Tri My Will

Above is a picture of me, Dan Benintendi 15 short months ago. I weighed 400 pounds, with a 56” waist, size 5XL shirt, size 22” dress shirt, and as miserable as could be. I made a decision to change my life the day my wife told me she felt like a single mom because I had no ambition or desire to do anything except sit around and eat. January 14th 2008 I had Gastric Bypass Surgery and truly feel like that was the day I was given another shot at living life again. I began to exercise for the first time in 15 years. I fell in love with running, fell in love with “Spin Class”, and fell in love with swimming. All these things equaled Triathlon! 9 months after surgery, I competed in my first Sprint distance and completed it in 1:33:--, one month later I competed in another Sprint distance and finished in 1:13:--. I began to believe I could truly do anything I set my mind to so I registered for the Run The Rock 26.2 mile marathon in Dallas, and exactly 11 months after surgery completed it in 4:53:17. I then registered for The Cowtown 26.2 mile Marathon in February and completed that in 4:23:01. I began to grow to love endurance sports and had such a desire to do Ironman, that I registered for 5 events this year. I completed Florida 70.3 in 6:15:15 on May 17th, am registered for Buffalo Springs 70.3 in June, Louiseville 140.6 Full in August, Augusta 70.3 in September, and 70.3 Texas Longhorn in Austin in October. I am so excited for the future, and so grateful to be able to call myself an athlete… Who would have thought? 15 months… From Super Morbidly Obese to Triathlete and Endurance Junkie! To learn more about me and my story visit http://www.trimywill.com/ and to learn about my epic swim next year that will begin in Spain and end in Africa next year visit http://www.swimfromobesity.com/ . Thanks to all those who have supported me through my journey, and thanks to Brent for helping me find my true potential as an athlete.

Feeling Fresh

I am feeling super fresh since getting sick in Florida. Racing sick set me back a few days but a few days in bed i was able to get my strength back and have a productive long weekend of training. My head doesn't feel like i was partying with Belgium Classic winner's anymore so that is good.(bad Joke!) Tom Bonnen is still an awesome cyclist. I even got to watch the Texas State Crit Championships which raced right past where i am living and cheer on a good buddy Josh!

The next two week are probably going to be my hardest block since Maui to get ready for the Kansas, Buffalosprings70.3 double in June. So i am super excited to thrash some intensity and get the work done. Stay tuned for a very inspirational storey i am going to post on my blog about an athlete that is getting it done. The PGA tour is in town at the Colonial this upcoming weekend, unfortunatly i have 3 workouts both day's so unless i secretly go for my long run along the golf course i may not get to see any action. Check out one of my training mates new websites which will be live soon- www.justinparkracing.com

Hindsight is 20/20!

This morning I raced the Florida 70.3 and you know how they say hindsight is 20/20, well I concur. My hindsight is telling me that I should have never raced in the first place. However, I was so eager to race and start my season because my training has been going so well, that I kept ignoring all the signs that were so blatantly posted in front of my face (and teeth) and set my mind on racing.

After a rough week with my crash, losing my teeth, spending hours in a dental chair getting my teeth put back together, and visiting my chiropractor to help with the stiffness from the crash I tried to remain focused for my first race of the season which was set to take place in less than 1 weeks time. I had a couple of key sessions throughout the week and although I was stiff and sore still managed to fight through them. The day before my flight to Florida I started sneezing and coughing and felt a little tickle in the back of my throat, however completely ignored all thoughts that I may have a cold coming on.

I loaded up on Echincea and boarded my flight to Florida. When I arrived in Florida I felt a little bit of a sore throat. This is when I started thinking to myself that I may have a cold coming on. The day before race day I bought a  large supply of cough drops and took them every hour just trying and praying to kick whatever was starting before I got the start line.

Waking up race morning was brutal. I had to peel myself out of bed, which is definitely never like me. I felt like I had been hit by a truck, I had no energy, no voice and one killer sore throat. However, denying all excuses I thought to myself you'll feel fine once you start the race. Well, was I ever wrong, yet again! Throughout the entire race I had no energy, my throat was burning with every exhalation and I was fading fast. Early on in the bike I switched to survival mode, my only goal was to finish the race.  On the run, I thought so many times to myself "I don't think I'm going to make", however whether or not I was going to drag myself to the finish line , I had to at least have the gratitude of finishing my first race of the season; as a DNF may have been an even bigger disappointment for me. So, I did just that struggled with every footstep and made it to the finish line, disappointed of course.

Overall, this was a sad start to my season. I know I am much more physically fit that I was last year at this race yet my results do not demonstrate this.  In hindsight, today may not have been an optimal race day for me, however after committing to it,  a race it was. And no matter how you finish in a race you constantly learn from it, so I guess I will take it and learn from it. My next race will be Kansas 70.3.  

Thanks for reading,

Florida 70.3

Starting to get excited about the weekend. I still have some ugly road rash however my new teeth are nice but my mouth and lip are very sore and drinking cold water takes takes me into zone 5. Ironmanlive.com has coverage and i am wearing #3 i think. Last year i was 7th so i hope to do well, there are a lot of good athletes racing so i am looking forward to testing my fitness. I am staying with Justin so i am excited to kick back and catch up with the big guy. Good Luck to everyone racing this weekend, it will be a blast!

Hello Tooth Fairy!

Watch out for mud on the roads after a rainstorm. Luckily my face took the brunt of the fall today after a threshold bike workout including 2x20mins @threshold power. Luckily i got signed up for Blue Cross before i flew out. I still have over a week till i leave for Florida to hopefully see a dentist. As i picked myself up off the ground i was trying to figure out who was going to freak out the most out of my coach, my mother, or Carley? I was very lucky that it was a quick slide and into the grass so i don't have too much roadrash.

Training Peaks

http://home.trainingpeaks.com/
Check out the User profile write up that is posted. You will see in the first few sentences that my grammar has improved. Okay Carley wrote it but i helped. She did a great job!
I am in Texas now getting ready for a few races and trying to work enough to make a living. I am getting excited for next weekend as i have been itching to race. I even out sprinted a man in a walker to get to the checkout line at the grocery store. I felt bad and let him go ahead even though i clearly won. I cant wait to start racing!