tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11476970769466495752012-01-31T11:25:15.608-06:00My story as I pursue my passion for triathlonMark Saronihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14425634862604761626noreply@blogger.comBlogger1231100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1147697076946649575.post-14065051969226681042012-01-27T17:48:00.004-06:002012-01-31T11:25:15.617-06:00

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

Mark Saronihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14425634862604761626noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1147697076946649575.post-70706396458688792552011-11-09T12:29:00.002-06:002011-11-09T12:58:06.740-06:00

Yup, It's that time of year again. That time when the evening get dark before you can boil a pot of water on a propane stove. That time when warm apple cider and hot cocoa sound better than an ice cream sundae or a snow cone. That time when you have more and more frequent "blustery days" and a jacket does you better than a tank top and flip flops. It's fall (or Autumn for those who are more

Mark Saronihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14425634862604761626noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1147697076946649575.post-72824144264407457572011-11-03T15:49:00.003-06:002011-11-03T15:53:00.793-06:00

Great video from the Brownlee brothers. It's all about consistency. The first part is a Monty Python spoof but it gets real interesting around minute 4.Originial source from Tri247. http://www.tri247.com/article_9287_Brownlees+talk+Yorkshire.html?region_id=&category

Mark Saronihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14425634862604761626noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1147697076946649575.post-39780586406683174072011-11-02T09:53:00.000-06:002011-11-02T09:54:00.657-06:00

Recommended Reading from Colorblind Films on Vimeo.

Mark Saronihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14425634862604761626noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1147697076946649575.post-83256590349823697112011-10-31T14:11:00.004-06:002011-11-01T08:23:40.364-06:00

Yesterday my fiance told me that I "need to update [my] blog." And since I am a sensible person who understands that the #1 key to a successful relationship is always doing what your wife tells you, I am going to get a jumpstart on practicing for married life and do just that. Oh, did I not mention I was engaged? Well yes, yes I am. Happened a little over a month ago and we're looking forward to

Mark Saronihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14425634862604761626noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1147697076946649575.post-14600473099472594722011-10-04T15:25:00.005-05:002011-10-04T15:58:22.342-05:00

Whoah. A LOT has happened since I updated last so let me see if I can do a quick run down. Race results:2nd Marble Falls Triathlon31st overall and 14th 20-24 at USAT Age Group Nationals9th Austin Triathlon (2nd amateur)1st Rose City TriathlonDNF Toyota US OpenA quick recap for some of the key races.Age Group Nationals- This took place in Burlington, Vermont on the shores of lake Champlain this

Mark Saronihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14425634862604761626noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1147697076946649575.post-82970117600831258892011-06-20T14:21:00.002-05:002011-06-20T14:48:43.761-05:00

It's been a couple months and there have been a few changes in my life since I raced Collegiate Nationals. For one thing I have officially moved to the city of San Antonio, TX. I'm here for good, (Or at least until God calls me somewhere else) and really excited about the change and the opportunities.My team, IconOne Multisport is based out of San Antonio and I have been coming down here for the

Mark Saronihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14425634862604761626noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1147697076946649575.post-39521433446455168502011-04-12T16:18:00.002-05:002011-04-12T16:42:54.625-05:00

Well my 3rd and most likely final Collegiate National Championships have come and gone. Since my plan is to take summer classes and then graduate with my Masters in Kinesiology in December I'm not sure I'll get another shot at competing in this unique race. The atmosphere at collegiate nationals is like none other. No other event draws 1000+ triathletes between the ages of 18 and 28 together for

Mark Saronihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14425634862604761626noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1147697076946649575.post-12648822482417906382011-03-08T16:46:00.005-06:002011-03-15T11:02:54.138-06:00

This is MoeMoe's a good 'ole boy and he puts on a mean half marathon at the outlet mall in San Marcos, Tx. A cool morning, plenty of hills, ignorant volunteers and some great post race fruit snacks all combined to make for an excellent for a great race at the Moe's Better Half Marathon this weekend.I should backtrack a tad though because my weekend didn't start with Moe it started with Jack. Jack

Mark Saronihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14425634862604761626noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1147697076946649575.post-6286627888255213292011-03-01T16:27:00.004-06:002011-03-01T16:35:41.131-06:00

It's 7 weeks into the 2011 season and semester and things are going pretty well. Training is going well and its been fun to see the consistent improvements from week to week this early in the year. Some quick updates of life and living:-I've got my first tri of the year this saturday. The Athens sprint triathlon. It's in Athens, Tx and is a little, local race with a pool swim and unpredictable

Mark Saronihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14425634862604761626noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1147697076946649575.post-11120838282736290692011-01-19T21:35:00.002-06:002011-01-19T21:42:55.016-06:00

So XC came and went. My last post saw me at the height of my season as the last two meets weren't too great. Having a poor race at regionals was especially a bummer as I knew I was really fit. Bad race tactics is what did me in though. The whole season I had been taking the first mile out conservative and building into the race. It was normal for me to be in about 10th place on the team through

Mark Saronihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14425634862604761626noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1147697076946649575.post-75775671514170496192010-10-28T11:58:00.003-05:002010-10-28T12:03:27.273-05:00

Whoa, It's been a while. I'm going to try and revive this blog in case there's anyone out there that still read. A quick recap of my year is in due order. However for now I'll suffice to say that I am successfully recovered from my injury from last year. Graduated from UT Tyler with a B.S. in Kinesiology this spring and am currently enrolled in grad school at UT Tyler for Kinesiology and working

Mark Saronihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14425634862604761626noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1147697076946649575.post-46285334796876476722010-01-31T17:06:00.002-06:002010-01-31T17:07:49.478-06:00

“Training hard is easy, recovery takes courage and confidence.” –Matt DixonMy friend, Jody asked me if this quote spoke to me-Sort of, yes, I guess. Its just true. That’s all. Anyone can train hard. Training's fun, pushing yourself is fun, doing more is fun. But to balance hard training with adequate recovery takes not only courage and confidence but intelligence as well. Training doesn't make

