Training
Table October 2007
T.J. Tollakson’s Triathlon
Newsletter
Check out…
www.tollakson.com for the latest information about my races and
2007 calendar
CHECK OUT
Triathlete Magazine November Issue page 186
Ironman (again)
Well
after a successful second attempt at the full ironman distance I felt I had
learned a great deal and was ready to take on the challenge of the Big Island. I was looking forward to racing Hawaii since making the trip last October to watch my
friend, Doug VanderWeide, compete. I knew I had to
make it to Hawaii to race because Hawaii is what triathlon racing is all about. Hawaii is the dream and I couldn’t wait to experience it
firsthand. With only 7 weeks between Louisville and Hawaii I needed to focus a little more on my recovery
and then spend about 2 weeks doing some solid prep work. I did a small sprint
race in Iowa on September 16 and then headed south to Tucson, Arizona to spend a couple of weeks training in the heat
and preparing for Hawaii.
Las Vegas Interbike
I
made a quick trip from Tucson, Arizona to Las Vegas to be a part of the annual bicycle trade show,
Interbike. This year I would be making an appearance with TYR Sport and signing
autographs on Thursday of the show. Being in Tucson was nice because I could catch a direct flight
and be back in a day with almost no impact on my training. The show was great
and I was very impressed with the new line of multisport apparel from TYR. Keep
your eye out for the new Tracer suit in ’08 and a totally re-designed
multisport line with a new fit, colors, and fabrics. TYR truly represents the
leading edge and I am proud to race and train with the best equipment.
Race
Report: Ironman Hawaii (World Championships)
October
13, 2007, was the culmination
of a year of training and racing. The Hawaii Ironman represents all that is
triathlon to me and is my one big dream for the sport. After spending a few
weeks recovering from Louisville, I headed to Tucson
to do my prep work and increase my long bike and run training to prepare for
this event. My training was going excellent and I felt fully prepared. I left Des Moines on Tuesday, October 9 and everybody kept telling
me I was leaving so late for the race. I felt it was just perfect because it
didn’t allow any excess time to dwell on unimportant tasks while in Kona. My
week leading up to the race was smooth and uneventful. My practice swims in the
ocean felt awesome and I knew I was going to have a great race. On race morning
I must admit I was a bit more nervous than usual and the added logistical
problems of this race only compounded the feeling. My stomach was a bit upset
the night before and it carried over to the morning but that was probably more
the nerves than anything else and as usual it disappeared when the racing
started. I got in the water early and did a short swim warm-up. I still hadn’t
decided where I was going to start the swim but it didn’t take me long to
decide on the far outside closest to the seawall. I wanted to avoid the mass of
people and get in some clean water while avoiding the contact and conserving as
much energy as possible. The swim start line was held tight by paddlers but
there were some athletes lingering far beyond the start right up until the
start of the race. I can’t help but wonder if the two athletes in the lead pack
without swim caps just happened to be out 100m or so from the race start.
Nonetheless it was a clean start and I was off strong; swimming in clean water.
I took the early lead of the pack on the left side and soon converged with the
others on the way out. I was gapped a bit around the turn boat because I was
not expecting it to be the turn boat. I thought I would see some big Gatorade
bottle on the boat. There were a lot of boats on the water and this one just
happened to be the turn boat. I guess I should know better next year. I was
still comfortably in the main swim pack and the pace was pretty slow I was
worried the front pack was too big but was not willing to go solo off the front
just to increase the pace. I decided to sit in and just cruise the rest of the
swim. I got out of the water feeling awesome and couldn’t wait to get on my
