One or Both

With two very big half marathons approaching, I am debating which one to race. While they both offer prize money, they also both have pros and cons. The Prairie Fire Half is a relatively fast course but is the day after traveling to Hays to coach, and my legs will not be as rested as I would like. The Kansas City Half would allow for rested legs, but unfortunately falls on a hilly course. To help me decide, I hopped in an 8K in Baldwin City last week the day after running 13 miles and felt relatively strong. I finished the hilly course in 27:04 but paid for the 5-flat first mile in mile 5. Last week's 8K also gave me a second race without swimming or cycling first which I hope will remind my legs of what it's like to race without the other two disciplines. I hope to decide by Tuesday! Both races have offered me free entry fees, so there is a chance I might just run them both and see what happens. Either way I am racing to glorify God while having some fun. Training is going well for my 2012 triathlon season. I am spending plenty of time at the pool and fighting to still put in the miles on the bike. Thanks for the support and kind words. The good luck texts and congratulatory emails really help me push through workouts while training by myself.



On a side note, I am very excited to receive my Pure Project Cadence before their official release on Saturday. The Brooks representative will be at Salina Running Company for their release Saturday afternoon; so, I hope to see a big turn out!

Settling into Salina

Just short of 1 month in Salina, and I am feeling at home. For those of you who don’t know, I inherited a program with very few runners, and by very few I mean 3. Those three runners, I had to negotiate and recruit in the first few days of being hired just to come run for me. The previous coach knew he was leaving and did not recruit. He also told his runners he was leaving back in May while not telling the university till July. The few returners decided to transfer or give up running. While the 3 that I have are fantastic kids, I am working very hard on the recruiting trail, hitting up meets and spending 10-14 hour days in the office. This is a challenge that most would not enjoy, but I am looking forward to building a program with my principles and goals at the core. I have now found some great friends here in town to hang out with, and after a few tries I have found a church that feels like home. At Kansas Wesleyan I feel that I have found a school that supports me. The head soccer coach has even agreed to work with me by giving me his top runners to make sure I have a full team at conference. This may seem like no big deal, but these are 8 starters who are willing to run for me while still doing soccer. I must say I am excited and ecstatic for next year when I can bring in my own recruits.
Today marked the start of my fall road racing season. I had first heard about this race a little over a week ago at my first trip to First Covenant Church, then after working a few days this week at Salina Running Company, I decided it would be a good workout and test.
While warming up, I noticed Daniel, a fellow runner, who had beaten me in Wichita two years ago. With him there, I knew the pace would be honest and with a very hilly course around Indian Rock, I also knew that it was a race that I had to go out under control while staying close to Daniel. He and I ran side by side for just short of 3 miles. Luckily when we cleared the last hill, I could see the finish and was able to shift gears and put a small gap between us. Two of my athletes got up early to come cheer me on, so as I finished I couldn’t help but think of what I say to them and focused on good form finishing the 5K in 16:19 winning by 2 seconds. While 16:19 is far from an impressive time, I am very pleased. Training long slow runs, long slow bike rides, and easy form drills in the pool, I am far from being my quickest. However, with more runners on a flat course I am easily under 15:30 shape which is exciting for me. Another month of training throwing in a few quicker workouts, and I should be ready to run 2 or 3 quick half marathons this fall.
A great city, fun friends, an environment for success, and my training is going great. I truly am blessed to have such supportive friends and family and a God who has not given up on me and is doing great things in my life!
Best of luck to all of you this fall!

Kansas Wesleyan University

Brent Bailey has been named the Cross Country and Track coach at Kansas Wesleyan University. He has led the Coyote programs since August 2011.

Bailey comes to Kansas Wesleyan after spending two years as graduate assistant coach at Baker University in Baldwin City, Kan. Bailey’s emphasis at Baker was coaching the distance program, coaching 73 All-Heart of America Conference selections in track and nine All-Heart of America Conference selections in cross country. He also coached a ninth place finisher in the women’s marathon and the NAIA National Championships while coaching at Baker and helped the Wildcat women qualify for the NAIA Cross Country National Championships for the first time in several seasons after winning the Heart of America Championship for the first time since 2002.

