After Christmas

            Merry belated Christmas! Christmas has come and gone, and the training is slowly getting back on track. Not because of anything other than the holiday season. The kids, the family, the general holiday stuff. I've been doing my best at not loosing my mind when I don't get consecutive days of work outs. Although I've gotten on the bike every day for the last 3 days which has been huge lately. I even got out to the pool for the first time since the big snip yesterday morning before work. I woke up late, and only had about 20min of actual pool time, but it was still so very nice. Nothing to hard in the water, and I was mostly just screwing around with the new Finis freestyler hand paddles. They seem pretty cool, and I'll get a full review after I've used them more. They do make you go faster and I got squished into the wall during flip turns since I had so much speed coming into the wall. oops.
            I hope everyone got what they wanted for Christmas. Shawna had the boys order me a new pair of custom goggles, and I'm super stoked to see what they will end up looking like. TYR has a custom goggle program that you can check out HERE At the site, they have 3 different goggles to choose from, but then you get to custom select every color on the goggles, from straps, to eye gaskets, to nose pieces. The boys designed them, and apparently Monkey had to tell Bubbee to settle down on the colors, and that not every color possible needed to be on the goggle. They should be here any time and I can't wait.
The other thing that I got, I didn't even know it existed. It's a transition mat that Tritown had made with their logo on it. It's a neoprene backing, and then the textile front that has the logo and a spot for your name. This is perfect to not only help you find your bike in T1, but also a place to stand and not abuse your wetsuit in the parking lot of T1 or during the open water swims in the park lot after practice. I was super surprised at that gift. Once the goggles come in, I'll post pics of both of them, maybe together.

            Winter has finally come upon us, and we even got a white Christmas in the afternoon on Christmas day. This means more trainer workouts, running on the treadmill, and of course the pool. I don't mind winter, but I just miss being able to get out doors to ride/run. But when it comes to running, I'm going to get outside as much as possible. If it's dry, I'll run. The treadmill just seems to suck the life out of me. I honestly don't think that I've gotten a single run in this entire month with the whole snippy snip procedure. I ran the other day while towing the kids behind me on the sled and used it as a great opportunity to work on my Pose running form from what I've read in the CFE book. It was actually starting to come together and make sense. Dragging the kids behind me was a great resistance and forced me to slow down, but also forced me to increase my lean forward and my knee pull. It was something that was spur of the moment, but I ended up learning a ton about how a really good Pose method feels. Now, if I can only keep it up for some distance with some speed........

Kinetic trainer

                After having multiple issues with my Cyleops magentic trainer, I finally broke down and got a new fluid trainer, the Kurt Kinetic "Road Machine". We get a pretty nice deal on these trainers, and I ended up getting a new bike computer through Kinetic that gives a power reading as well. The power meter is displayed based on your speed while on that fluid trainer. It has an algorithm that it uses to compute the speed into an approx watt reading "for the average cyclist on the average ride". I thought that it would be kind of cool to get and play with. My thinking being that so long as I consistently use that trainer, and that watt meter, any improvements in my training will show up in the watts. It's kind of like using the same scale whenever you weigh in if you're looking to really watch how much weight you've lost.

                  I've been using the Kinetic fluid trainers for a while now. We have permanently at the station, and the guys still bring there's in just to make sure that everyone has a trainer. Some of the guys have the upgraded fluid trainer known as the Rock N Roll trainer because the entire resistance unit is mounted to a rubber bushing before it mounts to the frame, giving you the ability to really rock your bike back and forth like you're sprinting for the finish line. The Rock N Roll is pretty cool, but I have issues with it. First, you need to get your bike pretty well centered on the unit, otherwise you feel like you're leaning to one side or the other. The second thing is that I feel like a bounce a bit on that trainer. As in the rubber bushing causes me to have my back wheel bounce around. Maybe it's because my pedal stroke isn't super smooth (I've been told that I'm a masher on the pedals) but it gets a little annoying. I feel that with the bouncing not all of the power I'm putting out is going to the wheel, it's instead getting eaten up by the bounce.

                 But, back to the road machine version. I really love this trainer. It is very user friendly, and the legs have 4 different hole positions to get the correct, and most stable, position for your bike based on the wheel size. A 700c, 650c, and then 2 other holes for mountain bike with a trainer tire on them. It's a very well thought out design. Once I had the bike on the trainer, getting it locked down and secured is a breeze, and the turn knob to move the resistance unit against the wheel is smooth and very easy to use and tighten. The other awesome feature about the fluid trainer is the silence. The Cycleops trainer was a magnetic, and it was loud. This trainer is quiet. Meaning that we don't have to blast the tv super load just to hear what is being said. I would recommend the Kinetic fluid trainer to anyone.

               The new computer that I bought to give me the watt readings is a fun little toy to have. I've played with the computer on several rides, and it has a few more features than my Cateye Strata computer had. Not only does it have the power meter, it has a separate lap feature so you can time different intervals or rest periods if you'd like. It also has a temp gauge and an indigo light on it. GT now bugs me when we're riding at the station about what his watts are at a specific speed. So now I get to speed up to his speed just so his curiosity is fixed. For the most part, I've been just using the watt meter to see where I'm at, and then I go back to the cadence portion. I'll dial in my cadence and look at my speed, then I'll switch to the power reading and speed. Now I know my power reading and then go back to the cadence. At the end of it all, the computer will tell me my max and average watts, although I don't think that it will separate it into more detailed info like watts per lap. Overall for the price, the computer is pretty good. It's a wired unit, so I know that some people wouldn't bother, but I have an opinion about the wired units. They don't get any interference from outside sources like tv's or heart rate monitors. I had a terrible time with the Cateye getting frozen up from the tv or my heart rate monitor it was ridiculous. No problems now. The wires really aren't that big of a deal for me, I just used electrical tape on the frame to streamline the wires and you don't even really notice it.

If you're in need of an indoor trainer, look no further and buy the kinetic, they rock.

It's the end of the world!

Dec 21, 2012, the end of the Mayan calendar, and some people thought that it meant the end of the world. Of course, nothing actually happened today. The world didn't end, and the zombie Apocalypse hasn't begun either. Instead, enjoy a video from REM.

Back in the saddle

           It's been 10 days since the ol' snippy snip. Yesterday was not a good day down below for most of the day. I don't know if it was the jeans I was wearing or what, but it just wasn't comfortable. I'll spare the main details, but as a guy, you never realize how much your junk moves around during the day doing just the regular things like standing up from a sitting position until something like this happens. Then it's every little movement seems to make them rub the wrong way, or get pinched between your leg and pants. There wasn't a ton of pain, but more of a constant ache and cramp. Every day seemed to be better than the previous day until yesterday. Last night I took some Motrin before we left to go see some Christmas lights at the botanical gardens. By the time I got home, I was feeling really good. Today was the first day that I felt 100%. The only workout I did since the procedure was 3x 5:00 on the swim halo 5 days ago.

        Since I was feeling great, I figure it's about time to get back on the bike and see how it goes. I didn't want to over do it today, so I climbed on with a 30min goal, keeping the heart rate aerobic, and playing with the new cycling computer. The 30 min breezed by and I felt great! Hopefully I will feel great tomorrow too, because I plan on an hour long trainer session tomorrow.

