike and run. Canadian Angela Naeth rounded out the top three.

Columbia Triathlon
Ellicott City, Md. – May 19, 2013
1.5K swim, 40K bike, 10K run

Men
1 .Cameron Dye (USA) 1:51:02
2. Bevan Docherty (NZL) 1:52:23
3. Andrew Yoder (USA) 1:52:49
4. Brent McMahon (CAN) 1:53:13
5. Tom Davison (NZL) 1:53:29

Women
1. Nicky Samuels (NZL) 2:01:39
2. Meredith Kessler (USA) 2:04:04
3. Angela Naeth (CAN) 2:07:43
4. Radka Vodickova (CZE) 2:08:07
5. Laurel Wassner (USA) 2:08:15

Complete results.

Former Ironman 70.3 world champ Terenzo Bozzone (NZL) and the top American finish in Kona, Mary Beth Ellis, earned the victories at Ironman 70.3 Florida.

Men’s Race
Luxembourg’s Dirk Bockel, who calls nearby Saint Augustine, Fla. home, led the men out the 1.2-mile swim with a split of 23:39. James Hadley (USA), Bozzone and four others followed him closely into T1. Bozzone, who has spent the last couple of years working to come back from an Achilles injury, hammered on the 56-mile bike ride alongside Bockel and the two came into the second transition together. Bozzone and Bockel maintained their side-by-side status through the early miles of the run, but it was Bozzone who had the faster backend speed. His 1:14:40 half marathon cemented a 3:45:51 victory. Collington, who earned the U.S. 70.3 Pro Championship title two weeks ago, posted the second fastest run of the day to earn second, while Bockel easily held on for third.

Women’s Race
Australia’s Kat Baker led the women’s efforts into the first transition, thanks to a swim time of 25:35. Americans Mary Beth Ellis and Dede Griesbauer were not far behind. Ellis worked on the bike, with Baker trying to keep pace through the first half. The American eventually created a bit of a gap and headed into T2 with a lead of 1:27 over Baker and a lead of 5:38 over American Jessica Smith. Ellis’ lead only grew from there. She earned the win in an overall time of 4:14:03. American Mandy McLane ran her way to second, with New Zealand’s Jo Lawn rounding out the top three.

Ironman 70.3 Florida
Haines City, Fla. – May 19, 2013
1.2-mile swim, 56-mile bike, 13.1-mile run

Men
1. Terenzo Bozzone (NZL) 3:45:51
2. Kevin Collington (USA) 3:47:12
3. Dirk Bockel (LUX) 3:48:16
4. Maxim Kriat (ITA) 3:51:59
5. Arturo Garza (MEX) 3:56:29

Women
1. Mary Beth Ellis (USA) 4:14:03
2. Mandy McLane (USA) 4:19:10
3. Jo Lawn (NZL) 4:20:51

Complete results.

It was a British invasion at Ironman Texas as Paul Amey and Rachel Joyce took home the titles in a hot, humid day of racing in The Woodlands.

Men’s Race
Amey, a three-time ITU World Duathlon Champion, earned his first Ironman win with a 8:25:06 finish in a course that was stacked with strong athletes including Mathias Hecht and last year’s second-place finisher Justin Daerr.

“I’ll be perfectly honest. I had a terrible day,” said Amey in a post race press-conference. Plagued with Achilles pain, asthma attacks and relentless heat, the victory came as a surprise to the Brit, who exited the swim in 20^th place, climbed to fifth place during the bike leg, and reeled in his podium spot with a 2:56:18 marathon, the only sub-three marathon of the day. Amey credits the strong marathon to the energy he gained from the crowd:

“This is probably one of the best American races I’ve ever, ever, ever done.”

It was a challenging day for second-place finisher James Cunnama, who spent almost the entire day in the second-place spot; first to bike leader Mathias Hecht, then to Amey on the run. After poor showings recently in Cozumel and South Africa, Cunnama feels his confidence has returned as a result of this race – so much, that he is looking to take on the field at the world championships:

“I think it’s time I dipped my toe in at Kona.”

Ian Mikelson trailed Cunnama for much of the race, and was unable to bridge the three-minute gap between the two. However, the California triathlete was ecstatic to take the podium for the first time in his pro career.

Women’s Race
Joyce led the race from the very beginning, though the win didn’t come easy. After exiting the swim only four seconds apart, Joyce and Texas native Amy Marsh battled for several hours on the bike. A strategic move at Mile 65 made a definitive statement in the race.

“Around mile 65 I started feeling really good, and pushed on. I was pushing hard, but within myself at the same time.”

It was a move that paid off, as Joyce extended her lead by over seven minutes into T2. She then ran a course-record 3:07:22 marathon to win the women’s race by over 35 minutes and establish a new overall women’s course record as well.

As Amy Marsh faded significantly after the bike, Jennie Hansen staged an impressive comeback, running a 3:10 marathon after entering T2 in sixth place off the bike. The rookie triathlete, racing the only third Ironman of her career, was starstruck as she passed Marsh:

“I couldn’t believe it – oh my gosh! There’s women here I look up to!”

The sentiment was the same for Kimberly Schwabenbauer. In only her second year as a pro, the Pennsylvania triathlete was ecstatic with her third-place finish. Like Hansen, Schwabenbauer had a surreal moment in the final miles of the marathon:

“I thought, ‘is this really going to happen today?’”

Ironman Texas
Woodlands, Texas – May 18, 2013
2.4-mile swim, 112-mile bike, 26.2-mile run

Men
1. Paul Amey (GBR) 8:25:06
2. James Cunnama (RSA) 8:27:35
3. Ian Mikelson (USA) 8:30:06
4. Justin Daerr (USA) 8:30:35
5. Swen Sunberg (GER) 8:37:30

Women
1. Rachel Joyce (GBR) 8:49:14
2. Jennie Hansen (USA) 9:25:35
3. Kimberly Schwabenbauer (USA) 9:33:01
4. Ashley Clifford (USA) 9:36:51
5. Christine Anderson (USA) 9:44:51

Complete results.

The United States’ Josiah Middaugh and Scotland’s Lesley Paterson stay undefeated in the 2013 Xterra U.S. Pro Series thanks to wins at today’s Xterra Southeast Championships in Oak Mountain State Park, Ala. in wet, muddy and slippery conditions.

Middaugh turned in the 12th best swim time, exiting the water in 20:43 behind race leader Conrad Stoltz (RSA) and others. He went to work on the bike, posting the fastest bike split on the technical course at 1:19:27. Despite the effort on the trails, Middaugh still started the run with over a minute to make up on Stoltz and Dan Hugo (RSA). Stoltz was forced to pull out of the race at the 4K mark of the run due to a calf injury that has bothered him all week. With Stoltz on the sidelines, Middaugh excelled and earned the fastest run split of the day in 35:20. He crossed the finish line in 2:17:00 to take the victory. Hugo settled for second, with American Craig Evans rounding out the podium.

“I was happy to be able to keep the tires down and stay focused on my own race,” said Middaugh. “I really had no idea how far back I was on the bike so kept riding hard. I usually lose a lot of time in that last four miles of switchbacks so I didn’t know if I was going to come off the bike four minutes behind or one minute behind.”

