First Multisport Race of the Season Approaches...

Just thought I should post a quick update on my blog... I signed up for my first multisport race of the season this past week, the Desert Classic Duathlon in Phoenix AZ. It just happens to be taking place the weekend before a conference I have to be at in Phoenix so I'll be taking the teardrop out for a road trip! A race followed by a conference mixed in with 7 quality workouts in the Arizona desert!!

Three weeks following my first multisport event of 2010, I'm tentatively planning on running the Suntrust National Marathon in Washington DC. I say tentatively because I'm considering switching to the 1/2 marathon instead. Running a 1/2 fits into my overall plans of the year during which I hope to put up some fast time in a few 1/2 Ironmans. Training my body to run longer and slower doesn't seem like a great idea. Also, 2 weeks following the marathon I'll have the MaxTrax Duathlon where I would like to do well, recovery from a marathon is longer than 2 weeks! Would love to get my readers opinions...

Finally, it looks like I've made USAT Honorable Mention for the first time in my triathlon "career"! What that means is that out of the 3,968 USA Triathlon members in my age group (35-39) that completed at least 2 USAT races, I'm in the top 10%. It's something I've been disappointed about not making in the past, but I really wasn't expecting to this past year what with everything else that went on. It's a definite encouragement and helps me realize with the proper training and focus there's no reason an All American ranking (top 5%) isn't possible! Now, time for some sleep so I'll get up and train in the morning!!

Can I Shave Now?

I made a vow, I said I wouldn't shave my face or cut my hair until I win my next race. I posted this sometime in the beginning of December. I thought I would run the "Ring In New Year" one mile race in Jefferson City on January 1st, figured it might be an easy first win of the year clearing the way for a shave and haircut... if I so desired... Turns out, the weather was cold and I stayed up a little too late New Year's Eve, I skipped the race. When the results were posted, the winning time was 6:13, I'm pretty sure I could have won!

Somewhere in the whole mix of things, I got busy working on my house. Took two weeks completely off from exercise! I can't remember the last time I did that. No working out with no change in diet = weight gain. Fortunately, Columbia Multisport Club has put on a "Biggest Loser" weight loss competition the last few years and they decided to do it again this year.

Now if you ask most people, they would probably say I have no business participating in a weight loss competition. What people don't realize is as someone who works out one to two hours a day during the season, when winter sets in and training levels decrease, extra weight can creep on regardless how "fit" or "thin" I might look. My weight after holidays and two weeks off from working out had climbed to 17 lbs over my low weight from this past season! That's 17 lbs that I know I can loose.

Around this same time, I also signed up for the Suntrust National Marathon in March, a week following our final weigh in for the Biggest Looser. So combine training for a marathon or lots of running, with loosing weight. Those two things go together like two peas in a pod!


We're one week into our Biggest Looser competition. For this first week, I just went back to training like I should be for a marathon and cut down on the food a bit. I knew the first few pounds would come off easily. I weighed in Sunday evening following a 2 hour run in the snow. I was shocked to see I had lost around 9 pounds and was even more shocked to see the email to the club the following day with me in the lead amongst the guys! Does that count as a race? Can I shave now? Hmm, I suppose that was just a mile marker... I'm that guy who takes off on a mad dash for the first mile, gets his moment in the spotlight, only to fade when the Kenyans blow by him...

2009, the Year in Review...

2009, The Year in Review...


Another year has come and gone. It's been an interesting year. Hard to decide athletically if it was a successful year or not! Overall, I had a great year, lots of great experiences, but many of the highlights from 2009 aren't from races...



The year began living in an unfinished house and ended the same. However, at this time last year I did not have a functional kitchen but rather was in the process of hanging the cabinets. While I failed to finish the interior of the house, I made great progress and for the most part have enjoyed the process. Well, enjoyed might be stretching the truth... It has been a rewarding experience and I have learned a lot in the process. I've documented the whole process through pictures here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/triathleteguru/sets/72157604338199425/

Two months into the year, I was able to get my house re-appraised at $40,000 which was double the purchase price from 9 months earlier. This allowed me to get a fixed home equity loan and pay off the credit cards I had purchased the house with. This also freed me up financially to take a trip to Indonesia to visit my sister and her family where they were living as missionaries. The trip to Indonesia was definitely the highlight of the year and included two 100+ mile bike rides with my brother-in-law while there. Bike riding in a foreign country has to be one of the best ways to see the country!

Taking Shelter from the Rain in Indonesia

Despite the bike riding while in Indonesia, I returned in relative poor physical fitness and was sick for a week on top of that. So once the multisport season started up with Max Trax Duathlon, I wasn't nearly ready for it and decided all I could do was hope to race myself into shape. This included a spur of the moment decision to sign up for and race the Duathlon National Championships in Richmond VA. In late April I headed out there with my friend Delbert Marriott. It was a fun trip; however neither of us did well as we ended up racing in 100+ degree weather which was a heat wave, especially in April! Nevertheless, it helped jumpstart my fitness and I had some decent race performances in the following months.

