In Ontario

Back in Ontario till Drummondville ITU Panamerican Cup. Also serving as our Elite National Championships this year. Training has been going fairly well, i seem to be recovered from my bonk at Vineman 70.3. Post Race Nutrition and Ice baths, massages and defiantly my compression tights by skins helped me recover from the race. On Thursday i flew up to Canada everything was well. Friday was our first annual sales meeting in Canada at the manufacture so there was some good training and lost of rest well i sat in some meetings, it was also great to spend the weekend with my girlfriend Carley who i only get to see once a month or so a little more lately.

Friday was a little hour run with some tempo work and then at night a 4k swim with a 1000m TT in a pool full of kids at a open swim at the YMCA. Its the last time i try and go to swim during the open pool swim. The TT went well Carley was there to give me splits, however i could still feel the aches and pains of training all week after a hard race on the weekend. I manage to hold under 115 pace which is okay based on the little kids and foam noodles i was dodging as well, as my googles came down on the dive. So all in all it was a good workout, and it was good end to the day, plus i had a bad ass bloodshot eye, that left me with blurred vision the rest of the night. I wonder what type of chemicals they put in the pool up here.
Saturday was my recover day of the week, usually not the case but i had to plan my training around the recover of the race and as well as the flights i had so saturday was a easy day of training and some more business meetings at a first class resort. Lots of great food and a boat cruise in the afternoon on the muskokas wasn't a bad day at the office. The rest of the weekend consisted of a 2.5hour brickworkout and some more core training on Sunday. I was happy with how the week went i managed to get in a lot of quality training the week after a 70.3 series race with two flights during the week.
This week so far training has gone well, i need to make sure i eat enough this week as i am still training at a good pace, and recovery wont happen untill the day or two before the race. Another important reason to eat enough is that Steve told me today if i had implants he would date me, so needless to say putting on a couple of pounds of glycogen wouldn't hurt, and i wont be confused as a chick when iam standing sideways.

Monday(yesterday)- Good swim Workout in the am with a mainset of 5x300m. In the afternoon it was a 50min trot with 5x2mins tempo with 1min easy. Most of the run was on a gravel trail in the heat so it was a good time.

Tuesday am- I had another good swim, with a lot of start speed and pace work, the volume will be coming down this week a little but not enough to fully recover.

The mainset was a good one:

6x50m on 50 d1-6

4x50m fast on 1min

100ez

2x100m fast

100ez

4x50m start speed on 1min

and i repeated that set twice with a big wu and cooldown.

This afternoon i will be on the bike doing some tempo work. After Drummondville i will be doing a race called hotter than hell. A Texas cycling race that is one of the hardest and hottest races in the country. I am defiantly looking forward to that. The Car at the top is dirty and yes dad it will hold your golf clubs. My dad likes fast cars so Matt and I are pushing for this one.

Bye Bye Bye

Is any one else tired of watching the tour? I sure am, it seems like everyday i watch the tour my favorite rider and the one i am gunning for to hold on, fails a doping test or gets fired from there team. Oh well, maybe next year it will be called the Tour de Gongshow.

Well yesterday afternoons ride went well, roughly 70kms with 10x90seconds extremely hard. I felt like Fabian Cancellara.
At the top i put a picture of yesterdays ride. Well not exactly same bike and about 10kms slower per hour, but i felt fast so that was good. At one point i thought my powertap was on fire i was pushing so much watts but then i realized i had hit a bit of dust on the road and it was dust not smoke coming up in my eyes.

This morning i am off to Canada this morning i did a riper of a workout on the track, 16x400m on 2mins so 45-50seconds rest, all at about 5km pace or faster, it was solid, with a 3mile wu, and 3mile cd. It was 10miles in the fitness bank. I hope that the legs are recovering well from Vineman, however after this am, i am going to need to take some recovery per cautions to make sure i am not shattered next weekend. Hopefully if i arrive with no delays i will have time for a little splash tonight when i get home. I will post in a few days to update on how training is going into nationals, hopefully there wont be too many distractions back home.

