DOUBLE DOUBLE PLEASE

Friday July 30, 2010

The big double race weekend. I woke up at 4:30 to give myself enough time to get to the airport. “The man” and owner of MyMark Tyrell was kind enough to drag himself out of bed and drive me to the airport. Many thanks big guy - I know Sunny appreciates it too.

I was super excited to not be flying Delta and waited in line to check in on my United flight. I had trouble finding my flight at the kiosk and had to go to the counter for help. I was kindly informed that I did not have a United reservation and that I was indeed flying Delta.... grrrrr! As I was waiting I got as message from fel

low triathlete and ph

otographer Eric Wynn. He was in the fancy Delta VIP lounge area

and invited me to join him as I waited for my flight. It was super nice and I enjoyed some free food and cushy lounge chairs. I think I just figured out where the bike check fee money goes;)

My flight was delayed an hour so we sat on the run way while they changed out a mechanical box. Always grateful when they find these things but it’s frustrating to just sit there in the plane when it’s not flying. At first glance I didn’t think the flight delay was going to make i

t tight for me to check in for me race. I figured with 4 hours of time on the ground I would have plenty of time to drive the 115 miles from Chicago Illinois to Benton Harbor Michigan. After a smooth flight I snagged my bags and discovered that the rental place couldn’t find my car rental. Seriously? Another delay.... why not make this harder than it has to be. With my “no worries it will all work out” attitude I pulled out my trusty iPhone and booked another car through Orbits. Turned out I got a better deal on the car and it was a bigger one - which is great cause my bike case is massive.

Started the drive with what I thought was still lots of time until I h

it Friday Chicago traffic. What a joke this turned out to be. I also didn’t factor in the 1 hour time change from Illinois to Michigan. After driving for 3 1/2 hours I made it to check in with 15 minutes to spare. I now had the challenge of

finding my hotel which was 30 miles away in South Bend Indianapolis. I found it with little difficulty, checked in and got all my things ready for race morning. To recap I woke up at 4:40 in Utah landed in Illinois, drove to Michigan to check in for the race and am sleeping in Indianapolis..... and let’s not forget that I am racing in Calgary Canada SUNDAY.

Saturday July 31, 2010

After a very short night sleep I woke up to heavy rains. I headed back to Benton Harbor to get all set up for the race. The lake looked great but the skies looked bad. 1500 athletes were all soaked, cold and trying to huddle under pop up tents in an attempt to stay dry.

While standing in line for the restrooms I started talking to a guy behind me who was wearing a jacket from Canada.

I asked him “What part of Canada are you from?” and he told me the “Toronto area.”

I told him I grew up in Calgary and he said “I think there is a race there this weekend.”

I said “Yes there is and that I am doing it!” He says “Wait, are you James Lawrence?”

In my head I thought “holy crap yes I am” but only said the “yes I am” part out loud. He proceeded to tell me that this was my 11th and 12th race of my quest and that he had a

notification about my quest that came across his blackberry this morning. This was a cool experience for me to have as it is hard for me to measure how well I am doing at getting the word out there. This is a definite step in the right direction. I pray every night that this project isn’t a waste of my time and that it will both pay off for the African people and my family.

The pros went off in the rain and I waited an hour fifteen for my wave to go off. I tried to switch my swim wave to give myself some additional time to get back to Chicago and fly to Canada but was denied. By the time I hit the water the rain had stopped falling from the sky, everything was already wet but I prefer to bike without rain fall.

This swim in Lake Michigan was FAST and my time reflects this - 30:52. The nice thing about this swim is that it is a point to point. No turns, just swimming straight. The water was clear and smooth.

I jumped out of the water and put on my wet shoes and headed out. The first part of this ride was FAST. There were some small rollers but they didn’t seem to slow m

e down. I was able to jump up the rollers and fly down the back sides. I hit the half way point of the bike course, looked down at my clock and a big smile came to my face. I was flying, feeling great and way ahead of pace. It was a good thing I was having a great day because after doing some quick math I didn’t have the luxury of going slow due to the drive back to Chicago to catch my flight. By the half way point of the ride my goals changed, bust it hard on the bike with a new PR and hold on during the run. To my ultimate surprise I was able to increase my pace over the second half of the bike and ended up finishing up with a personal best time of 2:20:04 averaging 23.99 MPH!!!

