Photo by Mario Cantu
Archived Blog Entries: October 25, 2009 - December 31, 2009
| December 15th: AAPER Born to Run Children's Cross Country Meet |
| This last weekend, I volunteered at the the AAPER Born to Run Children's cross country meet here in Austin. The event is part of the Austin School District's efforts to promote active lifestyles among children. Around 700 children were expected at this year's event with their families, although I think with the cold wet weather we had on race day, less than expected attended. This is a really great event that the Austin School District has been hosting for over 20 years. I enjoy being involved with those events that encourage children to lead active lifestyles.
This is a fun event I've helped with in the past and I love being out there with the kids. The event is for Austin area children ages 5-13, with the younger ones running a 1K route and the older groups running 1 mile. The event devides them into single age groups and genders, ex. 8 year old boys go in one wave.
My job out there, as a pro triathlete, is to give the groups pep-talks and advice before they run and congratulate them when they're finished. It's really a fun and rewarding experience. Last time I volunteered, I also acted as a "rabbit" and paced each group through the run, but this time, I'm taking a couple weeks off of running at the end of the season to let a few little naggin pains heal before I start ramping up for next year. Despite the weather and not getting to run each loop with the kids, I really had a great time out there.
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| December 4th: Ironman Cozumel Race Report |
| Click here to read my race report on my experience at Ironman Cozumel, where I finished the bike in 7th place, but then had my day fall apart. Despite wanting to drop out, I walked 16 of the last 18 miles on the run course just to finish the race and not be a quitter. |
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| November 25th: Off to Ironman Cozumel |
| While everyone is eating turkey and cheering for the Lions tomorrow, I'll be heading down to Mexico for my last race in 2009: Ironman Cozumel. This is the first year for this race and it should be a great one. I cannot tell you how excited I am to race. Since the Longhorn Ironman 70.3 in October, I've been wanting to race. The last several weeks have been the hardest. While all of my friends have been tapering and racing in Ironman Florida, Clearwater, and Arizona, it's been a waiting game for me to get my shot. I'm officially read to go. This race is a long time coming. I really feel that this whole last year of training has come together for this one. We're going to see something good. The race should be a fun one. The swim is in CRYSTAL CLEAR Carribean water. Cozumel is know for some of the best SCUBA diving in the world because of the reefs and water. We'll be swimming in 81 degree water over the reefs. one of the turn points on the swim is actually a submarine! Right now, I am declaring that I will be reciting Hunt for Red October lines in my head as I make that turn ("One ping only"). The high temps will be humid and in the mid-80s. There's going to be a strong wind on 1/2 of the bike course. The island is flat as a pancake, not a hill to be had, so this will be a "sit in the aero-position and grind it out" kind of course. Basically, with the heat, humidity, and wind, it will be like Kona without any hills. Should make for a fun day. The island is pretty small, so we have to go all the way around it 3x on the bike to make 112 miles. Then the run is a 3x out-n-back 8.7 mile course. I love love love flat out-n-back runs. I like to get in a tempo and turn my brain off. I've never been a fan of courses with lots of twists and turns on the run. I think this will be a very fun race. My parents are meeting me in Mexico coming from Detroit. We're all staying a few days after the race to enjoy the sun, beach, snorkling, and margaritas after the race. I'm so excited for this trip and race. I also like that Cozumel, Mexico is a short trip from Austin. It's less travel time for me than going to Lake Placid or Coeur d'Alene for races. I have a 7am flight tomorrow and get in at 11am. Nice and easy!! I'll try to post and update or two while I'm there. I'm ready to go, so this should be a fun one! Have a happy Thanksgiving and GO LIONS!!! Pat |
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| November 20th: Brass Tacks |
| Those of you who have read and tracked my race progress for any amount of time should be well aware of my past frustrations with my swimming progress. I am happy to report that I've made some significant breakthroughs, both physical and mental in the water. To do this I had to get down to the brass tacks of swimming. This is not to say that I'm suddenly going to be first out of the water in any race soon, rather, I think the culmination of the last several years of work, training, focus, and racing have really started to kick in. Now couple this with a renewed focus on my swimming and a few changes and I really feel that I'm in a great position for Ironman Cozumel next weekend. Then, after my De-swim-ber focus in the water before I go home to Michigan for Christmas, I really believe that we're all going to see a new athlete next year in the water....or rather, my true capabilities will shine through. Here's a little recap/history: I didn't take my first "real" swim stroke until the age of 24. I started swimming laps at my local