The Becker Buzz...

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The Becker Buzz!
http://www.blakebecker.com/

This Edition:

- 2006 Apple Duathlon -
- USAT Coaching Certification -
- Training in Boulder -
- Upcoming Races -
- Season Sponsors -


2006 Apple Duathlon

I headed back to Wisconsin for Memorial Day weekend to visit family and to race the highly competitive Apple Duathlon in Sartell, MN. After getting food poisoning, missing my flight and sleeping in the Chicago bus station overnight, I finally made it back to my home town of Madison, WI…..3hrs before I had to leave to drive to MN. “Control the controllable,” I thought. You can read more about the fun if you visit my blog. http://blakebecker.blogspot.com/


I drove with my buddy Brian up to the cities where we stayed with another friend, Jesse, for the race. We arrived just in time to catch a bite to eat and head to bed. I woke early and ate my usual pre-race breakfast of coffee, Boost, a banana, Hammer HEED and did I mention coffee? J I have found that a liquid diet the day before and morning of a race alleviates all GI Issues.

The race was a 5k, 33k, 5k Duathlon. The gun went off and as usual the whole world took off at 5min/mile pace. Luckily there was a hill early in the run that separated the field nicely. I held a comfortable, yet solid pace of around 5:20/miles and arrived into transition 10th overall in a time of 16:42.

I got on the bike and rode hard from the start. This was the first race on my new set of Zipp 606’s that were laced with a Powertap SL rear hub. Thank you to the guys at Cycleops and Zipp for the awesome pair of wheels. I rode hard and about 20k into the ride I was in second, with only Kiwi Pro, Will Smith, up the road. At about the 25k mark, I made my move into a strong headwind and managed to ride into the lead. I came into transition with a ride of 48:28 and headed onto the second 5k with about a 15sec advantage.



I knew that I wouldn’t be able to hold off will, as the guy has ITU type speed. I relinquished the lead at about 1mile into the run, but was very pleased with my second place finish. Official results are posted at:

http://www.pigmantri.com/jmsracing/results06/appledu06.html


USAT Coaching Certification

In other news, I completed the USAT Level I Coaching Clinic this past weekend in Colorado Springs. I am now USAT Certified and InsuredJ


Training In Boulder

Training here in Boulder has been great. Besides the altitude, which has taken a few weeks to get acclimated to, the people are great. In particular, I have met two outstanding athletes, people and now friends. Chris McDonald and Marilyn MacDonald (got it right guys :). We have had a few great rides up in the mountains and an ice cream cone or two. They are a few years ahead of me in the racing perspective, but are always willing to share their knowledge and experience in the sport. Visit their websites: http://www.trimacca.com/ and http://www.marilynmacdonald.com/.

In other news, JD is still with his dad in the hospital. I want to send my best to their family.
Upcoming Races

- Boulder Stroke & Stride Series(every Thursday)
- Big Sky Duathlon (June 10)
- 5430 Sprint Triathlon (June 18)
- Prospect Lake Triathlon (June 25)



2006 Season Sponsors

I want to thank my 2006 sponsors again. I also want to thank my family and friends for their unconditional support!

- Superspokes.com Online Bike store (http://www.superspokes.com/)

- Oomph! Sportswear (http://www.oomphsports.com/)

- Hammer Nutrition (http://www.e-caps.com/)

- Fuel Belt (http://www.fuelbelt.com/)

- Zipp Wheels (http://www.zipp.com/)

- CycleOps (http://www.cycleops.com/)

- Blue Seventy Wetsuits (http://www.blueseventy.com/)

- Rudy Project (http://www.rudyprojectusa.com/)

- Brooks Shoes (http://www.brooksports.com/)

Comments

Herbert said…
Nice blog. :-)
10:23 AM
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