Mark Saronihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14425634862604761626noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1147697076946649575.post-15851232595083339132010-01-27T21:35:00.003-06:002010-01-27T21:40:51.278-06:00

Training is continuing to roll along. I had a bit of a hiccup last week when I came down with some sort of flu like sickness for a day or two. I worked it right however and still got all my swims and runs in and just cut out a lot of biking. This week has been solid so far and the focus is on the swim. Big time. I'm on pace to do 30,000 yards this week which is more swimming then I have ever done

Mark Saronihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14425634862604761626noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1147697076946649575.post-89712760896608231312010-01-14T12:34:00.002-06:002010-01-14T12:48:07.512-06:00

It's January 14th and classes are under way at UT Tyler. Also underway is a new season. I'm not really sure what season it is for me- triathlon, track, cycling, cross country or all of the above but it's a new season regardless. My last season ended with the regional cross country meet in North Carolina. I crutched up to the starting line, ran a terrible race, picked up the crutches and moved on.

Mark Saronihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14425634862604761626noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1147697076946649575.post-82632331821990232522009-11-12T19:14:00.002-06:002009-11-12T21:16:10.401-06:00

I'm sitting here on the bed in my hotel room in Greensboro, North Carolina, Regionals are Saturday. For us Regionals is the biggest, last and most important race of the year. This is the race that the entire last 3 months have revolved around. All the hard work, long runs and early morning have been leading up to this. And I'm hobbling around on crutches. I should backtrack a little bit here

Mark Saronihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14425634862604761626noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1147697076946649575.post-53841071118915583592009-09-13T15:26:00.002-05:002009-09-13T15:37:29.474-05:00

Sorry for the long period of silence. I've spent the last month or so moving into my apartment and getting started with xc and school. So far things are going pretty well. I can feel that I'm fit just not racing well yet. I had a terrible race last weekend and backed off this week. I should be rested and ready to go for another good run of... running. I raced the Rose City Triathlon yesterday. It

Mark Saronihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14425634862604761626noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1147697076946649575.post-84256165776812005012009-08-11T11:13:00.006-05:002009-08-11T11:29:36.822-05:00

Following my return from San Antonio I had less than 48 hours to wash clothes, recooperate and prep for this 2 week trip to the New England area. This trip is offered to all students of UT Tyler but since it is led by the XC coach and he pushes the runners to go we always have a big group of runners/triathletes. It is an awesome oppurtunity to train in some different locations and COOL WEATHER!

Mark Saronihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14425634862604761626noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1147697076946649575.post-32143715427610094772009-08-10T14:43:00.002-05:002009-08-10T14:47:28.150-05:00

Sorry for the delay once again. I have a lot to catch up on but instead of doing it all in one big post I'm going to do it more slowly and in greater detail. Though my time in San Antonio seems like ages ago many of the things I learned are still fresh in my memory. Below are some of the thoughts I had when I left. I typed this up intending to post it back in July but... stuff happens. Anyways,

Mark Saronihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14425634862604761626noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1147697076946649575.post-69611210382096205522009-07-13T16:16:00.002-05:002009-07-13T16:26:33.975-05:00

My apologies. An update has been a long time coming due to the busyness of my state here in San Antonio. Once the camps started I had no time and my life was consumed by coaching.What a great 2 weeks it was. I learned a ton about coaching, triathlon, kids, athlete development and elite performance in general. Saw some wicked numbers layed down in tests and had an absolute blast! The first camp

Mark Saronihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14425634862604761626noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1147697076946649575.post-286755060487326952009-06-24T16:27:00.002-05:002009-06-24T16:30:42.149-05:00

I just finished taking my midterm. I think it went alright. Watch this video. Pretty darn sweet, it gave me goosebumps.Training is still going. Yesterdays run workout took it out of me and my last 2 swims haven't been too good. Also got dropped on the group ride last night. I was pretty much stuck in 3rd gear. Oh well, life goes on.

Mark Saronihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14425634862604761626noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1147697076946649575.post-30602503121435482752009-06-23T13:04:00.003-05:002009-06-23T13:13:36.651-05:00

Saturday afternoon I did exactly what I planned on doing- nothing. I literally spent about 6 hours sitting on the coach with my coach's husband, Jeff while she was doing important things in Canada. It was greatness! Sunday was an off day so I went to Church with my host family, took a nap and chilled. Oh, I also ate. A LOT. Sometimes when I'm doing all these workout with high intensity I have

Mark Saronihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14425634862604761626noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1147697076946649575.post-83830644206004694282009-06-20T13:39:00.002-05:002009-06-20T13:43:37.310-05:00

Ouch. I'm just thankful my legs are still attached. 2 hr run this morning was not what my body felt like doing. I had the option to go to SeaWorld today but I respectfully declined. I'd rather spend the day eating, sleeping and foam rolling. Day off tomorro then its back to work on Monday. I love this life!

Mark Saronihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14425634862604761626noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1147697076946649575.post-31412423641931642982009-06-19T14:52:00.001-05:002009-06-19T15:02:34.404-05:00

The days are starting to run together now. Sort of.Yesterday was super solid, and by solid I mean hard.The morning saw me chillin on an 80min run on some trails just down the street from where I'm staying. Very cool and lots of lovely gravel and dirt to save my joints. I was feeling pretty lousy at the start but the deer, rain and getting lost made it quite an adventure and I was feeling much

Mark Saronihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14425634862604761626noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1147697076946649575.post-30161028611815063932009-06-17T18:24:00.002-05:002009-06-17T18:40:39.335-05:00

I don't anticipate this being a very long post as I'm pretty tired. I have been swimming better than I ever have in my life and that is very encouraging, especially given the lack of focus I had been putting into the swim.Yesterday the family I am staying with gave me a card and told me to go to the store and get "whatever I wanted." Uh oh, I should have warned them. I loaded up with M and we

