macbrownracing.com

Acting like a professional

I woke up this morning to a very insightful e-mail pertaining to my race on Saturday and how I dealt with it as a first year pro. It was written by a guy I used to work for at Roadrunner Sports a couple of years back. He has been around the sport A LOT longer than I have and knows more people in the sport than I ever will. What he wrote could have easily pissed me off or anyone else off that knows me, but I think he knew exactly what he was doing. So without further ado, please read below:

http://endorphinfanatics.blogspot.com/

Dave is holding me accountable for my attitude and nothing else. He called me out and I agree with him 100%. To be honest, I was not happy with my race at Cal 70.3, not at all. I went in overweight and I skirted out on the swim start. Do you think Potts or Alexander eased up at all that day? I trained my butt of all Winter in the pool, then come race day I do not go out 100% from the start! I will commit to cycling or running with anyone in the sport, but I eased up in the swim so I could feel “comfortable.” Total BS and anyone that knows me would agree that is not how I race.

Dave was also right when he stated “First let me tell you one thing, there was only one athlete this weekend working off something more than base and that was Andy Potts. He’s trying to make the Olympic Team so he’s probably on the way to a peak. But everyone behind him was working off base work.” He is right. I was looking for excuses as to why I did not go faster. It seems like every athlete makes excuses when things do not go their way, EXCEPT the very top guys in the world. Did Tiger make excuses when he took an entire year to learn a new swing? The media was ripping him all year and he never made excuses, not once. Michael Jordan played one of his best games ever when he had the flu. At the end of the day you can make all the excuses you want, but all that matters is that damn scoreboard or the race results. Truth is I have it very easy. I have the advantage of racing and training while only coaching a small number of athletes. I think it is about time for me to take a long look in the mirror and take accountability for my professionalism and my preparation from here on out. I owe that to my family, fiance, sponsors and to myself.

Thanks for reading . . .

Posted in Uncategorized | 4 Comments »

Cal 70.3 Race report

My first pro race is in the books. I have thought a lot about the race and how I performed over the last 48 hours. I went in knowing I would not have the top end to hang with the top guys and really will not until this Summer (hopefully). I was coming off a 3 month base block of training with absolutely no speed and it showed on Saturday.

The race started at 6:40am in the Oceanside Harbor (60 degree H20 temp) and I was actually pretty relaxed. Victor Plata was making jokes and asked me which way we swam. I quickly replied “might want to figure that out before they start us”. That made me loosen up and laugh. About 1 min later BOOM and off we went. I swam a quick pace for about the first 200 meters and was with a group. Roch had told me to sprint as soon as the cannon went off and hang on feet as long as I could, but I was scared of blowing up and backed off a bit. I swam steady, but before I knew it, the pack had pulled away. I was then left alone to swim the rest of the way by myself. I did not have anybody to draft off the entire swim and I could see a small pack right in front of me by about a minute the entire swim. Ahhhhh . . . only if I went harder at the start. Something to take away and learn to change for St. Croix. I ended up swimming just over 29minutes, which was 3 min faster than last year. The swim has improved and will continue to do so. I give myself a B for the swim, not great considering I swam tentatively at the start.

After a slow transition (could not get my feet on the pedals, will use rubber bands next time) I was off on the bike. There was some wind on the base this year and I felt pretty good throughout the day. It is definitely different racing pro and not passing so many people on the bike. I really liked it because you know exactly where you stand once you hit the ground running. I had not done the mileage on the bike like in years past so I rode a bit slower, but still a solid ride considering it is only March. B- for the day.

After another bad transition (had to wear socks due to a blister I had gotten from training in new orthotics) I was off on the run. The first mile was tough and always is coming off the bike. I felt like crap and ran a 5:53 to try and get my legs going with some turnover. I felt some leg cramps coming on (forgot to take my salt tablets with me on the run) so I switched to Gatorade for the electrolytes. The cramps subsided, but my legs just felt flat on the run. I managed to pass 4 pros on the run and finish 19th on the day. I definitely noticed the absence of speed workouts and that will now change in this phase of my training. Run C-.

All in all it was a good pro debut, not great. I would have liked to have gone faster and placed higher, but this was the plan. If you are flying in March you are going to be toast come Summer. I need to continue to improve on my swim, practice my transitions, and work on my top end for the run. It was a very competitive field, but with some minor tweaks I could have been right up there within the top 10. It was good to race early and see where my fitness is at this point. Lots of things to work on, but that is a good thing. I will be ready to race again at St. Croix 70.3!

