[Photo Description: Paracord Tether at top, SP1belt swim tether below, race belt run tether below, key card swim tether and hand run tether at the bottom.]

Because of my vision, I rely on others’ eyes when I train and compete.  For both the swim and run, we’re tethered together.  I thought it would be helpful to others to discuss that evolution and what currently works best for me.

During the first few runs, I believe that I did them untethered.  I had more sight at that point, and I believed the very visible vests were enough.  While they were early on, I knew that the vision would eventually necessitate tethers. 

The first iteration of the running tethers were hand carried.  While it wasn’t a perfect system, what I found worked best was one of the ‘child leashes’.  I found that it was easiest for the guide to hold the handle.  And while they worked for a bit, I quickly learned that I needed something else.  Simply put, too much focus ended up being put on arm stroke or worrying about losing the tether.

On the swim side, the first tether I used was built by Dare2Tri’s staff.  It was a waist tether consisting of a piece of bungee and 2 hotel key cards.  Early on, this worked great, and I was able to feel the responsive tug as the guide maneuvered us through the course/around traffic.  However, after about a year, they got to a point where the swim tether would continually slip during the race.  Because of that concern, I started looking at other swim options.

While the initial swim waist tether wasn’t perfect, it did lead to solutions on the run side.  What I found worked best was two of the Triathlon race belts with a piece of bungee connecting them.  That has been my run tether since, and it led to the next iteration of the swim tethers.

Prior to Leon’s Triathlon that summer, I overheard someone from SP1belt talking about creating a swim tether using two of their belts.  I was intrigued and looked into it more.  As a result, before the race started, I had a new swim tether that didn’t slip.

I continued to use that tether for about 2 years.  During that time, it became clear that the current tether wasn’t responsive enough.  Meaning that I would be too far from my guide before I would feel it go taut and correct.  At that point, I was introduced to the Paracord tethers. 

These have a two part connection point (waist and thigh), and are connected by a length of paracord.  Because of the double connection point, I stopped having stroke interruption on whichever side the guide was on.  It worked well during the 2019 season, and I’ll be looking at another version for 2021’s season.

So to review, what I’ll be using for the 2021 season is a run tether that consists of 2 tri belts connected by bungee and a Paracord constructed swim tether.  I will be going to smaller paracard so that I’ll have a lighter swim tether.

If you’re interested in being my eyes for training or racing in 2021, please reach out.  The projected schedule includes Indoor Triathlons, Sprint Triathlons, an Olympic Triathlon, Sprint Duathalons, Sprint Aquathons, 5Ks, 10Ks, Half Marathons and 70.3s.  If you are, I only ask these two things:

The first is that you’re extremely proficient in the discipline(s) that you’re going to guide for me in.  Typically, your worst speed should equal 90% of my estimated best.

The other is that you have a good attitude and are willing to learn.  Before the first time out, we’ll spend at least 10-15 minutes talking to ensure that we’re both on the same page.

Since beginning this journey 6+ years ago, I have become part of many different organizations. They all play a different and important part towards helping me succeed.

Catapult has provided me with opportunities to push my own boundaries while still being safe. They have also provided support so that I could improve in the swim discipline.

I am extremely grateful for their support, especially in this chaotic 2020 season. I am also extremely grateful for the opportunities that they provided for me in 2019. Feeling normal as I went night platform jumping has and will always stick with me.

This is just one of many reasons that I’m honored and proud to be part of their 2020 Ambassador team! And while I haven’t been able to be back in Houston yet, you WILL see me in Catapult gear during the fall/winter 5Ks that I have planned.

“The best laid plans of mice and men often go astray.” – Robert Burns

It has been a challenging year from a lot of perspectives. I’ve discussed my frustrations in previous blogs. However, the focus now is moving forward.

Now that doesn’t mean being reckless. I had struggles during the early part of the 2019 season due to medical issues. And the incident in Pleasant Prairie later that summer (having to be pulled from the water) magnified how important it is to be physically sound when racing. What it DOES mean is being careful, smart and not living in fear.

I do realize that there’s a pandemic going on, and that ROs, RDs and many others are going to err on the side of caution. To this point, this has mean cancellations and deferrals of umpteen events of all sizes. But I believe that there are ways to have races while ensuring everyone’s safety.

I also believe that the only way that we’re going to have athletic events in general is if they happen and the sky doesn’t fall. For them to happen though, people have to be willing to show up and race. To that point, while the Ron Jon Tri is no longer the Toyota Paratriathlon Nationals, I truly and sincerely hope that it’s a sizable and successful event. When it is, I believe we’ll have a full 2021 Triathlon season.

While I won’t make the trip for a Regional event, I am focused on local events. I will do the virtual Chicago Triathlon and several in-person 5Ks this fall.

The bigger picture for me though is 2021. I have sent a proposed schedule to my coach that has 10 packed months of racing on it. To the point of being smart — the overwhelming majority of it is planned in the midwest, where we can drive to the events. We’ll see what of that planned schedule actually happens. But all I can do is properly plan and be ready to race.

One other part of moving forward is working on communication. This includes social media, e-mail and the web site.