community pool to be able to complete my first triathlons. After my 1.5 seasons of swimming on my own (self-taught), I qualified for Kona and decided to seek out my first local masters swim program to have real swim practices. That following winter, I took my first set of technique specific swim lessons and continued to practice with the group. In my first 3-4 years I was able to go from a 1:13 Ironman swim down to a 1:03 and in the half Ironman I went from a 35 minute down to a ~29 minute swim. That kind of improvement was in line with the effort I was putting into swimming training and was also reasonable considering I was making even bigger cycling and running improvements. Then, three years ago, I really dedicated myself to making the next leap on my swimming. I moved up to a more competative masters swimming program and upped my swimming frequency, volume, and intensity. That very next Ironman, I made a jump to about 57 minutes and in my half-Ironman, bumped down to 27-28 minutes. Again a modest gain, but still a gain. Since then, for the last 2 1/2 years, I have continued to work my rear off, and I mean I've worked my rear off, to see almost no improvements in races. It seems like I tried everything. Last winter, I spent 3 months taking private lessons from a great stroke coach. Everyone said I looked heaps better in the water, but when it came to race time this year, my times (and more importantly) my gaps to the race leaders were exactly the same it had been for the last 2 1/2 years. At this time last year, I was sure that 2009 was going to be the year where I had my breakthrough on the swim. With 6 weeks left in this year, I think 2009 still may be the breakthrough year, but just a little later than I had originally imagined. The other frustrating part about my swimming is that when knowledgable people watch me swim, they tell me that I look great and that, based on my technique, I should be swimming much faster in races than I have been. Here are a few examples (all true): - Eddie Reese (University of Texas Men's Swim Coach, US Olympic Coach for Beijing, Coach of multiple gold medalists and world record holders), after watching me swim for a few minutes: "Your stroke looks great, just do some more push-ups." - Whitney Hedgepeth (multiple Olympic medalist, and my swim coach): "There is no reason with your technique that you shouldn't swim a 53 for an Ironman." - Andreas and Michael Raelert (3rd in Kona, 1st in Clearwater this year), after we swam together for the month of Sept/Oct when they were here in Austin: "Patty, you are a really good swimmer, I don't see why you shouldn't swim faster in races. Just stick with it." - Fraser Cartmell (3rd out of the water at Ironman 70.3 World Championships last week) after swimming with me for a couple weeks: "With how you are swimming, if you don't come out of the water less than 5 minutes down from the leaders in Cozumel, I'm going to reach through the phone line and strangle you!" (note, in Ironman Wisconsin I was down about 12 minutes from the leaders, how, I have no idea?) - Richie Cunningham (front group swimmer in every race, and my good training buddy). Richie and I swim together almost every day, so he's seen my ups-and-downs. He's had a lot of fun comments, but after my swim in Kansas 70.3 this year, the first thing he said to me on the phone was: "You swimming spastic, you should be going way faster than that!!" So, I've worked hard and had many people with knowledge watch me swim and say that based on how I look in the water that I should be much faster in races than I have been going. Those reasons have been the roots of my frustrations over the last couple years. So now the good news, a few things have happened as of late. I figured a few things out. A couple small clicks built on years of effort. I think I've made a bit of a breakthrough. Now my plan is to keep going with it and exploit it, blitzkreig through to the next level. The reality is that for me to be competative going forward as a professional, I have no choice but to up the ante on my swimming. It is the #1 thing keeping me back now. The fact that I'm cycling completely solo and still putting up times on par with the top in the sport who happen to be cycling in groups, tells me that if I exit the water with a group, I can bike with a group and be ina much better position to for a solid run. A faster swim is the lynch-pin in my future growth for 2010. So what is different now and what has clicked? My old stroke (2007-2008) really limited my growth, I think with a few changes in my mental approaches to races and a few training changes and I could have eeked out another minute or two from my Ironman swim. I made positive changes last winter in my technique with Whitney. When I went to Michigan for my summer training and Richie came up for 3 weeks, he really worked with me on changing my stroke so that it would be better for open water swimming. Since then, he has continued to work with me on those changes. He knows that there's no reason I shouldn't be swimming minutes faster based upon my ability and heart and lungs. In Michigan, I started making those changes, but I really don't think I had the time to train enough to engrain those changes or make the strength gains I needed to see the time improvement in Wisconsin. Over the last couple months since then, I've continued to focus on those changes. Here's a very important point, something I've really now just internalized. So much of swimming instruction for the masses is marketed