Trilife

Life simplified

2010-09-22T06:47:00.000-07:00

It has been a long time since I posted anything. Anyone who actually read this blog is probably wondering why, so I thought that I would give an explanation.

In a move to simplify my life I have decided to shut down my blog posting indefinitely. What prompted this?

That is an interesting story. On my drive home from work every day I pass by this billboard that has a giant advertisement for Dos Equis beer. It is a picture of "the most interesting man in the world", love those commercials. Anyway, the add says, "The bulk of your life should be lived off the record". After passing it everyday for weeks it finally sunk in that this ad was trying to tell me something and it was not to go buy beer. It was that our lives have become very public. Some of us by choice, others by accident. I thought, do I really want my life so public and do others really care. The answer to both was no so as a result I have decided to quit blogging and even though I will keep my Facebook page you might notice that I rarely post anything there either. After all does anyone need to know when and where I am eating dinner. If I wanted you to come with me you would be there or I would have actually picked up the telephone and called you. Does anyone care that I am sitting in a coffee shop at 10AM? Shouldn't I be working? I would rather spend my time reading and learning something stimulating rather than lurking online or writing stories that no one reads. It is just not me and it is time better spent elsewhere in my life right now.

So this is part of my attempt to live my life off the record. Thanks for reading and until further notice...

Injury and attitude

2010-07-10T18:13:00.000-07:00

Last time I promised an entry on my new training philosophy but it seems more appropriate to talk about injury and attitude at this time since this has been at the center of my universe all week and I don't know when it is going to end.

So last week I started the training week looking forward to putting in a great few weeks of training before my next race and BAM! Monday morning I am in the pool doing paddle drills when I felt a sharp pain in my shoulder. Luckily it was towards the end of my workout so I finished up and tried to pinpoint the location of the pain. After an hour or so the pain went away so I decided that I would take care of the shoulder and try again in a few days.

Tuesday and Wednesday went as planned except for some rain that forced me inside on the trainer on Tuesday. Thursday I got back in the pool and immediately felt the pain in my shoulder again but it was more dull this time so I suffered through. After swimming I finally put in a run after 10 days off from running altogether for scheduling reasons. It was 6 miles with some hill sprints thrown in and towards the end of the run my right knee started to feel funny. I did not think much of it but Friday morning I hopped out of bed and felt the knots right away. I had a track workout scheduled and I was actually looking forward to it (I love track work). So I taped my knee with KT tape and showed up only to quit after only 400 meters because my workout partner noticed I was limping. This really annoyed me and I was not a pleasant person to be around. Luckily I was not going to be in the office all day. I was driving to different job sites and would be alone to sulk in my own injury induced sorrow.

Not injury related but On Saturday I was going to do a long ride. I was excited because This was something that would not aggravate any injury I might have. Then BAM! 5 miles into the ride I hit a piece of glass and had a complete blowout. Not just a flat tire but one that ruined the tire too. I figured this was a great opportunity to try out the old dollar bill in the tire trick. If you have never heard of it you are basically using a folded dollar bill inside the wall of the tire to keep the tube from bulging out the side and blowing out again. Well it worked beautifully for about 2 miles as I headed towards home. Then the tube blew out through the dollar. In the end I walked about 3 miles home and had to jump on the trainer instead.

All that aside I figured Sunday would be better so I went to test the knee and rand 4 miles before I felt any pain. Ended up walking 1 mile out of the 8.5 I ran and it was a slow run but there was some promise in there because of the Friday debacle.

Today was another test of the shoulder and immediately I felt that sting in my shoulder. Depressing, but at least the knee is getting better. I will probably get to the Physical Therapist later this week and see what the extent of the damage is but with a race coming up in two weeks I am a little nervous about it.

So what about attitude you say? Well, I learned a lot about panic, frustration, anger, and acceptance this last week. What I decided is that it does no good to panic and frustration is normal. Once acceptance sets in you can actually make progress towards recovery. I rearranged my workout schedule to increase the amount of recovery for running and swimming and figured that more cycling can't be bad. I have started to take care of the injuries and play it safe. I will replace some workouts with weights too. I will see a doctor and give an update soon. For now i have to keep my eye on the goal and not let the frustration of injury get me down. I can see how easy it would be to just decide to sit on the couch the rest of the season.

Pflugerville Race report

2010-06-24T08:42:00.000-07:00

So on Sunday I raced. It was unexpected, I did not decide to race until Friday late. I figured worst case I would get to have a great brick workout since I have been working on speed lately.

I did not know what to expect from my body at the race. I have been just getting back into doing speed work after a 6 months hiatus because of Ironman training which is almost exclusively long endurance. I need to do a post about my new training philosophy soon but for now here is a race report for the Pflugerville Tri:

This race is an awesome beginner course. It was my second time doing this race. I did it a few years ago as my second ever triathlon and found it to be a great venue. This time I decided to race the Open wave instead of vie for an Age Group win. I like racing with the fast guys and the pros when I can because they push me faster than I normally would go.

Swim
The swim was perfect. It is only 500M so I can go all out the entire time. The open wave was small, kind of disappointing, but also less traffic. I quickly found a rhythm and fell into place behind a local triathlete named Todde with Richard, another pro, not far behind. I knew from previous races that I could swim with these guys any day of the week so I was able to draft Todde the entire swim. There were a couple of times that I lost site of his feet and panicked thinking that he had pulled ahead but I would lift my head up to site and realize that I had just drifted off line. Exiting the water the three of us were within milliseconds of each other. I exited the water 2nd and left transition 3rd. The other athletes in the wave were not even in contention with us so it would be a three man race all the way.

Bike
Once on the bike the three of us stayed close for about 2 or 3 miles, but Richard quickly opened a gap that neither I nor Todde could match and that was the last I would see of Richard until the run. I decided to test my legs in this race even if it meant disaster. The bike leg is only 14 miles so it is a perfect distance to go all out.
I have hired a coach recently and one of the things that we are working on is my muscle endurance so I figured by hammering it on the bike I would test the leg endurance to identify any weaknesses. After analyzing some previous races we determined that I am fast at short distances but have trouble keeping that fast pace for long periods. Some of this comes with time but can be trained specifically too. Anyway, I stayed close to Todde for a good 8 miles before he started to pull away (there is that muscle endurance limiter). Todde ended up with a bike leg only about 1 minute faster than me though. On the bike It took me about 8 miles to get my heart rate down to a manageable level. I think a lot of that was nerves. Usually on the bike there is someone that is a speed demon that catches me but this day it felt good to come off the bike in 3rd place uncontested. All I had to worry about was catching the guys in front of me.

Run
Off on the run I went out pretty fast and ended up with wind cramps. I was redlining my heart rate within the first half mile. I eventually settled in, got my heart rate down, and just tried to chip away at the leaders. The run is a loop around the lake we swam in so you can see exactly where you are compared to the other competitors. I saw that Todde over took Richard in the first 1.5 miles and I checked my pacing figuring I was about 2 minutes back from Todde. I knew I would not catch him because at this distance he can easily run a sub 6 minute mile. I worked hard on the run to close the gap on Richard but ran out of real estate. I think if I had another mile I could have caught him though. I came across the line in third place just over 2 minutes behind the leader, which is an eternity in a sprint like this one, and 1:30 behind Richard.

In the end there were 3 other age groupers that finished faster than me. They started 3 minutes behind in another wave but overall time was faster. So overall I was 6th. Not too shabby of a performance. A great confidence booster and I learned that I need more muscular endurance on the bike so that on the run I have more energy and can run a little faster at the end.

Unexpected race

2010-06-19T06:41:00.000-07:00

So I am getting the chance to race tomorrow. It was totally unexpected. I know this guy who used to do some racing and we were talking about this local sprint that I have enjoyed doing in the past and turns out his girlfriend is one of the race directors. He totally hooked me up and got me into the race even though it was full. I am a little nervous because I don't know if my body is going to hold up to the intensity of a sprint yet. For so long I was training long distance and my body is just getting used to the intensity of fast workouts again. I keep telling myself that this is just a really great intense brick workout but I am always one to want to win races. I think what ever happens I will enjoy being in competition again and it will give me a perfect gauge of where my fitness is no matter what happens. I have revamped my training lately with the help of a coach and I am anxious to test out my fitness even though it has only been a few weeks.

Something else I am nervous about is that the last time I did a race of this length I wrecked my bike and bled all over the pavement (See previous posts from August last year). I thought that I had shook off those fears but I am feeling them again. Intense fast races like this you tend to take more risks to keep speed high. I hope I don't get skittish and back off, but I also hope I don't have a repeat of last year.

I will probably post more on my new training approach soon now that I have finalized it and I will also give a full race report too.

2010-06-07T06:28:00.000-07:00

Last week I actually spent the morning as a spectator instead of an athlete and surprisingly I had a good time. The only other time I was at a triathlon and not racing was years ago when I was thinking of getting into triathlons and went to watch a sprint down in New Braunfels. At that one I had no idea what I was watching, but yesterday I learned a lot and not just about racing. I observed quite a bit of chaos from the race organizers that frankly scared me. Things that as a racer you take for granted.

Yesterday was the 20th year of the Cap Tex Tri in Austin. Its a good race. Probably the biggest in Austin (Longhorn 70.3 may have more participants). The race includes an Olympic, and a Sprint. In some years it attracts a lot of big names and it always fills to capacity with average the average Joe trying to complete his or her first triathlon.

Yesterday I went to the race with the goal of watching some of the pros and picking up some secrets that will help me win too. In the end I learned more about the spectators and race directors than anything but I did find a few things to work on in my own racing.

The first thing I noticed was cadence. On the swim, bike and run. All the fast athletes kept a high cadence in all disciplines the entire race. Next was that the pros suffer just as much as the back of the packers, they just do it at a higher speed. Yes, they are mortal. Also, there are no real secrets to transitioning faster once you get the basics. The real difference between the pros and the rest of us is that they do it faster. That's it. That is what I learned from watching the pros race. Maybe I was blind. Maybe I know everything already (highly unlikely) but I was surprised that I did not get more out of it.

What I learned more of was how much it takes to run a race and how much chaos goes on on race day that most of us athletes never see. Some of it scared me!

I was sitting at a corner watching the bike and some guy in a van, obviously lost, decides that he will not only ignore the barriers but will drive the wrong way on a one way street. As he crossed a barrier he stuck his nose right into the bike course and almost took out 3 of the race leaders. They actually had to swerve across the road to not get hit.
I also was surprised that even 45 minutes after the race started cones and barriers were still being placed to show the race route. Several different athletes almost made wrong turns because the course was not clearly marked.
Spectators, do you not realize where you are? Did your parents not teach you to look both ways before crossing the street? Over and over again I saw spectators ignore the volunteers, not look both ways, and cross a part of the course only to almost get run down by a bike or a runner. Several of the pros had run ins with spectators who were crossing the street. Oblivious to the fact that they were on the race course, which strikes me as funny because the reason the spectators were there was to Watch a Race! It took 20 minutes for the race director himself to show up and start putting in barriers. I wonder if this is something that the pros see all the time? By the time us average age groupers are on the course all the holes have been plugged and the sheer amount of bike or run traffic scares off people wanting to enter the course.

Triathlon is a great sport and I appreciate all the spectators that show up and cheer us on. It is really a hard sport to watch though. People stand in one spot trying to find their husband, dad, brother, wife, etc.. in a sea of people who are flying by at 20 MPH. If they are lucky enough to find that person the contact is only a couple of seconds and then he or she is gone again and may not be back for a long time, depending on the race length that could be hours. In some cases the course is an out and back so people see their loved ones for 1 or 2 minutes in transition and that is about it. Thanks to all and to my family whom have waited in the blazing humid heat and in the freezing cold just to see me in 5 second spurts. It means a lot to see a friendly face.

To sum up, the two most important things I learned are:

I don't want to be a race director.
I'd rather be racing.

Why Ironman is good for my family

2010-05-26T08:23:00.000-07:00

Sure training for an Ironman (or any long endurance race) takes us as athletes away from our families, that is the down side of this obsessive hobby we call triathlon, but there is an upside too. There is the exotic travel to popular tourist destinations like Boise, Idaho, Louisville, Kentucky, or Tempe, Arizona. OK maybe not all of them are exotic but all roads to Kona go through the lesser known meccas of triathlon. Another benefit to the family that my wife could attest to is getting to see me in tight spandex. Who doesn't look good in spandex, right?

All kidding aside though there is one benefit that is not always obvious and probably should be articulated to others more often. That is, the underlying life lessons that training and racing teaches us and hopefully teaches others around us.

My children are at an age where they are just becoming aware of the values of hard work, perseverance, failure and did I mention hard work. I here parents complain that they don't know how to motivate their kids to do more than the minimum. They don't know how to get their kids to look at the ultimate goal ahead and learn to plan a strategy for reaching it. Motivation is a very personal thing so it is hard to know how to get anyone to be excited about accomplishments but as a triathlete I hope that my children can see what I do and translate that into inspiration for their own lives.

