Hey all…in the wake of a face lift…we are moving the site over to a more friendly blog. Here everyone can post rides, runs, and swims….see ya over there! http://teamtriplesports.ning.com/

As the team makes a transition into Triple Sports Triathlon this week a great showing was had at the San Diego International Triathlon. Erin Scheidt, Mike Scheidt, Julie Forsberg, and Christian Bailey all took podium spots at this storied event…see the results here www.kozenterprises.com/

OK, good meeting last week.  I’m sure the usual suspects are working behind the scenes to secure the heavy hitter sponsors for the next 5 years.  I’ll try to post workouts and races that we can all hopefully attend when our personal schedules permit.

A couple of things. I get asked a lot how to get fast.  Easy, train fast and RACE!  We are all pressed for time, which means are workouts are short. Make them worthwhile…that means INTENSITY.  Christian’s Tuesday night lung and leg burn is great for the run.  I’ve posted a few mid-week training rides that are fast and furious. DON’T WORRY ABOUT GETTING DROPPED!  Everyone waits up at selected points.  You will find yourself getting stronger each week if you can make one of the rides and suffer.  Believe me, I’m suffering on these runs and rides. There are also several bike Time Trials within 60-90 min driving distance that are great training.  Just you versus you.  I will post them on the Calender.  You will get faster if you ride faster.

Regarding racing, I think it is essential to get in some training races in before your big events.  They don’t have to be Tri’s. Get out and do a 5 or 10k running race. It’s a great measuring stick for fitness and gets you in the race mode. Arizona Road Racers has a website www.arizonaroadracers.com that posts races all over Arizona.  It’s a good resource to find a race or 2 that might fit your schedule.  I’ve posted one in July (4).  I’ll either ride to these events, run them, then ride home or I will take my bike and ride after the run.  Great brick workout.

I don’t know much about swimming other than there is water involved and your not supposed to drink it.

Happy Training and see you out there.

Scott

Haus Tri had an incredible week moving into the Tempe International Triathlon over the weekend. Haus Tri capped off the Splash and Dash and completed the HAUS TRI SPLASH & DASH GRAND PRIX. Bernice Panuzzo took home the overall prize, completing all four races of the IronCare Splash and Dash Series. Bernice wins the race of her choice paid for by HAUS TRIATHLON. Bernice has already chosen to enter SOMA TRIATHLON which is Arizona’s Half Ironman on October 24^th.

HAUS TRI brought out all of our members for the Arizona State Club Championships at the Tempe International Triathlon. There was a lot of angst amongst member prior to the start gun. The lines were long and we are not just talking about the ones at the port-o-lets, and the longer the wait the more anticipation it brought. The Sprinters went off first. Two of out newest members, Michael Bailey and Eric Bolles,  took to the waters. Michael is about three years off of his last tri and it took him only a short time to find his gills and get moving in that water.  Eric followed closely behind Michael but soon found out the sprint is not only shorter in distance but much more aggressive. He soon found the cat fight right next to the aqua boxing class and like a Wil-E-Coyote cartoon got pulled right into that mess.  After recovering his goggles and manhood he was back on course, until he ran off course but was turned around by the friendly kayaker. Eric made it home in less time that he thought followed Michael out of the water but just a couple of minutes. Scott Schraff, fresh off of the set of the new movie Nationals Disaster finished his backstroke of 400m and everyone was on to the bike.  Michael and Eric were soon to be passed by a flash, which we would later find out was the comet  know as Scott Schraff. Scott was the only cyclist to complete the bike course in under 31 minutes! That is smoking fast people! All made it home with Eric completing his first triathlon ever! Michael is back in action and Scott took revenge on the bike gods and gleaned a fourth place age group finish.

The women proved to have a bit more style and grace coming out of the water in the sprint.  Erin, Bucky and Julie looked as if they were yawning coming out of the water and one of them might have said, “Is this all you’ve got?” Erin got out ot the bike and was in old form. Can you believe people she was going to give up that USAT card for kid, c’mon lets get real here! J Erin finished 4^th in her age group with self admittedly little training. Welcome back Erin…you aren’t going anywhere anytime soon! Julie put the rubber to the road and turned in an 8^th place age group finish with Bucky Jones again grabbing a 4^th place age group finish.

