2015 Race Schedule and Update

Time for an update! The schedule for this season is pretty much set. Things will kick off at the St. Patrick's Triathlon in Keller on March 15th. After that I will have one more good block of training before 70.3s on back to back weekends with New Orleans and Texas on April 19th and 26th. After that I'll be staying local in May with the Texas Man Sprint, Grand Triathlon, and Benbrook Sprint. The first weekend of June is the Dallas ITU American Cup. After that it will be pretty much training only (unless I have a shot at 70.3 worlds and need to fill in with a 70.3 or two in June and July). I will kick off 2016 qualifying at 70.3 Timberman in Gilford, NH on August 16th. After another training block I will make the trip to New Jersey for the Princeton 70.3 on September 20th. Two weeks later will be the Silverman 70.3 in Henderson, NV. After a couple off days I will get in a big volume block and hope to make my Ironman debut at Ironman Arizona on November 15th! Training wise it has been a really good winter. Lots of time has been spent on the trainer but the quality has been great! November was a big volume month, and also gave me the opportunity to try out a half marathon. I competed at the Tour de Glen Rose half and won with a time of 1:14:47. After a first half in 37:00 I thought a sub 74 would be possible, but the lead bike got lost and we spent some time trying to find our way and I ended up running loops around the block to get to 13.1 miles. I still can't be disappointed with the time though. December was a good training month until the end. I crashed on my bike the Sunday before Christmas and missed a couple days. Fortunately I had a recovery week planned that coming week. I got a bout of the flu the day after Christmas and missed a couple more days. In all it was about 10 days of little to no training. January was spent regaining the little bit of fitness I lost and working on strength and power with lower volume. I started the racing with a 5K at the Louisiana Marathon. Ran an unimpressive 16:55 on a cold day to win by a minute. Coming to the end of a training block tomorrow. I will take the weekend off for Nolan's State Swim Meet before getting back to action on Monday for a 3 week block of hard training. Thanks for reading!

The Blog is Back: 2014 in Review

It has been way too long since I last updated the blog. I am going to be back at it regularly from now on. This year has been pretty crazy getting used to married life and training and racing as a pro. Here is a review of 2014! I kicked off the season at the Clermont ITU Pan-American Cup in March. I didn't get lapped out but there was a bike/run course overlap and you had to be to the overlap on your bike before the lead runner. Unfortunately I missed it by about 5 seconds and was pulled from the course. The next day was an Elite Development Race. I missed the two big groups and spent some time solo or working with a small pack. I finished in the middle of the 75-man field. Next up was Collegiate Nationals. It was really exciting to get to race in Tempe after being forced to spectate last year except for the draft-legal race. I think my commitments of being commissioner and club president wore me out like they do every year. I had a decent day in the Draft-Legal race but had a pretty horrible performance in the non-draft on Saturday. OSU fielded a mixed team relay for the first time and we had a really good time! After that came graduation. A couple of weeks later Jacquelyn and I got married and the night of the wedding we made our way down to Austin for the CapTex Triathlon. The race was going really well and I was looking at a top 15 finish for sure, when the referee's motorcycle made a U-turn right in front of me on a downhill while going 30+ mph. I hit the brakes but we collided and he dragged me across the road. Other than road rash all the way up the left side of my body I walked away unharmed. My bike, however, did not. It was cracked it various places, my handlebars, brakes, pedals, wheels and seat were all damaged. I was extremely fortunate as the driver's insurance took care of the cost of my bike and replaced it (the race organizers did absolutely nothing, not even to check on how I was. They did not even know there was a wreck on the course until I showed up at the medical tent 2 hours later. The race director's secretary told me that he was going to contact me but that never happened after several attempts at contact from my end. I will not be going back to CapTex anytime in the foreseeable future). I was actually able to upgrade my bike. The guys at Fort Worth Cycling hooked me up with a P3 decked out with electronic Dura Ace and some deep HED Stingers. The bike is great and has helped me out in my transition to long-distance racing! The day after CapTex I discovered that I had gotten onto the start list for the Pan-American Championship that coming Saturday. It was Thursday before I could raise my left arm above my head but that wasn't going to stop me from starting! I had a PR swim (which still put me pretty far behind) and I was lapped out early. It was still a great experience getting to be in a field full of Olympians and National Champions. After that my focus switched to racing long distance and I made my pro debut at 70.3 at Ironman 70.3 Steelhead on August 10th. I finished 15th in a decent field with a huge PR of 4:18. The next month I finished 11th at 70.3 Muskoka and backed that up 3 weeks ago in Henderson, NV with a 10th place finish at 70.3 Silverman. This past weekend saw a disappointing end to the season at 70.3 Austin. I ejected both of my bottles of sports drink and gels by mile 5 and ejected the bottle of Perform I got at the first aid station after just one drink. I was severely dehydrated by the second aid station and after the bike I had to call it a day. Now it is time for a week off to recharge and refocus before base training starts. I am really looking forward to next year and a full winter of 70.3 training! The schedule is starting to take shape and I will be releasing that in the near future. Thanks for reading!