Mark Saronihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14425634862604761626noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1147697076946649575.post-23266536133267830122009-06-15T19:06:00.002-05:002009-06-15T19:28:40.896-05:00

It's the first real day of training here in San Antonio and I'm pretty whupped. Spirits are still high but the body is tired. Maybe it was the 5:30 am wake up this morning that jolted my system a little.I arrived yesterday afternoon at my host family's house. I knew them before I came down here from other races and their affiliation with are team but I was reminded again about how nice these

Mark Saronihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14425634862604761626noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1147697076946649575.post-64647643791572105182009-06-13T23:12:00.004-05:002009-06-13T23:31:55.562-05:00

This post is being hammered out on my grandparents computer as I sit at their ranch house outside of Austin, Tx. I am currently en route to San Antonio where I will arrive tomorrow for 5 weeks of training and coaching. I am super excited as I will be getting to experience both ends of the spectrum during my stay. I will be working closely with my coach on workouts and training even as I learn

Mark Saronihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14425634862604761626noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1147697076946649575.post-77776897168833061582009-06-09T15:07:00.003-05:002009-06-09T15:13:54.082-05:00

Training has been weird lately. I've been slowly building up my mileage and swimming meterage (is that a word?) while also often struggling to get out the door, especially for the runs. I think evening running has been part of the problem and I switched to running in the morning today. I should get about 50 miles this week if I nail my goal of running about 6 hours.This morning's workout was

Mark Saronihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14425634862604761626noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1147697076946649575.post-50193836451967629072009-05-28T10:56:00.002-05:002009-05-28T11:05:59.737-05:00

I am preparing another blog ranting about America's poor health and nutrition but I thought I should hammer out an update on training and racing first.Track is over. (Thank goodness) I had a dismal conference meet and was just thankful to be done with running for a while. After track I took 2 weeks off completely, doing nothing but swimming a few times a week.Then I started building my running

Mark Saronihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14425634862604761626noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1147697076946649575.post-42735287497532739562009-05-06T21:57:00.004-05:002009-05-06T22:24:58.853-05:00

Taking a break from studying here. While most of UT Tyler is done with finals or finishing up I am just getting started. My first real final actually wasn't until today and I have three more before I'm done with the semester.In my preparation for my 9:30 final tomorrow in motor development I was reading about the importance of maintaining an active and healthy lifestyle in older adults and how it

Mark Saronihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14425634862604761626noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1147697076946649575.post-27436066650668503882009-04-22T15:39:00.001-05:002009-04-22T15:39:43.363-05:00

Mark Saronihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14425634862604761626noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1147697076946649575.post-46235076164481158892009-04-15T13:00:00.003-05:002009-04-15T13:10:03.625-05:00

Ryan Hall is beast. This is one of his last hard workouts before the Boston Marathon which he will race, (and hopefully win) on April 20th. He's an awesome guy, a strong christian and a freakin SICK fast runner.Here's the link

Mark Saronihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14425634862604761626noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1147697076946649575.post-15437998385669691542009-04-14T22:22:00.003-05:002009-04-14T22:40:47.778-05:00

Yes indeed, my title aptly describes the new hobby I've picked up as of late. Here at UT Tyler we have our own course on campus and I played once or twice last fall. Then all of a sudden I played a week and a half ago and I was hooked. For one thing, on that fateful day I shot a 9 over par for the course, and 2 over for the back 9. I just kept nailing par's after par's and even one birdie!

Mark Saronihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14425634862604761626noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1147697076946649575.post-23100557857705765212009-04-08T10:40:00.001-05:002009-04-08T10:47:26.958-05:00

I have a few minutes before I head to class so I thought I'd bang out a quick blog update.Training went pretty well last week and so far this week. I did my first real bike workout of the year last wednesday and it was bad. No power in the legs at all. Friday and Sunday were some quick brick workouts w/ 3-5 repeats of a short 5-10' bike right off into a 3-7' run. The workout was a lot more

Mark Saronihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14425634862604761626noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1147697076946649575.post-20275814220966517892009-03-30T18:11:00.009-06:002009-04-01T08:50:49.007-06:00

So there was this meet last weekend. This meet was at the University of Texas in Arlington. A bunch of DI schools were there and it was fast. I ran my slowest time of the year by about 30seconds. No reason, no excuse, it was just dismal. I won't embarress myself by publicly posting a time but let me suffice to say that my last lap was 95 seconds. Thats 6:20 pace. I honestly did not know I could

Mark Saronihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14425634862604761626noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1147697076946649575.post-57778491407123658692009-03-25T20:01:00.003-06:002009-03-25T20:53:11.318-06:00

Awesome day at the track today! It was a fairly long workout, we went: 2x600, 3x400, 4x300, 6x200 with equal distance recovery jog between each interval and straight through the set. I was feeling good and hitting under my splits every time. As we started the 200's ominous clouds began to gather in the western sky and the formally tame wind began to pick up. People started to leave pretty quickly

Mark Saronihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14425634862604761626noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1147697076946649575.post-35698898982083846412009-03-23T09:27:00.002-06:002009-03-23T09:41:50.884-06:00

Sorry for the long layoff. I've just had trouble coming up with proper motivation to write another blog post. Let me fill in a few quick updates about whats been going on the last month or so.1) Semi-injured hamstring that warranted a week of very easy workouts. The hamstring is fine now so no worries there.2) Family wedding. My brother picked me up in Tyler Friday, February 20th where we drove

Mark Saronihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14425634862604761626noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1147697076946649575.post-32388746446445118182009-02-18T13:36:00.002-06:002009-02-18T13:48:31.489-06:00

Yeah, about that. Well after a nice recovery day Sunday I was hoping I'd be ready to go on Monday. Jogged to the track, hamstring felt fine. Did some drills and a building 400, hamstring felt fine. Our workout was 6x400 w/ my pace being :67 for the 400's. I did 3 but on each recovery lap I could feel my hamstring start to tighten up a little more each lap. It didn't bother me while I was running