          I've decided that I will take the next 2-4 weeks rebuilding my aerobic base since the last 8 weeks have been all over the place for me work out wise. Once the scab down below falls off, I'll get back in the pool. I thought I'd be courteous to all the other pool users and not go in the pool while I still have a scab on the sack. Call me weird, but I'd be grossed out if I knew that someone else was in the pool with that on there body. So for now, it's going to be some halo work, bike base building, running form drills, and some weights. My goal tomorrow at work is the hour long trainer session and then hopefully get through the programming chapter on the Crossfit Endurance model so I can then plot out my next course of action for training. I got distracted with reading the chapter on run form, but now I'm on track for the programming chapter. I'll let you all know how tomorrow goes, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed!

Club V

Holy cow, it's been 3 weeks or so since I last got on here to talk about how I was still alive. I am still alive, but now I belong to a super exclusive club. Sorry ladies, but this is a guys only club. Like I said, it's an exclusive club, although I know a ton of guys who were in the club before me, so joining was not a huge deal. Well...... it is a big deal, but isn't at the same time. "So what is Club V?" you ask. Well it's the vasectomy club! haha

           Over this last 4 day I went to the doctor and got the snippy snip as I commonly call it. It was just supposed to be a meet and greet with the doc about the procedure and all that stuff. Shawna almost didn't go because it was just the meet and greet. I told her that we should both go so we would hear the same info and we would both be able to ask questions if we had any. We didn't have any questions, and at the end of the talk with the doc, he asked when I wanted to get it done. I said today, since if I waited until next week I would only have 3 days off of work to recoup before having to come back. The doc looked at me "Seriously?," Yeah buddy, if you got time, lets get it on. I turned to Shawna, who was a little shocked, and she was like, ah yeah, I guess. We had talked about getting this done since we found out about the last pregnancy, so it wasn't a shock. Just the timing and the pace of the appointment was kind of shocking. The doc checked the computer schedule and said that we were a go if we could do it right then. After paying my copay, and insurance payment I was in the room getting a shave down.

          The entire procedure went down fairly smooth. The only drugs that I was given was the numbing drug down below (I'm assuming it was Lidocaine) before the procedure started. The only 2 times I had pain, or even any feeling down there was that initial needle stick for numbing me up, and then one other time. The doc had already finished work on the right testicle and had moved onto the left one. He clamped a hemostat on the left side and I felt that one. "Oh," I said. The doc asked if I felt that, and I said yeah. He told me that it was the hemostat clamping onto the Vas Deferens. I told him that my Vas Deferens didn't like it. He removed the clamp, numbed me up some more and then finished his work. I gotta say, it is a little disconcerning to smell the burnt flesh and see the smoke coming from your crotch. First off, the smell of burnt flesh is absolutely horrible. Secondly, the amount of smoke that was coming up was a little alarming. I joked with the doc and Shawna that usually when I see that much smoke I want to suit up and go to work.

         The procedure took maybe 20min, and 5 stitches to complete. I got home and told the kids that they were not allowed to jump on me, or wrestle with me for a week. I also can't pick them up for the first few days following the procedure. I'm now at day 5, and it's slowly feeling better. The original day of the procedure had me walking very gingerly around the house and keeping ice on the area and 800mg of Motrin every 6 hours. Day 2 was better, but still sore. Day 3 and 4 were consecutively better than the previous day. Now at day 5, I'm still feeling it; but it's better. I'm at work today, and trying to just not think too much about it. My left testicle is the sore one, and I'm not sure why. I don't know if it has anything to do with the hemostat or not. Doc said I can't work out for at least a week, and while I feel pretty good, I'm keeping to the 1 week off, and will go from there. I got on the bike today and did some soft pedaling for maybe 10 max while I was trying to get the new bike computer to work and connect with the sensors. There was no pain, but it wasn't comfortable either. Didn't matter that I had my thicker chamois bibs on, or that I was soft pedaling. It just wasn't comfortable.

        So while I can't work out, I've been trying to catch up on some reading about working out. Namely my newest book, "Power, Speed, Endurance: A skill-based approach to endurance training. It is written by the Crossfit Endurance founder, Brian MacKenzie, and basically goes over the basis behind his programming for endurance events and the skills/drills to help you become a more efficient athlete.

          I'm thinking that with how crazy my schedule has been as far as getting workouts in, I should do the intelligent thing. The smart thing would be to really work on form over this off season, knowing that form will ensure longevity in the sport. Being more efficient will ultimately make me a better and faster athlete. The frustrating thing though, is in the short term, it will mean going slower. Slower now, and possibly slower for the next season. Granted I have 25 weeks until the Ironman Boise, which is the official start of the season for me. That's 6 months. I'm thinking that if I take the next 2 months to really work on the skills, I'll still have 4 months to get after the speed and volume of training to be successful. From what I've read so far, the emphasis is on: form, intensity and then volume (in that specific order). Which goes against the standard endurance programming, but funny enough, is how virtually every other sport trains. You don't move into intensity until your form is spot on. With the intensity ratcheted up, you go until your form starts to break down, and then you back off. Then you can increase the volume of your training.

     I'm not saying that I will use every single thing that the book goes into, but it will still be the basis of how I'm going to train. I still need to be functionally strong for work. My emphasis on this off season will be with the swim and bike portion, as I feel that I have the biggest opportunity to make up time there; but in reality, all 3 sports will be improved upon. Even if it's just my form for running.

Still alive

It's Saturday night, the kids are in bed sleeping and Shawna ran to Walmart. This is a perfect chance to just drop a line to say that I'm still alive. It's been crazy around here with the kids, which isn't far from normal. The only difference is that I was off work for almost a complete month since #4 has been born. I got home from my first shift back this morning, but now I have another 10 days off since I was already scheduled off for Thanksgiving. While I have been off of work, boy #1 was also out of school. He has had track break since right after the baby was born, so we've really had a full house. Needless to say, my training has slacked off quite a bit. I'm doing my best not to stress out over it, and just enjoy the family time; but after a few days of no workouts, I get cranky. Shawna, bless her heart, has been great with trying to get me out in the garage so I can work out. Most of the home workouts lately have been at night after the kids have gone to bed, assuming I still have an energy left.
I did want to let it be known that I have applied for the chocolate milk Ironman contest. This contest will chose 2 grand prize winners who will have the chance to compete in Kona next year with Hines Ward. It's a big competition, with a huge prize purse of everything that you would need to compete, including all your gear, coaching, and entry/travel fees. Hopefully, I'll be chosen to get into the top 15. Even if I get that far, I'd be happy. They choose the 2 winners from the top 15, and announce them in Feb. I'll keep you posted if I make it to the 15.
One last thing, I got signed up for the Scott Firefighter Stairclimb in Seattle for this next March. This time, I do actually plan on training for the event and seeing how well I can do now that I've done it once before.

 I don't have a ton of time tonight to write, but thought that I'd get something down. I do have a few ideas about some posts that I'll get to in the near future, and they include some crazy Ironman dreams, my Kona care package, my review of the Swim Halo and Finis tempo trainer, possibly a new bike, and how I keep breaking my indoor trainer. So, until next time.................

