In like a Lion

March is here, charging in with the roar of a lion after some lambs. And roar Chad Chad did. Over the last five miles of the Tuscaloosa Half Marathon he stalked the leader trimming the gap. In the closing miles he struck fast to win the race!

Adu Dhabi once again hosted the Abu Dhabi triathlon. The first major triathlon race of 2013 loaded with a star studded field, is always a look into who’s hot and who’s not. Nick and Daniel made the journey to race this year. This was Daniel’s first long course race and he finished 9th in his age group.

Nick closed out his age group career here. He repeated his results from last year, winning his age group, and placing as the 2nd overall age grouper on the day. This year he moved up 11 spots to finish 11th overall including the pros. Watch for Nick at a pro race near you, as he will be joining the pro ranks and making his pro debut at Ironman South Africa.

Nick Baldwin in Abu Dhabi

Dusty raced one of the season opening races in CA, the Desert Triathlon. Dusty lead his age group off the bike and ended up second. He’s been battling some running injuries over the last 6 months and we expect nothing but faster run times as the season progresses.

Dusty at the Desert Triathlon

I encourage all my athletes to try racing different events in the early season. Like many of my athletes Adam has taken me up on the offer for the second weekend in a row. Last weekend was a time trial, this weekend was a masters swim meet. His first swim meet. He did a wide variety of free style events, from the 50 to the 1650 as well as swimming on some relays. For a rookie he did pretty good, grabbing some top 3 finishes in his age group and cracking 1:00 in the 100 free on his first attempt.

A Weekend of Kicking Ass

This weekend was filled with quite a few firsts for me. It was the first time both of my EU based athletes were in the same city as I was. The highlight of my weekend was meeting Tom and Nick. It’s pretty awesome to finally put faces to email addresses. Unfortunately I forgot to bring my camera with me to the expo where I was meeting them. Bad coach. Really bad.

This past weekend was the 70.3 World Championships. Both Nick and Tom raced. It was hot. Very hot. You ended up sweating. A lot. You needed to drink a lot of fluids just to stay upright. Lots of people were falling out. And that was just spectating. I can’t repeat what one pro woman said about the heat but it had a cuss word to describe how hot it was.

Tom crossed the line in 5:07 which last year would have been a PB for him. This year though he has raced much faster over the half distance. Still a solid showing on a day in which he set new PB’s for the highest temps he’s ever raced in.

Nick absolutely smashed it out on the course. He finished as the 9th age grouper on the day and comfortably won the Men’s 18-24 age group. Yeah, it’s totally bad ass, he became an age group world champ! I’m not going to lie, when I saw him rounding the corner for the finish and I knew he was way up there both age group and overall, my allergies may have caused my eyes to have a very brief, tiny reaction.

Nick Baldwin M18-24 AG World Champ

Another first was taking place down in the hot, muggy depths of Alabama. James and Chad were squaring off to see who would have the fastest bike split at the AL Coastal Triathlon. At the end of the day a string of firsts would happen. James posted the fastest bike split and finished first overall. Chad posted the second fastest bike split and finished second overall.

This is the first time two Accelerate 3 athletes have taken the first two overall podium places at a race. Also the first time that Accelerate 3 triathletes have grabbed the first two bike splits in a race. Not to mention James won $300 and Chad won $200 which makes racing in 100F temps a little better. James and Chad get to square off again at the Rev 3 SC race in October.

Chad’s check!

All in all, as a coach I couldn’t be much happier about this past weekend. There was a good bit of success, some cash flowing into the hands of my athletes. It’s a reward for these guys for their hard work and dedication. Most people want to dream big, but when it comes time to put in the hard work, most people settle for a smaller dream. These guys have been doing the work. It’s paying off. Good job lads.

Nick Baldwin, M18-24 champ

Albatross Removed….Finally

After 15 or so Tucson Triathlon Series races, after seven or eight 2nd and 3rd place finishes, after leading the entire field off the bike no less then six times, yes at least six times, pathetic but true, after getting run down no less then six times, even more pathetic and more true, finally, after all these years, I finally won a Tucson Tri Series race. First overall. Finally.

I never really counted on winning one of these things. There are just too many guys around my level. It takes a solid race from start to finish to win one of these, well, and someone not going faster. To give you an idea of how competitive this series can be, the first two guys in the series are separated by :04. The top three of us are separated by :42. That’s after 2 races and close to 2 hours of racing. For you power people my numbers from the race: AP 253/NP 258.

It’s a fitting end for the racing flats that have been with me for most of those 2nd and 3rd place finishes. But now it’s time to retire these faithful shoes. After carrying me to the fastest run time of the day, it was pretty evident to me, that their time had come. My shoes were broken. Hard as a rock under my feet with little to no cushioning left in them. Goodbye ghetto lacing system.

Since it was July 4th, it was also time to watch fireworks. Into the Tucson Mountains Sarah and I hiked. We headed up to one of the best spots anywhere in Tucson to watch fireworks. I could tell you where, but then I’d have to kill you. From the edge of a ridge we ate watermelon and watched fireworks from at least five different displays. Not a shabby way to end the day.