Some of the comments I have been hearing at home are; "I will never be able to". "She is better than me". "Its just too hard". "What if I am not good enough". Phrases familiar to all of us at one time or another in our lives. To me the fascinating part of life is the variety of choices people make to deal with these thoughts. Some cave under the pressure, some fight to the death. Still others choose something in between. In the end what we do, how we succeed or fail, whether we decide to try or not, is based on more factors than we can possibly imagine. All of us choose differently and it could even vary with the situation. Just because you try does not mean you will succeed. Just because you work harder than anyone else does not mean you will win.

So how does this all relate to Ironman and my family. Well, in triathlon nothing is guaranteed. Race day could be hot or cold, wet or dry. You could be injured or healthy. Your equipment could fail you or it could be your best friend. The nutrition that you ate at the last race could cause you to get sick at the next. In training you do what you think will work and some times it doesn't. You have to decide whether to train through injury or not. You have slow days and fast days. The list could go on forever.Triathlon is like life in more ways than you can imagine. The point is that life and ultimately triathlon is not about the trophies or being on top. Its about the experience of trying to get there, and if it happens that you win so be it, but if not what did you lose? Nothing compared to what you would if you never tried at all.

So here is a list of some lessons I have learned from Ironman and hope that my kids can learn from their IronDad:

Setting a goal is the easy part.
There is NEVER a guarantee of success.
Not everyone wins.
You can still win even if you are not 1st place.
There is always somebody who will work half as much as you and still be better.
Have a back up plan.
Set intermediate goals. re-evaluate, and adjust as needed.
Learn to enjoy the struggle. Pride in hard work is better than any trophy.
Stretch yourself mentally and physically everyday.
All forward motion is good. Never get caught standing still.
Whatever the outcome giving your all is never a failure.
Improvement takes time.

I think that the character values needed to do what I do are something that is learned. I can see it now as I think back on my childhood and the choices I have made in life. I don't know if my parents consciously taught it and I don't know if I am doing it right but I hope that somewhere in my kids minds there is some subconscious absorption going on.

IM St. George Race Report

2010-05-11T04:19:00.000-07:00

Well I did it and man does it feel good to get the first one under my belt. Last Saturday was so much fun I am ready to do it again this weekend.

I arrived in Utah on Wednesday, and it was not much fun getting there. My flight out of Phoenix was kind of stressful. I was supposed to land in Las Vegas at 6:30 PM then drive to St. George (2 hours). Instead my plane circled Las Vegas for an hour before having to turn around and go back to Phoenix for more fuel. High winds in Vegas caused the airport to shut down. We refueled in Phoenix and finally arrived in Las Vegas at 10:30 PM (4 hours behind schedule). Then I drove to St. George. St. George is on mountain time and Las Vegas is Pacific so when I arrived in St. George it was 2:30 AM. Talk about a long day!

First thoughts are that Utah is probably the most beautiful place that I have ever been to. It is truly a land of contrasting geography. 10K snow capped peaks that can be seen from anywhere in the city. Red rock cliffs, and even a couple of extinct volcanoes dotted the lower landscape. The bike course even wound through some lava fields (reminiscent of Kona).

Fresh start Thursday morning. Thursday was hectic. Did a swim at the lake in the morning. Hello COLD water!! then spent the rest of the day running around checking in and taking care of last minute details. I capped the evening with a short run just to stretch the legs.

Friday was a little more relaxed. I met with my parents to show them the course. I dropped off my bike and gear bags at transition. Did a short ride to test out the bike and another COLD swim. That night was early to bed because 3:30 AM would come fast.

RACE DAY
I was surprisingly calm in the morning. I was most nervous (as I had been all week) about transitioning onto the bike. The weather was a chilly 50 degrees and we would be coming out of 58 degree water. I tested this on Friday and froze to death. My plan was a complete change of clothes in T1.

This was my first IM so I am not used to starting with everyone in the water. It was crowded but surprisingly not to the point of me feeling panicked. It took 1000M before I found some space to swim and despite that my time was pretty good. I think if I had not spent 10 minutes fighting for space I could have gone faster.
Out of the water I headed into the changing tent. Now that was chaos! The tents were way to small. There was not enough room for everyone and not enough volunteers, which were badly needed because everyone coming out of the water was shivering so bad we could not even use our hands to grab gear. I had decided before hand that extra time spent in T1 would be worth it to get dry and warm for the bike. Thus I took almost 15 minutes to exit transition.

On the bike I was comfortable early I was conservative at first but did make a few moves early while I knew I was fresh. On the first loop there was no wind (what a relief) and the hills, including the infamous Wall were not as tough as I thought. Especially since I had decided to not let my heart rate get too high and I kept a high cadence on all the big hills. Once over the wall it was downhill for about 15 miles. This is where I hammered it and made up for lost time. Starting the second loop the wind had picked up and there were a few miles were I was lucky to get over 10 MPH. Once in the hills though I was protected from the wind. On the second loop I was feeling the hills but still taking it easy knowing that the run was going to be the deciding factor. I got off the bike in just under 7 hours, not ideal but also not shabby for this course.

The run was exciting. Probably because when I got off the bike I had 9 hours at worst to finish. I could have walked the entire 26 miles and still crossed the line. This was also where people start to break down and people watching is quite a good distraction from the pain. The first 13 miles felt easy. Probably because I was happy to make it through the bike. I walked the aid stations and ate everything in site. Not ideal for the stomach but I was hungry and craved salt and sugar. I did not have much of a problem with my stomach until the last few miles so I think I got lucky. On the second loop I finally felt the tiredness and my legs started to rebel. I ended up walking 3-4 miles of the second loop. I consciously walked the uphills and there were a lot of them. At some point the sun was getting low in the sky and it started to get cold. I was happy that I had kept my arm warmers and had not given them up in transition. When I hit the 8% downhill at red cliff heading back into town I had less than 3 miles to go. All of the sudden my body purged itself of pain and I started sprinting. I wish I had the splits for those last three miles because I had to be clocking 7 minute miles. The crowds were awesome. I should have slowed down just to savor their cheers. I was so elated to see that finish line I had to be skipping and grinning from ear to ear. I remember going back and forth in the chute and high fiving all the spectators as I crossed.

For this race I had a hierarchy of goals:
1. Finish
2. Finish before dark
3. Finish under 13 hours

I met all three and it was because of so many people. My family for letting me train and race even though I was gone a lot. My parents for taking the trip out and cheering me on. It was such a boost to know that at certain spots my family would be waiting in the crowd. Even tough I would only see them for a few seconds it was instant energy. My training partners (all seasoned Ironman finishers). They made sure that I did not make a lot of the rookie mistakes people make. The crowds for turning out in the thousands and cheering for me, yelling my name even though they had never met me or may never see me again.

Will I do it again? Hell Yes!! Even 24 hours later I was looking into the next one.

The wait is almost over

2010-04-19T10:36:00.000-07:00

Well today starts my 2 week taper for IMSG. It actually has sparked new life into me to know that the worst of the training is done. I had a great final weekend and came through feeling fit. I am glad it was a good weekend because I am feeling a little nervous about my fitness questioning whether I am ready or not. Most IM veterans that I talk to say this is normal that even if I had another 6 weeks to train I would feel undertrained. At this point I have to trust in my training plan and rest my body so that on race day everything falls into place.

Training for an Ironman has been a little of everything. Frustration, fear, joy, sacrifice, etc.. Not just for me either. Support is key to any successful endeavor like this. There is absolutely no way that I could do this without my family sacrificing everything and going through the same emotions. On race day it is not just me out there trying to beat another triathlete to the finish. It is vindication that all the pain, sweat and time invested by all was not wasted. By crossing that finish line, regardless of the time, my family will feel the joy and the accomplishment because they have been right there keeping the family going even though I have been in another world for the last 18 weeks.

As I rode this weekend I kept repeating to myself that this is just a journey not a race. The goal is to see the end and cross the finish. Don't worry about the other racers and trying to beat them. If you do this at an Ironman, especially your first, it could be a disaster. So I decided that I am going to keep myself in check by calling it a journey, and it truely is because this race, I mean journey, is not just about Saturday May 1. It is about the last 18 weeks, the ups, the downs, the cold, the rain, the heat, and even the permanent scars from the severe sunburn on my back. It's 150 days all rolled into one performance and I am starting to see now why people will do anything short of dying to reach that finish line.

Tall Texan Race Report

2010-04-07T10:01:00.000-07:00

The most memorable thing about the weekend. Wind!

This weekend was the first race of the season for me. In fact this weekend kicks off the triathlon season for North America too because the First big race of the year for the pros was happening in Oceanside, CA as well. Since I was not there I decided to compete in a much less contested, but in my eyes no easier race in Boerne called the Tall Texan. To say this race is small is an understatement. There were 80 people total. In the end though it was a sanctioned Half Iron distance race and truth be told it hurt worse than any Half Ironman I have ever done. The goal of this race was to test my fitness for St. George in May. Results were mixed but at least confidence was taken up a notch.

The Swim:
Cold!! The water was a warm 58 degrees. Now I say that it was cold and it was quite a shock plunging in but really it turned out to be not as horrible as it sounds. With a full wetsuit on and a thermal cap (best money I ever spent) the water was chilly for 10 minutes or so and then I did not even notice it.

My swim went well. The winds started to pick up as we rounded the first turn so the back 800-1000 meters was directly into the wind (this will be the theme all day). It was choppy but not unreasonable. The fact that there were so few people racing I found myself getting lost a couple of times. The water was choppy so finding the bouys was hard and when this happens I usually have other people around me to gauge where I am on the course. In this case though there was not the crowd so a couple of times I would look up and find I had drifted off to the side and would have to cut back in to find some feet to draft. Despite this I ended up exiting the water in 4th place overall.

T1:
I exited tranisition in 5th place. I took a little extra time here to somewhat dry off so I was not so cold on the bike. Remember that the air temperature was in the 50s still and the wind had started to really pick up. In T1 I also put on a long sleeve jersey because I knew I would be cold for at least the first 45 minutes on the bike (best decision of the day).

The Bike:
Here is where the race almost got away from me. The effects of the wind were immediate. For the first 20 miles I struggled to maintain 15MPH average. I think that part of this was that I was letting negative thoughts take over the race. At one point I had to give myself a pep talk and flush all the negative from my mind. I knew that if it went on much longer I would be walking the bike the rest of the way, utterly defeated. The wind was brutal. It was either coming straight at me or it was a cross wind that would literaly pick up the bike and toss it two feet to the right or left. I was afraid to eat or drink anything because if I let go of the bars I might lose control. To top it off the roads were some of the worst I have ever seen. I think this was a contributing factor to my speed as well because I could not get comfortable. every 10 seconds I was dodging a pothole or vibrating so hard my teeth rattled. Honestly I have no idea how some of the other athletes were able to get any speed. If there is a secret I wish they would tell me.

After the first half of the race I started to gain some momentum and caught myself smiling a bit but I knew that the run was going to be killer becuase I spent all my energy just keeping the bike going forward. When I pulled into transition it was exciting to have that behind me. I lost 4 places on the bike. 2 were in the first 5 miles and the other two were between miles 40 and 50. That put me in 8th place overall.

A cool benefit of the day was that this race was small. Being small has its pluses and minuses but the big plus was that my family was there to cheer me on. They acutually were standing next to the bike finish and were able to stand outside the transition fence to cheer. The athletes were so spread out that I was the only one in transition at the time so I had my own personal motivation section.

My bike time was dissapointing. It is the worst 56 miles I have ever had, 3 hours. Not what I expected but you work with what you are given. The run was all about damage control.

The Run:
Like I said. Damage Control! The idea here was just to keep running and not walk.

The exit out of T2 was up an embankment then a run along the top of the lake dam for half a mile or so. As I exited T2 I was all alone and did not see any other athletes. At the top of the hill there was a road turned along the dam and another that went down the hill on the other side. The only person at the top was a photographer. I got to the top of the hill and did not know which way to go so I started yelling back down to a volunteer. Finally the Photographer directed me the right way, but I am sure that I lost 20 seconds (turns out this time loss would not matter in the end).

I caught the first guy in front of me within the first mile. Then at about mile 5 I caught the second guy. This put me in 6th. At about mile 7 a runner caught me and we ran together for a mile or so before I faded. From this point I would stay right were I was in line.

The run was mostly flat with a few rollers. The only tough section was between miles 3-5 where you run directly into the wind.

Overall my run was not horrible especially considering the whipping I was given on the bike. The highlight of the run was that I experimented with my race nutrition and found a treat that will become my new drug. Sport Beans!. I have tried them before but not during a race and they have been reformulated to be more natural. I could not get enough of them and they made me want to run faster so I could get more at the next aid station.

