Jarrod Shoemaker

SAUCONY!

2010-03-11T07:35:00.002-05:00

It is now official news! I have signed with Saucony to race and train in their shoes and clothes. I am very excited about this as Saucony is a local company based in Lexington, MA about 15 minutes from my house. Saucony makes amazing apparel and their shoes are top of the line. I have had a chance to meet with their footwear team and discuss the shoes which is amazing. I have been working on my biomechanics and to be able to discuss how the shoes move and why they are built the way they are is quite a treat.
Needless to say I am excited about bringing Saucony on board. I also have partnered with Trek and will be riding the Madone 6.9 for the 2010 season. To be on an American bike is really special and Trek cares a lot about their athletes so I am excited to work with them.
Off to a run workout in my Grid Type A3 and Fasttwitches!

Its almost RACING season!

2010-03-02T12:57:00.002-05:00

Its amazing how much sooner the race season is starting this year than last. Last year my first triathlon was April 25th. I had run two 5k races before that on April 5 and April 18. This year my first ITU race is March 20 and first World Championship Series race is April 11. We are putting on a small draft legal sprint race at Lake Louisa Park here in Clermont, FL on Sunday. It will be a fun way to get the feet wet and get the legs used to going hard!

Back in the swing of TCS

2010-02-19T21:05:00.002-05:00

I am back in Florida and it seems to be warming up. My race at XC Nats went well. My philosophy for the race was to slowly build into it. I have never raced 12km XC before, usually I race 8km and there is a huge difference between the two races. I knew that I was not going to win the race, so I figured I would go out and try and pick people off as they went out too hard. The course was very soft and constantly rolling hills with short power hills, probably one of the hardest XC course I have raced ever. We did 6 2km laps which was nice as it made the race seem like a triathlon for me. I basically stayed in 18th place all race, I was up to 16th at one point and 20th at another point. It was a solid race for me considering my stomach was still feeling upset from some stomach virus I had on Tuesday.
After I came back to Florida the weather has slowly been getting warmer. We have added another member to Training Camp South for a few weeks, Chris Lutz. Chris swam in college and is just getting his feet wet in professional ITU triathlon. Chris is not coached by Tim Crowley but is training with us. So he adds in to Sean Jefferson, Omar Nour, Jordan Bryden and Alicia Kaye. A great training group!

Spokane, WA

2010-02-12T14:47:00.002-05:00

On Wednesday I left cold Florida and headed to warm Spokane. Who would think that Spokane is warmer than Florida, but it is right now. 50 here and 48 and rain in Florida. Well I am excited to lace up my brand new XC spikes for XC Nationals here in Spokane. I have never been here before, but this is one beautiful place. It made me decide to make a top 10 most beautiful places I have run, which I plan on doing once I get back home so I can get the photos of these place.
Anyways, I am really excited to race XC again. The race will be live on flotrack.org tomorrow at 2pm Pacific Time.

I promise Ill be be better about posting

2010-02-03T17:55:00.002-05:00

So after a long hiatus from posting I am going to be doing a lot of fun things this year. I am going to be posting training videos, pictures and continue to post on my Twitter.
I have been training in Clermont, FL for the past few months, which has been an amazing change of pace. The weather here is beautiful just about every day. I am working at the NTC doing some running camps. We have put together a small training group and have been working together nicely. Sean Jefferson, Omar Nour, Jill Peterson along with Alicia and I. Nic Tautiva who lives here in Clermont trains with us occasionally and we are having some guests come down including Arturo Garza (MEX) and Jordan Bryden (CAN). Our group of Training Camp South athletes is going to have a great season!
In the next few posts I will be posting my new 2010 sponsors. The first ones that I can announce are GU and Sable Googles.

Long run on Clay Trails

2009-10-24T13:05:00.002-04:00

A great long run on the Clay trails this morning. It is pretty hot here and humid but I found a great training partner. Going to pick up my first TT bike right now. Orbea Ordu! Awesome.

Warm in Florida

2009-10-21T20:47:00.002-04:00

In Florida! After a quick drive down last week I am in Florida once again. The weather is nice and warm and it feels great to be outside in shorts and t-shirt training instead of all bundled up. I am getting ready for the last races of the year and am excited to wind down the season.

October

2009-10-07T22:17:00.002-04:00

Well the weather is getting colder out and the mornings are a lot colder. The trails behind our house have been perfect for running over the past weeks. I have been taking a bit of time recovering after Duathlon Worlds. I have never done a Duathlon at that level and it sure took a lot out of my body. It was a tough race but I enjoyed it!

I did a cross country race last weekend and still could not find my spikes so I went to my parents house and found some old ones... probably 2 years old... and wore them. They ended up falling apart and breaking and one of the spikes ended up poking through the shoe and into my foot. I ran on it for a while before taking off my shoe and finishing the last 1/2 mile of the race. Of course after that I had to get two tetanus shots so I couldnt swim on Monday because I couldnt lift my arm up at all. Arghhh! Well it was fun and was a great story. (Thanks to Tom Dederian for the photo)

Two Months!

