Friday Update

Today was the women’s semi-final. Same format as yesterday; but with fewer women in the competition, there were only two groups. In each group, 18 make it into the final.

The sole women’s competitor for the US was 17 year old Margaux Isaksen. Margaux, affectionately nicknamed Mango by teammates, represented the US in the 2008 Olympics. This year, she has really come on strong, completing the World Cup season ranked in the top 10. She also won a bronze medal at the 2009 Junior World Championships. Given the outstanding season she has had, we did not expect much drama to unfold today. And we were right.

Margaux destroyed the field in the first two thirds of the fence, leading the pack with 7 touches to go. Then, she struggled and only hit one of her last 7 opponents, but still finished in the top ten. Swimming was next, and Margaux posted a 2:19 on my watch (the score board was broken, so I am not exactly sure what her official time was). That’s a bit slow for her, and I expect we will see a faster swim in the final. Finally, she entered the combined run/shoot in 6th place with a pretty large gap between her and 19th place. In shooting, Margaux had a really tough time, but her lead and strength in running were more than enough to overcome the damage done on the shooting range. In the end, she only ran hard the first two 1,000m laps and easily jogged her way into the final on Sunday.

Now back to my update from yesterday. Overall, it was a great day for the US Men’s Team. While I have taken the year almost completely away from training, some other athletes have really stepped up their training and it showed.

Will Brady gets the award for the biggest standout performance of the competition so far. Will has been living in Colorado Springs and training at the OTC for somewhere between three and four years, but has never broken into the top tier of international pentathlon… until yesterday. Battling two training injuries, Will posted career bests in his fence (nearly 900 points) and swim (2:07). Then, starting in 9th place in what I picked as the toughest semi-final grouping, he posted a solid combined time and secured his slot in the final of his first ever World Championships.

Sam Sacksen was in my semi-final group. He had a solid fence at a bit over 800 points, but clocked a disappointing 2:13 swim time. However, he has picked up the combined event really well already and was able to move from around 20th before the event to 11th. His first place performance in the combined event was enough for a berth in the final. That is his first World Championships final as well.

Dennis Bowsher was in the last semi-final group of the day. Struggling, but staying alive in the fence, he ended the event with somewhere around 750 points. Next up was the swim. I had predicted that he could go around 2:02 given that he has been absolutely crushing me in practice the past few weeks. However, he was out slow and never recovered, ending in a 2:06. But he was still alive going into the final combined run/shoot event, starting in 18th place. After the first round, he was within about 10 seconds of 12th place. But a poor second and third round of shooting dropped him farther back, and he finished in 20th place. Had he finaled here, it would have been his second World Championships final, but he will have to wait another year.

All in all, it was a solid day for the US Team. In 2005, the year after the Athens Olympics, the US Team had no athletes in the finals at Worlds. This year, we have two men and one woman. For our program, this is a great way to start a new quad as we push toward the 2012 Olympics.

Competition Day

Today was the men’s semi-final competition here in London. In the pentathlon, only 36 people compete in the finals events. At “open” competitions, World Cups, World Championships, and Continental Championships, we have to compete through semi-finals to make it to the finals. At the Olympics and the World Cup Final, only 36 are invited. (If you want to read more about semi-final formats, check out my blog from last year’s World Championships). So today we had to cut from a field of 96 athletes down to 36 for Saturday’s final.

There were three semi-final groups of 32 athletes. I was disappointed to learn that my group was the earliest, starting at 7:30 this morning. Not that I normally mind getting up early, but 7:30am here is 12:30am at home… and I am pretty much never up that late. So physiologically, it sort of felt like we were competing through the middle of the night. But since most pentathlons are held in Europe, and I have “hopped across the pond” around 40 times now, I’m actually used to that feeling. It still never feels quite right.

The first discipline for my group was fencing. And the word of the day for my fencing would have to be bipolar. I had a great start and was actually leading after 7 bouts with 6 victories and just one defeat. Then I lost 6 in a row and dropped to around 18th place by the 13th bout. Then it all clicked again; and on the last 18 bouts, I won 13 and only lost 5. For any pentathlon junkies out there, that equated to just over 900 points and put me around 6th at the end of fencing.