Stick a fork in it

It's been a while since my last post, but I have a REALLY good excuse (not like it matters, since I don't think that anyone really reads this). 9 days ago, we had another addition to the family. Child #4 is now here, alive, healthy and BEAUTIFUL! I never mentioned Shawna being pregnant before this, mostly because no one reads it so it didn't matter. But now the baby is here, so I wanted to take a second and talk about it. Just like 2 out of the 3 previous pregnancies, we didn't find out what it was we were having. I joking said that I didn't remember being there for the conception, but when this little one was born there was no mistaking it as one of mine. She looks just like the others when they were born, dark hair and eyebrows that are unmistakably from me (poor kids). So we have now been blessed with 2 boys and 2 girls. We are officially done. I will be going in for the snippy snip sometime before the end of the year to ensure that we are done. I feel that I have so much other stuff to talk about, but I just don't have the time. Instead, I will leave you a pic of the newest addition, forever to be known here as daughter #2.

recap Kona 2012

                  For not having cable tv (even though it wasn't televised), and the tablet not wanting to display the video feed of the event, I was able to follow most of the event yesterday. Or at least as much as possible with the updates being written down, and with the kids and everything else going on yesterday. I missed the run portion as I went with the family down to the pumpkin patch for an afternoon of pumpkins and fun. I missed some of the bike portion when I took off on my afternoon run too, but when I got back, I hadn't missed much as the updates from the bike portion had slowed down. So how'd I do on guessing the podium finishers? Well, for the men I was 1 for 3, and women I had all 3, just not with Mirinda Carfrae taking 3rd instead of first.
       The biggest thing that I was surprised about was where Craig Alexander finished (12th), and that Chris McCormack would completely give up, not even finishing the bike portion. I haven't seen any interviews about what happened to Macca to cause him to completely drop out of the event, but I'm curious to hear what he has to say. I've also not heard Crowie's take on the day, or anyone else's about his performance. I personally believe that Crowie went too hard on the bike from the start, and spent too much energy. He was smoking fast the first section of the bike course, and i was wondering how that was going to pay off for him. Well it didn't. When I got back from my run, he was way behind and could never make up the difference. The biggest surprise was that his run, which is his strength, didn't really help him make up the lost ground from the bike. That's why I think that the strategy on the bike didn't work.

        On the women's side, I thought that Carfrae was in a good position being ~11 min behind the leaders coming off the bike. Last year she was 14 min behind the leader and was able to catch up and pass everyone except Chrissie Wellington. Unfortunately for Carfrae, she couldn't pull it off. Lava magazine reports that she was running 7 min miles instead of her normal 6:30+ pace. Ultimately, Carefrae would collapse at the finish line almost 6 full minutes behind Leanda Cave





Leanda Cave winning both the 70.3 world championship in Las Vegas, and the Ironman world championship in Kona only 5 weeks apart.

Kona 2012

Here's my predictions for Kona. The event is tomorrow am, and I'm anxiously awaiting to see who comes out on top. The biggest bummer is that Lance Armstrong can't compete. Although USADA has done a tremendous job smearing and ruining his name, I still think he's a champ. Anyways, back to the predictions.

Men's podium will have (maybe not in this order)
Alexander Craig
Chris McCorrmak
Andreas Raelert

Women's Podium
Mirinda Carfrae
Leanda Cave
Caroline Steffen

I think that Crowie will have a battle on his hands, but that ultimately he'll pull off the victory. Andreas has been pretty consistent over the last few years on the island, but I don't see him being able to stay with Crowie. The wold card is Macca. He's been off the Ironman gig for a while in his attempt to get an olympic spot this last year. Meaning that he's been racing the shorter, but way faster, ITU circuit. He's slimmed down and had a chance to rebuild his speed. He's also had plenty of time to prep for this event since he knew way before London that he wasn't on the team. He's got two Kona victories under his belt already, and tomorrow might prove to be his third. After all, he did win the last time he raced there.

On the women's side, I see Carfrae taking the top spot. She's been working on her bike speed all season, and trying to keep her run speed the same. She came back from a 14+ min deficit to take 2nd last year behind Chrissie Wellington (who's not racing this season). So long as Carfrae hasn't lost much on her run, I think that she will be extremely hard to beat. After the title, the race is too close to call on where the rest of the women will finish. I don't think that Carfrae will beat her own marathon record this year, but I think that she'll still take the win.

Broken Trainer

Today I broke my indoor cycling trainer. It's not a huge deal, more of an inconvenience than anything else. I've already done the research, and it's an $8 fix direct from Cycleops. The reason for the break down is because of a fault in the design for being able to use 650c wheels. With the smaller wheel, I need to move the entire fly wheel unit in closer so it makes contact. This isn't a huge deal, except that there is a plastic section on the underside of the flywheel that makes the contact needed for the 650c wheel difficult at best. I always wondered why I really had to wrench down on the turn handle to get a decent amount of contact on my tire. So with the travel being restricted, I ended up stripping out the L shaped bolt that holds the fly wheel in place for the ride.

The funny thing is that I don't normally use my trainer. I've been doing lots of rides at work and have been on the station trainer, which is a Kurt Kinetic fluid trainer. So while I am now unable to do any training at home, it will soon be back up and running. This is only a little frustrating because, yet again, I get screwed by having the smaller 650c wheels. These wheels truly are the bane of my existence.

I did some number crunching for this last month, and I have decided that I will start to total my monthly miles and share them with you. So for the month of Sept, here's the final miles
Swim:  2200 yds (remember, I'm working on form, not volume right now)
Bike: 146.4 miles (It was actually more, but somehow I lost the mileage on one of my training rides)
Run: 18.6 miles
This is also on top of the Crossfit that I do as well.

My last few workouts, I've really been paying attention to my heart rate while on the bike and now while on the run since I got my Timex GPS. It's some interesting stuff. While reading the Time Crunched Cyclist book, I've learned more about heart rate and zones, and how they can be used for different types of training. So I'm starting to pay more attention to where the ol' ticker is at while I'm doing the work.

Lastly, I thought that I'd leave you with a music video of a song that I can't get out of my head. It's from a band called Dead Sara, and I'm pretty sure that I've posted another video from them for a song called the Weatherman. This song is called We Are What You Say

REI Garage Sale and my OCD

                         Saturday it was go time for the REI garage sale. I usually only get to one of these a year and it's probably a god thing that I don't go more often. I always have a list of what it is that I'm going to look for, but inevitably, there is always a find or two that I can't pass up. This year was no exception. The sale starts at 9am in the parking lot. I got there just before 830, and had plenty of time to wonder around the outside of the sale area (they have it blocked off with the orange snow fencing) to see what was potentially available. First thing I noticed was a pink bike. This is one of the balance bikes that has become popular for the kids. It's basically a bike without the crank and pedals. It allows the younger kids to push themselves on the bike and learn how to balance. Then when it's time for a "real" bike, the transition is super smooth and no training wheels are required. How can I NOT go for that bike? The little girl will be turning 2 in another month, plus Christmas is right around the corner. I NEEDED THAT BIKE! I also saw a Kurt Kinetic fluid trainer and a Cylceops wind trainer. I already have a trainer, and I get a killer deal on the Kinetic fluid trainers anyways, so they were further down the list. My new list was the bike, and then a Garmin GPS watch.
                           REI's method for letting people in is designed to prevent people from camping out the night before. It used to be a first come, first serve, so people would camp out the day before to score the best deals. Now, it's a lottery system based on your member ID number. They tell you to look at either the last or second to last digit, and then they start drawing numbers from a hat. The luckier you are, the sooner you're called. Last time, I was in the first round thanks to my buddy Jeff who had the right number. Each person can bring one friend in. The way to play the game, and maximize your chances though is to get the member cards of friends that can't make it, and therefore increase you're chances of getting in early. I had 2 other cards with me besides my own.
                           The first number was called and it wasn't mine! BUT, it did belong to my friend Randy. Randy grabbed Jeff and started toward the door. I told Jeff to grab the pink bike and he looked at me like "are you serious?" Yeah, grab the bike! Off they went in, and Randy grabbed the bike as he went to look for other stuff. One of my 3 numbers was called next, so off Shawna and I went to go shopping. I saw Randy walking around with the pink bike and thought that he looked so cute I shouldn't take the bike from him so soon. But then he saw me, and handed over the bike. The bike was VERY popular, as Shawna and I had multiple people come up to us and ask if we were going to buy it. One lady even followed Shawna around for 10 min just in case.

