Darby Thomas

New website

2012-01-03T22:07:00.002+02:00

My new website and blog can be found here:

www.triathlete.darbythomas.com

Enjoy!

Taking the plunge

2011-12-13T00:30:00.001+02:00

The past couple of years i have been dabbling in triathlon with far less than 100% effort and focus. Most of my energy has been put into our house project and our growing family. While I have no regrets choosing this path, it has been non the less frustrating to feel i am missing a real opportunity to reach my full potential and do something special in triathlon.

This autumn i attended an itu coaching clinic to start developing a long term option to stay involved with sport and give back the knowledge I have accumulated through my experiences. During this coaching course I began to realize how little I have applied myself to triathlon and how big room for improvement I have. I spoke with one of the instructures, world renowned running and triathlon coach, Bobby McGee, and asked his opinion on my situation. Not only did Bobby encourage me to commit full-time to triathlon but he also helped to set me up with a great coach in Jesse Kropelnicki, to make it happen. www.qt2systems.com My friend John Spinney also highly recommended Jesse and put me in touch with him.

Jesse has taken a careful look through my past training and race results and constructed a strategy to reach my full potential, which he also agrees is much higher than my current level. Jesse has given me the confidence I can be competitive on the top level of endurance triathlon.

We have build a race calendar of 7-8 half distance events building toward the main goal of the Ironman 70.3 world championships in September. This is a massive commitment not only from myself but from my family and sponsors so my greatest appreciation goes to them.

In the coming days i will rollout a new website and details of this undertaking. Thanks for checking in and look back again soon to see more.

Painful adoption process

2011-11-11T20:15:00.001+02:00

Every year about this time begins the painful process of finding a new home for the past season's race bike. This year my magnificent Felt B2 Pro found a caring home not far away that was kind enough to grant visitation rights. Now i can stay in touch with my old steed and make sure it is well taken care of. The new proud owner has already given the bike some special attention that it deserves. Note the fine details around the head tube :)

Frankfurt marathon

2011-11-04T22:19:00.001+02:00

I ran my goal of 2:35 almost exactly to the second. Great satisfaction in reaching a goal i set out long in advance. This result has also given me confidence i can reach my other goals in sport. Check back next week when i will outline next year's ambitions.

2 and 2

2011-07-18T15:29:00.009+03:00

After taking 18 months away from training and competition, I am very pleased to say I took 2nd place at the 1/2 distance national championships for the third time! Not only that but my 5-month old daughter also got her first two teeth that same day!

Most people would probably be going crazy after coming so close to winning so many times, but for me, this year felt more like a win than perhaps was visible from a spectator's view. Going back to 2009 and my last appearance at Finntriathlon, I was a very focused athlete intent on reaching my goals. Not long after the 2009 race I made the decision to do something for my family and stop racing to build our house. I didn't even know then if that decision would be the end of my racing career or not, but I knew it was something important to me and my family.

NOTE: This is quite a long story so if you are interested in skipping to the actual race report, click here. But in my opinion the long story is much more interesting than the actual race...

The building project took 10 months or 302 days (actually quite fast by building standards) and I worked over 4000 hours myself on the house, which is a little over 100 hours per week on average. I thought training was tough but after getting done with a house build, I have a new perspective. This same time last year I was sweating my ass off sanding plaster and painting walls in over 30 degree heat thinking about how nice it would be to race in Finntriathlon again.

We moved into our new house in September and I promptly began 'training' for a marathon. What I quickly found out was that my mind and body were not at all ready for any type of training. I managed to do a few long runs to get enough fitness so I could make it to the start line in Frankfurt marathon in October. The race was exciting just because I felt like my life was returning after the house project but the body was not ready and I suffered severely.

The rest of 2010 I spent trying to recover mentally and physically. I decided it was best not to follow any training program but just exercise when I felt good. I did some skiing and running when weather was ok but by April I had still only the bare minimum of fitness to run 10km races.

Despite this very limited fitness I was totally excited to race again and immediately I found the energy to push quite hard in my first races to get quite near to my personal best times. This was very encouraging and put the fuel on my fire to get training again. My motivation was ready and my body was starting to move but I knew it would be tough to simply turn on the power and go.

I was right, my fitness was always a step behind my motivation and I tried very hard to adapt my training to this imbalance. I kept my volume quite low and focused on doing hard training only when I was sure that my body was rested and ready. This meant some weeks I was training only 5 hours per week and others I was able to go up to 12 but nothing more.

As of mid-May I had only been running and cycling as I knew what would be the hardest area to get fitness back to. When the weather turned hot at the end of May or beginning of June, I finally got my feet wet and did my first swim training in more than a year. Surprisingly it felt great even though I knew I was not going very fast.

By the time the first tri races of the year came in June, I was feeling my fitness was strong enough to do more challenging training like I used to do before the house project. Quickly I could feel my body absorbing the training and improving, which really gave me confidence I would eventually get back to my previous form if not better.

Race Report:

Going into Finntriathlon I had managed to get about four weeks of what I consider 'real' training. Most athletes would consider this to be much to little and a recipe for failure in an event as tough as 1/2 Ironman, which requires both speed and endurance. However, I was so happy to have the feeling of true fitness back in my body and a positive outlook that I could really picture myself competing for the win.

I made a plan for the race to first survive the swim as best as possible. The bike I would take it a bit easier on the first lap to find my legs and save some energy for the tough 3rd lap. Then on the run I would do the same of increasing the pace as the race progressed.

In the race I did exactly as I planned and was incredibly happy to find my body did exactly as I asked. I could push hard when I wanted to and get the maximum out of my body. Despite pushing to the max and doing perhaps my best 1/2 Ironman performance ever, I was unable to catch a flying Tuukka Miettinen who was simply a step above me on that day. Hats off to Tuukka as he has also been working incredibly hard for many years to win that race. Next year will be another great battle I am sure as my fitness will continue to improve.

Below are a few pictures courtesy of Kaisa Utrianen.

Race Update:

2011-07-03T16:43:00.007+03:00

Its been a busy last three weeks with Forssa 1/2 marathon, Juhannus triathlon in Turku, TT national championships and Kisko triathlon. The results are starting to improve but I am feeling about 90% fit now. True race fitness is still lacking but I am quite satisfied with my base now. Swimming is a bit of joke but I can't expect much as I only started training again about a month ago.

Forssa started great with the first 1okm in 33 minutes but then legs went out and ended up with severe cramping and had to jog easy to the finish in the last 5km. A couple days later I was recovered enough to win the Juhannus triathlon, which is always a fun event as it is so short and fast. Then there was the national time trial championships, which ended up being canceled because a bad thunderstorm came through the start area after about 15 guys had started. I was one of the unlucky guys to start but I was told to stop at the 1/2 way mark. Apparently one guy got hit by lightning, so probably good they canceled the race. And finally at the Kisko triathlon I was 2nd behind Teemu Lemmettylä.

A few pictures below curtesy of my good friend Pekka from Juhannus triathlon.

Pepsi Max Addict

2011-06-22T08:34:00.000+03:00

My name is Darby and I have been a Pepsi Max addict for five years. While coffee may be my passion and hobby to make the perfect shot of espresso, Pepsi Max I cannot live without. Not so much for its caffeine content but for something not written on the label that allows to increased productivity and concentration in what ever you are doing. Leave me a lone in a room with a 2L bottle and for sure its gone within an hour. And take the Max away from me and I suffer from withdrawal symptoms like headaches, general fatigue, poor motivation and irritability. I am not alone in this battle with Pepsi Max addiction.

My wife was the one who introduced me to this drug and she remains a hardcore junky that loves to push my addiction. I remember the day she introduced me to Pepsi Max... I thought she was joking when she angrily told me to run to the store and get 8L of Pepsi Max before she kicked my ass. Later on I truly understood the power of her addiction when her marathon performance went bad because apparently in Germany they only sell Coke products (yes, there is a difference). And I used to laugh at her addiction until I realized I too had slowly become addicted without noticing. We are not alone in our addictions either, as I can say some of my friends suffer too from Pepsi Max addiction (if your name begins with a P and ends with ekka then I might be talking about you).

Why is Pepsi Max so addicting? I quickly snap off a question to my good friend Google that shows many other stories of Pepsi Max addiction but with no conclusion as to the causes. Perhaps Pepsi is actually stealing a page from the original Coke recipe? I will give one bottle of Pepsi Max to the first person who can explain the addictive powers of Pepsi Max.

Run Happy

2011-06-13T12:41:00.002+03:00

Interesting to read a running book lately entitled "Run" by Matt Fitzgerald. The subtitle of the book is "The mind-body method of running by feel." While I have only made it a couple chapters into the book, the basic idea is athletes are able to achieve better results when they learn to listen to their bodies. Also key to success is actually enjoying the training and racing. In short, if you are happy to be training and competing, your results will be better than if you push through tough training programs where motivation is hard to find.

The past few months (before reading the book) I had also begun to finally realize this truth by accident. I took a year away from any serious training and competition and when I started to get back my motivation I knew it had to be balanced with all the other aspects of my life. I decided quite quickly it was better to not follow any specific program because it would only create tension in the rest of my life. My training idea became that if I had time, energy and motivation then I would train, and train hard. I also decided that I would try to race as much as possible, because that is where the real fun is at!