I know it is a long report and I could say a lot more but who read this anyway? 7th overall and third in my Age Group is not shabby for the start of the season.

Race time, finally!!

2010-03-26T10:21:00.000-07:00

Finally I get to race this weekend. The day to day grind of training gets old. I have not raced since October so almost 5 months have gone by. This is normal over the winter but what is making this year harder than most is that I started the training season in January. Normally I would have taken it easier over Jan. and Feb. but with IM St. George coming in May I had to start training early.

This weekend will be my warm up for IMSt.G. It is the Tall Texan Half Iron in Boerne. A very small race (only 75 people total are signed up) but I am looking at it as a training day more than anything. This is my one chance to test out my nutrition and gear prior to St. George. In fact the cold winter we have had this year means that the temperatures (60 degree water, 50 degree air) will be about the same as Utah will be in May. I am nervous about freezing to death on the bike because I will be wet, but I think putting on a long sleeve jersey over my tri suit in T1 will keep the chill away until I am dry. The adrenaline will be flowing too, so I may not notice the air temp. when coming out of the water.

Random Thought:
With my IM coming soon I was thinking the other day that I am not going to know what to do with myself after May 1st. The rest of my year will consist of maybe 2 HIMs and some Olympic races. I have become so used to 12-14 hour training weeks that cutting back to 8-10 hour weeks is going to free up a lot of time for family activities, but it is also going to feel wierd to have all the free time.

I will post a race report next week.

Panic first Acceptance second

2010-03-10T10:59:00.000-08:00

Is it normal 8 weeks out from an Ironman to be in a panic about training volume? In a way I hope so because I would know that I am normal. Have i done enough? Have I done too much? Why did I ever think I could do this anyway? The time is coming soon and all of the sudden I am starting to realize how many days I have left to get in shape. 8 weeks seems like a long time but a closer look reveals that it is acutally more like 5 or 6 weeks. There is 2 weeks of taper and one of those weeks is race week so it will be spent mostly travelling or at pre-race festivities. Then there is Spring Break. Next week I will be taking an entire week off to go skiing. Don't get me wrong, I am looking forward to the trip, it has been planned for at least a year. and in fact I think that it is a perfect time to do it. As a familt we need some time together and I am sure everyone will be happy to see my bike parked for a week.

At this point I have been going uninterrupted for almost 12 weeks and my body needs a break from the constant SBR, but my mind is having thoughts of those extra few miles that I wont be putting in. It is not like I will be sitting around all week. 2 or 3 days of skiing for 4 hours a day at altitude is just as good a workout but when all you do day in and day out is Eat, Sleep, Swim, Bike, Run, your body has trouble adjusting to not doing that.

I keep reminding myself of the story of Roger Bannister (first person to break the 4 minute mile). He was training hard for weeks on end and got to a point where no matter how hard he tried he had hit a wall. He was actually posting slower times even though he was working harder than ever. His coach told him to take a week off, so he went mountain climbing and did not even think about running for a week. After getting back, he broke through the funk and became the fastest man in the world and first to break the 4 minute barrier. Plus all the great coaches say that rest and recovery are where the greatest gains in fitness are made.

So in two weeks I have a Half Ironman and if this rest and recovery thing is true it will be the best Half IM I have ever raced.

I will let you know.

Half way there

2010-02-23T04:37:00.000-08:00

Well this week marked the halfway point in training for St. George. For the first time this weekend I felt like all the hours are starting to pay off. I know that there are lots of days left so I do not want to get overconfindent but I am feeling quite content compared to a few weeks ago.

Maybe my mood has changed because there are signs that Spring is trying to force its way into Austin. Of course as I write this the sleet is turining to snow. But this weekend it was in the 70s and the first time I was able to ride and run without feeling like a giant marshmallow trying to keep warm. Just a small taste of Spring has given me new life and made me actually want to get up and get outside. The snow will be gone by tomorrow and it will be back into the 60s by Friday so hopefully another great weekend of training.

Four weeks until the first race of the year. A warm up Half Ironman to test my fitness level and make sure everything is working correctly. I am getting excited about finally racing. It was a short offseason so I have been training all winter. Typically I would be only about 2 or three weeks into training and not ready to race yet, but since I started early this year I want to get some confidence built up about a month out from St. George.

I do have to close by giving props to my new piece of gear. A couple of weeks ago I made a saddle change. I have been dealing with the stock saddle on my bike for almost 2 years and finally go around to something more comfortable. I went with the Koobi Tri Saddle and I will tell you that it is night and day. I can ride all day and nothing goes numb (big plus). I can even ride at the tip of the saddle when I am really hammering it and don't feel any discomfort. I underestimated the value of a good saddle and would say it ranks up there with must have gear. Probably above my race wheels and aero helmet.

Numbers

2010-02-04T10:40:00.000-08:00

Well I have been neglecting my blog lately. Things have not felt normal since the begining of the year and a lot has happened in terms of training, work, family, etc. I was hoping to chronicle my Ironman training weekly but here I am in week 6 and not one post. Oh Well, better late than never.

Where to start? In a nutshell, I have had my head burried in this one project at work for the last month. My desk looks like a bomb went off. Training for an IM is a lot more work than I ever expected. I feel like it is more than twice the training as for a Half Ironman. It probably is not when you look at it time wise but I end up doing a lot of longer distance workouts which are hard to fit into the rest of life. The stomach flu made its rounds at my house in the last two weeks and only a few days ago everyone started to feel normal. I only missed one day of triaining but even the workouts since have been sluggish. I have no idea how a bug that cannot even be seen with the naked eye can bring a human to his or her knees for a week.

So with all that lets get back to training!

I have been stressing lately about my training volume. When is it appropriate to cut a workout short and at what point are you doing your self a disservice. I tend to obsess over numbers so if my schedule says a 2 hour bike ride I usually make it a 2 hour ride on the dot. Over the last few weeks I have had a couple of long workouts that I have had to cut short by 15 or so minutes. I keep telling myself that this is nothing. That the bulk of the work was done and +/-15 minutes is not going to gain me any fitness, but if race time comes around and I bonk the first place I am going to look for blame is that one workout where I did not put in the extra time. I know, I know, it is ridiculous to even suggest it but there has to be some point in a workout that is critical to complete otherwise training plans would come with a disclaimer that reads, ALL WORKOUT TIMES ARE SUGGESTED LENGTHS, MODIFY AS NEEDED AND DON'T WORRY ABOUT NOT FINISHING THEM YOU WILL STILL KICK ASS IN THE RACE!!

I can only do the best I can at each workout and remember that deadlines at work slide, restaurant reservations get cancelled, meetings go long and sometimes you miss a workout completely. Other times, like 2 weeks ago, you get lost and add 10 extra miles to your bike ride trying to find a shortcut around a giant hill. Yes I was trying to avoid this ugly hill (I just did not feel like doing it that day) and in the process I not only got lost and added 10 miles but found 2-3 more nasty hills that I was forced to go through. I still ended up having to do the original hill too!! By the way, I still could not find the shortcut even when I drove the route the next day in my car.

More later, and this time not 2 months later.

Offseason, Onseason

2009-12-28T08:30:00.000-08:00

Well the Offseason officially ended yesterday. I celebrated it with a hill workout that had me cursing and wanting to walk the bike home. In an anti-climatic fashion I started the season with a day off today. Now that is the way to do it! Maybe I should go a step farther and head to McDonald's for lunch to celebrate.

I think two words describe this offseason. Short and Relaxing. Last year I did not start the season training unitl February. This year I am having to start early because of my Ironman in May. As of today I have 18 weeks. I am a little nervous about the training and wondering if I am going to be ready. I also know that I cannot go into hibernation during the cold weeks in January. I actually have to get out a brave the cold weather. At least there is not 2 feet of snow on the ground. My offseason was more relaxing than last year partly because of the shoulder surgery. For 4-6 weeks I could not do anything except run and bike and you can only do so much of that. To tell you the truth I am not quite ready to start training. I am enjoying my time off, but I also know that if I take too much time off it will be that much harder to get started again.

I though about posting all the graphs and spreadsheets that I keep on my training so that everyone can see the actual numbers comparison between this offseason and last, but does anyone really care besides me. Plus it would just show how much of a Trigeek I am.

Have a great New Year and if I don't end up posting before January 7th. Hook'em Horns!!!

1200 meters of bliss

2009-12-21T11:58:00.000-08:00

Don't tell my doctor about this, but this morning I swam 1200 meters. It was the first time my toes have touch the swimming pool in 8 weeks. The doctor said to wait until I see him for my checkup in January but that is not until late January. There is no way I can wait that long. Originally he told me 8 weeks out of the pool so I have obeyed his orders and now I need to get back into it, or at least test the waters, so to speak. I need to know how my shoulder will react. If it feels fine now it will only get better. If I wake up tomorrow and I can't move my shoulder then at least I know I am not quite ready.

Swimming will always be my first love. At my gym when you check in at the front desk there is a window that looks directly into the lap pool. Every time I go to the gym I see that pool and my heart sinks knowing that I cannot join the other fish. Well today I was feeling like a kid the day after school lets out. Ready to jump in and stay all day.

I took it easy, 4 X 300M, at a slow easy pace. The shoulder held up well. I expected a lot of tiredness but there was very little of it. I did feel some deep muscle soreness in the front deltoid but I have been feeling that even out of the pool. So I conclude that swimming is back in the workout rotation. It will be slow and limited in distance for a couple weeks but it feels good to be a fish again.

Random thoughts

2009-12-04T06:00:00.000-08:00

Supposed to snow today in Austin. It happens every couple of years and its always exciting since we don't get to see it a lot.

I have been lazy about keeping up with the surgery recovery but honestly there is little to talk about. It has been almost 6 weeks and I only feel it every once in a while when I try to lift something too heavy. I am getting anxious to start strengthening the shoulder, even if it is just bands. I see the doctor next week and hopefully he will clear me for at least some light strengthening and if I am lucky, swimming. I have a couple of weeks until I start training for IM St. George so I am not too concerned yet. I have been on the bike and running regularly so I may loose some speed in the swim but I know I can still do the distance.

I am kind of sad that I still only have one person whom has become a follower of my blog. I have a lot of people that read it because it is linked to Facebook but no one has come over to the Blogger site and registered as a follower. Hint, Hint... I would love to see names up there even if you do not actually read all my crap. Of course does anyone really care what I talk about? Some blogs are useful but others, like mine are really just to satisfy my own desire to have people love me. So where is the love people?

As I said above not that any cares but I have recently been dealing with a foot issue that is causing some stress. About three weeks ago the lateral side (outside) of my foot went numb. It has been diagnosed as an entrapment of the Sural Nerve but even the podiatrist is perplexed that I have no obvious signs of trauma or specific pain. It is annoying when I run but no pain and it has not gotten worse. Doctor injected the site with a local steroid to reduce inflammation but I am still unsure if that is going to do the job. We'll see.

Surgery +16 days

2009-11-12T18:48:00.000-08:00

So I said that I would update more often on the shoulder but there is always something. This time it was my computer. My original was infected by a rogue email and it took me 3 days to get it to even turn on. This was OK because it gave me a reason to get a new one, which I had been contemplating for a while anyway. So here I am, back in business.

Recovery has been faster than I would have expected. I spent the first 3 days in a sling. Then I ditched the sling and started doing some doctor prescribed exercises. The pain was awful!! At day 9 I saw the doctor to get my stitches out. That was a painless procedure but while there I asked him about my range of motion and he decided to help me by forcing my arm above my head. I swear that I had tears in my eye when he did this, but he then said, "If you don't deal with and work through the pain now you will be in even worse shape a week from now." Made sense, I just wanted to be sure that movement was not going to jeopardize recovery.

The doctor cleared me to run and to get on the stationary bike so the next day I was on the bike. It felt good after 11 days off from doing absolutely nothing. Now I am 16 days past surgery and if I did not tell you that I had it you would never know. Is there still pain? Yes. Sometimes it is really annoying, but my range of motion is close to 100% even with the pain.

Still no swimming and no upper body weights but I have known that all along. I see the doctor again in about 2 weeks and he says that that will be the big turning point. He says this is where most people are finally feeling normal. I will hopefully be back on the bike at that time but I know there is still no swimming until January.

Needles, Anesthesia, and Bright lights

2009-11-04T08:06:00.000-08:00

Well it has been 8 days since I had my shoulder surgery. Despite my muscles not wanting to work because of the trauma I think everything is going well. Let me catch everyone up and then I will try to post about my recovery over the next few weeks.

