For everyone who ever had a dream.....

Whenever I need a pick me up, when the long weeks of training become a grind, when life gets in the way, I like to look back at one of the best moments of my life. In 2007, one of my lifelong dreams came true when I crossed the finish line at Kona. October 13, 2007 at 8:43 pm HST, I did something I never believed was possible but yet I always kept that crazy dream alive. I wish every triathlete could experience what Kona is like, so I tried my best to let the readers of my race report get a small slice. THe full report can be found here: http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/discussion/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=93818



The two parts I did best were the preamble and the finish. Reading these two parts still puts a chill down my spine. Enjoy!

The Dream:

For everyone who ever had a dream.....

When I was a kid I had all sorts of crazy dreams, scoring the winning basket at the Final Four, hitting a ball over the Green Monster, Throwing a touchdown pass to win the Super Bowl. However reality came along and made sure those dreams would remain just that. But I was part of a most fortunate generation that got to watch this sport of triathlon come into being and grow. I remember watching Julie Moss in 1982 on ABC Wide World of Sports and asking myself why would and how could someone push themselves to the point their body was shuting down just to reach a line on Alii Drive. At that point a dream was born, I watched Dave Scott (who lived a few towns down the freeway from where I went to High School) and found a hero. I watched Dave and Mark Allen battle, met a guy named Mike Pigg, but then my dream went on hold for 14 years as I "grew up" joined the Navy, started a family, got out of the Navy. But every year in December, I would watch the NBC Kona Special and the dream would be rekindled. New heros emerged Chris S., Sara Reinhart, Jon Blaze and I started down the path of chasing that dream again. In Nov 2006, I became an Ironman at Ironman Florida, and I thought that was as close to the dream as I'd ever come. But fate has a funny way of helping you out and on April 15, 2007 I saw my name on the list of Kona lottery winners. Dreams can come true!

The finish:


Now you are headed down Palani to mile 25 thru the last Aid station. Now you know you made it. The crowds which have been gone the last 15 miles are back in force and the closer you get to Alii Drive the bigger they get. Everyone is cheering you, you turn down and then one last turn onto Alii drive. Its magical. Suddenly you are flying down Alii, the positive vibe from the crowd and most importantly your fellow atheletes has you walking on air. These people understand and appricate what you have gone thru the last 13 hours. They don't care if you are a lottery winner and didn't qualify, they know whats going thru your head at this moment. Pure unadulterate joy. Your dream is 300 yards away. You enter the shoot and start going from side to side giving high 5s. And there is Mike Riley. Then you hear it "Andrew Rosebrook from Royersford PA....You are an Ironman!!!"




Follow the dream and never wake up! The journey will always be worth the price! Plus you may get to see something like this first hand.

An interesting two weeks (or how to stick with in on flood duty)

While I love triathlons, I am by no means a professional, which means my real job does have a way of making my training much more difficult. But where there's a will, there's a way. I just completed an eleven day trek on the road, but it was a lot harder that a simple 11 days to stay on track. First off, I mistimed ordering my UltraGen and Optigen HP, so I had no UltraGen and ranout of Optigen during the trip.

Part I of my journey was up in Wilkes Barre, PA. I was covering for the residents at the plant up there. Got up to the plant and it was already steamy hot. Susquehanna is a very cool place for me since I have access to a locker room and showers and more importantly, I are three measured "trails" inside the fence which is very nice since going through the security train when you are sweating like a pig. So for the first day I did 3 outside loops, but the heat was pretty tough. After work I found a nice bike in the health center and rode a tough hour. The second day was similar, but then after my workout, I got a call from the plant and had to go watch a test. That really messed with my sleeping schedule. Day 3 was a grind but I still had a great bike that night. Finally day 4, I knocked out a longer run and took the night off from cycling in order to get some sleep.