Paterson was the second female out of the water behind super swimmer Christine Jeffrey (CAN). Though she had more than two minutes to make up on Jeffrey, it was two-time winner Melanie McQuaid (CAN) who she really needed to worry about. McQuaid exited the swim right on Paterson’s heels and posted the fastest bike split in 1:30:30 to lead Paterson into T2 by 20 seconds. McQuaid quickly erased that deficit and earned the victory thanks to a 38:16 run split. She crossed the finish line in 2:32:40 to continue her dominance of Xterra racing. McQuaid finished second with Brandi Heisterman (CAN) rounding out the top three.

“I was really nervous coming in because I’ve never ridden in slippery conditions like this in Southern California and although I grew up in this kind of weather in Scotland, I wasn’t a mountain biker back then,” said Paterson. “The roots, those things are buggers, you hit them at the wrong angle and you’re off.  So, I only had four crashes, thought that was quite impressive.”

Xterra Southeast Championships
Oak Mountain State Park, Ala. – May 18, 2013

Men
1. Josiah Middaugh (USA) 2:17:00
2. Dan Hugo (RSA) 2:18:44
3. Craig Evans (USA) 2:22:49
4. Bradley Weiss (RSA) 2:25:32
5. Nick Fisher (USA) 2:27:23

Women
1. Lesley Paterson (SCO) 2:32:40
2. Melanie McQuaid (CAN) 2:36:25
3. Brandi Heisterman (CAN) 2:41:32
4. Shonny Vanlandingham (USA) 2:42:42
5. Suzie Snyder (USA) 2:42:51

Complete results.

Germans Faris Al-Sultan and Kristin Möller won Ironman Lanzarote using dominating performances highlighted by strong bike rides on a course that include 8,000 feet of climbing.

The swim started under pretty heavy rain, but the lead pack of six men stuck together during the two laps, led by Brit Stephen Bayliss (last year’s Lanzarote runner-up), who finished in a time of 47:45. Bayliss was closely followed by five men including Al-Sultan and Spain’s Miguel Blanchart. Al-Sultan soon took the lead, followed by Brit Philip Graves and Bayliss, but kept building a huge lead all the way into T2. He finished the bike in 4:53:03, with Graves and Blanchart almost 10 minutes back into T2. Al-Sultan ran a 2:55 marathon to maintain almost that 10-minute lead to the finish, finishing in a time of 8:42:40. Blanchart finished second after running a 2:54:20 marathon, and Estonian Kirill Kotsegarov edged out Graves in a sprint to the finish to take the final spot on the podium.

In the women’s race, Dutch age grouper Hanneke de Boer was first out on the bike after finishing the swim in a time of 54:06. She was followed by Spanish pro Saleta Castro and age-grouper Melissa Dowell of the UK. British pro Bella Bayliss started the bike in fourth but later dropped out on the run. Starting the bike in eighth position about five and half minutes back was German pro Kristin Möller, who powered through the tough bike course to take the lead. Dutch pro Heleen Bij de Vaate moved into second place on the bike (she finished third on this course last year). Möller maintained her lead into T2, finishing the bike in a time of 5:31:47. Bij de Vaate used a 5:39 bike split to start the run in second about 15 minutes behind the leader. Möller posted a solid 2:58 marathon to maintain the lead to the finish—she finished 32 minutes over the runner-up. Bij de Vaate finished second, and Castro rounded out the podium.

More than 1700 age-group athletes started the race, including Gordon Haller, the first-ever Ironman Hawaii winner in 1978.

Ironman Lanzarote
Lanzarote, Canary Islands, Spain – May 18, 2013
2.4-mile swim, 112-mile bike, 26.2-mile run

Men
1. Faris Al-Sultan (GER) 8:42:40
2. Miguel Blanchart (ESP) 8:52:08
3. Kirill Kotsegarov (EST) 9:04:09
4. Philip Graves (GBR) 9:04:17
5. Bert Jammaer (BEL) 9:06:48

Women
1. Kristin Möller (GER) 9:37:34
2. Heleen Bij de Vaate (NED) 10:09:31
3. Saleta Castro (ESP) 10:14:27
4. Joyce Wolfe (IRE) 10:31:45

Complete results.

Julie Dibens, one of the strongest female cyclists in the sport of triathlon, held her own against an invitation-only field at the Amgen Tour of California Women’s Time Trial on the technical course.

Dibens started near the front and crossed the finish line with an official clock time of 59:48. The time was good enough for eighth place in the lineup of 14 athletes who completed the 19.8-mile course.

PHOTOS: Julie Dibens On The Bike

Cyclists had the choice to switch to a road bike for the final steep climb up to the finish line, but Dibens opted to stick with her Trek Speed Concept to the finish line.

Dibens is a decorated triathlete across all distances of triathlon with one Ironman 70.3 World Championship title and three Xterra World Championships to her name. She has not competed in triathlon since she withdrew from the 2011 Ironman World Championship due to an injury that has plagued her throughout her career. Early in 2012 Dibens underwent back-to-back foot and knee surgeries and has just recently been able to return to running. She hopes to validate her spot for the 2013 Ironman 70.3 World Championship with a finish at August’s Ironman 70.3 Boulder.

RELATED: Julie Dibens’ Tour of California Time Trial Prep

1. Evelyn Stevens
21.3 mph | Specialized-lululemon
55:49

2. Alison Powers
21 mph | NOW and Novartis for MS
+0:56

3. Kristin Mcgrath
20.8 mph | Exergy Twenty16
+1:24

4. Jade Wilcoxson
20.2 mph | Optum p/b Kelly Benefit Strategies
+3:02

5. Mara Abbott
20.2 mph | Exergy Twenty16
+3:09

6. Alison Tetrick
20.1 mph | Exergy Twenty16
+3:26

7. Brianna Walle
19.9 mph | Optum p/b Kelly Benefit Strategies
+3:52

8. Julie Dibens
19.9 mph | Trek
+3:59

9. Taylor Wiles
19.9 mph | Specialized-lululemon
+4:01

10. Robin Farina
19.8 mph | NOW and Novartis for MS
+4:10

11. Jasmin Glaesser
19.6 mph | Team TIBCO
+4:56

12. Katie Compton
19.6 mph | Trek Cyclocross Collective
+5:00

13. Lauren Stephens
19.2 mph | Team TIBCO
+6:05

14. Rhae Shaw
19 mph | Vanderkitten +6:44

RELATED – Julie Dibens: “It’s Been A Hard Year”

For more from the Amgen Tour of California, visit Velonews.com.

Lessons from Jesse Thomas’ stumbling journey through the world of sponsorship.

30 G’s! That’s my number. No, it’s not what you need to “show me” for my endorsement. I wish. That’s my estimate of about what it costs to race a full triathlon season in the U.S. Let’s say six to 10 races including travel, entry fees, lodging, rental cars, motherflipping airline bike fees, etc. Then there’s equipment, coaching, massage and other medical services, club/pool fees, maybe a training camp and bam! $30 large.