Miller Time

Yesterday history was made, very few elite athletes can say they have accomplished this great moment in life, even on the pga tour very few have done this. Miller got a hole in one golfing. Way to go bro! He is my roommate, he is a bad ass guy and lady's i can give you his number just ask. See you Thursday buddy.

Training has gone well since Vineman, Monday i did a little swim in the am in Santa Rosa, and then headed on my long journey home that involved a 2hour shuttle, delay in the airport and a 4hour flight, just to get home after midnight with the time changes.

Tuesday still somewhat of a recovery day, i did a 3.5km technical swim and a 45minute trot to test how the legs are doing from the race, and they seem to be good to go. All the recovery after the race helped!(Recovery shakes,massage,ice bath, and easy spin on racecourse, and all the stretching while i cheered on finishers.) I am going to have to do this after every race.

This morning logged a decent 5k swim, main set was 30x100m i did 4solid and 1fast with short rest. Then it was into 4x200 pull descending for the main set, not too many aches or pains so i am happy to be somewhat recovered from my bonk. Tonight will be a 2hour bike workout with 10x:90 at high wattage. More on that tomorrow. Cheers for now, and another congrats to Miller!

First off i would like to appoligize for my last blog the spelling was terrible, most likely because i had a glass of wine after a race in which i bonked so horribly. I had to try the wine as i
was at Vineman. A few things first before i talk about training, this in the news, very sad: Vino caught blood doping you can read the report at the link on the bottom of this blog.

Next off i am going to add my homestays race report from Vineman, it is a great read and is very motivating, and unless i get hit by a mack truck i am going to make it my goal to finish every race i complete even if it is a bad day. Side note, Thanks Dano you will have to show me how to add peoples blogs to the side so i can throw yours on there i dont know how to do anything on here. I will chat ya at nationals for sure. Cheers.