The Olympic distance had almost too many stories to talk about but we are going to hit some of them anyway. The 35-39 age group was a battle for HAUS TRI as Barry Tait, Seth Nickerson, and Daryl Ridgley all threw down for HAUS pride. Daryl, Barry, and Seth all turned the corner on the swim to find, oh yes, nothing! There seemed to be a missing buoy! Once all the gang was back on track it was throw down time.  With each person coming within one minute of each other on the swim there was nothing to do but put the hammer down on the bike.  The twist and turns of the bike were nothing for these guys and they were off to the races on the run. Here is were the training proved to be …well…awesome! Seth hammered the run to produce a top 10 run with Barry and Daryl not far behind. Great day for these guys in one of the toughest age groups! We also spotted Gibby Gorman hammering the course in the HAUS black and blue.

The women proved the course was all too easy by their fantastic times. Meghan Ridgely showed tons of nervousness prior to the race but it was all gone once she hit the water. Meghan smiled her way through the course, no seriously, every time Meghan was spotted she couldn’t stop smiling. Congrats Meghan on a great race! Bernice, Bernice, Bernice, what can we say about you…stop stealing the show! What a great race! 4^th in age group and, overall the most consistent race of the day.  Barbs race is going to be a cinch.  Sue Iverson, you wear so many hats, and this weekend you showed your black and blue…3^rd place age group finish!

Overal and outstanding day for HAUS TRIATHLON. Thanks for all of the HAUS support at the race…Tracey Kramer you rock!

Lots of races and training coming up…check out the HAUS Calendar for more information.

With one splash and dash to go Bernice Pannuzzo is the lone hold out for the Haus Triathlon Grand Prix. The final Splash and Dash is on Thursday May 13, at 6pm. Remember you must complete three races to be eligible…Seth and Meghan can give her a run for her money! Remember that registering at Ironcare can save you $5…

Bernice Pannuzzo – 37 pts***

Seth Nickerson – 22pts**

Meghan Ridgely – 21 pts**

Sue Iverson –  15 pts*

Julie Forsberg – 12pts*

Christian Bailey – 11pts*

Daryl Ridgely – 10pts*

Austin Beck – 10pts*

Bob Bonnette – 10pts*

Tracey Kramer – 10pts*

Barry Tait – 10pts*

Eric Bolles – 10pts*

An unreal week for HAUS as races in all types Jenny Holsman took to the course in Rocky Point…we saw her take a left hand turn when she saw the “USA Turn here” sign and haven’t heard from her since. Rich McKnight took to the Nations toughest 50 miler in Payson, AZ. As someone who has completed this race, I can vouch for Rich as saying it was a “bitch” of a course (I may have said that but the course is TOUGH!) This course has close to 9,000 feet of climbing…yes…9,000 feet, long unprotected sections that are hot and dry, and 50 miles is just LOOOOONG…rich hit the 40 mile mark and muscled as far as they would let him…great job Rich!

Scott Schraff took to Richmon, VA for the National Duathlon Festival. I will let you all read Scott’s report on his race below…great job Scott!

I began writing this yesterday and just finished it.  Race report from National Duathlon Championship.

I’m sitting in the airport completely depressed.  I’m on my way home from Richmond, VA after competing in the National Duathlon Championship. As a relative “newbie” to multi-sport racing I guess I had it coming.  I had always heard horror stories about mechanical issues that can derail a race.  I’ve been pretty lucky and have had only minor issues, none of which impeded my race…until now.  The depressing part about it is that physically this Haus was on fire! (Unfortunately, the fire truck had mechanical issues..more on that soon.)

 Despite forecasts for thunderstorms, the race was relatively dry, not too hot, but humid.  The day of the race, I arrived at the race with plenty of time to get my gear laid out and uncover my bike, which I had neatly wrapped in a heavy duty drop cloth I bought at Lowes. I was the envy of a lot of people, who obviously have not been racking bikes overnight in the rain. I got a lot of “where did you get that” comments. However, I am becoming an expert rain racer as 3 of the 4 duathlons I have done (career total) have been raced in the rain.  I got in a nice 20 minute warm up run and lined up right in the front at the start line.

