Merry Christmas and a Happy 2010 Everyone!

Hard to believe, but '09 came and went....It was a tough one for many of us, myself included. I'm not going to make projections or resolutions for 2010. I have a good feeling and I know what I have to do. Happy New Year everyone! I will see you all at the races.

In sports wherever you may find yourself,
Espen

My favorite band....

'Blue October'....Check it out but be forewarned; explicit/serious lyrics:

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=OAvIvDyxrAY

Catalina Triathlon 2009

So my good friend Gregg Arth (59 years young, going on 21!) convinced me to do the Catalina Sprint Triathlon today. As per usual with these events, an early riser was called for. For this one, however, we had to take the ferry from Long Beach at 6:15AM. That meant we had to get our bones out of bed by 4AM...In reality, this was the true test of the day :) What was more impressive was that his friend Anne got up to cheer us along at 3:30!!! Man, why didn't I pick Golf instead of Triathlons.

The ride out to Catalina was smooth. Quite a few other brave soles had decided to do this late season wake-up call. I'd say about 500 in total. As with most sprints, this one would be over fast so I didn't really worry much about nutrition etc. Got to Catalina around 7;30AM, picked up our race bag and waited around for the clock to hit 9AM when the 'Elites' went off. To my great surprise, none other than IM World Champion from Australia - Chris McCormack - was there as well. A legend of recent Triathlon and super nice man, Chris made it all the more exciting as we all lined up on the sandy beaches of Avalon.

This was only my 3rd triathlon of 2009 (due to my collar bone/scapula injuries of 2008 and 2009), so I have not been able to do much swimming at all. Nevertheless, a little closet training with 'Coach Bee' at the 'JSerra' high school pool has given a little 'umpf' to my late season strokes.

I got off to a good start and off we went. I couldn't believe how fast the first buoy in less than 4 minutes. Then took a sharp right and headed for the second one to complete the 'top end' of a 'narrow rectangle' that brought us back to the shoreline. I finished the swim in 9 mins 14 seconds and I believe 5th in line.

McCormack was first in from the swim in 7:41 - about 1 min 27 secs ahead of me. My T1 was slow since my bike was racked way off in the sand pit. His nicely positioned on asphalt in T1. It took my a full 56 seconds to get out of there compared to Macca's 29...But, as we took of on the ride - a 3 loop hilly course around Avalon - I cut my deficit to Macca by about 1 minute. He rode the bike course in about 27:32 against my 26:27. My biking legs clearly paying some dividends after all...:) But again my T2 transition suffered compared to Macca's. I spent 31 seconds against his 17.5 seconds....which means I was now about 1 minute behind him going into the run.

So as I tried to kick the 'turbo-charge' in, I could see the back of the great Australian tri-legend in his blue about 1/4 mile up the road. I think I gained a little at first but then it was, literally, all 'down hill' from there. In the end, Macca ended up beating my Nordic 'cojones' by 2 minutes 40 seconds. But hey, that was good enough for the 'best amateur' of the day in a total time of 56:33 against Macca's 53:53. I was quite happy with that and, I have to admit, it was cool to be up there on that podium with Chris McCormack later on. He's 35 and I'm 40 so he better be a few minutes ahead of me, no...?

Indeed, Chris McCormac (like his fellow Aussie Cris Leigh) is a great athlete. So is his coach and VP of Marketing Scott Fairchild of San Diego, by the way. I spoke to him at length after the race. What's more, however, Chris McCormack is what I would call 'a very nice person.' I will probably never replicate Macca's physical talent but he showed me something today that i will replicate: putting two small photos of his beloved children on each side of his handlebars as motivation and, perhaps, as a reminder of what is more important in life; our kids. I will put a little photo of my darling Tuva-Helene on my handle bars from now on.

PS: my friend Gregg Arth finished to in his age group. Heck, he would have finished top in the +44 age group as well. What a stud he is. Just goes to show you long people can enjoy their fitness if they really 'tri!'

Final results from Cataline are here: http://www.j-chipusa.com/results.php?eventid=2886&p=

And here's a weblink to a cool video of the race that Scott Fairchild kindly sent me: http://gallery.me.com/fairchildmg/100281

Until next time (probably the Dana Point Thanksgiving Turkey Trot 10k for me),
Espen

Long Beach Half Marathon / Kona

First off, I have to give it to my good friend and loyal US Nationals room-mate, Doug Clark (of Morristown, NJ) who won the 40-44 age group in the IronMan World Championships in Kona, Hawaii, this past weekend. He did it in an impressive 9 hrs and 22 minutes. Nobody deserved this win more than Doug this year. He trained so hard, raced so well throughout the season by wining the US National Championships in Tuscaloosa, AL, the EagleMan in MD and by getting 2nd place (beat by merely 3 seconds on the finish line) at the World Age Grouper Championships in Australia. Doug is a class act all around. A dedicated husband and dad that inspire us all! I look forward to raining and racing with (and against!) Doug in 2010. Hopefully, we'll both be at Kona in 2011 to give Lance A. a good run for the money :)

Secondly, I ran the Long Beach Half Marathon this past weekend. It was a local race here in Southern California with more than 10,000 participants. I haven't done much run training but figured it was good to 'just do it' to get my clunker bicycle legs moving. I wanted to run a sub 1:23 on this relatively flat course. As it turns out, the organizers didn't measure the distance correctly (13.1 miles) and we ended up running closer to 13.5 miles (according to many friends who ran with GPS devices). At any rate, I felt pretty good although I started out slightly too fast, running a 5:44 first mile. I ended up averaging 6:09/mile pace and crossed the finish line (with female runner no. 1) in 1hr 20 mins 32 seconds. That result gave me 6th place in the 40-44 age group and 443 overall. Here's a photo that appeared in the local Long Beach newspaper today:

http://lang.presstelegram.com/photos/photos.html#id=861677&num=38

Given the slightly longer than expected distance, I should have broken 1:18 on this course. I guess I'll have to prove that ambition in a few more weeks when I'm planning to run another half here in CA. Perhaps I'll see some of you there!

In sports,
Espen

LA Triathlon 2009

Finally got out there again to do my second triathlon of 2009; the LA Triathlon at Venice Beach. I hadn't done this one before and it was a fun race although the 'surf' took most people by surprise and quite a few never made it out to the first buoy on the swim. I started in the Elite wave of 28 guys. It was a beach start as we had to dive through the 10 ft surf crashing towards us...It was quite unnerving and at one point towards the end I lost my goggles and was wondering if I had taken my last breath...really....The surf got out of control and, to be honest, it was not at all safe to be ought there. Anyways, I made it through somewhere in the middle of the pack. Jumped on my bike and rode a strong 24 miler (second fastest split of the day). It was windy but luckily not too hot and I felt good. My run was OK (with two big hills in-between) and I finished 8th in the group with 2:10 and change. I'm happy with that given how poor my swim was due to the collar bone/shoulder injuries from this and last year. I'm looking forward to improving my swim in the off-season (again!) so I can make up more time on the swim next year!

In sports,
Espen :)

US Debt Clock

Came across this scary little 'clock' continuously calculation our national debt.....How about restraint on government spending, Folks....? Unreal.

http://www.usdebtclock.org/