Vineman 2007: "Regroup and Refocus"
I am sitting here today still bleeding after completing what was one of the hardest physical undertakings of my life. Despite a day riddled with Murphy-the man kept following me around--and unexpected challenges, I managed to successfully complete my eight month journey and finished my first 70.3 Ironman! Not only did I finish but I met my goal time spot on, and left nothing out on the course save for some skin, blood, a
little bit of pride, and a pair of sunglasses. Read on for the gory
details... :-)
"Go-day" was an early start with a 3:45AM wake-up. Brent Poulsen, the bad-ass professional triathlete from Canada who was staying with me, had a 6:25AM start time. We needed to be at the race sight early for some warm up. We arrived at the Johnson's Beach a little before 5AM in the dark. Except for some of the other professional athletes and the volunteers no one was there. I can say that I was a neat experience for me to be so close to the athletes who grace the covers of the magazines.
It was wild walking into the transition area with my bike while Michellie Jones, the current Women's Full Ironman World Champion comes
jogging past me on her warm up run. Even crazier for me to think about
is that she was going to spend about half the time on the course as I was.
I had a lot of time to set up and take it all in as I was in swim wave
#6 which did not start until 7:10AM. So, I spent the time stretching, and running around a bit and generally trying to look intimidating and that I knew what I was doing ("look" being the key word there!) I must admit, when I am in uniform complete with body markings I feel like I do look somewhat authentic. Hopefully my friends here will vouch for me!
Finally after months of hard preparation the announcement was made that swim wave #6 would start in 10 minutes. In a way it was hard to believe that my goal race was only 10 minutes away. Even when I sit here today typing this report, it is still hard to describe the excitement. The best I can say is that the excitement level was very much like the gymnastics days leading up to a big competition.
I was already on the beach when my wave announcement was made. I pulled up my wetsuit, donned my royal blue swim cap, and with goggles in hand
made my way through the starting gates and into the water. Unlike the
Wildflower race earlier this year Vineman is a water start instead of a shore start. Luckily the wetsuits add buoyancy. It was kind of funny when I turned around and saw a sea of little blue swim caps bobbing up and down in the water. Comment of the morning from the guy floating next to me: "we must look like a bunch of giant, blue condoms floating up and down out here". We all laughed and then the horn sounded and we were off.
The swim part went well for me. I ended up swimming slow and steady as this was only my second open water experience. I still have fears of starting out with fury and then running out of gas in the middle of the water. I don't think that this would really happen but I admittedly have not done many threshold miles in the pool to test myself here.
So, I stuck to my plan of slow and steady. This time out I also wanted to be right in the middle of the pack instead of at the back to get a real experience of having loads of athletes swimming around me. I am proud to say that I am no longer intimidated by this. I did my share of swimming over top of, elbowing, and kicking people. It was awesome! I really didn't have much concept how far 1.2 miles of swimming is. In the pool it is easy because I can count my laps and do the math in my head-gives me something to do. But, in the open water I find that I don't have much concept for time or distance. All I remember is that after what seemed like an unbelievable amount of time swimming, I thought was at the turn-around buoy only to find that I had to keep going straight. Finally, I made it to the turn-around and was on my way home. I did pick up the pace on the second leg of the swim. I finished strong and ran out of the water to my bike where the fun began...
The bike transition was like a comedy act for me. I must have looked ridiculous while desperately trying to find the cord to my wetsuit zipper. I was spinning around in circles like a dog chasing its tail with my arms flailing over my head. Note to self for next time: fold up the chord and secure it in the Velcro neck piece of the wetsuit so you can easily find it. So much for a quick T1 swim-bike transition.
After spinning in circles and getting my wetsuit unzipped, I then took a header while trying to pull it off my waist. I lost my balance, fell in the gravel and was then on my back violently yanking with all my might
at my left leg. Yes folks, there is nothing intimidating about me, I
really don't know what I am doing but at least I am having fun! It is too bad that no body got this whole scene on video (or maybe someone did and I will be in next week's You-Tube top 5.) The wetsuit was somehow stuck on the timing chip which was wrapped around my ankle. I managed to calm down and get it sorted out and separated myself from the wetsuit. I threw the wetsuit on the rack, gave it a stern stare and mumbled "until next time" and I was off. I was hopeful that my clown act in T1 would be the roughest part of the day. Little did I know what was in store for me a few seconds ahead.
I ran out of the transition area, to the bottom of a short hill, got on my bike only to find that my bike was in a monster gear and that I could not possible peddle it up this hill. Note to self: always make sure bike is in easy gear before racking. Meanwhile I look over and see Liz and Ilyce smiling at me and giving me the thumbs up while I look like a complete moron trying to get on the bike. I did manage to get on and get my feet clipped in while narrowly escaping falling down several times. (for those who are not cyclists, there is nothing more embarrassing than not being able to unclip from your peddles and just helplessly falling over when you stopped) I slowly pump my way up this short hill. I think that all my problems are over. I am up the hill.
I can breathe and start to go. Well, I am still getting situated on my bike at this point and am not "in the moment" yet. I am just starting to pick up some speed and I glance down at my chain ring to see where I am. I look up only to find that I am heading straight for a curb!
Damn! I managed to bounce off the curb, knock my chain off and found myself for the first time on the ground. How embarrassing. The bike race really hadn't even begun yet and I have already fallen off. I should have known that it was a foreshadow of things to come. The day was just not starting out well and it was the first of many times when I said to myself "no problem. Regroup and refocus and move on." Lucky for me, I managed embarrass myself right in front of a NorCal Bike Mechanic. He can running over and put my chain back on in record time,
did a quick once over on my bike and sent me on my way. Then, the fun
really began.
I am still in disbelief on how fast I raced the bike course despite the setbacks. I guess my calculated nutrition plan that Brent helped me put together and my new aerobars were really working. I literally ended up going 3 miles per hour faster than on any of my training rides. I averaged 19.2 mph for 56 miles! I just can't put into words how pleased I am about this (and I could have gone faster!) I am now actually wondering if the spectators could even see me or if I was just a blur!