I headed out on the run and felt decent. My run has been a frustrating puzzle for me to figure out. I can’t seem to throw down consistent times. I am working on getting my speed up but is tough when I am in the middle of this project. The run was mostly flat with only one significant climb that we had to do twice. I forgot to grab my Garmin on the run and just settled into comfortable pace not knowing how fast I was moving. I never felt too heavy and powered my way to the finish. I quickly snagged my finished medal, T-shirt and bike and bolted to my car. I took off not knowing my finishing time. Once settle into the drive to the airport I check my times. 4:39:24..... WHAT? A new PR by 11 minutes. I WAS SUPER EXCITED and called my wife to share the great news. Maybe I should book my flights really tight after each race. It seemed to have created some much needed urgency in my racing.

I was super hungry and needed some food. I rushed out of there so quickly that I only grabbed a few pieces of fruit. OK SO GET THIS. On the way to the airport I had to pay 3 tolls. Right before the last stop there was a McDonald’s right in the middle of the freeway. Literally in the middle. As traffic slowed for the toll booth I pull into the center and bought burger, fries and a Dr. Pepper. I just couldn’t pass up the opportunity to buy from this one of a kind McDonald’s. To make the experience more memorable I placed my order with a girl named LAQUANDA! It was perfect.

I got caught up in some traffic but ultimately made it back in time to catch my flight. I disassembled and packed my bike in the rental car parking lot, and checked in.

Race one of the double weekend was a raging success!

I was greeted in Calgary by my dad at 8:45 pm. We went straight to their house and built up my bike. We then drove the 40 minutes out to the lake and T1 to check in my bike. The race directors of the Calgary race were super accommodating allowing my dad to pick up my race packet the day before and allowed me to check in my bike after it had closed. I was met at my parents place by an old high school friend whom I have kept in contact with. Vicky now does massage and volunteered to work on my legs in between these two races. This was awesome and I can’t thank Vicky enough. I did my last minute prep and finally got to bed at 1:10 in the morning.

Race Day Nutrition - Valuable Information

I have been asked a lot what I do for my race nutrition for a half Ironman Event. I guess one could say that after 10 races at this distance in 2010 I should know what I am doing. So here is what I do and what I have found that works for me;

My race pre starts the night before. I apply MYOMED to my legs and sleep in compression pants. When I wake up in the morning I make a big bowl of RokitFuel and 4-8 ounces of ASEA. I make one bike bottle that has 2 scoops of CarboPro in it, 2 packets of Hornet Juice in it, and Prolytes.

On the bike I have 2 more bottles with 2 scoops of CarboPro in each, 2 packets of Hornet Juice in each and more Prolytes.

I take 2 DUB shots (similar to 5 hour energy) right before the swim. On a race where my wave was 2 hours after the pro's a take a muscle milk as a second breakfast.

On my bike I have 4 gel packs. I try to take in 1000 calories on the ride.

In T2 I have a packet of pills waiting for me to take. When a course is set up properly (in my opinion) there should be a water table as you leave T2 to head out onto the run. This water table will allow you to take these pills quickly. If no water table is available you just need to have a water bottle in T2 or carry the baggie of pills to the first water stop usually at mile 1. In my pack of pills I have DUB nutrition's Muscle formula and Youth formula, some kind of salt replacement pill, sport legs (for lactic acid removal), and 4- 200mg ibuprofen's.

Then for the run I take in mostly liquids and gels (3-4 of them) from the aid stations (no bars). I say no bars because I want quick nutrition and I want it now. I do not want to take energy away from what I am doing to break down complex bars. Coke is also welcome treat (this is supplied at most races on the run.) The other awesome thing I like to do is dump the ice down my shorts so it sits on my hips, quads and hamstrings. This helps keep me cool and keep my legs nice and fresh.

This post was free of charge;) I think this is some very valuable information and will hopefully help some of you get through your day with no bonks!

