December Updates

Man oh man, It's been a while. I know some of you's are gonna be mad for the long delays between posts, but I'm busy! So shut up. SO far since my last post, I've won a cross race in Georgia, finished third at a ross race in Georgia, gotten back on the track and found that I still have decent fitness, but still am having trouble getting up and staying up in the mornings.

I'm really working toward being consistent this year with my training. I have found that the only real time to put in some miles is in the morning which will require me to go to bed early all the time. I sure am glad that Carrie is going to marry me in March, but I'm going to put her through the ringer for these next couple of months with my devotion to my training.

Here are some objectives for the upcoming year; 1) Get married, 2) win Gasparilla 15k, 3) have fun at Citrus City Cyclocross series, 4) win Morton Plant Triathlon, 5) Get to some ITU races and get results, 6) have the best year ever as a coach.

This should be fine I can do it.

Cross season in effect

This past Sunday, my co-hort Brant Speed and I participated in the first official cyclocross race for the season in Augusta, Georgia. Team Chainwheel Drive was able to pull out a 1-2 finish in the "B" race.

The course was awesome! Just as I had hoped, it was cool (in the 50-60's) and rainy and the course was steep ups and downs with many technical aspects to navigate. At the start, I was able to spend the first lap (of 6) sitting pretty in third position. On the second lap I took over the lead on a flat grass section, only intending to take a pull on the front of our group of three. After going through the most technical aspect of the course, which was a steep set of barriers, I found my self with a bit of a gap to the chasers. I held the lead, riding patiently, and steadily put time between myself and the chasers. I was able to ride conservatively and took the win.

Amazingly, my teammate, Brant Speed, was able to go from being in last place on the first lap, to second place at the finish. He rode awesome, and was gaining time on my the whole race. This was very impressive considering that this was not only Brant's first cross race, but it was also his first off-road race!! He was incredible!

We had such a blast at this race and met some cool people who we will hope to see again at some later season races. Check out www.georgia-cross.com

Santa Rosa Island Triathlon

Hey folks, I forgot to publish my summary of the SRI TRI from a few weeks back. I finished second to National team member Brian Fleischman, who pretty much demolished the course.

I had a rough start, where my goggles were knocked loose and filled with very salty ocean water. I swam blind the whole swim and tough that I was right with Brian. Turns out he was way off the front. I had a terrible bike ride on the way out. For some reason I just had no power going out on the out-and-back bike leg of the race. After I made the turnaround though, I was firing on all cylinders and chasing guys down. I came off the bike in 5th I think, and immediately caught two guys in transition. Then I was able to run down two other guys before the turnaround point, halfway through the 5k run. I knew I couldn't make up the huge deficit to Brian so I was able to put the engine in cruise control and high five my niece Emma at the finish. It was cool! This was a good way to end the triathlon season for me. It was a great race and a blast to participate in. Check out www.sritri.org

Busy Sunday for Team Campbell

Last Sunday was quite full of events. I raced the Sand Key Triathlon in the morning and won the event. I felt really good and under control the whole time. The bike course was awesome! Bev Buysee setup a nice course that had a bit of everything. It went over the Sand Key and Memorial Causeway bridges twice each. It had some nice fast straightaways and some tight technical turns in downtown Clearwater and Clearwater Beach. It was a delightful deviation from the all too often, "out and back" courses that we always have to race on. The run course was also a fun adventure. Bev had us on pavement, grass, sand and even a nice dirt path. All of the run was within Sand key Park so the spectators had ample opportunities to cheer for the athletes. It was a great event that should grow big time in the future! Visit http://www.trithisinc.com/results.shtml

In the afternoon on Sunday, I raced the Suncoast Road Race in Venice. I finished 2nd behind my Chainwheel Drive teammate Brant Speed. We went on a breakaway half way through the 12 lap race and put a good 2:30 between ourselves and the main pack. It was awesome! I bonked on the last lap and fought my way to the finish line with Brant a good minute ahead. I was finally exhausted from a tough but fun day. visit http://www.floridacycling.com/USCF/DataAccess/RaceResults.asp?RaceID=200&CategoryID=5

Carrie spent the day at the Bucs game where Chris Simms had his spleen ruptured in a loss to the Panthers. Carrie spent the rest of the evening t the hospital covering the story. What a weekend!

Here comes the Fall

Well after an unusual summer of racing with both ups and downs, I slowly make the transition to the "Off-season". This past weekend was big for me. I won the Sand Key triathlon and then on Sunday afternoon, I finished second behind my teammate and break-away partner Brant Speed, in the Venice cyclefest Road Race (cycling). It was a blast but man was I shelled after it was all over. The next big event for me is the Santa Rosa Island Triathlon in Pensacola. It's going to be great because that is where my sister has moved to a few months back. Please check out another blog I'm working on called floridacross

Morton Plant Triathlon

This past weekend I placed 5th at the inagural Mortan Plant Triathlon. It was a pretty awesome field for a sprint triathlon with two Ironman champions there! I was still very much rundown from the sickness I had the previous week. I was probably racing at about 60% of my true ability. That's not to take anything away from anyone else, or from me for that matter because I worked hard to hang on to 5th place. I only had about two training days in the previous two weeks, which if you're following, really sucks! I am really motivated to get in great shape from the rest of the races this season. I think most importantly, I want to have some great races here locally in Florida. It's nice to do well here at home.

