Great weekend of training, off to Lubbuck for Buffalo springs 70.3 later in the week. Carley and i started watching Dexter. Were addicted to the series already.

Kansas Recovery

Recovering from Kansas! 1$ dollar hot dogs at the Rangers Game. The new Cowboys Stadium looks awesome in the pic above.

Training has been light the past few days so i have been trying to log some hours at work.
I hope watching Baseball isn't as bad as watching a triathlon.

Kansas 70.3

Yesterday I raced Kansas 70.3. I had some GI problems on run and was forced to stop 4 times at the outhouse. I got off the bike in 9th and was excited for a good fast run coming off the bike with Simon Thompson(Olympian), Andrew Hodges, and James Hadley. After 1 mile i knew that my stomach was going to bring down my day. Those guys ran into 6th and 7th, which is disappointing for me moving backwards. Congrats to James Cotter for throwing it down and coming 4th. I think i was 12th pro but i know they are having problems with results and timing. Things happen and i am happy that i am cycling stronger setting myself in striking range of a top 5 performance. Getting off the bike i knew that i would be under 4 hours with a good run so things are starting to come along and i forced myself to jog it out in a 4:07 and finish the race. The next two weeks i will be taking a look at my nutrition and i will try to figure out what is causing the problem. Kansas 70.3 was a great venue with lots of challenging parts, and i hope i have to opportunity to race there again. My next race will be Buffalo Springs 70.3 June 29th.

" You sure your alright? You sure your not coming down with something?"
" I am fine. This peakedness kind of goes with the territory. I forgot how much training is sort of like being ill."
Dobie, blond head cocked like a parrot, tried to discern if he was kidding or not.

He wasn't. He had misplaced the memories of physical uproar caused by the kind of schedule he'd been keeping. He would describe it as an ongoing delicate brutal dance, the pushing of your body right up to the edge, close to injury, to collapse day after day. As he had approached and then surpassed a hundred miles a week, it had all come back to him: the night sweats, the muscles twitching in bed like different wild animals somehow alive to him, the searing panicky thirsts out of nowhere, the random cravings for pickled beets, chicken-fried steak, artichoke hearts, herrings in sour cream, carrot juice. Just in general feverish nervous physical anxiety that seemed to animate a blob of protoplasm vibrating itself into a higher state of physical grace. It did indeed seem to have something in common with pregnancy or illness. (Again to Carthage, John L. Parker, Pg.208.)

Awesome book, The sequel to Once a Runner!

Finished up a big week and weekend and i am enjoying a rest day today. Last week was good and hard, and i even got a few days of work in for my parents.. I am getting excited about Kansas in 2 weeks, but first i must get through another big week, Carley will be in town as well writing a us exam to allow her to practice down here in Texas. The weekend was tough but, i think the heat and humidity was more of a battle.

Saturday- Hard threshold Swim with 10x150 on2mins @ race pace, good to be swimming long course again, however trying to keep up to masters swimmers with paddles was tough but it forced be to push, On to the bike for 3.25hour with 2 intervals one being 45mins, the second being 30mins @ threshold power, (okay it was starting to get hot.) Off the bike for 30minutes @ my goal race pace in 90degree, and 30mins of laying in the grass hydrating and stretching wondering if i was alive still.
Sunday- 13mile run am, it was hot and i saw runners standing under trees off the trail pouring liquid over there heads. I am glad i am starting to get used to the heat again but hydration is very important. Thanks to Chance who saved me at one point and threw me a bottle from his bike while i was out running. It was tough running along the golf course and not stopping in to watch. A swim session in the middle of the day and another little run later in the afternoon along the golf course. After a little ice bath i headed back to the golf course to watch the last couple of holes and the play off, awesome finish to the weekend.

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,