bike. I was on my bike and making up ground quickly. My transition wasn’t the
fastest but it was good enough in an Ironman. Heading out of town I was in 4th
place and by the airport I had established myself as one of the top riders in
the main pack spending quite a bit of time in 2nd place overall. I
was relaxed and smooth on the bike and I hope I get some TV coverage to show
just how comfortable I was riding my GURU. I saw Normann Stadler pull in front
of me and give me a grin a head nod but shortly after he pulled to the side of
the road and began vomiting. A few minutes later he was back in font of me and
then again on the side of the road vomiting. I figured that would be the last
time I saw Normann today, and I was correct. I kept the pace of the chase pack
tough but still within my ability. I was starting to drop some weaker riders
off the back and I spent a good time off the front up Hawi in third, Torbjorn
Sinballe had passed the group by now. Right before the turn around at Hawi
there was a quick sprint into town to be the first around the corner and get
the TV coverage. I was the last in the front pack around the corner but I was
just taking it easy at this point. I wanted to ride easy and get my special
needs bag. Again another mistake, had I been in front it would have been easier
to get my bag. As it turned out, I missed my special needs bag along with most
of the front pack. I actually stopped off the back and put a foot down only to
have a volunteer run towards me and hand me the wrong bag. I threw the bag down
and kept riding. I was in need of fluids and food at this point but in full on
race mode so I kept motoring. The next aid station on the descent from Hawi was
unmanned and I should have stopped to get bottles but racing continued to get
the best of me. Soon I found myself with no bottles and no food. I tried to
relax and stay at the back of the group but without fluids my
legs started cramping and that was pretty much the end of my day. I lost
the front pack at 85 miles and had to ride solo with little energy. I started
drinking coke at 85 miles to try and recover but once you are that low in the
tank it is hard to ever come back. I made a rookie mistake and now I would pay
for it for the next 4 plus hours. I saw a couple groups pass me on the bike and
I tried to stay with them but was unable to maintain the pace over the small
rolling hills. I lost a total of 8 minutes in the last 30 miles of the bike but
it could have been worse. My T2 was slow as my legs were cramping and I had a
hard time putting on my shoes. I drank some fluids and took my time getting out
on the run. Once on the run I was fine for the first mile but the second mile
was uphill on Ali’I and I wanted to quit the race right there. My legs hurt and
my stomach was tight. I felt like I was crawling but my mile pace was still
solid. I was downing massive quantities of fluids at each aid station including
Coke, Gatorade and water. The bananas were tasting the
best to me at that point. I kept plugging away and by mile 13 I was still under
three hour marathon pace. It was at the 13 mile aid station I stopped to use
the toilet and my legs cramped when I sat down. This was a killer for me. I had
to walk around a bit and get some more nutrition. I started running again but
mile 13 was 11 minutes and the start of a very slow death march to the finish.
I was losing time fast and my legs were not cooperating with me. I wanted to
run faster and I could; but for only a short period of time. I had a bunch of
guys pass me while I was moving lethargically and there was nothing I could do
to even try to run with them. I was craving my special needs bag at the natural
energy lab and smashed an oatmeal cream pie down the throat along with some
Muscle Armor. I needed to feel better fast. I took my time and walked a bit up
the hill from the energy lab to eat some more and drink the rest of my water
bottle. I knew it was mostly downhill from now. I had to walk one other time
before finishing around mile 20-21 and from there I was holding a blistering 8:30 pace to the finish. I wanted to quit the race