Vineman Race Day

Swim: 32:20

Woke up earlier than I need but who can sleep in on race morning. My wave didn't go off till 8:22 but who doesn't want to watch the pro's in action. These guys and girls are fast! Just check out those swim times for the pro men leaders! While waiting for my wave to start a guy walks up to me and asks if I fight. I get this a lot with my ear. I used to wrestle is my standard answer here. I recognized the guy and asked is he was a Diaz. I knew that one of the Diaz brothers did this race most years and indeed it was Nick from the UFC. He is way more famous than me... well that's cause I not famous.

It was finally my turn and I was ready to get going. The hard part this race morning was keeping myself calm enough to I didn't use all my adrenaline before the gun for my race went off. Two hours after the pro's is a long time to wait when your all ready to go. As mentioned before this is a great swim set up for me. Smooth waters and straight lines. It showed in the swim times and mine as well. I was happy with my swim time and headed out on the bike with some good energy.



Bike: 2:34:42

This was a challenging and beautiful bike course. Rolling hills with few challenging climbs to keep you honest. There were some tricky handling sections on this course and the scariest part was when the course was shaded by the trees so it made some of the rough roads tough to see. Charting a clean line on this course was the difference between a pinch flat and no flat. There were many casualties on the side of the road changing their tubes out. I felt good throughout and felt I did a great job with my nutrition. I passed a lot of people as most of the field started ahead of me on this day. One of the athletes I passed was 80 year old Madonna Buder. She is INCREDIBLE! I gave her a big thumbs up and yelled Madonna as I went by- hopefully I didn't scare her and made her crash.

Run: 1:39:18

I started to run and the heat started to make itself present as there was no tree cover on the run. I felt good coming off the bike and just started to cruise. I knew if I could have a post a good run time that I would have a chance to post a personal best. This would be a good feat considering this was my 10th 70.3 race of the year. The volunteers were awesome and the crowds were very supportive! As I hit the turn around point I looked at my watch and knew I was on pace. The roads to the turn around had more uphill sections then on the way back, so this was an exciting thought. I turned up the jets, loaded up with Gu and just kept running. The night before I had a conversation with my friend and pro triathlete Heath who told me to post a 4:50:10....well at the end of the day I missed it by 14 seconds. Not bad if you ask me. My final time was 4:50:24 and 2 minutes faster than any 70.3 event I have ever done. Booyaa! The announcer gave me props all day long and talked up the world record and the cause. It was a great day for exposure to quest!


The race ended with some great post race food and me jumping in my car and driving 12 hours to get home to be with my family. Thanks for all the love and support!

Expo and check in

Saturday July 17, 2010

Today the we woke up, geared up and headed out the door to bike the run course. It was Roy, Donald (both from Ellsworth) and I. It was cold and I was under dressed but I am glad that we did this ride. The last few miles of the out and back were a little different than my Ironman and it was good to see the hills and course. After the ride I attended the pre race meeting and got all checked in for the race. This year turned out to be the 20th anniversary of the race. The Ellsworth crew set up the booth and waited for the crowds of people. The expo always gets crazy for a few hours and Ellsworth got some great exposure. They have mostly been in the mountain bike game but are coming on strong in the road and TT world.
Mid day I headed down to the swim start and swam about 600 meters. This is a great swim course as the water is always smooth and half of the swim is down stream... which also means that half is upstream but it's the first half, so your fresh. The other really good thing is if you are not a strong swimmer you can swim close to the banks of the river and stand up at any time!

The rest of the afternoon was spent at the expo in the Ellsworth booth followed by a nice Mexican dinner! Off to bed... tomorrow we dance.... again.

Vineman 70.3 HALF WAY!

Friday 16, 1210

I threw the mattress and the bike in the back of the Highlander and headed out not 100% sure where I would be crashing this weekend. It was an 800 mile drive to the race in Northern California. I was excited for this weekends race for 2 reason;

1 - This marks the half way point of my journey in 2010 (still feeling fresh as a daisy)

2 - This was the home course of my very first Ironman in 2008 (hoping for some good energy)

I am a champ behind the wheel and plowed through this drive lik

e it was nothing. I enjoy solo travel in the car as it gives me great time to think and reflect on many things. I was able to think of things that I am grateful for and the reasons I am doing this project. I have listed just a few things I am blessed to have in my life at this time;

- My wife Sunny and my 5 amazing kids

- Water - kind of the whole purpose of this journey..

