2012 – Kicking Ass, The Recap

It’s been a great season for Accelerate 3 athletes. Just about everything has gone according to plan. People are faster than they were before, people are winning and when those things happen I’m a very happy coach with very happy athletes. Happy might be an understatement though. It’s been a very, very successful year for a lot of athletes. The adage still holds true. Do the work and the results will follow. I’m fortunate to have a great group of hard working athletes. To you girls and guys I say thank you.

How well has the season gone? Awesome would be a HUGE understatement. It’s actually hard to select the top performance. Could it be a World Championship title, or having three athletes qualify for their elite licenses, or seeing people make 5-15 minute gains over last season, or watching people run faster in a triathlon this season then they were running in open races last season? While there were truly some phenomenal performances, I’m going to let their results speak.

Some of the highlights for WTC events include having the overall amateur woman at three 70.3 events, Augusta, Miami and Muncie spread among two of my athletes. An Age group win and 9th amateur on the day at the 70.3 World Championships, 2nd in the age group, 11th amateur and 40th overall at IM Hawaii, an age group win and 10th amateur on the day at the UK 70.3, 3rd in the age group at Boulder 70.3 and having an athlete post the 10th fastest run time on the day at IMNYC. Out of the seven WTC events, only once has an athlete not finished either overall as the top age group racer or in the top 3 in their age group. That’s some serious ass kicking by Accelerate 3 athletes.

Other results include the fastest female age grouper at St. Anthony’s triathlon…again. 2nd age group male overall and winner of his age group at Abu Dhabi, a course record at the Lowes TT series, AL TT Cat 5 State Champ, SE Regional Cat 5 TT Champ, NC TT Cat 3 Silver medalist, 2nd overall male in the Tucson Triathlon Series and 3rd male overall in the Inside Out Sports NC Triathlon Series. The 1st female overall in that same series is an Accelerate 3 athlete. It’s also the first time in the 11 year history of the series that a female has scored more then 10,000 points in more than one race in a season while going undefeated.

Accelerate 3 athletes have won 16 races this season, have another 15 2nd and 3rd overall finishes. They also recorded 16 top 3 age group podiums excluding overalls. Oddly or thankfully, no one finished either 4th overall or fourth in their age group all season. There has been only one 5th overall and one 5th in their age group. It seems my athletes prefer first through third. Who am I to complain? There have been numerous PB’s across triathlon, cycling and running events by my athletes. Three of my athletes have qualified for their elite license for next year. I’m looking forward to taking these and everyone I coach to the next level next season.

And yes, I’m very, very proud to call these over achievers my athletes.

As I look forward to 2013 there are several big changes on the horizon. I’ll be making the jump to full time coaching, which I am rather excited about. For the first time in ten years, I’ll be able to take on more then 1-2 athletes per year. A lot of times when this happens people have to just expand. I’m reloading while I expand. If you are looking for a coach or are a top age group athlete looking to step up to the elite level, contact me.

There are one or two big things in the works for Accelerate 3. You might see Accelerate 3 morph into something bigger and better then it currently is. I suspect the competitors of the people I coach will be less thrilled about all the changes. But then isn’t that always the case?

Keep checking in to see the changes! Thanks for reading.

Miami Vice or Victory

Fall has arrived, the colors on the trees are changing, a cool breeze is blowing into town. The season is winding down, at least for my North American and EU based athletes. But just because the racing is tapering off, doesn’t mean the results stop.

For the third time this season one of the athletes I coach has finished as the top age group athlete in a 70.3 event. This time it was down in Miami at the Miami 70.3. Upon reaching dry land, Sarah steadily rode and ran her way through her wave and the rest of the age group women. When the dust had settled, she was about a mile ahead of the nearest age group woman.

Who’s #1?

Post race party!

One Size Doesn’t Fit All

We’ve all been out when someone wearing a one size fits all article of clothing proves that statement wrong. Most of the time it’s not pretty, even if the person wearing it is.

Meet Chris.

Chris B. exiting the water

He’s one of the newest Accelerate 3 athletes. He was training by an endurance group training plan. Sometimes when you get an athlete and look at their training it’s pretty easy to see where the changes need to be made. In Billy’s case it lots of volume but not race specific work. Once the race specific work started he started PBing his Olympic distance, 70.3’s and IM’s . In Chris’s case he was doing intervals but not at the right intensity levels. His FTP had actually stagnated about 4 months ago and he was doing a lot of hard workouts but not necessarily hard workouts. For him it was a matter of changing how he was doing his intervals, changing the amount of time spent in certain levels, and looking at the data to come up with a power race plan that was actually higher in watts then he would have targeted otherwise.

