Jordan on the road to recovery

I think this is the first time I've ever been given an open forum on the True-Motion blog, so I hope I don't mess it up. I know I'm safe when someone else is writing the questions, but when I'm answering my own questions, the results are potentially much dicier! To give a quick recap, for any first time readers, my life of late has been mostly a journey of recovery following a hit-and-run accident on Mar 23 when a van pulled out in front of me during a ride resulting in two severed jugular veins (out of six in the human body), 3L of blood loss (out of ~6L in most people), a broken clavicle, and a broken zygomaxillary arch (facial bones). As gruesome as that all sounds, I will say it is remarkably minimal considering what could have happened. I did NOT break my neck. I did NOT damage either of my eyes. My jaw and teeth got knocked a bit but seem on their way to a full recovery without any root canals or lost teeth. And, most importantly, there was no damage that the doctors felt I would not recovery from fully. The timeframe is still up in the air, with some nerve damage maybe taking as long as 18 months to fully heal, but I am thankful every day that there is no injury that the doctors perceive as being permanent. It read recently that scars are just tattoos with better stories, so it looks like all I will come away with is some new "ink" and the ability - maybe - to set off airport metal detectors naked.

I lived in my True-Motion polo shirts even more often than normal out of the hospital because the soft cotton was easy on my scar tissue and open collars made them easier to pull on with one good arm. Amazing the things that matter to you when life isn't "normal." I found a new appreciation for the heel-pull-tab on my running shoes, since it made them easier to slip on with one arm, something that matters a lot when you have only one arm to put your shoes on with. Wool socks were another great comfort since with the blood loss, I found that I was cold all the time. But slowly, these symptoms are fading or have faded. I now put on my True-Motion polos just because they look good. I still can't run due to doctor's orders, but I keep my running shoes laced up in anticipation of the day I am able to do so. And I wear whatever socks I want to. Some days I even find I get too hot and went out in shorts for the first time in almost two months thanks to the arrival of some new blood and the California summer.

I was telling the story of my accident to someone the other day, and they remarked how they never would have guessed that the scars on my neck weren't some sort of birthmark. That's a far cry from the day I left the hospital and had someone stop me at the local supermarket to say, "I don't mean to seem rude, but what happened?" I still find that I'm shocked on occasion when I look in the mirror, but that too is fading as the scars themselves heal and fade. There was a time when I felt like I'd left a piece of myself out on the road and that I'd never get it back. But I no longer feel that way. Now I spend most days counting down until I can rediscover that part of myself doing what I've done for the past 7 years - swimming, biking, and running.

For now, I'm not much of a swimmer - workouts are now mostly kicking as opposed to that being something that I simply do because I have to - and I'm not much of a biker - a long workout is 45min on the trainer - and I'm not any sort of runner - thanks Dr. Reid. But I will be. And knowing that is a relatively new phenomenon for me. And it feels pretty good. I guess I'm finally being true to myself. Probably should have poked around on this website sooner. There's good advice in addition to good clothing...


(photo courtesy if Michael Lovato's Twitter feed)

American Zofingen -the 3-peat!

True-Motion's Mimi Boyle recently won her third American Zofingen overal title. Here is her race report...

Another year, another blood bath. This race just doesn't get any easier. Knowledge and experience barely pay anything back to you as you suffer through hill after hill on the run and bike courses of the American Zofingen Duathlon.
This year's race was moved to May to avoid motorized and pedestrian "leaf-peeping" traffic along many routes of the bike course. We could not have asked for a more spectacular day. Temps were at 50 degrees at the start with literally zero wind. By day's end they would rise to a comfortable 68 degrees with sun shining and birds chirping.

It was great to see the American Zofingen's viral word-of-mouth marketing pay off. The entrant list has literally doubled in size over the past 3 years. This is my 4th go at the long course and as far as I'm concerned...there's no other way to experience this event. It's the single most physically and mentally challenging race I've ever started and finished. You know your legs can get you to the finish line, but there is so much mental and emotional strength and patience needed, that it almost becomes mind over matter for the last few hours.