Pro Debut: Clermont ITU Pan-American Cup

The start list is out and I'm officially headed to Clermont, Florida for the ITU Pan-American Cup on March 1st. I'll be following that up with the Elite Development Race being held the next day. Might as well get in as much draft-legal experience as I can! There are some great athletes on the start list and some up-and-coming Americans that should be in the mix as well. I've had some solid weeks of training, logging over 80 hours the last 3 weeks! Since I started base training I've been able to put in over 250,000 yards in the pool. We'll find out if it's paid off in Clermont! Hoping to just make it to the finish line and not be too hard behind. It is only a sprint so I figure it's short enough that I won't get lapped out... Taking a moderate week of training this week with a ton of snow outside here in Oklahoma. Spending lots of time riding the trainer; watched the Ip Man films for the first time yesterday and today with Alex ;) Supposed to be below freezing until next Thursday so it looks like I'll have to get through those rides for at least another week. That's all for now.

2013: The Year of 2nd

Finally getting back to the blog after several months away. It is time to catch up on 2013! After starting the year injured I managed to come back and have my best season to date. While I only won one race all year, I finished 2nd five times, the last of which was Lifetime Fitness Dallas, an Elite Qualifying Race. That 2nd place finish finally got me a pro card! 2014 will be my first pro season and I am planning to make my debut at the ITU Pan-American Cup in Clermont, FL. This is going to be a really exciting season. The main goal is to just have fun and try out different distances and formats. I am planning to race a little ITU during the first part of the season and then focus more on 70.3 the last half of the year in the hopes of qualifying for 70.3 Worlds in 2015. That race in Dallas was probably the most well-balanced race I've ever had. After coming out of the water 2 minutes down I managed to catch the lead group on the bike and start the run with everyone else. I took it a little easier than usual on the run and focused on getting 3rd and not being greedy by going for the win and blowing the shot at a card. I ended up 3rd across the line but the winner was disqualified for getting three penalties on the bike, so I was upgraded to 2nd a couple of days later. I decided to end the season after that instead of going back to Longhorn so that I could start base training and getting ready for the new adventure that is 2014. I have been able to put in solid training the last couple of months and am really fit right now. On Thanksgiving I ran just 3 seconds short of my 5K PR on just 7 weeks of easy running. 2014 is going to be big and I can't wait!

Getting Back

It has been a really long road to recovery. A trail of doctors behind I finally found a solution with an orthopedic surgeon. My lower two vertebrae were kind of smashed together and the disc was uncomfortable, which caused it to secrete a fluid which was chemically reacting with the nerves in that area. It was most likely the jarring motion of running that caused the release. There is an extreme amount of inflammation which will heal on its own. To help it I received two epidural steroid injections in my lower back to bring the inflammation down. I have been able to run for the past eight days. I had my first pain free run last Thursday, just in time to race the draft-legal race at Collegiate Nationals on the next day. I missed the big group but had a great time and finished 29th. Despite not running for three months I managed to pass 12 guys on the run and still contribute a little to our team score. As a men's team we finished 28th, our best ever by 14 spots. We are bringing back all six guys that raced this year so we are expecting great things for 2014. We did the math and if I had been healthy we probably would have been around 18th or 19th. I think next year there is no excuse to not be in the top 15, but everyone wants to be top 10. That's the goal and we are going to work for it. Just over two more weeks to get ready for TexasMan where I plan to race the sprint. At that race I will be representing a new team. I accepted an offer to join Team Cambridge. It is hard to leave Team Ironhead, but I plan to stay in contact with the team, I will just be wearing red and gray now. Looking forward to salvaging 2013!