I’m rather pleased with Chris’s first race as an Accelerate 3 athlete. Some tweaking here, some changing things there and BOOM he is 3rd overall in his first race as an Accelerate 3 athlete!

Chris B – 3rd Overall!

IM NYC – BOOM

IM NYC, one of the high profile IM races of the year. There was a lot of hype surrounding this race. It’s held in one of the highest profile cities in the world. 2500 of your closest friends all getting onto a ferry at 3am. To do an Ironman.

Doug boards the ferry for his first IM. The finish is only eight blocks from his house. This is his home course. His family was there, his friends were there, even his neighbors were there cheering for him.

The gun goes off and it’s soon obvious that the current is helping 2500 triathletes set a PB in the swim. After boarding his bike Doug follows the power plan perfectly, riding within 2 watts of his targeted wattage. This deposits him at T2 in 417th place. But never fear, Doug can run. Only 9 people in the entire race out ran him, pro’s included. He moved up 342 overall places on the run to finish 75th overall. He passed one person on average every 150 meters of the run. He can run faster then you can drive if you’re trying to flee to the Hampton’s on a Friday. From 89th in the M35-39 to 15th at the end of the race with a 9:59:06 while posting the fastest run in his age group by over 7 minutes. Breaking 10 hours, setting a top 10 overall run split and running faster then anyone else in your age group isn’t too shabby for your first crack at the distance. Nicely done Doug.

Doug starting the run

Chad continued his winning ways. He turned on the heat during the bike leg posting the fastest bike split of the day on his way to grabbing 5th overall and winning the M25-29 AG at the Mountain Lakes Triathlon in Al.

Chad Beginning the Run

Across the state line in GA, Rich, in his first race back since IMTX grabbed 4th overall and 1st in the M35-39 AG in the fourth race of the Tri in the Parks Race Series. Not a bad way to start the second half of your season.

Crushing It…a lot.

This past weekend saw some Accelerate 3 athletes kick ass. The first four race results rolled in and the worst anyone did was second overall, By the time the weekend was over, it was top 2 or top 3 in their AG for everyone. It’s hard to figure out which it the best performance on a whole this weekend. Jenny grabbed two overall wins in triathlons this weekend and how can you not start with that?

Jenny pulled the Stumpy Creek Double Double. On Saturday she won the olympic distance race by a rather comfortable margin of 6:20. On Sunday she turned around and won the Amica sprint addition of the race by a few ticks short of 5 minutes. This should give her enough points to vault into the lead of the Inside Out Sports NC Triathlon Series for the women and place a strong claim to the first prize check of $1500.

Jenny Leiser approaching T2

On the men’s side of the race, James bounces back from a disappointing weekend last weekend where he went off course, to posting the fastest bike split of the day to leave T2 in the lead. He came home second across the line grabbing some more points towards taking the overall series win this year.

It’s pretty rare when there are two Accelerate 3 triathletes in the same race, even rarer when they both place in the top 2 overall. Congrats to both Jenny and James for laying some wood to their competitors.

James Haycraft & Jenny Leiser

Heading a little further south Chad qualified for and raced the USA Cycling Southeastern Time Trial Championships. In the Cat 5 men he had already been crowned AL State Champion. This weekend saw him take the top spot in the Men’s Cat 5 Time Trial to be crowned Regional Champion. He averaged over 25 mph to win this closer to 41k then 40k TT by 1:45 over his next competitor.

Chad Williamson taking the top honors

Moving west Nick Baldwin raced the highly competitive Boulder 70.3 race. This is the second 70.3 race he’s done this season and the second where he takes a top 3 spot in his AG. He finished 3rd in the M18-24. This is his third race in four weekends and the third race where he’s claimed a 3rd position. The other two were sprint or olympic distance races in CO. In those races not only was he third overall but he also picked up a cool $100 for each of those finishes. This 70.3 capped off a nice block of racing. Now Nick gets to put his head down put the finishing touches on his training for the 70.3 LV Championships and Kona.

Another race, another $100 for Nick

It’s good to be KING!

Chad Williamson threw a chain, had to stop to put it back on and he still destroyed the rest of the Cat 5 men at the Men’s Cat 5 Alabama State TT Championships. Five minutes. That’s not even close over 40k. Too bad he isn’t a Cat 4 since he would have won that as well. Chad brings home a championship in a 3rd state and this is the 14th or 15th time an Accelerate 3 Athlete has won a state Championship.

