johnhirsch.org

REV3 prices go up December 1st. So if you are going to do one of there great races sign up now.

Also save a few bucks with the team discount code: JHirschRev3

You can sign up for rev3 here: www.rev3tri.com

I asked that the code be SLAYER but didn’t get it.

“Please now you can come home.”

My favorite part of the  off season is the planning. The sitting back and wondering what the next race will be, what will matter, what will the goals be, what at the end of the next year will I want to be able to say I did.

There are also practical considerations. This year for example I needed to lock down my pro card for two more years. It was a goal I didn’t pick but was put on me by USAT (rumor is about 1/2 of pros didn’t make it).  There are also other factors to take into account too, mostly money and glory involving since this is kinda a job and all.

The little universe of pros got rocked recently. USAT is forming a pro-organization. Its, very close to being illegal as a violation of labor law in my legal opinion since employers can formed unions because its a conflict on interest. But whatever. More interestingly the WTC is doing the same. They are also charging 750 bucks to join and you still have to pay for some races (clearwater and kona). There is also a bigger change for me. They are only paying out prize money if you finish in a spot with prize money AND are within 8% of the winning time. The practical effect is that spots 6-10 won’t get paid and the WTC will pocket the money. I get the motive there, the WTC is profit driven (greedy). Here is the last of the 3 changes that I don’t fully get. They cut the number of spots for Clearwater and Kona by more then half for pros. Also you have to be within 5% of the winning time. Normally only the top 2-3 are within 5%.

So here is the thing. I did ironman brand races because, I win money, I want to qualify for world championships and they were free. The WTC’s rules change means they are not longer free (750 bucks), winning money just got a lot harder, and going to kona/clearwater is almost impossible.

Interestingly Rev3 (www.rev3tri.com) just made there first ironman distance race. They promised to pay all of the prize money, which is over double that of most WTC races ( and non of that 8% b.s.), and entry is free. Plus they are helping pros with a little money which cover other costs (travel ect…) Rev3 also puts on a SICK show. Their half was considered as good or better then any other race. It is run by a pro Heather Golnick and owned by a great guy, Charlie. Its the opposite of the “evil empire” feel of the WTC.  With a half in June and a full in Sept it sets up nicely for the backbone of a season.

Here the conflict: I wanted to race two ironmans next year. I am not really good a halfs and the WTC has so many races that you can do a ton of halfs and full ironmans (all for one time cost of 750 bucks). ALSO everyone I know is going to  Ironman Lake Placid. I really wanted to do IMLP. I love the race, it had a softer field last This would also allow for a second later peak for one of the later ironmans like FL, AZ or Cozumel.  Also, WTC owns Ironman, and that still has value. People notice a top 10 at a WTC ironman. While rev3 has no shortage of effort in getting their race press, its not YET as big. Though if the WTC keeps screwing around with pros (and age-groupers) it won’t take long for rev3 to become a huge deal.

There is good here. For one the creation of a uniform fee means no more dealing with individual race directors and with the WTC for free entry. This year it was this annoying process of seeing if you could get into races free. I didn’t know if I was into ironman Louisville until mid july. Its very hard to plan a year that way. Also they are doing doping controls for pros, which is needed. So for 750 bucks thats a lot of peice of mind in terms of planning out a calander and knowing some of the doping might be curbed. Also I can now race free internationally. Prior to this move race directors in the EU use to want me to pay entry fees which was one of my big reasons for not going to some races. There are a few awesome events that I might try now like IM Lazarote, Nice, and UK.

Its also awesome that Rev3 is coming into the game in a big way. Having the choice between two good series is amazing. Ironman keeps mess things up, and allowing for other races to compete. Their constant penny wise pound foolish approach allowed them to go from the only race series on the block to one that is under attack globally with Quelle Challenge in the EU, Rev3 here and a new series headed by Faris.

So its not a bad time to be a pro despite the WTC trying to grab money from us and excluding most of us from there two big events.