A native of Limon, Colo., Bailey attended McPherson College in McPherson, Kan., where he earned dual degrees in Physical Education and Business Administration with minors in Accounting and Finance. While at McPherson, Bailey was elected student body president. On the course and on the track for the Bulldogs, Bailey was a four-time All-KCAC performer in cross country and qualified for the NAIA National Championships, and was a KCAC Champion in the 1500m and earned All-KCAC honors ten times.

He then continued onto earn his Master of Liberal Arts degree from Baker University.

During his prep career at Limon High School, Bailey was a state champion and helped his team to back-to-back Colorado State team titles. He also ran club track with the Colorado Springs Striders, where he competed at the USA Track and Field Junior Olympics in the 4x800m relay and the 2000m steeplechase.

Bailey is a USATF Level 1 certified coach and continues to train and compete on an elite level, twice qualifying for the USA Duathlon National Championships and the USA Triathlon National Championships.

“I am truly excited to have the opportunity to return to the KCAC as a coach,” Bailey said of his hiring at Kansas Wesleyan. “Coaching is in my blood and is truly my passion. I look forward to the challenge of building this program to be the top program in the conference.”

Finally!

With nothing to lose, Kompetitive Edge was able to pull some strings to get me into the Denver Triathlon on short notice. I was praying for some redemption from my past few races. This summer I had one solid race and two subpar races. This was not making sense to me as my training had been going fantastic. After a terrible race in Boulder, I headed to Longmont for some time with my coach Jim Hallberg. He told me that I was capable of racing a lot faster than my races had shown, that I just needed to hammer the swim and the bike as hard as possible, and then just see what would happen. Today, I started with a very simple strategy. Simply swim, bike, and run faster than I ever had before. This may seem as an unrealistic expectation, but knowing what I had done to train, I knew it was not.
The race kicked off in Sloan’s Lake, a very dirty and terrible tasting lake. Due to the warm temperature, wet suits were not allowed. Luckily, I was equipped with the TYR Torque speed suit. Knowing that I wouldn’t have a wet suit for buoyancy I figured I would be very lucky to be anywhere near my PR in the swim. I took out in a crowded wave and hammered it just as I was told. As I exited the water, I knew I had just swum a great split, 27:12, nearly a two minute PR. Off on the bike I was cruising, finding my way into the biggest gear, and pushing it. This strategy was working well but not without some help from the Big Guy upstairs. With my two favorite Bible verses written on my aerobars and a certain tune stuck in my head, I knew I had God with me. In case you are wondering what the song was, it was the Arky Arky Song from church camp. With His help, I had just biked 63:10, averaging right under 24 mph. Now that my arms were tired and my legs trashed, it was time to run. The out and back course was not a flat fast course as I had hoped, but a rolling one that pushed me to my limits in the heat. I knew that if I could hang in there I could break 2:10. My run split was a 37:46 that put me at 2:09.50, leaving 10 seconds to spare!

All in all, I am ecstatic! I had needed a sub 2:15 race time to assure me a spot in the elite category in several races, and today took care of that. At this time I am unsure if I will be racing any more triathlons this year, as the summer comes to a close. I want to say thank you to the Olson family for allowing me to stay in their very nice town home on the 20th floor! It was great to have such a nice place located close to the race to relax and sleep. Also, thank you so much to Byron Thomas who is a gifted massage therapist. He took great care of me before and after the race, putting some life back into my legs. Finally, a thank you goes to my family, friends, and sponsors who have been there with me on good races and bad. May the Glory go to God now and forever!

Stagnant

Today was the 4th time I have raced Boulder Peak,that is if you can call what I did "racing" today. The summer started off with a terrible race in Kansas, but I followed it up with a fantastic race at the Loveland Lake 2Lake. Riding high and with training well ahead of last year, I felt today would have been a day for a great race. However, a great race was not in the cards today. Throughout the swim I felt very relaxed and comfortable but unable to shift into a faster stroke. I actually swam nearly 30 seconds faster than last year, but I did not do justice to my swim training. As I headed away from the Boulder Reservoir and up to Old Stage Road, I felt very tight and stagnant, just as in the swim. I managed to throw up a fair amount of water as I approached the summit of Old Stage, disappointed that I had climbed a little over 1300 ft to the top with a belly full of lake water it would appear. Over the summit and feeling a lot better, I started to roll. I was able to fight back and was only 20seconds slower than my bike split of last year. The run was finally here, and I couldn’t have been happier. It only took me half a mile to realize this out and back course was going to be more like a fartlek workout than a race. I started in the second to last wave, over an hour and 1200 athletes behind starters. Running well through the first couple miles, I began to run into strong traffic, bumping shoulder after shoulder, weaving my way in and out, trying to find a rhythm. I was stagnant once again and beginning to become frustrated. I ended up running a 37:59 for the 10K and felt disgusted to see such a horrific time. All in all, I finished :67 seconds behind where I was last year and not happy at all.

