August

Starting tomorrow, Dad and I are scheduled to start do nothing but triathlon training for August. We got a couple of big triathlon's next month, including the Greater Cleveland Triathlon next weekend. That is always one of the biggest triathlons around here put on Mickey Rzymek (USAT) and then Presque Isle later in the month. Going out for a ride today and hopefully the rain will hold up. It's looking pretty dark.

Later

Fairport Triathlon...

aka the Pirate Triathlon was today at Fairport Beach and you couldn't ask for a better day. Lots of people were already putting their stuff in transition two hours before the race. It was packed. The race directors set the transition area in a different place which caused more time to be put on the overall results. The swim was great. I'm almost positive I got the holeshot but then a couple guys passed me. I finished the swim in 11 minutes and in fourth place. I jumped up into second place after I grabbed my bike and exited transition, and quickly passed the racer in front of me. I rode the bike course in first place in the 30 and under wave. The bike was great also. After the bike portion, I slipped on the running shoes and took off for my run. I was still in first place in my wave. The run course was different this year. It was shorter than last year's course, making this year's 2.9 miles. I was still in the lead and ended up finishing the run in 17 minutes and 46 seconds. For the overall results, I finished the race in 1.01.46, getting second place overall. The overall winner was Kevin Park. He finished in around 57 minutes. Dad raced great also. He finished 5th overall and 1st in his age group. Scott finished in the top 10 and 3rd in his age group. My aunt and Scott's wife, Carrie finished great in the women's race and 5th in her age group. Awesome job to all of the Marut's and special congrats goes out to Aunt Carrie because this was her first ever triathlon, and she did great. Lets not forget about Doug. He finished in 6th place with bad knees. Those didn't slow him down thought during the race. Nice job to everyone who raced and we will be gearing up for the Greater Cleveland Triathlon in two weeks.

Later

Nothing...

really too exciting going on lately. Still riding almost everyday and running quite a bit also. Dad and I have been doing a lot of Tri workouts since we have some triathlons coming up soon, including the Fairport Triathlon this weekend. I feel really good and I think I could pull out some good results in my up and coming races.

Later

Day 3

Today was the last stage of the Tour of the Valley. It was an hour Crit in downtown Youngstown. I was in 7th overall before the start of the race and I really wanted to race smart in the Crit so that I could move up in the GC. I ended up racing for about a half an hour, then I got a flat tire. Instead of going to the wheel pit, I took my Dad's bike and tried to catch back up to the field. After about 3 laps, the official said that he was pulling me. I told him that I got a flat tire and I was riding until the group caught back up. The official told me to go to the wheel pit and looked at my Dad's bike and asked me, " We're is your flat tire?" I told him that I already exchanged bikes with my Dad and when I told him that, he immediately DQ'd me. He said that he was following the rules and I wasn't allowed to do that. I was very upset at the time because that just blew my top 10 GC result.

Luckily, the Cat 3 field payed out to the top 15 in the GC and I ended up finishing in 11th place overall in the Tour. I had a lot of fun this weekend and I enjoyed racing with my teammates in the Cat 3 field. Every teammate did great and I'm glad we all raced together. Pete ended up finishing 5th overall. Awesome job Pete!! Thom Dominic won overall. He played the whole race perfect, and it was fun racing with him.

Dad raced great today also, as well as the whole race. He finished 11th in the Crit and 10th overall in the GC. He did great this weekend and he only had a few other teammates so it was very challenging in the Master's race. Awesome job Dad. All of the other racers from TLE racing in the Pro, 1,2 race did great too and it was like watching an actual professional race. All 4 races were so fast and I'm looking to maybe upgrade to a Cat 2 next year, so if I'm going to race the Tour of the Valley again next year, I'll be racing with those guys. That's going to be wicked hard.

Great job to everyone who raced this weekend!

Day 2

Today was the 67 mile road race stage. It was suppose to rain around noon and my race took off around 9:45. Started off frustrating. The race itself wasn't frustrating, it was my computer. It worked fine when I was warming up, but when the race started, it wouldn't register. The race was brutal. In the first lap, the group dropped a whole bunch of racers on the KOM climb. It was a three mile long hill that was very steep. The KOM points were only given on the first lap, so the pace was very fast up the hill, which ended in half of the field being dropped. After the first lap, I already downed 1 1/2 bottles and had a whole pack of cliff blocks, a gel, and half a power bar. In the second lap, the feed zone was very small so I had to be in the perfect position in order for me to get another bottle. It worked out perfect and my Mom handed me off another bottle, which couldn't have been any more perfect. During the second lap, the group dropped more and more riders. My legs started to cramp up after the big hill, but I still had power to stay with the front of the pack. At this point, it was Pete and I left from our team. We didn't want to do a lot of work because there were a lot of riders from other teams. Towards the end of the race, it started to get really windy and the clouds opened up and it started pouring. I liked it, but didn't like it at the same time. I liked it because it cooled me off a ton, but it was also dangerous because now the roads are wet. Thankfully nobody crashed because of the wet roads. The group sprinted it out at the end, with me finishing 9th and Pete a couple places behind me. In the GC, I dropped from 5th overall, down to 7th overall. Pete is tied in 5th overall currently. Tomorrow is the last stage in Youngstown. It is an ending Crit and hopefully I can do well so that I can raise my overall placing. I just have to race smart and hopefully my legs will feel fresh. Bring it.

