James D. McCurdy

I’ve had an incredible week of training and making new friends with the Fast Forward Triathlon (FFT) Pro-Development squad. We’ve been training together in the “American Riviera,” tearing up the hills of Santa Barbara and working with some incredible athletic trainers and coaches.

I arrived at our base camp (an incredible villa in the hills above Santa Barbara) on Friday evening of last week.  Eric (my coach) quickly welcomed me into the team and prepared me for a busy week.  Highlights have included a quick, but foggy, ascent of Gibraltar, some amazing riding near Solvang, a track set atWestmont College’s secluded mountain side track, and some fantastic swimming at Los Banos del Mar pool. And that’s not to mention the delicious cooking provided by our hosts, the Warren’s.

We’ve also been working with Prevail Conditioning doing fitness assessments, neuromuscular coordination exercises, self-massage and stretching… In combination, we’ve seen a psychologist – I know, it’s about time, right?  But seriously, it was insightful and fun.  Dr. Steve Smith of SPaRC breaks down sports-psychology (why we do it, and how to get better at doing it) into digestible chunks.

Basically, why we do sport, and the way we want others to perceive us while doing it is a huge part of what we do.  But simultaneously, trying to understand and appreciate the experience while we’re doing it is just as important. Perhaps this is the most difficult part. That is, recognizing the moments of joy that occur in symphony with the pain and agony.  Further more, recounting those experiences to fuel the proverbial fire during tough situations is an athlete’s biggest challenge.  In essence: telling one’s self “Do your job” and tolerate the suffering is what racing is all about.

But racing is not sport.  Sport is many things: the people you surround yourself with; the competition jitters that must be overcome; the obstacles that challenge us to grow as human beings.  That is sport.

Thanks to Fast Forward triathlon, for giving me a chance to connect with other aspiring triathletes.  And thanks to our sponsors and partners – folks like:Inside Out Sports for their excellent service and advice; CEP compression for the recovery support (pun intended), Rudy Project for protecting my noggin’ and eyes, Computrainer for those rainy day suffer sessions, Skin Sake for helping to protect those sensitive parts, FSSeries in advance for some new races this year,Training Peaks for the excellent coaching platform, First Endurance Nutritionfor more than a quarter of my weekly caloric intake, Prevail Conditioning for the continued support and for making me stronger, and Dr. Steve Smith atSPaRC for the inspiration and for dragging me up and down Gibraltar.

I’m itching for  the 2012 triathlon season to roll around. I’ve been offered a great opportunity to race for Fast Forward Triathlon with more than several of the fastest amateurs and aspiring pros in the U.S. But for now, it’s been nice to have a break from training and racing.

For those of us working and/or schooling while trying to move up to the next level, winter is often our only off-season option. I’d race if I could afford the travel to warmer locales, but alas, I’m not rich- or fast- enough, yet.

My last race was REV 3 South Carolina in October (an amateur win), but I won’t race again until late March, perhaps even mid April. So that’s a space of 5-plus months without the pressures and questions of everyday “in-season” life.  That is, “will I make it to class after a three hour bike that started at 5 am?”, “will Vicky have to prepare dinner without me tonight?”, or “will I be able to pass my test AND race this weekend?”.  To be able to drop the training down to a reasonable level and finally feel strong again, is liberating and exciting. I could go on and on about all of this, but Dr. Alex McDonald does it best in his recent post, appropriately titled the Off Season.

In the meantime, I’ve enjoyed some well needed rest and I’m actually getting things done for school, work, and life. I made some A’s this semester. I’m writing and researching at work.  And as for life, Vicky and I will be wed next Saturday (Dec 17th) in Washington, England at the Old Washington Hall. We’re both excited for the activities and thankful for the friends and family with whom we’ll share the occasion.  Is that the appropriate use of whom rather than who? I think it is. I’ll post pictures soon.

