Training Table May 2007
T.J. Tollakson’s Triathlon
Newsletter
Check out…
www.tollakson.com for the latest information about my races and
2007 calendar
Long Term Success
The
last 8 months of my triathlon career have certainly been a
roller coaster ride. I have had some my best races and some of my worst races.
My training has been excellent at times, and then my health has been
compromised at others. What I have taken out of the whole experience is that
success in this sport (and anything) takes time and patience. It is a long term
process of a gradual upward trend in performance. That being said, I made some
performance improvements this past month which have allowed me to view the hard
times as merely a stepping stone in my journey.
Tucson to Des Moines
After
spending 3 months down under soaking up some of the best triathlon training and
luscious amounts of sunshine, I headed to Tucson, AZ to spend a couple of months training down south
until the Iowa Spring weather turned towards summer. I lived with former
All-American swimmer Emily Mastin in Tucson this year and continued my training with the FORD Tucson Aquatic Club. Emily was a great roommate
with whom I enjoyed living and training. My training was stellar in Tucson but unfortunately I was still not able to make up
for the entire setback I encountered during my Ironman Malaysia heat stroke. My
first stateside race of the year was the California Ironman 70.3, where I was
fifth place last year. The race did not go so well and I ended up dropping out
of my second race ever. Not much fun, but a lesson learned: give my body time
to heal before racing. I left Tucson in early May to return to Des Moines for the summer race season. My schedule changed a
bit, but finally I felt I was ready to start racing again.
Race
Report: Florida Ironman 70.3
May
20, 2007, was a change to
my planned race schedule, but a much needed adjustment. Florida would be a new race course for me and a chance
for me to spend some time at a big race with a lot of friends and training
partners from Des
Moines. I
was a bit nervous about my fitness heading into this race since I had to take
10 days off working out to heal some nerve pain in my back, but on race morning
I felt fresh and ready and knew I was going to have a good day. The swim was
warm and thus not wetsuit legal. I made a slight mistake in the swim start by
starting my swim in knee deep water after the beach start. I quickly recovered
and found myself on the feet of James Bonney and knew I was having a great
swim. I felt smooth and relaxed. I exited the water 8th overall and
in perfect position to take command of this race on the bike. Within 10 miles I
joined the leaders and soon took the lead. I was followed closely by Luke Bell,
Craig Alexander, Simon Lessing, and Bryan Rhodes. I eventually made a small
break away, with Luke still trailing, around mile 42 and came into T2 with
about a 25 second lead on Luke and over 2 minutes on the rest of the field. I
would need all of the lead I could get considering my run fitness. I was
eventually passed by Bell, Alexander, and Lessing, and ran most of the race
in a solid 4th place. On the last lap of the 3 lap run course I
started to fade and was passed by Bryan Rhodes then in the last 800m I was
passed again to finish 6th. It was not the run I had wanted but
considering my current fitness it was a great race and my bike performance was
phenomenal with a 2:04:26
(fastest on the day and the new course). It wasn’t my best race, but it was a
good race and good way to start off my season of racing.
|
OVERALL
PLACE
|
TOTAL
TIME
|
LAST
NAME
|
FIRST
NAME
|
RACE DIVISION
|
SWIM TIME
|
BIKE TIME
|
RUN TIME
|
|
1
|
3:50:27
|
ALEXANDER
|
CRAIG
|
MPRO
|
25:22:00
|
2:07:20
|
1:14:48
|
|
2
|
3:53:47
|
LESSING
|
SIMON
|
MPRO
|
25:15:00
|
2:07:23
|
1:17:58
|
|
3
|
3:54:18
|
BELL
|
LUKE
|
MPRO
|
25:20:00
|
2:05:23
|
1:20:32
|
|
4
|
3:55:52
|
RHODES
|
BRYAN
|
MPRO
|
25:12:00
|
2:07:06
|
1:20:22
|
|
5
|
3:56:30
|
ASCENCO
|
SANTIAGO
|
MPRO
|
27:51:00
|
2:11:34
|
1:14:13
|
|
6
|
3:57:29
|
TOLLAKSON
|
TJ
|
MPRO
|
25:44:00
|
2:04:26
|
1:24:04
|
|
7
|
3:58:24
|
ZAMORA PEREZ
|
MARCEL
|
MPRO
|
27:46:00
|
2:11:31
|
1:16:00
|
|
8
|
3:59:47
|
LOVATO
|
MICHAEL
|
MPRO
|
27:56:00
|
2:09:37
|
1:18:55
|
|
9
|
4:02:21
|
ORNELLAS
|
MARCUS
|
MPRO
|
25:44:00
|
2:13:56
|
1:19:50
|
|
10
|
4:03:41
|
CAIAZZO
|
MIKE
|
MPRO
|
30:54:00
|
2:13:38
|
1:15:35
|
Race
Report: Pigman Sprint (Cedar
Rapids, IA)
June, 3, 2007, I was back in my birth town of Cedar Rapids, IA to compete in the Pigman Sprint Triathlon.
This would be the second time I competed in the race. I finished second in 2005
to David Thompson. I spent Saturday night in Iowa City with my college triathlon training partner and
good friend Dan Koos, who was making his triathlon comeback race after recently
graduating from med school. His wife, Steph, joined us along with my girlfriend
Ashley, and two of Dan’s med school classmates, Alan Chap, and Rob Hufnagel
(who would be borrowing my bike to race his first triathlon). It was a pleasant
morning and the competition looked solid as Madison, WI, pro, Will Smith, was racing along with a
slew of Gear West elite athletes from Minnesota. I was third out of the water behind Duane Dobko
and Will Smith and was in second place early in the bike to Will Smith. I made
my attack to take the lead about 5 miles into the race and held onto it from
there. I had a race best bike split of 35:15 for 15 miles then ran a 4th
best 17:25 5k to win the race. It was a new course record and perhaps a new
bike course record. I know my cycling fitness is high and I’m expecting big
things the next few months of racing as my run and swim continue to improve.
|
PLC
|
NAME
|
Swim
|
T1
|
Bike
|
T2
|
Run
|
Total
|
|
1
|
T J Tollakson
|
6:14
|
1:31
|
35:15:00
|
0:49
|
17:25
|
1:01:13
|
|
2
|
Will Smith
|
6:09
|
1:21
|
37:10:00
|
0:40
|
18:02
|
1:03:19
|
|
3
|
Brian Bich
|
6:34
|
1:38
|
36:50:00
|
0:51
|
17:31
|
1:03:22
|
|
4
|
Kevin O'Connor
|
6:40
|
1:35
|
37:45:00
|
0:44
|
17:45
|
1:04:27
|
|
5
|
Neil Miller
|
7:12
|
1:39
|
38:17:00
|
1:02
|
16:32
|
1:04:40
|
|
6
|
Mike Morrison
|
6:42
|
2:23
|
38:15:00
|
0:45
|
17:58
|
1:06:01
|
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