I was passing everyone and not getting passed a lot in the meantime.
Everything felt great. I was really enjoying the ride. I actually didn't want it to end. I had never been so comfortable and in the zone
on the bike as I was on Sunday. I think that I passed about 50 people
while climbing Canyon Road. Everything was going great and then disaster. I just entered Alexander Valley and had covered about 35 miles. I was on a flat, long straight away and really cranking hard.
Then, without warning, I was down in a baseball slide on my side, leaving a trail of skin and blood on the pavement behind me. I was a little bit in shock when I stopped sliding. But, in true Lance Armstrong fashion, did a quick self and bike assessment, determined that we were both very lucky and OK. I said to myself again, "Regroup, refocus, and move on" and was off. I was back on the bike and peddling furiously while profusely swearing at myself. I again passed everyone who passed me while I was down all while leaving a trail of blood, and somewhere my sunglasses, behind me.
I finished the bike in awesome fashion. I was estimating starting the run about 11:20AM. Despite my challenges, I was out of T2 at 10:52!
Unbelievable! I felt so good. The most memorable part about running out of T2 was seeing the look on the spectator's faces as I came running by with my very bloody left arm-which was at the time freshly dripping again with each arm swing. I had more people pointing at me the facial expressions were priceless. It was great. I felt like a warrior in a battle.
I ran my first mile in 8:38. I really surprised by this as I was not pushing myself. I jest felt really good. I immediately backed off to
8:45 in mile two and then 9:00 in mile three. My strategy was to run the first half in 9 minute miles and the second half in about 10 minute miles. Things were going well but it was hot-and I mean hot. The temperature still was not sinking in yet. I said to myself "I have this in the bag. I am going to easily run this in and absolutely crush my goal time." I was on pace to break 6 hours which would be unreal for a big first race! This was the kiss-of-death thought and could not have been farther from the truth. For those of you who have never participated in an endurance event, let me tell you it is amazing how fast things can turn for the worst. Within a mile of my positive thought about finishing, my world started to rapidly crumble around me.
I began to think about the heat, I was actually drinking way too much and not the right stuff. I was cramping up and I felt dangerously overheated. There was no escaping the sun on the run course. We were totally exposed to 95 degrees, cloudless skies, and zero wind for all 13 miles. It was like running in an oven. You could actually see the heat radiating up from the black asphalt. I tried to take my mind off of the heat by thinking cold thoughts. In fact, I began to envision everyone on the course as penguins and that we were running in Antarctica. No dice. Although it was funny envisioning a bunch of Emperor penguins in triathlon uniforms waddling down the street. Had the race gone on for much longer than 13 miles I would have definitely hallucinated this scene! In the end, I ended up walking/shuffling about 40% of the course. I was very fit to run (just completed a 1:53 training half marathon 4 in Alaska weeks ago) but I was totally unprepared for the heat and did not have a proper nutrition plan. This is a BIG note-to-self for next time.
The run course provided me with some of most painful miles of my life.
I could barely run let alone walk due to cramping. I desperately wanted out of the sun, and I had virtually nothing left in me--the gas tank was empty. Luckily for me, Brent came and found me at aid station 8 and rode his bike next to me for a few miles while offering encouragement and advice. (He is a stud and finished in a little over 4 hours in the professional wave--and qualified for World Champhionships! Way to go
Brent--I expect podium in November!) My bloody arm, of all things,
apparently was an inspiration to others. Several people walked with me for a while and made comments like "Seeing you gives me and attitude adjustment. You're an inspiration. I thought I was having a bad day."
Well people, glad I could help. Let's raise the roof for Tom and his bike crash!
The last mile: I started to run again at mile 12 after having
completely walked the previous 2 miles. Let me say that I was sort of running. I couldn't really flex my right foot because my calf was cramping badly; my hamstrings were shot. But, I was still going to do this and "run" it in. Again, when I got close to the school and finish line I became a big conversation piece to the gawking spectators. This time I was not looking so strong, was covered in dried blood on my left side, was half limping/running, and looked real strung out. It was never a better sight to see the finish line. I slowly ran through it raised my arms in victory. I could barely walk. I badly needed food and I felt like I was a few steps away from completely hitting the deck.
The best thing about finishing-other than finally being done-was seeing
my friends at the finish line. Luckily Liz was volunteering at the
finish line. She immediately saw me, grabbed me and I literally collapsed on her. I wanted to cry but was really not capable of producing any tears. The only moisture running down my face was from the cold water being sponged on my head and neck. Many thanks Liz for supporting my dead weight and ensuring that I didn't end up face down on the finish line. My other friend Leigh was there with cold waters and a PowerBar recovery shake. Let me tell you, that the PowerBar recovery shake was like getting shot of adrenalin. Within a minute of ingesting I felt human and coherent again. I had my photo taken in front of the Ironman backdrop and it was off the medical tent to cleaned up. As I was being escorted to the medical tent, one of Liz's friends called to ask how I did. I overheard Liz saying, "I'm really not sure how he did.
We haven't talked yet. He literally just finished. He collapsed into my arms. He's really bloody and we're taking him to medical." I smiled at her answer as I slowly ambled to the tent and thought, "I did great.
This warrior battled valiantly today and finished with no regrets. I have survived and will come back next year to battle again." I will learn from this experience and next year I will run this course 1 hour faster and will finish in the top 50 in my age group. Enough said.
Overall synopsis: WOW! Triathlon is an amazing sport. It demands your all and then asks for more. I gave it my entire effort on Sunday and finished under my own power. I have been searching for years to find a hobby to replace the void of gymnastics and I believe that I have finally found it. This race is not an end point but rather a beginning for me. I do plan to continue racing, making friends, and using this as a new vehicle and excuse to see the world. I know that I'll never be as fast as the professionals but this sport for me is not about racing others but about racing yourself; constantly pushing your own personal boundaries and limits, making new friends, and inspiring others along the way. I have managed to do all of this over the past eight months and am looking forward to more of it in the future. Now it's time again to regroup and refocus...
Thanks to all for the kind thoughts and words of encouragement over the past few months. The next big race report will begin with "I crossed the finish line feeling good..." :-)
Tom