Then came the 200 meter swim. I had no idea how I would perform in the event. After getting pretty well clobbered this World Cup season in the new combined run/shoot, I decided to back way off of swimming and see if I could get a hang of the new format by Worlds. So I have only been swimming three times per week to total six miles per week since May. To put that in perspective, during the same period last summer, there were many days I would swim six miles. So chalk up lack of training to the prospects of a bad swim.

But there was a compounding factor that made me think I might have some speed in my swim. TYR sent us some of their new swim suits (you know the ones that have been making headlines and that swimming will not allow next year) before we left. They are every bit as fast, and fun, as I have heard from the swimmers who have tried them. At the Olympics, I swam in the LZR and it felt fast. These blow the LZR out of the water, so to speak, and thus have created the controversy. In a nutshell, they are buoyant; and buoyancy helps you swim faster. So I knew I was wearing technology that would make me pretty fast. In the end, I swam a 2:04, about what I expected to swim and fast enough to put me in 5th after two events.

Next up was the combined run/shoot. I wouldn’t say I was anxious or scared of it, but I wondered how my training would stand up. The last seven weeks have felt a bit like cramming for a final in college. It seems like you are getting a lot done, but you don’t know until you open the test how you will do. I have been shooting okay in practice, but I also knew that the competition and everything that goes with it can cause a performance breakdown.

There were about 35 seconds between me and the all important 13th place (top 12 from each group make the final) which is not a lot of buffer. My first shoot was pretty shaky and dropped me down to 12th. I made up ground in running the first 1,000m and knew that I would still final with two decent shoots. The second shoot did not improve much, and I dropped back to around 20th. Making up places again in the run, I headed into the final shoot. That was better, but not enough to put me in competition for the final.

My last 1000m was probably the perfect end to the season. Shortly after leaving the shooting, I easily cruised passed Andree Mosiev, the 2004 and 2008 Olympic Gold Medalist. He started the combined in 8th place today and would eventually finish around 24th. Shortly before the Olympics at last year’s World Championships, Andree and I were also in the same semi-final. We both had to run hard and finished 11th and 12th in our group. Later that summer, he went on to win the Olympics, and I had my lifetime best competition with a medal at the World Cup Final. (I would have much preferred his season to mine in case you were wondering.)

So as I finished up my last event of this season back in 20th place in my semi-final (at an event where I finished 12th in the final last year), it didn’t really bother me too much. For me, this year was about exploring the new format of the sport and exploring my interest in continuing on through the 2012 Olympics. If you had asked me 3 months ago, I would have told you I am retiring at the end of this season. If you ask me today… dream on, I’m not telling anyone yet!

(This will not be the last blog from London. Tomorrow, I’ll fill you in on the other US men’s athlete’s results and on Margaux’s quest to make it to the women’s final. I’ll also recap what I think about the new format and my potential to pick up the combined run/shoot.)

Flight to London

We purchased the plane tickets early enough that we able to book a fantastic itinerary. When you travel a lot and have to compete right after travel, things like your itinerary make a big difference. For this flight, we were scheduled to leave Colorado Springs at about 6:20pm, connect in Denver, and take the direct from Denver to London arriving at just after 11am. Any time you can get to Europe in less than 12 hours door to door, you have a great itinerary. So I have been looking forward to this flight more than I typically do.

The agent in Colorado Springs told me I had a great chance of receiving a free upgrade on the flight to London. The only thing better than a fast itinerary is a fast itinerary where you get upgraded to business class. Because I am now a Premier Executive on United, something I earned by flying nearly 60,000 miles last year, I often get upgraded if the flights are full. However, my hopes were dashed when I checked in in Denver and was told I would not be getting upgraded this flight. Oh well, can’t win them all…

I was able to use my United status to board the London flight early, giving me time to unpack my carryon and settle in before the crowds hit. As I boarded the plane, the flight crew was there greeting people. Still a little disappointed that I had not made the cut for an upgrade, I wasn’t paying much attention to my surroundings. That is until one of the flight attendants turned to me and said “hey, you're that pentathlon guy.” Boy was I surprised! I’ve been flying a lot the last few years, but I have never been recognized by an international flight crew. Turns out, I flew this attendant’s flight back from London in April. I’m pretty outgoing and spent about an hour hanging out in the galley talking with the crew. Airline crews have a tough and thankless job and are largely underappreciated, so I always try to befriend them given the opportunity. Anyway, this guy was one of the flight attendants and remembered me from that flight.