Mark Saronihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14425634862604761626noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1147697076946649575.post-79872818253811207462009-02-16T12:27:00.003-06:002009-02-16T12:41:35.367-06:00

Haven't done a real training update in quite some time so I think I'll give it a go.Last week was a pretty solid week as far as I'm concerned. I had some good run workouts as well as some not so good ones. Friday morning I got up to run at 7am and went to the track for 1x200's. First 2 were a little slow but I held :32's for the last 8. I could tell I was kind of tired though and they were taking

Mark Saronihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14425634862604761626noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1147697076946649575.post-63187049736872160062009-02-12T08:27:00.004-06:002009-02-12T08:33:56.157-06:00

I posted this on facebook in response to a discussion a friend and I were having. So I am going to post it here for the benefit of all:Well John, since you asked how I REALLY feel about Americans and what they eat, here you go... I have mixed feelings about the American lifestyle. On one hand the majority of Americans are lazy, overweight and out of shape. They choose to eat crap and are always

Mark Saronihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14425634862604761626noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1147697076946649575.post-19049208697766246542009-02-11T19:34:00.003-06:002009-02-11T19:42:57.543-06:00

While Monday's workout left me pumped and feeling invincible, today's trials at the track were the complete antithesis of that. Monday was 4x4' w/400m recovery jog. Kind of a 5k race pace workout. 79 second quarters were feeling too easy, I'm not supposed to feel this good at this pace right? The last set I went through 1200m in 3:49, running hard but feeling smooth and strong. Thats like 76sec

Mark Saronihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14425634862604761626noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1147697076946649575.post-43925046067357214892009-02-09T13:52:00.003-06:002009-02-09T13:59:51.114-06:00

Core strength is incredibly important. Joe Friel just posted a blog that explains the importance of hip/core strength when running. Full post HERE...The first video he showed was of a sub-2:20 marathoner who had been running for several years. This runner certainly had what could be called ‘excessive pronation.’ Shortly after footstrike, which appeared to be fairly midfoot, his foot collapsed

Mark Saronihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14425634862604761626noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1147697076946649575.post-2032599623355572152009-02-07T22:01:00.002-06:002009-02-07T22:12:23.549-06:00

A long run, a long day. I want to go to bed but my acorn squash still has 15 minutes in the oven left. Training has been going well. This week it has left me in a somewhat numbed state. Unable to write more than bullet sentences. I shall make a decision tomorrow whether to bike/run a brick or just do an easy swim. We'll see what time I wake up. I also have another 5 hours to work at the

Mark Saronihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14425634862604761626noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1147697076946649575.post-61847487517867237362009-02-04T20:59:00.002-06:002009-02-04T21:02:33.145-06:00

I just created a new facebook group titled "the wannabe triathletes." It was suggested by a friend that I use the whole story behind this group being created on my blog so... here it goes:I had an epiphany while on my long run this last Saturday after a late night at dinner the night before. The two girls sitting across from me were your typical American women in their early 20's having a few

Mark Saronihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14425634862604761626noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1147697076946649575.post-65264888708806962812009-01-16T10:37:00.004-06:002009-01-16T15:02:42.586-06:00

Wednesday's post had me a little beat up from a full day Tuesday. Thankfully, even though Thursday was exactly the same I don't feel nearly as battered today. I think the three keys for me this spring are going to be 1) DRINK WATER 2) make sure I fuel properly before and after workouts and 3) get enough sleep. If I can nail those three things I think my body will be able to handle the workload.

Mark Saronihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14425634862604761626noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1147697076946649575.post-26091458651139100382009-01-14T09:23:00.004-06:002009-01-14T09:42:45.593-06:00

The 2009 season has officialy begun. I had a great Christmast break. A full week of backpacking in Oklahoma followed by a week in Colorado for some skiing. I got back to Dallas at 3 am Sunday morning, slept a little, went to church, packed up and got to Tyler around 5:30 pm. From there I rushed off to a Track team dinner/meeting before making it back to my apartment to find out where the heck my

Mark Saronihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14425634862604761626noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1147697076946649575.post-91522690076340254292008-12-11T20:51:00.002-06:002008-12-11T21:01:16.058-06:00

I sit here on my couch, (well half of it is mine, the other half belongs to my roommate) with a bag of frozen broccoli under my left ankle and one of parisian style veggies on top. Yep, the offseason is over, and along with its demise comes those aches and pains that are a result of good, solid training. It's not that I became a complete slob over the last month or so but I wasn't following a

Mark Saronihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14425634862604761626noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1147697076946649575.post-59641888656701282512008-11-04T18:04:00.003-06:002008-11-04T18:39:19.022-06:00

Yes, the offseason is indeed here, and I have welcomed it with open arms. It was with relief that I finished my last race of my first year of cross country on Saturday. It was a dismal performance on my part, either my slowest or second slowest time this year. It's been a rough season for me, fun but rough. I'm more than ready to take some time off... and that's exactly what I've been doing.Since

Mark Saronihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14425634862604761626noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1147697076946649575.post-75966973426821215042008-10-27T13:42:00.001-06:002008-10-27T13:43:47.583-06:00

32 degrees, A.K.A. freezing. Thats how cold it was at 7:00 AM, C.S.T. here in Tyler, Tx when we began practice this morning. You might as well tell a Texan its going to be -20, the reaction would probably be the same. In Texas, when we start hearing numbers in the 30's we frantically begin digging through our closets to find those jackets, sweaters, and scarves that we boxed up and stored

Mark Saronihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14425634862604761626noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1147697076946649575.post-29767900705367998962008-10-26T19:48:00.006-06:002008-10-26T20:09:24.707-06:00

I went to a halloween costume party last night. "But halloween is still a week away" you might wonder. Well I know that, and so does the rest of the XC team. The problem is that on halloween the entire UT Tyler Cross Country team will be in Seguin, Tx preparing to race in the Conference meet. So we had a little get together last night so that we wouldn't miss out on America's favorite