Injured

I successfully completed two months of fantastic training, especially on the bike. My cycling was faster in January than it had ever been when I was in tip-top shape. Then on January 4th I had a sudden sharp pain throughout my left leg while on my long run. I have been pretty much on the shelf since then. Running has been a no go and cycling has been limited and painful. The one thing I can do is swim, and I am unable to do that all the way as I am still building up from my layoff there. It has been a long 49 days since then. During that time I have visited a doctor, two massage therapists, and a chiropractor (and consulted a second). What I have learned is that I most likely have piriformis syndrome. That means that a tiny muscle in my butt is pressing on my sciatic nerve and causing extreme pain when I run or do similar motions. I am going to a physical therapist on Monday morning. Hopefully he will be able to get me on the road to recovery. If not, then I am not sure what I will do with myself. The doctor told me that this usually clears up in 2-6 weeks with physical therapy, meaning that I won't really be recovered until the day of the first race of the year. My racing season is really up in the air right now as the time off has put me in a difficult position in terms of being ready for my pro qualifying races in May. There has been one positive note in recent weeks. My swimming is coming back very well. I managed to PR in the 800 last week. It was only by two seconds, but after a month off due to injury and my slow buildup, that was a great surprise. Hopefully there will be good news soon!

2012 In the Books

The 2012 season came to end on October 27th, more than 8 months after the first race of the season and almost exactly a year following the first day of base training. Despite a couple major letdowns and a big setback in the swim, I can say that this was the most successful season so far, as I totaled a record 5 overall wins, bringing my lifetime multisport total to 13. PRs in the Olympic distance, half-iron distance, 5K, 10K, 40K bike and 1500m swim helped too. The season kicked off in the usual lackluster fashion at the Texas Motor Speedway duathlon. I led into T1, got smothered on the bike and managed to barely run back into the top ten with a decent second run. Things picked up at the Mean Green triathlon where I captured my first win of 2012 with a strong 24+ mph bike split followed by a cruising 16:12 5K split. Tough winds dashed my hopes at a course record. Maybe in '13... The OSU team traveled to Joe Pool Lake in Grand Prairie for the SMW Collegiate Regional Championship. After a mid 14 minute swim for 1K, I found myself in 6th on the bike and moved into 5th by the end. With only one catchable athlete ahead, I cruised into 4th and stayed there, still posting the 2nd fastest run just a few seconds off 2nd place finisher Mark Primeaux from LSU. 4th doesn't sound great, but after a poor bike I was pleased enough, especially since I finished behind three guys (Mark Saroni, Mark Primeaux and Ben Hall) that I have a ton of respect for. The highlight of the day was the OSU Men's team finishing 3rd, behind only perennial national championship contender Texas A&M and Texas. We punched our tickets to Collegiate Nationals in the first year of qualifying. Three weeks later we made the trek back out to Tuscaloosa, AL for Nationals. This was the week where my swimming setback began. I felt extreme pain and fatigue in my arms and couldn't push as hard as I wanted to. From that point on training was only intermittent and enough to try to maintain the fitness I had gained over the winter. A 23 minute swim (still a PR) put me in the 80s in the first wave. I mediocre bike split basically held my spot before I moved up using the 6th fastest run of the day at 34:32, to finish 52nd. The team improved seven spots over 2011 as we came in 42nd, despite our number three man dropping out due to a flat tire. (We estimate that we would've been 36th with him across the line). We're gunning for a top 25 finish as we are bringing back everyone but him, and even made a great addition in current sophomore Greg Seymour who has already done great things with the team. Introduced for the first time at this year's National Championship was the draft-legal relay that has been run by the pros for the past couple of years. A girl-guy-girl-guy relay where each athlete completes a 250m swim, 6K bike and 1mi run. Put on a team with two subs for people who dropped out, we didn't do well, but it was fun to be out there if for no other reason than to say I was in it the first time ever. With Nationals behind, the focus turned to CapTex where I would compete for the fourth straight year with the hopes of getting my pro card. Two weeks out from the