Slog Hero

Kelly Jaske--a 3:03 marathoner in 2006 runs a 1:12 Half marathon, today

Kelly Jaske: You can make time for what matters.

yesss, YOU CAN MAKE TIME FOR WHAT MATTERS

Scintillating and inspiring interview here: http://runningtimes.com/Article.aspx?ArticleID=15469

AFTER reading her interview, get back to work or GO TO BED

Rookie Pro Season Take Two: Lauren's First "RACE" Report.

Last weekend Purse and I raced the Vineman 70.3. She'll report later on her end, but from my perspective, I am happy to report that I survived the race, foot intact, and more importantly, LEARNED WHAT IT FEELS LIKE TO ACTUALLY RACE!

I love the Vineman course..the bike course, that is. In years past, Matt has watched me repeatedly self-destruct on the hot and hilly run course so I wasn't so psyched about that...and I'm not one to rave about swim courses.

I was a bit worried going into this race as I'm still recovering from my foot issues and haven't done mad amounts of running. Both the god of all podiatrists in the Bay Area and Paulo gave me the go ahead, so I trusted that if Paulo said I could race, that I'd be trained enough to not die out there on the course.

For those dedicated blog readers, you'll know that I haven't nailed the whole mental thing yet, so I decided to use this race as an opportunity to work on mental stuff...such as staying positive and "in the moment" rather than exhuding my typical negativity.

Anyway, the gun went off, the fast swimmers went off, and apparently I did not go off, as after 200 yds of swimming I Iooked up to see a speck of dust on the water which was the first two packs. I did manage to stick with a pack of girls for most of the swim and got out of the water in a time significantly faster than my wetsuit swim time from my previous Vineman attempts. This is progress.


Leading (the third pack) out of the water.

The bike was a good time. I kept a girl I know to be a killer strong cyclist in sight for awhile until she dropped me on a downhill. (Who gets dropped on a downhill?). After surviving an exploding vanilla powergel episode, I focused on keeping up with my nutrition. Amazing what calories can do for you in a race. Around mile 30 I started passing people and this is where the fun began. For the first time in my triathlon career I was RACING. I wasn't just slogging along the course hoping not to embarass myself. I was focused on executing my strategy of riding hard.


TEAM PATAKY in action...matt practicing not being chill.

I came off the bike in 7th-ish place and prepared for the sufferfest that is the Vineman run. I took Paulo's pre-race advice to heart and just tried to focus on performing my best at each moment and each mile. I forgot about all of my issues and pushed it and tried to stay in the race. Unfortunately, I was passed by 2 girls around mile 9ish and then another 2 girls with less than a mile to go, but I did what I could with what I had on that day and am happy with the results. I finished in around 4:35 and change and had a faster run split here with heat, hills, and minimal training, than I did at Oceanside, with perfect conditions and lots of training. MORE progress.


I really don't know what to say about my form here.


RACING as opposed to "participating in a race" is a good feeling and I plan to use the motivation I got from RACING last weekend to fuel the big IMC training block that looms.

PS: I want to thank my nutrition sponsor, Lindsey Jerdonek, for providing me home cooked meals the entire week prior to Vineman, as well as race day. She went so far as to purchase a mobile GRIDDLE for our race day breakfast, which she promptly installed at 3:30 AM in the bathroom of the Holiday Inn Express Windsor.


The famous bathroom griddle.


Post race "shock therapy" with Purse and Tracy. They promised the shock therapy would prevent soreness. Why am I still sore on WEDNESDAY?



Ronin did not get Paulo's memo declaring July 18th a "chill day."


Lindsey's post-race "nest" in the back of our car.

San Francisco Triathlon ITU Pan American Cup

I raced my first draft-legal ITU event on Saturday and finished second--hooray!  I earned some cash and ITU points... catapulting me from "not ranked" to 199 in the ITU points list.  With the gazillion-loop race format and drafting on the bike, it was quite different than a non-drafting event.  You MUST be focused and in the race at all times so you don't lose the swim pack or bike pack...  In a congratulatory email from my mother she acknowledged Paulo's coaching efforts:

"He has worked a long time and finally earned a few bucks.  I bet he is down on his knees thanking God for a payoff to come his way."  I don't know what she's getting at, but yes, it is nice to get a good result.  This is a sign that THE TIDES HAVE TURNED and I'm looking forward to getting out there on Sunday at Vineman 70.3.