Mark Saronihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14425634862604761626noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1147697076946649575.post-67611777624180314632008-10-23T12:26:00.006-05:002008-10-23T21:27:25.671-05:00

:Edit: I had gotten blood work done a week or so prior and noticed certain levels were higher than they should be but had not idea what BUN/CREAT, AST, PHO, or NEUTROPHIL meant. I wisely decided to put the results in more knowledgable hands than mine and mailed them off to Shelly ASAP.Here is an excerpt from the lengthy email she sent me:High BUN: A blood urea nitrogen (BUN) test measures the

Mark Saronihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14425634862604761626noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1147697076946649575.post-78558951366455873752008-10-03T12:12:00.004-05:002008-10-07T20:54:05.039-05:00

Sigh. I've been reflecting a lot these past few days. Even more so after last Thursday when the top 7 guys on the XC team left to go to pre-nationals in Indiana. Yup, the weekend before in Abilene I was, "Number 8" as I have begin to refer to myself. I was pretty disappointed at first but I still have another chance to make the team to Nationals at conference and regionals which are coming up in

Mark Saronihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14425634862604761626noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1147697076946649575.post-17024407198794372242008-10-02T14:07:00.003-05:002008-10-02T14:12:16.509-05:00

The local Channel 19 news team came out yesterday to recognize the UT Tyler Cross Country team as being the "team of the week." Whatever that means. Watch the short, cheesy, somewhat exaggerated clip here.

Mark Saronihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14425634862604761626noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1147697076946649575.post-19856659906636086912008-09-22T20:01:00.004-05:002008-09-22T20:12:02.060-05:00

Got some cool stuff in the mail today. (Finally) After spending Friday afternoon desperately trying to track down my shipment of shoes in hopes that I would be able to use the spike's I had ordered for Saturday's race I had to resign myself to one more race in shoes that were a full size too small. It went alright though. I ran 28:35 for the 8k course which was a big improvement and shoes that I

Mark Saronihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14425634862604761626noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1147697076946649575.post-76862917428034679862008-09-17T09:40:00.004-05:002008-09-17T09:42:24.620-05:00

Here are a few pictures from our home cross country meet. I'm the guy with the red socks.

Mark Saronihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14425634862604761626noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1147697076946649575.post-21846913204419805842008-09-16T20:55:00.002-05:002008-09-16T21:05:41.104-05:00

I don't know what happened to me the last month, just didn't feel like posting I guess. I'm out in Tyler, Tx now. Attending the University of Texas at Tyler. Life is good, it's a lot of fun being "on my own" so to speak. Running is going pretty well. The switch from a triathlon focus to a running focus hasn't come easy, lots of aches and pains along the way but its been fun. Last week I ran the

Mark Saronihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14425634862604761626noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1147697076946649575.post-7483194670739209522008-08-15T14:33:00.004-05:002008-08-15T14:52:43.727-05:00

What's this? Two posts in the same week? Yes it's true, boredom has led me to provide another update on my training chronicles and any other matters of interest in my life. Well if it's a training update your looking for I am sorry to disappoint you, for I haven't been training much at all this week. Essentially I've just done "what I feel like." Which, on some occasions, has been nothing at all.

Mark Saronihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14425634862604761626noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1147697076946649575.post-77435003375183688072008-08-12T09:13:00.003-05:002008-08-12T10:12:53.121-05:00

A race report from Junior Triathlon National Championships in Colorado Springs Colorado.I was staying at our Icon One Multisport team house which had been rented by an awesome father on the team who's 11 year old son was competing in the youth 11-12 race. The house was in an awesome spot in Monument, CO but about 35min from the race site which was the only bad part. At the house was Mason(11 year

Mark Saronihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14425634862604761626noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1147697076946649575.post-86492976464453539932008-08-06T10:51:00.003-05:002008-08-06T11:10:17.335-05:00

Well here I am back from my trip to Maine and in the Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex for approximately 28 hours before I fly out to Colorado Springs. The Maine trip was an awesome experience. It was a mixture of training camp + outdoor adventure trip and I had a lot of fun getting to do some activities I've never done, or hadn't done in a while. The trip included:-a 3 day canoeing trip on the St.

Mark Saronihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14425634862604761626noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1147697076946649575.post-63333006040761176162008-07-16T14:37:00.003-05:002008-07-16T14:50:09.123-05:00

I'm finally home from my awesome 2 week trip to San Antonio. Both camps went great. The select camp was a lot of fun getting to meet athletes from other countries including Barbados, Antigua, Mexico, Guatamala, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. We did a lot of testing and I wasn't too pleased with my results but oh well. The second week was also fun as it was a camp for kids 11-18 from all over the

Mark Saronihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14425634862604761626noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1147697076946649575.post-40567154749230434412008-06-27T10:56:00.002-05:002008-06-27T11:06:00.753-05:00

Yup I'm just finishing the last stages of packing before I leave for San Antonio in less than an hour. I will be there for about 2 weeks attending the Pan Am Junior Select camp next week and then staying the following week to help out at a USAT Skills camp. Both of these camps are run by my coach and I'm looking forward to getting absolutely destroyed next week as I attempt to hang with some of

Mark Saronihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14425634862604761626noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1147697076946649575.post-3831703846871452412008-06-09T08:31:00.004-05:002008-12-11T10:03:39.804-06:00

Well I am currently sitting at home preparing for the first workout of the day. As I reflect back over this years World Championships I am pleased with my performance. I had a solid race and did much better than last year. Pleased, but not satisfied. No, I don't think I'm ever satisfied with my results. I always see a way I could have gone faster and look at how I can improve in the next race.

