Tag Archives: endurance

Views From the (201)6: Looking Back Before I Look Ahead

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Cliff diving might take as much guts as racing Kona

Friends, family, generous patronizers! It’s been awhile since I’ve checked in. A lot has happened. And unlike this time last year, most of it includes rainbows and awesomeness instead of bike crashes and sadness.

I’ve put together a timeline below; a “greatest hits” of sorts highlighting all the cool things that have gone down since Silverman 70.3. And as we’re five days until my first big race of the year at Ironman 70.3 St. George, it all culminates to my thoughts on where things are at today. Read on!

OCTOBER:

One day after ending my season in Las Vegas, I packed up my bike for a week in Kona, Hawaii at the Team Every Man Jack house. While most guys were there to race the Ironman World Championship, a small, but crucial group of us were there to support the guys, spend time with sponsors and test all of the booze on the island. Good news: booze was just fine and we had a lot of fun while the dudes crushed.

Strava: Kona Underpants Run | Hill Climbing and Cliff Diving (each w/ pics!)

Instagram: Team dinner & epic Kona sunset | Wheels for the week: Felt F3 (non-insta) | Thank God I’m Not Racing party with the crew (non-insta)

NOVEMBER:

Lots of fun, very little triathlon. Just the way November should be. I celebrated my brother from another mother, Randolph’s bachelor party in New Orleans and hosted my family for Thanksgiving – the first time we’ve all been in SF together!

Strava: NOLA Detox | Turkey Trot 5K Win, ‘cuz Nick said I couldn’t come to Turkey dinner otherwise |

Instagram: Beautiful street music on Nola run | The boys | Family 5K | Family Hike |

DECEMBER:

There was definitely a big race in December – Dani did her first marathon (!) and finished like a boss. Of course it was all smiles and donuts at the end. Otherwise December was quality, needed family/friends time in Ohio, as Christmas and Nick/Jess’ New Years wedding brought the festive cheer in spades.

Strava: Run cheering Dani  | Pre-wedding dance warm up |

Instagram: Dani and a Donut at CIM Finish (non-insta) | Christmas ride w/ Mom |

JANUARY

The dopest three days you can spend on a bike, The Coast Ride. San Francisco to Santa Barbara, 375 miles, Saturday to Sunday, with 300 of your closest friends. And this year, El Niño was ready for us, making the whole thing a slog – one that The Kaiser and I relished.

Strava: Day 1: SF>Monterey | Day 2: Morro Bay via Big Sur | Day 3: SB or Bust |

Instagram: This face, for 3 days

FEBRUARY

This year’s Team Every Man Jack camp took place in what I consider to be one of the most underrated endurance training grounds, Las Vegas. Four days of solid work in the desert to spark plug the season, sure – but with a team like this, you can be sure there was plenty of tomfoolery and face stuffing with copious amounts of food (thanks, Donna!).

Strava: Training log for wk Feb 22: Sick, better, team camp

Instagram: COPS: Team EMJ Edition | Lulu session, butts in the air |

MARCH

Team Every Man Jack was on the cover of Triathlete Magazine! You may have seen one or two posts on social… But it was a really fun photo shoot and very cool to be a part of it. Cross that one off the list, I guess!

Instagram: Team party for mag release

Twitter: Triathlete Magazine announcing cover

APRIL

And all the while, I was spending most non-working hours training my face off. The HITS Olympic Triathlon in Napa was a 2016 debut for Team EMJ as we had 15 in the top 20. I biked and ran my way to a 3rd overall, missing teammate Mark Kolding by 10 seconds at the finish line. Very happy with the early season progress!

Strava: HITS Bike Leg | HITS Run Leg |

Instagram: Team doin’ work at HITS | Hanging out with Felt at Sports Basement

MAY

Just like that, it’s May and t-minus 5 days until Ironman 70.3 St. George. I’m encouraged with the progress I’ve seen in following purplepatch‘s plan and the key sessions I’ve had with the team and with Meredith. My obsession this year needs to be the bike, per Matt – so I’m going to obsess all over the roads of St. George and see where that gets me. Very happy to be healthy this year – last year I showed up in St. George with a bum wing from a bike wreck and bronchitis. Come Saturday, I’ll be at peace knowing I raced my best.

Strava: Repeats with Mer & Ritch | 1200s…in trainers |

Instagram: I always think of E. Honda from Street Fighter. Old La Honda crushin.

So much stuff! I’ll be checking in with a race recap after St. George and shedding some light on the rest of the year. Thanks to all of Team EMJ’s sponsors, listed below – seriously, this sport is so much easier with your support and it’s a pleasure to train and race with the stuff you guys make.

Peace! -MV

Race Report: Napa HITS Olympic

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Bare chested with gloves on...a champion of athletic style since 1986.

