Sweet Home Alabama

Sheeks "takes the Dub" at Elite Duathlon Nationals

Why anyone would want to leave Birmingham, I cannot imagine. What they say about Southern Hospitality is true, and it even spilled over to my little world of multisport racing a few weekends ago for the Powerman Duathlon in Birmingham, Alabama.

The Powerman Duathlon is a long-standing event in Birmingham, and this year it served as the professional duathlon national championship, as well as the qualifier for the Duathlon World Championships in Edinburgh in September. Coming off my third place finish at the Desert Classic Duathlon in Phoenix about a month ago, I was a bit worried about my odds coming into Powerman. The top 4 from the race would advance to the World Championships, and I really wanted to go. Surely, the competition would be stiffer at this race with so much at stake (a national championship, a world championship qualifier, and better prize money).

The kindness of the southerners even threw me off a little bit. Not being any stranger to grace*, I wondered how much I should take advantage of their hospitality. The first thing I noticed is that people always have time to talk to you in the South. It was so surprising to have waiters and waitresses just sit around and actually have a real conversation with you. The second thing I noticed is that southerners are always willing to help you. Angela, the mom of my host family (and herself a triathlete) was always offering to make my stay as “easy-peasy” as possible, which most of the time meant procuring large amounts of food or drink for my high calorie diet. The third thing I noticed is that Southerners don’t mind waiting. While out on the bike, I noticed how polite the drivers were, always waiting until it was absolutely safe before attempting a pass. I felt like I was holding people up so much, sometimes I would purposely swing off to the side of the road and waive drivers on to pass me! You will never see a cyclist/driver interchange like that in Seattle! Birmingham puts bike friendliness on a whole new plane.

So, if you bothered to read this far, you probably want to hear something about the race. Here it is, finally!:

The race consisted of a 10k run, 60k bike, and another 10k run. There were many American professionals, as well as a few from out of the country. Jurie VanSteelant of Belgium was the biggest name, as he has been Pro World Champion in Duathlon, and is pretty well-known for cleaning up in the Powerman race series in Europe.

Run 1: The race started out fast and, as expected, I started out dead last out of the 15 male pros. I worked my way through the field on a difficult, hill-laden run course. Derek Yorek and Josh Merrick took the pace out hot, while Jurie was content to follow. At about the 5k mark, I caught Merrick and Van Steelant, and decided I would settle in at their clip. We finished the first run in 31:50 (blistering considering the nature of the course), with Yorek about 15-20 seconds ahead of us.

Bike: I was excited to see how my new Ceepo Venom would perform, as well as nervous that I had not spent enough time on the new rig, having only built it up about one week prior. Van Steelant had about ten seconds on me by the time I was 200 meters down the road, and I was shocked at how fast both he and Merrick got out of the gate. I took a sharp right hander, and had my eyes set on Merrick, and was nearly run over by a minivan that was traveling in the wrong lane! Yikes, southern drivers are nice, but they sometimes get a bit flustered with what to do with bicyclists traveling at 30 mph on random back roads.
I was “out to dry” in second place for the remainder of the bike portion, knowing their was no chance I could catch Van Steelant, and just hoping to maintain my gap. Going into the last lap of three, I ran out of calories (usually taken in a liquid gel format called “Gu”) and knew that the rest of the ride would be me trying to survive. Going up each hill on the course I was about 2 mph slower over the crest, and knew this was a sign that I was beginning to die.
Coming into the transition area, I noticed last year’s winner, David Thompson, was closing the gap on me. I slipped my feet out of my riding shoes, only to cramp up in both hamstrings going into transition! Ouch! Finally pedaling out the cramps, I tried my usual cyclocross dismount, but having been somewhat disoriented because of the cramping situation, I managed to lose my balance and fell off the bike, leaving a nice chunk of my right knee in Alabama!