In my head as I break out the two choices, one seems to be all (or a lot) of WTC events. After all, if I am gonna pay the 750 I am gonna get my money’s worth. The other is all NON WTC races. This is Rev3,Wild Flower, American Zoflinger (maybe) and a few others. Honestly, I am not sure at this point what I am going to do and thats a little weird.

(Christine aka holisticguru on a hike before I did some mindful over eating of pie on Thanksgiving.)

I started tri in 99 and was hooked by 2000. I dug pro racing (as a fan) even when my goals were age group focused (chased kona). There weren’t blogs or twitter really and the life and training of the pros was kinda secrete. A decade later and the giants of the sport from that era are mostly gone. Ried, Lessing, Hellrieggle. I am aware of this more and more when I look around at the pro meeting and see less and less of the old gaurd and more and more new faces. But one of my early favorits was Ms. Jones. Tall, thin, pretty, and really really really fast she was my fav pro woman. Plus I have a love for Aussies, mostly because everytime I am doing something insane there always seemed to be an Aussie making the adventure even more insane.

 So when I went to get my bike out of transition I was kinda surprised that she started chatting with me. Here is the exchange:

Jones: “I am so ready for the off-season.

Me:”yes. For sure.”

Jones: “how long do you think the bike will stay in the case before I even bother to unpack it.”

Me: “um till christmass?” Jones: “at least. Let’s get fat!”

Me: “yeah. I hear that. I am gonna eat my disapointment of today away.”

(Then she put 1 arm around me and said)

Jones: “I had the same thing happen in Kona. Its just the way it goes sometimes.” Then she laughed, and I laughed and as we left the pro racks and transition she got mobbed. Yep, she is pretty cool-awesome.

(Pic of the stupid tube that did my race in) Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T

“Keep your heart in the right place.”- My Godfather

 My father’s best friend is my godfather. For 34 years he has been a pillar in my life, a colume of strength, a light of wisdom delievered with the thunder of laughter rather then the shock of lightning. He is the kind of man that when you see him you get a real hug. You start talking, and before you know it you are laughing.

By the time you leave you realize you just had the heavest of coversations, that speak of the most important and core things in life, and all the while you didn’t know it until you are in your car heading back to your hotel 2.5 hours away in Clearwater, spending the entire ride digesting what you just learned. It amazing it still happens like that since he has been doing this exact thing all my life.

He is sneaky like that. You don’t realise how awesome someone like that is at times. He doesn’t make a big showing of his love, his unconditional support or his loyality. He just goes about giving you all those things quitely so you can have them and so you can kick ass in whatever you do.

While training a little while ago my phone rang. It was my father. We talk often but he never calls me. He never says “call me back.”When I did he said my godfather had cancer. I had though a bunch of times about not racing worlds but never about not going to FL because from the day I got that call I had planned on the visit to him the day after the race. You wanna know why I ran a personal best? It was to finish the race as soon as I could so that I could visit him. Because I knew that race and this visit would be linked and I wanted to have an effort he would be proud of. This visit was more important than any race.

My godfather has a long way to beating cancer, and with living through the process of beating cancer. Hearing how hard it is, I feel so proud to be part of Team Continuum. An organization that raises money for people fighting cancer. Cancer is one of those aweful things, that touches everyone directly or indiectly. If you can, please help me help others. Click the link here:

http://www.teamcontinuum.net/athlete_page.asp?eid=146&uid=85066 

to make a donation and help me meet my fund raising goal.

(Pic: My dad godfather and me the day after the Ironman 70.3 World Championships)

The off season is here, SO LETS GO OUT!

TEAM CONTINUUM PARTY (though all folks are strongly encouraged to come) 

“There is nothing you can do that I have not already done to myself.” Mindless Self Indulgence

The lead into this race was rough. I had 13+ months of straight training and racing. It was my 7th half ironman of the year, not to mention two 3 week camps and about 20 other races one of being an ironman not that long ago. But Jim Ortel www.blockislandsport.com had create a tight rope I could walk between training and recovery to extend my season out. I had a few crisis of faith leading up because I felt so wasted most of the time. But in the days leading up I found myself focusing. Once here I was glad I was. By race morning as I played “all hope is gone” by Slipknot I had gotten my head where it needed to be. I was committed to racing.