Now a few months on from starting this training philosophy it has really begun to show results. Most people (athletes who train seriously) would probably laugh at the disorganization and minimal amount of training I have done in the past 6 months, however, I have found that my fitness and motivation have come to perhaps higher levels than when I was super-serious and following tightly scheduled training plans. And my results are also showing this training philosophy to be true with pr and near pr times in all distances I have raced so far this year.

Back to the book: I find it interesting that I started to read this book after I had kind of figured out the 'run happy' concept for myself. Now I wonder how my earlier sporting success could have been different if I had read the book or figured out on my own that the first priority in reaching full athletic potential is to actually enjoy what you are doing! Funny (or depressing) to think that for 10 years I have been over-training or fighting through injuries or training through days I wish would not have and basically not enjoying sport.

While I am kind of promoting the idea of not following training programs and doing what ever feels good, when ever it feels good, I do have to say that there does need to be some structure to any athlete's preparation. For example, the Run book mentions that famed US distance runner and now coach of many of the country's top athletes, Alberto Salazar, is using the coaching concept of limited scheduling. Salazar does tell his athletes what their program is but basically only a couple days or even less before the actual training. This means they learn to listen to their bodies, tell the coach how they feel and what they think their body needs, then the coach can decide what is appropriate.

Racing Update:

3rd - GP Rosendahl (bike race)

2nd - SM Duathlon (Finnish championships - Short distance)

4th - PM cross country (regional xc championships 6km)

1st - Salo cross country (really local xc championships!)

49th - Porvoon Ajot (fyi, don't try to do insane stair training a couple days before a 180km bike race! Not going to make the race go any easier :D)

Up Next:

- June 18th - Forssa Suvi-Ilta 1/2 marathon (this will be a good chance to try for new PR as course is fast and legs should be good, assuming I recover from my stair training/180km bike race combo, which hurts like hell right now...

- June 21st - Juhannus triathlon - great sprint triathlon organized by our club

- July 1st - SM tempo - Finnish time-trial championships 50km. good test for the legs

- July 2nd - Kisko triathlon - great local triathlon that is perfect for preparation for Finnish Championships.

- July 16th - Finn Triathlon - The big goal for the year! Try to get my fitness back to a level where I can be competing for the win. A true test of all the ideas I written above...

Double trouble

2011-04-18T12:00:00.003+03:00

The Simo Klimscheffskij muistoajo (Memorial Ride) was held just outside of Turku on a rolling 4km loop. While I can count on two hands many times I have ridden a bike during the past year, I was surprised to find my legs were still able to handle racing.

The first bike race of the year (or last two years) started quite well but unfortunately came to an abrupt end after about 50km. During the first 1/2 dozen laps I tried a few times to get up the road in a break away but was unsuccessful. I decided to hangout in the pack for a while longer to wait until the other riders were more fatigued, then try again.

Unfortunately during an easy section of the race, I put both my wheels into a rather deep and narrow crack in the road. The large bang the proceed told me the race was over as both tires were completely blown out. Luckily I was able to keep my bike right side up and avoid crashing as another rider was not so lucky in the same section of road earlier in the race.

Despite having to stop early, I was quite happy to learn my legs remembered how to race. Even if the rest of my body was a bit sluggish (sore back and neck).

The next couple of weeks I will focus on running more and also training my cycling base a bit in order to be ready for GP Rosendahl and SM duathlon later this spring. Looking forward to both!

Getting rolling

2011-04-12T11:13:00.002+03:00

After about a year of time away from serious sports, I am finally back into some kind of rhythm again. I spent the majority of last year working on building a house for my family, which was time well spent, how ever, it left little time or energy for pursuing triathlon like I had been in the past.

The house project was completed in September and I quickly set about trying to get into shape for Frankfurt marathon. Unfortunately I only had about 6 weeks to prepare and because the house project had been incredibly tiring, I was mostly interested in getting recovered from that rather than any real training. I managed to do a few 10km races and a few long runs but that was about all the preparation I got done. The first 1/2 actually went quite well in 1:17 but that was short lived. Cramps and general lack of fitness finally got the better of me and I turned cruise control on to try and make it to the finish in one piece. The end time of 2:56 was slightly embarrassing but gives good motivation to get my ass in shape this year!

This past winter I tried to get into some new routine and build back my aerobic fitness. XC skiing was the focus of my training and it did make a big difference in raising my fitness from the low level it started at. Unfortunately the consistency in training was not really there as I took a new job, my wife and I got a 2nd baby in February, and there was a lot of general fatigue associated with the previous year's efforts building our house.

I did manage to get enough running fitness to do a few indoor track races, which turned out to be very fun even if I am not well suited to the speed of them. Managing 4:19 in 1500m and 8:53 in 3000m was quite ok for me and gave some new inspiration to improve my running.

Now spring has arrived and I am really getting motivated to work on returning my fitness to a high level again. I do however, need to keep in mind I don't have a huge base of fitness like I used to and my daily time for training is quite limited with a family and job. Adapting to this different training environment has not been easy but I am slowly learning what works and what doesn't.

Weekdays are mostly about maintaining fitness and not becoming overly tired from work and life in general. Then when it comes to weekends, then I really try to push hard. As my friend Tatu eloquently termed it yesterday, "hero training" is the core of my training strategy on weekends. This usually involves going to a local running race and punishing myself, then hoping on the bike and riding home, no matter how far that is. Last weekend the trip home from an 11km running event turned out to be 160km, hence the 'hero' title.

While my routine is far from perfect and I am enjoying being back on the bike and running a bit. My hope is that by summer time this routine is expanded a bit and refined so I can start to see improvements.

My basic goals for this year are: new PB in 1/2 marathon, good performance in Finnish 1/2 Ironman champs, and run 'A' level marathon in Frankfurt.

I will make an effort to post on this blog frequently and hopefully find something interesting to write about! btw... if you want to read real entertainment.. visit my friends blog www.iamtedking.com he has a special way with words that is hard to explain. Well worth reading regularly!

2010 update

2010-06-25T09:42:00.003+03:00

In case anyone actually reads this, I decided to take the five minutes to update what I am up to this year.

Last autumn my wife and I decided to buy a house. The one detail is the house was not finished, so by buying it, I signed up for a rather large construction project. I knew starting the project my triathlon racing would have to take second priority until we moved in and that has been the case since November when we started.

This season I have decided to concentrate on first finishing the house, which is now only a couple weeks from being completed, then returning to training with the idea that 2011 will be my next season competing professionally again. Its possible later this season I can get enough training to do some races, but I don't expect to be 100% competitive and will use the remainder of this season for training. I also just need to recover from this building project, which has been quite a bit more difficult physically and mentally than triathlon training and racing. Once recovered, I think returning to training will feel quite relaxing!

Late update

2009-10-13T12:26:00.002+03:00

Sorry about this one... its been over a month since my last race and I still have not had time to write this post. And I actually have an interesting story this time.

Tristar 200 Andalucia was my last event of the year after I decided to skip Ironman 70.3 World Championships. The Tristar race was something totally different than what I or anyone has ever done.

Starting with a 169km bike, the race was draft legal and very competitive from the beginning. Obviously I had an advantage from my cycling background as the format was basically a bike race followed by a short 1km swim and a deathmarch 30km run down a beach. The bike section I knew was where I had to leave my mark.

Lining up on the start, I took the front row and basically kept that same position all the way to the finish. When the race began, it was still completely dark! And with about 200 athletes in the group, I was not risking anything and immediately went on the attack. It took a few tries but after about 15 minutes, I had established a group of three that built a significant advantage before the sun even came up. That was an experience I will never forget, racing out of the start town into the rolling hills when there was NO light. Crazy experience.

During the bike, there were four sprints for money. 500, 300, and 100€ for each sprint. I took this very seriously as I knew my fitness might not keep me going all the way to the finish for a overall placing. My goal was to clean up the sprints then hold onto my advantage as long as possible and suffer to the finish.

Everything went EXACTLY to plan as I won the first, second, and fourth sprints plus finished 2nd in the third bike sprint. There were also sprints just after the swim and 10kms into the run. Both of those I managed to get 2nd or 3rd.

By the end of the bike, I was pretty tired from working so hard to get the sprint money. And when I entered the water ever muscle in my lower body started to cramp. I was able to swim ok until about 3/4 of the way through the cross river swim, but then the cramping really started. 'Oh shit' I was thinking. I came to a complete stop and started to scream. I was sinking and was honestly nervous I would need to be pulled from the water. A boat came over to help but I tried to relax so I could complete the swim. After a couple minutes sitting in the water, I managed to start moving again, although the legs were still completely cramped.

I saw one guy pass me when I was standing still and I wanted to catch him again so I could get the swim sprint money. I swam super hard just to catch him then tried to run up the beach to the sprint line. OUCH... what a deadly slow sprint. We were both cramping so badly. I still do not know who won that sprint but after we both were lying on the ground in extreme pain from all the cramping.