                        With the bike in hand, it was time to get back on track with what was really on the list, and that was a Garmin. Searching through the bin, there was a ton of electronic stuff, mostly just heart rate monitors, and other cycling computers. I thought that I just might not luck out, but then Shawna pointed out another table. At that table, I found a Timex GPS run trainer watch with a heart rate monitor. Later in the morning, Shawna pointed out a Motorola GPS watch that had an 8Gb MP3 player built in. I thought that was pretty cool, and now I needed to make a decision. I almost went with the Motorola until I realized that I was going to have to pay extra for the heart rate feature on the unit. A heart rate monitor was way more important to me than the MP3 player. After all, I already have a music player. So I went with the Timex one. The only small problem is that it has some pink on it. A small pink ring around the face, and then the buttons are also this pink/purple color. Seeing how I was getting this for more than 1/2 off, I could really care less that it has a little bit of pink. The reason for the return, according to the label was than it was bought new, but looked used. The previous owner also returned it a week earlier, so I'm thinking that they returned it in hopes of re-buying it for cheaper. All in all, it was a fairly successful trip to REI.

                      Later that night, I had a bought of OCD strike. Now I think that everyone has some sort of OCD, it's just a matter of how it wants to manifest itself. For me, my normal OCD is every night I need to go down stairs and make sure that every door is locked. Open the garage door, ensure that it's closed, then lock the door from the garage to the kitchen. Check the back, slider door. Check the front door. This includes making sure that all the child locks are locked on each of those doors as well. Well Saturday night my OCD got the best of me. I had to move the fridge to retrieve a picture of my Grandfather and I (it's the last picture that was taken of the two of us before he died)  and when I did that, I noticed that the back of the fridge was dusty. Holy crap was it ever dusty and linty. I then spent the next 30+ minutes dusting and cleaning the back of the fridge. It was only midnight by the time I got done. I wasn't expecting to do that, but once I saw the all the lint I couldn't leave it alone. There was no way I could leave it alone. But now, it's all clean, and I have my picture back so everything is as it should be.

Fall is in the air

                 It's the end of September and fall is in the air. The days are still warm (low 80's high 70's), but the nights are getting chilly, running into the 40's. This means that the early morning runs are getting colder. I haven't had to bust out the long sleeve Zoot top yet, but I've had to switch to my Adidas running pants and a base layer shirt under a t-shirt. The other morning it was maybe low 50's when I got out on the run. A little chilly to start the 10k, but I quickly warmed up. Then during the run, it started to rain and cooled me off. Not a down pour, but just a light rain. I wouldn't have even noticed it if it wasn't for the smell of wet asphalt or the occasional puddle that showed the rain drops.
                   But with the season starting to change, the colors are also starting to turn to fall. Leaves haven't really started to fall yet, but the colors are starting to change and it's beautiful. It's funny the things that you notice while you're running. I didn't notice that the trees were starting to change colors before the run, but when I'm not zipping past those trees at 35+ while behind the wheel you start to notice the little things like that. It's the same way on the bike too. I've noticed different smells while being outside. The smell of the mint fields or onion fields as I ride past. The smell of the cows, or of the freshly cut hay. The smells that you don't normally notice while in the car. You also notice temperature and humidity changes as well. You don't realize how much cooler the air can be in the shade until you are roasting in the sun and hit a shady spot to go through. The humidity of a freshly watered corn field totally through me for a loop the first time I rode through it. All of a sudden, the humidity hit me like a while. I've experienced humidity while running when someone has their sprinkler's on, but the corn field was another thickness all together.
                   With the fall, the days are getting shorter, and that means that I'll have less and less of a chance to get out and ride. Even if I can get a ride or run in outside, the smells will be gone while old man winter comes resting his big cold butt over my corner of the world.

                     I've continued to get at least one, if not 2 swims in a week. I'm still just working on keeping good form, and building the muscle memory to allow it to be natural for me. It's frustrating at times, because I want to just dive in and do a 500 or 800 and call it good. But I know that doing that won't be beneficial for me at this time. I need to be patient and continue on my 50yd repeats and occasional 100yds. Instead of focusing on the long stuff, I need to worry about the right stuff. Swimming is such a technical sport where form is crucial and speed comes from strength and form. I have a friend who was a collegiate swimmer and former SEAL. He describes the proper swim form as the sensation of swimming down hill. I didn't know what he was talking about until the other day. The other day something clicked for just a couple of the repeats and I felt like I was swimming down hill. I felt effortless and speedy. Like I said, it only happened for a couple of the repeats, but it was awesome! Now I'm trying to get that feeling back. This morning in the pool there was a guy in the next lane over who looked painful. You could tell that he was working very hard, but not moving very fast. His hips were dragging below the water with his legs sinking down, he had very little rotation and pulled his head up to breath, with his arms constantly crossing over the midline. I didn't get a chance to talk to him much, but all I know is that he was swimming just for health and not for competition. He left before I could even offer some friendly advice.
                   All my cycling lately has been on the trainer, and all of that trainer time is at work. I've still been doing lots of Spinervals videos just to keep me entertained and doing something creative instead of the steady state rides for an hour. I've been averaging 3 rides a week with 2 of them just cardio/base rides, and the other a strength ride. Tomorrow will be the one year anniversary of having my bike, and while I haven't checked the numbers yet, I'm pretty sure I've logged over 1500miles in this first year. Not too bad I don't think for my first year of actual cycling. But that's nothing compared to my Capt who will have logged 6000miles before the end of November. I'm still reading the Time Crunched Cyclist book. I'm now at the chapter that actually talks about the programming and what it entails, but I think that I'll give it a go in January (maybe) and use that as my base for the cycling training.
Running is still about a twice a week occurrence for me right now. I'm trying to get a long run (10k) and some intervals done each week. Nothing too hard or pushing the limits right now, but enough to keep the blood flowing and the muscles reminded of what to do. I'm also trying to keep the strength and conditioning up, but there are good days and bad days of getting that accomplished. Ideally, I'd like to get 3 of the S&C days a week in, but that's pushing it I know.
                  Tomorrow is the REI garage sale, and I'm hoping to score some good stuff. Last year when I went, I got my Cycleops trainer for $52 and the Yakima luggage pod for $150. I hope to get some other great deals, but at the same time we don't have a lot of extra cash to spend on the deals. The big thing that I'm hoping to score is a Garmin GPS. I've been using my buddy Gabe's and it's worked ok, but I'd like to get one of my own and give his back to him. Ideally, I've I could score a Garmin 310, then I'd be stoked! It's a mutlisport GPS that can read a heart rate monitor and a cadence sensor for use on the bike

Back to training

               It's been a month since my last triathlon and it's time to get back into some sort of training routine. I haven't been lazy and not worked out at all, but I have been un-structured and just doing whatever. Last week I went for the group ride with some guys from work and it was awesome. We had 9 guys total join the ride. Everything from super serious guys like my captain, to guys just getting into riding. Guys on $4k bikes, and one guy on an old steel Schwinn bike. Just riding with the guys was great. We went on the loop known as Cartright loop and it's almost a 20mi loop with 3 good hills to climb. The first hill was long, but not terribly steep. It forced me into my small chain ring and large cog (25) but I was able to keep my cadence over 80 for the entire hill. So while I was winded at the end, it wasn't terrible. The last two hills though, were brutal! Very steep and a huge nut buster. I knew that we had the one hill, but was completely unprepared for the second hill. Both had inclines greater than 12%, and rocked me. I struggled in the same gearing as the earlier hill, having to get out of my saddle and mash the gears. I never looked at my cadence sensor through the misery, but I'd guess that I was in the 60's maybe. Maybe. After the ride we stopped for lunch and beers and hung out for a little bit before going our separate ways.

