Training Table June 2005

T.J. Tollakson’s Triathlon Newsletter

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Finishing Races and Going Long

June has been quite the experience for me as a rookie pro. I started the month out by losing a local Iowa race to Minneapolis pro David Thompson then traveling to San Francisco again struggling to simply finish the Escape from Alcatraz Triathlon. These were both learning experiences for me and the lessons learned about race preparation and practice will never be forgotten. I finished the month off with setting a new course record at the Quad Cities Sprint Triathlon and then traveling to Lubbock, TX to compete in my first Half Ironman Race at the Buffalo Springs Lake Triathlon where I finished second overall to Marcel Vifian. I started the month off low and finished strong and am now preparing to race my first draft legal ITU race in New York City on July 10. Upon completion of NYC I will relocated to Colorado Springs to train at the Olympic Training Center in preparation for US Pro Nationals in Bellingham, WA.

Race Report: Memphis in May

May 22, 2005, my return to Memphis after winning the amateur title in 2004 came with high expectations. At this time the thought of my fractured clavicle was nearly gone and all my range of motion had returned. The morning of the race was perfectly calm and quite cool which was very unusual for Memphis at this time of year. The water was 79 degrees so no wetsuits would be worn. I started the swim in the forth position of the time trial start separated by 10 second intervals and quickly passed Desiree Ficker. The only other swimmer I saw in the water was Andy Potts who passed me at about 750 meters and he was just flying. I felt very strong smooth and relaxed in the water and exited the swim knowing I could have pushed it harder. Once out of the water I was on my bike and in my element. I passed David Kuendig and eventually took over the lead of the race passing Andy Potts. I had the fastest bike of the day and cranked out some pretty good wattage for this early in the season. I was stoked to enter T2 of my first pro race in the lead. The lead was quickly diminished as Andy re-passed me at the first mile and I could not hold on. I was having some severe stomach problems on the run and everytime I tried to run hard my stomach would get queezy. I running solo until mile 4 when Tim DeBoom passed me at a blistering pace yelling “Go Hawkeyes.” I was then beat by Jamie Cleveland but never passed by him since he started behind me. I was pleased with a fourth place finish against some of the world’s best but left Memphis knowing that I could do better.

1	Andy Potts	28	1	17:09	0:47	3	54:26:00	27	1:18	1	33:25:00	5:23	1:47:02
2	Timothy Deboom	34	4	18:47	0:59	2	54:20:00	27.1	1:18	2	33:33:00	5:25	1:48:55
3	Jamie Cleveland	33	3	18:41	0:45	4	55:46:00	26.4	1:24	4	35:28:00	5:43	1:52:01
4	Trenton Tollakson	24	5	19:00	0:55	1	52:59:00	27.7	1:20	7	38:42:00	6:14	1:52:54
5	Haven Barnes	28	7	19:26	0:46	5	57:35:00	25.5	1:09	3	34:58:00	5:38	1:53:51

Race Report: Pigman Sprint Triathlon, Palo, IA

June 6, 2005, and racing in Cedar Rapids, IA close to home. I came into the race expected by many to finish second to David Thompson of Minneapolis but I was determined to defend my home turf. The swim was wetsuit legal which was actually an advantage for Thompson since he able to hold my feet in the swim and come out of the water with me. He then quickly passed me in transition and I never saw the lead of this race. I was fully expecting to catch him on the bike but he was just too strong to catch. My run left a little to be desired again but was much better than in Memphis. A little more speed work will really take it a long way. Since I was training through this race I was not completely disappointed in the results but I was not pleased to lose on my home turf and it left me questioning my process of training and racing into shape. I had a good race but David had a better race and there was nothing I could have done to beat him on that day.