Jay

It’s been a hectic four or five weeks.  Our work is highly seasonal.  The cooler weather and occasional rains have meant a lot of field work and research.  I’ll be presenting some of said research at the Crop Science Society of America Annual meeting in San Antonio on Sunday and Monday, then I spend a few days in Havana Cuba at Agrociencias 2011.  In Cuba, I’ll present some of the same research, but to a mostly Spanish-speaking crowd.  I’m excited yet nervous for both.  I’ve posted a link for a poster I’ll be presenting somewhere in this blog.  I say ’somewhere,’ because my computer is constantly locking up, so I have no control over where the poster is aligned.

In other news, I raced the last race of the Rev3 series this past weekend and won the overall amateur.  Check out this crazy picture of me sipping on some soda at about mile 7 of the run.

I was a bit beat up after last month’s full distance race in Sandusky, OH, but I managed to come off of it quite healthy.  I raced about as well as I expected.  A solo bike on a hilly, windy course left me with a slow run, but all-in-all, it was fun.  Now I’m going to enjoy a couple weeks of downtime.  I think it should do my mind and body some good.

Enjoy the poster.

Jay

This was my second Full triathlon (synonymous with full Ironman but produced by Rev 3 rather than WTC). Last season was

horrible.  I couldn’t keep food down on the bike, likely because I tried to eat too many solids with way too much fiber.  Then I cracked on the run and barely finished.  I cried at the end.

This year was, dare I say, pleasant in comparison. The swim in lake Erie was smooth as glass. I swam with the only pack I could find, which wound up being the first ‘pack’ out of the water, with maybe three guys and a girl ahead.  My swim time was 58 minutes with some beach running.

The long swim left my head spinning, which made transitioning a bit tricky.  But I got out (without leaving any of my snacks) with one other guy (Thomas Gerlach, who went on to win the Amateur).  I sat legal on him for as long as I could, but it was obvious we had similar plans. That is, he was going to shadow me, and I was going to shadow him. So after about an hour, we began working together (albeit legally). I tried to drop him three times in the last hour, but I couldn’t.  Coach Matt Koorey and I had formulated a good plan for the bike and run.  It was generally to tap out the first 40 km then start pushing it a little harder until the last hour.  As with most long races I’ve done, I felt really good except for a few rough patches.  Those might be due to a few minutes of excessive effort, increased body temperature, or even a little drop in blood sugar.  Per instruction, I took them in stride and made it fine.  By mile 90 I could feel my stomach was beginning to knot up, so I took the last 30 minutes pretty easy and tried to digest all that I had eaten.  The bike split was a gentle 4:51.  Thomas and I were still together starting the run.

On the run, I stuck to the plan and went out comfortably as Thomas slipped ahead by only a few seconds.  But within the first mile I had problems keeping fluids down.  My stomach was full and I was gassed up like a hot air balloon.  I was able to walk most aid stations and take in a coke or a gatorade.  I never kept more than one gatorade or coke down.  Always, I threw up if I took in too much.  Whether this was because I was clogging my system with too much water or too much carbs, I do not know.  I happen to think I just hadn’t flushed the bowels properly that morning.  I had 1.5 cups of oats at about three hours before race start.  In retrospect, that was probably too much fiber for the system to digest.  Especially since I piled on all of the liquids.

Anyways, I started feeling really good between aid stations after mile 18, so that was really good mentally.  I think the gap had grown to about 5 minutes from Thomas.  Then I started to pull him back.  At one point I knew I could catch him if I could just keep up a 7 minute/ mile pace.  But alas, every time I pushed the pace, my gut started to cramp.  The good news is that I can go much faster if I figure out the bloating and bowels.  Except for a few dips here and there in the latter part of the bike and the middle of the run, I felt strong the whole way through.  The last hour was at 6:53 min/mile pace, which felt ‘fun-fast’ at the time. Then the last two or three miles dropped off a bit until I kicked for the line.  I think my last mile or two were around 7:15 pace.

There was some confusion about Thomas’s actual place between the finish and sometime later that evening.  He had 22 minutes of bogus bike penalties, because someone’s number was written poorly on the penalty sheet.  I was pretty sure he had won fair and square, so I told him he should go check it out and dispute them if appropriate.  The penalties were dropped in the end, and Thomas won the Amateur.  I was second Amateur by two minutes and 9th overall.  I’m disappointed to have lost, even by a close margin, but I know it was a good effort.