as technique-centric: that if you do a bunch of drills that swimming is suddenly easy. The fact is that this perspective is completely wrong. Once you have good form, then it's time to train train train. You have to train hard and you have to be ready to HURT. I have never had a problem hurting on the bike or running, but it's taken until very recently to really learn to embrace pain in the water. It's a different hurt than the other sports. I find that it's much easier to be calm while hurting running or cycling. While swimming, there's a fine line where if you push beyond it's almost like a panic and your stroke collapses and you go much slower for a higher effort. This is what was happening to me in races. Richie and I have also worked on the strength component of my swimming, incorporating 3-4 stretch-cord sessions each week. Again, as I've made these changes, I don't think I had enough time to absorb them before I raced Longhorn 70.3. So a few technique items Richie and I were working on clicked, we've worked on my strength, I've had a mental click in the last month where I can better handle the hurt of swimming. Then in the last month, I've had two other equally important changes. First, I have become really inspired to create the breakthrough and I am really enjoying swimming. That's huge, I'm more excited for my swim workouts than ever before. I think deep-down, knowing that this is the missing piece to my next level of success, rather than looking at it with frustration, I am now looking at it like a fun project. And lastly, the past month, I've drastically altered my swim workouts. After Longhorn 70.3, I put in 3 very big swim weeks (for me), all three above 25,000 meters, and getting up to 30,000 meters. When my past normal volume was around 20,000, this equated to around a 30-50% increase. But this block wasn't all about garbage-yardage. I wasn't just getting in the pool and paddling around. Almost all of it was focused training for Cozumel. I did a 6km continuous endurance swims, I was doing long pulling strength sets, and most importantly I was working on my threshold swimming. Most masters practices focus on swimming 50s-200s, which is nice for your speed, but does not give you everything you need for distance swimming 2000-4000 yards. This goes back to being able to sustain a hurt in the water. Threshold is that point of pain where you don't think you can hold a certain intensity, but in reality, you can. It's that edge, which happens to be that line where you go during races. When you're only doing 50-200 per exercise like a masters program, you're never going over 2.5 minutes of pain at a time. What happens in a race when you have to hurt for 20-60 minutes in the water if you haven't practiced it? So over the last 3+ weeks, I've been doing a lot of time trials, mostly 2km time trials in the water. Jump in and see how fast you can swim for that distance. Sometimes, even without a warm-up so it's more like a race. I've successfully taken a minute off my 2km time trial in 3 weeks, simply from the training and learning how to hurt longer in the water. Will this equate to a 2 minute savings in Cozumel, I don't know for certain, but I do know I'm swimming better, faster, stronger, and with more confidence than ever before. I know this will help me next weekend in Mexico. What next? While most people lay around talking about "off season" I've decided that after a good recovery from Cozumel, I'm going to put in another solid swim block in December. Since I won't be thinking about an immediate race, I will dial back my biking and running BIG TIME and really get down to brass tacks in the water. Two swim workouts a day, no problem! I want to see if I can get some 50km swim weeks in before I go home for Christmas. Yes, I'll be icing my shoulders and taking ibuprofin, but I'm really charged up to make that breakthrough. I've got the modivation and inspiration now, so it's time to do it. If I want to race as a professional this is something where I cannot rest on my laurels. My career depends on it. I'm not expecting any miracles, but I'm not going ot go through another season frustrated with my swimming. Pat |
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| November 12th: November Austin Fit Article |
| Wow, 4 web updates in 2 weeks?! What am I, crazy? No, it's just a busy time of the year. So much going on. Another article I wrote on bike training was published in this month's issue of Austin Fit magazine. Click here to go to Austin Fit's website to read the article, or pick up a copy at your local Austin bike shop, running store, or fitness training center. |
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| November 12th: Archiving blog entries from summer 2009 |
| Now that I'm officially in my taper for Ironman Cozumel, I have a few extra minutes here and there to do some house cleaning on my website. I've archived my blog entries from the summer through November 1st and some of the items here in the "recent updates" section. You can always find past blog entries and race reports in my Archives Section. |
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| November 11th: Good season = Lots of pizza helmet stickers |
