It’s hard to summarize an entire year of triathlon in a
few words, but I’ll try: 2012 was
simply amazing! Looking back there
were many highlights to 2012, some were expected, and some were a complete
surprise. Based on race results,
my 2012 season saw my triathlon performance rise to another level. Here are the highlights:
Amateur Results:
- Rev3 Knoxville Olympic: 1st in AG, 3rd Overall – 2:03 (USAT Elite Qualifying Race)
Professional Results:
- Ironman Muncie 70.3: 24th Place – 2:17 (race shortened)
- Ironman Louisville: 5th Place – 9:28 (Personal Best Ironman Time)
- Ironman Pocono 70.3: 15th Place – 4:24
Since I’ve already posted detailed race reports for each of
my races, I’m not going to go through all the details again, but here is a
little more insight into my 2012 season.
However, before I start with 2012, I need to first go a little further
back to late 2011…..
My 2011 season was a break through season for me. I realized my goal of getting to Kona,
and nearly set a personal best Ironman time while there. After qualifying for “the big show”, I was
at crossroads as to the direction of my amateur triathlon career. I met my goals for Ironman, so I wasn’t
sure what I wanted to do next.
After some thought and discussion with my wife, I decided to do one more
Ironman in 2012, with the goal of the overall age-group podium. I really wasn’t interested in going to
Kona again so soon, not that I didn’t want to go, but the expense of such a trip
was not in our budget in the near future.
So, what race did I want to do?
This was easy. I wanted to
go back to Lake Placid. This was
my first Ironman, and given my finishing time of 14:03, I felt like I wanted to
see what I could do on that course.
I registered and was all set with a plan……until early-January 2012. This is when my wife and I found out
baby #2 was on the way…..with a due date of July 29. Great news, right?
Of course! But What a
minute…..that is Lake Placid Race week; time to change plans! By this time, all the summer North
American Ironman races were full except for Louisville, so that became my new
goal by default.
So with my focus on Louisville, my season plan started to
come together. Rev3 Knoxville in
May, Muncie in July and Ironman Louisville in August. Nothing spectacular, just a balanced preparation between
racing and getting ready for our new little one at home. Then I had an idea….Rev3 Knoxville has
a pro race, with a large enough purse so that it is a USAT Elite Qualifying
race. Hmmm…..time to look into
past results. Estimating my
Olympic times from the previous 2 half-IM distances in Knoxville, I knew a
podium would be close but definitely possible. Also, once I found out I could get a refund for my unused
Lake Placid entry if I earned Pro status, it was a no brainer. This became a key goal for 2012.
With a new found motivation for a fast spring Olympic I went
to Knoxville in May ready to race, but not sure what to expect. After all, I haven’t raced an Olympic
race in nearly 2 years, and never an Olympic race larger than a small local
race. As you already know,
the trip was a success, as I finished 3rd overall and qualified for
my USAT Elite License! Completely
unexpected just a few months earlier, I was excited about the possibilities for
the rest of my season. However, since
the baby due date was coming quick, my race schedule didn’t change. There was just too much to get ready for me to
be able to disappear on the weekends for races.
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| Rev3 Knoxville Podium |
In late-May, I retired my Specialized Nose-Cone Shiv for the
new BMC TM01. The Shiv is a great
bike and took me to Kona, but the TM01 is just awesome! The most noticeable improvements over
the Shiv are the ride quality, handling and braking. The BMC TM01 just seemed to soak up the road chatter and dampen
the cracks and rough roads we have around here. The handling was also less twitchy than the Shiv, so that it
handled more stable like a road bike and I found myself just settling in and
riding, without having to concentrate so much on the handling. Lastly, the braking power was much
improved over the integrated brakes of the Shiv. So now I had a Pro Card and a brand-new great bike….Time to race!
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| BMC TM01 Ready for action in Louisville! |
Finally, in early July, Ironman Muncie 70.3 was here: my
first Professional race. Once the
race was shortened due to the heat (race day forecast was over 100F), I knew
this was going to play out a little different than what I expected a few days
earlier. Regardless, it went well
and was a great learning experience for Louisville.
After Muncie, I was pretty much on-call for whenever our new
addition was going to arrive. I
knew that once our baby got here I would be taking an unplanned recovery week,
so I made sure I hit every training session as it was planned. Then on July 22, after I completed a
big training weekend including 160 miles on the bike, my wife knew it was
time. Then just before midnight on,
our new daughter Sofiella was born:
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| The new "expanded" family |
After taking nearly a week off, it was just over 4 weeks to Ironman Louisville and I knew I had some work to do. Getting training in around the various naps was an interesting twist, but we were able to make it work. Looking back, I probably wouldn’t do it this way again, but we got through it. Besides the bike crash 7 days before the race, finishing 5th Place with the 3rd fastest Professional run split at Ironman Louisville exceeded all my expectations for the race.
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| IM Louisville Finish Chute |
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| IM Louisville: The Prize! |
It was also pretty cool to have the bike escort for the final 6 miles and to make the on-line Lava Magazine Race Photo Gallery:
My season then wound down with the last race in
late-September, Ironman Pocono 70.3.
I really didn’t know what to expect heading into this event, given it
was 5 weeks post-Ironman, but I was happy with the results and again more Pro
experience. Now heading into 2013,
I was able to race the all 3 main race distances, an Olympic, Half- and Full
Ironman and I have an idea on where I stack up a each one and how I need to
prepare.
Looking back, it was a great year. I set a personal best Ironman time and earned my USA
Triathlon Elite License. In
addition, I learned a lot about my level of fitness and where I need to focus to
improve in 2013.
There’s no way I could have had the season I did without the
help and support of so many people.
First off, I need to thank my family: Erica, Nolan and Sofiella. The support and sacrifice from my wife
has been amazing. There’s no way I
could have done this without her.
She is an amazing person and my motivation for all I do.
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| Big Brother with Little Sister |
I also need to thank my partners for their support:
The entire staff at Fraser
Bicycle (www.fraserbicycle.com),
but especially Paul Rogers and Ron Schmid for being there not only to
help ensure my bike was mechanically perfect, but also to take care of all my
last minute issues. Chris Goddard for spending all those
hours swapping parts so I get my fit just
right. Head Coach Bonnie Karas, for helping to come up
with a creative training plan to get me where I needed to be, with all the
personal constraints I had this year.
Ron Tew at BMC Bicycles (www.bmc-racing.com) for setting me up with
the rocket ship called the BMC TM01.
Sebastian and Sylvie Linke at SLS3 (www.slstri.com) for
making some of the most comfortable tri-shorts I’ve used and compression gear
that was essential to my day-to-day recovery.
Robert Kunz at First Endurance (www.firstdurance.com). This is the 3rd season I’ve
used First Endurance Products, including EFS, Liquid Shot, Optygen HP, Ultrage,
Multi-V and Pre-Race. All I can
say is the stuff works. It’s
awesome. Period.
K-Swiss (www.kswiss.com) for making great shoes that
got me through all the miles of training and to the starting line injury free.
Lastly, X-1 Audio (www.x-1.com), formally H20 Audio, that helped
make all those hours staring at the bottom of the pool as enjoyable as possible
by adding music to my long swim sets.
No doubt I will be getting a lot more use out of this next year!
So on that note, it’s time to wrap up 2012, and move on with
2013. See you out there!
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| Nolan: "Way to go, Thumbs Up!" |
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