Mark Saronihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14425634862604761626noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1147697076946649575.post-27004594874439155432008-06-05T16:44:00.002-05:002008-06-05T16:53:36.086-05:00

Travis, Shelly and I flew into Vancouver yesterday with no incident and were soon at our hotel which is right on the race site. We can literally look at our window and see the finish as well as most of the swim course. After putting our bikes together we did a pre-ride of the bike course which is a 7km loop we do 3 times. Theres a nice little 0.6mi climb we do on each loop followed by a 1-2 mi

Mark Saronihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14425634862604761626noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1147697076946649575.post-9052334761571590842008-06-02T10:29:00.003-05:002008-06-02T10:40:11.611-05:00

Ok here is an additional update to my weekend down in Austin for the Captex triathlon.After the race it was nice to just relax with some friends up from San Antonio and not think about triathlons for a little while. We went to my grandparents lakehouse, then to eat, then back to the main house to watch a movie. If you wanted to know what the movie Sweeney Todd is about I could only give you a

Mark Saronihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14425634862604761626noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1147697076946649575.post-22012627283629110132008-05-29T13:34:00.003-05:002008-05-29T13:59:03.993-05:00

My friend Jess and I left around 8:30 Friday morning to head down to Austin for the Capitol of Texas Triathlon. We arrived a little before 1, found a place with free parking and unhooked our bikes from the back of our little Toyota Echo. The lines at the expo were enormous! Typically I don't arrive until later in the evening and I'll be one of the last ones to check in. Today though we showed up

Mark Saronihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14425634862604761626noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1147697076946649575.post-45728743793668677362008-05-23T07:59:00.002-05:002008-05-23T08:08:35.306-05:00

So time for a little update maybe.As the title suggests I am indeed back on track as far as training is concerned. Starting last week and all this week I've been putting in some pretty solid hours. can tell I still have the fitness there from all the work I did earlier in the spring and now I just need to take the next step.Fundraising for my trip to the World Championships is going well. A lot

Mark Saronihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14425634862604761626noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1147697076946649575.post-89192713268070227222008-05-10T21:37:00.005-05:002008-12-11T10:03:40.150-06:00

I'm finally done with school,thank God!! And I really mean that with all my heart.I one B and five A's so I am fairly satisfied with that. I hate B's though but oh well.I'm not too confident about my training right now as none of the workouts have been going well. I feel horrible and my arms hurt when I'm in the pool and when running or biking anytime I am supposed to up the intensity I'll feel

Mark Saronihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14425634862604761626noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1147697076946649575.post-68985543989882329342008-05-05T21:20:00.006-05:002008-05-05T21:39:28.540-05:00

Had a great trip to Austin this last weekend to go Scuba diving. I've been taking the class since mid February and wasn't enjoying it much at all. The pool work, though necessary, was boring and the gear was uncomfortable. I'm not accustomed to swimming with 30 some odd pounds on my back and it wasn't a lot of fun. The dive trip however was awesome.We did our dive in Lake Travis and I was signed

Mark Saronihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14425634862604761626noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1147697076946649575.post-26531613436259492752008-04-27T21:32:00.002-05:002008-04-27T21:35:37.483-05:00

I turned 19 today. And did a triathlon to celebrate. I won. So it was a pretty good birthday present. Happy Birthday me.Now I'm going to bed. I've got swim practice in the morning.

Mark Saronihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14425634862604761626noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1147697076946649575.post-84576810327935839742008-04-24T21:04:00.008-05:002008-12-11T10:03:40.792-06:00

Watching the Olympic trials on Saturday was definitely way awesome. However spending 5+ hours out in the sun the day before MY race wasn't the best idea. Saturday night I hardly slept, had a headache and was hacking and coughing all night. The alarm went off at 5:30, and after eating some oatmeal and part of a Luna bar I met up with everyone in the hotel parking lot and we biked over to

Mark Saronihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14425634862604761626noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1147697076946649575.post-58209787361737547492008-04-22T20:39:00.005-05:002008-12-11T10:03:40.960-06:00

What a weekend. Collegiate Nationals, Olympic Trials, World Qualifier, I was there and got to see it all. (And participate some as well.) We arrived in Tuscaloosa Friday night about 15 minutes before packet pickup closed. After picking up our packets, eating our first dinner and checking into the hotel room we headed out to Olive Garden for a real dinner. The "we" I am referring too here is

Mark Saronihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14425634862604761626noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1147697076946649575.post-77398462877041241182008-04-15T21:12:00.002-05:002008-04-15T21:17:12.613-05:00

The big race I've been shooting for all spring is fast approaching. I think/hope I'm ready. Top ten spots qualify for non-draft legal sprint worlds and currently there are 26 other 16-19 year olds I will be racing against. I spent some time today working on my bike. It was filthy so I washed it real good, made sure I could take my pedals off, polished it, and spent some time cleaning up the front

Mark Saronihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14425634862604761626noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1147697076946649575.post-19131285811806819732008-04-07T19:53:00.002-05:002008-12-11T10:03:41.198-06:00

I love birthdays, and I love these shoes. Thank you grandparents.

Mark Saronihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14425634862604761626noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1147697076946649575.post-10312317823369929722008-04-03T18:56:00.002-06:002008-04-03T19:13:58.828-06:00

Remember how last week I set a personal record for most meters wam in a day? Well yesterday I did it again- 8000 meters in one day!! That would be 5 miles for those of you who prefer English base units. (Actually if you want to get really technical its 4.97 miles) Anyhow it took about 3 seperate workouts to get there but it was good. As well as swimming 8km I did an afternoon brick workout of 1:

Mark Saronihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14425634862604761626noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1147697076946649575.post-29595113974288430502008-03-31T20:15:00.006-06:002008-12-11T10:03:42.314-06:00

This would be a shot of Michael Lovato as he crosses the line in 9th place at the 2007 Hawaii Ironman World Championsips. Not too bad eh? Well I am proud to say that I had the privileg of being beat by this amazing athlete this last weekend in the lonestar sprint triathlon in Galveston, Tx. He outsplit me in all 3 disciplines. (Except transitions of course) and ran a 16 and change 5k off the bike

Mark Saronihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14425634862604761626noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1147697076946649575.post-41354016616371967092008-03-27T19:43:00.002-06:002008-12-11T10:03:42.478-06:00