- My health

- My support system and sponsors

- The opportunity to even try this craziness

- My mom and dad for always believing in me and allowing me to do my thing even though it drives my dad nuts at times

- In Our Own Quiet Way for facilitating the work in Africa. Just look at the difference a dam makes.... you gotta love it!

I could go on but I will stop here.....

I arrived in Cali around 9pm. Just a few hours earlier I was texting back and forth with Roy from Ellsworth and he explained to me that I could crash in his hotel room. A text message sent from heaven. A quick unpack and off to bed. Expo and check in tomorrow~

Pictures from Rhode Island

I know, I know.... everyone is tired of looking at me in Spandex but I have to put them up. Gotta prove I was actually there.....

Bad Ass Comments Validated

My mom ran her first sprint triathlon this weekend and from our conversation and the pictures she enjoyed the day. When we spoke she exclaimed that 3 strokes into the swim she could not breath as she thought her wetsuit was too tight. This is a very common experience for a first time triathlete to have. It is a simply combination of excitement and anxiety. Wetsuits are super tight and should not restrict our breathing. I was thinking after our conversation how many people I knew that had experienced the same thing as my mom, my wife included. My wetsuit pretty much can’t get much tighter. I think this just comes with practice and a certain comfort level in the water. Practice in open water swimming is super important, especially before attacking the longer distances or mass starts.




She said once on the bike she started to calm down and get into a good rhythm. She then attacked the run and conquered that too. All in all a great day for mom and I loved hearing about her day. I can not wait to do an Half-Ironman event with her in 2011 and a Full Ironman in 2012, she is already and inspiration to many. If my mom at the age of 60 can get out there and do, what is stopping you?? Go mom Go!

Rhode Island 70.3 #9 of 21 (yes it now says 21)

Woke up super early to catch a 7am flight to Rhode Island. This is race #9 of 21 for the Tri and Give a Dam project. Holly from Quiet Way was kind enough to drop me off at the airport so my wife Sunny could get some rest. Weekends when I am away are just as tough in her as she has to be a single parent for a few days. I tried this a few weeks ago when my wife went to a youth camp with our church. Trust me when I say I have the easier job. Hanging with 5 kids 24/7 is no joke. I do not know how woman around the world do it.

I couldn’t have anything go wrong today or I would miss check in. Missing check in would disqualify me from the race an ultimately affect the record. I had originally thought that I was flying on Friday and had plenty of time to get to the race and check in. Turns out when John Rose from DUB Nutrition booked my flight he didn’t realize how tight and nerve racking these few flights would be for me. This year I have experience several delays and a delay today could hurt the journey. With an “everything always works out for me” attitude I didn’t worry too much about it. There were do delays and I executed the perfect luggage/car pick up.
I found check in with time to spare, headed to T2 at the Capitol building and dropped off my gear bag. I quickly realized that T1 and bike check in was an hour away and I had 40 minutes to get there. I got my directions and sped all the way to the swim start in hopes to not see any law enforcement in a bad mood. The security folk there were very nice and let me build my bike and check it in- thanks guys!
In the end all worked out perfect (of course it did). I located the Knights Inn where I would be spending the next few night. Across the street was a Friday’s and I enjoyed a rack of Jack Daniels ribs before retiring for the night.