My first 5-mile run went extremely well. My legs felt good and I came in exactly where I wanted to. I was leading going into the bike which is a good spot for me b/c I tend to ride each loop as if I'm being hunted down...a great motivator! I got through loop 1 keeping my legs and lungs in check. Spin/spin/spin...over gearing in this race will come back to bite you on the final run segment. Going into lap 2 I felt hungry. Time to refuel. I had a banana and my trusty peanut butter and jelly sandwich on english muffin...it hits the spot! I felt completely energized and upon starting loop 3 I noticed others slowing down...their wheels coming off so-to-speak. I kept my cadence as high as I could and had another 300 calories (2 bags of Gu Chomps) before heading into T2 and starting the devastating 3-loop run. I quickly changed into my run stuff, and hit the bathrooms and was out onto the course. I knew I had a decent lead, so the need to kill myself wasn't present. I took the first loop in stride, walking only up one steep section.

Loop 2 of the run was a little more challenging. I began to feel the "dead legs" going up the first climb, and started to shuffle...ok...it was probably more like fast walk. And from that point on, the major steep hills had to be walked with a purpose. I did solidly run the flats and downhills, and upon entering the pavilion for the start of the last loop I figured it would take me a good 55 min to finish. And that's almost what it did. I arrived back at the pavilion to not only cross the finish line in first place, but take about 18 minutes off last year's time and set a new course record! BONUS!!!

Overall, a truly great day. My good friends were up there racing and that made it even more special.

At the finish line the food, the beer and the camaraderie is like none other in the sport! In a word...AMAZING.

In support of Jordan Rapp on his road to recovery from last weeks hit and run incident

Jordan Rapp is an exceptional triathlete, and as one of his loyal sponsors, we can honestly say, an overall exceptional person. When we launched True-Motion Sportswear almost 4 years ago, we were looking for a professional triathlete to partner with us in product development. Jordan was our first choice not only because we believed (before he had competed in his first ironman by the way) that he would go very, very, very far in this sport, but because we genuinely liked him. He was, and still is, a rising star.

Rappstar...from your friends at True-Motion, we wish you a healthy and speedy recovery. He look forward to cheering you on again soon.

To help support Jordan and Jill during this time of healing and recovery, we are donating 10% of all sales of True-Motion sportswear to them to offset medical expenses. We will honor this fundraising effort through memorial day.

Rappstar kicks off the 2010 Race Season

Since we last caught up with Pro Triathlete Jordan Rapp a lot has been going on in his life - victory at Ironman Arizona, his Marriage to former Canadian Olympian Jill Savege and most recently kicking off the 2010 Triathlon season in Abu Dhabi. We caught up with him for a few words upon his return to the US from the Middle East...


Jordan sporting his "Rappstar" True-Motion Polo in Abu Dhabi

TM- How does it feel to be a married man?

JR - It feels like I have something stuck on my finger all the time! Some days it feels more different than others. One of the most surreal moments was to see some of the photos from the race in Abu Dhabi and to see a wedding ring on my fingers. I didn't really expect to notice it, but I did. I actually found that I noticed it during the race too. I'd like down at my hands and see it there. I'm definitely most aware of wearing a ring during training, which I think is appropriate since I'm now working for two people when I train and race.

Where did you end up spending your honeymoon?

We went to Kauai, on the recommendation of my sister and also my friend Mikkel Bondesen. It was a pretty short trip - just three days - but it was wonderful. Kauai is beautiful. The highlight for me was our dinner the last night there at the Kilohanna sugar cane plantation. They've converted the house into a museum and restaurant. And the food is unbelievable. Yes, the dinner involved some bacon - it was a pork tenderloin with a reduction sauce that had bacon crumbled in it.

What was the most useful wedding gift you received?

We didn't ask for any gifts. No registry of any sort. We're just not stuff people. I get regular gifts from all my sponsors - tires, saddles, helmets, etc. What else could I ask for? The best gift was really from my parents - especially my mom - who really made the whole thing happen. Without her planning and my parents support, we wouldn't have been able to have such a special wedding

How has your off season been?

Right now, it seems like a distant memory. I've been training pretty much full on since just about the beginning of January. If there was an offseason, I seem to have missed it!

Did you make it to the Olympics? Is Lyndsey Vonn all-that-and-a-bag-of-chips up-close?

We are currently waiting on Jill's Green Card, so she can't leave the US until she gets her temporary papers. That put an end to any chance of going to the Olympics, which is too bad since as a Canadian Olympian, Jill can get pretty good tickets. I would say that Lindsay Vonn, who was hyped as the Michael Phelps of the Olympics, didn't really live up to that billing. But I also don't think it was fair to expect that of her. Getting a gold medal is always a massively impressive feat, and to do it with the pressure she had and also the nagging lower leg injury was very impressive. However, I don't think she was any more impressive than any other medalist, and I thought she get a lot more press during the games than she deserved. If the US needs a "hero" of sorts from Vancouver, I would say that title belongs to Steve Holcomb or Evan Lysacek. They came to the Olympics with equivalent pressure, and each performed as well as Vonn, yet received a lot less press. Holcomb, especially, delivered in a big way and seemed to be relatively overlooked.