I realize that the blog -> e-mail piece has not worked in approximately a year. I appreciate everyone’s patience with the tests over the last week as I tested it. If you are no longer interested in receiving the e-mails, please just reply with an unsubscribe request. I will honor those ASAHP once received.

And stay tuned for a new web site late this year / early 2021…

Since 2015, the Naperville Noon Lions Club has generously supported my Triathlon endeavors. I am extremely graeful for all of their support in that time. I am also extremely grateful for their support of my 2020 season!

My planned 2020 season includes 37 events across 10 states, including 19 Triathlolns. Their support will help me to cover many race entries and some travel costs.

THANK YOU to the Naperville Lions for their continued support and continued belief in me!

[Mr. Miles, aka Feline psychologist extrodinare.]

“Success is not final, failure is not fatal; it is the courage to continue that counts.” – Winston Churchill

When I planned my 2019 season, I had such great hopes and strong goals for it. However, things have not gone as planned.

The year started out with not-so-fun medical and personal issues. But by mid-March, those were mostly resolved. And then the next shoe dropped — with me getting laid off (downsizing) from a company that I’d been with for almost 14 yeara. That threw a wrench into some plans, but I was able to regroup and tried to focus on qualifying for Nationals. After losing race opportunities to being unable to find guides / an unexpected monsoon, I found myself staring at a very short time frame to qualify for Nationals.

So headed into June, I knew what the score was and what I needed to do. And while I did everything I could to make a NQ time happen, it just didn’t come together.

After the DNF this past weekend, I was extremely disappointed. I lost both of my A races for the 2019 season because of if. Sure, I could have gone and raced PC Open. But after talking with my coach, that just didn’t make sense. What made more sense was to pull back, focus on fixing the issues and on moving forward. Even though these were two imiportant races, there is stilla HUGE chunk on my 2019 schedule. I am also working on trying to add a ‘replacement’ A race (Chicago) to it.

I’ve been able to make it through this frustraing first half of the year because of all of the people and organizations that support me. I am truly grateful to ALL of them, and their support has meant so much during these trying times.

To that point, the ‘pity party’ on Sunday post-race was short-lived (about an hour). What brought me out of it so quickly was realizing these several things (in order):

1) Yes, I lost both A races, but the season is not over.

2) The remainder of the season is an opportunity to fix these issues, and build towards the 2020 season.

3) I owe far too much to everyone who has, does and continues to support me to not push on. Short-term losses for long-term gains.

4) There are always going to be struggles and setbacks. It’s how you deal with them that will define you. And if you can’t deal with something ‘minor’ like this, HTF will you move forward?

The net result of all these conversations (some with the help of Mr. Miles) was that I refocused on the 2nd half of 2019 and did 2020 planning.

For those of you who may be new to the blog, I am night blind, which makes night activities a challenge. But as I’ve said in the past, I refuse to be a prisoner of the dark. To that end, I planned 3 5Ks in the dark for 2019. The G.L.O.W. 5K was the first of these races.

As I can see very, very little during these night races, I rely heavily on my guides. It’s about complete faith and trust that they’re going to keep me safe. Not just from cracks and poles, but also small children…

As with any race, there was a bottleneck at the start. However, it was worse that other races because of all the small children around us. Many would run ahead of their parents and stop suddenly. Some would stop with their parents without warning to take pictures. In both cases, it created extra obstacles. Thankfully both Chris and Erjon helped to guide, and to guide me around these two-legged obstacles.

Even though I couldn’t see much, I was still able to keep a decent pace. And it was another 5K where the only walking that I did was through the aid station (at about 1.75mi). I was able to set a new dark PR by about 3 minutes!

Thanks to Chris and Erjon for all their help!

“{We’re] not here to fuck spiders.” – Australian saying

After seeing photos and hearing stories from friends last year, I slated the USABA bike camp into my 2019 schedule. I believed that it would be extremely beneficial — not just for improving my cycling skills, but also because it would push me outside my comfort zone.

But before any of that could happen, I had to confirm my pilot. With the Velodrome, mountain climbining and some other things that I knew would be scary the first time, it was a short list. Thankfully, Danny was able to do it and I was able to move forward with the application.

The first day of camp included the bike build and a skills ride. It was a short ride out to the crit course and then several laps around it. It was easier to do the crit course / drills clockwise than it was counter-clockwise. At some point during the first day, one of the coaches noticed the seat was too low, so we raised it prior to day 2.

Day 2 of camp started with skills and ended with a 20mi+ ride. Some of the skills (especially the hip steering ones) were a little unnerving; but we made it through them. The afternoon ride included climbing, a rolling pace line and a couple of dicey stop sign crossings on the way back.

I think the biggest challenge of day 2 was with height. With the higher seat height, I was having problems getting clipped in consistently. As it became more of an issue during the afternoon ride, we decided to try other cleats. Unfortunately, my shoes wouldn’t take the cleats that we planned to use. So we went to plan C — borrowing cleats and using pedals that I had had problems clipping into.