This, my friends, is an expensive sport. No wonder the average age-grouper makes more than six figures. Unless you are a Fortune 500 executive (nope), the Prince of Monaco (nope), or have a sugar momma (booyah!), it’s nearly impossible to get into, „much less stay in the sport, without some type of support.

And what if you want to be a pro? Now you have to find a way to make money while also training enough to be competitive. Unlike many major sports, there are few to no development systems, teams, athlete unions or other organizations that provide support to limit initial costs and provide guidance to aspiring pros. You have to figure it out on your own.

As the story goes, I used a borrowed bike, helmet, kit and, of course, my $8 drugstore aviators when I won my first Wildflower in 2011. As cool as it felt to be the un-branded, totally random, surprise winner dude, it was a completely unsustainable business model. I made $5,500 that day: $5K in prize money, and a $500 bonus from Rolf Prima—my one and only sponsor at the time. That year I made about $14K in prize money, and $1,000 in bonuses from Rolf Prima—and I had four additional top-five finishes, and never finished outside of the prize money! Even with a solid season, I covered half of my triathlon costs. Triathlon’s contribution to our living expenses was a big donut. By which I mean zero. I couldn’t even afford to buy us a big donut.

You can see how without sponsorship, professional triathlon doesn’t exist. And if you don’t figure it out quickly, you’re out of the sport in a hurry—a $15–$20K yearly loss is only sustainable for so long, no matter how sweet your sugar momma. Forget about getting rich; you hope to earn enough to cover your costs and, if you’re lucky, provide a modest living for yourself and your family. Only the top five to 10 men and women in the sport make as much or more than the average age-grouper.

RELATED: Plan Your Season Like A Pro

But it can happen. I’m finally able to provide a modest living for me, Lauren and our Lima Bean due in June. Thank goodness, because Sugar Momma can’t make Lima Bean and sugar at the same time.

So people ask me all the time: How do you get sponsored? And I can tell you after roughly three years of figuring it out that there is no one answer, and the full answer is much more than I could contain in a single article. But I’ll provide some of the key lessons I’ve learned so far:

It’s not about you
The most important, and hardest thing for an aspiring pro or high-level age-grouper to understand (myself included) is that just because you ride a bike fast doesn’t mean a company wants to give you one. And if you start a relationship with “I’m fast, can you give me a bike?” you’ll go nowhere fast—literally, because you won’t even have a bike. Whether someone is giving you wads of cash or wads of stretchy shoelaces, there has to be some identifiable, quantifiable and appealing value in it for them in return. Your first job is to look through their lens and understand their needs to best identify how you can help them reach their goals. Most companies want much more than just racing fast with a logo on your kit. They want exposure, influence on a specific market, product development feedback and alignment with a specific personality and/or brand. When you start thinking about what a sponsor wants, you’ve taken your first step to developing a constructive relationship.

It takes time
In my dehydrated delusion after I won my first Wildflower, I thought people would be tripping over themselves to show me the money. “Let it RAIN, bitches!” Yeah right. Even though I was introduced to Mallory at Specialized and Geoff at Pearl Izumi shortly after that event, it took nearly nine months before I had a sponsorship with either of them. I spoke with both of them consistently during the course of the season. Without consciously understanding what I was doing, I “invested” in the relationship with regular communication, which became as important as my results. By the time they were ready to make an “investment,” I understood the value I could provide them, and we had strong relationships already established. Nearly all of my most valuable sponsorships have developed organically over many months, even years.

Wearing both hats
One of the toughest things I’ve had to learn is when and how to put on the “Athlete” hat versus the “Agent” hat. You see, the vast majority of us don’t have an agent; we have to be both the “unassuming, easygoing, hardworking and friendly” Athlete and the “bust your balls, I’m going to get the best deal possible, show me the money or else” Agent. Of course, for me, it’s hardly that extreme, but I have to be slightly different versions of myself. If the Agent doesn’t show up, the Athlete doesn’t get a sponsorship, which means no diapers for Lima Bean.

Balancing competing priorities
When I examine a potential sponsorship, there are a few key characteristics I weigh.

Value: How much value do I get out of the relationship? This could be saved/reduced expenses, free services or, in the best cases, actual money to pay the bills.

Authenticity: Is it a product, company and people that I believe in? Does it match me as an athlete and as a person?

Relationship: Is it a relationship that I am excited to pursue and maintain, hopefully for the long term?

Cost: “Cost?” you say, “WTF? I thought they are giving you stuff?” Sorry son, every sponsorship has its cost. The simplest costs are logo real estate on your jersey or website, but more importantly it’s communication time, energy, appearances or help at events, etc.

RELATED: Tri Speak

In my experience, it’s important to have a solid balance in each of these categories. I’ve passed on sponsorship opportunities because they were weak in a single category—good value, but products I couldn’t authentically endorse or use, or products I liked, but provided little financial benefit and would ultimately take time away from my ability to service my other sponsors, or train, recover and be with my family. It’s a balancing act—not all sponsorships are good sponsorships, and having more sponsorships isn’t necessarily better.

Find your “board of advisers”
I can hardly say I’ve figured all this stuff out and made all my decisions on my own. I have a core group of people I run every potential sponsorship decision by: Lauren; my coach, Matt; and my mom. I’m also lucky enough to have access to people with experience in the sport whose opinion I value greatly, like Tim DeBoom and Matt Lieto—but please don’t tell Matt I said I value his opinion greatly. These people understand me, my career goals and my priorities. As in any business, it’s incredibly important to build a team of advisers you trust.

It takes a buttload of work
Like I said, I spend months cultivating a sponsorship before I ever get anything in return, and I’ve cultivated a lot of sponsorships that ultimately didn’t work out. It’s a dynamic and sometimes frustrating environment. Then, the work is hardly over after you sign the deal; it’s really just begun. Maintaining and servicing sponsorships requires tweeting and Facebooking, phone calls, emails, pictures, blog updates, articles in Triathlete magazine about sponsorship, etc. Each sponsor is essentially an employer that wants to know what you’re up to, and how the money and/or product/services they’ve invested in you are being utilized to produce value in return. So be prepared to consistently communicate the value next time you get someone to show you the money.

RELATED VIDEO: Jesse Thomas On Third Wildflower Victory

Jesse Thomas (@jessemthomas) is the 2011 and 2012 Wildflower Long Course champion. He lives in Bend, Ore., and is the CEO of Picky Bars (Pickybars.com).

More “Triathlife” columns from Jesse Thomas.

The Rev3 Triathlon Series announced today that it will expand to the Pocono Mountains in northeastern Pennsylvania in 2014. The venue is the Shawnee Inn and will house the expo, T2 and the finish line. The area used to host Ironman 70.3 Poconos.

“We are thrilled to expand our race series and add Rev3 Pocono Mountains,” said Charlie Patten, Revolution 3 President and Founder in the announcement. “This is a beautiful area at this time of the year, and will truly celebrate the fall season and outdoor multisport on the East Coast.”

The weekend will include an evening Rev3 Glow 5K, a sprint adventure race, a family adventure race, an Olympic-distance triathlon and a half-Rev triathlon. The half-Rev will offer up a professional prize purse of $50,000.

Race weekend is set for Sept. 12-14, 2014.

Learn more at Rev3tri.com.