Sitting in the transition tent floor trying to get shoes on was the next challenge. It took another couple minutes to get the shoes on as the legs were still completely cramped. However, once I got started on the run, things starting to loosen up a little.

Having won so many sprints already, I felt like champion. In fact, I had already decided my day was done and I just needed to get to the finish in order to get my sprint money. I took my time at every feed station on the brutally hot run along the beach and even walked for a little while when my stomach started to have problems, but going into the last 10 kms I started to feel better and picked up the pace. Basically I was bored and wanted to get to the finish faster.

I had been calculating how many people had caught me on the run and I believed I was already outside of the top 5 which were eligible for final placing prize money. I did try to keep my pace solid during the run in case someone in front of me started to have problems. But I never believed I would get into the top 5. To my surprise, after finishing, I found out the a couple of the guys who had passed me were disqualified for missing some of the course. I ended up in 5th place because of that!

The day was filled with incredible suffering but I was immensely happy to finally take home some decent prize money. I had worked very hard for that and it felt great.

Now I am on my fall vacation and wondering what adventures I will find for next year. The Tristar 200 event opened my eyes to the triathlon world outside of Ironman. Now I am hoping to find similar events for next year that are competitive but still offer a chance to make a living. With a young child and a house loan (still in the process of buying the house now) I would love to make a basic living from racing triathlon but it seems quite difficult to do so. Finding a sponsor from Finland is basically impossible, so I either need to win every race I enter, or keep a 2nd job, which is also hard to find in Finland these days.

I will try to keep writing about how my plans for next year come. The off-season this year will be a busy one with my wife finishing up medical school, our attempts at buying a house, my attempt at finding reliable income, and my everyday job of taking care of 15 month old girl.

Best,
Darby

Felt DA - You CAN buy speed!

2009-08-25T08:31:00.005+03:00

This is a blog entry I really should have done a long time ago but I keep forgetting. My sponsor Huntteri, which is the importer to Finland for Felt Bicycles has been incredibly generous to set me up with what is perhaps the fastest bike on the roads today. The Felt DA.

In my past cycling teams I have had sponsors including Cannondale, Pinerello, Specialized, and Trek but I can honestly say that Felt has done their homework to make a superior time trial and triathlon bike. While it is obvious I am biased because of my sponsorship by Felt, I will try to keep this review as honest and straight forward as possible.

Historically time trial bikes were not very comfortable and handling was poor at best. The Felt DA set up blows away the previous standards for TT bikes and gives a comfortable and very precise ride. The steering mechanism is perhaps the key and provides a stiff and responsive feel thanks to it's unique design. Also the adjustable stem makes fine tuning the riding position very simple. The bikes all come with three different lengths of stems as well.

Aerodynamically, the bike has all the latest concepts represented with internal cable routing, massive real wheel cutout, hidden rear brake and the lengthened head tube thanks to the external steerer tube. Most importantly in my opinion is the choice of Zipp 1080 (rear) and Zipp 808 (front) wheels that are the best aero wheels available. Just take a look at what the guys are riding in the Tour de France time trials. Even teams not sponsored by Zipp use their wheels after removing the decals. I might not be able to afford wind tunnel testing to back up my opinions on aerodynamics but you can learn a lot from looking and reading about how the top time trial riders set up their bikes and why.

The Zipp 1080 rear wheel out performs any disc wheel because it can handle cross winds much better, which saves energy, plus the aerodynamics are virtually the same as a disc in a straight line. Especially in triathlon where the conditions will always be changing during the day, the combination of the 1080 and 808 is the best option to maximize aerodynamics while still being able to handle varying winds.

The overall setup for the bike including components and design is very well thought out. Shimano Dura-Ace is the best performing component group available and the DA includes the full group. Felt has been very smart in designing the aero frame to accept normal brake calipers and bottom bracket, where as you see many other current tt bikes requiring custom or special components just to fit within the frame.

The Devox (Felt's own brand) aero bar is surprisingly well designed for a first generation product. The bars include special rubber grips that are very comfortable and safe even when in wet conditions. The extensions come extra long in an 'S bend' style to allow for cutting down to either 'ski bend' or 'straight' style. Personally I cut them to the short ski bend for my ideal hand position. Only down side I see to these bars is the lack of adjust ability for the extensions to move narrower or wider. The arm rests are able to move side to side but the actual bars are in a fixed position. It works fine for me but some people might want more range there.

Perhaps the only other thing that could be improved is the seat post clamp design that is very tightly built and can make pulling the seat post out very difficult if it has been in place for a long time.

The Felt DA is the flag ship of Felt's time trial and triathlon series of bikes and they spare no expense in making the fastest possible bike. Its 9000€ retail price tag is steep but considering the wheels, components and design, I feel its a valid price. Its notable that their cheaper bikes are similarly designed and use almost the same frame but smartly chosen components to help reduce the price. If you are in the market for tt bike, Felt is definitely at the front of the pack and worth considering. http://www.feltracing.com/09-catalog-international/time-trial-triathlon.aspx

My Felt DA will be available for purchase at the end of the 2009 season in November after Ironman 70.3 world championships. If you are looking for the fastest possible bike and want to save a little money, my DA has only 700kms on it and is guaranteed to make you faster! Offers are now being accepted at darby1kenobi at yahoo dot comm.

Antwerp 70.3 - 2009

2009-08-06T12:12:00.002+03:00

Antwerp was my first real triathlon three years ago and was part of what got me hooked on the sport. I have come back every years since then and this being my third year was equally as fun as the first one.

Three years ago on my first attempt I struggled through the day and was completely burned by the end. This year was a large contrast in that I was able to push hard the whole day. And the times reflect that too. 16 minutes faster than my first time in Antwerp!

The result for 2009 was 11th place, which was a hard earned place this year. Last year I managed 7th place but looking at the times and the feeling I had in the race, I believe this year was a much better race. Not only was I faster in ALL three sports, but my strength was solid the whole day. Unfortunately for me, there is becoming much more competition at the 70.3 events and Antwerp 2009 was no different. 13 different Ironman and 70.3 champions started the event combined with many olympic distance athletes including some who had competed in Beijing.

I knew the competition would be tougher this year so I made sure to focus on my own race and my own feeling the whole day. I tried not to get distracted when the swim start was INSANELY fast. When there were others on the bike who could equal my pace, I did not worry. And on the run when I felt it was my best run ever, and still someone ran past me like I was standing still, I did not freak out. In the end I am very proud that I was able to race within my limits and not push too hard. It has been my downfall in many races where I tried too hard to follow someone stronger than me only to have my race fall apart later because I burned my engine. I feel like I am finally learning how to race and feel when to push my body.

The only mistakes I made in the race were perhaps in the swim start by not forcing myself to the front line before the gun. Then during the bike I crashed on the last corner by not being careful enough with the rain soaked roads. And finally on the run by not concentrating enough during the 2nd of 3 laps and perhaps lost a couple minutes there.

BUT... it was still my best overall time with a 3:54. My PR run with a 1:18 and 2 minutes faster than last year. Bike was slightly faster than last year. So was swim with one minute faster than last year.

So, the feeling is good right now. While I was dissappointed to not come away with a better placing and some prize money to pay back the expenses, it is nice to know I am almost on the same level with the top guys. Only thing lacking at this point is a little more speed in the swim start, then the story is completely different.

Now I am taking a short break to recover completely before I start a serious block of training that culminates in November with the world championships. After seeing my performance in Belgium I have set my goals for worlds to be a sub 3:50 time, with a sub 1:15 run. All of which I believe are possible I can concentrate over the next three months of training.

Finntriathlon (SM puolimatka)

2009-07-20T08:29:00.002+03:00

First looser again...

I seem to be good at collecting 2nd place finishes. I am not complaining. 2nd is better than most other places of course. But some day it would be nice to actually win a race!

Great race all around though. It was fun to have such a quality field of competitors this year and I think everyone was really hoping to win the race. I knew it was going to be a good battle but it was very hard to predict who would finally win.

In terms of my race, everything went very well. Swim was a little tough at the start but I managed to get into a strong group for the whole 1.9km. In the end I was only about 2 minutes behind the fastest, which is great by my swim standards!

I pushed very hard to go through transition fast so when I started the bike, I would not take anyone with me. I knew it was best to do the bike solo as I am usually the strongest there so anyone coming with me would be getting a free ride. I was not going to let that happen.

The first 10km I pushed very hard on the bike to keep any of my competitors from coming back to me and also I tried to bridge the gap to the front two guys. Unfortunately Marko and Teemu were going quite fast and I was only able to match their pace in the beginning. Starting the third lap, I knew Teemu had been dropped by Marko, so I lifted the pace to try and catch Teemu before the run. It was my only chance to win the race, if I could start with or before Teemu on the run.

I was able to bring back Teemu about 5km before the run start and began the run with only Marko in front. I knew I would be able to easily catch him on the run but I was mostly worried about Teemu catching me on the run. And he did, quite quickly. We ran together for the beginning few kms but then Teemu started to cramp. I took a sizeable lead until the final of four laps when Teemu's legs came around and he was able to catch up to me and really go fast. When he passed me it was like I was walking and he was sprinting! He really has another gear that I don't have yet. Perhaps next year I will learn how to really run like Teemu but for this year I have to be content with 2nd place again.

