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!