Bare chested with gloves on…a champion of athletic style since 1986.

The Summary:

The first race of 2015! After an early season bike crash, this was the first test to see where my fitness was. My left elbow was busted pretty good and I’d been swimming with one arm for about two months. It was going to be a tough one, but there were almost ten of us from Team Every Man Jack that used this race as a launch pad for 2015 so it was high output from the gun and I finished 8th overall with the fastest run on the day.

The Swim: (00:25:49) Terrible. But in my defense, I’d only swam about 6 times with both arms since January and it was a two loop swim that involved a run along the beach and re-entry. But that’s still a brutal time to see. Good news is it can only get better!

T1 another cold race, another abysmal transition – almost 2x top 7’s average. My circulation really suffers out of the water in cold races and I – yet again – learned plenty.

The Bike: (01:05:28) I spent the first half a mile trying to cram frozen feet into my shoes while pedaling. Even thereafter, my core and my legs were simply not responding in the cold. It wasn’t until almost the turnaround point on this out and back course that I felt normal. I attacked the rolling hills heading back in and averaged a higher power number than the first half as my body warmed up.

The Run (00:33:49) With the fastest run on the day by about two minutes, I tried to recover as much ground as I could from Nemo-ing the swim and freezing during the early part of the race. The run felt good, especially after my feet thawed out two miles in…!

Thanks – All sponsors of Team Every Man Jack, HITS for putting on a great race, all volunteers and supporters! Next up, first Ironman 70.3 of the season at St. George – and a lot more swimming with two arms.

Race Report: Ironman 70.3 World Championships (Mont Tremblant, QC, CAN)

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The French Canadian town of Mont Tremblant hosted the 2014Ironman 70.3 World Championship

The French Canadian town of Mont Tremblant hosted the 2014Ironman 70.3 World Championship

The Summary:

It was my second World Championship race in six days on Canadian soil and at Ironman 70.3 Worlds in, I came away with so many positive experiences and learning moments, that it’s tough to remember that I actually raced. Decently, at that. After a few days in Banff with my parents post ITU Worlds, I flew across country with my bike, rented a van and drove two hours to the beautiful town of Mont Tremblant, adding another notch to the “race travel experience” belt. Once there, I stayed at the Every Man Jack team house, which was not only convenient but made what would have been a solo race trip much more fun. not even a full week after my last championship race, I entered the race with one mantra, “all-day,” to emphasize hard, consistent effort.

The Swim: 30:44 Because my wave was so late, I got a really good warmup in and hit the swim with a “swim my race” attitude. That is to say, I tried to find clean water and not get caught up in the madness early. I eventually found rhythm and a group to swim with and posted a respectable, but not amazing swim split.

Transition 1: I was especially cognizant of being cold out of the water after ITU Worlds (I go into depth on that experience on that report). So I ran quickly to the change tent and grabbed my gear bag and ran with it as I put on arm warmers and my helmet.

The Bike: 2:22:19  I started strong and steady on this course with plenty of rolling hills. “All-day” was my mantra as I cranked out consistently strong watts. I was quite disheartened to see the wild amount of drafting coming at me the opposite way. Entire packs of athletes from earlier waves riding like a Saturday hammerfest group ride. Not cool. Not legal. Not a thing I could do about it, except try to ride even better. But my mantra became, “all day…?” As the watts started to trail in the last 10 miles of the bike. I was ready to start running.

The Run: 1:21:04 As usual, it was time to impact the race with the run. I felt like I was running on air on the first loop, which was really set up well for strong runners with false flats to power through. At the end of the loop (which was run 2x) was the madness of the ski village. The grade is almost comical and the cobble stones are rough. Equally as crazy as the road was the crowd – almost on top of you on either side of the street cheering like it’s a Tour de France climb. Truly special. Like the bike, I started to trail off my pace with 5K left and I knew I was in trouble when I couldn’t hang with the first guy to pass me for more than a mile of that 5k. As I hit the village the second and last time, my quads completely seized up and I began hobble-walking up the steep hill. Brian August came up behind me and got me running again with some words of encouragement and maybe a shove. We ran up together and slammed the ridiculous winding downhill. I don’t know how my legs didn’t lock up to the point of no return on that fast down, but I hit the chute for the final stretch with a couple of other athletes. One guy actually put his arm out and prevented me from crossing the line before him. Classy dude! I guess he really wanted 38th place…

The Result: 4:20:47 This result wasn’t particularly outstanding and neither was my rank. But I did my best, in the best 70.3 field in the world 6 days after doing the same at ITU Standard Worlds. I’m happy with the effort and with the experience.

Thanks: To family, friends and training buddies at M2. Big shout out and thanks to Team Every Man Jack. Had I not stayed with you guys, this race wouldn’t have happened for me. One race left, some familiar stomping grounds in Vegas at Silverman 70.3!