As you probably know I have been putting off surgery for some years now but I finally exhausted all other options and went for it. The procedure is known as Distal Clavicle Resection. I think the animation here shows it best:
http://understand.com/content/Players/Default/Animation.aspx?PresentationID=6fc79548-8f61-472c-bbc9-304520ab25e7&LanguageID=6574fa28-0a40-49af-88c8-3ce366c8c580&Customer=understand_ortho.

I have never had surgery before. I cannot remember the last time I was at a hospital for that matter so I was really nervous. So nervous that I made Jenn get to the center about 30 minuted early. She probably wanted to get rid of me anyway because I was not a very friendly post op patient. In fact at one point she made a comment that she could not wait until I got old and started falling apart, talk about being a complainer now, just wait a few years. When we got to the surgery center I had to sign all kinds of paperwork that listed all the BAD things that could possibly go wrong. Honestly that scared me more than the thought of feeling severe pain. What if they botch it? What if I wake up and its 5 days later because something went terribly wrong? What if they cut into the wrong arm? At some point I just had to let it all go and hope for the best and decide to deal with anything that happened the best I could.

So after spending 20 minutes trying to put on those hideous hospital gowns I was laying in a bed with an IV of fluid to keep me hydrated. honestly, in this day and age can't someone come up with a more stylish hospital gown? One that is not right out of the 1970's. The 1070's look was so 1990's, come on already. At this point Jenn was allowed in to sit with me as they preped my arm. Jenn did ease the tension by making a comment about the very fashion challenged socks that they put on my feet, light blue with white grippy things on them. Kind of like the ones you get at Gymboree for kids. So as I sat there they scrubbed my arm in a warm soap bath and wrote a big YES on the right shoulder. This was to signify the correct arm to operate on. Not only did they put a YES on the shoulder but my doctor had to put his signature underneath it to show he agreed. Everyone that I talked to made me tell them the procedure and the arm that was supposed to be involved. This made me feel better because there was no way they could get it wrong at that point. After the scrub it was all a waiting game. There were other people getting procedures done so I had to wait my turn. I think I sat for about an hour before anything else happened.

Finally the Anesthesiologist came over and started my sleep medicine. Boy that stuff is powerful. It is like having 4 glasses of wine in 20 minutes. This was good too because I was going to have a nerve block done on the right arm. This procedure was kind of scary just because before hand I had to sign away all kinds of liability and there were two pages of possible side effects. Then on top of that the Anesthesiologist shows up with this giant needle. I remember a nurse asking him, "Is a 2 inch needle going to work"? I am sure my eyes were as wide as dinner plates at that comment even with the anesthesia. The idea of the nerve block was to temporarily kill the nerve in my neck that sends signals down the arm. My arm was going to be asleep for up to 24 hours but I would feel no pain. This gives time for me to get other narcotics in my system so when the Block wears off I am more ready to take on the pain.

So the anesthesiologist started messing with my arm trying to find the right nerve. They hooked me up to some machine that send electrical pulses down the arm and made me clench my fist. That is the last thing I remember clearly. I don't remember the 2 inch needle and I barely remember being wheeled into the OR. Even 8 days later I still have a large bruise on my neck where they stuck me with the giant needle. There were bright lights above my head and someone put a mask on my face then the next thing I know I am waking up in recovery and Jenn is siting with me.

The whole procedure from walking into the center to the time they wheeled me out was about 4.5 hours but only an hour of that was actual surgery. I hope I never have to do something like that again and if I do I hope that it is never more complicated than what I am going through now. There are so many worse things I could have done to me and I am sure all of them hurt worse than this so I feel for those that have any kind of surgery no matter how small.

Longhorn 70.3

2009-10-28T18:54:00.000-07:00

To start with this years race was a completely different race. The bike course and the run course were changed making this a much faster race, I think. The transitions were the big change this year. Two separate transitions were set up. T1 was in a different place then T2. I was a little nervous about this because everything had to be set up on Saturday and you were not aloud to layout the run gear on Sunday morning. This caused me some anxiety because I like to check and double check everything on race morning. I figured everyone was going through the same thing so I should not worry about it and just execute.

This was a big race for me. I changed up my training after Buffalo Springs and needed a good race to prove that it was a good choice. Plus it was my last race of the season and it is likely my last long race before Ironman St. George next May so a good race would be a great confidence builder.

The Swim..

The air temp was cold. About 60 degrees. The water temp was 75 but felt cooler because of the air. When I got into the water for my warm up swim I started to worry about getting on the bike while still wet and getting hypothermia. Once the gun went off though all my focus went to racing and I would deal with the weather as it came. The swim was uneventful. I actually swam it just as I wanted to. As I exited the water I did not feel the weather at all because the adrenaline was flowing.

The Bike..

The bike was what made this race for me. I had worked hard since Buffalo Springs, upping my bike workouts dramatically and I hoped it would pay off. I managed to pace myself well. I told myself that I had to keep my pace steady no matter what happened ahead or behind me. Early in the race two guys in my age group speed past me and it was temping to chase them but I let them go. I was a little mad because my bike computer was not reading correctly. The speed kept jumping around so I really had no idea what my average speed was. Then at mile 40 I also discovered that the odometer was reading incorrectly an my distance was 4 miles off. This was a little bit of a demotivator but I fought it off. I do need to do something about my aero bottle that sits on the bars. I sat for the last 30 miles waiting for it to just fall to the ground but it never did. I had come up with this little plastic support that I Velcro between the aerobars and I use large rubber bands to hold the bottle to that. Well as the Velcro got wet it slipped off and then I noticed that the rubber bands were so dry rotted that they could break at any moment. The whole thing just held on for dear life for 30 miles. I just new it was going to fall apart and I would be mad that I was going to have to go buy another one. With 5 miles to go I was passed again by 3 people in my age group but I let them go as well. I knew that I would see them on the run and running has become a strength of mine this year. Besides I had managed to race my own race the entire time and I was entering T2 14 minutes faster than my personal best. This was a perfect situation going into the run. I was so excited to be doing so well that I got a great energy boost in T2.

The Run..

Transition was a little longer than i would have liked. Because I had to set up everything on Saturday I was not able to fill my fuel belt with my usual Hammer gel and Accelerade because I did not want ants to get it or have it spoil on me overnight. I decided that I would put powder in the bottles and then when I got to T2 I would use my bike water to fill the bottles. This worked beautifully but took me an extra 30 seconds or so. The other thing that held me up is that I really had to pee. This is a good sign that my hydration was right on but it is also annoying to have to stop during a race. I feared that standing still for too long my legs would freeze up. I went anyway, there was no way I was going to run on a full bladder. Out of transition things got a little confusing. The route was not marked real well for the first 200 yards. You actually had to enter the finish arena and run around the outside edge. Confusing but kind of a cool feeling seeing all the spectators in the stands.

I did my first 3 miles in 6:30/mile. Awesome but not smart so after 3 miles I started to slow the pace down a little to just over 7/mile. it was hard to slow down because I was on such a high from my bike time but I managed it eventually. The run was a three loop course. I have a love/hate relationship with these types of courses. Love because there are always people cheering the entire course, but hate because they tend to get crowded with runners and you have no idea what place you are in. If someone is in front of you are they on their first, or second lap? Anyway the run was very easy this year. Partly because last year I was suffering from leg cramps and had trouble even walking, but also because the big hill they call Quadzilla was gone. My stomach was not doing so well for the first 40 minutes on the run. All I could take in was water but after a while I had to force something down and surprisingly it stayed down. In the end my run was also a PR for a half marathon so I was extremely happy about the race overall.

In the end I cannot say anything was bad about this race. I pushed as hard as I could and still finish and I had the fastest race day I have ever had at an HIM. Great race and a great season.

Longhorn 70.3

2009-10-26T10:02:00.000-07:00

Season is over and what a season ending race it was! I will work on the full race report and get it up soon but I am going into surgery tomorrow morning ( yes I am finally doing it instead of complaining here all the time) so who knows when I will feel up to typing. I will have a lot more down time for a few weeks so we'll see.

The short of it was that I had my best race results at the HIM so far. Everything went as planned, nothing went wrong despite my mind trying to insert negative thoughts every 5 minutes. that negative thinking scared the hell out of me. I guess I just needed a good race to validate all time spent this year and I just got scared that if was all going to go down the drain. If I had to fault myself for anything it would be that I had to make a pit stop in T2 which took an extra minute or so. Running on a full bladder does not feel good at all so it was a necessary 60 seconds.

Thanks to my family for putting up with me this year. I can be single minded during the season.

Stay tuned for several posts on the seasons ups and downs and training pros and cons.

Peaking

2009-10-21T06:35:00.000-07:00

It is amazing to feel the body get stronger. Sometimes when training you are so tired that it is hard to see the end goal. You start wondering if you are pushing to hard, your body is getting run down, and the last thing you need is to get injured or sick right before your taper. Then, out of nowhere you come through the fog. You start into your peak week just before race taper and realize that your body has responded amazingly. You see the miles tick off but your body does not get tired. You look down at your watch and realize that your pace, even after 5 or 6 miles is faster than you have ever been able to hold before. You do your last long ride, a route that destroyed you 4 or 5 weeks earlier and when your done you feel fresh and full of energy. This is what makes all the training time and sacrifice worth it.

I am racing in 4 days and I feel physically more ready for this race than I have at any other. Stories will be told and maybe a legendary race will be run. Lets hope for the best.

An acquaintance of mine posted an answer to a questions about what he did differently for his IM this year than last year. I like that idea and think that I will post something along those lines after my race this weekend. My training this year took on two very distinct phases. The first half of the season was a build up to Buffalo Springs in June. Then I made a few changes and followed a different training schedule for Longhorn. It will be interesting to see what the results are. I want to wait to post the specifics until the race is over so that I have some results to refer to though.

Hopefully there will be more regular posts throughout the off season. I will have a lot to write about as I get ready for IM St. George starting in January. I will also be recovering from shoulder surgery during November and December so I will have a lot more time to think as I sit and get fat.

Star Struck

2009-10-06T20:17:00.000-07:00

It has been a while since my last post. I have been struggling with something to write. I did not want to just fill the page with meaningless dribble but this weekend gave me something to write.

I am not normally the type of person that gets star struck but that is what this weekend was full of. It all started on Thursday night when I was invited to ride (along with anyone else in Austin) with Lance Armstrong. Stupid me, I decided that it was going to be crowded, I figured on 1000 people so I did not go. I did not want to be one of those that says, "Yeah I rode with Lance". When really I was 2 miles behind him and we just happened to be on the same route. Later that afternoon a friend sent me the pictures and it was really an intimate group, 100 people at the most, almost everyone I ride with on a normal basis was there except me. The stories of break aways by Lance and friends sound awesome. I would have loved to be able to say I drafted off Lance. I will be kicking myself for a long time for this one.

On Sunday I did not pass up the opportunity to ride with another couple of local pro triathletes. Sure they are not as well known as Lance, but I enjoyed the ride and I learned more riding with them than I would have if I was dropped in the first 5 miles by Lance. It was a ral confidence booster knowing that I could hand with 2 people that are recent Ironman winners.

Maybe next time?

Revenge of the shoulder

2009-09-03T10:20:00.000-07:00

It has been over six months since I even felt so much as a sting in my shoulder. So long ago that I almost forgot anything is wrong. Back in February I had another steroid shot and all has been well but about two weeks ago I started to feel small twinges of pain, especially after a hard swim.

Now I have a dilemma. Do I get surgery in October (as planned) and risk recovery before Ironman St. George or do I put up with the pain so that I am able to keep my swim volume high. The doctor says I will be back in the pool in 4-6 weeks and at about 8-10 weeks I should be feeling all normal. 4-6 weeks out of the pool is not going to ruin me. Is it? Living so sedentary might drive me crazy. I may lose some base endurance, but during that time I will not be specifically training for anything anyway. So by May I should be my old self again. Besides, a week or two off from training completely and then I can get back on the bike or go for a run. Maybe it will be just the thing I need so that when training for IM St. George gears up I will be fresh and excited.

Is is such a hard decision and one I have to make now. If I am having the surgery I will do it right after Longhorn 70.3. That is only 7 weeks away.

Its not that I am scared of the surgery. I am more scared by the prospect of recovery taking longer than it is supposed to. For now nothing hurts except every once and a while but I know that in a month it may be a different story and I will regret postponing the surgery again like I did last year.

Things I love about morning workouts

2009-08-12T07:13:00.000-07:00

This morning I got in the pool for the first time in 10 days. (See previous post about bike accident if you wonder why). As I stood at the end of the empty pool preparing to break its pristine surface I had to pause and stare at its beauty. It occurred to me that this beauty, the glass smooth water, the quiet hum of the pumps, the smell of the chlorine (or what ever chemical they use these days), this is one of the things that I love the most about morning workouts. I almost hated to mess it up with my thrashing and kicking, uh..I mean swimming.

