Sorry in advance to all the non-Packer fans, but go go Pack! Aren't we on fire!?



Now that I got to say that, I'll fill you in on my current build up to the Treasure Island ITU Pan American Cup Triathlon in San Francisco on November 10th of this year. That is going to be my last race of the season.



This past weekend, I went to Green Bay for a Duathlon that I has also competed in last year. I left for Green Bay after I got done working at the Badger game, which meant I didn't get to Appleton (I stayed at Jessie Duppler's house, even though she is currently in Australia...her parents rule though and they let me stay there nonetheless) until after 11pm Saturday. The race started at 7:30am in Green Bay, or 40min from the Duppler's home. This meant that if I was going to eat breakfast, which I was, and get in a warm-up I would need to leave the house at 5:30 Sunday morning. That meant getting up at 5:15 at the latest. Needless to say, I didn't get much sleep that night, and having been up for 18 hours, I wanted lots.



Still, I didn't really think about this the day of the race. No, I was thinking about the possibility for some heavy hitting competition in the form of a Kiwi, Will Smith (not the movie star), Brian Schaning, and Chris from UW-Lax. All three of these guys are top shelf racers. I knew that if I messed up anywhere I would not beat them. That was a fact. Being a duathlon, there was no swim, so all my work in that area this year wasn't going to help me out much. No worries. I can run fine :)



The first leg of the race was a 5K run that took us into the neighborhoods surrounding Lambeau Field and finished off with a run around the outside of the stadium. I lead all but the last 1/4mi of the run when we turned into the unshielded head wind. I then backed off the front and let Brian and Chris duke it out on the front. I was going to use the bike for cementing my lead anyways.



I came out of T1 feeling really good and began hammering on the bike. Brian and Chris went through T1 quicker than I had expected, and as a result they got about 15sec on me (time out of T1 and the little lead on the run I gave them totaled roughly 15sec), and that is equivalent to about 50yds when biking at our speeds. No worries though, the second half of the bike had a tail wind, and I'd let them stress out trying to make a break while I chased. It's always easier to chase than to be chased. Well, this was all great if I wouldn't have made a wrong turn. We came into this small city and there were a bunch of twists and turns so I wasn't able to see the two ahead of me at all times. Well, I saw a cop with his arm out stretched point left, so I got up to him and turned left. He wasn't pointing for me, but telling cars to stop instead. I went 1.5mi off course before I was told I was going the wrong way. Opps.



Remember how I said that if I made any mistakes I wouldn't be able to win? Well, that was the mistake I was referring to. Even though I closed the gap that was now huge between me and the two leaders, I wasn't able to close it all the way before the race's finish line.



When I got off the bike there was a 1mi run around the stadium and into the finish chute. I had the fastest time on this leg for the day, but even that didn't close the gap enough. I finished 3rd overall, and felt really good minus the whole off course thing. Yet another reminder to preview the course before racing. But, that wasn't possible at this race.



On another note, I raced back home in McFarland on a relay, so I want to say thank you and congrats to Jacob Ostrander and Mr. Attridge for inviting me and taking us to a sweet victory at that race. I also took a cycling test for USAT that measured my wattage output, and I averaged 323 watts for the 10K course, or 23 watts over the benchmark for possible USAT National Team selections/interviews. In other words, things are looking good and going well.



Expect an e-mail shortly before my departure to San Fran in November here.



Thanks again for all your support, and as always, check out http://googlepages.kamnetz.com for my past updates.