 I learned my lesson at World’s last year…you need to be in the front hitting the first turn to avoid the bottle necking that occurs when 80 guys try to turn a corner a mob.  If you are not at the front, you’re left behind by the leaders.  There was one guy who finished ahead of me at Worlds who I knew was a good runner so I marked him.  He beat me at Worlds, so I called him Worlds.

 The horn went off and off we went…downhill and steep for the first 400 meters. I settled into 3^rd place and found my rhythm.  At about 800 meters, the guy who went sprinting out front and was quickly the leader decided the pace was way too fast for him and suddenly he was gone, in reverse….I’m now in second place.  Hmmmm, not so sure what is going on because I know I’m not the best runner in this race.  Then this rail thin guy comes blowing by me…ahhh, The Rabbit.  Off went The Rabbit and one guy went with him, but couldn’t keep up and he settled into No Man’s Land, between The Rabbit and a small group of 3 that included me, Worlds. and Tall Guy.   At about the halfway mark, Worlds slowly passed me.  I stayed within 5-10 seconds of him.  I probably could have stayed right on his heels…I was feeling REALLY good. The pace was fast for me (5:30 roughly for the 1^st 2 miles) but I was completely within myself and not struggling.  I stayed with Tall Guy and we soon caught and passed No Mans Land…he was huffing and puffing.  By the time we hit the hill before the transition/finish area we were within 5 seconds of Worlds. The four of us (Rabbit, Worlds, Tall Guy and me) all came screaming into transition with a 5 second window.

 I couldn’t believe it. I had accomplished goal #1, which was to stay with the leaders on the first run…and I didn’t kill myself doing it.  Look out, baby! I know I could take Worlds on the bike and Tall guy was sucking wind.  I wasn’t sure about The Rabbit, but he was so skinny and I didn’t think cycling was his forte. (I was right, he was super slow on the bike.) Things were going great…the moon’s were aligning. I could taste it.  I was right were I wanted to be going into my strong part of the race.

 In transition, I quickly took off my running shoes and slipped on the cycling shoes. Normally I would have had my cycling shoes pre-mounted on my bike but the transition area was nice grass and I figured I would save more time by putting them on in transition and running out with them instead of trying to torpedo my foot into the shoes once I was on the bike.  I was real quick in transition and ran by Tall Guy who was sitting on the ground putting his shoes on as I ran by him. He gave me a “What the hell!” look.  I gave him the “That’s the way we do it at the Haus!” look.  I never saw The Rabbit again. Blue and Black was on the move.

 Out the transition zone I flew…in second place!  The leader was Worlds and he had about 5 seconds on me coming out of transition.  I immediately started chewing into his lead and passed him about 2 miles into the bike.  Smoking! I’m now in the lead and have a lot of bike miles to put into the rest of the field.  I didn’t think too many guys were going to do a sub-1 hour bike time (I was correct on that one…only 2 guys posted sub 1 hour).  I was pretty confident I would be in the 58-59 minute range.

 On the bike I was feeling really good.  Worlds stayed close on the first lap, but 2 miles into the second lap he was fading back.  I was flying!  You know you are drilling it when spectators and other athletes come up to you afterward and comment on how fast you were going on the bike.  Yeah, I was going fast.  I had good legs.  I was going to be bringing a National Championship back to the Haus.

 This is when the Gods of Multisport Mayhem (GOMM) put the smack down on me and my race went to hell.  The bike course was back and forth over 2 bridges…many times.  On the pre-ride on Saturday I noted a lot of junk in the breakdown lane that could be potential roadside bombs as far as my tires were concerned.  Fortunately, they opened up the car lanes for us to use during the race, but Saturday night showers washed all the junk all over the road.  About ½ way through the second lap I went over one of the many bridge expansion joints and instead of gliding over it, I felt a thud.  I thought to myself, man, that was a jolt.  It certainly was because about 10 seconds later I notice a little bounce in my front wheel and slowly watched the tire go flat as I continued cycling.  Oh no. I couldn’t believe it.  All week I was sure I would need a little luck to win this race.  Well, GOMM decided to give me anti-luck.