Since then I’ve taken a few days to travel back to Auburn and get back in the swing of things.  I have one last race, Rev 3 South Carolina in Anderson, in about three weeks.

Shout out to Coach Koorey and the Team Bike Boutique Elite Development program for a great lead up to this and other races.  Thanks to Team Skin Sake Athletic for my racing kit.  Also, big thanks Mom, Dad, and Vicky for travelling with me… and for letting me dictate where we ate and what time we went to bed.

Cheers,

Jay

Vicky and I just got back from a rip-roaring good time across the pond.  We spent about two weeks touring the local area near Newcastle – Vicky’s hood.  We saw a few castles, lots of sheep, and some beautiful English countryside.  My previous trips have always been during winter, which are pleasant and have never been an inconvenience, but this was my first trip during the summer.  Unfortunately, the weather was inclement most of the time.  But that didn’t stop us.

We saw Dunstanburgh Castle – 14th Century ruins and very impressive.  Lots of sheep.

We went to Lindifarne – tidal island and home to a castle and some priory ruins.

And we visited George Washington’s ancestral home – Washington Old Hall.  This is where Vicky and I will be married in December.  It’s a beautiful location, at least in the summer.  There are gardens and lots of cool plants.  The place served as housing (basically a slum) until the 1950’s when it was restored.

I’m still training but haven’t raced since June.  It’s been a tough year so far.  Starting with a broken foot and the complications that went with limping through a few races, then bumping up the miles, have taken their toll.  So early in the summer, I decided to try to get my footing back during the summer months.   Well… so far, so good.  I’ve had a few niggles (injuries) here and there, but I’m generally feeling good.

I’ll be racing Cedar Point Full next weekend (Sep 11 in Sandusky, OH), then one final race in Anderson, SC in early Oct.

Another weekend won and done.  Vicky and I had a great time back in Knoxville.  Although it was a rushed trip, we managed to take in some UT women’s tennis and hang out at a few of our old haunts.  I felt like I raced well, considering some moderately hard weeks leading up to this race.  Despite being 4th or 5th (of my wave) out of the water, I managed to ride well and was first off the bike (of all the waves, even the one that started 4 minutes ahead of me).  Considering all, I had a decent run and was able to finish about two minutes ahead of the other guys in my wave.  I was 14th overall.  My goal was to be in the top 10 overall, but I wasn’t able to put it together.

I’m competing in the Rev 3 amateur series again this year.  That means racing the full at Cedar Point on September 11 and a half in South Carolina in October.  The folks at Rev 3 put on some great races, and their swag (stuff they give away as prizes) is awesome.  Thanks to Vicky for riding up to Knoxville this weekend.  And thanks to Eric Bell for putting me up at his place.

An important aside:  My friend and training buddy Nate Robinson was struck by a car which ran a red light yesterday morning. He is incredibly lucky to have only suffered a broken leg.  He’s been put back together and is recovering at the East Alabama Medical Center in Opelika, AL.  It’s an important lesson to always wear a helmet and be cautious of incompetent and distracted drivers.

I’m taking a few easy days this week then it’s back to training for Kansas 70.3 on June 12.  Till then.

Jay

St. A’s is a regional hospital in St. Petersburg, FL.  The annual triathlon benefits the hospital as well as raises awareness.  The race had about 3000 participants (one of the largest races I’ve competed in).  Nate Robionson and I left town Friday around 4pm and arrived in St. Petersburg around 1am Sat.  We would have left earlier had we not spent nearly an hour trying to remove the seat post from his bike (he’s Specialized).  My race warm-up on Saturday was fine.  We rode about an hour and a half – it took me almost an hour to loosen up on the bike.  Then we had an awesome swim next to the pier – someone told me later that there had been an ‘11 foot’ bullshark pulled from beneath the peir just the day before.  We ate some lunch (no potato salad) and got the feet up.

If you have ever shared a room with me before a race, you likely know how much I like a strong cup of coffee.  Nate shares a similar, perhaps stronger, affinity. This is a picture of our equipment from the night before.