The 1500m swim included 2 loops in the SF bay--9 women started - small compared to the 30 or so in the men's race... my ITU guru, Dave Kuendig (also raced and stayed at LAHP's house), said it's typical for the size of the men's fields to dwarf the women's.  We had an in-water start and tapping into my sprint speed, I took it out too hard and kind of died exiting with the second pack.  I biked the first 1.5 laps (of 6) on my own, then worked with Chris Tommerdahl the rest of the race... I exited T2 in fourth and ran my way into second.  Feel free to email me if you want more detail (I'm tired and going to bed).

Working with Chris on the bike--Golden Gate bridge in background... platinum Trek + white Timex + white accented race suit = functional and stylish

My bike and Dave's jammed into the Jeep
SPECIAL THANKS TO LAUREN for announcing splits.  For the 2+ hours of racing, she walked in her husband's shoes, supporting my race efforts whilst suffering blows to her ego.  After struggling to hear Lauren's nearly-inaudible splits on the first few laps, I cocked my head to the side and cupped a hand to my ear like an old man to hear her as I passed.  I told her after she should have pretended she was yelling at Matt.

Lauren picking me up at the airport in her part-time pro uniform, "business cas"CHAMPAGNE?!?  no... sparkling cider.  Did the trick as I could finally supply a drug-testing sample after the awards ceremony.  And yessss that is gold and silver medalist Simon Whitfield in first whose presence motivated me to GET ON THE PODIUM TO STAND WITH SIMON 

MORE PODIUM: Andrew McCartney (men's runner-up) starts the sparkling-cider wave:

Tri-Cal race coverage:

In the Money

Lindsey will follow up with a race report in the near future, since she has tons of time sitting in her nest in my house while I'm at work. In the meantime, I'd like to share with you a special photo which sums up the race.



Lindsey ran her way into second place at the San Francisco triathlon, her first ITU race, simply because she wanted to stand next to Simon Whitfield on the podium. Unfortunately, the winner (my good friend Alexis Smith) in her post-race euphoria, failed to follow the girl-boy pattern of podium placement. I don't know quite know what is going through Purse's mind in this picture, but I'm willing to bet that Kevin Collington is thinking the same thing.

PURSE is coming to town!

I apologize for my lack of blogging lately. Work, training, and life have come together into a perfect storm which keeps thwarting my noble blogging attempts.

Anyway, I'm happy to report that after stalking 100 doctors, including one sweaty and patient ortho during the middle of his bike fit at Front of the Pack, my foot is slowly on the mend. Lauren rookie season part 2 will commence with the Purse-LAHP smackdown at the Vineman 70.3.

Speaking of Purse, at this very moment she is in mid-flight to my house. Given my experience with her week-long visit in April, I already envision the state of our guest room - a veritable nest of almond butter jars, power bar products, and spandex clothes.(a pic of this will soon follow. promise)


Lindsey en route with 2 bikes, 2 bags, and no doubt a couple of yams for fueling.

Matt and the dogs have decided to abandon us for the weekend and have high tailed it up to Kirkwood for the California Death Ride. I am planning to train and then head up to Treasure Island to cheer on Purse and wave dollar bills in her direction, reminding her that she better finish in the money to pay rent for staying at my house this week.

Happy One Year Anniversary

On June 21, the longest day of the year, Lauren and Matt celebrated their 1 year wedding anniversary! This is the Team Pataky ice sculpture displayed at their wedding last summer.


Lauren on their marriage: "Team Pataky does not give off the 'married vibe' because we are still vibrant individuals!" So vibrant and energetic in fact, that she asked Paulo, without Matt's input I'm sure, if they could do a 7 hour ride on their anniversary. Since Paulo would like them to make it to year two, he thoughtfully dismissed this request.

Day after day, LAHP has promised to post an anniversary slog. I thought FOR SURE that I would see a new slog entry when I awoke this morning, but lo, I DID NOT. This is a friendly PUSH for her to get it started. Friendly? Or is this the infancy of a slog fued? You decide. All I know is that she has "jokingly" informed me that she will not sign for the delivery of my Trek TTX as I'll be shipping it to the West Coast for the SLOOTFEST at Vineman 70.3.

Happy Anniversary!!!