Top Ten Tips to Supercharge Your Offseason: Part 2

5. Let your leg hair grow (Optional for the ladies)

I wish I had a picture of the dense foliage that was my leg hair after 5 weeks of no shaving (There was some resemblance to the photo above). It was quite intense. Not like camping in the great outdoors in tents, but like- holy-crap-that’s-a-lot-of-leg-hair-where-did-it-all-come-from intense. Keeping in the theme of doing something out of the norm letting your leg hair grow falls perfectly in line. It’s a chance to step away from the identity of “athlete” we let ourselves get too wrapped up in. We are so much more than just triathletes! Now I know getting past that uber-itchy stage is always a pain but once you do, oh the freedom! You’ll find yourself with at least an extra 3 minutes of time NOT spent in the shower shaving you’ll have no idea what to do with it. On top of that think of the pennies you will save when not burning through razors at a rate of 2 per week. As you can see the benefits are enormous. So chill out a little bit, take yourself less seriously and let your leg hair grow.

For those with difficulty growing their own leg hair
this service provides some sort of way to apply fake her
and make you much more a man. Not sure really.

4. Eat a cookie

Or two. Or ten.  Or some pie. Or ice cream. Or just something that is horribly bad for you and provides no nutritional benefit. I mean, come on, it’s the HOLIDAYS for goodness sakes! C is for cookie!!

Who cares if you pack on a pound or 7? Addressing the issue of offseason eating I know many athletes fear gaining tons of weight during this time of little training. Honestly though I don’t think that has to be as much of an issue. I simply try to listen to my appetite, eat when I’m hungry, don’t when I’m not. If I feel like eating a cookie then I will. (I actually eat cookies year round so this isn’t much different than my normal diet). In all honesty my weight doesn’t really fluctuate much throughout the year. Perhaps this means I’m not getting down to a good “race weight” during my season but I also don’t seem to really gain weight during the break. I usually find the first week or so that I continue to eat like a rabid man raccoon on a crazed feeding frenzy but after a little why my metabolism realizes I’m not training much and I don’t get that hungry. My take away nutrition advice from this post is to relax, listen to your body and EAT A DARN COOKIE!!

3. Workout in a non-linear fashion

“But if I’m not moving forward than it must not be a good workout or I won’t be burning as many calories.” First of all- who cares about calories? “I do. I don’t want to get fat.” Ok, ok well go read tip #4 and then come back and we can continue. But as to working out there are actually A LOT of activities you can do that will get your heart rate up AND don’t involve going forward. Take tennis for example. My wife and I were looking for something fun and different to do a few weeks ago so we went and bought a couple $12 tennis racquets at Wal-Mart. What more cost efficient way to get a good workout than engaging your overly competitive husband in a “fun” game of tennis? Now, when I hear the word “game” I think “WIN.” You play a game to win right? I mean, what’s the point in doing anything if there’s not a winner? Well, apparently there are a lot of benefits I was unaware of such as- spending time with your spouse, getting a good workout in, spending time with your spouse, working on agility and movements that involve going back and forth, oh and spending time with your spouse. Who woulda thunk? Needless to say we had different ideas of what a “game” of tennis involved and there was some considerable marital tension following that match. However, tennis is still a great example of something that works completely different muscles than we normally work. As triathletes we spend all our time going forwards in a straight line (Or as straight as possible depending on your sighting skills in open water). There are a lot of muscle groups and stabilizers that don’t get worked because of this so I challenge you try something out of the norm. Tennis, ultimate Frisbee, soccer, rollerblading, underwater hockey (look it up), full contact tackle football, you get the picture. I challenge you to find an activity that you enjoy (other than swim/bike/run) and go DO IT! My wife and I love to go hiking and trust me, it doesn’t matter how fit you are, walking up and down hills over rocky terrain is freaking HARD and it WILL make you sore. Be careful about jumping right into something like soccer that involves a lot of sprinting and fast turns and cutting because our triathlon bodies are extremely de-conditioned for such activities. (Oh and the suggestion of full contact tackle football was definitely a joke).That doesn’t mean you can’t do it I just put that in as a disclaimer. Avoiding an ACL tear is preferable but total body soreness preventing you from bending your knees the next morning is perfectly acceptable. Maybe the cha-cha slide is about all you can do for non-linear movement and that’s fine just get out there and CHA-CHA!

2. Sleep. A lot

I love to sleep. I really do. I’m a firm believer in the importance of sleep during training to help you recover and adapt to the training load. But I also realize that sleep is usually the first thing to go when we’re doing big training. It’s hard to fit everything in if you don’t start by 5am when working full time and taking care of kids, etc. So use this offseason as I chance to sleep-in a little. Last year I was so exhausted after my last race of the year that I seriously spent about 10 days sleeping 9-11 hours a night, and sometimes taking naps on top of that. I didn’t even realize how exhausted my body was until I let it relax. Now that cold weather has moved in it’s even easier to stay buried under the covers until waaayyy past your usual wake up time. Go for it. Sleep is good for you and will allow your body to recharge after a long season. So take my advice and catch some extra zzzz’s this offseason.

AND the number one Tip To Supercharge Your Offseason…..