Now what? Back to the drawing board! I am hoping Kompetitive Edge can find a way to take care of me by getting me into the Denver Triathlon in two weeks. With another race, I hope to redeem myself and better use this gift of being a triathlete that God has given me to better glorify him. After the race I was able to talk with my coach Jim Halberg and teammate Brandon Jessop which helped to calm me down and get my mind right to race again. I am so blessed to have a great coach and to be part of the Kompetitive Edge family. Hangingout with Jared, Ryan, and Brandon was truly the highlight of my weekend.

Special thanks to Jim Halberg for putting me up and to my parents for coming to watch and cheer me on.

Written in Pike's Perk with great friends, Adam, Lars and Andrew!

Loveland Lake 2 Lake

June 25th was not only my birthday but also the Loveland Lake 2 Lake Triathlon. This year marks my 4th year in a row of doing triathlons, and the Loveland Lake 2 Lake was the first triathlon I ever did. I have been able to drop my time each year and had my highest placing finish this weekend. With this 2nd place finish I was able to qualify for USA Triathlon Nationals. There were 30 men in the 25-29 age group, and I pulled off a 2nd place finish. Since I turned 25 today, I was the youngest guy in my age division, so the future looks promising. My final time was 2:29.04 which was over four minutes faster than last year’s time and a new personal record for me on this course. Although my swim, bike, and run were all faster than last year, the biggest improvements came in the bike and the run. As the race went on I was able to continue pushing myself because I have grown stronger in the swim and bike. This keeps me more relaxed and able to put down a good run time. Going into the race today I was a little nervous after such a terrible race in Kansas, but I knew the training was there. I focused on the belief in my training and in the Lord. One of the Bible verses that is written on my aero bars is Isaiah 40:31: "But those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint." Those words were in my head throughout the race and will continue to be so in future races.



Having the best wetsuit from TYR, a bike that works great thanks to Ryan Stedeford and Kompetitive Edge, with some great shoes from Brooks, I was set. With the best parents and fellow Kompetitive Edge supporters there to cheer me on, it was a fantastic day!

Kansas Half Ironman

Goodbye, so long, and farewell Kansas Half Ironman. In three years, my best race there was when I was at the worst level of fitness of my triathlon career. Between the wind, the hills, and the heat of Kansas, I must not be suited to race a competitive triathlon in this state. This tells me that I was not meant to race here; so, I do not plan to return.

As for today’s race, as you may already know, it did not go according to plan. The water was beautiful and calm at 6:30 a.m. for the pro start; however, at 7:15 a.m., it was very rough with winds and boat traffic making the calm lake have nice big waves that managed to rip the straps of my goggles off my head. Luckily, they are the TYR Nest Pro’s, so they stuck to my eyes while I readjusted. After checking my watch, I was very disappointed with my swim and took to the very windy bike course. Weighing 160 lbs and riding with a disc rear wheel, I had the pleasure of being whipped all over the roads. My favorite quote from the bike today was from two men, “What direction is the wind actually coming from?” “All of them!”

When I finally got to the run I was excited to be able to focus on my strength and make up some time. I ran a smart race as I slowly picked up the pace and picked off competitors. My feet didn’t start rubbing and bleeding until mile 9. By the time I finished, I was cramping so bad that I collapsed across the finish line where Chrissie Wellington saw me, and the medics carried me to the medical tent. While they stuck me with 2 IV’s (one in each arm), Chrissie checked on me and was kind enough to sign both of my shoes as she reminded me how amazing Brooks shoes really are. So, how do I feel about the race? Yeah, I am bummed to not have done better, but I did the best I could under the circumstances and am looking forward to Olympic Distance races in Colorado!

Thanks to Megan Rosa who I coached at Baker for coming out and working the race while cheering me on!