multiple times but finishing was much more important to me. I didn’t have the
race I know I am capable of having but nonetheless it was still 30th
place and a good start to the dream. Running down Ali’I was not quite as sweet
as I had imagined but after a long 3:21 marathon it was relief to be finished and have my first Hawaii
Ironman notch on my belt. I am already excited about returning next year and
racing with a bit more wisdom and experience. This was the first of many Hawaii Ironman World Championships.
|
|
ATHLETE
|
RANK
|
AGE
|
SWIM
|
BIKE
|
RUN
|
TOTAL
|
|
1
|
McCormack,
Chris
|
16/4/1
|
34
|
0:51:48
|
4:37:31
|
2:42:02
|
8:15:34
|
|
2
|
Alexander,
Craig
|
10/6/2002
|
34
|
0:51:40
|
4:38:11
|
2:45:13
|
8:19:04
|
|
3
|
Sindballe,
Torbjorn
|
44/1/3
|
30
|
0:53:25
|
4:25:26
|
2:57:25
|
8:21:30
|
|
4
|
DeBoom,
Timothy
|
9/7/2004
|
36
|
0:51:39
|
4:38:19
|
2:48:28
|
8:22:33
|
|
5
|
Vanhoenacker,
Marino
|
37/3/5
|
31
|
0:53:21
|
4:33:05
|
2:52:59
|
8:23:31
|
|
6
|
Lieto,
Chris
|
8/2/2006
|
35
|
0:51:37
|
4:28:17
|
3:00:16
|
8:25:49
|
|
7
|
Llanos,
Eneko
|
15/11/7
|
30
|
0:51:47
|
4:38:12
|
2:51:43
|
8:26:00
|
|
8
|
Van
Lierde, Luc
|
11/5/2008
|
38
|
0:51:42
|
4:38:17
|
2:55:28
|
8:30:01
|
|
9
|
Lovato,
Michael
|
47/16/9
|
33
|
0:53:27
|
4:41:31
|
2:54:02
|
8:33:28
|
|
10
|
Vernay,
Patrick
|
42/27/10
|
33
|
0:53:24
|
4:49:17
|
2:48:12
|
8:35:10
|
|
11
|
Pontano,
Francisco
|
2/9/2011
|
32
|
0:51:23
|
4:38:30
|
3:01:23
|
8:35:37
|
|
12
|
Jammaer,
Bert
|
18/12/12
|
27
|
0:51:51
|
4:39:04
|
3:00:59
|
8:35:53
|
|
13
|
Sturla,
Eduardo
|
80/18/13
|
33
|
0:55:18
|
4:39:21
|
2:57:06
|
8:36:31
|
|
14
|
Vytrisal,
Frank
|
70/14/14
|
40
|
0:54:42
|
4:37:30
|
3:00:38
|
8:37:44
|
|
15
|
Bracht,
Timo
|
36/22/15
|
32
|
0:53:21
|
4:44:30
|
2:55:55
|
8:37:52
|
|
16
|
Riesen,
Stefan
|
214/15/16
|
34
|
0:59:30
|
4:35:00
|
2:59:30
|
8:38:35
|
|
17
|
Longree,
Maximilian
|
169/39/17
|
26
|
0:58:23
|
4:50:10
|
2:46:34
|
8:39:42
|
|
18
|
Goehner,
Michael
|
167/23/18
|
27
|
0:58:19
|
4:39:21
|
3:01:07
|
8:43:55
|
|
19
|
McKenzie,
Luke
|
4/8/2019
|
26
|
0:51:25
|
4:38:38
|
3:10:59
|
8:44:55
|
|
20
|
Zamora,
Marcel
|
35/26/20
|
29
|
0:53:20
|
4:49:14
|
2:59:33
|
8:46:36
|
|
21
|
Neill,
Mike
|
150/37/21
|
35
|
0:58:11
|
4:50:03
|
2:54:46
|
8:47:57
|
|
22
|
Major,
Jozsef
|
419/72/22
|
28
|
1:03:10
|
4:57:05
|
2:46:43
|
8:51:44
|
|
23
|
Hundertmarck,
Kai
|
417/20/23
|
38
|
1:03:09
|
4:32:41
|
3:11:23
|
8:53:03
|
|
24
|
Juhanson,
Ain-Alar
|
220/21/24
|
31
|
0:59:41
|
4:37:20
|
3:09:07
|
8:53:49
|
|
25
|
Johnsen,
Jimmy
|
79/30/25
|
29
|
0:55:17
|
4:48:56
|
3:06:21
|
8:55:11
|
|
26
|
Evans,
Tom
|
5/10/2026
|
39
|
0:51:27
|
4:38:48
|
3:21:22
|
8:56:11
|
|
27
|
Sundberg,
Swen
|
81/25/27
|
33
|
0:55:19
|
4:45:36
|
3:11:50
|
8:57:37
|
|
28
|
Kawahara,
Hayato
|
76/90/28
|
29
|
0:55:13
|
5:06:45
|
2:51:36
|
8:58:25
|
|
29
|
mroszczyk-McDonald,
Alex
|
212/55/29
|
26
|
0:59:29
|
4:56:26
|
3:00:27
|
9:00:09
|
|
30
|
Tollakson,
TJ
|
20/19/30
|
27
|
0:51:52
|
4:44:17
|
3:21:31
|
9:03:05
|
Race
Report: TriHawks
Triathlon, Iowa City, IA
September 16, 2007, I would return to Iowa City where I spent my college years to race the
TriHawks Triathlon. I was excited to do this race because the University of Iowa Triathlon Team is the director and beneficiary of the race. My
motivation for the race was actually pretty low. I didn’t leave for Iowa City until race morning and then I was not in a hurry
to get there. I didn’t spend anytime warming up for the race. I was still a bit
tired and sore from my Ironman so I just wanted to see how I felt. The swim was
fine. I couldn’t believe how quickly it was over. I was on my bike and feeling
sluggish at the start. It took me a while but eventually I found my groove. My
stats for the ride were less than impressive but it was still a good day and
great to be back on a familiar training route. The run started even worse than
the bike as my legs didn’t seem to want to move at all and unlike the swim the
miles on the run seemed to tick by slowly. I still managed to have a great day
and the fastest swim bike and run.
|
PLC
|
NAME
|
SWIM
|
TIME
|
PACE
|
T1
|
Bike
|
Time
|
MPH
|
T2
|
Run
|
Time
|
Pace
|
Finish
|
|
1
|
T J Tollakson</ |