1. Reach Out to Others

This one needs a little defining so I’ll do my best. Triathlon is such a narcissistic selfish sport. We spend so much time focusing on ourselves- our nutrition, our training, our performance. Often that comes at a great cost to our friends and family. So take some time to reach out to those around you and spend time with them .Yes, this means your family who has sacrificed so much to let you train for triathlon but it can also mean going above and beyond those immediately close to you. Reach out into the community and find ways you can give back. Christmas is a great time to do this and there are SO many opportunities available. There are so many less fortunate than ourselves and I often reflect on just how blessed I am to be able to do what I do. Participate in Angel tree… or hand out bagels to the random homeless guy on the corner. I also enjoy volunteering at races if I can. It’s fun to see the other side that we don’t see when we’re competing and it really helps you appreciate how much work goes into supporting you out on the race course. So take some time away from yourself this offseason. Take yourself less seriously, have some fun, eat a cookie, sleep in a little, let your leg hair grow and reach out to others and give back. Thanks for reading and feel free to let me know some of your ideas and fun things you have done this offseason! 

Top Ten Tips To Supercharge Your Offseason: Part 1

10. Take 2 weeks off

“WHHHAAATTT!?!?! “ You say. “Two weeks without exercise! That’s impossible.” No it isn’t actually. Millions of people across America do it all the time. You can be a normal American for just TWO weeks. I know you can. If the Pirates Who Don't Do Anything, can do it- so can you.

  I often hear people talk about how they like to “keep moving” and “just do some easy workouts” during their break. That’s all well and good and I firmly believe there is a time for that as well but I think total rest is important. If you can’t handle taking time completely off I challenge you to examine yourself and ask WHY it’s so difficult for you to take a break? It doesn’t have to be two weeks exactly, maybe it’s 10 days or maybe it’s a whole month. The point is it’s good to let your body have some down time from ANY sort of physical activity. You have 11 ½ months to beat your body into submission so the least you can do is take a couple weeks off and just rest. I promise you, after two weeks you’ll be so mentally and physically rested that you are just craving activity and it makes it so much more worth it when you do start training. Bernard Lagat takes 5 weeks completely off every year and he’s pretty fast.  

9. Train Unstructured. 

Call it the "transition period" or whatever you want but after some total down time I’m all for doing unstructured training. This is actually one of my favorite times of the year. If I feel like going for a run then I’ll go for a run. But if I don’t, then by golly I’ll just sit on my butt and won’t. And I don’t feel one hint of guilt. The important thing is to listen to your body. Yes, exercise is good for us and as triathletes we typically do it because we enjoy being active. I like to do unstructured training for anywhere from 1-4 weeks AFTER my 2 weeks off. I try to re-discover my love for the sport and remember WHY I love training. There’s no set rule on how long this time has to last but don't rush it. Enjoy the time to stay healthy but not overdo and not have to stress if life get's in the way.

8. Do something fun for a change. 

Like bake a pie

Play croquet

Or maybe just do a little dance

This girl is in full-on offseason mode

Yes, yes, I know we all embrace that identity of being “the boring triathlete” during race season. Believe me, I’m just as boring as the next guy when it’s time to get down to business. In fact, I’d like to bet that my wife and I could compete for the most boring couple in America with our complete lack of social interaction. In a “most boring couple under 30” contest, we’d win handily. During this offseason though I try to rise above “boring” and just be “dull.” Being dull means that maybe I go a little crazy and take my wife to a movie, or dinner or maybe even one of those concert things. Oh trust me we do it big at the Saroni house. The point is to do stuff out of your regular routine that you would normally not do when you have 6am swim practice the next morning or just finished up a 7 hour brick session. You don’t have to be the most interesting man (or woman) in the world, just try being a little less boring.

7. Reflect on your season. 

Yes, this sounds very serious and contemplative and it is. After a week or two have gone by and you’re not as emotionally connected to what went right or wrong in your last “A” race take some time to look back and examine the season as objectively as possible. Look for the area’s you improved and where you could have done better. Don’t be too hard on yourself. As triathletes, we are normally our own toughest critics but the agonizing thing about endurance sport is that improvements come very slowly and often by miniscule margins. We are usually too quick to judge ourselves harshly and not see the steps forward we made throughout the season. There are many other variables too look at other than just time too. Time and splits vary so widely and depending on terrain and conditions. There are other factors to consider- Was your mental approach stronger this year? Did you have a better nutrition? What about time management skills? Recovery? Transitions? There are a TON of different ways you can improve year to year other than just “going faster.” (Though of course going faster is the primary goal). Often the races that weren’t the best are where you learn the most and can help you improve for the future. And if you can’t find a single positive thing to reflect on from last year? Than, ouch. That must have been a really, really bad one.

6. Stay up late- 

This one goes along with doing something fun for a change. Contrary to what your parents may have told you, sometimes good things DO happen after midnight- If you can make it that late. Personally, for my wife and I, staying up late means we don’t hit the sack until 8:30 or maybe if we’re being extra crazy, 9:00. Yes I know we’re boring and dull. In all seriousness though a lot of times I find that I’m not as tired from training so it’s hard to go to bed early. So I’ll stay up and read a book or work on other stuff I don’t have time to do when I’m in full on tri-geek-train-hard-win-easy-race-till-I-die mode. Reading is one of my favorite past times actually-

This is a completely accurate depiction of my utterly-sheltered-
100% homeschooled-childhood. (Actually I give my mom
great credit for instilling a love for reading in me from a very
young age).

Or I’ll go do some of the aforementioned “fun” activities that often involve staying up late. (I’m still astonished sometimes when I’m told that a certain activity or show doesn’t START until 9:00 pm. I really don’t know how I use to do it in high school and college when I’d be out until 2am and then come home to START working on my paper due at 8:00am that morning. Crazy times).







Stay tuned next week for Part 2!!

This actually has no connection to my blog I just thought it was funny
and brings back many other homeschool memories.

A Thankful Heart

“Make a joyful shout to the Lord, all you lands!

