This experience frightens some. Am I losing the magical ‘it?’. Firstly, I know that I have more ‘it’ than ever. Secondly,
I don’t fear losing ‘it’ a few years down the road when the time comes. I try to focus on not living by inertia and instead maintain an open mind to new things that can excite and motivate me in the future.

After a couple of easier training weeks I hit it hard the weekend before Westchester Triathlon and I was back in the game. I hit a great tempo run at Highline on Sunday and it was fantastic to feel myself almost running free again. My achilles continues to heal that last little bit. Best of all, while standing on a bridge watching me swim at Hy-Vee, Amy noticed how slow my turnover was. Focusing on faster turnover brought immediate improvement and I hit 1:04 for 100m repeats on Saturday, my best yet.
Somehow I had sped up while being in a down training phase. I realized that taking a step back and putting triathlon into a definite second place focus behind work could be a good thing for the fall. I’ll back off the training a touch, race every other week for two months, enjoy it, bring the stress level down, and just focus on getting out and racing aggressively. For me the racing is definitely the fun part so I’ll be enjoying the fall season. I’m motivated for the majority of my training, especially the fast sessions but those ‘just getting in the time’ ones bore me. I’ll back off on those and see how my body responds.

I notice that the champions out there defy classic Type A vs Type B categorization. They are type A in that they are intensely focused in getting to a goal. They are Type B in that they are not high strung and can be relaxed about certain aspects of the process. Look at a start corral before a race and you’ll see that the premier guys are taking it in while other guys are stressing and in their own world.

Is backing off slightly a good long term plan? No. Success at triathlon, like other things in life, requires intense focus and dedication. It can be good though to adjust your outlook from time to time. I’ll see if a small step off the accelerator can get me to the race finish in better time.
It worked this past weekend as I won the Jarden Westchester Triathlon, my first pro victory. I had my best swim of the year, getting out of the water with the pack and within 1:30 of super swimmer John Kenney. I worked the rolling New England hills of the bike course hard and caught John at mile 18. I managed the fastest bike on the day and went on to also get the fastest run split. This is a great event that I continue to come back to. I had a terrible bike crash in ‘09 and got second in ‘10. A neat part is that the same lifeguards at Oakland Beach who bandaged me up in ‘09 were there to welcome by back to the race this year and were very happy to see me win. Next up is Rev3 South Carolina Half Iron in two weeks!

Jones best described the race in one word, “Smooth.” He exited the swim behind super swimmer John Kenny, but in the midst of the chase pack. Since Hy-Vee Jordan has worked on increasing his stroke turnover, which today allowed him to stay within fighting distance of Kenny early on in the bike. He patiently stalked Kenny until eventually taking over the lead 20 miles into the bike.

Once out on the run, he put it in cruise control, maintaining a solid effort but without a charge coming from behind didn’t have to shift into high gear.

Check back tomorrow for a first-person recap from Jordan. He races next on October 9th at Rev 3 South Carolina.

Story from lohud.com

My lesson on flexibility began nearly a month ago when I was spending enormously long hours training, preparing for my first FULL Iron distance race, the Rev 3 Cedar Point. All was going well, I was feeling very fit, enjoying the summer training, but as I moved from the shorter more intense type of workouts, which as bike-racer-at-heart I prefer, to the longer more endurance based workouts, i.e: six hour bike rides with a ninety minute run afterwards, I began to question my ‘love’ for this type of an event. I also started to question, why now that I have begun to master the half-distance, am I jumping ship to the full distance? My race in July in Portland seemed to be such an A race for me….why not continue on that same trajectory? Yes…when you have six hours on a bike, thoughts like these creep in. I never questioned my ability to complete a full distance, rather I defaulted to one of my first mantras or should I say ultimatums that I gave myself “if ever I stop enjoying this, it’s time to do something else”. Honoring that, I gave my coach Cliff a call to discuss.

He agreed with my thinking that sticking and continuing to master the half distance is a way better plan. So within two days, I’d re-routed my plane ticket, contacted Ironman and was signed up for Muskoka. Bam, just like that. My entire mood lifted and I once again felt that excitement in my step!!

Although a 4th place is something to be very pleased with, I have to be honest that I didn’t feel that the star’s aligned for me. Traffic from Toronto the day before, gave me a less than desirable pre-race day on Saturday compounding it with a completely sleepless night before the race. Bluntly put: I was exhausted before the race began on Sunday. But like all good athletes, we have an ability to shut off discomfort and trudge on. That’s exactly what I did and things worked out well!

The most important part is that I was successful in securing some good points for 70.3 Worlds in 2012, which is one of my main goals for the next racing season. This year, 2011, wanting to see how this new point system would shake out, I turned my attention more to the Rev 3 series, which has been an amazing alternative. This race-report comes on the heels of just booking travel for the Anderson, South Carolina, Rev 3 in one month. I look to continue perfecting my racing!