It's not just the pool either. On the bike or out on a run I relish the quietness that comes with it. When I head out for a ride the air is calm and quiet, and all I can hear is the distinctive hum of the wheels spinning. It is mesmerizing and hypnotic. It is a sound like no other. When I get up at 5AM on a Saturday morning there is no one else down at the lake, in fact there is no one even awake yet. As I run a long I occasionally am greeted by a raccoon fishing in the lake or I hear the trickle of the water as it flows around the columns that hold up Congress bridge. All this is like therapy for me. The workout becomes just as much about my physical health as it does my mental health. I don't need the distraction of an ipod, the company of another human, or the television blaring while I ride my trainer. My morning workouts are calming and centering. You might say it is my form of meditation. There is nothing like it and I hope to keep it all to myself.

Jack's Generic Triathlon Race Report

2009-08-02T19:13:00.000-07:00

Man it has been a while since I wrote anything. I had to post today though because I had a race today and although it was not a bad race it wrapped up the best and the worst performances of the year all in one race and within about 1 hour. Todays race started with a pretty bad bike crash, see pictures:

There are more pictures but they may not be appropriate for some viewers because I have to get naked. So after the wreck, which happened at about mile 3 on a 14 mile ride I lost my groove and was a little skiddish. My bike leg was the worst of the year. I was off my goal about 5 minutes. Determined to make up the time I pushed hard on the run and ended up with my fastest 3 miles I have ever run, sub 19 minutes.

Now to the race report.

This was a sprint race and one of the few where the race director lets non pros/elites sign up to be in the Open wave and race against the best. So I decided that I would either be humiliated or prove I belonged in the group. What this meant was that no matter how well I did in my AG I was not eligible for AG prizes. OK by me if it means getting better by racing against some really fast people.

Swim: The swim started out awesome. I ended up gaining a great position on someone and was able to draft for at least 200 meters. I could really feel the difference in speed while drafting. At the halfway point I ended up all alone but still did not lose any position. I came out of the water in 8th place. Not bad out of 40 people in the Open Division. At the conclusion i ended up with the 28th fastest swim overall.

Bike: I think I got into a good rythm on the bike. For the first few miles I was averaging 25MPH. I kept thinking, this is only 14 miles so I can hammer it the entire time. Then at mile 3 there is a sharp turn to the right. The road goes from crapy asphault to even crapier chip seal gravel. I lined up for the turn and slowed to 18 or 20MPH and all of the sudden I felt the bike slip out and I heard the gravel under my tires. the next thing I knew I was on my side sliding down the road. It took me a few seconds to get my bearings and throw out a few curse words. Then I did a quick scan of injuries (both me and the bike) and hopped back on. i have no idea what the total time was but I do remember 4 or five people passing me while I was on the ground. Once back on the bike I figured that if anything was seriously wrong I would know soon. All seemed OK except for the stinging pain. From this point I just was not able to get anything going on the bike. Partly because of nerves and maybe my body was expending energy elsewhere to stop the bleeding and keep me out of shock. Whatever it was I had a hrd time from that point just maintaining 20MPH. Turns out that I averaged barely 20.7MPH overall. At my normal 22 or 23MPH I would have been at a minimum 3 minutes faster. This is the difference in about 10 spots. Oh well, can't change that.

Run: Once Off the bike I knew that my strength would be on the run so I resolved to run down as many people as I could. I pushed hard on the run picked off 3 runners and ended up with the fastest 3 miles i have ever run in my life.

My overall time was 1:08:28 which is slower than expected but it loked like it was a difficult day for a lot of people. Only 3 people went sub 60 minutes and no one else went below 1:03. I learned a lot at the this race. One always wonders what will happen when things don't go right. Not only that but when something happens that could result in a DNF.

I am stronger for the experience and I also have something better than a plaque that would probably just go in the closet. I have permanent scars to carry around forever.

Random

2009-07-17T06:11:00.000-07:00

Ever since Buffalo Springs (3 weeks tomorrow) I have felt disorganized. I have found it really hard to get back into my scheduled training. I have been following the schedule but I feel that I have been doing only that, mindlessly following the schedule. I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that I am trying to change up my schedule and try some new things during this next 12 weeks until Longhorn 70.3. I have spent every night for the last two weeks studying my results, evaluating my training plan and even looking into the value of hiring a coach to consult with. My performance at Buffalo Springs did a couple of things to me. First it showed that I still have some potential for more speed. Second it showed that my training has been doing some good. Third it exposed my weaknesses on the bike and made me realize that I need some more specific training in that area.

So here I am three weeks later about to race again, albeit its only a modified Olympic distance, and I can't help but think about what my strategy should be. Should I push the bike leg to the limit just to see what happens? If I blow up on the run I could lose the race. Should I play it conservative knowing that I will finish top 10 and if I have the legs maybe push it on the run and finish a little higher? I have two more races before Longhorn. I should be viewing them as training and try some different tactics. I will hopefully discover something about myself and my physical ability that will help me at Longhorn. Maybe I will have a breakthrough on the race and realize the secret to my speed. What ever happens I will give you a report soon.

What does all this stem from anyway. Is it normal to never be satisfied with your results. Should you always be striving to finish first. It seems that no matter how well I do it is not good enough for me. I know that there is more in me. If that is the case then why is it not coming out. What is limiting my performance. Two things can be at fault, training approach or mental blocks and self confidence. Enter the coach. A coach can tell me if my training is correct or not. A coach can give me specific workouts to improve weaknesses, or a coach can tell me that I am doing the right thing and I need to be better prepared mentally. If it is mental then what stops me from pushing farther? Why do I lack the self confidence to push myself beyond that comfort zone?

Aha and there lies the connection between life and triathlon. The never ending and frustrating search to be a better person, father, employee, triathlete, etc... Joy in disguise.

Lubbock Report

2009-07-01T09:56:00.000-07:00

Things are finally getting back to normal after this weekend. I felt like I got back from Lubbock and had a thousand things to do. Now that the situation is under control I can sit and write my race report for Buffalo Springs 70.3.

Starting on Friday. The family drove to Lubbock. Long drive, not unbearable but long. I found it fascinating that there are so many wind turbines being built out there. These things are 200 feet tall and have blades that are 80 feet long. In some areas they go on for as far as you can see. It's kind of like a science fiction movie, but also beautiful at the same time. I'm sure its not beautiful if you live in the area and have to see them every day though. We got a late start so we did not get into Lubbock until 9PM. Hotel and bed.

On Saturday I rose early and did some stretching and a short 20 minute run. I wanted to get on the bike for about 30 minutes but I was kind of lazy. It was important to get some exercise in because I had taken the previous 2 days off. Spent the rest of Saturday in Lubbock hanging with the family, checking in at the expo and driving out to see some of the course. I was a little worried that I would not get enough sleep Saturday night because we were all in one room as a family but I managed to get in bed about 9PM.

As a side note, I spent a lot of time on Saturday worrying about how the family was going to get to the race site. The hotel was 15 miles away, we only had one car and I had to be at transition by 5AM. Poor planning on my part. I realized too late to be able to find a ride to the race, plus I did not know anyone that was racing well enough to just ask a stranger for a ride. I was hoping that there would be someone at the hotel that I could bum a ride from but the only people I saw already had 3 bikes and 3 people stuffed into a small rental. So reluctantly the family had to settle for an expensive cab ride to the race later in the day. The race takes place at a camp ground but I was afraid that it would be full of people and we would tow a camper up there and not be able to find a spot. Turns out we probably would have been OK. Good to know for next year.

So how did the race go you ask...Here are the stats:

5:15:43 198th Overall
30th in AG
Swim 33:34
Bike 2:52:13
Run 1:46:29

In transition at 5AM the wind was blowing and it was threatening to rain. I was nervous and disorganized. Not because of the race but because I realized I would be getting wet before the race even started and I would probably stay wet all day. Racing wet sucks! and swimming when there is lightening is not smart. I half expected the swim to be cancelled. Riding in the rain is scary and dangerous on hills, and running in wet shoes is just miserable. despite this I set everything up and headed to the swim.

Swim: Looking back I was probably too conservative on the swim. I could have hit it harder and cut a minute or two but I relaxed and conserved my energy for the bike. I think this was because I knew the bike leg would be tough and had a few big hills. I came out of the water a little surprised by my time. I thought I would be faster and I felt that the swim was long. If fact there is ongoing talk about how the swim may have been 100M or 200M long so that eases my mind.

Bike: The bike was the best part of this race. The ride is awesome. If I lived in the area I would probably ride it all the time. The wind was blowing pretty hard the whole ride (well at least until it started raining). The wind was not that big a deal because when it was at my back I was cruising, fast. I found the hills challenging but I took them on with a purpose and it paid off. For me the rain was on and off for most of the race and did not start pouring down until I was at about 40 miles. At this point I was done with all the hills except the last one coming into transition.

T2 was a blur and really soggy. There was nothing I could do so I put on my soaking wet shoes and headed out. I was in good spirits because my legs felt good. I was a little nervous after my last HIM when I cramped up on the bike and could barely walk for the first couple miles on the run.

My first few miles I was holding a sub 8 mile. Awesome, I thought, but then at mile 4 I hit the first hill. I was determined to pass as many people as possible on the hills so I cranked it out and continued on passing a lot of people who were walking. At the turn around I was at 51 minutes. Not bad after 4hours of racing. The course is out and back so all the hills that you run out you know what you are getting on the way back. I remember being scared that I would not make it up the last hill around mile 9. I had been trading places with this younger kid, age 23. He would sprint ahead a few hundred yards and then have to stop to stretch out his hamstrings. I kept thinking, here I am slow and steady and in the end I will prevail. Anyway, at mile 9, the last of the big hills I saw him walking up the hill. I knew that it would kill me but I had to prove a point and win a small victory so I picked up the pace and overtook him on the hill. Never saw him again. I lost track of my pace in the last two miles, I was too worried about finishing. It felt like I was crawling. With 1 mile to go I saw my family. I almost missed them because I was zoning out trying to keep the legs moving. Seeing them made me proud and excited that they were willing to come and watch. I pressed on and finished uneventfully at BSLT 70.3 2009.

Overall it was a great race and the best part was that it was a confidence builder. The training has been paying off and I am gaining confidence in my ability to push harder and still finish. I don't think I will be doing BSLT next year because of IM St. George. It was such a fun race that It will feel sad to miss it next year.

Race of my life

2009-06-23T06:05:00.000-07:00

I am not sure why or how Buffalo Springs 70.3 became one of the premier races in the country. Every time I mention it people give me this lost look and say, "Really, a triathlon in Lubbock?". Yeah, and not just a triathlon, one of the premier Half Ironmans in the country. I think it is because it is one of the few HIMs that gives out qualifying spots to the World Championships in Kona but it would have to have been popular before that in order for the organizers of Ironman racing to allow this. Whatever it is all I know is that on Friday I will be headed that way for the biggest race of my life.

Last week I was very nervous and even doubted myself. I shouldn't though, I've done the distance. Yet again this course is tougher and more hilly (contrary to what people think about Lubbock). I think that I was nervous because of what is at stake. First there is Kona, which would be a dream come true, its a long shot but there is a shot. Then there is a bid to Clearwater and the 70.3 championship, not as long a shot but still out there. I am also nervous because at Longhorn 70.3 back in October I was disappointed in my performance. This always makes a person question their abilities. Throwing that out and trusting that I have learned and grown stronger my ultimate goal is to be able to have a good age group showing. I am looking for 5 hours. According to last years results that would put me in the top 20 in my age group. Solid showing for me and anything better is just the icing on the cake.

Today I am just excited. The nerves have calmed. I have had a few good training days and I am feeling ready. Now it is time to organize, do some light training and try not to panic!

Food

2009-06-15T09:38:00.000-07:00

For the past year I have been going through a transformation. Lets call it a food transformation. For 34 years of my life I did not worry too much about what I ate. My views on diet consisted of eating everything in moderation. Then as I started to get more serious about triathlon I was overwhelmed with information on diet and performance. So without ever really trying I started to gather information and started trying to make sense of the convoluted, controversial, and confusing industry of food. Now, almost two years later I am still learning and trying to make some sense out of the endless contradiction we call food, but I have learned a lot, which only scratches the surface, but awareness is the key and knowing all sides of an issue is what allows us as humans to make an educated choice.

Anyway, I am not an expert, or even remotely qualified to tell anyone what to eat but I have started to develop a philosophy on food and the other day I did come across a quote that I think sums up my entire view. It is from The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan. In his opening chapter there is this line. "A great number of the health and environmental problems created by our food system owe to our attempts to oversimplify nature's complexities". So what does this quote mean to me? It means eat as natural as possible. It means pay attention to where your food is coming from (i.e, preparation, origin). It means that we all know what food is better for us than others so just know that your health is a conscious choice that YOU make. It means eat variety and never an overabundance of any one type of food.

