Note To self; Wear Socks! you dumba@#

Yesterday i raced the Praireman Long course triathlon in Grandpraire Texas. It was my first real test to see how my form was starting to look getting for World 70.3 Championships. After a decent 5 week block of training i used the race as a workout to test my fitness. The race started off well, i swam 25:00 for a non wetsuit swim which was fast enough to give me a small lead. I have been swimming allot since nationals because i was afraid my swimming was suffering with all the biking and running i was doing. I blasted the transition and headed out on to the 4 lap bike course (90kms). I was riding scared because i knew Aussie Chris Legh was coming on strong. On the 3rd lap of the bike he caught me and rode behind me for a little while before launching an attack that I wasn't going to try and hold on to as it was hot and humid and i knew the run course was going to be very hot. I ended up averaging 25mph which is faster than 40kph so i have defiantly improved my riding over the last 5 weeks but i still have some work to do. Coming off the bike my plan was to murder myself on the run and try and make up the time that Chris put on me on the last lap of the ride. I had a quick transition not putting socks on and i payed the price. After about 1mile of running in 95degree humid temperatures my shoes where soaked from dumping water over my head and the entire run was very painful. I didn't catch Chris and my run time was not what i predicted however the course seemed long as Chris's time on the run seemed long as well. When i crossed the line second in 4:08 a little off my sub 4hours i wanted to go, i quickly took off my shoes where paramedics needed to look after my feet. The inside triathlon interviewer described my feet similar to Prefontaine at NCAA championships after running with stitches. I defiantly lost allot of blood and quickly needed them bandaged up. I am in tremendous pain today and the next couple of days will be devoted to light training and allot of fake skin. I am happy with the race i have made up huge gains in my fitness and i am swimming now like i should have been all season. I am also very happy with being able to average well over 40kph for the 90kph bike in hot and windy conditions. I still have a lot of time left before worlds my next race will be The lifetime fitness US Open Triathlon in Dallas later in October. Once i track down a digital camera i will take a picture of my feet to blog. You can check out results at http://www.doitsports.com/newresults3/client/59152_211890_2007.html