http://www.velonews.com/tour2007/details/articles/12910.0.html

bonk, flat, Manage to get a worldchampionships spot

Here is how the race endup. It was definatly and intersting learning experience and a character builder at that.


The goal for the swim was to hit it with Paul Amey, Brian Lavalle, and Luke Bell and Craig Alexander i knew the beginning was going to go out hard. It went out hard but i swam well and swam with the lead group for the swim, we excited the water i had a good quick transition and noticed my self riding with the best in the sport. Definatly a big pro field with lots of athletes who have been past worldchampions.


I managed to hang in there, and ride at the back of the pace line of the main pack thinking if i can stay here for a while i will be good to go, but i knew these boys could ride, specially with Chris Leito and Tj Tollankson who are definatly strong riders. About 10miles into the ride, i went down to get a shot from my flask and it was gone, i was devistated, so much for getting on the nutrition early, all i had was a bottle with cytomax in it. My flask holder was twisted to the side and the bumpy roads must have caused it to bounce around and fall off. So needless to say it was going to be a hard 90km ride with hind and hills. I kept telling my self to harden the fu$ck up everytime i got tired but slowly i was off the main group, which was fine however i fell off pace. Not sure at what point in the ride but Paul Amey passsed me and i was like sweet i can pace off him and stay motivated, but continuously the rest of the pro field blew by me by 3 quarters into the ride, i was slowly starting to bonk. MY plan for the bike was to get in 5 shots of energy with roughly 90cals each and the rest of my cals from liquid however, i had nothing.