Still, it was my best performance yet and I can easily say it could be even better with just a few small adjustments. In two weeks I will race 70.3 Antwerp in Belgium where I feel very confident I can get a good result. Already feeling recovered well, just need to take it easy for a couple more days then do some tune up training before Antwerp.

BTW... I had to add one comment to Teemu Lemmettylä's pre-race prediction blog. I thought it was rather funny that only one person even predicted me as a top three finisher. I was 2nd two years ago. Last year I would have been at least 2nd place if I did not choose to drop out with knee pain. And this year I have progressed even more. So.... maybe next year we will see my name on the top three list? Hopefully I have earned that by now...

https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=3252325662181212647&postID=1596992651472008820

Until next time...

-darby

Kesä training

2009-06-30T11:22:00.002+03:00

Summer is always much better for the training than other seasons. My quality of training improves a lot and the volume goes up as well. That explains why my first races of the year are always a little disappointing. But now is when the fun begins.

After Switzerland I took it very easy for a week or so then began serious training again. I have also done two smaller races for training. First was our club's own Juhannus triathlon where I easily won with a strong run. Second event was last saturday in Kisko where I also easily won with a time under 2 hours for the 1500m, 45km, 10.5km event. Nice to have a 7 minute lead by the finish too, but some of that was due to the fact my coach Mika Luoto was using the event for a final tune up for Ironman Austria next weekend and really backed off the pace during the run.

Now my fitness is really coming up quickly and I will probably race Olympic distance national championships in a couple weeks for training purposes. Then see what kind of result I can get at the Jorioinen 1/2 distance nationals in three weeks. Two weeks after that is Ironman 70.3 Antwerp where I would really like to get a good result. I feel like anything is possible at this point so I will continue to push hard and maximize every possible training opportunity.

Swiss cheese

2009-06-11T20:09:00.005+03:00

As usual, I am about a week or more behind in updating the blog. I apologize but life before and after an event is always too busy to get everything done. First you are running around trying to get everything ready for the race while maintaining training. Never mind normal working and family life.

Ironman 70.3 Switzerland was a success. The basic result was 12th place overall and 3rd fastest bike. And what a sweet course! I have always loved Switzerland ever since I raced there during my cycling days. Its one of the most naturally beautiful places I have ever seen. Plus the culture there is much to my liking. People are friendly but also give you space and privacy.

This trip was particularly fun because my wife and daughter were able to accompany me, which I always really enjoy. They got to spend some time in Zurich while I was preparing for the race. Then after the race we went for a car trip through the mountains for a day. Amazing place!

The swim was better than Austria and left me in contact with some of the major players. Of course I can and should be swimming faster, but everything comes when it is ready.

The bike course was made more me. Many steep climbs with very little flat sections. I was definately most comfortable going uphill and perhaps I could have even pushed harder on the uphills but then I would have lost the help of my group on the downhills and flats. Maybe next year I try to go all out on the uphills to see what happens.

My run time was something like 1:22 which is not so amazing by its self, but considering the tough bike before, and the fact the running course had a big set of stairs to run up! ... its not so bad. Actually the fastest guy ran 1:16 which is pretty slow for the fastest time. He (Massimo Cigana) was with me on the bike the whole day and ended up 5th overall, which shows if I can improve my run then I can really move up in the overall. And I am confident I have not even come close to maximizing my potential in the run.

Overall, I am very please with the result, especially because it earned me a spot to Ironman 70.3 World Championships again. Last year was a little dissappointing at worlds, so I am happy to get another chance to prove myself on the highest level.

Its been so long since my last post I will have to write a 2nd one right now to update how things have gone since Switzerland.

Ironman 70.3 Austria report

2009-05-27T14:25:00.004+03:00

The first major event of the year took place for me last Sunday in St. Pölten, outside Vienna. This was my second time to the event and I really enjoyed it last year. My hope was to improve on my average performance of last year, but I knew ahead of time that getting an early season result is very difficult to predict.

So I entered with very little self-pressure to do a big result and only the hope to improve and have fun. This more or less was accomplished but my performance still has quite a lot of room for improvement.

The right from the start the swim was kicking my ass as usual. The swim being my big weakness, I am very used to this by now, but in this race it seemed like the pack was going faster than usual and I was going slower than usual. In the end I was about 4 minutes in back of the first guys and 1 minute behind my pace from last year.

The bike was very fun as the hilly course suites me well. But starting so far back from the swim made for a long lonely day on the bike. I passed many people when ever the course went up hill but the rest of the day I was going solo. The bike times were a few minutes slower than last year by everyone and I was no exception. I rode very conservatively and was able to keep a consistent pace the whole day, even if it was slower than I could maybe to at maximum effort.

Onto the run I kept the same rhythm of a conservative pace for the first 10km and then began to push harder for the final 10km. Unfortunately I maybe ate a little too much the day before and started to need a toilet very badly in the final 5km. By the last 3km my stomach was a total mess and cramping very badly. It became not possible to push hard anymore and my pace slowed substantially. On a positive note, I still managed to do my best 1/2 marathon time in a triathlon! It's a shame i could not have kept my pace the full distance as it would have been even faster by a couple minutes at least.

After the race I felt positive about the results despite not being as fast or high placed as i had hoped. This leaves me very ready for the next event in Switzerland in less than two weeks. The course there is similar and I feel like my form is starting to get more ready for a better result.

First need to rest up and kick this little head cold I got from travelling. But overall, things are going well.

A big thanks to all my sponsors including Felt Bicycles, BBB components and accessories, Huntteri importers, and DeSoto wetsuit and triathlon gear. They have helped get me to this race with the best possible equipment. Posted below is a quick picture of my new Felt DA... please remember to wipe the drool off your keyboard after seeing this picture. I keep a role of toilet paper handy at all times just for this reason ;-) I will do an in-depth story on this bike shortly when I get some better pictures and time to write. But damn.. this is a fast fast bike!

Round one...

2009-05-11T10:28:00.002+03:00

The season has really started now with a number of running and cycling races during the past month. After my first 10km event in Turku, I did another small 10km race in Salo but was greeted with much better conditions. Although the course was a little hilly, or very hilly actually, I managed to run 33 minutes even. Not my best time, but season is still very early and that was a tough tough course.

Unfortunately a few days after that I got nailed by a nasty flu virus that kept me out of training for almost a week with fevers and overall bad feeling. The time I was sick was also supposed to be my "spring training camp" over the Easter holiday. But instead of hitting the road for 5 hour bike rides, I was sleeping for 5 hour naps to try and get healthy.

Disappointing, but not much you can do when a virus comes. Just wait...

BUT... time moves along anyways. After a careful week of training to get back into things, I did my first bike race in four years! Crazy... when I left cycling I thought I would never race again. Too much stress, too much negative pressure, etc. But now here in Finland it is a different story. I can do what ever I want in a race and no one cares. No angry team directors. No pressure to win. Just ride the bike and try to make others suffer... well almost. I found out I have lost all power and acceleration needed for cycling. So I am able to attack in races all I want, but usually everyone has no problem catching me. So much for making people suffer! But at least I am able to get into breakaways and try to help my Chebici teammates. If there were any REAL hills (anything over 1km) in Finland, I could actually do something but I have never been so strong on flat terrain.

So, for bike racing I did the Turku road race (can't remember the name right now) as well as the Sipoo RR. Both were excellent training even though I got my ass kicked. I was pleased to at least be the person who started the key breakaway in both races.

In running, I managed to get healthy enough to compete at the Finnish 1/2 marathon championships. However, I learned a hard lesson or two about being properly prepared for that tough an event. I felt very good before the race so I planned on doing 1:10 pace. I started well but the problem came when I went through the first 5km time check in almost exactly 16 minutes! Voi ei... after that i knew it was going to be tough. I had completely blown my engine in the first 5km and after that only got slower and slower. I guess also that my body was not really recovered from the nasty virus I had only two weeks before.

During the last week I put in 20km of racing with the regional xc running champs and also a small 12km road race in Turku. Both went well and I am feeling positive about my progress in running. Maybe the cycling races have helped in this area as well.

Now onto my first block of triathlon competitions starting in two weeks. First up is Ironman 70.3 Austria where i competed last year with below average results. This year I will use it more for training purposes and try very hard to control my pace instead of max effort the whole day. I have some feeling that I will actually get a better result this way.

Only two weeks after Austria will be my 2nd large event with Ironman 70.3 Switzerland. I have been hoping to do this race since I began triathlon a couple years ago. Now I have the opportunity, I am hoping my fitness will be strong after the past few weeks plus the race in Austria.

Of course it is risky to try two 1/2 Ironman races within two weeks, but the courses are very similar and if I do my recovery properly, a good result in Switzerland is very possible.

Oki... now I have to get back to my normal job... gotta pay the bills some how!

Let the season begin!

2009-04-01T15:32:00.002+03:00

Little bit of a slow start to the racing season here in Finland.