What I would consider my highlight race of the year was the Republic Tiger Triathlon in mid August. I ended up placing 5th overall but what makes me consider it my best race was that I came within 32 seconds of beating Jay Orr, my Ultramax Series Championships rival! I started the swim directly behind Jay, caught him in the pool, and came out of T1 ahead of him. He caught and dropped me shortly into the bike, but I dug deep, caught back up, and ended up coming into T2 within seconds of him. I managed to beat him out of T2, but within less than half a mile he had caught me back and ended up pulling away from me a mile or so into the run. Jay would end up winning the Ultramax Series while I ended up second, for the third year in a row!

The lowlight race of the year would have to be Rockbridge Revenge. A nice little headfirst dive into a log resulting in a tooth through my lower lip and 10 stitches!

Rockbridge Revenge 2009

2009 was a great year, here are some random pictures of my year (note, I like to have a little fun at times...)

Kitchen at the beginning of the year

Updated My Races for the Year...

Not sure if this really counts as a worthwhile blog post, but since I post so seldomly, posting anything is probably better than nothing at all!

Decided I should take the time to update my race results from the year, considering the last race result I had posted was from back in early August. Turns out I've been racing a lot this year, though quite a few of them are multiple bike races on the same weekend, so it's easy for them to add up... This brings up the question in my mind, quantity versus quality, which is better?

Should I skip a few races in favor of better quality training sessions on some weekends hoping that will lead to better quality results in races? Or, do I forgo the dreary and long training sessions in favor of entering lots of races where I get to enjoy competition as well as the socializing that comes with racing? There's also the financial aspect of entering and traveling to races that can't be overlooked...

Regardless the decision, keeping your race results online is a simple tool to track your performance over the years. Now, if only I did a better job tracking my training as well...

http://www.triathleteguru.com/results.php

Has it been so long?

Hmm, lots of stuff I could write about, lots has happened since my last post! However, I'm just posting something, looking for motivation to do more. Motivation to train, motivation to get out of bed at 5 am when I set my alarm. It has gotten really easy to roll over, reset my alarm for 7 am, and fall back to sleep. So I don't really have the motivation to updated my blog either...

Don't worry, this is pretty normal for me. I go through phases, I think we all do. Mine might be just a bit more extreme. Sometimes it's easy to get up quickly, easy to head out the door 15 minutes after getting off of work for a two hour training session. Right now it's not. I need some down time.

This past week, I ran once, Wednesday night track workout. I biked once, Tuesday night cyclo cross practice. These were group workouts, easier to go to group workouts. My two other group workouts, the Tuesday/Thursday workouts, it was raining for those and with my motivation levels the bed won on those mornings.


So I signed up for Rockbridge Revenge, a cross country race in a local state park. It's my favorite place to run. The race was Sunday, I really didn't feel like racing per se, just thought I could use it to jump start my motivation. Go out, run a 7 mile tempo run through my favorite training location in Columbia, and use it as a springboard to jump start my running. Diving headfirst into a log might not have been the best approach for jumpstarting my running!

I came up to a log across the trail. Decent sized log, probably 2 or 3 feet high. As I approached, I tried to decide if I should hurdle it, or step on it to get over. I decided to hurdle, but just before I did, as I was analyzing the width and other side of the log, I tripped over something in the trail and went headfirst into the log. First thought was the teeth, are they all still here? They were and since I had another two miles to go and a runner to catch who had just passed me, I collected my wits and glasses and started running again.

Turns out my tooth had gone clean through my lower lip. After finishing, Tom Hall told me my lip was still hung up on my tooth. Thinking a quick tug would do the trick, I was shocked how hard I had to pull up and stretch my lip to get it unhooked! Eventually I was convinced to go to the ER where I ended up needing a total of 10 stiches...

So did it work? I didn't feel motivated to train any harder today. My alarm went off at 5:45, I reset it for 7. Of course, I did wake up several times during the night from my fat lip and sore neck, I probably needed the sleep.

I was able to talk myself into a 4 mile run after work. It's not much, but I'm further along than I was at this time last week. Sometimes when you aren't motivated, you just have to do it and hope the motivation kicks in after you start. Kind of like this post I wasn't motivated to write...

Just Not Enough Time!!

Ok, I guess I really don't expect any sympathy from you. It's not like I have a family, kids, or other responsiblities that many of you have. I do have a house that's an ongoing project, but it's not like I'm putting much time into it these days! Just posting a quick note about the sacrifices one makes when attempting to improve in endurance athletics, don't ask me right now if it is worth it!