Part II started out with a 6:00am flight to Omaha, NE from the Scranton Airport, which meant getting up and departing the hotel at 4:00am. Got a little sleep on the flights arriving in Omaha around noon. From there I headed to Fort Calhoun, NE and that plant. Most people around the counrty may have forgot that the Missouri River has been having severe flooding since June. At the plant it was about 7 feet above flood stage. This made the plant basicaly into several island in the middle of the river. The NRC has had 24/7 onsite coverage since June 6th at the plant and I was going to be the swing shift guy for a week. I did manage to time my visit to coinside with an Excessive heat warning. Each day I got to walk down the flood barriers inside and outside the plant. In 100-108 degree heat and humidity the heat index was upwards of 115 most days. And when the sun went down the bugs came out in force. Plus it was still in the 90s. So I worked from 4:00pm to midnight each night at the plant, and got back to my hotel about 12:45am. The bad part was nothing was open after work so no food.


But on the good side thr Marriot Omaha had a 24 hour Health Center with some really nice equipment. So each night/morning I would go down a ride for an hour at 1:00am (something I never do), and then when I got up in the morning I would go down and run on the treadmill (since it really was too hot to run). Throw in the 2-3 hours rovering on site in full work clothes at the hottest point of the day, and it was a heck of a workout. The last night I decided to do a run at 1:00am since in theory I would do my cycling class when I got back. I also got another great break when I found a Whole Foods grocery store on the way to the plant, so I got Lunch and Dinner at Whole Foods and i certainly ate better that most weeks I spent on the road.

Just to finish things off, I got back to the airport in Scraton after a 5:55am flight out of Omaha find my car and first my remote won't work, then I find out it wasn't the remote, the car battery was dead as a dornail. Called AAA and got a jump, drove 3.5 hours back to the office and boom the car was dead again. Got another jump and got home and brought it to the shop. Wouldn't even turn over again once I got there, so no cycling class.

What a week!

Letting go of my old gear!

Funny how you can get sentamental about selling some old gear. Yes thats why, I found another use for my mighty Specialized Allez Elite. My very first road bike which took me though my first Olympic, HIM, and 4 Ironmans was the only bike at Kona without aerobars (someone said she was mentioned in the Triathlon magazine gear rundown that year). So even though I finally upgraded to a Carbon Fiber TT bike (My Kestrel Talon Tri SL), I found a permenant spot on the computrainer for the Specialized rather than sell her. I love my Kestrel and it has helped me take 15 min of my HIM Bike PR, but my old faithful steed and I have been though alot together.

My first wetsuit; however, found a new home this week. I bought a Blue Seventy Sleeveless wetsuit after my first two HIMS. It always kicked my butt getting it off but it clearly made me faster and accompanied me thru 10 HIMs and 4 Ironmans (Kona was non wetsuit), but this year I upgraded to a TYR Hurricane Cat 5 full suit. But my old wetsuit helped one of the lady's in my office get over some apprehension and complete her first triathlon in June (a wetsuit is a great security blanket to a newbie swimmer so I let her borrow my wetsuit) and on Friday I sold it too her. I am glad my old wetsuit will help another triathlete get into our great sport.

This weekend I also retired my AVIA Rhythms which got me through a hectic half season, with 3 HIMs and an Olympic and 3 races in 8 days. When I retire a pair of shoes I them toss my emergency shoes and religate the retired shoes to that status. So I had to throw out a very well worn pair of Shoes which have my fastest Ironman to their name. Good memories attached to a nasty, stinky, worn out pair of shoes.


But don't even ask about buying my old bike!!!! A bike with a Kona sticker and a total of 4 ironman stickers is priceless!

Marketing to Triathletes.

When I went and got my MBA one of my favorite class was Marketing Management. For most people in the world, you market product by making them cute, catchy, or send the message that this product makes your life easier. This stategy applies to most things including athletic events. How many marathons advertise as being flat and fast or as an ideal Boston Qualifier? Easy, fast, get more for less.

But triathletes are another breed entirely. We seem to respond to the polar opposite strategy. Pain, suffering, pushing the envelope...yeah bring it on!!!