Later

Day 1 continued............

I raced the Cat 3 Crit in Canfield today at the Tour of the Valley and it was great. It was a short 0.89 mile loop with lots of corners and fast stretches. Lots of racers in the Cat 3 race and I tried to stay up front as much as possible because there were a lot of attacks today. We raced for about an hour and averaged around 27 mph. I finished 5th overall and Pete finished 4th overall. So Pete is in the top spot for the GC, finishing second in the TT and 4th in the Crit today. I ended up finishing 13th in the TT (official result) and 5th in the Crit today. So that puts me in the top 10 overall I'm assuming and I need to stay in the top 10 for the rest of the race.

Dad looked awesome as well today. He had a very fast Master's group and it was great watching the race. Dad ended up finishing 10th in the Crit and finished 6th in the TT, earlier in the day. So overall, my Dad is still sitting in 6th overall in the GC.

Tomorrow is a hilly 67 mile road race for me and 34 miles for my Dad. It's suppose to rain tomorrow but the rain won't affect me I don't think, and I'm really looking forward to it.

Updates Tomorrow

Day 1

This morning was the opening Prologue TT at the Tour of the Valley. It was only a 5.6 mile course but man............ it was fast. Everyone was flying. I finished the TT with a time of 12:09 avg around high 26 or low 27 mph. I finished 12th overall out of a lot of racers. Pete was rockin' it out finishing with a time of 11:29 which put him in second overall. Dad raced the Master's and finished 6th with a time of 12:46. Robert, Julie and Rudy all finished awesome and the whole team looked great. The crit that I'm racing starts around 3:45 today, so I'm really looking forward to it, and hopefully finish in the top spots. The post crit race report will be up later tonight.

Peace out!!

Psyched

Well we are off to Tour of the Valley tomorrow and I'm so excited. It's going to be really fun and can't wait until the opening TT on Friday. I'll keep updating after my races this weekend. Good luck to all who are going also and everyone have a great weekend.

Peace out

Twin Sizzler

Yesterday was the Twin Sizzler in downtown Medina. There was a lot of people already in the registration building and the bathrooms were already filling up, and we arrived early! We signed ourselves up and went back to the truck to sit on the tailgate and pin our numbers on. When we were all lining up, Shawn and Jeff asked me what race I was doing. I said "The 18 and under race". They told me to just race with the 19-34 group. I had no problem with that because I would get a better workout and it would be a better race anyways. When the gun went off, Dave Steiner and another Spin racer immediately attacked and gaped the group. No one really bothered to go with them because it was too early in the race. A couple miles later, Shawn and another Spin rider took off and no one went with that either. So three Spin racers were up ahead and Shawn who is a teammate. For the rest of the race, nobody did anything. There were very few attacks and jumps. About 3/4 through the race, three other Spin riders took off and I tried to go with them but for the whole race, I was doing a lot of work along with Brett (RGF); riding up front, going with attacks, etc. I also tried to be up front alot to pick up the pace. Shawn was already way up front so it didn't really matter to try and pick up the pace of the group. It was very frustrating because the team with the largest group of racers, didn't do anything when attacks went off, or when it was their time to pull. A lot of the times, some of them would stay up front and just ride tempo, which caused me to fill up with frustrated adrenaline and pick up the pace.

The group that started behind us were the 35 and over group. They started a few minutes behind us and the 35 and over group ended up catching our 34 and under group a couple of miles before the finish. Everyone who raced this race knows how the finish is. It is full of pot holes, deep road cracks, very tight finishing stretch. Before we hit the finishing stretch, I look over and see my Dad pulling off to the side into a driveway and I could see him looking down at his back wheel. At this point, I didn't really care if I finished or not. I slowed down and let the group pass me, then turned around to see if my Dad was OK. The back brake pad ended up loosening up and lodged into his back tire. Talk about bad luck. This is the second race he has done on his Super Six High Mod. The first race ended up into a grocery bag and this race, the brake pad causes his back wheel to lock up. He said he was feeling great too. "O well" he said, "Maybe it was meant to be". Jeff also was with us and us three ended up finishing together. After the race Dad, Shawn and I rode for another 15 miles and came back and had an iced coffee. Tuesday, I'm hitting up Westlake then resting for the rest of the week. Tour of the Valley starting on Thursday and I want to be in top shape for that.

Later