| How do I know it's been a good racing season this year so far? I count the number of pizza stickers on my helmet! Last year I accumulated about 6 or 7 pizza accomplishment stickers; this year, still with one big race remaining, I have 19!! So why are these stickers significant? Last year, Jack (from Jack and Adams Bicycles) and I came up with a game. Just like you see high school and college football players accumulating stickers on their helmets for accomplishments in games (ex. Ohio State Buckeyes), we would do the same thing for racing and put stickers on my racing aerohelmet for each accomplishment in races for the season. Since Little Caesars is my sponsor, we decided that pizza slice stickers would be fun and unique. So after each major race (Ironman or Ironman 70.3), Jack awards me stickers based upon my performance. We established a list of what qualifies a new sticker. Examples: - Top-10 overall finish in Ironman or Ironman 70.3 event - Top-5 overall bike split at an Ironman or Ironman 70.3 event - A new personal record time for swim, bike, run, or overall time in an Ironman or Ironman 70.3 event - Any kind of a new course record; overall or individual split - Overall win at a local event - etc  View of my helmet with my stickers for this year so far. So after each race, I submit the "sticker worthy" accomplishments to Jack and we do a fun "ceremony" in the bike shop where he gives me each sticker and shakes my hand, almost like earning a medal. It's all in fun.  The "sticker ceremony" at Jack and Adams Bicycles. Jack presents me with stickers for my performance at Longhorn Ironman 70.3 and Merrywether from the shop acts as the podium girl. Back to the original subject of this blog, how do I know that 2009 has been a good season? I'm out of room on my helmet. Luckily for my helmet, after Ironman Cozumel, all the stickers come off and I have to work hard in 2010 to fill it up again. I made a page earlier this year where you can check on the "status" of my helmet stickers for the year. I've updated the sticker count page as well. See the Sticker Tracker page here. Pat |
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| November 7th: New Ironman Pro Rules for 2010, not what it seems |
Yesterday, the WTC (World Triathlon Corporation, Ironman's owner) announced new professional triathlete registration rules for 2010. While there are a few good aspects of the new changes, on the whole I don't think the changes will benefit professionals and the law of unintended consequences manifest itself. Normally on my blog, I write more about my training and racing, but I think this is an important issue to share my opinion. I hope it doesn't come across as complaining or whining, as that is not my intent. I am a professional athlete who is trying to make my living in a difficult sport. Unbeknownst to the public, there are many behaviors and policies in this sport by the organizing bodies that do little to help the professionals or create a level playing field. The driving force behind this is money!! One thing to keep in mind is that Ironman is a brand name, just like Ford or Microsoft. The WTC exists to make money off of Ironman; FOR PROFIT. So, whenever looking at policy changes, one always has to keep this in mind. I want to write about the reality of what could happen with the new rule changes: - The WTC announced that there will be a new licensing fee for professionals to race Ironman and Ironman 70.3 races. This new license is $750 annually on top of our $100 licensing fee by USA Triathlon to be able to race as a professional triathlete. This is not a sport where the professionals are driving Cadillac Escalades to and from our multi-million dollar mansions. This is one of the few sports where the professionals make about 1/5th the annual income of the sports’ amateurs. Think about if the walk-ons at the weekend local basketball tournament made 5x more than the average NBA player? Most of us are eeking out a living right near the poverty line, in fact, many of us can't afford health insurance (a fact that gives Australian, European, and Canadian pros an edge over Americans because of our health care system, but I'm not here to talk about the politics of health-care reform). So each December, professional triathletes have to find another $1000 in order to be able to race the next year. This is not easy for many of us. - That $750 fee now allows us free entry into all Ironman and Ironman 70.3 races with the exception of World Championships. From Ironman's perspective, this is a good thing. Before this system, it was up to the discretion of the race director to decide who gets in free and who has to pay in the pro field. It was definitely a game of favorites and trying to prove to the race director that your race results warranted free entry. To enter a full-Ironman is $550 and an Ironman 70.3 is about $250. My race schedule from this year would have cost me about $3300 in entry fees to races (what other sport can you name where the professionals have to pay to step on the playing field?). "A-Rod, I'm sorry, you want to play in this MLB baseball game? That will cost you $600 to step on the field." If Ironman had been charging all professionals all-along, this $750 would be a discount for us and we'd be cheering. I had gotten to a point with my racing and results where I was able to get complimentary entries to most races so this is indeed a $750 additional expense. - Now, let's look at registration from another perspective. Let's say I'm a good amateur triathlete. My times have "technically" given me the right to get my professional license. In fact, you would be surprised how lax the qualification standards are to get a pro license in this sport. So a good amateur who races 2 full Ironmans each year and 3 Ironman 70.3s each year looks at this and