Think about it. What is the image that defines triathlon to most of us. Julie Moss at Kona in 1982 pushing herself way beyond limits most people could even comprehend and even though her body was shutting down, she summounded the strenth to literally crawl across the finish line.



As a 12 year old, I remember watching that moment on ABC Wide World of Sports, not having a clue what a triathlon was but utterly transfixed. To this day I vividly remember two thoughts going through my mind. 1) How could someone push themselves beyond the point where they couldn't even stand and still keep going? That race must be something special. And 2) I wonder if I could ever do that? That was the birth of a dream. 25 years later, I was able to answer that question. Finding out it you have what it takes to push yourself beyond anything you ever thought possible. It was hard as hell, it hurt like heck, but it was one of the most glorious experiences of my life and I would have traded a second of it. Ironically, I finally met Julie Moss at Eagleman this year, and I found myself absolutely speechless.



But that challenge to test ourselfs in the exterme appeals to triathletes more than most groups. I remember listening to a Podcast interview with Heather Golnick who helped design the Rev3 Quazzy HIM course. Here is an triathlete being asked to make a course other triathlete would be excited to race. What did she come up with, only the hardest bike and run course you could make in Conn. When asked about it, she said triathletes love a challenge. And she has proven to be spot on. Rev 3 Quazzy attracts the best and deepest pro field of any race outside Kona, and was completely sold out this in its 3rd year. Why we love a challenge.



Need another example? Look at what happened this year at Rev3 Portland. The Rev3 folks devised an absolutely vicious bike leg and the tri boards were buzzing. But when one of the towns pulled out and forced REV 3 to go thru historic efforts to save the race and get an acceptable venue for the race at the last minute, the buzz on slowtwitch and other boards was full of pissed off triathletes who were REVED up to meet the challenge (and the bar) that Rev 3 had set at Knoxville, Quazzy, and Cedar Point. A flat and fast bike leg just left folks steaming. Why we love a challenge.



Just look at Savageman. The race was voted as the hardest 70.3 race in the world by triathlon magazine. That would scare most folks away, a triathlon uses it as a marketing tool and draws a full capacity 1100 athlete field. We are crazy, and you have to market to the madness!

I'm not crazy!! Really! I have a Recovery Pump!

Well I haved updated my blog in way too long, but I did have a little bit of a busy stretch. Over the last five weeks I did three HIMs (Rev 3 Knoxville, Rev 3 Quazzy, and Eagleman) and one Olympic (Rev 3 Quazzy), with the last three races (Rev 3 Quazzy Oly, Rev 3 Quazzy HIM, and Eagleman) in a period of 8 days.

http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/discussion/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=256800
http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/discussion/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=255841
http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/discussion/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=255829
http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/discussion/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=253127


Why would I put myself through such a schedule? Good question. I've never been fast, but triathlon offers many a challenge even for us who may never stand on the podium. Triathlon can challenge you to go faster, further, or longer than you ever dared to try before. When you set your sights high, reaching your goal is that much more rewarding. Back in 2003, I got chewed up and spit out by the course at the Lake Arrowhead Triathlon, but I dug down deep and fought my way to the finish. That was such a great feeling and boom I was hooked. The Sprint grew to an Olympic in 2004 at the Lancaster YMCA Tri, the Olymic grew to a Half Ironman at the New Jersey Devilman in 2005, and finally the Half Ironman went to a full in 2006 at Ironman Florida. Each time I entered the great unknown and went further and longer than ever before, it was such an electric feeling. Finding out you are capable of more than you ever thought possible when the journey began is such a powerful feeling.


For a few years, I couldn't think of an appropriate challenge to up the ante, but in 2009 one sort of found me. I signed up for the Black Bear HIM which I still consider the hardest course I have ever riden, but then I got accepted to be on Team Trakkers and had to do the inagurial REV 3 Quazzy HIM, a very hilly and tough HIM the next weekend. So boom 2 back to back Hilly HIMs-the thrill was back again. The next year I did the Revolution- Rev3 Quazzy Olympic on Saturday and the Rev 3 Quazzy on Sunday. I felt more beat up than I did after any Ironman after that weekend.