RELATED: Rev3 Announces New Pro Series Format

Bob Babbit writes about triathlon age-grouper Mike Bucher, who is the proud father of 14 children.

Mike Bucher (pronounced “Boo-ker”), the pastor at the Calvary Chapel in Cleveland, was sitting in his home while I was in our radio studio in San Diego. “So Mike,” I asked, “can you name your kids?”

For most parents, it’s a total snap. Remembering three, four or five names? What’s the big deal?

But Mike and his wife, Sheila, are not like most parents. For a time, their family vehicle was a 15-person shuttle bus. They spend $500 a week on groceries, go through a battalion-size box of cereal for breakfast and an oversized bottle of ketchup at dinner along with five gallons of milk. Their washer and dryer handle five loads of laundry every day.

That’s what happens when you have 14 kids, which is why my question didn’t seem so easy to me. Mike laughed. “I used to also be able to give you the birth weight and birth date for all the kids,” he says, “but just the names? No problem! Matthew, 25;  Elizabeth, 23; Noah, 22; Caleb, 21; Joey, 20; Isaac, 18; Anna, 16; Abby, 15; Melody, 14; Becky, 12; Daniel, 11; Mikey, 9; David, 7; and Sammy, 4.”

Sheila and Mike went to rival high schools in the Cincinnati area and met on a blind date. “We were married when Sheila was 19 and I was 23,” he says. Two years later, they became parents for the very first time.

Mike grew up loving speed. His dad, Jim Bucher, was one of the best top fuel dragster drivers and an inductee into the Drag Racing Hall of Fame. During his teenage years, Mike drove dragsters, played baseball and football, and lifted weights. “I despised endurance sports,” says Mike, laughing.

After breaking an ankle playing football when he was 45 and being told he would never run a marathon because of the severity of the injury, Mike created a four-year plan to not only complete a marathon (he finished his first marathon at the age of 49 in 2011) but to finish an iron-distance triathlon. He completed a sprint triathlon nine months after breaking his ankle and loved it.

He moved up in distance the next few years and completed an Olympic, a half-Ironman and then two iron-distance Rev3 Cedar Point races in Sandusky, Ohio. “The event really should be called the Iron Heart or Iron Will Triathlon,” he says, “because that is exactly what it takes to get to the finish.”

While Sheila homeschools the kids, Mike puts his bike on the trainer with his MP3 player, Bible and notepad to prepare his sermons. “I can spend two to three hours working on my message,” he says. “There are a lot of voices in the house and a lot of voices at the church. While I’m running or riding or swimming, that is the alone time I need to do my job as a pastor.”

At the age of 50, he feels he is fitter than ever. “I want to still be healthy when my youngest is as old as my oldest,” he continues. “I’ll be 70 then.”

While their life certainly has challenges, there are some significant upsides. “We always have plenty of labor to rake leaves, shovel snow and mow the lawn,” he says. “Every child does their own laundry, and they all are growing up to become responsible young men and women. I feel like our kids have learned to be selfless, not selfish, and that’s an important life lesson.”

One of Mike’s favorite triathlon memories came at the end of his first Rev3 iron-distance race in 2011, where he went 13:42, when 12 of his kids were there to run across the line with him. “That was a very special moment for me,” he says.

But while Mike is well aware that finishing two long-distance triathlons is great, the real star in his world is his wife. “Sheila has given birth to, raised and homeschooled 14 children,” he says. “Sheila is the only real Ironman in our house.”

Bob Babbitt is the co-founder of Competitor magazine, the co-founder of the Challenged Athletes Foundation, the host of Competitor Radio and an inductee into the Ironman Triathlon Hall of Fame and USA Triathlon Hall of Fame. To hear his interviews with more than 500 endurance legends, visit Competitorradio.com.

RELATED – Never A Bad Day: Lucky 13

Q: With the warmer weather finally here, I’m taking my long rides outside. How should I be approaching my on-the-bike hydration?

A: The first step is to assess your fluid needs. Test and know your sweat rate (the average is 24–32 ounces an hour, or at least one bottle per hour), then determine how much fluid you will need to carry for a race. Find out the specifics for your race; for example, sprint tris often do not supply fluid on the bike course, so you’ll need to carry your own. Olympic-distance races may have one, two (or no) bottle refill stations, so you’ll need to carry enough fluid to either complete your race, or make it between aid stations.

Next, address your bike frame size and setup to determine how much fluid you can hold and where you can stash it. For example, my tri bike can only hold one bottle cage on my downtube; larger bikes can hold two. Aerobars allow for front-mount bottles you can reach and drink while staying in the aero position. Rear-mount bottles allow for “easy reach” when in the aero position, provided you feel comfortable reaching behind you while riding. Regardless of which you choose, I’d recommend one bottle of plain water to drink with gels, bars and chews, and one to two bottles of sports drink (with 50–70 calories and 200mg sodium per 8 ounces). I advise my athletes to rely mostly on their sports drink (for fluid, calories and sodium in each gulp) and add extra water once calorie needs are reached or in excessive heat conditions for those with higher fluid volume needs. Just be sure to have your hydration setup and plan ironed out before you race.

Clinical nutritionist and certified sports dietitian Lauren Antonucci is the owner/director of Nutrition Energy in New York City.

RELATED: Practicing Triathlon Nutrition Indoors

Triathlete contributor and swimming all-star Sara McLarty has a blog with more than 500 creative workouts used in her Masters swim program in Clermont, Fla. We’ll feature a workout every Friday so you have new ideas to take to the pool. On her blog (Mastersswimworkoutsbysaramclarty.blogspot.com), you can pick a Monday set for a long distance focus, a Wednesday set for sprint training, or Friday for creative open water skills.

A:
500 with fins/200 Kick/100 Drill
4×50 @ 1:15 kick
4×50 @ 1:05 drill
4×50 @ :55 swim (build)
500 Pull w/:30 rest (250 FAST!/250 smooth)
5×100 swim w/fins @ 1:30 (50 FAST!/50 smooth)
8×50 @ :60 (start in middle of pool/25 easy/climb out/dive/25 FAST!)
3×100 @ 1:45 (IM)
4xSuicides w/:20 rest (25 FAST!/25 ez/50 FAST!/50 ez)
300 cool down
*4000 Total*

B:
400 with fins/200 Kick/100 Drill
4×50 @ 1:30 kick
4×50 @ 1:20 drill
4×50 @ 1:10 swim (build)
400 Pull w/:30 rest (200 FAST!/200 smooth)
4×100 swim w/fins @ 2:00 (50 FAST!/50 smooth)
6×50 @ 1:15 (start in middle of pool/25 easy/climb out/dive/25 FAST!)
4xSuicides w/:30 rest (25 FAST!/25 ez/50 FAST!/50 ez)
300 cool down
*3300 Total*

C:
300 with fins/200 Kick/100 Drill
4×50 w/:20 rest kick
4×50 w/:20 rest drill
4×50 w/:20 rest swim (build)
6×50 w/:20 rest (start in middle of pool/25 easy/climb out/dive/25 FAST!)
4xSuicides w/:30 rest (25 FAST!/25 ez/50 FAST!/50 ez)
300 cool down
*2400 Total*

More swim workouts.