2009-09-11T17:00:00.002-04:00

Well its been a whirlwind past two months. I feel like the past few days have finally let me relax. I have been in Gold Coast for the past week preparing for the Grand Finale of the World Championship Series which will happen on Saturday, September 12 at 3:15pm Austrlian Eastern Time (1:15am EST).
I guess while I havent been updating I missed some key things, including winning at Hamburg! That race was very special as winning in Hamburg in front of hundreds of thousands of fans was one of the best venues I could have had my first WCS win at. After that when I got home I had a sinus infection which affected my training slighlty. I dropped out of London WCS because my knee was in some pain and I did not want to do potential further damage to it. Then got 6th in Yokohama, Japan to round out the regular season. I go into the finale ranked 7th in the World, which I am very proud of and hope to do well this afternoon.

27 years old!

2009-07-18T10:45:00.002-04:00

I celebrated my birthday yesterday in Kitzbuhel. I had not planned on being overseas, but things happen and I decided to race Hamburg World Champs Series race instead of returning home, so I am spending an extra 10 days in Kitzbuhel. It is gorgeous over here, quiet, peaceful and a great respite to just think about training and relaxing. Last night Katie Baker (USAT national team manager), Hayley Piersol (another USAT elite athlete) and myself went up to the top of the Hahnenkamm for my birthday dinner. It was very quiet up there and extremely beautiful. I got to stand in the start gate of the famous downhill ski run and I cannot believe they ski down there, it basically drops off a cliff.

Enjoying Kitz

2009-07-09T16:03:00.002-04:00

The view from our hotel room.

Enjoying Kitz

2009-07-09T16:03:00.000-04:00

The view from our hotel room.

Kitzbuhel

2009-07-08T14:58:00.002-04:00

Wow, it really is pretty here. The town in nestled between two mountains and basically is as pretty as it gets. It has been sunny in the mornings and has been raining off and on in the afternoons. I was hoping it was going to be a bit warmer, but the temperature has been topping off around 60 degrees at midday.
I got a picture from my hotel room and another picture of Ethan and I eating dinner. I guess if you order Grilled Bass you get a grilled bass. But it was good.

Triathlon on TV

2009-07-04T20:09:00.003-04:00

Tomorrow on NBC the HyVee triathlon will be broadcast directly after the Wimbledon Finals. It says 3pm on their website and it says 4pm on my tv... not sure which one is correct.
I ran in the Sudbury 4th of July Road Race and won in 18:20. I did a nice tempo workout and it felt great. After that Jake and I went for a great swim in Walden. I love swimming right now, especially after my swim workout last night. Excited to race again in Kitzbuhel in one weeks time.

The Sun is OUT!

2009-07-03T15:10:00.003-04:00

So the sun is finally out. I got back home on Monday and the sun barely appeared until today. It gets a bit depressing when it is constantly cloudy and rainy. After a short indoor ride on Wednesday I vowed not to ride inside again and so Thursday I was outside despite it being 60 degrees and off and on drizzle. Well today is gorgeous and 80 degrees outside so it is great to be here. Of course I am looking ahead to Kitzbuhel and the forecast there is for off and on rain until Friday.
I have enjoyed being back at home as 3 weeks was a long time to be traveling and living out of a suitcase. I got in a stellar run workout yesterday and am continuing to improve my run fitness and work on some things that might help me win some races.

DC World Champs Race

2009-06-19T16:51:00.002-04:00

In Washington DC for the World Champs race. We had a bike ride with the mayor an hour ago and now we are hanging out before the race briefing and pasta dinner. It should be an awesome course through downtown Washington DC. The men start at 9:10am and the women are at 11:45am.
Make sure to check on my TWITTER account.

BUSY

2009-06-17T08:25:00.002-04:00

Its been such a busy time since my last post. The recap:
3 Hormel/HyVee kids triathlons in Quad Cities, Sioux City and Sioux Falls. I flew into Moline, Illinois, drove to Des Moines after Quad Cities and trained for a few days then drove to Sioux Falls for the HyVee Legends event, then to Sioux City for the kids tri and back up to Sioux Falls.
I now am in Washington DC getting ready for the World Championship Series Race. Check out where I did my running while I was in Des Moines.

Another Race Down

2009-06-03T22:31:00.002-04:00

This will be a short post as I am off to bed. Another race down in Madrid and another solid race for me. I really have been feeling great this year and my biggest improvement has been my swimming. I have been having a lot of fun racing around the world and I am stoked to be racing in the US for the next two races!