Serve the Lord with gladness; come before His presence with singing.

Know that the Lord, He is God; It is He who has made us,

And not we ourselves;

We are His people and the sheep of His pasture.

Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise.

Be thankful to him, and bless His name.

For the Lord is good; his mercy is everlasting,

And his truth endures to all generations.”

What a whirlwind of a year it has been! I managed to cram getting engaged, finishing school, accepting my pro card, getting married all within the space of 3-4 months leading into January of this year and from then on it’s been head-on-full-tilt-no-holds-barred-life-coming-at-you-with-both-barrels-leveled. It’s been fun though. A lot of fun and I have so much to be grateful for. With Halloween out of the way and Thanksgiving looming I thought I’d dedicate this post to all the people I have to be thankful for.

-First and foremost I am thankful for my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. He is the one who gives me the gifts and talents I have and all I can do is humbly do my best to bring glory to Him through my training and racing. Jessica and I are overwhelmed every day with how much God has blessed us in life and even when we struggle and are hurt, angry, tired or depressed it is heartening to take a step back and remember that God is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow. We serve a good God who always, ALWAYS has our best interests in mind and when we humble ourselves and pursue Him with all our heart He sees to it that things always work out for His good.

 

-My Wife: She’s just plain awesome. There’s not much else I can say about that. We’re best friends, training partners and only very rarely adversaries. Even though we’ve been married less than a year it has been very trying at times. When two people are pouring their heart and soul into training, racing, working and school there isn’t much time for each other but I’m so thankful for Jessica and that at the end of the day we can sit down and eat dinner together and talk about the day. She has been so patient with me when I’ve been busy and she encourages me when I’m moody and down on myself and my training. Not only that but she compels me to be a better husband, a better Christian and a better man. She doesn’t let me get away with crap and inspires me to strive to love her better every day. She also makes a mean granola bar and can whip up a pretty tasty batch of cookies too.

-Shelly O’Brien: Shelly had been my coach for 5 years before I decided to take my own path earlier this summer. Under her guidance I grew from a slow, weak, adolescent to a professional triathlete. I grew so much under her direction and had a blast as well. Training in the summers, attending camps, coaching at camps and helping mentor a younger, faster generation is what I love about this sport and Shelly gave me the opportunity to experience all of that. She taught me the meaning of “high performance” and the knowledge I gained working with her is invaluable.

-Sponsors: I didn’t have any big, title sponsors this year but the two companies I worked with were great. Fluid nutrition has products of the absolute highest class. There’s been a lot of talk and research lately about race day drinks needing more sodium and less sugar/calories. The nutritionist for many pro cycling teams and author of “The Feedzone Cookbook,” Alan Lim, says we should “drink our hydration and eat our calories.” Well Fluid has been doing that for the last few years before such a notion was gaining attention. Their performance drink is tasty yet subtle with 200mg of sodium per 100 kcal serving. The recovery drink has the well known “4-1” ratio and since they use whey isolate they’re also dairy free.

           Sockguy provided my… well- socks, for the year and they made sure I was always looking super fly on the bike and run! Sometimes I tend to take life too seriously but deep down I have a quirky sense of humor and sockguy fits in with that perfectly. All sorts of things you don’t think belong on a pair of socks like bacon and eggs, hamburger and french fries, popcorn and many more were seen adorning my ankles this year. Sockguy socks are a great way to draw attention to yourself and distract those chasing you as you’re going off the front.

-Tri-Sition Area-:Tri-Sition area is the local bike and tri shop in San Antonio that I frequent often, train out of and where my wife works as well. The owners, Marco and Lorena, are two of the nicest people you will meet. They are such genuine people who really just love triathlon and love supporting people that love the sport as well. They are so involved in the community and just seeking to grow the sport any way they can. The shop is a great gathering place for all the local tri talent and I’ve had a blast getting to know the people there this year. Thank you Marco and Lorena for having such big hearts and for keeping my bike in working order!

-The race directors: I feel a disclaimer is necessary here- no, these men did not ask me to say any of this and no, they don’t pay me appearance fees for going to their race. (Though I would be hard pressed to refuse if they made me an offer). I was very fortunate to have an excellent lineup of races this fall and each one was special in its own way.

                The Kemah, Bridgeland and Houston triathlon are all run but Aaron Palaian at OnurMark Events. Aaron does an absolute stand up job of putting on some of the most high quality races I’ve ever done. He sets the bar for other event directors out there and he makes sure to put it high. His races are competitive, safe and each brings its own flair. For some reason this year, an OnurMark race was synonymous with a poor performance from me but I plan on changing that next year!

                Scott Rampy at the TriFest for MS. TriFest was an extremely impromptu race for me this year. I already wrote a brief race report about it but I just want to publicly thank Scott for his hospitality and the time and effort he put into the event. Scott’s wife was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis last year and to see how he has thrown his heart and soul into finding a cure for the disease that is plaguing his wife is moving at the deepest level. Watching him walk across the finish line with his wife and seeing just how much he loves her was inspiring and heart rending at the same time.  Thank you, Scott.

                Gary Metcalf of TriFecta. A first year event the TriFecta triathlon was held at gorgeous Possum Kingdom Lake right next to where I used to go to boy scout camp in high school! Gary did a phenomenal job taking care of us pro’s and I was incredibly impressed with the quality of this event for its first year. I am sincerely looking forward to going back next year.