           The following day I got up early and did a 10k. I took the Garmin with me just to monitor my pace, but wasn't going to push it. I was mostly out on the road just enjoying myself and trying to not get hit by any cars that were making there way to work. I took a different route than I normally do, and must say that the new route wasn't very pleasant. No real shoulder to run on, and the spots that had the shoulder were up against some farm land and there were decent size rocks that I had to watch out for. My pace was decent, with my only goal was to stay below an 8min/mile. I kept a 7:40 pace for the first 4 miles, and then I hit my stride and busted out 7:05 miles for the last 2 miles. I got into a groove, and it didn't even feel like I was working any harder to get that speed. It was a beautiful morning, and I made sure that I wave a hi and thank you to those drivers who were paying attention and moved over for me.

               I finally got back into the water too. I say finally because I was missing the swim, although I wasn't missing the early mornings needed to get the swims in before work. My swimming now is consisting of pure form work. I'm not worrying about speed, only my form. Keeping a good high elbow catch and pull through the water is all I'm concerned about right now. I am starting with a kick board drill designed to encourage that kind of pull. After a few laps with the board I then move onto swimming at an easy pace with the focus being the stroke portion. Again, not worrying about my speed, or about my total distance in the pool. Next month I plan on buying a swim halo and that will further encourage the high elbow catch and pull and help build and reinforce the muscle memory that I will need to continue the good form through the water. I did end up timing my only 100yd swim at the end of my first form session just to get an idea of where I was speed wise. I did the 100yd at roughly the same easy pace that I was feeling throughout the morning. Nothing hard, just a steady pace that was moving through the water with my form being the most important part. If I had to guess my pace, I'd of guessed that I finished in the mid 1:50's range, that's how slow I felt and how little effort I thought that I was really putting out. Instead my watch revealed a much different story. To my surprise, I finished at a 1:31. This, I felt was huge. My cruising 100yd earlier this year, before the Boise Ironman was a 1:43, and here I did a 1:31 and it felt slower. I'm very encouraged about how it went. Here's a video of the kick board drill that I was talking about. The drill starts at the 3:05 mark and then the coach talks and shows the high elbow catch and pull that I'm trying to describe.

                Lastly, I was given a cycling book to read by my Capt, GT. It's called the Time Crunched Cyclist, and it's written by Lance Armstrong's cycling coach, Chris Carmichael. So far it's pretty good, and I think that I'm going to use it as the base of my cycling training leading up to the season next year. I've already started to spit ball my training, but this program will consist of 6hrs/week on the bike in high intensity intervals designed to build strength and power for rides up to 3hrs. A 56 mile bike for a half Iron should by right at that 3hr mark or less depending on how good my speed is. If I decide to go with this as my cycling program, I will then program my running around it, and try to keep the running <25% of the cycling volume (that 25% seems fairly standard for endurance training). The swim will be probably 2x week, with a third day on the swim halo. Then there will be 3x week of Crossfit with the emphasis being on strength and conditioning. That's the basis of where I'm at in the planning stages for next years training. But for now, I'm just trying to have some fun and work on some of the basics while I have the time.

11 years later

11 years ago the twin towers fell. I can still remember where I was that day. I woke up to my step-mom yelling at me to wake up from sleeping in the loft of their house. I stumbled down stairs and saw the towers fall. I grabbed my pager from work, and sure enough, there was a ton of pages asking everyone to come in and man the ambulances just in case. I decided not to go into work that day. I lived in the Los Angeles area and worked in San Bernardino county. My thinking was that if anything else was going to happen, it'd be in the city and not out where I worked. I had friends in LA City fire and Burbank fire, and thought that I could probably jump on with one of them if it really got bad.
11 years later and we are still remembering. I will continue to remember. My helmet has a sticker on the back that has the Fighting 343 for the 343 FDNY firefighters that were killed that day. We must not forget the fact that we still have troops on the ground fighting and dying to help prevent another Sept 11th. So long as there are those that are "down range" we must never forget them. We can not forget the sacrifices that their brother's in arms have made either. Thank you to those who have fought, and continue to fight for our freedom. Freedom is never free, and we will never forget you!

Happy birthday buddy

Happy Birthday! Not to me, but to my oldest boy, the one that I refer to as boy #1. The big man turned 6 yesterday and had a pretty good day. It was a day filled with a mini-mm's covered doughnut for breakfast. Happy meal lunch, and his dinner of choice, BBQ hot dogs and brats. Normally I would never feed him that much crap in one day, but it was his birthday and I let him get after it and enjoy it. The only thing he didn't have a choice in was going to church. After church we hit up McDonald's for him, boy #2 and their friend who was along for the birthday ride. After lunch was the family fun center where they played in the indoor climber, video games and then some mini-golf, followed by more climbing before heading home. Family came over for cake and ice cream after dinner and we had a nice night. Obviously no training was done yesterday, and I was totally fine with that. I'll update you more on the training in another post, but I wanted this one to be just all about him. Happy birthday buddy, mommy and daddy love you soo much!!!

End of season numero uno

                       With the Emmett triathlon over, my season seems to be pretty much behind me now. I had a blast doing the triathlons, and am already looking forward to the next season. So the question then begs, what will next season look like for me? To start off, I don't have a clue. Most races haven't posted anything for what the next year will possibly look like, and probably won't until closer to January. That is, off course unless you consider Ironman events, which open almost a full year out and fill up shortly there after. I do have a few things on the agenda of what I'd like to see happen next year, so I guess I can start there. I'd like to do the Spudman and Emmett Triathlons again next year. Spudman is 2+ hours away, but the venue was fairly family friendly so the kids would enjoy the time out there. Emmett is close, and was a fairly well organized race. Plus with the kids tri that they put on the day before, I know that the boys will want to do that one too! If the Boise 70.3 Ironman comes back to town, I'd really like to do that one again and hope that next year has better weather and we can actually get the full 70.3 distance done. As of right now, there is no word on it coming back to town. This year was the last year of the initial 5 year contract, so hopefully it will come back. I also hope to do the Rev 3 olympic distance race in Portland. They had one this year, and I'm hoping that they will have another one for 2013. I am choosing Portland because we have friends that live in the area, and anytime you can possibly save money on the travel fees with staying at someone's house, then it makes it more enticing. My focus for next year will be more of the olympic distance, with a goal of crushing 2:30 for any of the events. I was soo close to doing that in Emmett, and know that it's obtainable on a flat course like that for me next year.

Training for this next season is going to be structured around the Crossfit Endurance model, but probably not following their site. I might follow the Crossfit main site for some of the workouts, but I think that with what my goals are for improving, I'd be better served doing my own programming. The main emphasis is going to be on the bike, and then the swim. My running is what I already consider my strength, and will take a back seat to the other two disciplines. I will still run, but I will probably only have one key run session a week, with the rest of the time being filled by the bike and swim. The interesting thing about training for the next season is how to get it all done. Starting in October, work is changing schedules. No longer will I be doing a 24hr shift, with a day off in between for 3 shifts before I get 4 days off. Now, I will be doing a 48hr shift, and then getting 4 days off. This will be different in soo many different ways, I can't even imagine or describe all of them.