Day 3 was spent entirely at the Velodrome. Because I was having so many issues with clipping in, people had to physically help get my feet into them and I had to stay clipped in at stops. After going through the intro / overview of the Velodrome, it was time to conquer my fear of it. And after the first few laps, it got easier. That changed when we went high and another tandem was underneath us. The ‘people look like ants’ viewpoint was the issue I believe.

The afternoon presented even more stressful moments. We spent it doing standing starts, during which I felt so incredibly unstable and flying starts. The standing starts got a little easier as we kept doing them, but I was never fully comfortable with them. Thankfully, we only did one flying start — that was the worst for me.

Day 4 was ‘race day’ at the Velodrome. It started with pursuits (4K for men and 3K for women), followed by kilos. While we succeeded in not being caught during our pursuit, I didn’t have ‘track hack’ afterwards. That did happen after our kilo though. That and chain ring issues that caused the bike to throw the drive chain. Thankfully the mechanic was able to bend the teeth back.

During the afternoon ride, the pedal issue finally caught up with me. Because of the clipping issues, I was having to hold a position during red lights. This was usually at least 30 seconds, and sometimes longer. So as we rode, my hands continually became more numb. At about 20 miles both my hands and arms were numb enough that I no longer felt safe. I ended up in the van, extremely disappointed that I had dropped Danny.

Day 5 started with climbing and ended with TT recon. Because of the issues the prior day, I was in the van on the way to the base of the mountain. After the first climb up and photos at the top, we came down extremely fast. It was quite a thrill and a little bit nervewracking at the end. After the second climb up, we did group photos and came down at a much more controlled pace.

During the afternoon TT recon, the numbness was back in spades. The TT course had only one small downhill at the very beginning, which meant very little time to get pressue off of them. I wasn’t going to drop Danny again, so I did everything possible to get blood flow back during the last 3-4 miles.

Day 6 was just the TT, and it wasn’t in the best of weather. The out wasn’t that bad, but the back was. There were a couple of points where my struggles on hills made things hard for Danny. I did what I could, finishing the last couple hills with the ‘track hack’.

It was an amazing camp, and I learned a lot during it. I am grateful to all of the staff/coaches for their help during it and to Danny for being such an amazing pilot.

“Now you tell me, if I have a day off during the baseball season, where do you think I’ll spend it? The ballpark. I still love it. Always have; always will.” – Harry Carey

While Harry never got a chance to see the Cubs win it all, he had the right idea. Wrigley is magical. Always has been; always will be. So when Race to Wrigley fit into my schedule, it was an immediate YES.

As we were hanging out at the tent pre-race, I was glad to hear my ‘stalker’ appear. I had thought we had all lost him in the Florida triangle until Mother Nature stopped throwing ‘spring temper tantrums’. While waiting, we were able to get a pre-race photo in front of the marquee and do all the other pre-race stuff.

We were supposed to start 5 minutes ahead of the Elite group. However, that didn’t happen. So we ended up being at the very front of the pack (see above photo). This meant not just trying to run normal, but also trying NOT to get run over by people that can do 6-7 minute miles as their ‘easy’ pace.

After the first main pack cleared us, it calmed down and we were able to settle in. And then the main 2nd corral showed up. As a result of all this, the first mile was at about 11 min (1 min faster than intended). Things went as normal until we made the turn into Wrigley.

While running in the dark is always a challenge, this part of the 5K was moreso than usual. Normally, I’ll be going under a bridge or parking structure. In either case, it’ll be a straight line and I won’t be worried about obstacles. However, in this run, we had poles and other obstacles to contend with. So I had to slow down a bit and have my hand on Matt’s shoulder during this part.

Once we made it back into daylight, it was a short (400yd?) stretch to the finish. As soon as we turned the last corner, I went all out and sprinted to the finish. While I haven’t gone through all my past results, I do believe that it was a 5K PR.

Thanks to Achilles Chicago for their support and for Eva and Matt for guiding for me! #GoAchilles

Full Disclosure: BibBobards has not provided any sponsorship and has not asked me to write this. They have no advance knowledge of this, and will see it at the same point that all of you do. And they’re free to use it for any marketing, promotional or other purposes without any compensation or sponsorship.

Over the past 20 years, I’ve seen a LOT of infomercials and bumps. Whether it’s been on YouTube feeds or because I’m up at 3AM, 99%+ of them are just not worth the money. IMHO, if you’re having to resort to ‘skip marketing’ to sell your product, it’s probably not worth it.

So when I caught the BibBoards bump in a YouTube video in late 2018, I went into it with that mentality. I had $20 to burn, and I was willing to take a chance on the pinless technology. I figured if it worked once, I’d come out ahead by having one less set of holes in my athletic clothing.

While there were issues with one of the BibBoards during/after the first race, they rectified it. And to this point, I’ve used them for 5 races. They’ve worked so well that I will continue to use them in ALL of my running races and any Tri where I need to toss a shirt over my Tri Top.

The bottom line here is that BibBoards ARE well worth the money. You won’t put holes into your expensive/nice athletic gear and you most likely will show up in more photos (as their ad states). While it may not be typical, since using them, I’ve gone from 4-5 photos in a 5K (prior) to 15-25 (when using them).

BibBoards #SaveYourShirt #NoMorePins