Of course triathlon racing is still many months away, but at least the running season is normally kicked off at the end of March with the Tulppaanijuoksu 10km.

This year was especially fun when we received a sizable chunk of snow the night before. As the race began, there was still a solid layer of snow melting and icy to make the run interesting.

Despite being the first race of the year, it is also quite fast with generally all the local top runners coming to prove they actually trained during the winter.

This year's field had maybe a little less depth but still a solid group of runners to make it challenging.

My race went as well as could be considering the challenging surface conditions. I managed to stay with the lead pack until 500m to the finish when the 'real runners' started to go for the win. A time of 33:59 was nothing special but still ok with me for early season.

Next weekend will be another 10km in Salo where the roads should be dry!

Remember to checkout my webshop www.verdasport.com as it has been updated lately.

1st looser...

2009-03-10T14:16:00.004+02:00

Welcome back to the winter updates!

February turned into real winter here finally and skiing became good for a few weeks. I have been trying to get out as much as possible to enjoy and get quality training.

Racing has started this year with a couple small events here. One 3000m indoor track race and a 'winter triathlon' of pool swim, ski, and run.

Both events were fun and went well but are really just used to quality training. I have never done a 3000m track race, so I didn't really know what to expect. I found out that running on the 175m track in Kupittaa is a little bit like being a hampster running inside a wheel in their cage. It gets boring really fast, but suprisingly it still goes by quickly. I guess 3000m is not that far.. Anyways, this was a pretty small race and I managed to get 2nd place in a time of 9:04.

My second event was our clubs winter triathlon where it all comes down to who actually knows how to ski. I am luck and have some background in skiing so I can keep up with most everyone, but as long as one real skier shows up, I am always going to be the first looser. Either way its great fun and gets your motivation going again after many months of boring training every week. And after the race my wife and I hosted a kickin' party, which was the real highlight of the event.

Now the weather is starting to change to spring and getting back on the bike sounds very good. When the sun comes out, my motivation to do anything doubles. I am a little bit like a bear in hibernation... winter is a time for sleeping. Summer is time to play. Now I have seen the light, watch out.

- Darby

Winter update

2009-02-03T15:49:00.002+02:00

2008 wrapped up with some relaxed time back here in Finland. Less than two weeks after being home, we got our first snow storm and the xc skiing was good for a week or so. Then the rain came...

South west Finland has a funny weather pattern affected by the nearby ocean, which makes November and December to be just above freezing while receiving volumes of precipitation. The result is the darkest, nastiest weather I have experienced. The sun comes up about 10-11AM and is gone by 2:30. Some days you never see the sun at all, just a dark glow in the sky behind the rain clouds.

BUT, I still love living here. The break in routine the seasons dictate, create a better balanced approach to sport. Naturally during the late fall and winter months, the training focuses on swimming, power training, and running. Cycling is replaced with xc skiing when ever possible, and the cycle cross bike with studded tires for ice, is also a key training tool.

This year, I took a sizeable break from serious training after the world championship. The body and mind was in need of a different routine, plus I have been busy building up my free lance copywrite business that pays my bills. I kept the training to non-structured activities for about one month until near Christmas time. Then I began the new training season with a ramp-up to normal volumes over a couple weeks.

Currently I am back in full swing and have been developing my run base as well as my key focus on swim development and power development. Dispite a few days off from the normal winter flu season, training is progressing well. Looking forward to the season to get going!

First events will be Ironman 70.3 Austria and 70.3 Switzerland on May 24th and June 7th respectively.

Be in touch more soon!

-Darby

Quote for the day:

2008-11-19T11:01:00.002+02:00

"A balanced diet is a cookie in each hand"
- S-Group advertisement

"I am Darby Thomas and I approve this message..."

Official Race Report

2008-11-17T14:12:00.005+02:00

2008 Ironman 70.3 Race Report

The Preparations

The Ironman 70.3 world championships is a crazy circus of over 1500 athletes from around the globe, many thousands of spectators and an energy that is hard to describe. In only two years of racing triathlon, qualifying for this spectacular event was a huge success in itself.

In the lead up the the race, I was very optimistic, ready to race and honestly felt like it was going to be my day to break into the top level of triathlon. After qualifying for the 2008 Ironman 70.3 world championships in Antwerp at the beginning of August, my one focus was building up to the peak of the season in Clearwater. Earlier in the year, my fitness and results had been up and down depending on injuries and other situations in life such as new jobs, my wedding, and the birth of my daughter. But in the three months of training before the world championships I had the most consistent training in many years giving me a positive overall feeling of readiness before the race.

The Race

Swim

Swimming is my weak spot in triathlon and I knew this swim would be difficult. However, I would never have expected it to go the way it did. I carefully picked my starting position and about one minute before the start, the defending world champion decided he would start next to me. Right about then my heart skipped a beat and I realized how important this race was.

When the gun went off I started to sprint into the water but right as I took my first steps into the water, my legs were kicked out by accident by a fellow competitor. I fell into the water and the remaining competitors ran over the top of me. After getting back onto my feet, the entire field was in front of me. I tried desperately to catch the main group but they quickly swam away from me. The rest of the swim was simply struggling and fighting my way to the end. I never got the rhythm I needed to go fast.

Bike

I knew after the swim I had a lot of work to do to catch the front group on the bicycle section and I quickly tried to find a fast tempo that would bring me to the front. My mind was still clear and focused despite my poor swim and I could still picture a top 10 result coming from the race if I could go well on the bike and run. I struggled some near the beginning of the bike to get comfortable, but I still started to pass riders quickly. After about 30 minutes I caught one athlete and we ended up riding together all the way to the finish of the bike. During the ride I tried to push the pace but still remained careful not to destroy my legs for the important run.

Run

Getting off the bike I was already feeling fatigue, soreness, and cramping in my legs. But I forced myself to focus on the running and breakdown the final hour into small sections. I started my run and the legs felt like rubber. I had no control of what they were doing and no power. I kept pushing but the legs would not respond. By halfway through the race, it was clear my run was not going to be my best. I tried to find a comfortable rhythm for the remainder of the race but found my legs were slowing down every step. The final time running over the large bridge almost forced me to a walk in the blazing heat. I struggled to the finish and tried to keep positive as I plodded along the final steps. Crossing the finish line I glanced up to see my time of 4:01, which was about 15 minutes slower than I had hoped.

Post Race

Disappointed beyond words was my first reaction after completing the race. I had just trained insanely hard and focused for three months and ended up racing about 5 minutes SLOWER than my last race, which was on a slower course. I tried to keep my head high but the disappointment was clear on my face. This was hard to understand how so much hard work could result in a loss.

But after more time away from the race and a chance to talk with others, I started to see the positive side of the story. This was my first time racing at the highest level and it is entirely normal to have problems during the first try at the world championships. Most people experience the same thing, including this year's winner who last year was leading the race with 5kms to only to fall apart and finish outside of the top 5. Also encouraging for me was to think that my race was clearly a bad day for me, however, I still managed a time of 4:01, which even one year ago was unthinkably fast for me. This proved that I have made huge improvements in the past year but was unfortunate to have a bad day on race day.

Future Direction

Everyone tells you after an experience like this that you always learn more from mistakes and bad days than from instant success. My career so far in triathlon has been marked by instant success and a fast rise to the top. Now I feel like the poor result from world championships is going to really help me in the coming years. I have learned many aspects of my triathlon game that can be improved such as swim speed and power on the bike.

However, the most important aspect I have learned from this experience is that it is possible to be over prepared. I started specific preparations for the event more than three months before, and spent the final four weeks in Florida training by myself. I think this was too much and in the future I will do a better result if I stay at home for longer where I can train with my normal routine until only 1-2 weeks before the race.

I feel like my race would have gone better if I had kept training with my regular groups and training partners. They provide powerful training tools to motive and push that are not easily replicated while training by myself. Additionally, having the opportunity to work directly with my coaches makes a huge difference in mental as well as physical preparedness.

Now I look more clearly at my race and preparations I feel like I know what I need to do to accomplish a top 5 placing and know it is possible. Motivation for the coming season is already building even though I am just starting my 'vacation.' I am now even more confident that with the support of my sponsors, training partners, coaches, and family, next year will be the time I step up to the highest level of endurance triathlon racing.

On a positive note...

2008-11-09T15:53:00.002+02:00

My head is still spinning and trying to understand how yesterday turned out so badly.

However, when I woke up this morning, my beautiful wife reminded me of something much more important than a bad day on the race course...

Today is Father's day! (in Finland)

That instantly brought a smile to my face and is something to really be proud of.

Now we go to Disney World and start vacation time!

Post race

2008-11-09T03:08:00.002+02:00

Just a quick update here...

Unfortunately I do not have any good news to share with my readers. Despite having perfect preparation and a great feeling before the race, today was quite simply a bad day.

I am not sure why it happened, but it did. I started the race feeling super positive and optimistic but right from the beginning something was wrong. The swim was not at all what I am capable of, despite pushing 100% the whole time. Partly the new experience of swimming in salt water could explain some of my poor performance or also my inexperience in swimming in a group. But for sure today was below my capability.