July 11, 2010
Rhode Island 70.3 The Swim
I woke up at 3 am (1am Utah time) and got all my gear ready for the day. They race shuttles to go down to the swim start were scheduled to leave at 4am sharp. Holy crap this was early!! I hardly slept the night before and hoped to feel good once the race began.... can anyone say caffeine!!
This was a beach start ocean swim. When the cannon blew we had to dive in and smash through the surf. This was kind of fun. Once we got past the bigger waves we were able to start swimming. The swim was straight out, left, left then straight back (my favorite swim course set up). Swimming out seemed like a long time as we were swimming into the rough surf. On the way back was a lot more fun. Despite the rough waters I had a great swim at 35:03

Rhode Island 70.3 The Bike
This ride was ‘suppose’ to be more fun than it was.... it was still fun as I love to ride! Usually the wind comes off the ocean and into Providence, but not today. Someone must have told the winds that James Lawrence was coming to race and to switch up from the norm. This point to point ride had more and bigger rollers than I thought would be there. And that darn wind was in our face the whole time - of all days for the wind to switch. But it really doesn’t matter that much as we all ride the same course, it would just be nice to not dance with the wind at every race. The scenery on this course was beautiful. Thick trees and points and nice ocean views at others. The last 2-3 miles were rough and sketchy. Pot holes, railroad tracks, and sharp turns. All in all a decent ride at 2:44:56 As in most races I was humbled by a few woman riders. I was battling with 2 other guys at about mile 40 when this tiny girl blows by us like we were going backwards on a climb. I thought “whoa that’s awesome!” I’m not the fastest biker out there but I’m certainly not the slowest. I marvel at the athletes that show up to these events, simply incredible.
Rhode Island 70.3 The Run

By the run the heat was starting to make itself known. This mostly flat 2 loop run was the perfect conclusion to a beautiful course. One big hill 1 mile into the run was unwelcome on the second loop of this run. Who am I kidding, it was unwelcome on the first lap too. It is always inspiring when I see the pro’s running and the pace they are holding, just awesome. Equally inspiring are the warriors who are out there for 7 plus hours in that heat. I had a steady run keeping my minute per mile in the 7‘s with a time of 1:44:19. I do not know how people run sub 1:30’s. I am going to figure this out. My total finish time was 5:08:39 and concludes race #9 of 21. I will be in Northern California next week. Donate if your board www.TriandGiveaDam.com and thanks for all the continued support.

One of the nice benefits of finishing before the masses is that he massage tents are mostly open. These are the true champion of the day. Working on tired sweaty athletes would not be something I would sign up for, but man am I grateful! I must have got lucky cause the gal I got worked on me for a good half hour. As I was headed to my car to wrap up the race day I passed an empty medical booth tucked way off to the side. On of the medical dudes say “you need a massage?” I thought “heck yes I do” So I went in a received an ice massage that felt wonderful. I race next weekend so hopefully this helps speed up my recovery.

I headed back to Fridays and enjoys some more of those Jack Daniels ribs. They tasted even better than the night before. After a small piece of rib heaven I took a much needed nap. When I woke up from the nap I felt worse than when I went down. My head was pounding and my legs ached. I walked over to a local store and found a car show taking place in the parking lot. I walked around and looked at all the cars and got some liquid to help rehydrate myself. Back to the hotel and the art of recovering. See you in Salt Lake City

Burger #8. The Gypsy

This burger was a yummy and a blast! We just love doing them, so I hope you enjoy this one! "We want your money!" Casey is one of the funniest kids I know... also one of the fastest!

10k - Fail

Provo Freedom Run - 40:21

I wanted to break 40 on this 10 k race. I tried and failed. Dang-it!!! I am happy with the average of 6:25's and this is my best time ever but I really wanted to break 40. Looking back there was an uphill section that I coasted on and should have pushed just a little harder... I live to race another day! Great job to Kyle Quist (fellow DailyMiler'er) who rocked his PR by 2 minutes - Woot Woot. Also congrats to Sara Jarvis (fellow PowerTri.com athlete) who pushed me to the finish, she is an animal! Jess Brereton also ran the 5k which mark his first race back after his accident and back surgery. He posted a proud 23:38. BIG ups to the wife Sunny who ran 8:10 miles to knock out her personal best in a 10K - Bang Bang! The best "in race butt slap" goes to Dano Dayton who caught up with me in the early stages of the run. Feels so good, great to see you good buddy!

Picture of the race goes to Chris Shane. It's tough to see but it does say U S A.... nice work Chris!
Also ran into fellow Aquaphor team mate for a pre race pic! Love to see all my friends and athletes at these local races. Thanks for the continued support!