                    In the triathlon training world, it means less water time. Why? because I would usually hit the pool on my way to work 2x week. But now with the schedule change, my water time doesn't have to be reduced, but it'll be harder to hit the water all the time because of family commitments. My plan? My plan is to buy the swim halo training system. I'll get a full review once I've bought the system and had a chance to try it out. It's basically an indoor training device for swimming that helps to build strength, endurance, pacing and most importantly muscle memory on what a good high elbow catch is for the water. My intention is to use that while at work and at home to get some muscle memory of a good catch and pull phase of my stroke, something that I know I'm lacking in. Hopefully this will then translate into faster swim times in the water.

                For the bike portion, I'm super fortunate to have a very serious cyclist as my captain. One who likes to race as well. I've already talked with him about his thoughts on my ability to build speed over this off season, and we will have a plan in place to get it done. The nice thing, is that we will be doing the same basic speed building plan together, getting ready for the next season. So I will have an experienced athlete/coach to not only hold me accountable to getting faster, but to push me harder. Right now, it seems that my average speed is around 19 for most of my rides. The Emmett tri I pushed out over 20, but it was mostly a flat course, vs the rolling hills that I normally ride. On the bike, I really want to have a solid 20+ mph average, and the closer I can get to 21mph for the course of 56 miles the better. The ultimate goal is to do a full Ironman distance, and that is 112 miles. But the Ironman dream is still a few years down the road. For now, I want to build some more speed and endurance at the olympic distance and dabble in the 70.3 world. I know that it's early to say still being so new to the sport, but I think that 2013 will be mostly the olympic distance, and then 2014 will start to have more 70.3's. I will continue to do the Boise 70.3 since it is a local race and I have no excuse not to do it.

                Running will, like I said, take more of a back seat. I will try to get at minimum, one key run session a week of a long distance (10k+) and then a second run session of longer distance intervals, 1/2mile - 1 mile intervals. The goals for the run is to push my times lower. The goal is to push myself into the sub 7 min/miles (6:45-6:50) for the 10k, and then extend that into a full 13.1 mile (21k). This should be obtainable with the fact that I can push and do pretty close to a 7min/miles now for a 10k. The biggest issue is just to stay focused during the run and not slack off. Embrace the pain and discomfort as it comes, and push through it. I had my quarterly fitness evaluation 2 days ago, and I crushed the run! It's a mile and a half, and I've had maybe two run sessions since Emmett, but nothing super serious. On Tuesday, I got a new PR for the run at 8:23. My previous PR was 8:28, and that was a couple of years ago. Over the last year, I've had an 8:30-something, and a couple of 8:40's. Tuesday had me do a mile in ~5:25. Granted, I can't keep that pace for a 5k, but it shows that I have the ability to be fast, and now I just need to translate that into fast over an extended distance.

         The rest of my training as of late, has been lifting and some Crossfit stuff. Getting back to my roots, as I'd like to say. I haven't done any swimming since Emmett. It's not that I don't want to swim, in fact I actually miss it a little bit. But the big thing is that I just don't feel like getting up at 5am to hit the pool before work. I've been enjoying the extra hour of sleep in the am. Now, If I could only get to bed earlier, that would be even better! I've done a few rides on the bike, and interval based one, and then an outside ride, but I've been enjoying just getting out on the road and not worrying about my speed. Next week, a bunch of us from work are going to get together for a ride, and I'm super stoked about that ride.

Race report, Emmett Olympic Tri

             Wow, it's been 2+ weeks since I've sat down to write anything out, and since then I've done what will probably be my last triathlon of the season. Before we get into the nitty gritty details of the race, lets talk about the last 2 weeks. I had a 2 week break from the Spudman Tri to Emmett's Most Excellent Tri. Those 2 weeks were filled with some more training, but not a ton. Ever since California, I've had little motivation to really get after it on the training side. Fatigue was starting to set in, I didn't get a ton of chances to train while in California, and I had the injury to my right leg that made me have to take running off the schedule. In the 2 weeks between races, I think I did one pool session, and no open water swims. I got a few cycling sessions done, one run interval done and a bike/run brick a couple of days before Emmett. The cycling was good, I was still pushing myself on the bike a bit, and although I told myself to go easy on the bike for the brick, I did start to push myself there too. I've been getting faster on the bike, and I think that a lot of it is mental. I've just decided to suck it up and push through. When it starts to get hard in that gear, I just push it out and work through it (assuming I'm not climbing of course) trying to continue to build the endurance and speed. My average speed has gone from the mid 18's into the mid 19's, and on the last 6 mile brick ride I was into the 20's, which was awesome! I really want to be able to consistently push out 22+ for 60 miles or more. That would cover the 56mi bike for a 70.3 distance race. Also during the 2 week break I still didn't run much because of my hip. The previous pain in my leg was down low, by my ankle; but the new pain was in the hip right where the IT band connects. I've never had hip pain before, and this wasn't so much a pain, as just a dull ache that was there. My lower leg feels great, but the hip soreness was a little worrisome so I decided to continue to take it easy with the run training. So the little motivation, and the potential for an injury coupled with the fatigue made getting any training done a little difficult. So onto the race weekend!!! It really was almost a full weekend of racing for the family. You see, boy #1 has been talking about doing a kids triathlon if they ever have one. I told him that Emmett does have a kids triathlon the day before my race, but that training wheels were not allowed. I only said the training wheels part to encourage him to get on his bike more and get off the training wheels. Unfortunately it didn't work and he is still on the training wheels. But we did sign him up for the race. For all the kids, there is a "swimmer" and a "non-swimmer" category. My son has been working on his swimming lately, but he would not have been able to do the 25yds across the length of the pool without a kick board, and that didn't seem to be an option. So he was registered in the non-swimmer division which meant that they had to wade through the kiddie pool and touch all 4 corners before getting out. Well my boy wanted to swim, and simply wading through waist high water was not good enough for him. He got into the pool, would wade a few steps and then dive under the water and swim. When it came time for a breath, he'd get up, get a breath or 2 while wading and then go back down into the water. I was impressed, and he was the only kid in his non-swimmer division to even attempt to actually swim. I met him at the bike and helped get his socks on, shoes tied, shirt on and helmet on. Then off he went for his 3/4 mile bike ride. When he came back into the transition area off came the helmet and we ran the 1/2 loop of the run course. He did great! We had to walk at one point during the run, but then he found his second wind and kept going. He had a strong finish at the end, and ended up taking 2nd place in his division.

Getting ready for the swim

Coming back from the bike

On the run

                 On Sat is was race day for me. I went to bed a little later than I wanted to, 11pm, and was up at 5:15. I had some left over white rice from the night before with a couple of fried eggs for breakfast with my coffee. I wasn't worried to much about how much I was going to eat for breakfast as we had a 9am start. At 6:15 my buddy Todd who did Spudman with me picked me up and off we went to Emmett. We got to T1 with tons of time to set up our bikes and make it back down the hill to T2 to get the shoes ready. Afterwards we took the bus back up to T1 and got ready to race. Before the race, I had a zone bar, a 5 hr energy and then 2 Gu gels along with a product called Sport Legs. Sport Legs are amazing! It is a Lactic Acid buffer that helps prevent the burning sensation when you workout/race. I was going to use this race as a base race to see where I'm at fitness wise for the season. I couldn't do that with Spudman because I had the river current on the swim and then got into that peleton on the bike. I really wanted an olympic distance race that didn't have any "assistance" so I had a base to judge on how I do next season compared with this season, and this race was going to be it.