 The start was oddly fist free. Maybe because I got dropped really quickly. I didn’t have the super fast high end speed I needed and was sluggish, I normally have very good starts so this was a bit discouraging. Funny side note, the male pros were “drifting” so much prior to the start that I needed to start taking strokes before the cannon, seriously. It was really bad fellas. Come on, let’s have a little more class. Or how about the swim ref do what he did at one race where he simply took his giant board and went back and forth across the start line ramming any sucka who was creeping. Nothing says “I am serious guys” like bleeding head trama! Hey it gets you attention! I found myself in a group of three and came in after 26 minutes or so. It was wetsuit legal, and this was good because it was chilly and I swim WAY better with my wetsuit. I heard they posted 27 but the timing matt was a huff as a late swim course change moved this around.

Out of t1 I got about 5 feet when my bike slid out from under me. Flat. Errrrr! Its been ages since I flatted in a race. I contemplated quiting. But then got to work fixing it before I went Norman Sadler. I could too, Silke taught me how to swear in German in Spain in 2008. It also occured to me that if I DNF no one would believe me when I said I got a flat because of all my pre-race whinning about how tired I was. One of the things I get out of this blog is that by living outloud as I do I know people are watching. Sometimes you all keep me in line, and this is one of those time. But by mile 20 I could tell it wasn’t right. By 30 is was really soft. By 40 I was kinda half doing a wheelie to keep the rim from bottoming out. By mile 56 I was again thinking that this was another sign from god to drop out. Lucky for me I am agnostic mostly so signs from god are generally ignored.

I hit the run and decided a pr would be kinda a nice way to end the year. I figured what the hell right? I mean its not like I got much going on after this. Plus running slow sucks. Also I kinda wanted to get this over with. Oh and I wanted to see if a theory I am working on is true. The theory is my mind is a bad indicator of what my body can do. I wanted to re-learn shutting off the part of my brain that feels pain. Also I asked myself, do I wanna go for a run with a bunch of triathletes? And the answer was yes, that sounds like a lot of fun. And I was right. It was. The run is hard and nice. You climb a big bridge and down then do a few quite streets then back over into the race venue. Crowds were loud and awesome. I saw coach/pro ELF and on my final pass by her I frisbie threw a spounge at her and amazingly hit her right in the gut. Not since nailing Tim Snow with a Timberman snowball have I laughed so hard while running so fast. She vowed to “get even” with me in Spain at www.stronglikebulltraining.com and the way she said it I tend to believe her, also she threatened me again on my facebook page so I am now expecting a higher then average prank rate there. In the end I think I ran an 82 for the half. Not too shabby considering it was 80, FL humid and had 4 good hills to deal with on the run.

 So now its time for some other things. If your looking for coaching for 2010 let me know, I have spots available. If you are one of the CREW already and we need to catch up, let’s do that too. Also if your down with running we got some also stuff going on this winter with www.teamcontinuum.net Lastly, if your my pet, I am looking forward to hanging out with you more! Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T

 

“I kill myself in small amounts… Just another funeral. Now I am wasted. I am gone. It was all about the hurt.” Manson

13 months ago, on a galaxy far far away I started training. Its been linterally tens of thousands of miles trained, raced and traveled. I won some, lost some, lost my mind, found my soul, sold my soul for my mind then got my soul back at a pawn shop. That is to say, its been a crazy bakers dozen of months that got shoved into a year. At the start www.bisportshop.com owner and my coach-mentor-friend-training buddy-sponsor said to me “its my job to make sure you have a season.” I manned up, threw down, and did a ton of training, then a ton of racin’, then tons more training, then tons more racin, then some more training.