To carry on with the swimming theme of my last post I decided to grace my page once again with one of the fastest swimmers in the world. This is Ian Crocker, UT swimmer who has a magnificent rivalry in the 100m butterfly with the gentleman mentioned below. This picture is not for pure asthetic appeal as it does bear relevance to my topic. Because last night, for the first time in my life, I swam

Mark Saronihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14425634862604761626noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1147697076946649575.post-36952609530513024012008-03-26T10:30:00.004-06:002008-12-11T10:03:43.234-06:00

Okay so maybe not quite. I have no aspirations of ever becoming anything like the swimmer that Michael Phelps is. However I do have the modest goal of improving my swim to the point where I can compete in a draft-legal triathlon. That is why yesterday I swam the most meterage I ever have in my life.6200 meters. Not super impressive by Michael Phelps, high school, or professional triathlete

Mark Saronihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14425634862604761626noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1147697076946649575.post-33088609518063375422008-03-20T18:27:00.003-06:002008-03-20T18:57:45.423-06:00

It's been a good week so far. I have gotten all my training in with some good high intensity workouts. Especially on the bike, that is what I really need. Haven't swam as much as I should- only 11,050 meters so far. I talked to Shelly today and she wants me at between 20-25k A WEEK! Ugh, thats a lot. The way I look at is if I can swim 6 days a week at the 1hr DAM practice and get in 3k each time

Mark Saronihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14425634862604761626noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1147697076946649575.post-24184318150032951372008-03-17T19:08:00.004-06:002008-03-17T19:49:14.216-06:00

Wow it is so NOT good to be back at school and work!The training camp in San Antonio was awesome. A big thanks to Texas Military Institute for letting us use their facilities. I drove down Friday morning and our first session was Friday afternoon where we got a bike fit and then a bike power threshold test done. This was the first of three tests we were doing this weekend. For the threshold test

Mark Saronihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14425634862604761626noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1147697076946649575.post-23343096438198401422008-03-13T19:05:00.002-06:002008-03-13T19:35:06.895-06:00

So spring break hasn't been the most relaxing week of my life but what can I say- I guess its the life of a triathlete. It's been an interesting week overall with some decent but not stellar training going on. I think when I ramped up the volume and intensity I didn't balance it out with taking in the proper amont of calories. I've been trying to take off about 5 lbs or so for this race season

Mark Saronihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14425634862604761626noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1147697076946649575.post-14950043196756059542008-03-09T12:12:00.002-06:002008-03-09T12:42:07.325-06:00

Well the first triathlon of the season is out of the way and its a good feeling. The race itself had nothing "feel good" about it but it was definitely good to race again. Here's a lil race report for ya:The weather forecast was true to its word and the temps were below freezing when I loaded up my bike at 6:00 am Saturday morning. I'd driven out to Athens, Tx the night before and spent the night

Mark Saronihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14425634862604761626noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1147697076946649575.post-14572705651448306262008-03-06T20:56:00.002-06:002008-03-06T21:24:25.650-06:00

This entire week I have been looking forward to the Athens triathlon this Saturday. The first race of the season!! However the weather has done its best lately to curb my enthusiasm. Currently it is 33 degrees outside but luckily it has stopped raining/sleeting/snowing. Still, the idea of busting out of a warm, humid pool envirement- onto my bike going 24 mph with windchill in the 20's does not

Mark Saronihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14425634862604761626noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1147697076946649575.post-74940990632447721112008-03-03T21:47:00.001-06:002008-03-03T21:48:56.480-06:00

I'm back!!Yup and feeling better then ever. Today was my first day back into real training and it felt so good to be working hard again. Looking forward to Athens this weekend. First tri of the season and time to test the legs a little.

Mark Saronihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14425634862604761626noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1147697076946649575.post-86474259321260806922008-02-29T21:26:00.002-06:002008-02-29T21:34:06.179-06:00

Apologies for the time gap in posting. I've been sick this week, and it sucks. Not anything really debilitating. I've managed to make all my classes and go to work still but have had no energy left for training. Actually I don't know if I would classify it strictly as "sick" more like "Infected." Basicaly I have this boil on my lower backish, almost the we-don't-talk-about-this-area regions. Its

Mark Saronihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14425634862604761626noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1147697076946649575.post-59784154140931265892008-02-13T11:35:00.003-06:002008-02-13T11:59:10.604-06:00

I'm in somewhat of a self imposed swim block right now. Self imposed means that my coach hasn't told me specifically how often to swim but we've agreed it would be good to try and bump up the meterage and see how it goes. My goal for this week is to get in 20k.Monday was the official start of my week and so I dutifully got up and trekked to the pool for 6 am practice. That afternoon I came back

Mark Saronihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14425634862604761626noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1147697076946649575.post-51424287193033067702008-02-10T19:29:00.000-06:002008-02-10T19:44:16.854-06:00

AH YEAH!!Ok so I'm a little stoked, to say the least. I had a pretty major breakthrough run workout yesterday. It's something I'm still trying to rationalize in my head how I did that. Lets go through a quick run down of the day-7:30 am- Got to sleep in a little today as I was swimming later so it felt nice not having to get up super early.9:00- Private lesson with a kid at the Tom Landry Center

Mark Saronihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14425634862604761626noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1147697076946649575.post-31927942685339245192008-02-08T19:16:00.000-06:002008-02-08T19:37:39.735-06:00

Hopefully I'll have some really good news to report here in a week or so. It looks like I'm college bound this fall. And I don't mean no Eastfield Community Colellege. I'm talking a real 'rootin tootin' state university. I applied yesterday so hopefully I'll be getting the word back next week. I've also talked to the cross country coach there and he's very excited about me coming out to run with

Mark Saronihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14425634862604761626noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1147697076946649575.post-15672194836879592422008-01-29T21:58:00.000-06:002008-01-29T22:06:30.759-06:00