After getting seated, the flight attendant came and found me in my seat, and asked where I was going. Then he came and brought another attendant over and introduced her to me. We talked for a little bit until the flight started to fill up.

After takeoff, the second flight attendant came around and proudly told me she was training for her first triathlon. We talked a little while longer, and then she again had to get back to work.

A while later, she returned manning the drink cart. I received small consolation prize for missing the upgrade, my own bottle of water and a complimentary glass of wine. So no seat upgrade for me this trip, but my new and old flight attendant friends made sure to give me business class service even if I was assigned Economy Plus.

World Championships

For those of you who routinely read my blog, I apologize for my recent silence. This summer, I have been extremely busy and not able to apply proper time to blogging. However, I’ll be posting every day for the next week so stay tuned!

The World Championships this year are in London. It’s fitting that the first championship of the 2012 quad is the location of the next summer Olympics. While I don’t believe the venue will be the same, this gives the athletes an idea of the weather and culture of the city.

Since I have not written much of late, and I plan on blogging every day from London, I though I would start with a recap of what has been going on with my life and my athletic career. This should bring everyone up to speed and shed light on the upcoming competition and my expectations.

Most of this past year, I have been working on developing my new company, 5Ring Insight (www.5ringinsight.com). We use Olympians to teach performance methodology to elite business professionals (picture an MBA program based on sports). That has eaten up much of my time and money since the Olympics. It also gave me a much needed break from sports. The end of last season was quite an emotional and physical roller coaster.

When I left for Beijing, I was in better shape and had trained harder than any other time in my life. A riding accident a week before the Olympics left me wondering if I would even compete. Though I dodged the bullet on a concussion, I obtained a severe whiplash injury and spent two of the seven days before the Olympics in a neck brace. Even with good sports med treatment, the physical and psychological damage was done before the event started. On a good day, a top 10 finish was possible; on a great day, maybe a medal. But instead I finished a lackluster 22nd place.

Because I was considering retiring, the 2008 World Cup Final in Portugal was potentially the final competition of my career. Still in great shape from my Olympic preparation but no longer injured, I had a blowout competition. Despite an extremely bad ride, I finished with a Bronze Medal. In pentathlon, the World Cup Final is a very important event, considered by many to be as prestigious and difficult as World Championships. So I ended last season with a career high finish and an end of the season ranking of 9th in the World.

In January, after recovering from a sinus surgery (which went fantastically well, thank you Dr. Galloway), I found myself fairly out of shape. Bears put on fat to hibernate, but I had no such excuse for my winter weight increase. So I decided to start training again to get back in shape. The first World Cup was scheduled for March and I began training for it. My plan at first was to simply get back in shape; but as the season progressed, I also wanted to see if I was still motivated enough to go through the grueling training that is pentathlon.

Our sport format also changed this year to combine the run and shoot which presented both a challenge and opportunity. It was a challenge because I have trained slow fire shooting for so long, and it’s a little hard to teach an old dog new tricks. The opportunity came from the fact that slow fire shooting has historically been my weakest sport, and the new format would give me a fresh start to my worst event.

After “limping” through the World Cup season and US Nationals, trying to split my time between training and work, I applied more effort over the summer. I decreased my swimming volumes and drastically increased my running to drop some more weight and improve overall fitness in preparation for Worlds. I also started training the shooting event much more seriously. My general lack of shooting training this year was actually planned as I wanted to observe other athletes and not train bad habits before I could properly study the new format. Several other top athletes worldwide took a similar approach, most did not compete at all this year. But after Nationals in June, I started putting in the time in shooting. That gave me about 7 weeks of really dedicated training; not enough to be good, but enough to find out if I take well to the new format.

So it will be an interesting experience in London this week. It’s hard to believe that one year has passed since the Olympics, and I am extremely glad I took so much time off. I’m not in nearly the shape I was in last year, but I am enjoying getting back into the swing of things. So with that as the backdrop, please stay tuned for my daily reports from the 2009 World Championships (competition starts Thursday).