Now its time for some racin’. I know too much too be too excited for this one. I know I am not too excited, and that is a sign to not be excited too. But when you get a shot to race a world championship as a pro you take it. Its a near mircle that I am on the plane right now to race because as much as I love to swim bike a run I really hate the idea of swimming biking and running. The very though makes me wanna lay down in traffic. That’s how deep I went this year. Where I hate what I love. Kinda twisted, but twisted logic is logical for something as twisted as racing ironman and half ironman. So I am trying to find the purpose. And lessons to learn and things to forget.

First lesson is from pro roadie eric zabel. “If you race, best to not think too much.” Turns out ones head isn’t a useful tool for much other then holding yourself back. Your body can go twice as far as you think. So when my body told me to stop a while ago, its fine since I haven’t doubled that. For this race to go well I need to shut off my brain which isn’t doing for much for me.

Second lesson: all the lessons are subject to being forgotten. In 2005 I had a long brutal season. I was hurt. I was tired. I was also between jobs and had a shot at training full time for 6 weeks before ironman FL. It shouldn’t have gone. Its still my PR. All the conventional logic is subject to being twisted. Sports is part science, but its also very much part witchcraft and voodoo. You can do everything right and suck, and you can suck and get it right. If you need hope, you can take that, or you can remember the first lesson which is to stop thinking.

 

So after saying nice things about me my girlfriend is now openly mocking me on her blog. www.holisticguru.blogspot.com (Pic: me and Coraline in the Great Pumpkin Patch) Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T

I only need 30 more people to download my interview on www.ironmanbobby.com to beat my girl friends interview done prior to mine on that sight! come on peeps, go to that site! PLEASE! I must win! I must win!!!!!! (Pic: If you don’t expect a knuckle sammy. Here is a pic of me beating up the road. That fight I am calling a draw.) Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T

So check this out: I am the favorite pro of a 14 year old runner and she did a story about me for her P.E. class (see below). Kinda think PE shouldn’t have papers, just, you know, exersise, but whatever, this kid doesn’t need it since she is super active and wicked fast. She is my coaches daughter. Its one of those milestones where you live and train long enough to run with your or your friends kids. For all those families out there fighting for family time (and fitness) I highly recomend the group trail run, even the dog can get in on it (see pic, Brooke, me and coraline about to go run with her dad and Christine). Check your ego at the door however because getting dropped by a kid is awesomely cruel. … Brooke Ortel 11-5-09 P.E.Pro. Athlete

The athlete I chose to do my report on is someone I am lucky enough to know personally. I have known John Hirsch all my life and I am constantly inspired. Not only is John a ridiculously fast and efficient racer; he is also a coach of 22 athletes and works as a public defender in New York City. In addition, John works as head coach for a running team that raises money for people fighting cancer. (This job requires him to write online training programs for 292 other athletes, aside from the 22 he coaches one on one.)

As you can probably tell from his jobs, John is kind, smart, and compassionate. He recently took in a rescue dog and has been a loyal friend to my family, especially my dad. John is also a hilarious and fun training partner. A few weeks ago, I went for an extremely fun trail run with my dad and John Hirsch. We had a really great time and John was ultra-encouraging to me. Besides, as my dad pointed out, how many 14 year olds get the chance to run with a professional athlete?

John is a professional triathlete, which means he races frequently and trains—all the time. A training week for John is up to 40 hours at peak including 20,000+ yards of swimming, 350 miles of cycling, and 70 miles of running, not to mention strength training and yoga.

Not only is he a pro triathlete, but he is an Ironman racer extraordinaire. (In case you’re wondering, an Ironman is a brutal triathlon in which you swim 2.4 miles, bike 112 miles, and then run a marathon—26.2 miles.) This entails amazing amounts of strength, devotion to the sport, and ENDURANCE! John says two of his favorite things about being a pro are: one, “eating 5,000 to 10,000 calories a day!” and “doing what I love.”

In conclusion, John Hirsch is my favorite professional athlete, a good training partner (when he is willing to slow down!), and one of my role models. I admire him for one, being an amazing triathlete, two, his work ethic in training and his Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T