Run 2: Being nearly completely out of glycogen in the body, I wasn’t sure if I was even going to make it through the run without hitting the dreaded “bonks” as they call it in cycling or “hitting the wall” as they call it in the marathon. I think in Duathlon they should call it “bonking the wall” but I don’t think it will catch on. Anyhow, I yelled out “Give me the sugar” or some other desperate exclamation at each aid station for sports drink and energy gel to keep me going. Surprisingly, I managed to drop Thompson early on in the run, and was just hoping to maintain my advantage on him and not have to stop and walk any of the hills. Thinking about catching Van Steelant was very unlikely as he put 2.5 minutes on me during the bike. Hitting the turnaround, I could tell no one was going to catch me unless I really blew-up. I survived the last 3 miles, finishing the last 10k around 36:00, over 4 minutes slower than the first run! I don’t think I have ever been so happy to see a finish line in my life, finishing an exhausted but encouraged 2nd place overall, and winning the national championship! Woot Woot!

This race actually got a little press, so to see other articles on the race, here are links:

http://blog.al.com/birmingham-news-sports/2010/03/top-ranked_duathlete_wins_nati.html (this is the best article and even has video of me falling in the transition area).

http://www.usatriathlon.org/news/2010/03/28/asplund-sheeks-grab-usat-elite-duathlon-national-titles/34926

http://triathlon.competitor.com/2010/03/news/asplund-sheeks-grab-usat-elite-duathlon-national-titles_8031


*Grace is a fundamental principle of Christianity which would make me a thankful recipient of God’s grace. It implies that one is given something without respect to their having earned it. The chief example is God himself taking on humanity in the form of Jesus to take the punishment for humanity’s sins, which if left unreconciled, would have left man in a position of separation from God forever. However, since God did complete this act, man is left in a position of trying to earn their way to God by trying to be as good as him (which is impossible, and frustrating), or by simply letting go of all their pride and thankfully taking the undeserved gift of eternal life, reconciling the individual to God forever. In the spiritual realm, this is done by trusting what someone (Jesus) has already done. The concept of grace can be extended to various practical areas of life and the more one thinks about it, the more he realizes how indispensable a concept it is. At any rate, trying to outdo a southerner’s grace is similar to trying to outdo the grace of God.

How will Sheeks fair in Phoenix?

After his victory at the 2009 Duathlon Championships, even while being an underrated, underoutfitted underdog, Matt Sheeks will be racing his first race as a professional duathlete on February 28th in Phoenix, Arizona. The race will be the Desert Classic Duathlon, the race Matt used to qualify for the World Championships last year.

In the interim, Matt also won the "Who's the Hardest" Off Road Duathlon in Tacoma, Washington in December, beating such notable athletes as Rusty Pruden (a top finisher at amateur short course triathlon nationals) and professional triathlete Mike Gordon. Sheeks showed his technical skills- riding a strong mountain bike portion and maintaining his lead after a stellar run (see pic on webpage).

But how long will the duathlon winning streak last? That is the big question posed to Matt Sheeks.

A less than optimistic Sheeks replied, "Ummm, I am probably going to get smoked in Phoenix. The best of the best in Duathlon will be there, and I am still riding my old leader TT bike with 1999 Dura-ace components. I am really looking to be on a faster bike by Spring, which will help my odds against the gear mashers."

Sheeks continued, "Then again, training has been going really well, and I have been getting in about five swims, four runs, and four rides per week. I can feel the power coming back to the legs on the bike, and am getting back to the point where I can rub sub 6:00 per mile pace pretty comfortably on runs. "

Sheeks recently joined Team VO2 multisport (www.vo2multisport.com), and is being coached by Ben Bigglestone, who plans to bring Sheeks' swimming to the next level, as well as add some sort of structure to Sheeks training. This should be a definite improvement since the only thing consistent about Sheeks' training up until this point amounted to:

1 cup of coffee every morning,
2 workouts a day, and
1 mountainous bowl of ice cream after dinner

Sheeks has also picked up a couple sponsors recently, including Gu Nutrition and TYR swimwear. He apparently consumes 1000 calories a day just in Gu Chomps, accoding to training partners.