Many thanks to Zoot Sports Nytro, FSA, Oakley, Zipp and Cannondale for providing me with great products and support for the race. Also, many thanks to Gino Cinco for keeping me in one piece all the way up to the start. The course support was amazing this year and I felt like the entire crowd knew my name! Thanks to everyone that cheered for me out there. It helped tremendously.

I have attached a picture of my race setup for the bike (Cannondale Slice and Zipp wheels (808 front - Sub 9 disc).

Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment »

ZOOTmania tonight at Nytro!

Nytro is having a triathlon kick off party tonight at 6pm with guest speaker Sam McGlone. Cal 70.3 is the first big race of the US season and I encourage everyone in the area to attend. Skip will be raffling off some amazing Zoot stuff and it will be a great chance to meet some athletes racing on Saturday.

Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment »

Last big week before Cal 70.3

The base phase of my training for 2008 has officially ended! I did my last long run/long ride this weekend under perfect blue skies and 75 degree weather. The work is done and I am just trying to get topped off for the race on Saturday. Cal 70.3 is my first pro race and I am pretty excited to get my season underway. I really do not have any expectations except to improve on my swim from last year.

My last week of training went well and I had the benefit of some company towards the end of the week. Mark Van Akkeren came in from Boulder to do some work/training and we got the chance to do some solid swimming and riding over the last 4 days. I guess I should say we swam at the same time, but not really together. The guy won the swim at Kona so I did not even try to stay on his feet for some open water workouts. On Saturday I took him up through the base to do some intervals on the bike and by the last rep he dropped me. Sweet, thanks for getting my confidence up Mark! However, I am exactly where I want to be at this point of the season.

Good luck to all those racing next weekend . . .

Posted in Uncategorized | 5 Comments »

Cannondale Sponsorship

After some lengthy research and multiple test rides I was offered an opportunity to ride a Cannondale Slice this year for all my triathlons. I have been riding the Slice for 3 weeks and just really loved the way it rode. The bottom bracket is very stiff. I am 6′1 173lbs and tend to put a lot of stress on my bike frames and the Slice had little to no flex at all. The bike is lightweight and very responsive in the mountains, which will help me on hillier courses like St. Croix and Lake Placid. The top tube is shorter than the Cervelo P3C, so it fits me better and I do not have to slam my seat all the way forward to get my ride angle of 79 degrees. It is also a proven fact that you ride 10 watts faster per hour during an Ironman when you have a new bike (I have the data . . . kidding).
Have a great week . . .

Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment »

Overdue post

Two weekends ago I competed in the Lake Forest Duathlon up in Orange County with some training partners/friends from San Diego. I have not done any speed work so far this season running so I figured it was about time to turn the legs over. I would much rather race than do a track workout or intervals so this offered me the perfect opportunity to hammer with a group (you always go faster when there are people you know racing).

I drove up to the OC Friday afternoon and spun my legs out on the bike course with Grady. We headed to dinner afterwards and even went to Kohl’s to get a mattress pad for my famous air mattress! I live like a king! 30 years old and still sleeping on floors . . . yes, my family is very proud of the life I have chosen to live.

After waking up at 4:30am we headed to the start line where we pretty much got the last rack in transition. Multisports athletes are hilarious. I bet there was a line there at 5am right when the transition opened. As I was waiting to use the crapper (sorry . . . port-o-john), I saw Nate and Daniel warming up. Sandbaggers! They did not tell me they were coming up to race. Once I took care of my business I got a short warm-up in before we got on the start line.

The gun goes off and I look down at my Garmin . . . 4:45 pace. Sweet, I can definitely hold that for a 5k (yeah right). I am not fast, never have been. Growing up I was the slow kid in the neighborhood, not mentally, but physically. Well, not too slow mentally. Anyway, I blew up after running 2 miles in a tad over 10minutes and was cooked coming in to T1. I get my gear on and start grinding the gears. Now I have ridden the course a couple of times and Grady tells me the day before the race that I should be hitting the first section going about 23 mph in my aerobars. So I get in my bars, totally out of breath, and look down after about 500 feet . . . 17mph! Great, not only can I not breathe, but I do not have any power either. I finally find my legs on the second half of the bike course, but lose them once again on the second 5k. I cross the line in 2nd place and was very happy it was over. Duathlons are brutal. Short distance races are brutal. That is why I do them. I have to work on my weaknesses. Hats off to Chad Walton who killed me on both runs!

This week was a very solid training week and only one more to go until Cal 70.3. I am really looking forward to seeing how my swim has progressed over the Winter.