Now here is where it gets interesting, i have bonked in workouts but i was starting to suffer bad nothing this bad, i quickly went from riding 40kph to probalby 30kph, definatly in trouble my calories only came from aid stations from gatorade. I had a light breakfast because i was worried about having stomach problems however i knew i should be fine from the week of eating. Towards the end of the ride i was pretty much riding with my time trial helmet resting on my bars, i was in a dangerous state, and just to make my ego get dropped, Michelle Jones goes whipping by with the rest of the pro men who hadent past me yet. I pretty much asked everyone if they had extra nutrition but no takers. Soon enough Sam Mcglone went buy and said come on bud, and when i say blowing by i was riding so slow by this point. If there was a pizza pizza on the bike i would have stopped and gone in and taken the time to fuel up with the half marathon in front of me. The rest of the 8miles left my wheel was making funny sounds and i was all over the road, still bonking i didnt pay too much attention because i thought T2 was very close, yeah wrong again 8miles is far, when ur bonking and there is no air in your tire when i entred T2 and examining it after the race it wasnt the coggs making the noise it was riding on a rim. SO needless to say i was at the end or sort of an end to the pro field men. Well it was plan B time to have a fast run.


I knew i had to do something because there is no way that i could let 2 worldchampion woman beat me, even though they were the bomb of the sport i just couldnt except it and i charged out of T2 first trying to peg off the woman. I felt really light running probably because i was on empty. By mile 4 i got michelle and by mile 6 i caught sam, so i had a decent first run, i recon close to 3:30pace, so that was good, i ran with sam for a while chatting about old times in vic and funny stories, i figured i would run with sam for awhile then decend the way home, and catch some more men that where struggling. The run with Sam kept my mind off how bad i was zig zagging and bonking. We chatted about how my turcoise race suit was bringing sexy back, and we talked about Justin Timberlake Jeans, and then there was some comments about my small calves, but we wont talk about that, i still dont believe they are smaller than the womans fields, however they may be after i lost all those calories with out replenishment. Running with sam was great we were catching men and she set a new course record on the course, i tried to pick up the pace, and it worked for both of us it pushed sam someore but i started to feel ill, totatly on empty, then it was Sam gone. (*note sam u rock but if you beat me again ever no matter waht i am turning agegroup.) This will force me to toughen up. Where did she go, up the road, as i suddenly came to a hault.


I had completely blown up, even a gel on the run couldnt do anything for what happened to me on the bike, and pushing all the watts trying not too lose toomuch time with a flat taxed me more than i was before.


Well i ran slowly to the finish in about 4:17 caught some more men, and ended up getting a spot for 70.3 worlds in Clearwater, it was devistating i felt like i was going to cry i was hurting so bad, i ran looking up in the air, thinking that something could hit me and put me out of what i was going through.


I learned alot, i learned to carry extra food in case of accidents, when nutrition is so big in longcourse races, i learned, that telling my self to toughen the fuck up actually helped me get by however, with losing so much time to the men because of nutrition and then losing 5 or so minutes riding in on a flat, i realisticly believe i would have been 4hours or under, with out my miss halfs and that my trianing has gone well, considering i blew up and still went 4:17 on this hard course.


Props to Sam and Craig Alexander who had a ripper of a day to win the race. I look forward to some ITU racing and then a build up to 70.3 Worlds where i will be ready to ride with the Worldchampions for as long as i can and barry myself on the run to do the best i can. I also learned no matter how bad of day you are having some one out there is having it worse. And that its not over till its over. I was able to rip out 10k on the beginning of the run and catch some peeps, when i could have called it a day, it may have taxed whatever i had left but i had to take a risk, and i toughened up for it.