Then onto the bike I thought I was doing a relatively good ride, but looking at the results now, I was still 5 minutes off the pace I should have done.

But the real problem came on the run. Basically my legs would not respond when I wanted to increase the pace. The energy was gone and I had no power. I did everything I could to try and push harder but my legs would not respond. It felt like heavy weights were tied to my ankles and slowly pulling me down.

I guess everyone has bad days. I am extremely frustrated my bad day came today when I have prepared so well for many months for this one day. Now it is time to recover mentally, which could take some time. I am sure I have learned a lot from this experience, but at the moment that doesn't make me feel much better.

So, I thank everyone for supporting me in the lead up to this race. I am very sorry to not have a result from this. As they say, "back to the drawing board." (time to start over)

All the best,
Darby

Final prep

2008-11-05T20:00:00.002+02:00

The final week of preparations for the 70.3 world championships have gone very well. This past weekend I participated in a great local event, the Clearwater Beach Biathlon. I want to quickly thank Park, the event director, for organizing the event.

The unique event was a 2 mile run, 1/3 mile swim, followed by another 2 mile run. Definitely a first for me and a very enjoyable event, although the shock of running into the chilly water after a 2 mile run was pretty intense. The first 200 meters I was barely able to swim as my body just stopped working in the cold. After fighting through the waves to get out I eventually found some tempo but still had a poor feeling in the water.

Onto the final run I had to close a 200 meter gap to the first place and got that done by the turn around point. By the finish I had a sizable gap and started to feel good. A positive sign to feel good considering only two days before I had done a super tough 20 km run, which generally takes a few days to recover from.

Since last weekend I have had a couple rest days mixed with a couple final speed workouts to fine tune. Just trying to relax now and get mentally ready for a day of tough racing. Really looking forward to this race now I as feel as prepared as possible.

One final update to come just before the race.

Thanks for reading,
Darby

Election Day

2008-11-05T04:00:00.003+02:00

Today is a big day... my daughter's 4 month birthday, and of course the presidential election in the United States of America.

Having been in Florida for three weeks now and we have been watching a constant stream of political news almost every minute of everyday. At times it has made me sick but over the course it has become clear how important this election has become.

After 8 years of being slightly embarrassed to say I am an American, today I am proud to say that America has turned a corner and is beginning to move in a positive direction. While I have much respect for McCain and everything he has done for the US, Obama represents a needed change in the direction of the US.

Sitting here now watching Obama give his victory speech is something I will remember the rest of my life. I hope the rest of the world sees the significance of what happened today.

After I recover from today I will get back to writing about my preparations for world championships.

All the best,

Darby

Tune-Up

2008-10-25T23:48:00.002+03:00

Today we took a trip an hour south to Fort De Soto park where I raced the Sun Coast triathlon, a sprint distance event. I first want to thank Fred from Design Sports for organizing such a great event. It was great to see so many juniors participating in the sport.

The start of the event was at 7:30 am and with the sun rising only a few minutes before the start, it was still dark when we arrived to register and set up transition. Pretty crazy atmosphere running around in the dark trying to get oriented. Then when I finally got out to the beach, I was greeted with choppy water like I had never raced in before. Plus the salt water swim was a first for me.

Getting through the tough 1/3 mile swim ended up being not as bad as I thought. Although keeping on course was tough when waves were easily above the markers at times. Also the wave start system they used meant I was catching many of the earlier starters, which made for a few close calls of pushing someone under the water by accident.

Onto the bike I pushed near maximum pace and averaged around 45 kph. A little tail wind also helped get speeds of 55 kph on the back stretch. Pretty fun to hit that kind of speeds.

In the run I wanted to push my pace and work on speed. The 5km distance flew by and I was very happy with the feeling my legs had.

In the end I finished with a time gap over 2nd place of about 5 minutes. With this kind of fitness, I am feeling more and more confident this world championships will be a good event for me. Hopefully all the other parts of the puzzle come together in the coming weeks.

Next on the plan is a few more days of harder training before the final recovery period.

Training with Baywatch

2008-10-22T04:31:00.003+03:00

Greetings from sunny Florida! At least that is what all the post cards say from here...

And sunny it is! One of the few benefits of being a professional athlete in a sport that doesn't pay, is the locations of the events. This year Florida, next year Hawaii? Perhaps... but more likely two years away.

Anyways, life and training are going very well here in Florida. Riding has really picked up now the weather is warm and sunny. Also I have been learning how to open water swim in salt water, which is a new one for me. Really tough to not choke on the strong tasting salt water.

Today I also found a perfect training group to help me with the swim preparations. Clearwater beach's own Baywatch! Ok... no Pamela Anderson to swim with, but the folks from the life guard station let me join their morning swim/run workout. I think this will be very helpful in allowing me to do a good swim during the race. Perhaps you can see from the picture above which is me? Just look for the little bit different colored one...

In other news... I finally lost my big toe nail! It's been falling off since my race in Antwerp and today if finally went all the way. It's my first lost toe nail so I must be a real runner/triathlete now. Hopefully this is also my last as it is pretty disguesting now.

More coming soon...

-Darby

Getting 'Girl-ed'

2008-10-12T21:01:00.003+03:00

After a very successful past two months of training and racing, I am leaving Finland to do my final preparations for the 70.3 worlds in Florida. My wife Emilia, our daughter and I will spend one month in Florida and experience all the sun we can imagine, and of course fine tuning my training to do my largest race of the year.

Quick summary of the past month:

Swimming a ton.... many thanks to the Jani and Jari from the Aurajoen Uinti swim club who have allowed me to train with there team a few days per week. What a difference it makes to swim with swimmers! I really learned a lot and was humbled every day. Especially when even the slowest 15 year old girl could beat me!!! But its all part of the process of learning and getting better.

Running: I have focused on speed work and racing for the past month or two and it has showed with races going very well and training times getting faster. Still have some work to do before race day but all it going in the right direction.

Cycling: Weather in Finland cooperated for much of the past two months and I managed to get some good rides in. However, as the darkness and cold has been increasing the past couple weeks, I have started to lose motivation to train by myself. Florida will be the right place to do the final kms for cycling though.

Overall, I am very happy with my preparation and now look forward to a final push of training in Florida. And of course a little sunny vacation never hurts during late October and November in Finland!

All the best,

Darby

2nd PR in one week!

2008-09-14T19:33:00.002+03:00

Half Marathon PR at the Ruisalo Juoksu!

In less than one week I have managed to do two personal records in two different distances for running. It has been about four weeks since I started serious run training and obviously the benefits have been paying off quickly.

Last weekend I made my PR in the 5km distance with a time of 15:34 and now this weekend I have improved my 1/2 marathon to 1.12:43. While the improvement is only 16 seconds from my previous best, the course this weekend was significantly more difficult with lots of hills and soft dirt paths. Perfect training for my goals later this season and it also shows my running is improving to where it should be.

Next up is a little recovery for my sore legs and while I focus on swim training.

More PRs to come soon...

- Darby

New 5000m PR!

2008-09-09T10:02:00.003+03:00

Training must be progressing well as I just took 45 seconds off my previous best 5km time!

The event was a small 5000m track event here in Turku and I used it purely for training purposes. Doing some tough cycling training earlier in the day in addition to a week prior of hard swim and run trainings.

Next up is a half- marathon in Ruisalo that will also be a good test and training exercise. The course is not particularly fast, so I am not expecting a new PR for half-marathon. Just a tough training to help me do better in world championships.

Until later...
-darby

World's Prep Vol.1

2008-09-03T11:40:00.002+03:00

This will be the first time I have had a real chance to prepare for one race.

After taking a significant break from real training for about three weeks, I have now started my preparation for world championships in November. It seems like a long way away, but in reality I have only 6 more weeks training in Finland before going to Florida to do my final preparations.

The basic plan is this: Swim a lot and get faster. Bike a lot and get stronger. And run a lot and get faster. Simple!

The exact plans for this period of training really start with maintaining my health. I cannot afford to be injured at all during the next two months. I am notoriously bad a creating injuries at the worst possible time. So for now my priority is to stay healthy no matter what. If it means I have to train a little less, then its fine as long as I make it to the start line with whole body working in one direction.

Swim training is always my focus because I am still learning. To accomplish my goal of a top 10 placing in Florida I need to spend a large amount of time training with the local swim club. They have some guys who are at a very high level (almost made it to Beijing!) so I am continuously pushed to go faster. Even the 14 year old girls in the club are pushing me... I guess I have a long way to go until I become a 'real' swimmer... Every day spent training with them makes me faster.

The bike training is less a priority for me. I am already near the top of the field in that regard. The only thing keeping me from being even faster is a lack of long trainings. My usual training the past few years is max 3 hours per ride. Generally closer to 2 hours on a normal training day. That is not enough to make it through 90kms of max effort. So I will begin to do some real training rides a couple days per week. Something between 3-6 hours on my long rides. Combine this with some harder intervals and tempo sessions should bring my bike level up another notch. I have been a little lazy the past couple years with cycling and now its time to get going again.