Sheeks has been known to compete well even while being an underrated, underoutfitted, underdog, so we will be expecting a surprisingly high finish in Phoenix anyway.

MATT WINS WORLD DUATHLON CHAMPIONSHIPS!!!

ITU Duathlon World Championships

Date: September 26th, 2009

Location: Concord, NC, at the Lowes Motor Speedway (yes, it is a NASCAR track)

Distance: 10km run, 40km bike, 5 km run

Matt's Times: 31:08 first run, 54:50 for the bike, 16:00 second run. 1:43:30 final time with transitions.

Official Race Results:
www.ultramaxtri.com/timing/09_ITU_World_Du_Championships/Results/AgeGroupITUDU.htm
The full report:

It was an exciting weekend in North Carolina for me, as I won the 2009 ITU Duathlon World Championships! I placed first in my age group, 1st in the overall amateurs division, and also finished faster than all of the professionals. I hope you enjoy my story.

Wednesday through Friday, 9/23-9/25

I traveled with my trusty race manager, Rob Whitacre, arriving Wednesday night, flying into Charlotte from Seattle. Personally, I love traveling to races and actually find the process quite relaxing, if you can believe that. The usual stresses of life are long gone, and I find I can finally unwind, even with a huge race looming. My relationship with God always keeps things in perspective and allows me to stay calm at these events. No matter what happens in the race, God will never love me any less! That is a truth that I am finally beginning to grasp better these days.

The race was being held at a nearby NASCAR track (yes, you read right) that seats 170,000 fans. 1,000 participants had qualified to enter the race by competing in a qualifying race earlier in the season. About 300 of those were from the U.S., while I also saw good contingents from Great Britain, South Africa, Australia, and New Zealand, and Brazil. I had snagged the last spot available in the Phoenix Desert Classic Duathlon in February, placing 3rd in my age group. Needless to say, I was an extreme underdog coming into the race.

Lutz Braun arrived Thursday and was staying in our hotel room with us. He had given me a severe beating at the Dessert Classic, placing first in the 25-29 division. He ended up being a super cool guy, and I enjoyed getting to know more about him and it was nice to have someone to do my pre-race workouts with.

I toured the bike course once on Thursday, and twice on Friday, and noted that it was much more technical than I expected, with many 90 degree turns and one hard, choppy 120 degree turn. One rider I toured with commented to me that "to the brave goes the race." How right he was! There certainly wasn't much time to get up to speed before diving into another corner, as the course traveled in and out of the NASCAR stadium and along some of the adjacent service roads around the track. Fortunately, I still carry excellent bike handling skills from my bicycle racing days in high school, so I figured the challenging course would be to my advantage.

Saturday, 9/26/09, Pre-race

I woke up to a wet and nasty looking day, and was praying the course would dry out, knowing the technical nature of the bike course and how dangerous it would be if wet.

Run #1- 10km in 31:08 or 5:02 min/mile pace

The first run was a 2 lap (5km each) course through the infield of the NASCAR track, outside on a road that circumnavigates the stadium, followed by a turn-around, then the next 1.5 miles are hilly until the completion of the loop, including two sky bridges and a fast downhill towards the end of the loop through a tunnel when you re-enter the stadium.

The rain looked like it was going to stop and the roads might actually dry out, but right before the gun went off it started to drizzle steadily. It was going to be a wet one! Many age division left the starting line before us, and I knew I would be working my way through a steady stream of masters (that's 40 and over) athletes.

I started out the race in classic Matt Sheek's fashion: at the back! There was no need to go out in 4:50 pace in a two hour race! I quickly started picking off guys half way through the first loop. I caught up with Lutz and paced off him until the first sky bridge, and then started using the downhill’s to my advantage on the rest of the loop. It felt great passing people, so I just kept going after it even though I was already starting to feel the heart rate spike and was breathing heavy. By the end of the first lap I thought I was in first, so I started taking it a bit easier, not wanting to leave my entire race on the first run.