After the race, i got afree massage compliments of Sam Mcglone for talking to the massage therapist, also got some free gear because some how me chllen with Sam makes me a big deal, hahaha she is the bomb. I also got on the recovery, had 2 servings of a recover shake and then a massage and then an ice bath on site. Also a spin out on the run to cheer on the age groupers.


Even though i had a rough day and had a horrible time for myself, and was beaten by a Worldchampion female, it wasnt as bad as the day my home stay Tom was having.



Racing is second triathlon ever he crased on the bike, and manged to gut it out through the run, i cheered him on for the last few miles while i rode beside him, and he finished the race which is incredable. He only finishes to find out that his wetsuit is gone,and he just purchased it. My day also wasnt as bad as the racers that are out racing till 7pm tonight while i sit and chill and write this blog.


Anyways i have written enough. I appoligize to my sponsors and friends and coachs, we were hoping for a big finish here, next time i will take extra food so incase i loose some i still have a back up. I look forward to racing in Quebec hopefully the legs can come around, and then spending a few weeks in texas training while Carley is down. By the way Car i got you a sick pink vineman runningshirt.

Hope everyone had a good weekend, remember to pack extra fuel, nutrition is the key to sustained energy over longcourse racing. Its better to pack a little extra food then start crying looking for your mommy to make things feel better.

Badass

Last night i arrived in California. After a late shuttle from SanFran to Sanoma County Airport in SantaRosa i finally arrived at 1:15am, 3:15 of my current time zone. Pretty shattered my excellent homestay picked me up and took me to his amazing place just down the street from where Levi Limphimer lived and trained, pretty Badass. However not as badass as this coffee place i ran into.

After a nice sleep in and a steller breakfast i headed to the race course with Tom who was a former gymnast at PennState, who is doing his second triathlon ever the 70.3 Race tommorow. We did a litlte 30min ride with some pickups went for a trot and did a little splash in the river we are racing in tommorow.
After we headed to the race course, lucky know one is here i should be albe to walk a way with a victory, just joking however Craig Alexander, Luke Bell, and Paul Amey just to name a few of the top racers and worldchampions of the past may steal that away from me hahaha. The last race in lubbuck 70.3 i was able to swim and ride with Paul the hole time so iam hoping tommorow i can step up the ride and hopefully have a little more on the run, if i can keep any of these excecellent Aussies in my site i will be happy. What i am saying is i hope i dont see them at the start of the gun and that is all.

The race meeting was long and boring however sitting with Cliffy and Sam really made for a good time, the race really smelt like up dog though? Whats up dawgg you say ? not much dawgg whats up with you! haha old Victoria joke.

Since all i did was sleep today it was already time for dinner the time flyed by. Tom and i went to a pretty cool itilian place in Santa rosa for some penne. Anyways this week i have topped off the glycogen i hope that has been depleted for so long with all the weeks of training and racing, that i am going to put away the water wings and step up to the plate! As scott would say.

Well i am off to bed, i am pretty tired after my trip here yesterday. I am trying to think of the quote that william shakespeare told me one day " Some are born Great and some achieve greatness..."

Have a great weekend Y'all.(texan) for you all.

Rest Rest Rest

Not much new to report on, i am starting to rest a little bit i have been on the go racing Muskoka, Buffalosprings70.3, NewYork ITU, i have started to rest a little bit for this next one as i hope to Blast Vineman 70.3 on Sunday. you can check out the updates on ironmanlive.com.

It will be my second half ironman and even though i am focusing on olympic distance racing it is a nice mix and alittle change of pace to the normal intensity and draft legal type format of racing.

yesterday was a solid training day a little 4.5k swim in the morning with some race pace 200's, I hoping i am swimming well enough to swim with the leaders without taxing the system too hard in a long race. So i did 6x200m on short rest holding 230s, i feel this is a pretty good 70.3 pace for 2000m. I had a few other sets but nothing really special. Then common theme this week is napping at work. Well i call it work, for the average triathlete sitting at a desk selling gymnastics equipment and sleeping on mats wouldnt be too difficult plus there are no shortage of mats to have a nap on.