 My worst race nightmare (well almost…it ranks behind a crash and a snapped chain) was coming true.  Ok, I thought, I’m prepared.  I have a spare tire, CO2 cartridge and my Chuck (the adapter to inflate the tire).  I decided to ride on the wheel to the turnaround because there was a fence there that I could lean my bike against while I changed my tire.  Just before the turnaround, World’s passed me and asked why I was slowing down…I told him I wanted to give him a chance (I didn’t say that).  I told him I had somehow upset GOMM and payback was going to be brutal. I wished Worlds good luck and off the bike I jumped.  I quickly pulled off the front wheel and pulled out the spare and the CO2 cartridge..but my Chuck was gone. I screamed “WHERE IS CHUCK?!?!?!” No chuck…no luck.  I looked at the USAT official standing there and asked, “Have you seen Chuck?” Sorry, no Chuck.

 Ok, I thought, I’ll ride down the road and find one of the myriad of cyclists changing flats.  Surely the next guy would have a Chuck.  So I rode down the road and spotted another poor soul who had upset GOMM.  He had a Chuck! I’m in luck.  Ah, not so fast, said GOMM.  His Chuck is threadless.  WHAT?  His adapter took a non-threaded cartridge and I needed a threaded Chuck.  Unbelievable.  I had already ripped off my glued-on tire and had put my spare on, but there was no way I could ride a non-glued flat spare tire.  That was a recipe for serious bodily harm. My race was officially gone. My choices at this point were to walk it in, or keep racing…sort of.  So I started running with my bike. No matter that I was 4 miles from the transition area. Surely, I thought, there must be someone out here with Chuck.  I turned the corner and there was another guy fixing a flat.  (They were all over the course). I ran up to him and he had Chuck…and a threaded one.  It took me 2 minutes to take my wheel off, blow up my tire, put my wheel back on. If only Chuck had not disappeared.  I would have at least given myself a shot at the podium with a 2 minute wheel change. (I’m not sure what happened to Chuck. It was in my spare kit the day before. I can only imagine that one of the big bumps had knocked it out of the kit. The other option is that someone took Chuck. I’d like to think GOMM took Chuck on one of the bumps.)

 Back on the bike, back into the race.  I had now lost 16 minutes since getting the flat.  Winning…gone. Podium…gone.  Qualifying for Worlds…most likely gone.  So now was the moment of truth.  I was dripping in frustration. Should I just ride it in, take it easy on the run and say, “oh well.”  No way.  I spent 3 months,  8-10 hours a week doing running and cycling intervals, watching my diet, and I gave up beer for the final week, for goodness sake.  There was no way I was mailing this one in.  I WAS PISSED OFF.  I WAS WINNING THE GOMM-FORSAKEN RACE BEFORE THE FLAT. HAUS ON FIRE!  Also, giving up wouldn’t be a good example for the kids. So I ramped it up again and started tearing into the real estate.  I was flying by cyclists like they were elderly pedestrians on beach cruisers.  I finished the 3^rd lap in one piece. 

 I started the second run and was feeling not bad.  Until I saw Worlds coming up the hill to win the race as I was heading out on the run.  Damn GOMM.  I ran a pretty good second 5K.  About 30 seconds slower than the 1^st, but motivation was lower. I caught a few guys in my age group.  There was one lumbering giant I was trying to catch but he managed to finish about 10 seconds ahead of me.  He took 25^th. Despite giving up 16 minutes I still managed to finish 26th.  Guess what, World’s qualifying roll down is to 25.   Damn GOMM.  If only I had caught the lumbering giant.  Kick in the gut…actually, lower.

 This was a truly frustrating experience and my most disappointing athletic endeavor ever.  Looking at the times, I would have won the National Championship or finished 2^nd by seconds.  World’s ran about 50 seconds faster than me on the second 5K.  I bet I would have had about a minute or more into him going into the last run.  I also would have been super motivated to hold on.  And I was running on all-cyclinders. No heavy legs. Damn GOMM.  I’m not sure I’ll ever feel that good at such a major event that was tailor-made for me (the first run had been shortened from 10k to 5K, which hurts the real fast runners).  It was disheartening to watch it go up in flames, despite all the preparation.  Ugghhhh!