Jordan Jones Boulder Peak 2011

Slowtwitch interviewed Jordan as he prepared for the race and here is an excerpt:

Jordan Jones is a man of many interests. He is a pro triathlete, successful business owner, former Denver police officer and ran a 14:25 5k at Boston University. Jordan is on the start list for Hy-Vee and will be competing for the huge paycheck next month.

Slowtwitch: Thanks for the time Jordan. So were you relieved to make it into Hy-Vee?

Jordan Jones: Relieved is an apt description. I was ranked well going into my last qualifying race at Boulder Peak but I had a terrible race and immediately afterwards I thought I had blown my shot at qualifying. Thankfully, I still earned enough points at Boulder Peak to get my Hy-Vee spot.

ST: You raced at Miami, Washington DC and Boulder. Why did you decide to race those events?
Click here to read the full interview on Slowtwitch

Saturday – Lookout Mountain Triathlon – Cyrus will be at the race expo showing off his new company, Reflex, which produces high-end fashion clothing geared toward endurance athletes. Amy will be volunteering at race registration.

Sunday - Denver Triathlon – Cyrus will be racing the inaugural Denver Triathlon.

Also, a quick congrats to Riptide’s Ofer Barniv for taking 12th in last night’s West End 3k!

The Rev 3 race was followed by a much-needed short break from structured training. I took the opportunity while in Oregon, to spend a week walking the beach near Portland, eating delicious “Portland” food, mountain biking amidst the ferns and just rejuvenating both the body and the mind.

The perfect ending came to the vacation, while in Bend visiting friends; they suggested that I participate in the local Olympic distance triathlon that coming weekend. Initially, I laughed it off still feeling my fatigued legs a bit. As many of my fellow athletes will profess, racing is just too much fun, so I signed up.

Bend is a special place to me, as I would make the yearly journey there to complete in one of the bigger multi-day cycling races in the US, the Cascade Cycling Classic. In fact, 2011 is the first year in many that I wouldn’t be showing up at the start line, as I have now turned to my sole focus to triathlon. So, the idea of swapping my nostalgic memories in Bend for some new ones seemed like a good plan. On Saturday I became the new female record holder for the Deschutes Dash, marking my stamp once again in Bend.

Now as I am back home, unpacking, I look at the upcoming weeks and days of hard long training. Eight weeks and counting until my first full Iron-distance race back east in Ohio. Stay tuned…

Taylor Fogg finished an impressive 7th overall, less than 5 minutes behind the winner, Australian professional triathlete Lisa Marangon.

Tyler Volz finished 20th overall in a field of 632 men. The 20 year old used a fast swim and speedy transitions to get a lead over competitors.

Super swimmer Fiona Dretzka posted the 12th fastest swim time for overall women, and finished a respectable 71st overall.

Tyler, Taylor, and Fiona post-race.

I finished a solid 13th place, just outside of the top ten payout; however feel
confident in my result considering the tough field and the very difficult course.
Being new to Triathlon, I’ve raced a few courses that are hard-Branson 70.3 being
the most memorable but this particular course took the cake. It was simply brutal-
and loved every minute of it…well, almost every minute.

The morning started out with a chilly 69-degree non-wetsuit swim, and then
progressed to a relentless 56-mile bike with literally zero flat sections. The hills
of Connecticut, although not long, are steep and continuous. It feels like a book of
matches that with each hill, you burn one and wonder in your head how many are
left. Often races are then evened out with a flat run, not here! The run was perhaps
even hillier than the bike ride with a two-mile uphill dirt section!

I slogged out each mile one by one, pacing well on the up hill and then letting it loose
on the descents-my legs continually changing tempo-there was not rhythm to be
had at this race. Despite the difficult hills though, the course was interesting, so
my mind was able to stay fresh. I had to constantly think about changing up my
leg speed and cadence. I felt solid on the run and after looking at my splits am only
slightly disappointed in my bike time.

One of the most difficult parts of switching over from road cycling to triathlon is
learning how to pace-and I am still on the steep learning curve. As a bike racer, we
learn to react from the outside in, following breakaways, attacks, and climbs. We
learn to go to the redline, rivet point and then recover within the peloton. Triathlon
is so very different-there is only INTERNAL motivation and going to your redline
can cause you either not run well or not bike at a solid average speed.

I am externally and internally motivated now to learn this new style of biking-and as
soon as I am recovered from this race with in the next few days-I will begin to really
dial in my solo efforts on the bike.

Portland is just a few short weeks away and would like to have a very strong bike
and run combination there….back to the office now.