The wind was really whipping on Sunday morning, so the swim was moved and shortened to 1000 meters – fine by me, except there was a half mile sidewalk-run between swim exit and transition, which is not easy on the still recovering foot.  I swam well and exited about a minute back from the leader.  I worked hard to catch him at mile 19 or 20 and thought I could out ride him, but he stayed on me into transition.  The ride into transition was brick and was headed into the sun.  I was so out of it that I rode up on the dismount line without having my feet out of my shoes.  So I had to unclip and take my shoes off right there (embarrassing, but didn’t loose much time).  Very early in the run, Adam Webber put 15 seconds on me and led all of the way to the finish.

Anyhow, I biked ~26 mph on a pretty flat but technical course.  I never felt great (battled some stomach and shoulder cramps).  I never fell apart and gave all I had to run a (for me) solid ~35 min 10k.  Gotta get the speed back in the legs!

All in all, I won a set of Zipp 101’s and had some fun racing some really solid competition.  Congrats to my fellow Skin Sake Athletic team-mate, Hallie Blunck, for an impressive 2nd place Amateur Elite.

Next Race:  Rev 3 Knoxville – Olympic – May 15.  Looking forward to hanging with Eric Bell and seeing some of the ol’ graduate school buddies.

Jay

New Orleans 70.3, sans swim, was anything but “the Big Easy.”  Despite a few early season hick-ups, I did manage the quickest age-group time (and 20^th overall).  I also got a huge paperweight for winning my age group.

Due to sustained 20 mph winds coming straight across Lake Pontchartrain, the swim was cancelled before sunrise.  Participant response was mixed.  Most of the guys around me were secretly happy they’d escape the swim but were more upset because, upon their completion of the event, they’d not be able to get the M-dot 70.3 tattoo (part joke, but seriously I overheard a conversation voicing as much).  Personally, I was prepared for a challenging swim, but conditions were a bit dangerous for the volunteers on kayaks and canoes, not to mention less experienced simmers.  Besides, I’m not sure the buoys would have stayed put.

At about 5:30am, the race organizers announced that the race would be a time-trial start onto the bike.  Since the younger guys went last (more than an hour after the professional field), there was almost a solid column of bikes ahead of me.  But that said, not once did I get tied up in a big pack.  I spent the first half of the bike dodging pot-holes, wind-gusts, and wayward cyclist, and before long I was sailing back to town on a massive tail wind.  I’m positive that those last ~23 miles were the fastest I’ve ever covered on a bike.  My bike split (2:09 and change, 26 mph) was the 9^th fastest of the day, so I was happy with that.

Once on the run, I felt comfortable and started picking up the pace.  I think I ran the first 5k in a little under 18 minutes, but I quickly grew tired and had to slow.  My average pace was about 6:25 min/mile — a bit slower than I had intended.  Having injured my foot in late January (see post), this was easily my longest run of the spring.  And it showed.  My last miles were a death march.  By the finish I was overheated and dehydrated.  A finish-line volunteer told me I needed an IV; I didn’t argue.  After rehydrating and eating some pizza, I felt great.

Reflecting upon the experience:  This was my first WTC race, and considering the difficulties of producing a race in such an urban center, I was pretty impressed.  Except for the swim, the course was safe and well tended by volunteers.  This was my third or fourth trip to New Orleans, and like before, I’m always amazed by how nice the locals are.  The area where the race started was mostly under water after Hurricane Katrina.  There are still literally blocks upon blocks of deserted neighborhoods.  Yet still it’s an awesome place to have a race (or a night out).

Thanks to James Cunnama at Team Bike Boutique for the coaching and advice, as well as my product sponsors:  Skin Sake Athletic and DaddyMart.com.  Also, big thanks to the fine folks that I travelled and stayed with (Ava, Emily, Kathryn, Travis, and Russ).

Now it’s straight back to work prepping for a string of Olympic distance races.  St. Anthony’s (May 1st), Rev 3 Knoxville (May 15), and a Sprint AND Olympic on back-to-back days at Memphis in May (May 21 to 22).

See you there.