Running. This is where being healthy is important. I am very new to running also and my body does not like the pounding. As a rule, I am injured the majority of the time when running. Currently I am UN-injured and I would like to keep it that way! Focusing on technique trainings and shorter fast runs will minimize my risk to injury and keep my progress moving forward. My goal of running near 1:15 is achievable if I keep this training level all the way to the event.

Sorry for the dry post. Next time I try to think of something interesting to say... Or perhaps a quote is best to seal this entry.

" I figure the faster I pedal, the faster I can retire- Lance Armstrong"

Clearwater!

2008-08-05T10:30:00.004+03:00

Antwerp 70.3 went very well overall and I finished in 7th place, which also earned me a spot to the Ironman 70.3 World Championchips in Clearwater, Florida!

The day went smoothly for most of the time, although I cannot say it was perfect. Swim I managed to put in a solid effort, but still lost the main group of contenders I was hoping to stay with. Only loosing 2 minutes to the fastest was still quite ok for me.

In the bike I was flying for most of the day but when the rain started coming down, I over cooked one corner and ended up sliding across the pavement on my back/ass. Not too bad a crash in the end because it was so slippery... i really didn't loose much skin amazingly! This little incident only slowed me down by about 30 seconds I estimate, and I was not banged up so my pace continued.

The run was more average than the rest of my day. It took me 10kms until I finally hit my stride and felt comfortable. I believe this is my area to focus on next if I want to take the next step up to finish on the podium. A 1:20 run is simply not fast enough. With some more specific run and transition training I think I can easily take a couple minutes off this time.

In the end I am very satisified with my day but also see room for improvement with just a few tweaks to my training during the coming weeks.

Next up on the racing calendar... perhaps Ironman 70.3 Monaco, if my budget allows. Otherwise, a large training block to prepare for World Championchips.

But for now, I am just relaxing and preparing for our wedding this weekend! Bigger things to think about now than triathlon! This will be a great weekend and with so many family and friends attending from all over the world. It is the day we have been waiting for the past two years and also a chance to introduce our beautiful daughter to our family and friends.

I also want to send my best wishes to my friend Chris and his wife Mieke from Belgium. I hope you can gather some strength from my performance and continue to fight hard.

Antwerp 70.3 Preview

2008-07-28T14:39:00.002+03:00

Last year 70.3 Antwerp served as my entry into the international level competitions and it opened my eyes to the excitement and incredible feeling you get competing in major events like the Ironman series. One year later I feel like a totally different athlete and have been looking forward to Antwerp to demonstrate my current level of fitness.

In the 2007 edition I suffered dearly through the swim as I was still very new to swimming and had never swam with that many people before. Now with one more years experience and many many kms in the pool, I am much more confident going into the swim.

The bike course is not necessarily the best for me because it is very flat but it will still be an area where I can put time into the majority of the other competitors. Last year I had an average ride because of a knee problem giving me large amounts of pain. This year my injury situation is under control and my fitness is at a very high level. I expect to be pushing very hard during the bike in an attempt to start the run with the leaders or very close.

Running is how triathlons are won and I believe I am capable of a top 10 run time in Antwerp. The course is very flat and fast, which provides me a good opportunity to get into a rhythm that can bring me to the finish in around 1:15 (assuming the course is roughly 21.1kms).

In setting goals for any event I find it is helpful to have best case, average day, and salvage performance set out in advance. For Antwerp I am setting a lofty 'best case' goal of finishing on the podium. Based on last years times, and this years fitness, that seems achievable on a good day. Of course this is impossible to predict, but starting with that in mind helps give motivation. 'Average day' goal will be a top ten placing with a run under 1:20. This is achievable even if I am not at my best on race day. And finally the worst case scenario or salvage performance goal will be a top 20 placing if all goes wrong. Example of this would be a flat tire or cramps or something similarly destructive to my performance. I believe just trying to finish strong, no matter what happens during the race, has an important motivational impact for later races.

Last year I had something in between an average day and salvage performance with the knee problems slowing me down drastically during the race, and I still managed to finish around 20th place. This year I am very optimistic about my chances of having a good day where everything comes together. This whole season has been very positive in the sense that every event has had strong improvements in some of the disciplines, but so far I have not put together a complete performance. Now it feels like everything is coming together to allow a day where I really show my potential. With the added motivation Emilia and my daughter have given me during the past month, I am ready to give a top performance.

Stay tuned...

- darby

Joroinen 1/2 Ironman SM

2008-07-13T12:55:00.002+03:00

How do you explain quiting a race while still in a position to win? I don't expect most people to understand this because it is not a normal decision to make. However, when you consider the whole picture, this was the only option I was given at the Joroinen 1/2 Ironman Finnish championships.

Starting the race was even a big question as late as two days before the Saturday race. I had three main things to consider with the race: 1) my daughter was born only one week ago and I did not want to leave her and Emilia at home 2) the last 3 weeks I had knee pain from ITB syndrome, which had stopped me from running at all 3) the last month my training had been very poor because of a new job, a baby coming, and the knee problem. So understandably it was a big question if starting Joroinen was even a good idea.

But after Emilia and I decided it would be ok to travel with our little one, I decided to accept the risk that my knee might not work during the run. This was an important race to me even if I was not properly prepared. I really wanted to show I was capable of winning the national championships after last year's 2nd place. It would have been an honour to take the top spot of the podium in my adopted country's national championships.

The knee pain I had been dealing with was the worst kind. It was not possible to run through this kind of an injury because it gets worse every step and eventually the knee will stop moving completely. I had the same injury three years ago when trying to run my first marathon. I made the mistake then of running through the pain and I paid for it dearly with a mandatory 6 month vacation from any running. I knew better this time that stopping when it started to hurt was the only option if I wanted to race again this season. And with Antwerp Ironman 70.3 only three weeks away, I needed to keep this knee working.

Starting the race I knew there was a chance the pain would return, but I decided to try my best anyways. From the beginning of the swim I had a good feeling and quickly fought to the front of the field and settled into a rhythm. After lap 1 of 2, I was about 5th place and within striking distance of a few more. By the end of the swim I came out in about 4th place with my coach Mika Luoto, and made a fast transition onto the bike.

I knew the bike was my chance to get out in front, so I quickly settled into a fast tempo and began to pull back time on the early leaders of Jarmo Hast and Marko Törmänen. Unfortunately for Törmänen, a flat rear tire ended his race about at about 30kms. And by km 50 I had past Hast for the lead. I continued to push hard to the end of the bike to get as big a lead as possible over the chasing DRAFT GROUP.

Once on the run, I felt relatively ok, but awkward also because of not running at all for almost three weeks prior to the event. I started very slowly to allow my body a chance to warm up to running again. Then at the start of lap two began to feel the pain returning to my knee. I tried to keep relaxed in the hopes it would go away, but it was a losing battle. My knee was already locking by km 8 of the run, so I stopped to put my knee strap on in the hopes it would stabilize the problem. Unfortunately, two kms later when coming through the lap/finish area, the pain was getting to the point it would cause long term damage if I continued. At that point I still had a small lead over Hast, but I knew I could not run any more with this problem quickly developing.

I pulled to the side and took my number off. Game over.

I know I made the right decision to stop the race. Sacrificing my health and possible chances to race well in Antwerp was not worth it. I regret not being able challenge Hast for the win, but there will always be another chance. Plus with my current running fitness it would have been tough to out run Hast who is a well established Olympic distance racer.

The only bad taste left from this experience was with a few other people's comments regarding my withdrawal from the race. Some saw me stopping only because I was getting caught by Hast. This was simply not the case. But I can understand why it may have looked that way. I stopped just before the start of another 5km lap. I was not going to damage my knee for another 5km just so people wouldn't think badly of my decision to drop out.

I proved I am capable of leading after the bike and now need to focus on getting my running to function like it should so I can compete for the overall victory. I have no doubt that given proper training and injury free time, I am can race at the highest level.

I want to thank the organizers of the Joroinen race for putting together an amazing event. I will be back next year and hope to put on a good show for you!

Thanks for reading this ridiculously long post. I try to write more soon and will try to write a little less...

Best,
Darby

Baby Girl!

2008-07-06T09:25:00.002+03:00

On July 4th, 2008, Emilia delivered us a beautiful and healthy baby girl! Mother and daughter are healthy and happy. We are extremely happy and can't even begin to explain how this feels. My head is still in the clouds!

As you can imagine, the weeks prior to the birth have been full of anticipation and restless nights. Now it has happened, it is simply amazing!

Understandably, I have been quite bad at updating this blog but hopefully I can quickly summarize the racing news now...

After Ironman 70.3 Austria, I took about one week of little or no training to recover. Two weeks after Austria was the Finnish short distance duathlon championships and it was one of my smaller goals for the year to win. Unfortunately, with a tough half ironman still fresh in my legs, I was unable to move one step higher on the podium from last year. Again, I was relegated to second by the strong Tuukka Miettinen who was in good form and tuning up for UK 70.3 the following weekend. While second place was not what I would have chosen, I did end up with a good consolation prize... a new motor scooter!