Food is a very personal choice, people eat for many different reasons. Mine are for the long term health of my body and my performance at a race. Identify yours and follow the steps above.

Cap Tex Tri 2009

2009-05-26T07:43:00.000-07:00

Well, it is done. The Cap Tex Tri is in the books for 2009. Talk about improvement over '08. I cut 14.5 minutes off of my time from last year. (2:19:00 Vs 2:33:30) The biggest gains came on the run and the swim. I know that I have said before that I don't do race reports and I keep doing them but I have discovered that it is a way for me to assess the positive and the negative and organize my thoughts for the next race.

The swim: 23:14 excellent swim. Fast swim. About 400M in I was able to catch site of only one other person in my wave and he was even with me most of the way. Then at the halfway point I noticed that I was all alone in the water. For a second I thought that I may be way off course but it turned out to be a clearing between start waves. This allowed me to put on some speed. As I made the turn to the last buoy I was able to pull ahead of someone in my wave (not sure if it was the same person as before). Coming out of the water I knew that I was fast and figured I was at least in the top 10 of my wave in the swim. Turns out I was 6th in my wave and 11th in my AG and ended the day with the 65th fastest swim overall.

T1 is a long run. So transition times look huge but the majority of that is the run. I am not happy with my T1 time. My goal was 2 minutes and I ended up with 3:05. I guess the trouble with my wet suit was bigger than I though. My transition time from last year was 10 seconds faster. Looking at the T1 times of others in my AG I was 29th. There is definitely room for improvement there.

The Bike: I was a little disorganized on the bike. I waited until I was up the hill to put my shoes on but when I did my left shoe strap came completely out of the stay so I had to spend extra time putting it back on. This is not easy on a bike at 15 mph. Then my right shoe would not cooperate and it took me extra time. After about 3 tenths of a mile I was off but had lost position to at least 5 people. Then I realized that my helmet was loose because it kept slipping down and blocking my vision (another unnecessary adjustment to make)! The bike course has a lot of turns and 2 short hills so I would suspect my average speed would be low compared to an open course like back in April at the Lonestar. Even with the adjustment problems I was able to maintain a 22.4 mph average. A little under what I wanted but not bad. It put me at 1:06:23. This is 3 minutes faster than last year. but 4 minutes faster than I was hoping. The only other eventful thing that happened on the bike was that on my last lap I had an elbow rest on my aerobars come off somewhere. Not that big (except that I now have to replace it) of a deal just a little uncomfortable. Luckily it was my last lap.

In T2 I was still slow. I could have cut about 30 seconds at least but I remember mentally checking everything and making sure that I had everything with me. Kind of a mental lapse that should have been second nature.

The Run: Once out on the run course I quickly picked off a few people. I knew that anyone I could pass on my first lap moved me up but after my first lap I would be mixed with people who were still on their first lap and it would not be possible to tell who was ahead of me. I started strong on the run. I ran my first two miles sub 7 minutes, then I started to feel the legs and slowed down but only slightly. After about mile 3 I realized that my legs were cramping and I was cautious. I forgot to bring my e-caps so I was left with water and Gatorade on the course and I made sure not to pass any of them up. After mile 3 I set my sights on a runner in front of me. He was in a younger age group so I was not concerned if he beat me but he was looking strong still and I figured if I could hang with him I would finish strong. He and I battled for position and even exchanged a few words of encouragement for the next 2.5 miles. Then with about a half mile to go he came up beside me and said, "lets see how much energy you got", as he picked up the pace. I wasn't going to let that happen so I took the bait. As we came to the last 400 meters he dropped back and said, "take it". So I sprinted to the finish. I ran a 44:14. Just what I expected it to be.

Overall a great race. Finished 10th in AG and 63rd overall. Solid performance but the competition was a lot faster this year too. Last year my time would have won second in my AG. This year it was only good for 10th. Next year I will just have to be faster.

Back to training.

Training update

2009-05-20T14:24:00.000-07:00

It has been a long time since I have posted. Between training, working and moving my family to a new house I have had little time to write but I think I can crank out an update to let everyone know that I am at least still here.

It has been 45 days since I raced and I am itching to get out there. Luckily I have a race on Memorial day. I have been looking forward to this race for a long time. This is my first 'A' race of the year and I hope to be on the podium at the end of the day. The weather looks like it will hold up and it will definitely be cooler than last years 100+ degrees, in the shade. I did a little race prep last night at the Pure Austin Splash and Dash. Just a short 750M swim and a 3K run and it went well for my first of the year. I love doing these. Its an all out sprint for 20 minutes or so. The competition is fierce and the hot dogs afterward are good. You can always count on several local pros showing up. Last night there were more than usual and it was the biggest field yet. 200 people and it could have been 300+ according to the race director. I finished 11th overall. I struggled on the swim. I felt heavy in the water. It was not my fastest swim but it was respectable. The most exciting part of the race was that I ran my fastest split (not my fastest ever but my fastest at this race). The reason this is good news is because it was the first time I had pushed my speed that high since my injury almost 2 months ago and I felt no pain!! There is some soreness today but not pain and this is exciting. I have not been running much and when I do it is reserved because of the injury. I will probably still be a little scared for a few weeks but at the race on Monday I will not hold back. If something happens I will have 4 weeks until Buffalo Springs so I should be fine.

Well I am off to do another taper workout and get ready for Monday. It should be a great race. I will have an update on Tuesday.

Injury

2009-04-27T19:53:00.001-07:00

Injuries are not fun. A lot of times athletes wonder how they even got to the point of injury. One minute your running your best times ever and the next day something hurts. This is exactly what happened in my case. I was feeling great, running some of the best times in my career and one day I went for a run and my calf started hurting. It was a familiar hurt, I felt it about 2 years ago while training for my first marathon. My first thought was, not again, last time I was not able to run for 5 weeks. What did I do to hurt myself this time? The answer to that question may never be answered but there does seem to be a pattern. Up to the point of injury I had been training hard and fast to increase my speed. I had a 10K coming up and my goal was to go under 40 minutes. Things were looking real promising. In my training I was doing a lot of speed work and not very many LSD (Long Slow Distance) runs. I think that my body was not quite ready for the jump in speed and that I was on the brink of injury for a while. Last time I had this injury I had increased not only my speed but my volume not to mention that I was running more a week than I had ever run in my life. Anyway, this is probably typical of most athletes. The ones I know are impatient and overconfident sometimes. We try to push our limits not only in racing but in training and often ignore our bodies tell tale signs of needing rest.
So again, just like last time, I have learned some valuable lessons:

Listen to your body. It knows when it is over trained.
Be patient with gains. They never come as fast as you want them to but they do come.
Have a recovery plan and be religious about it.

As a side note: I did run my fastest 10K although it was 1 minute over my goal. 41 minutes is not too shabby I think.

First race of the year

2009-04-08T19:42:00.000-07:00

I did my first race of the year this last weekend. My feelings are mixed about the results. I probably should not be so hard on myself, it was the first race of the year. After all, the idea of the first race is supposed to be a gauge to see how training has been going. So what did I learn:

I am undecided about how to take it but my bike time was not what I expected. Does this mean that my training is not what it should be or does it mean that I did not push hard enough and could have gone faster? Either way the results were good but I expected better. One of my goals this year is to average 23+MPH on the bike in all races. So obviously the bike the was disappointment. The reason is that the Lonestar race takes place in Galveston, the flattest place in Texas so the bike leg should have been the fastest I've ever done. It wasn't! in fact it was slower than my bike leg at the Austin Tri last season and that one is a 3 loop course (which are usually slower because of all the turns) and it has hills. The only thing that I can come up with is that I could have pushed harder and that I did not push because it was the first race of the year and I was afraid of blowing up on the run.

I should dwell on the positive in the race because there were several positives. The swim was fast. Not my fastest but it was one of the top three. Both transitions were flawless. The run was awesome. This was a quarter Ironman so the run was 3 tenths longer than a 10K. My time was good enough that if it had been a 10K I would have been real close to my personal best.

The next race is in 5 weeks so I have time to re evaluate my training and get ready.

It is official

2009-03-21T08:12:00.000-07:00

Well it took me three days to talk myself into the commitment but I slept on it and I don't think that I can pass up the opportunity so I spent the money and signed up. Yes, I am now officially committed to the Ironman St. George in 2010. It seems like a long way away and a lot can happen in 13 months but this is the life of the Ironman (signing up for races at least a year in advance just to secure a spot). My plan this whole time has been to do my first full in 2010. The St. George IM is in May which is about a month earlier than ideal but I had to jump at the chance instead of waiting for Coeur d'Alene and hoping that I am a lucky one that gets into the race.

You have no idea how exciting this is. Official training wont start until December but just signing up has changed my view on this season and it's goals. I am still going for it this year with all my original goals but now in the back of my mind I will be training for the IM the whole year. It is funny how daunting of a task this feels like. Even bigger than the Texas Water Safari which was 260 miles non stop with no outside support. I had to plan for a 60+ hour race then yet this Ironman is only 140.6 miles and at the most will take a third the hours of the TWS. I have a lot of planning and a lot of dreaming to do in the next year. Oh yeah and I cannot forget all the special favors I will have to do for the family over the next year so that they will stay supportive and not regret letting me fulfill this dream.

Workouts that rock

2009-03-10T19:07:00.001-07:00

I love those days when I am working out and I feel like I could go forever. But alas it has to end sometime and when it does I am sad but satisfied, tired but full of energy. Today was one of those days. It all started at 5:00 AM when I headed to the gym for an hour of weights. Then I ate a small breakfast and headed out the door for a 2 hour bike ride. After the ride I was feeling good so I decided to finish up with a 30 minute recovery run. That is a day that I could do more often!

I am finally reading Lance Armstrong's book "Its not about the bike". I know that I am really late reading it but better late than never. Anyway, I cannot put it down. I am typically a slow reader but this book reads easily and is a fascinating story. There is a part of his book that is very insightful and it seems very fitting to today's post. He talks about riding and how suffering on a bike for 6+ hours is painful but cleansing. It puts one at peace. This struck a chord with me. I have actually talked to other athletes about this subject and found something similar in all aspects of endurance sports. A friend of mine who is an avid marathoner says when she runs long her brain actually goes into a trance. There are periods where she cannot remember thinking. The running instinct takes over and when she is done all the stress is gone. I get this feeling when I ride or when I swim. I can shut my brain off (not literally of course, that would be dangerous). I can forget everything that is going on in the world and just workout. There is something very primal about the feeling. It is as if a survival instinct kicks in and all else goes away except the end goal. Even pain seems to become secondary.

So how does that all fit in with today's workout. Today was one of those days when I needed to shut down the stress receptors and get into that primal mode. The stress of trying to buy and sell my house has been really getting to me and it has also messed with my normally steady schedule. Have I mentioned yet that I am moving? Anyway, I needed today's workout so that I could clear my mind and be at peace. I did not think about any outside world issues the entire time and when I was done I felt ready to take on anything that had been standing in my way.

Crazy Triathlete!

2009-03-02T10:08:00.000-08:00

Cold weather cycling hurts. Is it worth the pain? The jury is still out while my feet thaw. Here in Texas it is not that hard to avoid cycling in weather below about 50 degrees but yesterday I decided I was going to get outside no matter what. Family and work obligations dictate that about 90% of my workouts are in the early mornings so I forced myself outside at 7 AM on Sunday and the thermometer read 30 degrees. I was determined to do it because the last 3 weeks I wimped out and rode the trainer indoors. One can only take that for so long before going crazy.

The first 30 minutes were terrible but once everything went numb I did not feel any more pain. To give some perspective, 30 degrees really is not that cold when just standing outside, but if you hop on a bike and ride 17 to 20 MPH you are essentially creating a headwind of the same speed. Thus with the wind chill factored in, 30 degrees feels like about 18 degrees when on the bike.

Now to my question, is it worth the pain? I figure riding outside as opposed to the trainer is always better, if only for the scenery. I also think that it makes a person more mentally tough to ride in any kind of weather. If you can run or bike in cold weather and force the thoughts of quitting out of your mind your mental toughness increases. It is like a big hill or biking against the wind. You have to be just as mentally ready to take on these elements as you are physically. If you can do well under adverse conditions think of how much better you would do in perfect conditions. Plus, friends think that I am crazy. I probably am, but I like it that way. When people make excuses for not being able to workout I always point out that its not the time limits its the conscious decision to not start. If I can force myself out in the freezing cold then there are no excuses for not getting out of bed and going to a warm gym. Truth is I like the image of being the crazy triathlete, or is it dedicated triathlete? I guess it depends on your perspective. It's a fine line that I enjoy walking.

I'm Back

2009-02-23T10:00:00.000-08:00

It has been a while since I posted anything. Mainly because I have had very little time to even think about writing. It is hard enough to train when family and job get in the mix, but recently I have been trying to get the house ready to put on the market and this is an added stress that I am ready to be done with. Such is life, right?