Want to be the fastest cyclist you can be? Use these tips from one of triathlon’s greatest.

This article was originally published in the July/August 2011 issue of Inside Triathlon magazine.

It was one of those early spring days. The sun was out for the first time in months, shining from a clear blue sky. It was still cold, with the temperature just creeping above 50 degrees Fahrenheit, but the air had the crisp freshness you only find when the winter has finally given way to spring. I was 10 days away from my first race of the year and aboard my time-trial bike for a final test—a double TT session on one of my favorite training courses close to my home. It was an 18.1-mile loop of undulating terrain on uninterrupted roads in the Danish countryside. I knew the course like the back of my hand. I had done it hundreds of times and knew exactly which line to take around every corner whether it was wet or dry. I knew which gear to push over every hill relative to my fitness, speed and freshness for the day. Over the previous several years, I had written down numerous splits and power and heart rate data during all kinds of weather and could recite most of them without blinking, giving me intuitive and exact feedback on my performance at any given place on the course.

After an hour warm-up, I did one lap at my estimated half-iron pace, as this was the race distance for which I was preparing. Despite the cold weather I made it in 43:33 and felt very comfortable, averaging just over 25 mph. After a 15-minute spin, I prepared for the second loop, which was my actual test for the day—one lap all-out. I stripped my pockets, dropped my wind vest and only carried a small bottle of water.

I felt good and started aggressively up the first hill. My legs opened immediately, and I continued pushing over the hill and down the other side. My legs were turning faster and faster. I felt the power from my entire body transferring into the pedals. My upper body was steady despite the force generated from each stroke, my glutes fully firing in synchrony with my quads and calves. It almost felt like I was riding on top of the pedals, like there were no dead spots in my pedal strokes, and I could just turn and turn no matter how high a gear I chose. The road disappeared quickly beneath me, and the asphalt transformed into a gray mass. The wind was whirring past my ears, and I settled into a rhythm at the very top end of my ability, guided by my subconscious sense of it being one of those special days. I stormed through the halfway point in a blistering split yet continued to search for the sweet spot with my gears. The final stretch of road was straight, with no corners but a few significant hills. I was tired but able to let it all go, powering over each hill—stretching myself to my limit—before hitting the descents in my most aerodynamic tuck. Despite my fatigue, my body and legs were still working in symmetry—flowing. I put it all on the line up the last hill and sprinted the final kilometer of the loop. My watch said 41:07, which was my personal best split by far in cold and windy conditions. I had just experienced uberbiking!

Each generation of triathletes has a select group of individuals with the right mind and body to go the distance on the bike in the biggest and most important races. Thomas Hellriegel, Jurgen Zack, Normann Stadler, Chris Lieto and myself are all examples of such uberbikers—guys whose weapon of choice was and is the bike. We are not afraid of getting wind in our noses and have all boldly made moves early in many important races, becoming the sole focus of the fleet-footed chasers.

But what does it take to be out there all alone coming into T2—to become so powerful on a bike that you can literally leave everyone else in the dust?

A Viking’s Tale

My native Denmark is a cyclist’s paradise. There are bike paths everywhere and miles of quiet roads with little or no traffic just a few steps from any front door. I grew up in a town with separated traffic, where there were long systems of paths that were safe for kids to ride on to and from school, a friend’s house, a soccer field or a swimming pool. We did not own a car and hence had to bike everywhere—my mother once took me to the hospital in a bike trailer to get the cast from a broken leg removed. My leg was sticking out of the trailer, up in the air, for the entire journey. During summers we would often go on longer bike trips around Denmark as a family, and once we even biked for three weeks in France. Like the east Africans who get to where they need to go by running, we biked to get around.

I took up triathlon at age 14, in 1990, after two years of competitive swimming. My tri club was 7 miles away, and on top of my long Sunday rides and occasional weekday time trials, I always biked to swim and run practice. My mom and dad split when I was a young kid, but we still visited my dad every other weekend, and I often biked the 50 miles back and forth. During one of the first summers after I became a triathlete, I biked 70 miles to a city where we would spend a vacation. It was the first time I ever bonked. There was a severe headwind during the entire journey and the final 10 miles were over wide-open terrain. I was still far from mentally skilled in the art of suffering, and I was so tired that I cried for the full 10 miles. But I got through them. I had to—there were no cars, no cell phones, no gas stations and no dear mum.

At the age of 18 I took part in a study at the University of Copenhagen where scientists measured my VO2max, which was well into the 70s. (The average VO2max for a healthy young male is 45.) Despite my young age, I was already keenly interested in exercise physiology, and I knew that such a high VO2max was largely genetically determined and a sign of big potential. I was convinced that other elements of peak performance such as technique, tactics, mental toughness and nutrition could be developed, so my high VO2max sparked a belief in my own ability that lasted throughout my career.

My development, however, took longer than I expected, and I spent many years learning how to train. It was not until after I was selected for the ITU Long Distance Triathlon World Championships in 1998 that I was able to endure the pain and develop the discipline needed to train consistently on an elite level. After being selected for the Danish national team, led by Gabor Kløczl, I quickly got absorbed in the group environment around him and the big Danish star at that time, fellow uberbiker Peter Sandvang. Kløczl’s philosophy is one of the secrets to my bike skills: intense training. He believed in intensity over volume and that the training should be race-specific almost year-round. We did two time trials of anywhere from 30 to 90 minutes every Tuesday and Thursday. Each time trial was literally an all-out race with a self-enforced 10-meter non-drafting rule and a handicapped start based on the previous week’s performances. At the time, the day-to-day ability levels of me, Sandvang and a fellow teammate named Allan Månsson were virtually identical, which made for a fiercely competitive environment.

On top of the weekday time trials, we did a Sunday ride—68 brutal miles where we would average more than 27 miles per hour despite stopping at traffic lights and sometimes holding back for slower traffic in front of us. Only the toughest triathletes, Cat. 1 and ex-pro riders could hang with us until the end, and many skilled riders had sore legs for days after attending our 2.5-hour maximal effort session.

While the volume we did was unexceptional, the intensity and extremely competitive setting taught me how to suffer, which is something I used when I began to train on my own and is a key skill for anyone striving to become a great triathlete. After the early days with the Danish national team, I only very rarely sat behind anyone. I took pride in getting wind in my nose. I also took pride in training in the worst possible conditions, such as wintertime in Denmark or on the rough, hilly roads of Lanzarote in the Canary Islands, where I spent many weeks each winter for several years.
In early 2003, my career took a turn for the better, and I became increasingly more focused and professional in my attitude toward the sport. By then, Kløczl had left the federation and was replaced by Michael Krüger, who introduced me to the German method of high-volume training. For the first time in my career, I broke 30 hours of training in a week. I did most of it in the saddle, and the countless hours made me begin to feel like I was living on my bike. I often found myself going through the morning routines with the family in a haze, not fully awake until I was an hour into yet another five-hour ride.

This high-volume regime helped transfer the speed I developed with Kløczl’s intense program to longer distances, and it kick-started a string of significant victories—victories that were won on the bike—including the ETU Long Distance Triathlon European Championships in 2003 in Fredericia, Denmark, and the ITU Long Distance Triathlon World Championships in Sater, Sweden, in 2004.