Next on the calendar was the Forssa 1/2 marathon, which was a last minute addition to my schedule as recommended by my coach Mika Luoto. I really do need to focus on my running as that is the only part holding me back from reaching my current goals. The event in Forssa is the 2nd largest running race in Finland and attracts many top runners. I took the tactic of trying to pace off Mika who was also targeting a 1:10 finishing time. After 10km I was on track with a time of 33:30 at that point. Unfortunately, the group I was in started to accelerate of a small hill and that was the end for me. Once I got dropped from that group my pace could no longer be maintained and I ran the remainder of the race by myself loosing time ever stride. Finishing in 1:14 was slightly disappointing, but understandable as I had no time to prepare for this event.

Next up was our club's own event the Juhannus or midsummer triathlon. While the event is small, we always make it competitive for the top spot and last year I was beaten by the veteran Kai Söderdahl. This year I was determined to win despite my very sore legs from the 1/2 marathon. I suffered through the choppy swim and put in a maximum effort in the bike to give almost a 2 minute lead in less than 20kms. Then it was just suffering through the run, which felt like hell from my sore legs.

About 10 days after the Juhannus triathlon was another small event in Kisko where I hoped to test my form. Once again, I got through the swim well and stayed with Mika then put in another strong bike to have more than 2 minutes advantage starting the 10km run. Everything was going well until the 2.5 km mark where there was a water station. I had no idea if there was 2x5km laps or one 10km out and back. So when I reached the 2.5km mark and did not see any sign to turn around, I kept running. The 2 people at the water station said something to me but never tried to stop me. After 500m I knew something was wrong. I turned around and stared to run back, but it was too late. My advantage over Mika had been erased and he was now about 1 minute infront of me. Angry was an understatement and I tried to push hard to make up the difference. In the end, Mika waited just before the finish line to give a sportsman-like finish and share the win.

Now, I have only one week before Joroinen 1/2 Ironman nationals. I had originally hoped to win this event after finishing 2nd last year. Now I will have to decide if I race at all. The combination of having a baby and some lingering leg problems from running will have to be balanced with my desire to win. In addition I am only four weeks away from my larger goal in Antwerp 70.3 where I hope to qualify for world championships. For now I will just continue to enjoy the time with Emilia and my new daughter, then decide later this week if I race Joroinen.

Thats all for now... time to get back to the hospital to see my ladies!

Best wishes,
Darby

Ironman 70.3 Austria

2008-06-19T10:11:00.004+03:00

Triathlon is a sport of details where every small piece of the puzzle matters in reaching the overall result. Going into my first major ½ Ironman event of the year in Austria, I felt my puzzle had all the pieces to get a top 5 placing. Training had progressed well beyond what I had accomplished the previous year and I had a good feeling going into the event.

Beautiful weather greeted me on race day with sun, no wind, and 25 degree temperatures. With over 1500 competitors, the race was the largest I had ever undertaken. The adrenaline of television helicopters and thousands of spectators helped fuel my efforts.

The first section of the event was the 1.9km swim, which was interestingly divided between two lakes with a short 200m run between the waters. Swimming is admittedly my weak point, so I simply tried to limit my losses in the first section.

Then pushed onto the bike section where I have an advantage over most due to my background as a professional level cyclist. The 90km flew past and I slowly caught over 30 athletes who had gained some time on me during the swim. Upon completing the bike leg, I was somewhere around 10^th position and felt relatively strong to do a fast ½-marathon.

The first 5kms of the run my legs felt like Jell-O and I quickly realized the day was not going as I had hoped. To reach the highest level in ½ Ironman racing, you need a deadly fast run of less than 1 hour 15 minutes. As the kms ticked past, my pace slowed and by the finish I could only manage a 1:22 ½-marathon. About 10 minutes more than my person best time for the distance.

While the end result of 22^nd place did not reach my goal of a top 5 placing, I left happy to know I am not far away from reaching that target. Now I have two months time to build upon my fitness and tune my running to be able to achieve what I know is possible. My season goal of racing the world championships is within reach and now I have a clear picture of what pieces of the puzzle I need to refine in order to reach my goal.

Fresh Start

2008-03-25T07:25:00.002+02:00

The 2008 season has officially begun with a 'winter triathlon' here in Turku. The event was pretty minimal and mostly just a fun way for people in the area to get a good workout and remember why they are training.

Taking place in and around our home swimming pool of Impivara, the triathlon consisted of a 500 meter pool swim, short break to put ski clothes on, then off to ski 7km and finish with a 4km run. Snow was particularly hard to find this year and we relied on the 2km man-made track nearby to do the event. MOST of the course had snow, except an uphill where you needed to carefully walk up a narrow band of snow on the side. Regardless of the poor snow conditions, the event was great fun and I can say my season has started on a good note after I finished a couple minutes ahead of 2nd place (my coach Mika).
The 2008 season has officially begun with a 'winter triathlon' here in Turku. The event was pretty minimal and mostly just a fun way for people in the area to get a good workout and remember why they are training.

Taking place in and around our home swimming pool of Impivara, the triathlon consisted of a 500 meter pool swim, short break to put ski clothes on, then off to ski 7km and finish with a 4km run. Snow was particularly hard to find this year and we relied on the 2km man-made track nearby to do the event. MOST of the course had snow, except an uphill where you needed to carefully walk up a narrow band of snow on the side. Regardless of the poor snow conditions, the event was great fun and I can say my season has started on a good note after I finished a couple minutes ahead of 2nd place (my coach Mika).

The remainder of March was spent battling the late winter that finally decided to come to Finland. While training in the snow normally is not a problem, I still managed to have three small cycling crashes in one month. Pretty amazing series of bad luck, but luckily only minor scraps and bruises.

Now everything is back on track and going well. The sun is feeling warm and spring has really started, so training begins to feel very easy when compared to the winter months. As they say, 'now the fun begins!'

The remainder of March was spent battling the late winter that finally decided to come to Finland. While training in the snow normally is not a problem, I still managed to have three small cycling crashes in one month. Pretty amazing series of bad luck, but luckily only minor scraps and bruises.

Now everything is back on track and going well. The sun is feeling warm and spring has really started, so training begins to feel very easy when compared to the winter months. As they say, 'now the fun begins!'

Winter Training

2008-03-25T07:21:00.001+02:00

During the winter months in Finland, most summer sport athletes such as runners, cyclists, and triathletes go to long training camps where there is sun and comfortable training conditions. Generally speaking this makes sense and the athletes do benefit from the month or more of focused training. However, not all athletes have the option to travel to warmer climates. I am in the second group but have found there are benefits to staying in Finland through the tough winter months.

My theory is that the harsh weather conditions where sun is rarely seen and warmth is only found in the sauna, help make you appreciate the beautiful summer conditions found in Finland later in the year. True, I do complain about the darkness when I wake up early to do morning swims. Yes, it is painful to ride your bike through blowing snow/rain long after the sun has gone down. But, when spring arrives, you feel more prepared to tackle the tough season of racing and training after surviving winter training in Finland.

Ironically, skiing is the best winter training you can get while training in Finland but this year is perhaps the worst winter ever for skiing. My only chance to ski this entire winter was on a brief trip back to my parent’s home in the US where snow was chest deep in most places. While it is disappointing that there is no skiing this season, it does leave an opportunity to train more traditionally with more cycling and outdoor running being possible. All the time building my strength and appreciation of sun and warm weather when it finally does return with spring.

Week 1 - 2008 "Holiday Cheer"

2008-01-09T15:41:00.000+02:00

Our recent trip back to Vermont was success. Visiting my family is always a great time for Emilia and I. This year was particularly special with our announcement of a baby in the works for next summer. The excitement this generated took some time to settle down, but eventually did and we all got back to the usual activities of eating, and eating...

By the end of the trip I was ready to start a salad and water diet after overdosing on chocolate, Ben & Jerry's, and Cabot cheese for two weeks. Combine that with the 'driving culture' in the US where everything is at least 2o minute drive away and no walking or cycling is allowed, gives an extra large dose of holiday cheer. My holiday cheer tipped the scale at about 2 kgs, which is not all that bad considering the sheer volume of Ben & Jerry's I was consuming each day.

Now back in Turku, loosing the holiday cheer is easy. No car means riding my bike at least one hour per day just going to normal activities such as work, school, training, etc. Add that to the first real training block of the year means I should be grateful for a couple extra kilos to use for energy in the coming weeks.

"Blissful Ignorance"

2007-12-17T09:36:00.000+02:00

Even before boarding the airplane from Frankfurt to Washington to take a trip back to Vermont for the holidays, I became nervous when I started to hear American English being spoken, which I am normally not accustomed to. At that point I finally accepted that I was returning to US soil and had to get used to the less positive aspects of American life.

One of the large benefits of being a foreigner living in Finland is that my poor Finnish skills allow me to be blissfully ignorant of the small talk coming from outside conversations. Gone are the obnoxious teenagers. Gone are the boastful talk about how crazy the last night's part was. My perception of what the average person talks about is skewed into convenient and bearable image. So most Finnish people sound very intelligent and have something real to talk about, or at least that is how I choose to hear it. Then hearing American English spoken where I can actually understand every word, quickly gives a more realistic picture of what crap comes out of the average person's mouth. Ah well. Back to reality.