                Steve Farris. I’ve known Steve for many years while going to school at UT Tyler. If I could think of one word to describe Steve it would be, generous. He’s let me borrow his disc wheel for many races and not just me but anyone. I’m pretty sure he’s only used the wheels a few times for himself but they get raced nearly every weekend! I’ve raced The Rose City Triathlon four times now and Tri-Tyler was my first half Ironman this year. Steve simply loves the sport and he loves taking care of athletes and seeing them succeed. The quality and detail he puts into both events is remarkable. From building excellent post race food and beverages to constructing a giant finish line tower to placing a rose on each athletes bike after the race, he thinks of everything and really looks after the safety of the athletes. However, he doesn’t shy away from designing of the hilliest and most difficult courses in the nation!

-Others: Countless others have played a role in my debut year as a pro and the craziest year of my existents. I also want to thank my parents and my grandparents- Gaba and Papa Joe for raising me and always being there. The Riley family for how you’ve opened your home and family to me over the years. Jessica Martin and her grandparents, the Labrode’s and the Yoho’s for letting Jess and I crash at your houses before a race; Robbie Wade and Wes Anderson for pushing me in training and in race; Melissa Mantak for letting me attend her camp in Colorado this spring; Susan Ingram for running a great masters program and helping my swim so much; and Kevin and Shirley Barton for the “borrowing” of your race wheels for a good 4 months. All of you have contributed to my success in one way or another and I am extremely grateful.

I’m looking forward to a great 2013 and beyond!

The Big 'N

Well here it is/was. The Tri-Tyler Half. This was my “A” race of the year, if you want to call it that. It was also my first half Ironman after doing triathlon for 10 years and quite a daunting undertaking. For someone that is used to racing Olympic distance where it’s basically an all out pain fest for 2 hours the prospect of taking that pain and DOUBLING it isn’t particularly appealing. Nonetheless I was actually pretty excited to give this distance a shot and see how I liked it.

I stuck to the tried and true training regimen I’ve been using this fall which is essentially training whenever and wherever I get a chance. The week or two before I was working a ton and literally would look at my watch and see that I had a 20 minute break and so I’d go run for 17 minutes. Race day would show how effective this method was when applied to a four hour race. In all honesty I knew I had put some good workouts in earlier in the year and that I’d gained fitness from each of my races so I knew I could go out and compete.

For this first year race, Steve Farris put together the gnarliest course he could. Labeled as “The Toughest Half in Texas,” Tri-Tyler has nearly 3000 feet of climbing on the bike including Tyler’s infamous, “The Beast” climb. The run was along the Rose City bike course and had about 1.5 miles of flat book ending the out and back course with a solid 9-10 miles of constant rolling hills in the middle. It would be a race of attrition, that was no doubt. To add to the difficulty of the course there was also a stellar field of athletes lined up to race. I would argue that only Galveston and Austin 70.3 had deeper fields in Texas this year. Pro’s Nick Waninger, Brady O’Bryan and myself were there along with Ben Hall, Seth Cooke, William Ritter, Clay Emge, Ben …. and a host of others. (My apologies if I didn’t include your name here) It was the type of field that I knew I could either win or finish outside the top 10 depending on the kind of day I had.

Swim- 27:19. A HUGE breakthrough in my swim for me. I know I’ve been capable of swimming times like this as per my workouts in practice I just hadn’t been able to get it together in a race. I was finally able to swim to my ability and was quite pleased with this effort. Ben Hall took it out at the start and I was on his hip for a bit. Then Nick went to the front to surge and I lost contact. Nick, Ben and Brady ended up coming out of the water about 1:30-2min up on me. I led the 2nd pack into T1 and was quickly out on my bike.

Bike- 2:20:49 (2nd fastest) I had been warned that a 70.3 bike effort isn’t much slower than an Olympic so I tried to go out at a solid pace and start working from the get go. I knew I had guys up the road and was hoping to make up some ground. I caught Brady about 5 miles in and we rode together until mile 12 when Seth Cooke came by like a freight train. Now I knew this boy could ride a bike but was a little shocked to see him so early in the race. However I knew this was my ticket to the front. I accelerated and Seth and I were able to work together for the next 20-25 miles of the bike. I tried as best I could to take some pulls and share the load but he definitely did much more of the work than me. (Note:  though this is a non-draft race there is definitely benefit to being around other cyclists and pacing off of each other. Since we were operating under age group rules the “draft zone” was a mere 3 bike lengths, which is much closer than you’d think when going 24+ mph). Somewhere in there Brady dropped off and starting up The Beast at mile 30 we saw Nick up ahead. I led up the beast which is a half mile climb kicking up to 18-20% the last 200m. Coming over the top I saw Ben Hall off to the side messing with his bike and realized he must have had a mechanical of some sort. (I found out after the race that he broke his chain at the top of The Beast while leading the race by about 2 minutes. That’s what he gets for trying to put out 800 watts. Kudo’s to him for getting back on his bike and finishing the race). Seth floored it from there and I just did all I could to hang with him until we caught Nick at mile 35. At this point the fatigue was definitely starting to set in and I couldn’t do much but hang off the back of these  two guys. Seth put in another surge around mile 45 and Nick and I let him go, banking that we could catch him on the run. I was so, soooo happy to finally see transition ahead. My back, hips, butt, quads, everything was hurting big time.

Run- 1:29:43 (OUCH) I managed a sub 30sec transition even with putting socks on but sockless Nick was already 10 seconds down the road. I kept a steady and controlled 5:55-6:15 pace the first 5 miles and caught Seth a little after mile 3. After mile 5 the slow and steady decline began. At the turn around I was only 50 seconds behind Nick but Brady was bearing down on me about a minute back. I did all I could but the wheels were slowly coming off and starting to roll away. As much as I think the term is overused by triathletes I think I was in fact “bonking”. When Brady came by me at mile 8.5 there was no surge from me to hang with him. I was just trying to keep one foot in front of the other. In the last 4.5 miles Brady somehow ended up beating me by 5 minutes. I came in 3rd with a time of 4:19:35. Then I lay on the ground for a long, long time.