Posted in Uncategorized | 4 Comments »

A Story of Perseverance

My junior year of college was spent studying abroad in Australia. I would not say too much studying was done, but that is another story for another time. Halfway through the year, during the Summer break, my sister flew over to see me for Christmas. I drove down from Brisbane and picked her up in Sydney one afternoon. At the time I was driving a 1969 Volvo stick shift with an insanely sticky clutch that broke down on me about once a week. The gas gauge was broken and the alternator was shot. I was working in the university kitchen cleaning dishes for money and “car repair” was not nearly as important as beers downtown with the boys. Peggy, my OLDER sister, arrived and we were on our way up to Cairns for a nice scuba diving trip on the Great Barrier Reef.

The first day we managed to run out of gas. However, after hitching for about 10 minutes a nice family picked us up and drove us to the nearest gas station. One slight hitch, no biggie. The second day I blew out the alternator and we had to spend the night in a random town outside of Bundaberg (yes . . . where the rum is made).  By this time, we were not really on speaking terms and I was lucky enough to call Cairns and make the decision on whether or not to cancel our reservations. After I calmed down, I have a tendency to freak out sometimes, we both decided we were going to get to that damn boat. So the slogan “we are going to get to that damn boat” was repeated numerous times throughout the rest of the drive up to Cairns. We got to the boat in time, thanks to my superior navigational skills, and finally had a chance to relax. This is where the story gets good.

Now on this boat, there was an older gentleman, much older gentleman (sorry Dave), that had an eye for my sister. I was not too happy he was putting the moves on Peggy, but I was preoccupied with a nice little Australian lady myself (but that is neither here nor there, I LOVE YOU MEREDITH). After a couple of days Peggy and the Australian fella (Dave) were hitting it off, but they both knew the trip would end soon. The trip and vacation did end, but Dave and Peggy thought there was more to it than just the random vacation “fling” and decided to try and keep in touch. Now we all say we are gong to call or keep in touch with someone we have a good time with, but they really meant it. Dave lived in Broome, Aus and Peggy lived in Virginia Beach, VA. Literally, they lived on the opposite sides of the world (28 hr plane flight), but keep in touch they did. Peggy wrote Dave and Dave called Peggy. The courtship lasted for 2 years. Peggy would visit Dave in Australia and Dave would come back to Virginia Beach to visit Peggy and my family. Besides the public display of affection for my sister, I liked Dave. He was much smarter and knew much more about the world than I did. Great man with great stories.

So after dating long distance for 2 years, Peggy took a leap of faith and moved to Australia. A year later, Dave proposed to Peggy and they got married in Virginia Beach 5 years ago. They now have a gorgeous daughter Zoe and I am a proud Uncle.

Long distance relationships can work, Peggy and Dave proved that. All the odds against them and people constantly telling them they were wasting their time. They did not listen.

People tell me that I can not swim and I will never swim well. People tell me I will never be a good runner. People tell me I will never be a great pro triathlete. I am not listening.

Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment »

Weekend Getaway

I decided to take Meredith away on a trip this weekend to Desert Hot Springs. We have not had a weekend away together since we got engaged (and according to Meredith even since we first started dating). I am such a bad fiance! I would not be where I am today without her support so it was time for me to step back and take a weekend to spend with her without any training.

We headed to Two Bunch Palm Resort Friday evening and had a nice romantic dinner before crashing at about 9:30pm, yes . . . we are pathetic. After sleeping in Saturday morning, we ate a HUGE breakfast and took dips in the natural mineral baths all day. Just what my body needed . . . REST! I must admit I did take my computer with me to follow a bit of Ironman New Zealand. I knew Cam Brown would win, but Kieran Doe was out here last year dropping the hammer on some of the group rides so I knew he would push the pace. It really bummed me out to see Luke Bell drop out. The guy has all the tools and one day he is going to put it together. Anyway, congrats to Cam, he is as hard to beat in New Zealand on his home turf as Galindez is in South America . . . it just does not happen.

I will now be going in to a 3 week block of training before Cal 70.3. I am happy, healthy and well-rested. A good combo if you ask me. I will also be test riding the new Cannondale Slice for the next couple of weeks to see how it handles in relation to my Cervelo P3. A huge thanks to Skip at Nytro for helping me out with this. We are trying to find the ideal bike to race on this year and luckily I have a shop behind me that supports that.

The first multisports race of the year for me is this Saturday. I will be doing the Lake Forest Duathlon up in the OC. I will be sure to say hello to Seth and Ryan. Yes, the OC is exactly like it is portrayed on TV.

Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

Weekend Training

I decided to head out of town this past weekend for a change of scenery. I have not been anywhere to train, besides San Diego, all year. My good friend/training partner Grady Funk lives in Ladera Ranch so I packed the car and headed north on Friday afternoon. The drive was great . . . no traffic at all. It was so beautiful driving through Pendleton and seeing how green everything has gotten with all the rain we have had. There were even fields of yellow flowers that had grown all throughout the base. On one side of the car was rolling green hills and on the other was the Pacific Ocean . . . I love southern California. For those who knock the area and say it is not the best place to train in the country, I would like you to show me where else you would live year round. All the Colorado triathletes at altitude rip San Diego and then I see them in either San Diego, Arizona or Australia all winter.

Back to training. Grady, Cameron Collins - owner of Tribuys, and his brother Corey and I rode long on Saturday. We headed through the mountains, by Cook’s Corner and down through Laguna Beach. We previewed the Lake Forest Duathlon course (I will be racing there on March 8th) and really got some steady efforts in on the TT bike. The riding up in Orange County is amazing! Wide bike lanes and not much traffic at all. I will definitely be heading up there more often to train this year, especially since Grady just bought me a sick new blow up mattress! The day ended with us eating CPK over at Corey’s house in Ladera Ranch with all the crew while watching the Tenn/Memphis and Lakers games.

Sunday morning got a late start due to the rain. It has rained quite a bit down here this Winter, but I really do not mind it. We have had a drought for quite a bit and we really need the rain. The weather also helps hold me back during the beginning of the season so I do not peak too early. Grady and I had a light swim in the morning and then knocked off our long run on the treadmill for 1.5 hrs. Talk about mind numbing! It needed to be done though.

My fitness is progressing, I still have quite a bit of work to do before Cal 70.3. I will by no means be in top shape for this race, but I will have completed my base training for the season by that point. I should have some good miles in my legs by then.

Hope all is well with everybodys training and I will end the update with a great quote Grady e-mailed me last week . . .

“In life you are given three names; the one you inherit; the one given to you by your parents; and the one you make for yourself.”

Posted in Uncategorized | 3 Comments »

My own fault

The week after I ran the Carlsbad 1/2 Marathon I decided an e-mail needed to be sent out to my Sunday running partners. I had shown up to the  Carlsbad 1/2 three weeks ago only to find that my training partners were all wearing flats and were “racing it.” I, however, was there in my training shoes trying to get in a nice tempo workout. When the gun went off two things happened; they took off and I ran my pathetic pace. I did not see them until the finish line. I decided that a “Battle of the Ranch” race was needed so we could all be on level playing fields for one Sunday. The King of the Ranch would be decided during the San Dieguito 1/2 Marathon.

Today was the day a King would be crowned. I was ready. My plan was not to let those puny runners gap me from the beginning. They always take off from the gun and I am not a sprinter. I need to get the legs going and ease in to it a bit. I had my brand new Zoot racing shoes and was ready to throw down. Gun goes off, they gap me in the 1st mile! Come on! I ran a 5:45 mile and they must have run a 5:15 . . . really? I then run a 5:35 mile, still no progress. Fine! I will run my own race and catch them at the end. Besides not feeling too good climbing  a hill at mile 4, I am right on 6 min pace at mile 8. In the “Battle of the Ranch” competition I am in last place so far. Awesome.

I see the leader coming back towards me so I assume the turnaround is right up the road. I was wrong and I am way behind in this race. I then see Brian, Patrick and John hammering towards me and smiling. We run by each other in opposite directions and all I can do is smile. I picked it up towards the end and finished strong (1:18), but finished DFL in the Sunday run group. Brian, you are the King, I am the loser . . . there, I said it. At least I am not Easa though. (Sorry Dave, had to say it)
People asked me after the race if I was happy with my time and it made me think a bit. Is 1:18 good? Yes, it was 5:58 pace for 13.1 miles and my average heart rate was lower than it was at the Carlsbad 1/2. However, I am now racing pro. Is a 1:18 good for a pro? Hell no. I still have a lot of work to do on my run, but I need to remember it is only February and I am still nowhere near race weight. I must stay positive and look at the most important thing, which is progress. I am getting faster from week to week and my body is adapting to the training. I still have 7 weeks until Cal 70.3.

Race results from San Dieguito Half 

Garmin run info :  1,353 feet of climbing, avg HR - 163 avg HR, 5:58 pace

Thanks for reading and thank you Ben and Mike for getting me some new kicks right before the race!

Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment »