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!

2012: A New Era

The 2012 racing season began yesterday at Texas Motor Speedway. It was the first opportunity to see the state of my fitness after a career changing decision to leave Marcin's guidance last October. Since Halloween, I have trained diligently, killing myself in the water and on the bike to improve my major weaknesses. In the past three and a half months I have gained seven pounds of muscle, despite logging training hours in the upper 20s per week.

I finally had a respectable performance at the Speedway, posting an opening run of 10:01 that brought me first in to transition. All winter I had feared that 2+ hour long runs and the the swim and bike focus would diminish my speed. That wasn't an issue as I cruised through the first mile in 4:49. My bike lost the race as usual, but it was 90 seconds faster than last year. Lucas had the ride of his life though, besting me by a minute. He put together great runs and finished less than two minutes behind me.

My second run of 10:25 brought me in in 1:03:58, nearly three minutes faster than the 2011 edition of the race. Finally some results. Despite the increase in speed, I finished 9th compared to last year's 10th due to the fact that it was the SMw Regional Championship and drew some heavy competition. Will Huffman won for the second year in a row.

This race is a big step forward. I wasn't tapered in the slightest. It's only going to get better at Regionals and Nationals, especially since Lucas and I hung with the top A&M guys. Maybe there's hope for a Regionals upset. Maybe...

14 Days, 6 PRs

2011 is well underway with 4 multisport events already completed. After a less-than-stellar showing at the Texas Motor Speedway Duathlon, I hit my stride in March, scoring 3 top 5's at St. Patrick's, Mean Green, and Champions triathlon.

On the 13th, I jumped into the Keller pool at the start of the St. Patrick's tri and cruised through an uncomfortable 300m swim. Getting out onto the bike, I worked to maintain a decent place before the run. My 33:50 split was good for 11th on the day and set me up well going into the run. Not knowing my placing after the time trial start, I went out hard on the run looking to run in the 16:15 range. Still feeling good after a 5:11 opening mile, I tried to press to catch the runner up ahead. Nearing the turn around only two more guys were ahead on the road. At 4K I continued to push, passing former teammate Brian Miller. Kicking hard with 200 to go, I kept a solid effort through the line to split 16:18, the fastest run ever at the St. Patrick's Triathlon and an outright PR. My total time of 56:32 claimed 4th, just 56 seconds behind the race winner.

A week later we were in Denton for the UNT hosted Mean Green Triathlon, OSU teammate Lucas Shannon making the trip from Amarillo. With the wind howling, I knew I was in for a tough bike. What I should have been worried about was the swim. A seeding snafu caused some ordering issues, placing me 45th into the water with the small field of 200. This wasn't right. After six minutes of struggling, taking kicks in the face and head on collisions, I exited the pool, frustrated and checking my mouth for blood. I headed out on the bike (on a sweet Orbea Ordu I have on lend) and flew through the opening section, riding the 20+ mph tailwind. Five miles later, the struggling began as side and head winds hindered my ride, losing 3:17 to eventual race winner Dustin Joubert of A&M. I took off fast on the run once again, pushing hard all the way to the line in another PR: 16:09, which moved me into 5th position overall, but only 3rd in my age group. Lucas, meanwhile, had a fantastic day himself, posting an 18:37 5K and taking 19th overall and 1st in the 16-19 age group.

The next Friday, Lucas and I drove down to Pflugerville with our teammate Michael Mansfield for the first Olympic distance race of the year (and ever for Lucas). This race brought a great opportunity to get in the open water and go head to head with some of the A&M athletes once again. After leading for the first of two 750m loops in the swim, I was passed by a couple of athletes and left behind as they cut off some buoys on the way in to shore. Not letting the gap get to me, I hit it hard on the bike and split 1:07:30 for the 41.7K course. Despite being one of my best rides ever (and on a windy and rolling course), I had a big deficit to make up on the two athletes up the road, Scott Wilkinson and Dustin Joubert. Splitting 16:27 at 5K I cut significantly into the gap. Seeing Dustin not far up the road motivated me to keep the pace high even though fatigue was setting in. Passing him around four miles I continued to press. I wilted over the final mile but still finished with a 10K time of 33:47, a new PR. A total time of 2:08:30 was a PR as well after scaling the time down to account for the long bike leg, and good enough for second overall. Lucas had a great finish coming in around 2:19, and Michael had a good day as well at 2:46.

The very next day marked the final two PRs of the two week span. Doing a sprint tri relay with Steve Wood and Bart Robbins, I raced to a 5K time of 15:50.5, with a negative elevation first mile split of 4:48.8. We won easily over the other relay divisions.

Now it's time to look toward Nationals on April 9th, the first big race of the year!

Opening 2011

It's been too long since I last posted, between school and the holidays it's been difficult to keep up. Winter training has gone pretty well, forced to stay indoors a few times more than I'd like by the snow and ice, but it's been relatively solid. Some strong running performances in road races and a fun cyclocross season kept me motivated during the cold months and it looks like 2011 might be the breakout year I've been waiting for.
The first race of the season is coming up on Sunday at Texas Motor Speedway. This will be my 5th straight time to race the February edition of the event. OSU is going to have four guys in the race. Don't know yet if we're going to count as a team or not, we'll find out this weekend. It should prove to be a pretty exciting race as Tech and A&M will have teams there as always; there definitely won't be a lack of quality competition, not to mention with the usual Team Ironhead contingent battling at the front as well.
See you at the races!

The U.S. Open

The U.S. is now behind and the 2010 season has come to a close after 8 months of solid training and racing. Compared to my expectations for the event, I have to say I'm disappointed, but there were definitely reasons to be happy after it was all said and done.

The day started off pretty exciting as I got to the race site and discovered the Amateur Elites (me) would be sharing a special transition with the pros. Yes, the pros. Hunter Kemper, Greg Bennett, Bevan Docherty, Filip Ospaly, Stuart Hayes, Lisa Norden, Daniela Ryf, and the list of Olympians and World Cup champions goes on.
As I set up my transition, going through the usual motions of attaching my shoes to my bike etc, one of the pros came up to me and asked if he could borrow some elastic bands. It was Stuart Hayes. This was going to be an awesome day.

I got in a good warm up and got ready to get into the water for my seven o'clock start. The water temp was borderline wetsuit legal, luckily on the lower end. We dove into Lake Ray Hubbard my goggles smashed straight onto my face. Unable to see clearly I just stroked madly for the first set of feet I could find and held on. I worked my way up through the middle of my wave and came out of the water with a respectable 25 and some seconds after swimming in a rectangle into the current. I made the long run to transition and hopped on my bike, hitting the climb out of transition at top speed.

Once my shoes were on I tried to settle into my time trialing rhythm...but it never came. The course was covered with short, steep hills and narrow, curvy roads that really slowed my time. I got off the bike very dispirited with an average speed of just 21 miles an hour for the slightly shorter than 40K course. I slipped on my running shoes fairly casually as I looked around at all the bikes on the rack, seeing that I was one of the last elites into transition.

I set off on the run, legs on fire from the tough bike. The first three quarters of a mile was uphill so I just tried to relax and let it flow, not pushing too hard knowing how much racing was left. As I finally crested the hill I started to come up on the mile marker and saw 6:12 on my watch. This wasn't going to be a fast race. I kept pushing forward, lifting the pace just a little now that it was a little flatter and just tried to find a good tempo. I passed the two mile and looked down at my watch. 5:45. Things were heating up fast! I kept rolling and just felt the pace get easier as I neared the turnaround and my splits continued to get faster. With two miles to go I started to push really hard and just hoped I could hang on. Up and over a few more climbs then the long downhill run to finish was all that remained. With two tenths to go I caught a runner from the sprint tri and tried to beat him to the line, falling just a meter short. Run split: 35:49. A two minute triathlon 10K PR! Finally some silver lining to an otherwise unspectacular performance.

Looking at the results that afternoon I saw that I had the 22nd fastest run INCLUDING the pros, and was the 22nd non pro, 45th overall. Not what I was hoping for, but definitely something promising to build on for the future. Now it's time to take some time to relax and do some base work. There's another long season ahead.

Outdoor Adventure Triathlon: Two In A Row

The OSU Outdoor Adventure Triathlon took place on September 25th and I was easily able to defend my title and take my second victory in a row after my win at PrairieMan. I stayed with the leader (who ended up being a relay) in the water after doing a lot of extra work to fight my way to front, dodging around the overzealous. I ran fairly comfortably, meeting up with Dad who was on his cross bike around the halfway point. I kept the pace pretty high, but still conversational; it felt like it was about in the 5:45 to 5:50 range. Cruising into T2 with no one else in sight behind, I set off on a pretty casual ride out and back on the hills of Bronco Road. I saluted the crowd with two fingers as I glided easily across the finish line, well over five minutes ahead of the next finisher.

This weekend is what counts. The U.S. Open triathlon. The race Marcin and I have been aiming at for more than fourteen months. It's finally here. The last two weeks have been the biggest taper of my life and I have to say that I've never been fitter and never more optimistic. I know a top three (for a pro card) is in my capabilities if I have a good day, I just have to perform when the time comes. I'll be in the Elite Amateur wave, starting right behind pros like Matt Reed and Greg Bennett. I'm ready to go.

PrairieMan Sprint: Ending the Drought

Two weeks shy of a full year after my last multisport victory, I took home the overall title at the PrairieMan sprint triathlon, posting a course record bike split en route. It was a satisfying win for sure, as I came from the last wave (which started six minutes after the first) to nearly cross the line first after flying past most of the competition on the bike and grabbing all but one on the run.

After a tough swim of dodging and weaving past stragglers from the previous waves, I looked at my watch with a bit of a shock at the slow time, but more than made up for it with a scorching fast bike that was my best-ever average at 24.5 mph for the 27K course. On the run, I felt a bit tired and dehydrated from the super humid weather and was able to push my way to a respectable 17:42 to cross the line in 1:08:35, 4:01 ahead of the second place finisher!

This was definitely a big confidence boost for me and tells me that my fitness (especially on the bike) is finally coming around when I need it to for the U.S. Open on October 10th. Just one more race on Saturday here at school and then two weeks of solid taper and peak workouts for the big day!

The Last Wednesday and Trinity 5000

Last week was my last Wednesday night crit of the year as it's time to go back to school. Figuring I definitely had nothing to lose, I decided to try to get away in the B race and try out the A race for the first time.

On the second lap of the B race there was a prime for $10 at Colter's BBQ. Having one BBQ prime from early in the season, I have been trying hard to get a second to make the trip to Arlington worthwhile. Sitting in the back, I didn't know there was a guy up the road so I took off and got a sizable gap and , even better, had two guys with me. Grabbing the second place bike fit prime I pushed on, taking turns with my two partners. Unfortunately, our time out front was only two laps and we were swallowed up by the group on lap four. I boded in the back and just a couple laps later there was another BBQ prime. With no one up the road, the pack didn't push the pace and I slowly worked my way to the front by the time we were halfway through the lap. I stood and sprinted off the front early, drawing only one challenger who pushed ahead of me and I grabbed his wheel. He faded just a little and I blew past him, chancing a glance back to see I had built a pretty sizable lead. After getting the $10 of BBQ I was pretty satisfied with my effort thus far.

A couple laps later my B race ended as there was a big acceleration that broke the pack up and forced me to unsuccessfully chase my way back into the race. Knowing I was done, I turned the opposite direction to do some easy spinning before the A race.

Twenty minutes later the A race began and I was really nervous. Standing on the starting line with Kyle Sigl and Stan Phillips was pretty intimidating so I stuck to the back. I had really good time in the race, even though I didn't last too long. I stayed in the group and tried to just hang on, which I did for four laps. On number 4 there was a big acceleration as a guy made a move up the left side and I had no chance to keep up as Stan and Dillon from ThinkCash pushed hard to bridge up and left me behind.

The next week (Aug 19th), I raced the final Trinity 5000 of the year, looking to break the season best of 16:33. Right away I was off the front and pushing hard. I went through the mile all alone in 5:14 and was already hurting a little and my mouth was dry from breathing hard in the heat. I went around the U-turn cone at 7:59 and knew the time was slipping away from me. Pressing alone I went past the 2 mile sign in 10:43, well off record pace. I was going to need to drop my time down on the last mile quite a bit, but I knew it was in reach if I pressed just a little bit more. As 16:00 ticked by and I had yet to reach 3 miles I knew the record was gone, but at least the victory wasn't. I crossed the finish in 16:48, a less-than-stellar performance but reasonable for the high temperatures and after an A.M. bike ride. Second place came across the finish line in the 17:40s; I took consolation knowing he finished the year as the overall series champion, but I really wanted to break the record as it was set by a certain professional triathlete...

Now I'm at school and hoping to keep up with my blog as much as possible, probably mostly on weekends. Expect Daily Headbang to take a little more priority as it is news. Thanks for reading!

Wool Capital: Finding My Inner Cyclist

Finally I'm back in the game. Aside from a sub-par swim, I found myself on form at Wool Capital after a string of less than glistening performances.

After a good running warmup, I found myself a little late for a swim warmup. There was a prerace meeting the night before, so one race day was unexpected and just as I got my feet wet, athletes were called out of the water. I tried to get through as many arm rotations as possible to get everything going. Starting in the 3rd of three waves, I was 9 minutes behind the 40+ guys and 4 minutes behind the 30-39s. I started off probably a little too conservatively and didn't get any feet to follow because everyone took different paths to try to get through the curving swim course. Coming out in 25:30, I was a little disappointed but felt better than I did after going over 26 in Waco.

I got onto the bike and felt good right away. The first mile out the park was with the wind and I used that to get into a comfortable rhythm before facing a headwind the rest of the way to the turnaround. I stayed calm and pushed hard, past the level I am usually willing to go, knowing that a non-priority race is the place to try things out. After 29:30 of riding the leader passed me in the opposite direction, telling me I was probably closer than the 9 minute starting gap. At just over 32 minutes I passed Will Brewer who is in my age group, signaling that he was probably the leader of the race. To my shock, I came up on the turnaround in just over 33 minutes, giving me hope up going under 1:03 if I could ride the wind to its full potential.

I swung around the turn cone and quickly went up to speed, passing a couple guys right away to put me in 16th on the road. Flying faster than I ever thought possible for 20K I came into 2nd transition in 1:02:49, a 40 second PR for 40K, and moved myself into 15th. Posting one of the top transitions of the race, I passed two more people on the way out and got into a groove right away. I had no idea how far behind I was so I just had to push hard and hope for the best.

I cruised along the "Dirt Road From Hell," passing its many victims along the way. At 18:08 into the run (the course was out-and-back but not the same distance, still totaling 10K though) I passed Will who had already passed everyone that started in front of us. I got to the turnaround a minute later telling me there was hope if he wilted, and even better, I was 2nd in the race even though I was 7th on the road. I continued to push the pace as hard as I could until I reached 4 miles and started to really feel the ride and tough pace and hills of the run. I fell to about 6:30 pace the last couple miles but still posted the 2nd fastest run split with 38:28, ten seconds slower than Will. I crossed the line 4th but still finished 2nd in the end with a total time of 2:08:05, an Olympic Distance PR by more than 4 minutes!

I'm fired up right now and ready for some more racing. I know I'm fit right now and I can only get better as the countdown to the U.S. Open continues. The homestretch of the season is here and I'm ready!

Ready for Wool Capital

The last couple weeks have been really tough in the water. The extra volume and intensity have been getting to me in the extreme, and today, I finally got it cleared out. I was long overdue for a trip to Steve Looney's massage table, and I was in for a painful day. I don't think it's ever hurt that much! I was moaning and groaning as scar tissue and tension was cleaned from my upper body, but now I know it's well worth it. I feel better already, and am fired up for this race!

This week everything's felt a lot better than during the run-up to Waco. Just to maintain my mental high, I watched Javier Gomez's powerful win in London from a couple weeks ago and now I'm more pumped than ever. I have a lot of pent up race energy to let loose, and it's going to all come out this weekend!

Waco Tri: Unlucky 13

Disaster. That was Waco. I got bib number 13 and wearing it upside down didn't help my luck (It's because I kept my bike number right side up). I checked into transition and the volunteer checked my brakes like is customary and then he asked if I wanted my front brakes closed. I told him no because they'll rub. Well, in the darkness of morning and the fact that he seemed to clearly understand what I meant, I didn't notice or think to check that my brakes might be rubbing...until 10K of the bike.

At that point in the race, after a swim where I threw up in the water due to swallowing a huge amount of river, I was dying. My bike average was barely more than 20mph and I was suffering. Up to then I just supposed that I was having an off day. Then I looked down at my computer and saw the brake, rubbing silently on my wheel. I opened it up and immediately went up to almost 25mph. Buoyed by this I tried to push on, but at 30K I threw up again and my legs gave out from the extra effort of the first 10K. Knowing my race was over but not wanting to withdraw, I jogged through the run, still posting the 8th fastest split and cruised to a seventh place overall finish, only 2:30 off the podium (which was all lost in that 10K).

I put in nearly twenty hours in the following week and am in the middle of another mini taper as I look to make up for the dismal performance in San Angelo at the Wool Capital Triathlon. We'll see how it goes...

Finally Racing

Training's been great recently. My volume's gone way up so I'm hovering pretty close to 20 hours now. This week is recovery/mini taper as we head toward the Waco Triathlon this weekend. It's been 5 weeks since Hy-Vee so I'm looking forward to getting into a multisport race. The competition should be pretty good so it looks to be a lot of fun.

I think the biggest challenge recently has been the heat. Doing hard and long afternoon workouts when it's over 100 degrees is tough! I don't know if it's possible to drink enough. So far it's been 80 when I wake up in the morning and the temp only goes up from there. Weather aside, everything's been great. All three sports are definitely coming along. I'm feeling a lot faster in my quality sessions, especially on the bike. All the long rides and hard interval sessions are already paying off. I adjusted my seat height yesterday because I've been feeling a little cramped, then I realized it's been two years (two years!) since I moved my seat up. I did a short, fast trainer session yesterday and it felt a lot better. I think this is going to have a big impact on my race performance.

I'm heading down to Waco with Jacquelyn tomorrow and we're staying at a friend's apartment so as to avoid the hotel fee...should be fun! Thanks for reading!

Hitting Pavement...Kind Of

This weekend's Peach Pedal was definitely interesting. After carefully positioning myself to get into the lead group, I found myself in a bit of trouble after less than four miles. Going down a sweeping descent to a bridge, a few seemingly inexperienced guys at the back of the group slid on the wet pavement. I watched in horror as their brakes locked and they skidded across the road, bodies piling up everywhere, bikes flying. I had no choice but to slam on the brakes and aim for a fallen rider so I'd have a soft landing. Fortunately, I only banged up by right calf/knee a little bit and was able to finish, albeit mostly alone.

Austin and I trekked on together but he started to fade a little around 23 miles and I went by myself through 35 where I picked up Mark Whittier and his sister-in-law's boyfriend (JT). We stopped at the 40 mile rest stop where Austin caught up then we continued on. After 55 we lost JT and Mark stayed with him. After another mile Austin stopped at the final rest stop to pee and I continued on. Once I reached the finish I turned around and went back to look for Dad who was riding with a friend and didn't take part in the racing. All in all I recorded 69 miles, my farthest ever!

Yesterday I went to the Iron Brothers Sprint Triathlon with Jacquelyn and witnessed a pretty spectacular Team Ironhead 1,2,3 on the men's side and 1,2 on the women's side. If only I'd raced maybe we'd have gotten a 1,2,3,4...

This week is another build week then recovery next week leading up to the Olympic distance event at the Waco Triathlon. Looking forward to it!

Recovery Week and Bike Racing

Last Week was a recovery week which meant testing once again. My performances were not great, probably due to increased fatigue from hard training. My first test was the bike, where I averaged 270 watts for 20 minutes, which, after a Wednesday race, Friday intervals, and Sunday long and hard ride, I was pretty happy even though I did 272 last time. The run was the next day, Thursday, where I was able to average 5:28 for 4x1 mile with 90 seconds rest. I started out conservatively in 5:33 and tried to bring it down from there. The swim was Friday, and was probably my most disappointing effort. I swam an 800 time trial in 11:02, 23 seconds slower than last time. I am buoyed though, by the knowledge that I hadn't shaved my legs for a couple weeks and that swimming in the boiling hot water at the Y is a lot different that the cool water at TCU where I can see my splits on the wall clock under the watching eye of Marcin.

Saturday was the Firecracker 100K. After a hectic start left me off the back of the main group, I found myself sitting in with the main Broken Films women. I'm happy to say that we fought hard and they earned second and third in the women's race.

After a Sunday long run, Tuesday brought the beginning of another hard week. I biked to the track at Aledo Middle School and immediately proceeded into a run of 16x400 @ 82-83 on 2:00. But I didn't do 82-83. I felt good. Just cruising I was able to average 79.04. It was great! I was just rolling and felt comfortable the whole time.

Wednesday was the return of the Wednesday crit after a week off for the 4th of July holiday. I attacked several times with Caleb of Lone Star but we couldn't get away. My only consolation was a relatively useless prime for an overly expensive bike fit. Next week I'm going to go for it and try for every prime, sprinting like it's the end. Today it's a hard swim and run then the Peach Pedal tomorrow. It's going to be great!