says, "Currently, I'm paying $1850 in race entries. If I get my professional license, I can get into all of them for $750!!" One problem that exists in the sport today is that because the of the lax qualifications for professionals there exists a group of pros who are no-where near the level of the rest of the field. Many maintain a pro license but still work full-time and have no intention to truly be a professional and make a living at the sport. They do it so they can get special treatment like free race entries, they can sign up late for races, all of their race travel and training equipment is tax deductible, and they can try to go get sponsors because they are "pros". This has been a problem in the professional field of Ironman for years. I see this new licensing program could make the problem of pseudo-pros even worse. There's more incentive to get a pro license even if you don't care to try to make your living at the sport. - Here's another perspective on this new registration system. Under the old system, we each had to contact race directors to ask permission to race and hopefully get a complimentary race entry. I can see where race directors were getting tired of getting 50-100 emails from pros asking for free entry to a $500 event. There are professionals out there who would register for multiple events, but would plan on only attending one. At the last minute, they decide which professional field was the "softest" and show up at that race. I think the new system will GREATLY exacerbate this problem. Now with our $750 fee we can sign up for any race. There is no disincentive to register for every race I may think I have any interest in racing and then decide last minute which one I'll actually attend. Example: in 2010, the weekend of September 19th has 3 different Ironman 70.3 races - Syracuse Ironman 70.3, Cancun Ironman 70.3, and Branson Ironman 70.3. If I were a smart pro, I would now register for all three races and only show up at the one with the most favorable competing field. NOW, multiply this by the multitude of professionals who will quickly pick up this nuance and every start list will have 70+ pro guys, but only 30 show up to the race. This will be a bigger headache for race directors than the original system. I see this as a big problem going forward. Why would I NOT have my name put on the start list of the 60+ Ironman branded races for next year and just show up for the ones I wanted at the last minute. It would then be a competitive DISADVANTAGE for any professional to announce and discuss his or her race schedule in public. It would be better to keep it secret to only sponsors, family, and friends, but not let competition know where he’ll race. This goes on today quite a bit, but this will make the problem much worse!! So I am announcing here and now that I will be racing every Ironman and Ironman 70.3 event in 2010, or at least be on the start list. - With the changes also comes a qualification standard for World Championships slots. Originally, there were designated numbers of slots at each race to qualify for professionals. Now, the new system still has those slots, but also there is a time standard. You have to be within 5% of the winners time and get the top placement to get the slot. I think this is very good thing on most fronts. It ensures a certain level of quality of athletes at the World Championships. At Kona and Clearwater, we will know that every professional is within a +/- 5% level of competition. I think this is good for the sport. I want my world championships event to spotlight the top level in the sport. I don't think this will affect the men’s’ professional field as much as the women's. With Chrissie Wellington decimating the women's fields, breaking every women's record in the book, and racing as fast some professional men, very few women pros will be within 5% of her time, even if they are 2nd-5th place. So lesson for the women, don't go race where Chrissie is racing!!!! - Along the same lines as the qualification standards is a prize money time standard. Now with the new system to receive your prize money, despite your placement, you have to be within 8% of the winners' times. If the prize purse rolls 8-deep and you were 8th, but below 8% of the winner's time....sorry Charlie, no cash. Again, the stated intent for this is that it will ensure the quality and integrity of the professional fields. I think this is a good thing again. I’m all for standards and quality in the professional field to help combat the pseudo-pro problem. Some races in the past had redistribution policies where this was in effect. If someone was not within that 8%, then they didn't get prize money and it was redistributed among the rest of the pros. I once received a little $250 bonus in a prize check because of this rule. In the new system, the WTC has stated that there will be NO REDISTRIBUTION of prize money so the stated prize money will go back to the race organizers. Again, I just see this as a way to save a few dollars by WTC. I don't think the 8% rule will affect the male pro field much at all because the level of competition is so close. Now enter the Chrissie Wellington effect in the women's field. Because she is trouncing the competition, many women pros will not get their prize checks. IN FACT, I just did a little searching on my own and given Chrissie's new record this year at the World Championship in Kona, if the 8% rule were in effect, the 9th and 10th place women would not have been paid!!!! "You just