 I’m going to destroy the next race I do.

Addendum: On Monday I decided to beat myself up some more. I downloaded my bike data.  I lost just over 17 minutes during the fiasco.  If I take out that time gap, my bike time was just over 58 minutes.  Fastest in the group…and I easily win the National Championship.  I would have had 2 minutes on Worlds heading into the 2^nd run. In addition, I was 10 seconds faster in the second transition.  So I didn’t need to run any faster than I did and Worlds would have had to run a sub 16 minute 5K to catch me.  Unbelievable.

Luckily the final results have me 25^th, which makes me eligible for Worlds if 7 people ahead of me decide they don’t want to go.  Point is, keep going, even when all looks lost.

Scott

Many races coming up HAUS…remember that Tempe International is the Arizona Club Championships and we took third in the small clubs last year…lets do it again..chekc out the celandar and get out there!

-  C

Good luck shout outs to Schott Schraff who is taking on the Nation at the National Duathlon Fesitval in Richmond this weekend. Scott is looking for another stellar performance anda trip to worlds. Also comepting this weekend is Rich McKnight. Rich will be battling the miles, and there are 50 of them to be had, at the Zane Grey 50 Miler in Payson. Zane Grey is known as one of the Nations toughest 50 milers.

Good Luck!

- C

An unreal outing for HAUS TRIATLON on Thursday night at the 2^nd Splash and Dash. This was the 2^nd of the HUAS TRIATHLON Grand Prix, and with many people throwing their name into the pot the standings have changed.  The next S&D is coming up on May 1 at 7:30am. www.4peaksracing.com Tons of races for HAUS TRI in the next two weeks including Duathlon Nationals, St George Ironman, and St, Croix 70.3. Also, Tempe International Tri is May 16. This is the Club Championships for the state of Arizona. HAUS Tri took 3^rd last year in the small club division. When you register make sure you put HAUS TRIATHLON as your team name to get credit….have fun!

GRAND PRIX standings:

Bernice Pannuzzo – 24 pts**

Seth Nickerson – 22pts**

Meghan Ridgely – 21 pts**

Sue Iverson –  15 pts*

Julie Forsberg – 12pts*

Christian Bailey – 11pts*

Daryl Ridgely – 10pts*

Austin Beck – 10pts*

Bob Bonnette – 10pts*

Tracey Kramer – 10pts*

Barry Tait – 10pts*

* = number of races completed. A minimum of three is required to win the Grand Prix.

This week marks #2 of the Haus Triathlon Splash and Dash Grand Prix. I hope to see you all out there!  Here are the standings after the first S & D:

 Sue Iverson –  15 pts

Julie Forsberg – 12pts

Seth Nickerson – 11pts

Meghan Ridgely – 11 pts

Bernice Pannuzzo – 11pts

Daryl Ridgely – 10pts

Tracey Kramer – 10pts

 If you haven’t registered yet go to www.4peaksracing.com . You can save 5 bucks by dropping off your registration at Ironcare Sports Medicine…see the website!

This week we cover one of the most important rules, 3.4 b. Unsportsmanlike Conduct.

3.4b Unsportsmanlike Conduct.

“Participants shall refrain from unsportsmanlike conduct, including the improper use of language or conduct directed toward an official. Violations of this section shall result in disqualification or a variable time penalty depending on the severity of the violation as determined in the sole discretion of the head referee.”

This particiular rule provides the penalties and enforcement directive for particpants who fail to treat bothers with courtesy and respect. There is no room in the sport for athletes who cannot control their tempers and who behave badly at an event. Triathlons are a place for our members to celebrate fitness, health, and friendly competition with one another. Rude and disrepectful athletes may find themselves disqualified for verbally abusing other participants, volunteers, and spectators. When you come to an event, be nice and have fun! The best way to avoid frustation during a race is to know the rules. You will less likely be the recipient of unsportsmanlike and, less likely to use some of your own.

Have fun!