Lessons learned:

1) A half ironman is a really, really, REALLY long race.

2) No, I will not be attempting an Ironman for a good, long while. (I’m thinking 7-10 years)

3) More calories. I took in about 750 kcal on the bike and another 200ish on the run but I think in reality, and especially with how difficult and hilly the race is I probably need closer to 1300-1500 for the whole race. I just didn’t bank enough fuel on the bike to carry me through the run.

4) I need to train harder. More specifically, I need to train better to run a good half marathon off the bike. It isn’t so much about speed it’s about strength. Being strong on the bike to push a good pace for 2+ hours and then strong on the run to keep the pace steady. 6 minute pace isn’t that fast but running it on a fatigued body for 13 miles makes it much more difficult then it seems. Hip and glute strength is a must to hold form when you’re body is breaking down.

5) I think-maybe-we’ll see-but I might like this whole 70.3 thing and give it another shot in 2013.

I am now in full offseason mode. Eating as much terrible food as I can and doing as little physical activity as possible. This is hopefully giving me more time to write so I’m going to try and post a blog every week or two. Stay tuned for more on a recap of this year, the importance of a break and my plans for next year.

Train to Race... or Race to Train?

My next weekend double was a spring/Olympic combo. The Rose City Triathlon on Saturday followed by the first ever TRIFECTA Triathlon at beautiful Possum Kingdom lake on Sunday. Fellow pro triathlete and San Antonioan, Robbie Wade and I journeyed together for the weekend and made the long hours in the car much less boring. Rose City was a sprint race that I've won the last two years and hold the course record for. Bringing my top competition with me may not have been the smartest move but when Robbie took a wrong turn on the bike and last 30-45sec I nearly defended my title. Leading out the run I ran as hard as one can (Which is pretty fast when an angry Irishman is bearing down on you). At last, my efforts were futile however when Robbie caught me with 1k to go then easily kicked by me in the last 300m. We both actually broke my old course record and he helped propel me to my best ever run split of 15:31 for 3 miles. I would have actually pr'd my 5k in that race if it was a 5k.

As much as I hate being rude we had to leave the awards ceremony early so we could jet on the 3.5 hour drive west for the pro meeting at 4 pm that afternoon. It was going to be a small field with only 4 men and 3 women competing. Gary Metcalf, the race director was kind enough to hook us up with a great homestay for this event. Thanks a ton to Judy Parsons and her husband for allowing 4 dirty, hungry triathletes to invade their beautiful home for the weekend! Seriously, their place was amazing and we each had our own little apartment suite with a bed, fridge, tv and bathroom. And a great view of the lake to boot! Here are a few shots of possum kingdom lake-

View from the swim start

A close look at Hell's Gate

I had a pretty good race. Though I could tell my lack of high intensity biking and the hard effort from the day before left my legs lacking a little pop. I came off the bike in 4th and was able to run down Peter Mallett from Austin to secure 3rd. Robbie won easily and Wes Anderson (aka: GI Joe stud muffin) came in a strong 2nd so I was happy to make a San Antonio sweep! It was a successful weekend of racing and I was very pleased to have two back-to-back strong performances.

Podium- Wes, Robbie and me left to right

Another 2 weeks saw me on the road again, this time with afore mentioned Wes, headed to the Houston Triathlon . A week of rain storms turned this event into an aquathon which didn't particularly favor me but a race is a race and we all must perform regardless. Well... I didn't exactly perform. I came in a very unremarkable 7th place. For whatever reason I just felt extremely flat that day and couldn't manage to swim hard or get my run pace much under 5:50's. Oh well, those days happen.

Three weeks later was my big (and first) half Ironman. I'll save that for a later post as I feel it deserves a race report of it's own. Suffice to say I completed it and it was hard!!!  More to come in a few days...

Busy, Busy, Busy

This is going to be a two-part post. I was trying to condense it as much as possible but just have too many good stories to tell! So I'll break it up for the benefit of my dwindling readership.

Life has been crazy and crazy awesome of late. Lots of racing, a bit of training and working as many odd jobs as I can find in the meantime! My official job title is Mr. Coach Laundry Man Fitness Attendant Instructor Sir. Quite lengthy and descriptive, not to mention catchy eh? I've always been an all-or-nothing type of guy and an unpredictable and flexible schedule has forced me to adapt. I've had to learn how to balance life with training and be much more go with the flow. In a lot of ways it has been very good because I've had to adjust my approach to training and realize that "something is better than nothing." So I try to make sure I get in some good quality workouts during the week and don't sweat it if I miss my 45min easy run or an hour easy spin.

All in all it's been a lot of fun and I'm enjoying life right now. That's probably mainly because of the fact that I've gotten faster and seen improvement in every race I've done so far this fall. Getting faster is fun. Period. I'll try to run through a quick recap.

Bridgeland- This was a sprint race in the Houston area which was my first race back in a while. I ended up 6th which was ok but not great. I felt like I was in a lot better shape then my race showed (Doesn't everyone think that though?) but you have what you have on the day. After Bridgeland my training SUCKED for a couple weeks. I was lazy, slept-in, skipped workouts, ate bon-bons, all the bad stuff a dedicated triathlete isn't supposed to do. I'm sure my wife was sick of me whining about how out of shape I was getting and how I was the worst professional athlete on the planet.