I'm biking a lot these days. Last night I got off of work and got home around 5:15. Found my ankle reflectors, rear light, mounted a headlight on my bike and headed out on the road about 5:45. Around 8:30 I was rolling back in after a 45 mile ride. Didn't leave a whole lot of down time before I was in bed resting up for another day.

Today was even more full. Up at 5am for a 10k run, followed by a 1,200 yard swim. The run was an easy paced run because I knew tonight I would be riding with the local bike racers on their fast paced Tuesday evening ride to Hallsville and back. So once again, shortly after getting home from work I was out the door for another ride. This ride was much faster than last nights, 21.5 mph average for 45 miles. Considering that my average after the first 7 miles was around 16 mph, the last 38 miles were fast!

The nice thing about riding faster was getting home around 7:30 and feeling like I had all kinds of time left in the evening. That is until I realized I needed groceries. Since I really didn't feel like using chocolate milk again on my cereal like I did this morning, a trip to the store was in order. Between going to the store and fixing dinner, the night was gone.

So now it is a little past 10 and since I plan on getting up at 5:30 to swim, I really need to head to bed. A quick post to my blog (http://triathleteguru.blogspot.com/) and then off to bed recharging for another round in the morning!

Republic Tiger Triathlon Race Report

I actually have three other race reports I’ve neglected to write, so I’m going a little out of order here! However, I had a really great race this past weekend, probably my best performance of the year and I feel like writing about it while it is still fresh in my mind, maybe I’ll write the other three later...

I've been chasing one person all season in the Ultramax Series, Jay Orr. He and I are two of four people who have done all the races in the series so far and every time we've raced head to head he's beaten me, usually by two or three minutes. He is leading the Ultramax Series while I'm sitting in second. Exactly one week ago, at the Kansas City Octomax Race, Jay Orr had taken second overall to my fifth, finishing two minutes and thirty-eight seconds ahead of me. This week my goal was to make it a much closer race!
The Republic Tiger Tri is a pool swim with a self seeded time trial start. Since Jay and I are usually pretty similar in the swim, I decided to line up directly behind him meaning I would start exactly fifteen seconds after him. If I could catch him in the swim I would have fifteen seconds in the bank for later in the race...

We were lined up about fifteen people back from the first swimmer so in a little over three minutes Jay jumped in the water and fifteen seconds later I was after him. The swim distance was a little over three hundred yards, down and back five lanes with a left hand turn at the end of the fifth lane to the end of a shallower kids pool about forty yards in length. On each length of the pool I could see that I was slowly making up time on Jay and could also tell the person behind me was falling further back. By the fifth lane I had caught up to Jay's feet and settled down to enjoy a draft for about the final sixty-five yards. Jay came out of the water and sprinted into transition with me right on his feet. I got through transition smoothly and quickly, a split second ahead of Jay.

Once out on the bike Jay passed me within the first mile. Unlike the previous week, I was determined to keep him within sight! The bike course at Republic is quite hilly with a lot of turns, some of them sharp and steep. On the flat and downhill stretches, Jay would start pulling away slightly, but on the up hills I would stand and try to maintain as much momentum as possible and the gap would shrink. At the end of the first lap, I was back about twenty-five seconds to Jay, but more importantly I felt the gap was shrinking and if I kept at it I could pull him back all the way! While I never did end up passing him back, by the end of the second loop I was right on his tail and as we came into T2 I knew a fast transition would put me out on the run ahead of him. With an increased sense of urgency, I had the fastest T2 split of the day, outspliting Jay's T2 by nine seconds and was out on the run.

For the time being, Jay is a considerably better runner than I am. Even though he has been racing with a bum knee all year, he has consistently put about fifteen seconds per mile into my racing pace. So while I had at least a fifteen second lead heading into the run, I knew that lead wasn't likely to last. About a quarter of a mile into the run he caught up with me. For a while we ran side by side and despite the fact that we were competing head to head, he tried to encourage me and my running, suggesting that I relax my running. Somewhere shortly after the first mile, he began to pull away. For the most part I continued to keep him in sight, but eventually he had pulled far enough ahead, my fifteen seconds had been spent!

Final time, 58:03 and 5th out of 319 overall. Jay Orr had beaten me by thirty-two seconds, the smallest margin of the year, even smaller than a stand alone 5k we had raced back in July. Interestingly, looking at the bike splits from the race, the top six finishers in the triathlon had the top six bike splits in the same order as their respective finishes! I had improved by 2:37 from the previous year, moved up from 8th to 5th overall, and had biked 1:52 faster. All very positive results, but most importantly I had achieved my goal of a much closer race with Jay Orr!