                 Swim: The swim went really well. The water was borderline warm enough to not need a wetsuit, but with the chilly morning air still lingering around and the buoyancy that the suit provides I decided to wear the suit. I got in the water and was ready to go. I was actually really calm. I knew what I wanted to do, and that was just have a good race and go fast. I knew that the swim is the worse of the 3 disciplines, and the bouy that was out there to mark the turn around point seemed to be barely there it was so far out. But I know that I can swim the distance, the biggest thing is to just relax and try to get into a rhythm (something that I couldn't do at the Spudman). Emmett has a civil war re-enactor shoot a canon off for the start of the race, and with the blast of the canon we were off! I was in the middle of the pack to start, but the hands and feet weren't too bad. A few pulls and slaps here and there, but since I was toward the outside and not directly in the middle I missed most of the fighting in the water. I had the intention to find some feet and try to draft off of someone, but that didn't work out for me. The feet that I tried to follow were either slower than me, or faster and I just gave up. Instead I just stayed relaxed and tried to get into a rhythm. I found a rhythm and it just started to flow. I know that I wasn't moving super fast as the majority of the pack was up in front of me, but I was still moving forward. Everytime I stopped to sight and catch a breath I just enjoyed the view of the mountains and trees and the ability to do what I was doing. After about 30 min I was out of the water and into T1.

            T1 is still a little slow for me. I tend to walk the first little bit out of the water, trying to catch my bearings and not fall over. Coming into a standing position from being supine swimming for so long, and trying to run I get a little dizzy, so I walk at first and once I get the cob webbs cleared then I start to jog toward the bikes. Once at the bikes, it's strip the rest of the wetsuit off and stick it in the bag, wipe my face off real quick, put my race belt on, garmin on, sunglasses and helmet. Grab my bike and I'm off.

            Bike: I jumped on the bike and started off. There was a little uphil section getting out of the park before you got on the road and into a slight down hill. Once on the road and into the down hill I got my feet into my shoes and really started going. The course had some rolling hills to start off before turning flat. Road conditions weren't horrible, but weren't great either. With the chip sealing that they do in Idaho to keep the roads maintained it can get a little bumpy and rough being on a bike. I felt like I struggled for a while to find something that felt smooth. They asked us to stay to the right as much as possible while on the bike, but when the smoothest part of the road is where the car tires constantly travel, that's the part of the road you choose to try and stay on. I felt really good on the bike. My legs felt strong and full of power. There were very few occasions where I was thinking about my effort and if I was going to be able to sustain my pace. I was just feeling really good on the bike. We had one more decent size hill on the course which actually required me to drop into my smaller chain ring, but I still powered right up the hill at over 14mph and passed another cyclist going up the hill. The Roctane in my Torhans was really working as I felt great! I was going between the Roctane and a water bottle that I had behind my seat. I was concerned that I might be starting to take on too much fluid while on the bike, but the weather was heating up and it was going to be a hot one on the run course, so I decided to try to not worry about it, and if I felt like water I would drink water. Coming back into town, I had gotten out of my shoes with less than a mile left of the bike course, and finished the last of the Roctane as well.

The smile on my face says it all. I was very happy with how I felt and how I rode on my bike

T2 saw me coming in hot and feeling really good. I had no pain in the crotch like I did at Spudman. I was jogging through T2 and saw the family standing and cheering for me. I ran past them getting high 5's from the kids on the way to dropping the bike off. Socks on, shoes on, visor on and grab my Camelbak Delaney pack and I was off!

Heading off on the run, delaney pack in hand.

               Run: I decided to try and run with my Delaney pack for the race. I wear it on all my longer (10K and up)runs outside anyways, so it wasn't like it would be new territory for me. But at least now I wasn't hindered by the aid station. I hate the aid stations for one reason. They slow me down! If I don't walk through the aid station, I don't really get any water. You get a 4oz cup and then 1/2 of it spills when you grab the cup. Then you have ~25 feet to time your breathing, running and water intake before the trash can. If you mess up, you're choking and have to slow down because now you can't breath. So I would walk through to get the water. But not this time! Oh no, this time, the aid stations were for one thing and one thing only. Keeping me cool. With the temperatures rising, I was only grabbing water just to dump it on my head and cool me off. It didn't matter if 1/2 of the water spilled out, it was going on my head. My Delaney pack holds a single water bottle in a slanted position and is very easy for me to get in and out of the pack. So the water bottle had Roctane for the energy and electrolytes to finish the race. Once I started the run, I took another dose of the Sport Legs, and almost half way through the run I took some electrolyte pills just to be safe of the cramping. The first 1-1.5 miles is always brutal. I didn't get the jelly legs, but rather the cramps and stiffness in the shins, calves and spot cramps here and there in the quads. It's just one of those things that you just have to work through and keep going. Eventually they subside and then you can get into a good rhythm and pace. The run felt good for me, and although I didn't feel like I was really pushing it, my time was still almost a full 2 min faster than Spudman. I tried to push it on the second lap, but my legs did start to feel heavy and tired, so I backed off the gas a little bit but continued to plug along and pass the people that I saw in front of me.

The final sprint

Overall, I was stoked with the race. I had a ton of fun, and was very happy with my overall performance. I was shooting for a time between 2:30-2:45, and I got a 2:33:22. Swim: 29:28 T1: 2:22 Bike: 1:13:44 (ave 20.3mph!) T2: 0:54 Run: 46:53 This gave me a 12th in age group and 74 overall. It's interesting to note that my bike split was almost the same from Spudman, but with no peleton this time around, and then the run was almost 2 full min faster. My transition times were also faster this time around too.

A family affair. The best support a guy could ask for!

Spudman Tri race report

Yesterday was the Spudman Triathlon in Burley Idaho. My first olympic distance triathlon, and one that was "helped" with the swim being in a river down stream. Shawna and I got into Burley with enough time the night before to get checked in and rack my bike at T1. With the set up for the race, T1 was down stream, with the start, T2 and the finish all being at the same location. After squeezing my bike onto the rack, we went to the hotel to check in and grab a bite to eat (Subway). After a very late dinner we went to my friend Todd's room so we could discuss the schedule for the next day. Todd and I had to figure out when to leave the hotel to get to T1 to drop off our nutrition stuff while Todd's wife and Shawna had to figure when they would leave the hotel to watch us. Once the details were figured out, shawna and I went back to our room to get ready for bed.
         Once in my room, I got all my stuff out and together for the next day. It was at this point that I realized that my nutrition bag was not as I had packed it. I was missing about half of the nutrition that I had packed. The problem was that the kids had found the bag in the pantry earlier that day (while I was at work) and took my box of Gu gels out, and my Tub of Roctane powder. Needless to say, I freaked out! The only saving grace was the fact that there was one Roctane powder single serving pack still in the bag, and that at the last minute I decided to grab my Gu gels from my food locker at work. So I had some nutrition stuff, just not everything that I was anticipating having.  With that "crisis" adverted, it was time to try and get some sleep.
       I slept fairly well once I got to sleep. I tossed and turned until about 145, and then slept until 530 when I woke up. Our start time was 720, and I was going to head out at 610 to get to T1 with getting to the start before 7. But then I couldn't find the swim cap and that pushed the departure time back. Once at T1, it was a mad house with people everywhere. Not a big deal except for the fact that the traffic to get out from T1 to the start was horrible. I ended up parking down the road and walking in. As Todd and I were getting close to the start we heard the announcer say that wave 2 was going to start in one minute. This gave us 11 minutes to get down to T2, prep our shoes, get into our wetsuits and get down to the water. So our warm up was the jogging in flip flops that we had to do just so we could make it in time. At T2, I got my shoes out and the socks in place; placed my Gu gels in position and took my watch off. I grabbed my wet suit and threw it on up to my waist. I quickly stretched out my calfs and hips and made my way toward the water. While jogging to the water I pulled up the rest of my wet suit. Unfortunately, in the haste of getting my suit on while on the move and dodging people, I didn't grab the thicker part of my wet suit and tore a huge hole in my right arm near the elbow. CRAP!!! Well, there was nothing that I could do about that now. I didn't have time to do anything about it. So instead I just griped about it and made my way toward the water. When I hit the water, I was even more frustrated as the water was warm. Very warm. Like so warm that I prob wouldn't have worn my wet suit if I knew how warm the water was. Oh well, it's time to race so lets get this thing on!