Typical. Me singing at the top of my lungs and my wife glaring at me angrily.

TriFest for MS- This race wasn't originally on my schedule but I got a call from Jess' brother (Also a professional triathlete) a week or so before and Jess and I decided to drive up to Bentonville, Arkansas to give it a try. It was labor day weekend and triathlon is fun so why not make a road trip out of it? Well Scott, the race director, did a stellar job and got us a wonderful homestay just 3 miles from the race site. It was an interesting format with an 800m pool swim in LCM followed by a 27 miles bike on a 7 loop course and then another 700m before finishing off with the typical 10k. My swim was so-so but I crushed the bike. I haven't been able to ride hard in so long because of back pain and it was so nice to put power on the pedals and make myself hurt. I ended up going 1:01 for the 27 mile ride followed by a second swim where I came close to drowning and horrible leg cramps in T3 before shuffling a miserable 10k.
Note: Swimming AFTER a hard bike ride SUCKS!!

On the spur of the moment I decided to jump in a 10k the morning after the race because there was a bit of prize money and... well, who doesn't want a goodie bag like this one?

A lead pack of 4 formed from the get go with me just off the back and
when they rolled through the mile in 5:05 with me at 5:10 I knew top 3 was out of the question.

However I was determined to run hard and even though this >>>>>>   ugly guy was starting to make his presence known. I contemplated dropping out, not sure if the damage to my foot was going to be worth it but when I pr'd my 5 mile and knew I had a shot to pr my 10k I had to keep going! I ended running 34:00 which was a 12 second pr but oh so close to breaking 34. Better luck next time I suppose. In reality, I was quite pleased because it was on a hilly course the day after smashing my legs on the bike and then cramping horribly.

red badge of courage

The weekend in Arkansas gave me a good confidence boost. I think I got myself a bit overtrained doing base work in July and early august along with the lack of intensity resulted in feeling very sluggish and off at Bridgeland. After the Arkansas weekend my suspicions of lurking fitness were confirmed and my faith in my bike ride rejuvenated. So I did what would be expected in such circumstances- I stopped riding my bike for two weeks. Ok, that's not completely true but I only did a couple rides over the next two weeks though one of them was a 75 miler. Again, not ideal training but my swim and run were still going well and I had another big weekend double coming up.

The Basics

This year has brought many changes to my life and whether good or bad change is a stressor that the mind and body must adapt to. I am very fortunate in that my changes are nearly all good but somehow they managed to all happen within a few weeks of each other! My wedding, finishing school moving into a new apartment, and accepting my pro card all happened in quick succession of each other and all of a sudden I found my self living a completely different life than I had a few months ago. I am absolutely happy and content with where my life is right now and knowing that God is working in me and guiding my steps. However, my training and racing was a bit up and down all spring. I struggled with motivation in my training and a lot of fatigue. I had some decent races but others weren't quite what I was hoping for. 

My wife and I took a trip to Idaho a month and a half ago to see her sister and it was a great time of refreshing for us. I like to say that we came back mentally refreshed and physically exhausted! We did a lot of hiking up mountains in the snow on top of some running and swimming but we had a blast. That time was just what I needed to refocus and look at what God is calling me to do in life and in sport. My goal for this fall is to "get back to the basics." I love cliche's and that's about a cliche saying as it gets. 

I tend to think too much in my training and so I'm swimming with a master's group now. I just show up and do what they tell me when they tell me to do it. Simple and it's fun. I'm running and biking with people and trying to listen to my body. I love the sport of triathlon, it's fun and I think sometimes I forget that in the midst of "getting the work done." So now I'm having fun and that same philosophy is what's guided my race planning for the fall.

Essentially I'm going to stick to local races but one's that will still have a competitive field and other pro athletes from the state and region. It's a lot more fun trying to pr while fighting for a podium spot then to do it while your 5-10 minutes down from the front of the race. I've done a lot of the big, national level races and I they are a lot of fun but I've done that scene and for this fall and I want to travel to places that are close and see people I know. With that being said my lineup for the fall is going to look something like this-

August 5th- Bridgeland Sprint (Cypress, Tx)

September 15th- Rose City Triathlon (Tyler, TX)

September 16th- TriFecta (Possum Kingdom, TX)

September 30- Houston Triathlon (Figure it out...)

October 21- Tri-Tyler HALF 

I personally know some of the race organizers for these races and they put on excellent, quality, fun races. I really love what Steve Farris, who puts on Rose City and Tri-Tyler, is doing with his races and am excited to come support his half iron race in Tyler. It's going to be fun and I'm really looking forward to this fall. Hope to see you at one of these events!!

Back from My Leave of Absence

So apparently I'm really, really bad at blogging. Three months since my last update is completely unacceptable, I know. I'm sure the sparse readership I had has now completely left for more active and interesting blogs. In spite of the very real possibility that no one reads this post I shall do my best to give a brief glimpse into where I stand in life and training.

COLLEGIATENATIONALSKemahSWImLessonsDALLASITUidahoJCC6monthanniversaryWORKANDTRAINrunningcamp.EATANDSLEEP


Yep, that pretty much sums it up. I had a decent race at Nationals and a good swim at Kemah. Then a DNF in my first ITU race in Dallas after I got lapped out on the bike. MAN those guys can swim! I had a little break after that and went on an amazing trip to Idaho with my wife to see her sister. That place is so beautiful and the weather was amazing. We went hiking almost every day and saw a grizzly bear on one of our runs! We came back physically exhausted and mentally refreshed.