The pool is empty these days. I wonder why? In the past there are mornings when one cannot find an open lane and that's at 5 AM. Now I show up and sometimes I am the only one in the pool. I know this will change. It is getting close to the time when all the people who made a New Year's resolution to run a triathlon will start training for the local sprint. Even then I usually find several people at the pool. I will admit that this year I have made a concerted effort to keep my swim volume down. For one I want to keep the shoulder from getting worse, its too early to have it hurting all season. I have also been consciously heeding the advice of many and concentrating on my bike and run.

I have read it or heard it said many times that swimming is the one leg that the least gains can be made (for the average swimmer or above). It has also been said that you don't win triathlons in the water. An average swimmer can kill on the bike and run and win a race. A great swimmer can lose a race by being caught on the bike or run. So because of this I am keeping my volume moderate right now and spending more time elsewhere. during the winter I even dropped my swim days down to two a week and sometimes only one. Every four weeks I would do a 1000 yard TT and what I found was that there was no loss of speed (no gain either but I am OK with that). It is hard to stay out of the pool when it is one of your strengths and you are part fish like me.

So what is the moral of this story. Mental toughness is not only about sitting on a bike for 4 hours (although it is all mental when you try it while sitting in one place) or keeping your mind focused on running for 2+ hours. It is also about reprogramming your brain to say, "its OK not to swim today", or keep the big picture in mind by saying "I have to run today even though I want to swim because it will make me a stronger triathlete overall".

Keeping the big picture in front of you is mentally tough. This is why people stress, "run your own race". It takes mental toughness to keep pace when someone comes screaming past you on the bike. You naturally want to pursue but you know that the pace will beat you down and the run will be all survival. So you make a mental note of the guys number and vow to hunt him down on the run.

Motivation

2009-01-13T06:07:00.000-08:00

It goes without saying that Triathletes are highly motivated. Whether you are a one time triathlete or compete an entire season it takes dedication and sacrifice of time to train for triathlon. I have even heard it said that most triathletes enjoy the training as much as the racing. From my own experience this is true. I am now in the 12th week of my off season and I can feel the itch to race again. The problem is that my first race will not be until April 5. I have about 4-6 weeks of "off season" training before I start to get more specific. Because of this I can feel myself loosing the motivation to train. Getting up in the morning is getting harder (especially when its cold outside). The garage wall is getting boring as I spend time on the trainer but its tough to get excited about riding outside when its 30 degrees. So what does one do if motivation starts to wain?

Here is my advice:

Take a few days off. Not just one but two or three in a row. This is by far the best way to recharge but sometimes it is the hardest one to choose. Missing a workout can drive a person crazy when their normal schedule is to do something every day.

Do some sort of activity that is not even remotely related to triathlon. I have started attending group fitness classes once a week just for a change of pace. My gym also has a rock wall that I like to climb every so often (great cardio workout, that heart rate will sky rocket when your scared of falling).

Force yourself to do the workout. This one can be dangerous!! pushing your body to workout when your mind is not in it can lead to injury and can also lead to further burnout. That said sometimes breaking through that mental barrier can strengthen you mentally and physically.

Just some thoughts since this was the second day in a row that I consciously slept in (Oh! Crap did that really happen!! I better get to the gym tonight before I lose all that conditioning I've gained).

Dose of Mortality

2009-01-05T12:26:00.000-08:00

We are all aware that it could happen. We are told every time we walk out the door to be careful. We here the stories in the paper. Do we really heed the advice, the warnings, the reality that could be? Yesterday I was given a dose of this reality and realized my own mortality.

The ride was typical, nothing out of the ordinary except that it was about 15 degrees colder than the weatherman said it would be. I was sorely under dressed. I kept telling myself that this is what dedicated triathletes put themselves through, but I think I was just plain crazy for being out in the weather. The group ride that I frequent has two routes, long and short. I typically do the short ride (35 miles) but yesterday I decided to do the 60 mile route. A group of about 8 out of the 25 or so broke off at the normal split. About 20 miles in one of the riders hit a crack in the pavement and went down. I was about 1 or 2 minutes behind the group (yes I am slow) so I did not see anything happen. When I came on the scene 911 was already on the phone. The rider was unconscious when I got there and did not wake the entire time (approximately 15 minutes) even after being loaded into the ambulance. The scene itself was not as awful as one might expect but it was surreal. The scary part, and the main topic of conversation for the next hour as we continued the ride was how it could have been any one of us. It is a difference of inches when you ride in a group. Many times you cannot see the road more than a few feet in front of you. If the bike in front swerves to miss something you have a fraction of a second to react as well and this could lead to just what happened on Sunday.

As cyclists we worry ourselves over cars and trucks that may not be paying attention and sometimes we forget that there are bumps, cracks, pieces of wood, glass, rocks, etc. that can easily bring us down. Its a risk we take every time we set our wheels on the road. The old saying among cyclists is "It's not a matter of whether you will fall or not, its a matter of when". Fatal accidents and even life threatening accidents are rare but they do happen and if anything they serve as a reminder that we are mortal and the only thing separating us from the pavement is a tire that is about 1-1/2 inches wide. Thankfully I have never had a problem, several close calls with puddles of water or manhole covers but that is about it.

An additional learning experience from all this was that even though we are a group of riders that see each other on a regular basis we do not necessarily know one another. When this rider went down the only way we knew his name was because he had his wallet on him. All of us had seen him on rides before but for some reason that was as far as it went. I realized that I do not "know" anyone on the ride either. Every so often you talk to people or meet someone new but is that far enough? I forgot to bring my ID with me (which I normally do) if I had been the one to hit that crack in the road I might be laying in the hospital right now as a John Doe. Scary thought.

As a followup I did hear about an hour ago that the rider is still in ICU and is in a medically induced coma. I hope everything turns out OK and I hope to see him out on the road again soon. This time I will make an effort to get to know him and anyone else for that matter because just like in the military, if I am going to rely on the guy next to me to save my life and in turn I am to save his, then I want to know I have a friend I can trust.

Learning to Count

2008-12-11T13:32:00.000-08:00

I overheard a couple of co-workers talking about how they were going to start tracking food intake starting in the new year. This got me thinking, the stereotype is that Triathletes are anal about counting calories. Maybe it is true, I can't be sure because I have never straight out asked anyone. I do know that we typically read food labels a lot and care about what is going into our bodies. As for counting calories, have you ever tried it? I have (OK so I just proved that triathletes do count calories) and it is a pain in the rear. Especially for a triathlete who may be eating 4000 calories in a typical day. What this translates to is constant eating and in turn means constant tracking of calories. The longest I ever did it was for a week. That is all I could handle without going crazy trying to find out what was in everything... I just ate five strawberries, is that a full serving? How many ounces was it? What about that sandwich at Jason's Deli, did it have one slice of cheese or two? To much to remember.

So why do we do it? Why is it important to count calories? For a triathlete and for anyone looking to get the best performance out of their body it is essential to make sure you are balancing your diet. Counting calories and keeping track of Carb, Fat, Sodium, Protein, etc. will ensure that you are eating balanced. Balance is important for maximum performance.

Here is what I learned in one week:

1. Eating 3000 calories a day when you need 4000 may satisfy you and keep your hunger from showing up but it may not be giving your body the right amount of the things it needs and performance will suffer after repeat days of this. This is exactly what I found out the last time I tracked my food intake. I was barely getting enough calories per day

2. Humans like to lie to themselves. How long has it been since you made a visit to McDonald's? Are you sure or are you being forgetful because you don't want that guilty feeling? Tracking calories will tell you exactly what you had and when you had it. If you have to write it down you might think twice before eating it too. I know I would stare at the cookie I was about to eat and know that I would have to write it down which would mean that I would have to be reminded of my decision ever day that week. So instead I would put the cookie down and eat some grapes.

3. Changing eating habits, some of which have been around since childhood is a really hard drawn out process.

The Shoulder

2008-11-25T20:00:00.000-08:00

Most people that know me are aware that for the past year I have been dealing with a shoulder injury. But even then I do not talk about it in depth to most people. So here it is, finally all laid out in writing. The truth, the frustration, the worry and the decision, good and bad.

I will start by saying that this is the first time that I have had to modify my exercise to accommodate an injury for any length of time. Last year I over trained and messed up my calves but within a few week the Physical Therapist had me back to normal. Now I have been dealing with this shoulder for a year now and it is getting really tiring having to manage around the pain.

The Problem:
I have a constant annoying discomfort in my right shoulder. there is some popping and cracking that goes on when I move it. The pain gets even worse after I swim or lift weights, it will stick around for a few days and then become that annoying discomfort again. Doctor says that it is Acromicavicular Arthrosis, or arthritis of the AC Joint, coupled with 2 labrel tears that have developed cysts. The tears are probably due to a dislocated shoulder that I had about 15 years ago and the arthritis is due to overuse (years of swimming and canoe racing).

The History:
I have never had much of a problem with my shoulder. It never effected my swimming or my weight lifting until this past year. I increased my activity in both those areas about 2 years ago and may have gotten overzealous. So all of the sudden I started getting a constant pain and one day I am doing push ups in the gym and my shoulder gives out. From that day I have been unable to fully do push ups. So I saw the doctor and he gave my the diagnosis I mentioned above. He pushed for surgery but I was not convinced because I was perfectly fine the year before how could arthritis just show up with a vengeance? Shouldn't it be a degenerative problem that develops with old age? Apparently not, says the research I have done. I scheduled the surgery anyway but was going to wait until after my season ended in October. It was set, October 5 was the Longhorn 70.3 and October 15 was the surgery. Then I ran into a Physical Therapy (PT) friend of my brothers and he convincingly talked me out of surgery for the time being and told me to see a PT. This is exactly what I did. The doctor was not convinced it would work and even seemed mad at me for not believing him. It's my body right? I can try if I want to.

The Decision:
It is now the end of November and I am done with my 30+ days with the PT. Did it help? Yes and No.

Because of the weakness in the shoulder my muscles were reacting in weird ways which was causing more pain than necessary. The PT fixed this with massage and Advanced Release Technique (miracle technique, it is what got my back on the road when I had calve problems). This put all the muscles back into alignment and worked out any scar tissue. There was immediate improvement in range of motion and strength but the pain was still there, although it was now localized over the AC Joint. You can here the doctor laughing right now!!

After a few sessions, I started on a regimen that included multi planner shoulder exercises, and techniques that were to realign the shoulder. I was even doing some of this at home!

Did I make the right decision? Yes and No. Results are still out.

The Future:
The short of it is that I am mildly disappointed in the results of physical therapy. I was hoping it would be the miracle cure. I say mild disappointment because I did learn a lot about the injury and became very self aware of what causes or does not cause pain. This lets me manage my workouts better and allows me to be in control. The injury is such a fickle thing. I took two weeks off from swimming and only did light weights during that time and still felt some discomfort then over the weekend I was putting together some bar stools and the act of screwing the legs together aggravated my shoulder to the point where I had to ice it. On Monday I was in the pool again (after two weeks off) and everything felt fine. I was able to swim a mile without any aggravation.

After all this I think that I am still leaning towards surgery but now the recovery time would take me into the Tri season (this aggravates me the most). So my plan is to deal with the injury the best I can through the season and probably get a Cortisone shot to hold me over until after the Longhorn 70.3 in 2009 then straight to surgery. Unless something great happens between now and then.

Dealing with injury is hard on any athlete, the first thing that always pops into my head is, how much time and conditioning will I lose? We work so hard to get to the physical condition were in and to give that up means slower times in the next race. There is also the physics law stating that objects in motion tend to stay in motion. Meaning that if I sit and rest for a week or more I may not be able to get myself off the couch.

Good decisions or Bad? That will have to be answered later. We'll see where it takes me over the next year.

The Offseason

2008-10-22T09:45:00.000-07:00

Its been a real struggle lately to scale back my workouts for the offseason. Part of me wants to go full out and attack my workouts the same way I do during the season but I know that this level cannot be maintained and makes me prone to injury. The other part of me wants to sleep in every day (I have overslept for two workouts in the last two weeks, something I almost never do). I have some specific goals for next year and I feel that scaling back might diminish my ability so I have to remind myself that in the offseason I can still maintain my endurance but need to focus on strength and speed too.

I am supposed to be rehabbing a shoulder right now and I am a little weary of how much good Physical Therapy will help. If I really do need surgery then will PT do any good? Plus this is the first time I have seen a PT and after a few visits where they worked out the muscles using ART and used ultrasound now I am showing up so that I can do my strengthening exercises. Can't I just do those at home? I am smart enough to do that, why do I have to pay so that someone can watch me? I will stick with the schedule for a couple of weeks and see what they say but before long I am going to have to cut back on the office visits. Its getting expensive!