Making the turn-around for the second time, I looked to see if anyone wore a 400 series number coming the opposite direction, which would mean they were in my age group (I was 445, for instance). I spotted such a number on a short squatty guy in a black uniform. Knowing there was someone in front of me, I ensued chase. The short squatty man kept looking back, so I thought he must have been in first. I nearly closed down the gap on my chubby but fast competitor, finally passed him in the transition area, and set out on the bike course.

Bike- 40km or 27.1 mph

The bike course was a two loop course of 20km each (although I think it was a bit short considering my time), which spent a little time in the NASCAR stadium, and mainly followed service roads around the stadium and went through the local drag strip stadium as well.

Fortunately I had clear eyeglasses with me, so I could see through the steady rain. As I took a gradual corner, a rider hit the deck in front of me! Another rider (there are lots of riders around you at all times during the races, although you are not allowed to draft them) remarked to me that the fallen rider had made her turn on some paint lines, causing her to fall. Seeing the crash at the beginning made me skittish, especially as I was riding a pair of wheels I had never used in the rain before.

Not too soon through the first lap, I was caught by someone named Harris, who was from the USA (you can always know the last name of who you are competing against, as everyone's last name is printed on their rear end). Harris was lighting it up, taking the corners incredibly fast for the conditions, but managing to keep the rubber side down. I recomposed myself and made it my aim to keep Harris in sight. During the rest of the course, I essentially used him as a guide, following his line through the corners. The man was using the course to his advantage, and I lost him occasionally, especially on hard corners or when slower athletes got in my way.

Towards the end of the race, I could tell Harris was giving it everything he had, yet I was still riding faster than him on the straight sections. I tried to open up a gap on him, but to no avail. We finished the bike course practically side by side. The race was to go down as a duel in the last run!

Run #2- 5km in 16:00 or 5:10 min/mile pace

As I entered the second transition, disaster struck: Someone was yelling very loudly "FOUR FOUR FIVE, STOP RIGHT THERE!!!" I looked up to see an official waving a yellow card at me (ITU officials give out yellow and red cards much like in soccer). Dazed from the adrenaline rush of being in the lead, and having an official screaming at me, I wondered what the heck was going on. Apparently, there is a rule on the books (ITU books mind you. USA triathlon does not have the same rule) that states a rider must keep his helmet strapped at all times until his bike has been re-racked. When I got off the bike and started running through the transition area, I had undone my strap (yes, this rule is completely worthless, in case you were wondering).

"YOU HAVE TO KEEP YOUR CHINSTRAP STRAPPED UNTIL YOU RACK YOUR BIKE!" The cranky official yelled. He finally got through to me, and once I had re-clipped my helmet strap, run the extra 5 yards over to my transition area, racked my bike, put on my shoes, and left, Harris had a good 75 yard lead on me! Oh no, I was going to forfeit the World Championships because of a technicality!

Hart-thumping like mad now, I chased after Harris. I could tell he was running for his life and was going to put up a good fight. I caught up to him by the turn around and barely held on to him up a hill as we reached the first sky bridge. Knowing the downhill’s to be a good opportunity to get rid of him, I threw in a surge as we descended off the first sky bridge. Taking a left, and then back up to the next sky bridge, Harris made his move on me! I nearly detonated going up the next hill, and Harris opened up some daylight on me.

At this point I knew it would come down to the final kick. I reminded myself that "it's just the World Championships" (a funny saying Lutz and I had come to adopt) and to have fun just racing hard. I caught Harris on a minor downhill as we were still outside the stadium. I moved into first position, and floated, not wanting to expend too much energy and have him sneak up on me with a big move. We made a right hand bend, and descended through the tunnel back into the stadium. I let the legs spin as fast as they could, pounding the pavement. At the end of the tunnel, there was a hard right, and then a flat 300 meters to the finish. I dared not look back, and sprinted for all I was worth. Finally, with about 40 yards left, I looked back, and Harris was still right on my butt. I kept the throttle wide open, pumping my fist as I entered the finish chute. World Champion!!! By FOUR seconds!

Matt