Jay

I’m returning from a blogging hiatus.  Other than work, school, and a little training, there’s been little to report.  But my 2011 season is finally under way.  US Collegiate Nationals took place Saturday; I finished 7th overall.  Despite a cool swim (~60F), the rest of the day was quite warm.  Temperatures were near record high (~80 by the run).  This was my first race back from a broken foot, so I didn’t really know what to expect.  I knew I’d have some catching up to do once out on the bike.

Race starts were seeded in waves (1 to 6), with the first waves intended to be top seeded athletes.  I was racing with Jacob Shultz, Auburn Triathlete and our fastest swimmer.  We lined up in the thick of about 150 athletes.  My hopes to stay on Jacob’s feet for as long as possible were squashed, quite literally, by a kick to the face and a couple of shoves underwater.  I swallowed a lot of water.

Once on the bike, I knew I had a lot of chasing to do.  I wound up with a decent bike split but could never catch the lead pack.  Once on the run, I was slightly more than 2 minutes down from the leader.  The rest of the race was spent trying to run down the only two guys I could see.

In the end Dustin McLarty was the clear winner; however, he and several others of the top 10 were penalized for infractions on the bike.  That put Karl Kahsar with the win, but it still meant I was in 7th.  Genearlly, it was a mediocre race, but having not done any run speedwork, I’d say it wound up about as expected.

Next weekend is New Orleans 70.3.  Vicky’s parents are in town from England.  Should be fun.

In brief, Toomer’s Oaks, the pair of 100 plus year old live oaks inhabiting Auburn’s central corner, have been poisoned.  To size up the situation, I’ll quote a few sources…

“Auburn University officials were alerted to the situation after a person called into Paul Finebaum’s radio broadcast on January 27 saying he had poisoned the trees” (full article).

“Auburn University today [Feb 16] confirmed that an herbicide commonly used to kill trees was deliberately applied in lethal amounts to the soil around the Toomer’s Corner live oaks on campus, and there is little chance to save the trees” …  ”The City of Auburn Police Division is investigating the situation, and the application of this herbicide, known as Spike 80DF, or tebuthiuron, is also governed by state agricultural laws and the Environmental Protection Agency. The university does not use Spike herbicide. There is no reason to suspect any human danger from the herbicide, which manufacturer Dow Chemical says should be applied with proper clothing protection; a typical use of the herbicide is to kill trees along fence lines” (full article).

A few things that have yet to be mentioned:  1) Tebuthiuron (N-[5-(1,1-dimethylethyl)-1,3,4-thiadiazol-2-yl]-N,N’-dimethylurea) is a substituted urea herbicide registered for use in non-crop sites for selective and total plant control.  2) It is neither a common crop production or ornamental -herbicide.  3) It is absorbed by the roots of plants, and only after it has been translocated to green tissue (leaves), does it begin to disrupt photosynthesis (And you don’t have to be a plant scientist to realize that trees need photosynthesis).  (MSDS for Spike Herbicide)

When will Toomer’s Oaks meet their demise?  Tebuthiuron sometimes works slowly in large trees.  But if I had to guess, I’d say they would be pronounced ‘dead’ by this time next year, possibly much sooner.

Lastly, is tebuthiuron toxic to humans, and what risks are present if the herbicide enters the ground water?  Not to cause a scare, but yes, there is potential for tebuthiuron to leach into groundwater (according to the EPA).  However, the likelyhood of acute exposure is practically non-existent.  According to the Material Safety and Data Sheet (MSDS) for Spike 80DF, the LD50 for rats (or lethal dose to kill 50% of a random sampling of animals) is 488 mg/kg body weight.  As a comparison, the LD50 for Asprin is 200 mg/kg, and for Nicotine it’s roughly 50 mg/kg (LD 50).

So the prognosis is bad.  Had we known for sure, the steps necessary to save the trees should probably have been put into place weeks ago before the weather began to warm.  Applying activated charcoal to the soil is a normal precaution when potential herbicidal poisoning is suspected; however, the charcoal only binds the molecule of poison for as long as it is active.  But microbes quickly degrade Carbon (that’s what charcoal is) and the poison is re-released.  So in short, unless we’re planning on excavating ALL of the soil near the roots of the trees, it’s likely adding charcoal will do nothing.

I hope this post sheds some light on the situation (not my abs) and helps get a conversation started.

Jay