Place

Division

Name

Age

Swim

Pace

T1

Bike

Pace

T2

Run

Pace

Final

1

1/54

David Thompson

27

5:55

1:05

1:19

36:37:00

25.5

0:43

17:04

5:30

1:01:36

2

1/20

Trenton Tollakson

24

5:56

1:05

1:33

36:50:00

25.3

0:53

18:18

5:54

1:03:27

3

1/61

Brian Bich

38

6:25

1:11

1:31

37:57:00

24.6

0:52

17:45

5:43

1:04:28

Race Report: Escape from Alcatraz, San Francisco, CA

June 12, 2005, and this was a huge race with the world’s best triathletes. I was looking sharp in my new TYR tri clothing from Wendy Ingraham and I was ready to race. I was pretty nervous about the swim in the bay but fellow pro Ted Simpkins helped calm my nerves and gave me some advice. When the horn went off there was actually a false start but there was nothing they could do about it so I just jumped off the boat and started swimming. Immediately someone grabbed my goggles and ripped them off my face. No big deal I just put them back on and resumed the swim. The water was cold but the ear plugs and three swim caps kept me plenty warm. A few minutes later I had my goggles ripped from my face again and this time I was furious and decided to be a little more aggressive in the water this technique worked for only a few minutes until I was kicked in the face and my sweedish goggles cut my eye and broke my nose causing some unnecessary bleeding in the salt water. Now I was really having a tough time seeing and decided to leave the pack of swimmer and swim closer to shore alone. I was getting tossed all over the water and swallow copious amounts of saltwater. I kept telling myself to relax and just swim because making the swim was not an issue and at this point speed was of little concern of mine. I exited the water around several female pros and nearly 5 minutes behind the leaders. At this point was race was virtually over but I was still excited to race the course. I had only biked the first half of the course prior to the race which also hurt me because the course is so technical and experience helps. As soon as I started climbing my stomach was in knots from the salt water and I started vomiting off the side of my bike. Everytime I climbed a hill and put my HR over 170, I vommitted. On the second to last climb I over shifted my chainring and dropped my chain causing me to stop on the hill and put the chain back on. I lost most of my time on the bike on the technical descents since I was not feeling well and didn’t care to really race I was not taking many chances. Once I was off my bike I was out and running with the female pros. I was immediately queezy on the run but thought it would go away with a little Cytomax on the course but at the first water stop I threw up all over the place and then had to make an emergency stop in the bathroom. I wanted to drop out of the race so bad at this point but I was determined to finish this race. I saw Greg Bennett walking on the course telling me he was dropping out and all I thought about was I put too much into this race to drop out now. I finished the race with salt all over my jersey since I couldn’t hold down any fluids and I had blood all over my face from my eye and nose. It was not a pretty finish but it was a finish nonetheless. I hate to feel proud about simply finishing a race since I am pro but I think too many pros drop out of races when things don’t go well. For me I need as much experience as I can get and this was definitely a learning experience for me. I managed to escape from Alcatraz but it wasn’t fast or pretty. I will give this race a go sometime in the future.

Name	Time	Swim	T1	Bike	T2	Run
Trenton Tollakson	2:31:23	0:33:57	0:04:45	0:52:40	0:01:05	0:58:56

Race Report: Quad Cities Sprint Triathlon, Davenport, IA

June 19, 2005 and racing once again close to home. Since I spent my first year out of college in the Quad Cities it was nice to be racing with some friends and training partners. I knew JJ Bailey would give me some good competition but I was still fully expecting to win the race. It was a wetsuit swim and I exited the water 20 seconds behind state champion swimmer Stephen Brus and right in front of collegiate swimmer Charlie Cunnick so I was happy with my swim. I was out on my bike and in the lead right out of the park. I turned out the fastest bike split of the day despite feeling extremely sluggish. I just couldn’t seem to get my legs to turnover like I wanted them too. I had a :40 second lead starting the run and this race I was feeling great at the start of the run and I new it would be a good one. The first mile of this run is cross coutry on grass and trails then the last two are on a flat road. Once I was out on the road I was in a smooth rythym and churned out a couple of 5:30 miles to secure the win over JJ by 68 seconds. Not a large margin of victory but I felt good racing and right now that was important for my confidence.

name	last name	age	sex	location	Swim	Bike	Run	Finish
Trenton	Tollakson	23	M	Urbandale,	7:29	34:57:00	17:41	1:01:21
Jj	Bailey	30	M	Des Moines	7:49	35:15:00	18:02	1:02:29
Brad	Zoller	27	M	Chicago,	7:36	37:49:00	17:55	1:04:23

Race Report: Buffalo Springs Lake Triathlon, Lubbock, TX

June 26, 2005, and my debut at the half ironman distance. I was a little nervous about the race but I was confident in my ability to finish and worst case scenario it would be a good training day. The race started out about as worse as I could imagine. The water was a warm 77 degrees but wetsuits were legal since we were racing age group rules and when they are legal I always wear mine. I started to overheat in a few short minutes and was swimming hard in lead with Marcel Vifian. I backed off the pace to help me cool down but it was too late I was already swollen and too hot and my wetsuit burst and split at the back. I felt like the Titanic in the water as I kept taking on more and more water. I debated losing the whole suit in the water but feared a penalty so finished the swim and was so happy to ripp off the suit. I was now 3 minutes back on Marcel and had some work to do on the bike. I botched my transition mount since there was no distinguishing mount line. I ran my bike an extra 100 meters at the mount and dismount next to transition. Despite all this I still turned in the fastest bike of the day and averaged 281 watts for the 56 mile ride. I was still down going into the run but had a good lead on the third place so I was chasing and defending at the same time. My goal was to pace well and make sure I could finish running. I started out running 6:30 miles but as soon as the hills came they slowed a bit and then picked up again once on the flats. I had some minor cramping but took care of it with some Cliff Shots and Gatorade at the aid stations. I was focused my running form stride rate trying to close the gap on Marcel. It was too much at the end of the day but for my first half ironman it was phenomenal. I nearly came away with a win in my first attempt at this distance. It only makes me question what lies ahead for me in the sport of triathlon.

#	NAME	FINTIME	AGE	SWIM	PACE	T1	Bike	Pace	T2	Run	Pace
1	Vifian, Marcel	4:09:33	36	23:44	1:14/M	1:18	2:21:08	23.8MPH	1:13	1:22:07	6:16/M
2	Tollakson, Trenton	4:18:58	24	27:02:00	1:24/M	1:21	2:19:54	24.0MPH	1:22	1:29:18	6:49/M
3	Hola, Tim	4:19:11	30	25:31:00	1:19/M	1:31	2:27:44	22.7MPH	1:14	1:23:09	6:21/M

Upcoming Events

July 10, 2005 New York City ITU race

My draft legal ITU debut will occur in New York City whre I will race with most of the resident team members from Colorado Springs.

July 24, 2005 Boulder Peak Triathlon