Nothing really new to post for now. I have a feeling that school is going to start getting much more difficult here in the oncoming weeks. Training is still pretty solid. It's just getting harder to fit it in because I'm working more hours now as well. Its funny becaue none of the things I do in and of themselves require a hug commitment. 16 hours of classes? Yeah, lots of people do that. No

Mark Saronihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14425634862604761626noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1147697076946649575.post-48372752644598222612008-01-20T15:43:00.001-06:002008-01-20T15:49:58.770-06:00

Did the Frost yer Fanny duathlon this morning. And, well... my fanny got frosted. I think the thermometer read 23 degrees as I pulled into the parking lot at 8 am just north of Round Rock, Texas. YEOW! The race went good though and my first 5k was actually a 5k pr for me by 2 seconds. I finished 8th overall for the 5k/21mi/5k, run/bike/run race. Pretty good considering there were a bunch of

Mark Saronihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14425634862604761626noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1147697076946649575.post-5352575052767273612008-01-18T14:21:00.001-06:002008-01-18T14:41:27.651-06:00

Wow so a lot has happened since the last post. Lets see if I can give a quick run down...Training is going well. I did a good week of training last week. A lot of hours on the bike. It was good to feel how quickly my bike legs got under me. It's taken some time to get adjusted to being on the saddle for 3 hours a day, day after day. Monday my dad left Iraq. Crazy. It's one of those things that

Mark Saronihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14425634862604761626noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1147697076946649575.post-20355580674792087292008-01-02T19:55:00.000-06:002008-01-02T20:09:46.400-06:00

Well christmas has come and gone. As has the new year and now I find myself staring at a new season of triathlon. It's a little scary. I have some pretting high goals set for myself and there is a lot of nervousness and fear that goes along with that. Will I be able to measure up? Can I compete toe-to-toe with all the guys my age who are so fast? Will I be able to fund everything I want to do

Mark Saronihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14425634862604761626noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1147697076946649575.post-64343462566974849032007-12-21T16:47:00.000-06:002007-12-21T17:05:54.403-06:00

*Sigh* yes it's true. I speak of my dads comment in the post below. I did indeed have my four wisdom teeth removed yesterday morning and I did indeed go on a 30 mile bike ride about 5 hours later with the gauze pads still in my mouth. Truthfully though I felt much better for having gotten out and done the ride rather then sitting around making excuses for taking the day off. Honestly after I

Mark Saronihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14425634862604761626noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1147697076946649575.post-67433334529068167772007-12-12T15:16:00.000-06:002007-12-12T15:17:50.472-06:00

Well finals ARE NOW DONE WITH!! I'm so stoked. I got A's in all my classes and now can get down to some serious training with no guilt whatsoever. It's gonna be a sweet Christmas Vaction.

Mark Saronihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14425634862604761626noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1147697076946649575.post-68915387114667553762007-12-10T22:24:00.000-06:002007-12-10T22:39:23.619-06:00

I can't wait until finals are over this week. Then bike emphasis month will began. I shall bike like a maniac and do my best to train like a spartan. I'm doing a 5k this weekend out at white rock lake as well. Should be fun. On another note I've decided to start charging people when I write running or training programs for them. Not a lot mind you. I know I'm not anywhere near an expert when it

Mark Saronihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14425634862604761626noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1147697076946649575.post-55291063487605840162007-12-02T22:26:00.000-06:002007-12-02T22:55:07.062-06:00

I realize cycling is a dangerous sport. I have come to terms with the fact that one day I will be struck by a car. One day I will be in a crash. It happens. The saying is that "there are two types of cyclists, those who have been hit by a car, and those who will be." It's always a matter of inches. I can't count the numerous times I WOULD have been struck if I had been 2 inches to the left at

Mark Saronihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14425634862604761626noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1147697076946649575.post-32629742839039474752007-11-27T21:35:00.001-06:002007-11-27T21:49:59.548-06:00

Most people might think of thanksgiving as a time to to kick back with the family, stuff themselves full of goodies, and start off the holiday weight gaining season with a bang. I don't. Well ok I do love spending time with my family, and come to think of it I also like stuffing myself full of unhealthy foods. BUT I also see the thanksgiving weekend as a glorious time to spend at my grandparents

Mark Saronihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14425634862604761626noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1147697076946649575.post-84925767850789860232007-11-20T08:58:00.000-06:002008-12-11T10:03:43.635-06:00

Thanksgiving is almost upon us. This has to be one of my favourite holidays. (Actually I enjoy pretty much any holiday that gets me time off school.) Nonetheless Thanksgiving holds a special place in my heart as it is the one time of the year I feel absolutely no guilt about stuffing myself as full as I can possibly be. I have my routine all laid out. The whole family always goes down to Austin

Mark Saronihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14425634862604761626noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1147697076946649575.post-8145526765110834452007-11-10T15:47:00.000-06:002007-11-10T15:50:17.692-06:00

Dorothy died Wednesday morning, Please continue to pray for her husband and three orphaned children.

Mark Saronihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14425634862604761626noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1147697076946649575.post-34951988805001962352007-11-08T09:50:00.000-06:002007-11-08T10:07:29.218-06:00

This was copied directly from a slowtwitch forum. Just this last weekend at IM Florida."Dorothy Barnett Griffin, who many of you know from LifeTime Masters Swimming (the Plano, TX group), is in the hospital in Panama City. Dorothy and Mike Griffin were doing their first full Ironman triathlon Saturday in Panama City Florida. Apparently Dorothy had some issues late in the swim (unsure what

Mark Saronihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14425634862604761626noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1147697076946649575.post-55364972344915866152007-10-29T18:25:00.000-06:002007-10-29T18:40:09.901-06:00

Why? If I didn't know better I would assume that I was going crazy. If I didn't know FOR A FACT that I was not the only one, I would think I'd lost my mind.It hit me. Just last night. As I sat in my bathtub, clad in naught but a threadbare speedo, fighting off the chills that coursed through my body every time I shifted my position. Yes, I was in an ice bath. After a very solid weekend of

Mark Saronihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14425634862604761626noreply@blogger.com1