In 2003 I also formulated the goal of winning the Ironman World Championship in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii, and started working with mental coach Lars Nielsen, who was a former rower and peak performance specialist. He helped break down, in the tiniest details, what it would take to win, which gave me a very clear idea of the race I would need to have and the work it would require. I believed that becoming the best triathlete in the world meant that I needed to become the best at every little aspect of the game. I needed to train the hardest, create the best team around me, eat better than everyone, become the strongest mentally, have the best equipment, the most aerodynamic position—the list goes on. No detail was too small, and I worked under the motto that even though Ironman is an eight-hour race, I only needed a single second to win.

From 2003 until 2007, I honed my bike skills (as well as my swim and run skills) with the iron distance in mind. My time trials became longer, and I routinely suffered through five- to seven-hour rides at a very high average pace. I went to the wind tunnel and perfected my position. I tested every piece of equipment and every new training method that could potentially give me an advantage. I even started developing my own equipment if I felt I could build something better than what was currently available on the market.

While I never reached my goal of becoming the Ironman world champion before I was forced to retire from the sport in 2009 due to a heart valve abnormality, I did break the bike course record in Kona in 2005—my split of 4:21:35 is still the second-fastest split of all time—and I finished on the podium, in third, in 2007.

RELATED – Kona Confidential: Uber Bikers Chris Lieto & Julie Dibens

Specialized has built a wind tunnel a block away from its headquarters in Morgan Hill, Calif. It is a full sized facility designed and created specifically to test cyclists and cycling gear. It boasts features that will enable some tests that aren’t currently being conducted at other facilities. But it isn’t the technology itself that makes this wind tunnel so valuable to Specialized, and the entire cycling world.

Performing a wind tunnel test is exceptionally expensive and time intensive for a bike frame or component manufacturer. Not only does conducting a test involve paying for the wind tunnel time (ranging from about $400 an hour to about $850), but weeks or even months must be spent creating prototypes, running CFD simulations and coordinating logistics before sending a crew of engineers and product developers to a remote facility. The expense and time involved severely limits the amount of actually testing and the improvements to designs that come from those data collected in a wind tunnel. The difficulty involved in conducting any aero test, whether using CFD software, a wind tunnel or an on-road test, is one of the factors limiting the progression of cycling technology.

While the Specialized wind tunnel is an incredible technical feat, the opportunity it creates will be its lasting impact. By constructing this facility literally around the corner from their headquarters, Specialized has taken the handcuffs off their product designers. Specialized road product manager (and MIT grad) Mark Cote said that they could now accomplish all the testing that went into designing the Shiv within a single week using this new facility. In reality, it took a year. Eliminating the logistical burden of schlepping to a remotely located wind tunnel facility is that important. Creating additional opportunities for Cote, aerodynamicist Chris Yu, product developer Chris D’Alusio and the rest of Specialized’s product designers to experiment with novel ideas is bound to result in genuine advancement. The progression of aerodynamic design that used to span years may now be compressed into a much shorter amount of time. Cote said that Specialized now has the capacity to go from an idea to a tested and refined prototype in a single week.

Building this facility had to be extremely expensive. Cote wouldn’t say exactly how much it took, but did say that finances didn’t impede the team who worked to build the wind tunnel. Specialized gave them the money it took to build the best wind tunnel they could. Although Specialized no doubt invested massively to get to this point, every successive test costs practically nothing. Cote estimated the fans powering the tunnel consume about $15 worth of electricity per hour when running at 30 miles per hour, meaning that Cote, Yu, D’Alusio and anyone else can test seemingly stupid, random, bizarre or frivolous ideas that otherwise wouldn’t make the cut when testing at a for-profit facility. No curiosity will have to be overlooked in the name of cost or time. Innovative and progressive ideas are likely to come from giving smart people this degree of creative freedom in a fully functional wind tunnel.

RELATED:
- Craig Alexander’s Kona Pro Bike: Specialized Shiv
- Photos: Craig Alexander In The Wind Tunnel

Five weeks after the West Championships kicked off the U.S. Pro Series season, Xterra heads to Oak Mountain State Park in Pelham, Alabama this Saturday, May 18, for the Xterra Southeast championships. Both defending champions Conrad Stoltz (RSA) and Lesley Paterson (SCO) will be the ones to beat on this beautiful course.

Men’s Race
Stoltz has made this race a staple on his calendar and loves the terrain of the area, even going as far as to say “this Xterra Alabama course is like Heaven on Earth” on Twitter earlier this week. Last year’s runner-up Craig Evans (USA) is also back and will be looking to find his way to the top of the podium.

Returning to the U.S. Xterra circuit is Dan Hugo (RSA), who had his 2012 season cut short after a  bike crash. The most consistent athlete of late, Xterra West Champion Josiah Middaugh (USA), will also compete on Saturday. While Stoltz has dominated in Alabama with six-straight wins since 2007 (Brent McMahon won the inaugural race in 2006), both Hugo and Middaugh have finished second twice here.

Women’s Race
Paterson, the two-time reigning Xterra World Champion, has blown away the women’s field in her latest Xterra races and even finished fourth-place overall (including the men) at the Xterra West Championships last month. The technical nature of the course may help past winners Melanie McQuaid (CAN) and Shonny Vanlandingham (USA) keep Paterson within striking distance.

Check back Saturday for a recap from Alabama.

PHOTOS: 2012 Xterra Southeast Championships

Xterra Southeast Championship Pro Start List

Rank – Men – Age, Hometown
1 – Josiah Middaugh – 34, Eagle-Vail, Colorado
2 – Conrad Stoltz – 39, Stellenbosch, South Africa
3 – Branden Rakita – 32, Colorado Springs, Colorado
6 – Craig Evans – 35, Hendersonville, Tennessee
7 – Jason Michalak – 35, Crested Butte, Colorado
8 – Matt Mangen – 30, Ivins, Utah
9 – Will Kelsay – 31, Boulder, Colorado
10 – Brian Astell – 32, Gualala, California
12 – Nick Fisher – 27, Ogden, Utah
15 – Damian Gonzalez – 36, Stockton, California
NR – Tom Eickelberg – 24, Cortland, New York
NR - Chris Ganter – 34, Boise, Idaho
NR – Dan Hugo – 27, Stellenbosch, South Africa
NR - James McCurdy – 28, Auburn, Alabama
NR – Will Ross – 23, Anchorage, Alaska
NR - Tim Snow – 37, Brockton, Massachussetts
NR – Cody Waite – 34, Lakewood, Colorado
NR – Bradley Weiss – 24, Cape Town, South Africa

Rank – Women – Age, Hometown
1 – Lesley Paterson – 32, San Diego, California
2 – Suzie Snyder – 31, Fredericksburg, Virginia
3 – Shonny Vanlandingham – 43, Durango, Colorado
4 – Melanie McQuaid – 39, Victoria, B.C., Canada
5 – Danelle Kabush – 37, Calgary, Alberta, Canada
7 – Emma Garrard – 30, Park City, Utah
11 – Brandi Heisterman – 37, Squamish, B.C., Canada
12 – Caroline Colonna – 48, Taos, New Mexico
14 - Christine Jeffrey – 40, Guelph, Ontario, Canada
NR – Chantell Widney – 32, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
NR – Katie Button – 28, Victoria, B.C., Canada
NR - Hallie Blunck – 28, Birmingham, Alabama
NR – Heather Holmes – 32, Atlanta, Georgia

Note: Rank indicates their position in 2013 XTERRA U.S. Pro Series standings, NR = not ranked.