Another thing that is really hard for me to do is keep good nutritional habits. I slid pretty far the week after Longhorn and I figure a week of indulgence is probably OK but now it is getting hard to stay on track because my training schedule is not as structured either. I need to get back to it soon and besides one of my goals for offseason is to improve my nutrition plan dramatically so next season I can be just as structures as my nutrition as I am with my workouts.

Lots of changes to make so I better put down the Chocolate Bar and get to work...

Longhorn 70.3

2008-10-07T14:03:00.000-07:00

I typically do not like to publicly post race reports. Probably because everyone and their brother does them, but I figured that I should do at least the biggest one of the year right?

I went into the HIM with high expectations. I had placed well in most of my races this year and thought that this would be no different. This race decided to knock me down a few notches from my high horse!! Lucky me it did because next year I will be smarter.

So here were my goals: Total time goal =5 hours

Swim- somewhere around 30 minutes.
Bike- under 3 hours and avg. over 18mph.
Run- about 1:50

Here is how actually did: Total time = 5:25:46

Swim- 24:38 (I have heard that the swim course was wrong and ended up being 300M short) This would make sense of my blazing speed in the water.
Bike- 2:52 avg. 19.5mph

Run- 2:01 avg. 9:17/mile

At first glance this is not bad and overall I am pleased with holding myself together but as I said this race humbled me and showed me just how much I still have to learn.

Probably the two notable things to talk about are: (1) I hit the wall at about 40 miles on the bike. I got depressed and started doubting myself. I knew I would hit it sometime but I did not know it would be so demoralizing and I wish I could have staved it off a little longer. (2) That at mile 55 on the bike I hit the last and the biggest hill on the course. As soon as I left the saddle to start up the hill my legs cramped up on me. The only way to keep going was to drop into a real easy gear and sit down. I think I was going about 5 miles an hour at one point. Anyway, I got to the dismount line and as soon as I stood up and jumped off the bike my legs froze again. The only thing I could do was to do a half squat and massage my legs. Finally I was able to get through transition and onto the run. By this time I was in too bad of shape to push it for fear that I would cramp and DNF. I took in as much liquid and electrolyte pills (they gave them out at the aid stations) as I could. After about 3-4 miles I was feeling good but my legs were so beat up from the cramping I could not get them to go any faster. I finished and some would say it was a respectable finish but looking at the numbers I should have been at least 30 minutes faster.

The biggest lesson I learned was to take more fluids on the bike. Including electrolyte pills which I only had four of them in 3 hours on the bike.

The greatest thing to come out of all this is that I cannot wait until my next one. Buffalo Springs 70.3 in June 2009. Can't wait!

Closing out the year

2008-09-30T10:05:00.000-07:00

My racing year is coming to an end. I am counting down the days until the Longhorn Half Ironman which is only 5 days away. After that race I am taking a much deserved and much needed break. Not a sit around on the couch type of break but a no 3 hour training sessions type of break. I think this is a good time to reflect on my year and see if I can pinpoint all the positives and negatives.

To start 0ff I know that I am ready for the season to be done. I can feel my motivation waining. The weather is getting cooler and it is getting harder to get out of the warm cozy bed in the morning. The kids are starting up with all kinds of extra curricular activities that are starting to eat away at my weekends, and my body just feels like it needs a vacation.

So what happened this year that I can call an achievement. Lets start with the fact that this was my first season as a Triathlete and I completed 5 races. That in itself is great but looking further into it my finishes were not typical of a rookie (not that I am bragging). In all of them I finished in the top 50 overall and top 10 in my age group in all except one. I placed 3rd AG in the Austin Triathlon and cut over 13 minutes off my time from my Olympic distance race at CapTexTri earlier in the season. At that same race I set a personal record for the 10K (not just 10k's in triathlons). How about the fact that I learned more about nutrition this year than I ever have in any competitive arena I have been in. I learned exponentially about training techniques and how to optimize training days. I even learned more about bike maintenance than I even wanted to know.

Now for the negative. Its hard to find the bad in this season. I stayed injury free except for the nagging shoulder problem. I did find out that it is Arthritis of my AC Joint and I also have a Labral tear. I have always had problems but this year it has been nagging me constantly because of the increased training. I was going to have surgery but a physical therapist friend talked me out of it until I can spend some time with a PT and see if I can fix it that way. That is it for the bad this season. I just cannot find any thing to complain about. i am sure next year I will be complaining more because I will have this season to compare to.

There are many goals to set and many improvements to make for next season but I am not starting those until after this weekend and the Longhorn HIM. I cannot wait until the race this weekend and I also cannot wait until it is behind me.

Not the typical race report

2008-09-05T18:30:00.000-07:00

It has been 4 days since the Austin Tri and I was actually able to get away from work for a few days because of a conference in Dallas. This means that I had a lot of time to think back on my race.

I will begin by saying I met my goal. I wanted to drop 10 minutes of my time from the Cap Tex Tri and I did that with no problem. All three disciplines were PRs. This was a great sign that my training has been paying off. I also finally broke onto the awards podium, placing third in my age group. This is exciting, it gives me just that much more confidence in my training and my talents (however big or small). The two negatives were that my bike leg was only 2 minutes faster than at the Cap Tex Tri and T1 was horrible (about 3:30) I thought that I was faster on the bike but ended up about the same as 3 months ago. Maybe this is good because my run leg was the fastest I have ever done in a race of any kind. If I went out faster on the bike I might have been dead on the run. That is something to play with.

Anyway, the reason that I entitled this entry " Not your typical race report" was because as I thought about the race, I thought about what I think about during a race. Below are my observations.

Swim: During the swim I think about several things. I start out trying to control my breathing and not allowing myself to go out too fast. I don't want to waste any energy trying to beat everyone in the first 500M. A friend of mine told me once, remember that you can't win a triathlon during the swim. My goal is to stay close to the front but winning the swim is not a big deal. After the first 500M or so my thoughts turn to stroke efficiency. I concentrate on a good pull and steady breathing. After that I try to sight in on someone in my wave that is close to me and either pass them or or at least stay close. This has worked out well so far. I always come out of the water in the top 10 of my age group.

Bike: During the bike I try to maximize my average speed without killing my legs too early. I also pick up my race at this stage by sighting someone in front of me, typically about 1/4 mile ahead, and try to pass them before going on to the next person. In the back of my mind all the time though I am always real nervous about getting a penalty for drafting so I try to keep conscious of this rule the entire time on the bike. During the bike I race a lot against others and really try to pass as many people as I can. Something I have not figured out is how to pace myself on the bike so that I don't kill myself on the run. I have a feeling that I am holding back on the bike and my body could take it if I went faster.

Run: The run is a different animal all together. The run for me has two different parts. For the first few miles it is all about finding my legs and passing as many people as possible. Then as I settle into a nice pace my mind wanders. I start thinking about work, or my "honey do" list. Periodically I will check my watch and see if I am on pace for whatever goal I have set for the race. Sometimes I tend to look around and take in the sights. As the race draws to a close ( maybe the last 1-2 miles) I will zero in on my pace and pick up my speed. I will then pick out someone in front of me, usually several hundred yards, and pass them. Then if time allows I will do it again. The final 200 yards is usually an all out sprint.

I don't think that I have figured out how to manage my races yet so that I can develop a winning strategy instead of a survival strategy. I think in the off season I should do a few duathlons and play with managing the run and bike portions.

The Greatest Olympian Ever!! Really?

2008-08-27T10:52:00.001-07:00

There was a posted question to a forum that I frequent that asked the question. "Can you buy elite athlete status"? The provocation behind the question was the fact that Micheal Phelps won 8 golds and broke 7 world records in the Beijing Olympics. Yet he did it while wearing a $1000 LZR swim suit, etc... This prompted the poster to ask about triathletes who are notorious for spending thousands on bikes that will "make them faster". As I read the responses to the question it got me thinking about the comparisons of athletes from 20 years ago and today. Is one better than the other? Are we as athletes spoiled by technology in today's high tech world?

The short answer is yes and no.

Is Phelps better than Spitz? Is Tiger better than Palmer? Check out this comparison:

http://blogs.wsj.com/numbersguy/phelps-v-spitz-by-the-numbers-396/

I first want to start by saying that it is unfair to compare the past athletes with current ones. Especially when you do it by shear number of medals, or passing yards or baskets in a game. Its like saying that everything is more expensive than it was 20 years ago. That is not an entirely true statement. Any economist will tell you that you have to normalize everything first. Is Favre a better passer that Namath? Maybe by shear numbers but football teams today pass a lot more than they did 20 years ago. It is definitely not an easy question to answer.

The link from the Wall Street Journal above does it just right. It shows that the performances of Spitz and Phelps when compared within the context of their time were almost equal. Maybe not in shear speed but in say margin of win over the second place finisher. Sure if you put the 1972 Spitz in the pool with the 2008 Phelps, Phelps would win handily and that gets down to advances in technology and physiology.

How does this tie into the ability to buy elite status as an athlete? You cannot separate technology from training and taking care of your body. There are breakthroughs in all of it from time to time. At times technology makes a big jump forward and everyone eventually has it making us all faster. Then it reaches critical mass and physiology takes a great leap. then we all learn the new training technique and nutrition breakthroughs so it reaches a critical mass, and so on.
I would bet that if you compare all the athletes than raced against Phelps the technology they use, food they eat, and the training plans they are on are all real close. If that is the case then you have to get down to who has more heart, who skipped that one workout and who didn't, who had that McDonald's hamburger one day when they shouldn't have, and most of all who has the most natural talent. Minor differences but important non the less.

If Phelps had a secret technological advance in his suit it would not take long before everyone had it and the playing field would be even again. If Phelps found a new training technique, before long everyone would use it.

Price is subjective and almost irrelevant. If you want to be a pro you know that you have to spend 30+ hours a week training. If you want to be a pro you know you have to have the latest bike technology. Either way if you want to be a pro that badly you are going to find a way to train the same and afford the stuff. The real question is, How dedicated to the dream are you? I know pros that drive a car that costs less than their bike. They are dedicated to their dream.
A pro on a entry level road bike would not last long because everyone else had faster equipment. That same pro also knows that the carbon frame that they ride is not much better than an entry level bike if he or she does not put in the hours or become meticulous about technique.

NO, elite status cannot be bought. There is no equalizer as true as training.

The Trilife

2008-08-22T11:01:00.000-07:00

Triathlon can be a lonely sport if you let it. I was thinking as I rode alone today that I spend much of my training time working around family and work obligations. This means that matching my schedule to a training partner or trying to meet the schedule of a training group is near impossible. Sure there are running groups, swimming groups and cycling clubs, but how often do I find my training schedule matching with one of them? I am OK with this most of the time. To me, training, especially on the long runs or swims, is like therapy. I can be alone with my thoughts, whether they be about my training or about the bad day that I had at work. It calms me. I can mentally go through my next race, mentally watch myself go through the steps of each discipline, or just pretend that I am on the last stretch of road in Kona and I can see the finish. About the only time that I long for company is on those long rides. You can't socialize when you swim and if you are holding a conversation while you run, are you really running? On the bike though, you could easily spend 3 to 4 hours riding and it is hard to push yourself for that long when you are alone. Sure, this is how it will be in a race, but it is hard to put your self in a race mentality when training, especially for 3+ hours.

And what about the races? They can be lonely too. Typically I get to the transition area before dawn and the gun goes off just as the sun comes up. My family often finds it impossible to come and watch. By the time my wife gets the kids out of bed and out the door, finds parking, and a decent spot to watch the race I am at least halfway done. Then to top it off they see me pass by on the bike or the run for a few seconds. If they are lucky they will catch a glimpse of me for a minute in transition. Sure, it is comforting to hear the cheers of the strangers that have made it to the race, but it is more motivating to see your own friends and family as you pass by.

My friends have all but stopped inviting me out. They know I will just make excuses about having to get up at 5AM for my morning workout. The guys at work look at me like I'm crazy when I tell them it was a 15 mile ride to work this morning or I forgo lunch at the local burger joint to get an extra 30 minutes of running in.

So as triathletes what are we to do? Are we relegated to a hermit life (only if we want it)? There are networks of people; local tri clubs, Internet forums, even dating services specifically for triathletes. Combining our love/obsession for triathlon with our longing to socialize is about the only way to get by these days. We have to make an effort to become involved with a club, volunteer at a local triathlon and meet people and make a concerted effort to spend time with training groups. Eventually we surround ourselves with those like us, those that share our pain (literally sometimes). In my opinion being a triathlete means living a new less travelled path and it may mean that our daily interactions, and friends are forced to change. Sure it is lonely on some days, and I know that my old friends have not abandoned me completely (there is still the off season). Besides, if this does not work out I can always become a couch potato. Then the TV can be my friend.