What races have you earmarked for 2010?

I will be focusing on the three races in the Rev3 series - the olympic in Tennessee, the half in Connecticut, and the iron in Ohio. I'd like to improve on my finish from Wildflower last year. It's always nice to be on the podium, especially when it was close. I kicked off the year in Abu Dhabi, which I put a lot of energy into. It was a mixed result. I was really pleased to finish well, but I thought I had a better finish in me.

Any training camps planned?

I'm still sorting that out, but I am planning to go somewhere during the middle of the summer. I had a great time training with Dirk Bockel, who has the same coach as I do, in Clermont, FL for two weeks. We rode our bikes way too much, but now with that mileage under our belt, I hope the next camp will involve a little less saddle time. I'm also planning to spend some time with Simon Whitfield, who I haven't seen in a while. And I'd like to spend some time with my coach actually seeing me train everyday, which would mean travel to Europe. So lots of options. But I'm not sure what I'll do yet. Having just gotten off a 16 hour flight, I'm anxious to stay put for a bit

Abu Dhabi Race Photo provided by Jordan, courtesy of Herbert Krabel/Slowtwitch.com


So you just raced the Abu Dhabi International Tri...what piqued your interest about this race?

The obvious and immediate draw was the great prize purse. But the chance to go to the UAE was pretty spectacular as well. It's an area of the world that I knew relatively little about and had never been too. Having just returned, I would say that the chance to visit was (almost) equal to the prize purse. I am already looking forward to the race next year. I am thinking I might go sneak up on Faris in Al Ain and do a bit of training there at the end of the year. Special shoutout to my homestay in Abu Dhabi - Dee & Shane Boys, who are awesome.

I'm sure there are many, but give us your top 3 goals of 2010?

- Win the Rev3 iron in Ohio
- Win the Rev3 series title
- Get my wife pregnant!

Rappstar wins 2009 ironman Arizona

TM: congratulations! You now have 2 ironman wins in 2 races. How does this one compare to the last?

JR: Canada was one of those rare days that come maybe once or twice in a career where everything feels great. Not "effortless," but very smooth. Today was not like that. Today was an exercise in knowing that a given effort, pace, power, etc. was possible and forcing myself to do it. It was painful. And very hard.

TM: Your execution looked flawless on the live universal sports feed although ibeas wetting myself watching you in t2 hoping you got out before tj showed up. Was it really the perfect race for you?

JR: Well my T2 was pretty off! I made some small mistakes, since normally I'm a bit quicker in T2 than I was. This was not a perfect race. That was Canada. This was a race about sticking to the plan even when I didn't want to.

TM: we noticed you were checking your watch quit a bit in the closing stages. Did you know you had a good shot at the course record at that point?

JR: I actually had no idea. The watch checking was to make sure that I wasn't slowing down, since I really, really, really, wanted to.

TM : you spent a fair amount of the bike with tj keeping close by. Was it a help or a hindrance mentally to have someone with you? Did Knowing he had come close to a win in April 2008 give you any cause or concern?

JR : Once we started the second loop, TJ never passed me, so I didn't actually realize that he was as close as he was until we hit the turnaround points. I don't know that it either helped or hindered me. TJ is a very good rider, but he also did Kona only six weeks ago so I didn't know what to expect. The year that he was second here was the year that I also came close to win, and in that race I rode quite a bit faster than he did, so I thought I was capable of doing it again. But two years is also a long time to go and people get fitter, etc. so I didn't assume that I'd be the same thing. Plus in that race, I got to chase, which makes a difference. I do think that I am a bit better of a runner than TJ, so if it came down to a foot race, I thought that favored me.

TM: So today you get to practice your public speaking once more before the big day next weekend. Do you have the speech finalized for next week?

JR: I'm giving a speech next week?! Jill didn't tell me that...

TM: do you have a honeymoon planned and what is the rappstar plans for the off season?

JR: We didn't really before, but I think now we will. I discovered a neat looking hotel in Miami reading "Spirit" (Southwest's magazine) on the flight to the race. So maybe we'll go there. Never been to South Beach.

TM : finally, thanksgiving turkey - wrapped in bacon by any chance?

JR: I keep trying to get my mother to let me do one deep fried. No luck yet. I'd rather do that. Or a Turducken first.