Monitor your training without the headache of complex electronics.

Quarq Elsa 10R
$1,995, Quarq.com

Power meters are the most accurate and reliable way to measure the intensity of a training session on the bike, and Quarq’s Elsa 10R might be the easiest to use yet.

Measuring power at the crank means wheels can be swapped without losing data. Moving the unit between bikes is simple, and takes about five minutes with a little practice. ANT+ transmission ensures easy pairing with a computer head unit. The battery—a common model found at drugstores—can be quickly replaced. Despite all the extra widgets in the crank, it weighs 50 grams less than Quarq’s Sram Red version.

Most power meters come with a significant functional caveat, but Elsa 10R is nearly as hassle-free as a standard crankset. Although it costs less than SRM’s comparable systems, the price tag is significant at $1,995. But if you’re willing to splurge to improve cycling and brick running performance, you can’t go wrong with the Elsa 10R.

RELATED – Power Trip: Four Power Meters Reviewed

After 30 years, two of the longest running triathlons in the country, Life Time Tri Chicago (formerly the Chicago Triathlon) and Leon’s Tri, have teamed up to form Chicago’s first ever triathlon series, the Chicagoland Tri Series. The series was created to better engage and reward the greater Chicago triathlon community, one of the largest and oldest triathlon markets in the country.

Leon’s Triathlon, which will be celebrating its 30^th anniversary this year on Sunday, June 2, is hosted at Wolf Lake Park in Hammond, Ind. (about a half-hour drive south of Chicago). Athletes will swim, bike and run on a closed course in Northwest Indiana. The international-distance race has been marketed as the “world’s fastest triathlon,” and will be broadcast on Comcast SportsNet (premiering in July). Last year’s race drew more than 750 athletes from around the country.

Life Time Tri Chicago has been around for more than 30 years, and will take place this year on Aug. 25 at Grant Park in Chicago. The sprint- and Olympic-distance race, part of the Life Time Tri portfolio of races, is one of the largest triathlons in the world and includes more than 10,000 athletes racing on its urban course through the streets of one of America’s signature metropolises. The races start at Monroe Harbor, loop along Lake Shore Drive and end with a run down Columbus Drive.

The way it works is any triathletes who participate in both Leon’s Triathlon and the Life Time Tri Chicago during the 2013 season can be enrolled in the series competition by simply opting in through a registration portal on the site. Individual’s finish times from the two races will be combined and tabulated to create an overall series score, and top performing athletes in all men’s and women’s age groups will earn special awards. Anyone who races Leon’s Tri can opt in to the series by August 25 (the date of Life Time Tri Chicago).

For those athletes who don’t win age-group awards, the series also aims to appreciate those who simply enroll in both events. Anyone who opts into the program and participates will be invited to a season-ending Chicagoland Tri Series Athlete party (event date and details are forthcoming).

While both events will continue to be produced independently, there will be some cross-promotion at each race. In addition to the end-of-season party, Life Time will host a branded “speed trap” activation area at both races (a one-mile, chip-timed straightaway where athletes will compete for prizes for fastest speed along the mile-long stretch), and Leon’s Team Challenge concept will be adopted at the 2013 Life Time Tri Chicago. Individual award winners will earn a variety of prizes including complimentary 2014 race entries, wetsuits, shoes and tri apparel. Teams will vie for the Chicagoland Tri Series Champioship Cup and bragging rights-esque prizes.

For more information, visit Chicagolandtriseries.com, Chicagotriathlon.com and Leonstriathlon.com.

PHOTOS: 2012 Life Time Chicago Tri

“Dispatch” is an online column from Triathlete Editor-at-Large Holly Bennett that features pro updates, industry news, happenings afield and otherwise random reports related to multi-sport. Look for “Dispatch” every Thursday on Triathlete.com. Look back on the other “Baker’s Dozen” entries from Bennett.

I knew at some point during this year I would race twice in one month to fulfill my goal to complete at least a baker’s dozen (13) of competitions within a 12-month period. So why not seize the opportunity to race back-to-back weekends on opposite sides of the earth?

As the crow flies, it’s 6,478 miles from Taiwan (where I was just over a week ago, racing and reporting on Challenge Taiwan) to my home in Boulder. As American Airlines flies (including airport shuttles and layovers), it’s a 27-hour door-to-door trip. Well rested I was not. In fact, after racing the swim and half marathon relay legs in Taiwan, spending a celebratory late night clubbing in Taipei, making the long-haul journey home, experiencing the lung-crushing shock of a return to altitude and suffering jet lag that prevented me from sleeping more than four consecutive hours all week, racing again so soon was probably a stretch. But on Friday night, two beers deep into a conversation with a friend, it made perfect sense. “I’m racing a 10-miler on Sunday. Want to join me?” she asked. “Are you kidding? Of course I do,” I replied, ordering us another round.

I’m not going to lie–after waking up at 2:30 a.m. on race morning (darn you, jet lag) I considered excusing myself from the start line. But I’m not one to back out of a plan with friends, so I sucked up my exhaustion, donned my SOAS Racing kit and headed out into the warm spring morning. Glancing at my wrist just prior to the 8:30 a.m. start I realized I still had my running watch set to Taiwan time, where it was 10:30 at night. For some reason, with my body and sleep schedule so out of whack, that seemed appropriate. I’ve always been a first-thing-in-the-morning exerciser, but who knows–maybe night running would become my new thing? Then again, maybe not. My race went a little something like this:

Miles 1-3: Dang! I’m on top of the world! My muscles don’t feel fatigued at all. I’m a racehorse! A rock star! Look at me go!

Mile 4: Oh. Wait a minute.

Miles 5-7: Just hang on. You’re halfway through an out and back course–all you have to do is get back. Yes, you’re panting louder than a dog in labor. Yes, it feels as though a fire is raging in your lungs. Yes, that’s yet another runner passing you. Ignore all that and ease up now, then kick it up a notch for the last three miles.

Miles 8-9: Kick it up a notch, my ass! I’m clinging on for dear life!

Mile 10: It should be easy from here–just like four swift laps around a track. So why does it feel like my legs are stuck in quicksand and my lungs are filled with cement? This. Hurts.

Normally I smirk at people who positive split their races. It seems a sure sign of an immature athlete. Don’t they know better? Obviously if you got out far too fast you’ll blow up spectacularly by the end. But then again, sometimes you just feel good and want to go for it. It’s that whole risk vs. reward thing. I suppose you really never know what might happen until you try, even though failure is an option you may be forced to reckon with. Complacency is boring, and I do believe it’s important at times to push your body beyond its comfort level to learn what it can do.