Memorial Day event I raced the Rockwall sprint tri to tune up. Still battling pain in my arms I cruised through the 300m swim, then gained a big lead on the bike that I extended on the 5K run, splitting 16:10 and ticking off win number two. At CapTex, I couldn't have asked for much better, except for a pro card. Out of the swim in a non-wetsuit PR of 23:54, and a bike split on the pace that based on 2011 would put me in contention for the top 3, I found myself in only 17th place heading into the run. One of the day's top runs at 34:39, I ran my way into 10th, the same place as last year despite covering the course nearly 4 minutes faster. My new PR of 2:05:28 was just 20 seconds off the time for the last pro card a year earlier, but last year there were wetsuits. With the competition present I couldn't be disappointed, especially since I would have another shot in just five days. After a quick turnaround I was in Irving, TX for the Elite Development Race held in conjunction with the ITU Continental Cup. I had a poor swim and found myself in the 5th group on the road, the fastest group to not converge into the main pack. Feeling Monday's race I ran well, but not to my usual standards. I managed to stay in the top half of the 75-man field in 29th. A much welcomed week off was next, capped by a course record at the Metroplex Sprint tri. Taking the next few weeks to train, I rode every Friday morning with Todd Hamilton to help my cycling. To test myself I made the trip to Waco for the Olympic Distance race. Unfortunately the weather reduced the bike leg to 20K. After a terrible swim and reasonable bike, I experienced something unusual. I was run away from. Battling for the lead through four and a half miles, my abs cramped badly and I couldn't sustain the quick pace. Fading to the finish, I could only claim 4th. Redemption came quickly at the Wool Capitol Triathlon, my favorite course in the world. Following a mediocre swim I held onto 3rd on the bike. On the run I started out quickly until I could see the leader, last year's winner in the distance. I cruised until I caught him, and made the pass just after the 5K turnaround. Taking my time to the finish, i enjoyed the rest of the run and finally got a win at Wool Cap after four tries! The next race on the schedule was the first year Trifecta Triathlon at Possum Kingdom Lake. I led the way out of the swim with a massive wetsuit PR (maybe a little short...) and was rolling on the bike. At the bike turnaround, the only athlete ahead of me was one guy from the first wave. My time estimate told me we were pretty even. With two miles to go I started feeling some bumps, then slowed dramatically. I was flat. I gently rolled the rest of the way, stopping twice to check the well-being of my 404, all the while watching other riders fly past me. I sprinted out of T2, knowing a poor run by the leader could still give me a win. Pushing all the way to the line I smashed my 10K PR with a 32:44 split, bringing me withing 40 seconds of the win and earning 2nd overall. Two weeks later I claimed my 4th straight win at the Outdoor Adventure triathlon as the final tune-up for the US Open. Lucas and Alex finished 2nd and 3rd, even though Alex flatted. The U.S. Open finally came on October 7th, the last shot at a pro card in 2012. I wasn't expecting much as the competition is always deep. Following the roller coaster swim year that came with my injury I swam only 24:30 with the wetsuit. That was followed with my worst bike split since I can't even remember when. Even my run struggled in the wind and cold at only 36 and some seconds. I finished 36th overall, my lowest overall finish outside of Collegiate Nationals since this race in 2010. The only silver lining was that I finished 4th in the Collegiate division and earned enough points to keep my lead in the SMW Collegiate Rankings. Five of us from the OSU team closed out the season at the Longhorn 70.3 in Austin, TX which also served as the Collegiate Half-Ironman National Championship. In my first half since 2008, I knew a PR was coming. During the season I did one long brick a week to prepare. I wasn't quite ready for the tough bike course, but I was able to run my way back into the race with an 83 minute run split. My total time of 4:42:43 gave me 6th in the Collegiate Division, one spot ahead of Greg who came in at 4:47. Alex rounded out our scoring in 11th and gave us 2nd as a team! After a few weeks worth of disappointing race results that was definitely a great way to cap off the season. This week has been the prep week with Base 1 kicking off on Monday. I will not be swimming until November 26th to give my arms ample recovery time before they get going again. After that I will be taking a very conservative build up to normal volume. Here it goes!