Since then we've been back at the grind and I've been training pretty solid. I started swimming with the master's group here which has been a lot of fun and very refreshing. On top of that I've been coaching a running camp for high schoolers this summer. We meet four times a week for 2 hours to run and do drills, stretching, core, etc. The goal is to prepare the kids for cross country season and help keep them running through the summer. It has been a lot of fun and I'm learning that my passion truly is coaching, teaching and developing young talent! I'm loving every minute of it.

Next up- The fall racing season will begin soon and I'll provide some updates about my schedule in a few days.

"Not every difficult and dangerous thing is suitable for training, but only that which is conducive to success in achieving the object of our effort."       -Epictetus 

A Lot

There's been a lot of ground covered since my initial post at the beginning of the year. A lot of flip turns, chamois butter and sugary sports drinks. All that goes into the process of gaining fitness and preparing for racing. My ramp up has been a little slower this year with a little more focus on base/strength/endurance in the early season. It will be a long year so we haven't wanted to jump into high intensity too quick.

A few weeks ago I had a great opportunity to participate in a pro/elite age grouper training camp in Denver, Colorado hosted by USAT 2010 Coach of the Year, Melissa Mantak. It was a great opportunity to train "like a pro" for a whole week. All we did was eat, sleep, train and repeat. It's amazing how much training you can do when all your focused on between workouts is getting ready for the next one! We had a really good group of people there including Ryan Borger, Jordan Jones, Mark Hillers, Brandon Nied, Steven Garza, Alex Hooke, Beth Shutt and myself. I learned a lot, had a lot of fun and walked away with a lot more fitness than I came into the camp with. I want to say a BIG thank you to Melissa for opening her home up to us athletes. She donated her entire week to coaching us in the pool, videotaping us, driving SAG, teaching and talking with us and I'm very grateful and thankful for the insight I gained from her.

I had one week after camp to recover before racing the South Midwest Region Collegiate Qualifier in Dallas, Tx. I was very excited to get out there and race since it's been over 6 months since I completed a triathlon! My wife, Jessica, and I drove up the night before and crashed at my parents house along with the rest of the UT Tyler Multisport Club. Jess was racing for her school, St. Mary's University to qualify as an individual slot.

Race morning was a 5:15am wake up which doesn't feel to bad when you're used to getting up at 4:30 a lot of mornings to swim. Check-in, body marking, transition set-up, warm-up, yada, yada, yada. Same stuff before every race. Soon we were in the water waiting to go. This race was a "Spolympic" as I liked to call it. 1000m swim, 19mi bike, 5 mi run. There were around 120 guys packed into a pretty small area at the start and when the gun went off there was a lot of the normal thrashing, kicking, grabbing, swimming on top of people, etc. that goes on. I really struggle with open water starts for some reason and have a hard time settling into a rhythm and finding my stroke when I go out hard. I missed the first pack but found a couple guys to draft off of and exited the water only about 40sec down from Ben Hall from Louisiana Tech who was one of the top contenders. Looking back on my time and how I felt in the water confirmed to me that I really need to get in open water and practice going hard and using my wetsuit.

I had a quick T2 and was 4th or 5th onto the bike, and moved into 2nd place within the first mile. Ben Hall was only 20sec up the road and I knew he is a strong biker so I pushed hard the first 5 miles to try and get close to him. I got to within about 8sec but then we hit a turn around and after seeing me he punched it and started to open up a gap. I made the mistake of tightening my shoe strap at the same time and he was gone. The bike was completely flat. We did 2 loops across a damn and back. We had some cross wind but not too terrible. I was trying to push as hard as possible but wasn't able to get my HR very high. My back started tightening up the second half like it seems to always do. When Scott Wilkinson from A&M came by me with 4 miles to go I realized I had been pushing a really low cadence which I think may have attributed to my back. I used Scott to pace off of the last part of the bike and we came into and out of T2 nearly together.

Starting the run Scott was about 2 seconds ahead of me and Ben Hall was a minute down the road. Scott took off and I decided to try and build my run and not gun it from the start- bad decision. Scott kept pulling away until he caught Ben at mile 2. I caught Ben at mile 3 and Scott was about 20sec up the road. He hadn't pulled away anymore since the 1.5 mile mark and I thought I might be able to catch him if I pushed too hard. However, for whatever reason be it lack of mental strength or just not enough intensity in training yet I didn't. Instead I settled where I was, in a comfortable rhythm and let myself run across the line in second. Mark Primeaux from LSU and Keith Kotar of Oklahoma State where running fast behind me but I had a big lead on them and knew they wouldn't catch me. I ended up "winning" the race because Scott had some academic issues that kept him out of the collegiate competition but it was a hollow victory. Overall I was very, very pleased with how the race played out and my fitness level. It's now time to start moving into some higher intensity work which will give me those top end gears I need to really push the pace and make myself hurt.

My wife did great in her race taking 2nd overall female and nabbing her spot for Nationals! I'm also super proud of the UT Tyler guys. We took 4th male team out of 10 teams which is huge for our little squad! They're a fun group of guys and I love being able to meet up with them and help our squad do well.

Collegiate Nationals is 2 weeks away and then the season will really start to get going. I'm excited about this year and progress I've made already.