Chad Williamson claiming his title

But that’s not the only Accelerate 3 athlete producing good results this past weekend. In Tucson Billy grabbed 9th overall and 2nd in his age group at the Holualoa Tinfoil Triathlon.

Billy Oliver working hard

Heading back east, Doug Tsao used the fastest run split of the day to vault himself from 42nd position leaving T2 into 7th overall and 2nd in his age group at the first ever Mighty Moss Half Iron Triathlon. Doug proved once again that you can never run too fast in a triathlon but you can run too slow.

Doug on the Podium!

Two for One Special

It’s been a couple of good weekends of racing for Accelerate 3 athletes. Last weekend Tom smashed his half Ironman PB by 11 minutes. Chad woke up after a wedding reception and grabbed 2nd overall in a local 5k and set a new 5k PB.

This weekend Chad crossed the line second overall, smashing the field on the bike at the Buster Britton Triathlon. While he was out in front of the entire field on the bike he received a 2 minute penalty which dropped him off the podium and into winning his age group. Not exactly what you want to find out after you’ve crossed the finish line. It was a solid performance for him but that penalty cost him 8 spots.

Further east James and Jenny picked up a pair of wins at the Tri Latta Triathlon. Jenny currently sits in 7th position with one to two less races then those ranked above her in the IOSNCTS. This win will help James move up the standings where he is now positioned 6th overall. Did I mention this is the second race this week that James won? On Wednesday James set a new AG record at the Lowes TT series.

Dusty had a chilly time over in the Boise 70.3 – some factor for weather, shorter then half Half Ironman. This was his first race back, other then bike races where he has garnered quite a few top 5’s in the cat 5’s, since tearing tendons in his foot.

Rocking at the Races

It was another busy weekend of racing for Accelerate 3 athletes across the country. That also means it’s a busy weekend of me blogging about their successes at the races.

In California, Jeff destroyed his Wildflower course personal best by 45 minutes. Yeah, you read that correctly, 45 minutes. That’s almost 6 miles ahead of his old self. Talk about kicking your ass. He kicked his and was quite proud of it. He is all systems go for setting a new IM PB this summer.

Elsewhere in CA especially since I don’t know where Wildflower and Piru are in relation to one another, Dusty grabbed 2nd in his category and 4th overall at the Piru TT series race. When not training for triathlons he is turning into quite the bike racer…with a CTL to back it up.

In Knoxville TN, Rev 3 came to town. Chad grabbed 1st in his age group on the back of his 5th fastest overall age group bike split and ended up as the 14th overall age grouper. Not a bad way to kick off the triathlon season.

In NC, Jenny, James and a friend teamed up to smoke the White Lake half race. They went sub 4hr and every member of the team turned in the fastest team split. Notable was James 2:08:58 bike split. It looks like he is showing some of his bike fitness. James turned around and raced the White Lake sprint on Sunday. He earned some valuable IOSNCTS points by finishing 2nd overall. He also earned some good karma points by plucking a cat off the road so it didn’t get run over. He “may” have left some watts out on the road from Saturday’s bike but all in all it was another solid weekend of racing for him.

BOOM at FL 70.3

That’s the sound of Kerry destroying the rest of the W30-34 age group field at the FL 70.3 today. results

First place in the W30-34, 4th overall in the women’s age group field and top 15 overall in the entire women’s race (I’m pretty sure jimmy Archer is a dude even though they have him winning the women’s race)!

Topping it off, she moves up from 3rd in the age group last year to first this year. Great job Kerry!

Soma Triathlon

How did Accelerate 3 athletes do at the Soma Half Ironman?  Not too shabby at all I’d say.

2 athletes racing. The final score?

2 half IM PB’s with 2 run PB’s by huge margins.

Tim was 3rd in his Ag, 19th OV and made an ENORMOUS leap forward in his performance slashing 23 minutes off his Half IM PB.  Did I mention he capped it off with a new PB on the run.

Jeff was 151st OV, 2 min faster then he has ever covered the half distance.  He only ran 7 minutes faster then ever before, including a bathroom break.

Those guys rode each of the three laps on the bike faster then the lap before.  Proper pacing = proper racing. I wonder how many athletes did that on the bike then backed it up with PB type runs?  My guess is that these guys had very little company in this category.

Great job guys!