So this year, I wanted to one up those last two challenges, so I combined them. A repeat of the Revolution at Rev3 Quazzy folowed up by another HIM (Unfortunately, they dropped the HIM at Black Bear) but this year I had a secret weapon. One of Team Trakkers new sponsors for 2011 was Recovery Pump. Recovery Pump is sort of like a giant blod presuure sleeve and a pump which compresses your legs from foot to quads up then deflats and repeats. In the process in helps to flush out the lactic acid and other wear products out of the muscles and works like a massage. An hour a day after a tough workout really helped to put the snap back in my legs. Recovery Pump and my UltraGen are just an unbetable combination. So this year I put it to the test. I brought my Recovery pump with me to Rev 3 Knoxville and followed the advice of the folks at the Recovery Lounge at the expo and spent 2 hours in my Recovery Pump after a long hilly HIM and sipped on my Ultragen. The next morning, i had a 10 hour drive back home and my legs felt great. Normally, a long ride home after a tough race is cramp city, but that day my legs felt great. An hour a day for the next two days and my legs felt great and my speed was back.

So I was ready for the real test Rev 3 Quazzy! Did the Olympic on Saturday and didn't hold back going 3:32 seconds faster than last year with a really good run. After the race I hit the Hotel and got 2 hours in recovery pump before dinner. The next morning my legs felt great and on a tough course I went 15:35 faster than last year in a year where I was in rotten run shape due to Plantar Facitis. That night I was in the Recvovery Pump for another 2 hours, watching TV and eating dinner. Again my legs felt good for the drive home the next morning. Again I used the Recovery Pump an hour a day and by Wednesday I had to reel myself back in since I had another HIM that weekend. The last challenge was Eagleman. I hit the Recovery lounge at the Eagleman Expo and pumped up for 45 min or so. Again my legs felt so great. 3rd HIMin 5 weeks and 3 race in 8 days and I ripped of my HIM Bike PR by 11:53 sec and 13:44 sec faster than my last race on this course. My legs felt great, unfortunately my stomach revolted and crushed my run, but my legs had another good run in them. My Recovery Pump passed its test with flying colors. A race like that with that much fatigue in my legs and I ripped off a PR! That felt great and took the sting out of my run. Recovery Pump works and helped complete another crazy challenge! Enjoy the Ride!

Decisions, decisions

Here we go again. I started out the year with a very ambitious plan for my racing schedule this year. But work has picked up and I developed a nasty case of Plantar Faciatsis in my left foot. Both of which have significantly impacted my training, particularly my running. So now I'm a few week away from my first triathlon of the year, Revolution 3 Knoxville on May 15, 2011. One of my goals for the year is to qualify for the USAT HalfMax National Championships which would require a HIM PR. Ideally, I would like to knock that goal out right out the gate in Knoxville which would allow me to engage in some measured insanity (Rev 3 Quazzy Olympic, HIM, and Eagleman 7 days later) in order to put my Recovery Pump to the ultimate test. But if I don't fulfill goal #1, my best and really only legit shot would be Eagleman. But right now I am having some doubts due to my limited running the last month and a half. So I have a decision go for the Oly at Rev 3 Knoxville and Rev 3 Quazzy to be ready for a max effort at Eagleman or stick with the original plan, going with the HIM at Rev 3 Knoxville and putting faith in the extra bike training I have gotten in since my heel issues and go for it. It's a tough decision and will affect my entire season.


Any advice? Thanks in advance!

Current Events

“ The mission of the NRC is to license and regulate the Nation’s civilian use of byproduct, source, and special nuclear materials to ensure adequate protection of public health and safety, promote the common defense and security, and protect the environment.”


