Training Table July 2006

T.J. Tollakson’s Triathlon Newsletter

Check out…

www.tollakson.com for the latest information about my races and 2006 calendar

Check out Page 48 of the September Issue of Triathlete Magazine for the photo shown below

Lost Virtue of Integrity?

July was another great month in my professional triathlon career. I raced twice in July and had some great PR media to accompany my racing and supplement my career. Amongst all of my travel and racing I am compelled to share my experience of witnessing the comprised integrity of the sport of triathlon and many well accomplished men. I am a firm believer that every great person will someday be defined by his or her integrity or lack there of. The New York City Triathlon was a day that presented an opportunity for several such men to define their character and test their integrity. I regretfully must report that several people compromised their character and integrity at this race and I will forever remember this day. At the exit of the swim portion of the race the top 8 athletes proceeded into the transition area and onto the bike course using a non-prescribed route and cut some portion of the bike course and benefited from a shortened route. The time savings has been argued but is really inconsequential since the rules state an athlete must complete the course as prescribed in entirety. The officials and race management witnessed this rule violation and refused to do anything about it. They stated the 8 athletes that cut the course clearly had the best performances of the day and disqualifying them would make a mockery out of our sport. Instead they made a mockery of our sport by refusing to enforce the rules. I cannot believe that this behavior was condoned and I am embarrassed to call myself a professional athlete in a sport that finds this type of behavior acceptable. I hold myself to a higher standard and I can only hope that this problem will be rectified in an attempt to restore the integrity the sport lost when the decision to break the rules was made.

On a better note, I started my work with Legends Sports Marketing and my agent Curtis Baugh. Legends has many accomplished hall of fame professional athletes including Chicago Bears Running Back, Gale Sayers, and Chicago Cubs Pitcher, Fergie Jenkins. I will be working with Legends doing a variety of PR, media, and speaking engagements. I welcome Curtis and his team of professionals to my support team. I did my first speaking engagement with Legends to a group of 500 adults and youth at an outdoor sanctuary in Pella, IA. Those interesting in finding out more about my speaking availability should contact Curtis directly at Curtis@legendssportsmarketing.com

Race Report: New York City Triathlon

July 16, 2006, I was excited to be back in New York City and spend some with my roommate from my freshman year at Boston University, David Fahey. I was also stoked about meeting my EAS assigned PR agent, Caitlyn Bransfield with Alan Taylor Communications to do some awesome PR work before the race. I was in town on Wednesday night and David picked me up at the Newark airport very late as my flight was delayed by weather. I spent Thursday in New Jersey doing some workouts while David worked at the family law firm. On Friday morning I met Caitlyn for a taping for Cold Pizza on ESPN2, we then headed over to ABC Sports Radio for a short interview and finished the day with an interview on Mike and Maury on Sirrius Satellite Radio. The professional men started the race on Sunday morning at 5:50 AM. I had enough time to get all of my pre-race warm-up in and even took a dip in the Hudson prior to the start despite discouragement from the race management for fear I wouldn’t make it out of the water because the current was so strong. The current was strong as we started the race and took off down the river at faster than word record pace. I was out of the water about 25 seconds behind the leader but still in good position to finish well. My transition was slow but I didn’t want to redline the effort too soon in the race. Once I was on the bike, the leaders were completely out of sight since they unintentionally cut the course. At the turn around on the bike they had a 2 minute advantage on me. I knew something was wrong and tried to block it out of my mind and just race my race. I was smashing on the bike and put about forty seconds on Tim DeBoom who came out of the water with me. I started the run with Tim but his pace proved much too quick for me as he pulled away from me. I had a solid run but backed down a bit once I knew my finishing position was set. I crossed the line 10^th but only the second athlete to cross the line who did the entire course (Tim DeBoom was the first man across the line to complete the entire course). No penalty was assessed and I lost a lot of respect for the race and USA Triathlon. I had a great day and a solid race but it will never be noted since those athletes that I competed against were not on the same playing field. I would like to thank Tom Hamilton of Hamilton Associates for sponsoring my trip to NYC.