The Swim:   Like I said earlier, the swim was downstream in the river. Although there was the current, I really didn't find it to be helpful. With the rush of the morning, I definately didn't get a chance to warm up or stretch like I would have liked. This made the swim a little tougher when my shoulders stiffened up on me about 3-400 yds in. I am still struggling in the open water with sighting and drifting. Once again, I was all over the place in the water. When we started, I was right in the middle up front. A little fight here and there with the other swimmers, but nothing too horrible. I quickly was on the far right of the field and needed to come back to the left. Then I soon found myself so far left I was swimming into the bank of the river! I seriously couldn't win. I also couldn't really get myself into a good rythm. The swim was otherwse uneventful. I don't have any of the split times because they haven't posted them on line, but I'll update it when I get the info.

T1:  T1 went well. I got a little slowed down when I had to go back to where I had left my wet suit bag. I forgot to take it with me and drop it off with the volunteers on my way out. Otherwise the transition went fairly smooth. It's a little slow with having to get the Garmin on my wrist, but otherwise smooth. There was a little hiccup with trying to get out of transition though. There wasn't a huge space to get out onto the road, and then you add all the people who simply stop to click into their pedals and you have a traffic jam. This doens't boad well for me who keeps his shoes clipped in and straps in while on the road.

Bike:   I was curious to see what kind of speed I could put out on the bike with this course being labeled as a fast, flat course. Once I was finally on the road things started to move. It as a little chilly at first, but I dried off quickly. The bike took me a little bit to get into a workable rhythm, and I just tried to not over do it off the start. I got into a rhythm just as the head wind picked up a bit, but I kept my head down and tried to just keep my cadence up high. The one Gu pack that I had taped on my bike started to slip off and I ended up having to hold onto the pack during the ride. There were several people that kept up around me, and eventually we some how turned into a peleton. Drafting was supossed to be prohibitted, but with the lack of race officials on the course the peleton formed. I slipped into the peleton and went for prob about 8 miles or so with the pack. It was the first "group" ride that I had been a part of, and I was amazed at how fast we were moving with the little effort that we were putting out. I had trailed off the back of the peleton right before another turn. It was after the turn that we hit another head wind, and it slowed me down to where I couldn't catch up with the group. I had less than 8 miles to go on the ride at that point and just kept on trucking. With about 5 miles to go, I caught up with Todd, although he didn't know it. Todd is the stronger cyclist between the 2 of us, and once I found him, I kept with in 100yds behind him. It was also around this point that I got a wierd pain developing on the left side of my crotch. It was brutally painful at times, and reminded me of when I went on my ride after Antonio adjusted my seat. There was really nothing that I could do about the pain, moving around on the saddle didn't prove to make it go away. There wasn't much left of the race so I just sucked it up. Coming up toward T2, I wasn't sure how the run was going to go with having the pain down there. As I made the final straight away toward T2, I got out of my shoes and prepped for the dismount. The cramps in my legs started to come on while I was working on getting out of my shoes.

T2:    Heading into T2, the pain was still there and I had a little fumble when I dropped my sunglasses while making my way toward the racks. I racked my bike, threw my socks on and then slipped into my shoes. I also took a few swigs of my electrolyte drink and took some Hammer electrolyte pills as well. I grabbed my Gu gels and stuffed them into the legs of my tri suit while I was heading out of T2. My tri suit has 2 pockets in the back, but they are dead center and very hard to get anything into or out of. I have opted to not use the pockets unless absolutely neccesary. I did stuff a tube into the pocket that had some extra electrolyte pills just in case I started to cramp.

Run:    I was nervous going into this event about the run. My leg was feeling good, but I hadn't run on it in 3 weeks. Even then, I did only 2 short training times (15-20 min ea) on the eliptical at work. Leaving T2, I was feeling like crap. My legs were cramping up on me all over. Little spots here and there, and nothing debilitating, but enough to feel it and know that it sucked. I thought that the 10k was going to be horrible, and it would have been if the cramps stayed. I just stuck to my guns and never stopped. Yeah the cramps slowed me down, but it wasn't going to let them win. About a mile into the run, the cramps had pretty much worked their way out and I started getting into a good rhythm. I never pushed myself to the brink on the run, instead I was just focusing on keeping good form and having a good mid foot strike. My only complaint on the run was the lack of aid stations. They had a station right out of T2, at mile 1, mile 3 and mile 5. The upside was that there were many places to cool off. Burley fire had 2 seperate brush rigs with water spraying into the street to run through. There was also several houses that had turned a garden hose on with a sprinkler for you to run through as well. This was a nice relief from the climbing heat as the day wore on. The Garmin said that my ave pace was 7:40-ish, and I was happy about that. I felt good and strong on the run, like I could have gone forever at that pace. I had a Gu gel just before the mile 3 marker, so I was able to get some water to rinse it down. I stopped to a walk at every aid station to get the fluid and thank the volunteers. One cup of water for my mouth, and one on my head. Then off to the run I would go. Im seriously considering taking my Camelbak Delaney pack on the runs with me for fluids. This would make me faster as I wouldn't have to stop for the water. I'm used to taking it with me on the long runs outside of the races, and there is no reason why I couldn't take it with me during the race. The 10 extra seconds that it would take to put it on would easily out weigh the time savings from the aid stations. At the mile 5 mark, I took the last of the electrolyte pills just to be safe. I was feeling good and didn't want that last mile and a quater to be a suck-fest. I feel that the run is my strength between the 3 disciplines, and it shows. During the run, there was only 7 people that passed me, guys who were in the next older age group and were putting out a really good pace. This is oppossed to the ton of people that I passed while on the run. While running, it was just one after the other that was being passed.
           With about 3/4 mile to go, I passed a runner who had to stop because his shoe became untied. That sucks! For him at least; but it also enforced the reason why I spent the $15 for the Xtenex laces for my shoes. The last 200m had a semi steep down hill on grass and it did make me a little nervous with my leg. Up to that point, my leg had been feeling great, and I didn't want to take a spill or get injured in the last 200m of the race. Fortunatly I came through without incident and made it out to the flat land of the finish and crossed over the line in 2:27.  I got my medal, greeted Shawna and got some pics. About 10 min or so later, Todd crossed the line to finish his first Olympic distance triathlon too.

I still don't have the splits, or what my final placing was, but it was a great race, and a great intro into the Olympic distance triathlon. I am now looking forward to the Emmett Olympic distance race in 2 weeks. I'm anticipating a slightly slower bike for that course with no peleton to help me out, and I'm hoping to be able to find a better rhythm on the swim. The run will be faster as I intend to push myself harder on that run than on the Spudman.