TM: Congratulations and best wishes to you and Jill for next weekend and your future together

American Zofingen 2009

Our very own Mimi Boyle returned to the Catskills last week to defend her 2008 American Zofingen Title. Here's how things went in her own words....



Well after all the pain, suffering, twitching muscles, cramps sneaking up at inopportune times, laying in bed and actually reciting “woe is me” a few times each morning, and small, but powerful nightmares of the 4th time around the run course which I experienced after American Zofingen ’08, I found myself online 4 days before the race forking over my hard earned money to give this diabolical race one more try.

Let’s compare last year’s preparation to this year’s:

2008:
April – Spent a week in Tucson riding, running, swimming, applying chapstick 24/7 to combat the arid desert conditions,
May – back to back weekends of racing beginning with the Disney Half Ironman rolling into the American Triple T (ouch…that hurt like a banchy!)
June – one month of back to back weekends of racing wasn’t enough, so I jumped into Eagleman, and then 4 days later was on a plane to Durango, Co for a week-long endurance cycling event called Ride The Rockies. Yep…it was every bit as difficult as the name insinuates.
July – Ironman Lake Placid
August – twiddled my thumbs and watched my butt get big from eating ice cream, cheeseburgers and drinking lots-o-wine.
September – knew AmZof was approaching so I managed to cycle 5 times, run about 50 miles that month and cut back on the pigging out.
AmZof 2008 – I was nowhere near prepared for the bike course. My training for LP was intense, and I didn’t have the mind to get on the bike and train for this. My run was ok, but on weak legs from a grueling bike ride, it hurt.

2009:
April – Signed up for Disney Half Ironman…tried to train, but kind of failed due to laziness and distractions.
May – Disney Half Ironman…run was a disaster due to stomach issues
June – Rev3 Half Ironman…,bike was great, again, stomach issues on the run so a less than stellar performance
Sprint Tri in New Paltz…had fun and won.
Remainder of June/July – gave up on a the idea of racing IM Canada. Spent many hours at the beach, out to dinner, sleeping. Morphed into a “normal” person…what was I thinking??? Maintained my running and did “some” cycling.
August – woke up and realized Toughman Half IM was on the horizon. Started riding with a purpose and running with a bit more urgency.
September – Toughman Half IM…my running legs were nowhere near ready, but I hung on and finished relatively strong.

Fast Forward to last weekend when I was driving to this year’s installment of terror…the 2009 AmZof – LONG COURSE.
This race is so epic words can’t do it justice. You simply have to live it to realize that this is without question, the most difficult one-day duathlon on earth.

Before long, the gun went off and roughly 70 certifiably insane athletes were off to embark on a very very very very long day.

Temps were holding in the upper 40’s for the first run, but would warm up to about 55 by day’s end. Perfect Amzof weather!

I ran the first 5 mile loop a bit conservatively with my main competition (Tamela – 2nd place finisher 2008) right on my heels. We came into transition neck and neck at about 41 minutes. I thought “hmmm…that was faster than I wanted to go, and my hamstrings were tight. Not a good sign when you know what lies ahead.

Trying to get out of transition was rough. I was out, then had to run back to get my food. Pre-race organization has never been my thing!

Onto the bike course and up the first deadly climb. I figured Tamela had about a minute on me out of transition. Time to catch the carrot!
On the climb up to Minnewaska I had her in my sights and pounced. I remained in the lead for the remainder of the bike, and actually, for the rest of the day.

The wind was fierce on the last lap of the bike…I knew it would forcefully suck a ton of energy out of me, so I had one move…EAT, get tucked, spin. I took in a ton of calories on that last loop and rolled into T2 with a few minutes on Tamela.

I’m not gonna lie…I did NOT train enough for the 15mile run that I faced. BUT…if you’re a competitor and you’re winning the best and most challenging damn duathlon on this planet, you suck it up and start running like you stole something! That’s what I did. It wasn’t pretty, it wasn’t fast, it wasn’t even running at certain points – it was walking, but I got it done and crossed the finish line 11 minutes faster than last year.

And at the finish line…OH YEAH BABY…a first place finishers Stein which quickly got filled with beer! Add a cup of soup and piece of cornbread to that and you’ve got a real nice time!

As always – I need to thank John McGovern, the race’s director and founder, for enabling me and the other crazies to test their physical, mental, spiritual limits on October 11th. It is hands-down, THE BEST RACE EVER!

Peace out…Mimi