Training and NormaTec

2009-05-20T22:32:00.002-04:00

Training has been going so well over the past few weeks. My body has been feeling in sync and I have loved being outside. Last weekend I was in Kansas City for the Hormel HyVee kids triathlon and we had just over 200 kids racing, it was pretty amazing. I absolutely had a blast meeting the kids and teaching the about triathlon.
On Monday I had the pleasure of visiting the NormaTec offices in Newton, MA. They make a device that compresses your legs (or arms) and helps recovery. Most of the tour riders have been using it and it slowly has been getting into triathlon. They started as a small mom and pop company dreaming it up in their basement and now have grown into a small company that produces the device for medical patients. Its a great device and make sure to check it out: NORMATEC

Cows Tendons

2009-04-28T02:47:00.003-04:00

So last night Nicky Samuels (NZ athlete) and I went out to find some dinner. Almost everybody else has left Ishigaki, but I decided to stay here and luckily Nicky decided to stay as well so we have been doing a bit of training together. Last night we went to a new restaurant and ordered "Cow Muscle Meat Bowl." We thought we had ordered cow meet and rice bowl, but instead we got cow tendons and fat and rice. Needless to say there was not much eating of the cow tendons, but it was really funny. The restaurant was an American style cafe, but no real American food except hamburgers.
This morning I went on a ride to the north side of Ishigaki island and on the way back I got to ride through a tunnel, which was pretty cool but also scary as it amplified the noise when cars were in there. The tunnel was a half mile long and dark as well but it was pretty cool to bike through a mountain.
Ishigaki Triathlon Story

Ishigaki

2009-04-25T06:56:00.002-04:00

I love Ishigaki... and as the t-shirts for this years race say "Ishigaki loves you!" I really enjoy being here in Ishigaki, its like a very low key place, with great riding, great open water swimming, nice running (not the best as I dont know of any trails, but wide sidewalks) but the best thing is going out to eat here. Its like a roulette wheel, you point at something and hope you get what you want. The first two nights were great, we found an Ishigaki beef restaurant and while it is very expensive ($25) a meal including rice and beef it was great to find a good reliable place to eat. Of course the night before the race we decided it was a good idea to change things up, and we ended up at two restaurants before being sent to a third one that serves pasta. I basically wanted rice and chicken, but they don't serve chicken here the way we get it at home, it is impossible to find chicken breast or portions that are big. So we ate dinner and went to Coco! to top off the dinner with some other snack food.
Everything is going great here, it is such a great place to train and I really love it here. I cant wait to race tomorrow and see how my winter of training went. Overall, I am just having a lot of fun and can't wait to race.

On the way to Japan

2009-04-21T07:54:00.004-04:00

I am on my way to Japan. It was a busy few days at home and I felt like I was always running around like crazy; however, it was great to see Alicia and my family. Last night I had a BBQ at my uncle's house after my mom finished the marathon in 3:53... pretty awesome! I got to run in downtown Boston for the first time and won the BAA 5k in 14:28. I felt great and smooth running and it was pretty great to run on the finish stretch of the Boston Marathon although I am not sure that I deserved that since I had not run 26.2 miles to get there.
Anyways, I am off to Japan and Korea for the Ishigaki World Cup and Tongyeong World Championship Series Race. It should be a lot of fun and I love training in Ishigaki. Almost time to board flight #1 out of 4 on my journey.

Home from FLA!

2009-04-16T09:30:00.005-04:00

Its about 1300 miles from Winter Garden, FL to Maynard, MA and I made the drive in 2 days, leaving at 6:30pm on Monday evening and arriving home at 6:00pm on Wednesday evening. It was a very eventful drive as I hit 4 huge rain storms, including 2 that forced me to stop driving because I could not see in front of me. I stayed overnight outside Savannah, GA on Monday night and in Washington, DC on Tuesday night.
I biked in Fayetteville, NC on Tuesday around 1pm and had an awesome ride. The roads were great and I only saw a few cars, including one car who beeped at me, gave me a thumbs up and a big wave... honestly where does that happen. I then stopped to run around 6pm on Tuesday at Prince William National Forest Park in Triangle, VA. It was an amazing place, other than the fact that it started to rain very hard in the middle of my run. I ran for 6 miles on the trails and enjoyed being in the woods by myself and running along this awesome creek with some small waterfalls.
On Wednesday morning I woke up bright and early to join some DC Triathlon club members for their morning run workout, I did a few laps with them and paced Omar through a few intervals and then went back to the hotel to get a WARM shower. It was 40 degrees and misting outside while we were running. After that it was breakfast and off to a small press conference to help launch the ITU World Championship Series race in Washington DC. The race director, race organziers, the mayor of DC (Adrian Fenty) and I all said a brief bit and answered a few questions all while standing in front of the backdrop of the Jefferson Memorial and the Tidal Basin (It is going to be a BEAUTIFUL race).
Now I am back home and going to get in a few days of easier and then harder training before I head off to Ishigaki and Tongyeong!

Relay for Life!!

2009-04-12T21:43:00.003-04:00

My sister's swim coach at NYU, Lauren Beam, was just diagnosed with Stage 4 colon cancer. She is only 32 years old and a triathlete, swimmer and runner. They have created a donations page for their Relay for Life which is taking place this weekend at NYU.

Donate here:
TEAM BEAM Relay for Life

Carlsbad 5000

2009-04-09T13:54:00.002-04:00

Wow that was a lot of fun. I had a really enjoyable time during my three days in California. I worked with Pam on my biomechanics and got ready for my 5k road race. I was hoping to go as close to 14:10 as possible, with my PR being 14:09 on the track I thought that would be a fun goal. I ended up running 14:13 and finishing in 14th place. I really enjoyed hanging out with the professional runners and the staff of Elite Racing treated me very well. Ill post some pictures as soon as I can find some. I am back in Florida for a few more days before heading back home to Maynard.