Later in the afternoon, i did a 90min ride with some 90second race pace efforts, even though i am starting to feel good i really tried to hold my self back and hit pace exactly for me this will hopefully be 40kph or 24miles per hour. This pace would set me up well for trying to crack the 4hour barrier this weekend. This morning i went for a little 30min trot and did some drills and strides, at this park near where i live, called Trinity Park there are hundreds of miles of gravel or paved trail that run around fort worth to Dallas and around. Its pretty nice scenery along the river and running on gravel or grass is definalty great for the old legs. Anyways tonight i have a flight out of DFW and arrive in San Fransico pretty late, it seems like a i have a cool home stay, so it should be a fun weekend. I will blog more about my adventures in Cali and how the race unwinds.

Have a great weekend.

Back in the Warm Weather

Well not too much to report on, this pick of Vino, reminds me of my race on Saturday in NewYork, except Vino is fast and i am not. I have warmed up being back in Texas, the New York water shocked me so bad that i figure i had borderline hypothermia and shouldnt have started the race especially if i was going to swim the way i did or at least needed water wings to keep me a float while i shivered.
Sunday- i did a 90minute recovery bike/run in ancaster, legs were a bit sore, it gave me a chance to go out with Carley and see her mad biking skills, i am pretty sure she is super strong and she is going to rip up her first duathlon shortly. My flight in to DFW was late and with a late night and a lost bike box, Monday morning was a sleep in and get organized.

This weeks training will be a little lighter than the previous few weeks as i havent rested up much at all, Monday afternoon i did a little recovery run and a logged a light swim workout at night.

Tuesday- Am i hit a pretty good swim with 15x100fast on short rest, feelin good swimming definatly alot better than NY, i am looking forward to nationals to get a decent ITU race swim in. Pm- was some miles on the bike, i am loving the 97degree weather.

And this morning i did a track workout, nothing too crazy a few 1mile repeats at 5min pace, i decided to run in the am because of the heat, 9miles total on the run, felt good running 5min pace so my legs must not be too shattered, the rest of the night will be some icing and tour coverage Tommorow i will hit a solid day of training and then start to rest the body a little before i head to war with Vineman70.3 on sunday. Here is another pic from the tour, poor magnus, this would suck.

Musselman ITU

Yesterday, July 14, 2007, I raced the Musselman ITU triathlon in Geneva NY. It was one of my toughest races of the season so far. The men's field was really big, and because the women started 15minutes before the men, we had to be out of the water 35 minutes before our race started. I warmed up in the water and by the time our race was set to start my body was shaking vigorously trying to keep warm. During the swim I thought I was swimming well and in good position up with the leaders until I got out of the water and realized I was 2 minutes behind the lead pack. I ended up biking by myself and got off the bike near the end of the field. I had a decent run off the bike considering I rode by myself.

Looking back on this race I'm still confused about the swim, but I feel fit and fast so I'm excited to race again soon. I also didn't have much of a rest week because of my upcoming 70.3 series race next weekend.

So overall, I'm going to hang up the ITU bike until nationals and saddle up on the TT bike because next weekend I'm racing a 70.3 race in California in hopes to qualify for 70.3 worlds. I managed to come 9th at my first ever 70.3 series race in Lubbock Texas so I'm excited to see how I do next weekend.

First Post

Hello Everyone i am new to the Blog world, i will use this website to keep everyone updated on how my training and racing are going as well as my journey through life. I am off to Geneva NY, pretty stoked because i am going to see my girlfriend Carley, and spend a fun weekend in NY. Then i will be off to California to race Vineman 70.3 Triathlon, in hopes to qualify for 70.3 worldchampionships later in November. I will keep everyone updated on the journey and definatly a lot of stories along the way. I hope this blogging is easy because i still havent figured out how to put pictures on yet.
Cheers for now