Equally important, I now know, is to learn what it can’t do–and why certain things (sleep, for example) actually are vital. I took a nap as soon as I returned home after the race, and I’ve taken another one each day since. Finally last night I logged a solid and successive eight hours of shut-eye. Today I feel like an entirely new human being–one who’s eager to get back to a regular training and recovery routine and hone in on my next race.

RELATED – Dispatch: The Baker’s Dozen At Challenge Taiwan

As the only triathlete in the invite-only field, Dibens is ready to ‘let her rip’ and see what happens tomorrow.

Joining a select field of 14 female pro cyclists at tomorrow’s Amgen Tour of California Women’s Time Trial is triathlon’s very own Julie Dibens. The Brit known for her bike splits hasn’t raced since the 2011 Ironman World Championship after back-to-back foot and knee surgeries kept her off the starting line last year, so she’s been fired up about her new goal the last two months.

“To be able to have a focus and something to train toward was the biggest thing for me, and I’m excited to see how I can do against the best time trialists in the world,” Dibens says. “It’s been very different than training for 70.3 or Ironman, but it’s fun to just go out and bike as hard as you can.”

Early on, Dibens visited the Los Angeles Velodrome for some aerodynamic testing with her go-to bike fit specialist Mat Steinmetz (watch a recap of their process here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GhBKWkG74t8). Based on testing various helmets and body positions—along with adhering to specific UCI requirements—they shifted her position pretty drastically on her custom Trek Speed Concept to accommodate for the time trial.

Her training for tomorrow’s 19.6-mile race in San José, Calif., was also significantly different than her normal long-course triathlon training. With some input from Adam Zucco of Training Bible Coaching and Ironman legend Dave Scott, she upped the intensity and integrated workouts that would simulate the course, which climbs more than 2,000 feet in under 20 miles.

“This course is definitely challenging—there’s a hill straight up the back and some long descents, with the last 3K averaging over 10 percent, so we tried to replicate that on roads in Boulder,” Dibens says. “I’d finish with 5–10 minutes on a climb, and do a lot of threshold and above and VO₂ max work. For the most part, triathletes doing half-Ironman and Ironman do a lot of steady stuff and below threshold, so that was the biggest difference.”

RELATED – Dispatch: Julie Dibens Takes On A New Challenge

For the first month of training, Dibens said things were going really well, with some solid results at a few time trials in the Denver area. But in the last few weeks she admits the intensity may have caught up with her. “I think I ended up putting myself in a bit of a box,” she says. “My body’s not used to doing that much hard work, so I’ve been struggling a little bit health-wise, so there’s been a lot of rest. Because I hadn’t raced in so long and I was so fired up, I knew it was always easy for me to get carried away. It’s always the athlete’s responsibility to keep everything in check. We have to listen to our bodies—sometimes the hardest part is to back off and rest. If anything, I was neglecting that. The training had been going great but I may have overcooked it at bit.”

But with much less pressure than normal high-stakes triathlons—and the fact that starting after 12 p.m. is out of her normal crack-of-dawn routine—Dibens says she’s not nervous…yet. She admits that she has no clue how she’ll stack up against her competitors (she hasn’t met any of them, with the exception of a brief introduction to Alison Powers last night), but she says that’s what makes it exciting. “I’m coming into an arena where I don’t know any of the other girls, and I’m sure they don’t know who the heck I am,” she says. “Hopefully I can be competitive and show them that triathletes can actually ride a bike halfway decently.”

Even though the last couple of weeks have required more rest than she would’ve liked, Dibens is still excited for what she sees as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. “You have to keep it all in perspective—I just have to soak it up and enjoy it,” she says. “When you go to Kona and all the big races, you can get caught up and you forget that you’re doing this because you love it. The last couple days I have just been reminded of that, and that’s helped keep my mindset to just be to go out there and let her rip. It’s just an awesome experience and I’m going to soak it up as much as I can.”

RELATED – Julie Dibens: “It’s Been A Hard Year”

As for her plans post-TT, Dibens is not setting hard goals or deadlines yet, but she definitely wants to get back to racing. Her knee recovery has taken longer than expected, so because of that and her time trial focus, she’s only been running three times a week for 30 minutes at a time. Her hope for 2013 is to validate her spot for the Ironman 70.3 World Championship in Las Vegas at the Boulder 70.3 later this year.

Check out Amgentourofcalifornia.com for details on tomorrow’s time trial, which starts at 12:45 p.m. PDT.

PHOTOS: Julie Dibens On The Bike

During a busy week filled with training and work, it’s key to have a go-to recipe that makes a large batch and hits the mark on nutrition. This chicken and veggie bowl uses one marinade that’s easy to whip up and packs flavor into these simple ingredients. Follow this recipe to have dinner ready for your family, or to make four individual meals ready to go for lunch or dinner when you don’t have time to cook this week.

Ingredients

3 cups, cooked, brown rice or quinoa
16-20 ounces chicken breast
2 zucchini
2 yellow squash
2 red peppers
1 cup prepared black bean and corn salsa*
Juice and zest of 2 limes
Juice and zest of 1 orange
1 tablespoon canola oil
2 teaspoons agave
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon hot sauce
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon pepper
*Black bean and corn salsa can be found next to the regular salsas in most grocery stores. You can also combined canned beans with fresh, canned or frozen corn as a simple alternative.

Preparation

1. Heat the grill or grill pan to medium-high.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together the juice and zest of the orange and limes with the canola oil, agave, chili powder, cumin, hot sauce, salt and pepper.
3. On a large cutting board, cover the chicken breast with saran wrap, and pound with a meat mallet (or rolling pin), so it’s about ½ inch thick. This will tenderize the meat and allow it to absorb more of the marinade.
4. Place the chicken in a bowl and pour half the marinade over it. Massage the marinade into the chicken and let sit for 20 minutes, or up to overnight in the fridge.
5. Next, remove the ends from the zucchini and yellow squash and cut in half, length-wise. Remove the steam and seeds from the red peppers and cut each one into quarters.
6. Place the vegetables in the large bowl with the remaining amount of the marinade.Toss until well coated and let sit 10 minutes.
7. Grill the chicken 4-5 minutes per side, until cooked through.Grill the veggies about 2 minutes per side, so they get a nice char, but also keep some texture.
8. Let the chicken sit for 2-3 minutes and then slice on a diagonal.Chop the veggies into about 1-inch pieces.
9. To make a large family style meal, pour the rice or quinoa in a large serving dish. Lay the slices of chicken and chopped veggies over the top and then top the chicken with the black bean and corn salsa. Optional: serve with avocado, lime segments, chopped lettuce or crumbled Mexican cheese.
10. To make individual meals, divide the rice or quinoa in 4 Tupperware (3/4 cup in each). Next, divide the chicken and veggies evenly among the containers. Finally top each meal with ¼ cup of the black bean and corn salsa.

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More recipes from Jessica Cerra.

Jessica Cerra is the owner of Fit Food by Jess, a private chef and catering company in Encinitas, Calif. She is also a professional Xterra triathlete and mountain biker. Follow Jess’ recipes at Fitfoodbyjess.com or on her “Fit Food by Jess” Facebook page.

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