This is what I do for a living. This is what puts food on my table, what keeps a roof over my family's head, keeps the lights on, and even allows me to engage in one of the world's greatest hobbies-triathlon. Specifically, I am a Senior Project Engineer for the Division of Reactor Projects in USNRC Region I. As a regulator, it is my job to ensure that the plants that I inspect are operated safely and in compliance with their operating license and the associated Federal Regulations. It truly is one of the greatest jobs in the world (my humble opinion). Each day brings new challenges and new opportunities. It is hard work, it requires incredible patience, it requires independent thought, and cohesive teamwork. It requires me to be a cop, a teacher, a spokesman, and a judge sometimes all in the same day. But when your job description contains the words "protect public health and safety" it is something to be proud of. I love my job because in my job I truly can make a difference.

It takes a rather unique skill set to be successful in my line of work. You have to have a strong technical background and be able to understand how a nuclear power plant functions and how each of the plant systems function and interact. You need to understand the design, maintenance, testing, and operations of each systems in order to be able to identify that something is not right. You also need to understand the law. A regulator can only enforce the laws and regulations which the licensee is committed to. You have to understand how an issue fits or doesn't fit within the regulatory framework. Then you have to be able to determine the level of significance for an issue. So you need to understand Probabilistic Risk Assessment, legal precedence, and a mountain of enforcement guidance so you can make the right call.

You also must be able to communicate issues to the subjects of your inspection, to their bosses, to licensee management, to your bosses, to NRC management, to the NRC General Counsel, to elected officials Local, State, and Federal) to the press, and eventually to the public. Each level of communication has a different audience, a different perspective, and a different level of knowledge and the message must be tailored accordingly of it is to be effective.

But the real skill is learning how to inspect. Learning how to review an issue, observe an event, review a cubic ton of paperwork, interview people, and find an issue, determine if it is within their ability to foresee and prevent, determine if it violates a regulatory requirement, and determine how significant it is and then figure out the contributing causes. Often it is like a puzzle. How do I look at something and find something the plant staff miss? That is the art of my job. It is a matter of perspective. And somehow it turns out it is something I have become rather good at.


The past few months, have been very challenging. After listening to a bunch of politicians tell the world how federal workers such as myself were the problem to all t=our federal budget problems and we need to cut (BTW the NRC recovers 90% of our operating budget from licensing fees from our licensees), and having the specter of a government shutdown and furlough (Unpaid leave of absence) over our heads, the events in Japan happened. The NRC immediately manned our Headquarters Operations Center and have manned it 24/7 ever since. We also sent technical experts to Japan immediately to assist the US Embassy and the Japanese Government. One of my coworkers was one of the first two people sent over and another soon followed. Here is the US we had to evaluate what was happening in Japan and determine if US Nuclear Plants were vulnerable to similar threats. We had to answer "Could it happen here?" "Are these plants still safe in light of the events in Japan?" The NRC took prompt actions conducting an immediate safety review at each of the 104 US nuclear facilities, and being forced to look at things from a different perspective. The Chairman and EDO testified for Congress. I was intimately involved in the planning and execution of the region's first Public Plant Annual Assessment Meetings following the Japan events. Reassuring the public that the plant in there backyard was still safe is a challenge when they see the images on TV. But as an Agency (and personally), the NRC concluded that US Plants are safe to continue operations. However, we fully intend to learn everything we can from these tragic events and evaluate it new or revised regulations are necessary. The events in Japan will challenge many of the assumptions the plants were designed upon, and certainly will change our perspective. Hopefully, we can learn from these events and make our plants even safer.

Triathlon has taught me many things and really has helped me perform my job. Staying calm in the face of adversity, having the patience and discipline to do the work necessary to see things through, how to make rationale decisions when mentally and physically exhausted are traits I have gained and/or honed through Triathlons which help me on a daily basis in my job. But Triathlon also taught me something else. Anything is possible. I wish mother nature didn't have to teach that lesson to the people of Japan the way she did.