Holy Macca-rel!

Tonight was my Tri Team's annual end-of-year carb-load dinner. We ate some food, gave out a few awards (I am no long "Member of the Year", I had to hand my crown over to a well-deserving Leah!), and had a guest speaker. Who was it?

Chris. Freakin' McCormack.

That's "2007 Ironman World Champion" Chris McCormack. How awesome is that?!

When I first heard we were getting Macca I thought "wow, that's very cool... I've heard he's pretty cocky but it's still great that we got him." Well, forget about how the Tri Mags try to hype the pre-race smack talk; Chris McCormack rocks.

He was very funny and down to earth, and when it came to giving advice, most of what he said applied to people training for their 10th Ironman or their first sprint tri, so he was a great speaker for a large, diverse group like ours. Some training advice from Macca; these are not exact quotes by any means but I think they capture the idea:

"Most people complicate triathlon, especially in America. It really is just swim, bike, run."

Question: "When you finally realized that you were going to win Kona, what was going through your mind?"
Macca: "Looking back, I WISH I was thinking 'don't forget to get rid of the sponges!' Because now I have all these finisher photos with sponges bulging under my jersey."

Question: "What did you change that made the difference that let you win Kona?"
Macca: "In other years, I was all about 'destroy destroy destroy'. But then I shifted to 'enjoy enjoy enjoy'."

Question: "How do you avoid burn out?"
Macca: "Burn out?! I used to be an accountant! Now I'm being paid to do triathlons; I'd do them for free. I'm living the dream, I love every day of it so I don't worry about burnout."

Question: "How do you prepare your legs for the run?"
Macca: "I punch my quads at the end of the bike" (literally, with his fist)

Nutrition advice: "Just feel good... Drink water, when you start feeling bad drink Coke, then when you feel bad after that drink Red Bull. Ask any of the pros what they're carrying in their fuel belts: Red Bull. Red Bull. Red Bull."

His long training week in August: 14 miles of swimming, 600 miles of bike, 90 miles of running.

He spoke for 30 minutes or so, then stuck around for over an hour signing photos, jerseys, signs... the works.

Chris McCormack is awesome.