got top-10 overall women in the sport in the world, but we're keeping your check.....!!!!!!" Lesson for the women again: don't race where Chrissie races. - The final and MOST important (as I see it) rule change is around the new drug testing WTC announced with these changes. I think more drug testing is WONDERFUL and LONG LONG LONG overdue. Many age groupers in this sport want to believe that drug use does not occur in this sport. I hate to break it to people, but performance enhancing drugs are FAR more prevalent in this sport than you want to believe. The fact of the matter is that WTC and Ironman have LITTLE TO NO drug testing for professionals whatsoever. NONE. And the little testing that does take place is "in-competition" urine tests. No blood tests, no out-of-competition, nothing. It's up to the individual country's anti-doping agencies to test its athletes. So for Ironman it just doesn't happen on the level that is required to ensure a clean and level playing field for professionals. I think it’s happening a lot in this sport. It was always up to the race to test for drugs if WADA (World Ant-Doping Agency) hadn't selected the race for random testing. Drug testing is far from cheap. It costs tens of thousands of dollars to do it properly and thoroughly for more than a couple athletes. What's the incentive for a race director to test when it cuts into his profits? Keep in mind it’s a business and about money. So until now, there has been almost no testing at all in the sport of Ironman triathlon. This is widely known among professionals. Those with lack of integrity, morals, and values do not have as many barriers in this sport as in others to drug use. - I love the idea of mandatory testing at racing and OUT OF COMPETITION testing. Many performance enhancing drugs can be taken out of competition during training that will help the athlete months and months later, but not be detectable on race day (do some reading on HGH - human growth hormone sometime). So until there is comprehensive testing in and out of competition, anything else will be just for show. I hope dearly in my heart that the new drug testing is widespread and they start catching a bunch of these muppets, gumbies, and clowns using performance enhancing drugs. But again, when profits are the motive, where's the incentive to use our $750 membership fees to launch a multi-hundred thousand dollar drug testing program. The incentive to test at a level needed to clean up the sport just isn't there. Very very sad. So I hope that Ironman will do the right thing here and not the profitable thing. - Last point on the drug testing program and policy (which was not drawn out in WTC’s announcement as clearly as the prize money limits...something I would think should be announced with stated definitions and plans). An athlete is not subject to this new program until he pays his $750 fee for his license. There is NOTHING stopping someone from getting his license late in the year right before the race to avoid being part of the testing program. Example (made up, not talking about anyone in particular): European pro triathlete X has bad intentions and wants to use drugs. The Ironman Event Y in July or August next year is his "A" event to qualify for Kona and then take a shot at Kona. There are plenty of non-Ironman races with money, especially in Europe so this athlete X can train and race all winter, spring, and summer outside of this new drug program. He can race plenty to make money outside of Ironman until his qualification race in July/August. He tucks himself away in the mountains of European country Z and drugs up for half the year and gets all of the training benefit. Before his race, he pays his $750 fee and signs up for his race. He is now "testable" by Ironman's new program but he has already gotten the benefits of his drug use and probably won‘t test positive (even if he got tested under the new program). This is complete bologna. I guarantee this will happen. The well intentioned athletes such as myself will get our $750 licenses in December-February as we start planning our next season. The slimy ones will instantly see this loop-hole on how to fly under the radar to drug-up until race time. Last year's Kona Top-10 finishers don't need to qualify for Kona. So if again, that person doesn't have to buy his/her license until later in the year and will not be part of this drug testing program. I could quickly and easily draw up a race schedule where someone wouldn’t race a WTC event until September and make plenty of prize money. I sincerely hope that the testing becomes more widespread. It's what the sport needs. But I have serious doubts in the potential flaws in the program. Quality, comprehensive in and out-of competition testing costs a lot of money. When the race's profit is the only concern, I just don't see any new drug program becoming what it needs to be. These are my opinions on the new system. It's long and I hope I didn't come across as a whiner. I want fairness and integrity in the sport. I love Ironman racing and what the sport means in my life. I hope the drug testing ends up cleaning up the sport and getting the muppet-heads out. I think WTC has good intentions with these new policies, but I see the law of unintended consequences playing out with the new system. Pat |
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| October 25th: Longhorn Ironman 70.3, 10th place |
| Read my race report and see pictures here |
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