All Aboard

Along with my "big jump" to the world of professional racing comes a lot of responsibility and extra work. By "work," I don't just mean the physical kind (though that is definitely a BIG part of it), but also all the little things that must be done. Things like eating right, stretching, resting, taking care of equipment, administrative work and yes- MORE TRAINING. All of these things take time and time is money. Athletes typically have more time than they do money and this is were I believe sponsors come in. In exchange for the use of their product to help the athlete perform better and more cost efficiently, the athlete is giving the sponsor product exposure and the use of his time. With that in mind I have beenable to bring aboard a couple small sponsors for the 2012 season. These are company's that I have used before, researched and believe in. I am proud of the brands I get to represent this year and am grateful for the support they are giving me. Below is a quick highlight of the three companies I have so far

Fluid will be helping me with my nutrition for this year. They have 2 great performance and recovery products. I spent a lot of time researching different nutrition companies because I wanted to be confident in what I was putting in my body. One of the biggest things I like is that their recovery drink is lactose free but does not include soy. They use whey protein isolate which does not contain lactose. My wife is extremely lactose intolerant and I avoid it as much as possible because it improves my allergies and congestion when I don't consume dairy. It is hard to find any recovery product that doesn't have some dairy in it and we are a 99% dairy free household and I'm excited that Fluid will fit right in! There drinks taste great but aren't too sweet and don't leave that syrupy gunk in your mouth. I'm really looking forward to using a product I like and that works this year for my training and recovery!

Who doesn't love crazy cycling socks? Well I certainly do and have since I started in this sport! That's why I am super excited to be working with SockGuy this year and can't wait to model some of their awesome designs! Putting in all those lonely miles on the road I'm always looking for ways to make things interesting and a pair of crazy socks are the perfect way to make things funky! Hopefully those trying to hold my wheel will be so distracted looking at my socks they can't concentrate and get dropped. SockGuy doesn't sacrifice quality either. These socks are comfy and don't wear out.

Ok so feet are definitely important when you use them to train all day. I've got some good socks on my feet now and I'm really, really happy to be able to back that up with some good arch support in the form of Superfeet. A big thanks to Robbie Wade for helping out our team, IconeOne Multisport, with these so we can all wear them. I've been using Superfeet for about 4 years now and they really make a difference in helping my stride mechanics and preventing me from getting injured. I'm a "neutral" runner and previously thought this meant that all I needed was a non-supportive, cushioned shoe. That's simply not true. I get re-occurring shinsplint problems and my feet get a lot more sore and tight without the use of Superfeet. Not only that but I can tell my power transfer is much better on the bike with them and when running they help my foot roll more quickly across the arch and into my toe off.

Of course my coach and team IconOne Multisport is backing me again this year. I am where I am today because of my coach, Shelly. She gives me all the hard workouts that suck so much and make me so much faster.

So that's the line up for this year so far. I'm very grateful for these opportunities I have and am proud to represent these brands. I still need a lot of help with clothing, shoes, helmet, sunglasses, wheels, race entries, plane tickets and hotels so if you or anyone you know is interested in working with me please feel free to contact me at- thetrilife@gmail.com

The Big Jump

2011 saw a lot of changes for and I made a lot of improvement. I never had a really, really big breakthrough race like I was hoping for but I had some solid, consistent performances. I never had a really bad race and I never had one that was really good. But that was my goal for the year- to race consistently. And I did that, all my Olympic distance races were within about 3min of each other. I was in really good form late in the season and eager to throw down a very quick race at the Toyota US Open but a flat tire derailed that attempt. Nonetheless, it was a good year and one that leaves me even hungrier for this year.

All that being said, in May last year at the Capitol of Texas Triathlon I placed 3rd overall amateur which qualified me to take my pro card should I choose to do so. Last year was too early and I chose to stay amateur for the rest of the year. However, after much reflection and talking with my coach I have decided to make the big jump and turn pro in 2012. A lot of people wait until they achieve a top 5 at Collegiate or Age Group Nationals and I haven't done that but I feel that, for me, what is going to motivate me to keep working hard is to make that jump. I learned a lot last year about training, consistency and just putting in the work. Moving to San Antonio last May has enabled me to work with my coach, Shelly O'Brien, full-time and that has helped me immensely.

I know that this year I will be at the complete bottom of the totem pole but... who cares? If I'm getting faster (and my goal is to get faster) then there is nothing like throwing yourself to the wolves and trying to survive. I'm the fittest I've ever been this time of year and immensely excited. Being a professional triathlete is something I've dreamed of for many years and now I finally am one! I'm not making any money yet and sponsors certainly aren't knocking at my door but I'll start at the bottom and work my way up. The way I see it is- I'm almost 23, I have a good 15-20 years of racing in front of me and if I can continue to improve that whole time who knows where I'll be at age 40? There's no time like the present so I'm going to take the opportunities I have and give it my best effort!

The Good Life

Over the last couple months I've really come to appreciate how blessed I am and how much I have to be thankful for. I'm looking forward to a lot of new beginnings this year and all the "newness" leads me to conclude that "life is good." So I've compiled a list of some of the things that constitute the reason I'm livin' "the good life."

-I serve a sovereign, almighty God who watches over His children and provides for them even when they don't deserve it.

-I just got married to the most wonderful girl in the world and one that is perfectly matched for me. (And hopefully I for her)

-I have a great family that supports me no matter what.

-I'm surrounded by good friends here in San Antonio.

-I have a great coach, Shelly O'Brien, that is helping me move forward and continue to progress in the sport of triathlon.

-I saw a lot of improvement in my racing in 2011 and look forward to an even bigger jump in 2012

-I'm happy, healthy, wealthy enough and pretty foolish.

-I love San Antonio and all the great training and racing opportunities I have here.

-I'm done with school!

So here's to 2011- a great year, and to 2012- I'm expecting even better! I have no idea where God is taking me this next year or what is in store for me but I'm looking forward to the unknown with eager anticipation.