PLC	Name	Swim	T1	Bike*	Run	Finish
1	Greg Bennett	11:25				1:43:43
2	Leon Griffin	11:35	3:04	58:14:00	30:19:00	1:43:50
3	Craig Alexander	11:27	3:00	59:35:00	30:38:00	1:45:17
4	Stephen Hackett	11:15	3:18	59:31:00	30:56:00	1:45:40
5	Brian Fleischmann	11:14	3:11	59:41:00	31:32:00	1:46:16
6	Luke Mc Kenzie	11:19	3:17	59:18:00	32:07:00	1:46:44
7	Timothy O' Donnell	11:16	3:13	59:30:00	32:40:00	1:47:19
8	Bjorn Andersson	11:23	3:19	58:13:00	33:53:00	1:47:40
9	Tim Deboom	11:43	3:12	1:01:09	30:57:00	1:47:45
10	Tj Tollakson	11:44	3:39	1:00:38	34:01:00	1:50:49

Race Report: Vineman Ironman 70.3, Sonoma County, CA

July 30, 2006 I was in the San Francisco North Bay area wine country for my final half ironman race of the season before World Championships on November 11. I stayed with friend Nicole Reber in San Francisco on Friday evening then we made the trip to Sonoma County on Saturday morning and we met with my homestay in Santa Rosa, Tracy Byrnes. I was pumped for this race but also very relaxed and comfortable. I was a little rushed on race morning since I had a 30 minute drive to the race site and some peculiar logistics of this point to point race. I didn’t have time for an adequate warm-up and felt rushed all morning. Once in the water for the non-wetsuit swim in the dammed Russian River, I was a bit tight but ready to race. Right away in the swim I had my goggle kicked off my eye and I stopped for a second to fix it and just made the entire 1.2 mile swim solo which was not efficient but still effective for me. I exited the water behind the leaders but with the legendary Dave Scott and Chris Lieto. Once on the bike I had Lieto in site ahead of me and I was in pursuit of the leaders. I felt incredible on the bike and knew I was going to have one of my best rides. I quickly caught and passed the leaders en route to a fabulous bike split on a course that was lengthened to 57.5 miles due to a bridge being under construction. I was second off the bike but quickly in first place as Chris Lieto dropped out on the run. I was leading a major race for the first time this season. I had some of the best athletes in the sport trying to run me down, what an incredible feeling. I led the race to the turn around at La Crema Winery where 5 time world champion Simon Lessing passed me. I was then passed by Tim DeBoom and eventually passed in the final 3 miles by Cam Widoff and Chris Legh but held onto 5^th place and turned in a time faster than Tim won the race the previous year. I had a great race and really laid it all out on the line. My run faded a bit at the end as I went from 5:45 pace to finish around 6:30 pace but still ran a 1:19 half marathon on a challenging course. Things seem to be lined up well for a great peak race in November.

PLC	Name	Swim	T1	Bike	T2	Run	Finish
1	Simon Lessing	24:52.0	01:10.1	2:16:09	01:45.4	1:13:01	3:56:59
2	Tim DeBoom	25:00.0	01:04.6	2:16:10	01:44.3	1:14:19	3:58:18
3	Cam Widoff	25:01.0	01:28.2	2:15:32	01:56.3	1:14:48	3:58:46
4	Chris Legh	27:47.0	01:00.1	2:15:58	01:28.0	1:12:46	4:01:54
5	TJ Tollakson	26:36.2	01:09.9	2:12:41	01:37.5	1:19:49	4:01:54

Upcoming Events

August 13, 2006 Big Creek Triathlon, Polk City, IA

My home race course and a race I’ve been a part of since 1995. An Olympic distance race with some great competition this year as David Thompson from Minneapolis will be racing me for the $1000 course record bonus.

August 27, 2006 Chicago Triathlon, Chicago, IL

The largest triathlon in the world and one of my favorites since I won the amateur title in 2004. A blazing fast bike course makes this race one of my specialties.

VIneman NYC Triathlete Magazine Photo

As always, thank you to my sponsors and those who support me. You make my racing possible!

In the meantime…don’t forget to visit my web site at www.tollakson.com