2006 Race Schedule

2006 Race & Travel Schedule
Hank Campbell
(tentative)


May 13th Sarasota Sharks Olympic Siesta Key, FL
May 28th Crystal River Sprint #1 Crystal River
June 4th Dunedin Beach Triathlon Dunedin, FL
June 9-12 Nissan Xterra Southeast Championships Birmingham, AL
June 23-26 Long Beach ITU Long Beach, CA*
June 30- July 4 ITU Brampton Brampton, Canada*
July 16th Morton Plant Mease Tri Clearwater, FL
August 3-6 USA Pro Nat’l Bridgeport ITU Bridgeport, CT
August 19th Coca-Cola Sprint Triathlon Ft. Desoto, FL
August 25-29 Trip to D.C. D.C
September 1-4 ITU Boston Triathlon Boston, MA
September 14-17 ITU Westchester Westchester, NY
September 24th Sand Key Triathlon Clearwater, FL
October 6-9 Santa Rosa Triathlon Pensacola, FL

* Indicates Potential race

A tousand Apologizises

Yes I know it's miss-spelled. That's part of the fun folks! So I messed up again, by not sending you folks this web address when I sent out an e-mail to tell you about the blog. However, I guess that if you're here, then obviously you were able to figure it out huh!

Tonight is Ladies' Night at the bike shop, and I'm the only male staff member that was asked to be a part of it. I told my boss that I didn't know weather to be honored or offended by my selection! Either I'm the most even keeled, confident, positve, understanding, non-judgemental, professional employee at the shop or I'm way too emotional and the whole, "Pink is the new Black" thing is being taken the wrong way!

Just kidding gang. I know that I was chosen because of the way that I respect others. And that is a direct result of surrounding myself with good people like yall out there in cyber-land. Keep in touch and I'll see you soon.

Also, I'm coming to Birmingham for the Xterra Regional Championships at Oak Mnt. on June 11th. I'm coming in on the 8th or 9th, and I'm bringing Carrie with me!!! So all of you who can get there, make it so!!!

Put one in the W column

Well after a two week let-down from St. Anthony's performance, I rallied and came up with a victory. I had a great race at the Sharks tri-club Olympic distance race in Sarasota this weekend. I swam really well, which was amazing because I was just trying to keep under control and not POP! I had a huge lead from the start but let a few catch up to me, for what reason? I don't know. But it still went well. I got out on the bike, and after a slight mishap with my shoe (it came unclipped), I was rolling. There were a few turn around points where you could assess how far away people were. I saw that I had a few guys coming up on me, and decided to just floor it! And boy did I! I found a whole other gear that I haven't had in a while and it was rockin'!!

Coming off the bike I knew I was in front by a ton, so I set it in cruise mode and was having a great time. I was high five-ing little kids that were cheering on the side of the road and they were having a blast! That's what it all about right there! Those kids will be the future of the sport and they need to see us out there having fun so that they will want to have as much fun as us, RIGHT! Right!

The only scary part of the race was the last part of the run. It was on the beach along the Gulf. There were a lot of people out walking and enjoying the morning sun. I had to weave my way through them when all of a sudden it happened! An older (and I'm assuming foreign) couple in matching thong bikinis! AHHHHH!! Don't get me wrong here. I'm usually one for moderate amounts of exposure, I mean after all, I'm a triathlete where I basically run around in my underwear all day, but please! Refrain yourself once you reach a certain point. Yikes!!!

In all seriousness, it was a great race and put on very well. Thanks to all who participated and volunteered we couldn't do it without any of these critical cogs in the machine.

www.sharkstriclub.org/ check it out

St. Anthony's

Well sports fans, another St. A's down and another unfortunate disappointment. I seem to have a real problem with racing here in the backyard. My friend Gus suggested that we get the city to set the course back up next weekend, and I can just do it by myself and I'll probably go 12 minutes faster! My new Trek Madone, Zipp wheels, Zoot Ultra uniform worked amazingly well. I think it was the classic case of Equipment out-performed the engine!!

Times like these, you just have to say, that's one race under my belt for the year and it's only going to get better! I know I'm ready to make some huge leaps and bounds, I just need to make it happen. So thanks to everyone for believing in me and I promise I'll be successful in a next attempt.

congratulations to my peeps who competed on Sunday as well. Gus, Pete, Carey, Graham and others who I know did their best on the day. Also, big props to the Boyz and Girlz at Chainwheel Drive for working their @$$es off all week long!