My next triathlon is the Jay Benson Triathlon the 3rd Sunday in May. It'll be my 8th race of the SW challenge series! One of my goals this year is to beat my Jay Benson PR set in 2008. That's a tall order! My 2008 Jay Benson was my single best race of all time. I was smokin fast that day, setting a PR of 1hr 4 minutes!
There's a kids triathlon after the adults race that my 4.5 year old daughter will be competing in. This will be my daughters 2nd race in as many months. The Jay Benson is on Mothers day. Thank goodness I have such a great wife! There's not many mothers who would allow their family to compete in a triathlon & steal thier special day. One things for certain, I do have an amazing wife! I thank God that He gave me her, no one else would be willing to tolerate me!
April 30, 2010
Tues night crits & the worlds best wife
April 28, 2010
2010 Atomic Man duathlon race report
Saturday, the day before the Atomic Man duathlon I slept 20 hours out of a 24 hour period. I rarely am able to sleep more than 6 hours straight. That was unusual, but I chalked it up to my taper. Tapering usually does weird things to an athletes body.
Sunday, race morning my stomach was upset. This is also very rare. I inherited an iron stomach. I can eat anything anytime & I never have stomach issues.
During the 1st 4 kilometer run I was on the verge of puking. I had a decent run time considering how I felt, although if I had felt better I'd of been able to keep up a much faster pace. I ran 4K in 18 minutes 41 seconds, finishing the 1st run with an average pace of 7:29 per mile.
T-1 was 55 seconds.
I felt fine on the bike. It was a 15 kilometer bike which I finished in 26 minutes 33 seconds keeping a 21 mph average. My bike was the 7th fastest split of the day.
T-2 was 40 seconds.
My 2nd run was a disaster. I was dry heaving the majority of the run, now my stomach was cramping horribly & my stomach issues had dropped a bit lower if you take my drift. I was contemplating voluntarily DNF'ing my first race. The first half was just a bit faster than a trot. The 2nd half I was making a mad dash for the port-o-potties that were at the finish line! Because of my internal and uncomfortable motivation to move with a purpose I had a negative split, finishing the 2nd 4K run in 19:42 keeping an average pace of 7:53 per mile.
All in all I finished in 1 hour 6 minutes 29 seconds. God blessed me that day. This was the 4th consecutive year I'd completed this race, & I PR'd it with all the stomach & GI issues I had that day. I took 11th place overall & 3rd place in my division.
30 minutes after I got home from the race & awards ceremony I got the chills, cold sweats, & all the unmentionable problems associated with a stomach flue. I spent the next 2 days in bed feeling like death warmed over. I realized it was not "unfortunate" I had problems during the race. I realized it was God blessing me by holding off the worse of the stomach flue until I was done with my race. Thanks to Him I still went to my favorite race & set a best personal course time while sick.
My next race is the Jay Benson triathlon in Albuquerque on May 9th 2010. The Jay Benson will be my 8th race for the 2010 South West Challenge Series competition. I'm hoping to beat my course PR of the Jay Benson of 1 hour 4 minutes. So far with 7 races completed I have 63 points for the series. My closest competitor is an all around great guy & fellow triathlete named Greg Gouveia who has 38 points. The Jay Benson triathlon will be my 60th multisport race.
I have decided to register for a 2nd scheduled half iron this year, the Silverman half iron which will be held on November 7th in Henderson Nevada. The Silverman & I have unsettled business. I tried the full Iron distance race in 2007 & received my only DNF in almost 60 multisport races. The Silverman is the hardest Iron in North America!
The other half iron I'm scheduled for is the Redman half Iron triathlon in September which is the Halfmax national championships. I qualified for the Halfmax national championships last September with a half iron time of 5 hours 30 minutes. I'm racing about 11 pounds lighter right now than I was then, so I hope to set another course PR & qualify for the Halfmax nationals for the 3rd year in a row.
April 20, 2010
2010 Spring Fling Triathlon race report
1) A buddy of mine, who is the author of the blog "Tales of a Southern Triathlete" sent me an FCA (Fellowship of Christian Athletes) triathlon top to race in so I could show the world I was racing for Christ & that all the glory from my performance went to Him 1st!
2) my best friend Jimmy Murphy was going to be racing in this triathlon with me. The last 3 years Jimmy & I have competed against each other at least a couple times a year. He's beaten me soundly in each & everyone of them & I wanted vindication. Most of all I was glad to be racing with Jimmy because I'd have the company & camaraderie of a fellow follower of our God Jesus Christ!
3) This was my first USAT sanctioned race of the year.
4) This race was put on by Mark Mico who is one of the best race directors I've ever seen put on a multisport race.
5) I felt strong & fast coming into this race. I'd been getting faster each & everyday in my training & I was only weighing in at 189 pounds! Light is fast baby!
The only reason I could think of that I'd have a poor race on Sunday was because on Friday I completed a 2.5 hr bike ride, & on Sat (the day before the Spring Fling Triathlon) I went for a run of 1 hr 40 minutes. I thought about taking it easy on Fri & Sat so I'd have a better performance at the Spring Fling. But I ended up not resting because this week was my last push for my A race on April 25th, the Atomic Man duathlon. I decided to risk being a bit tired for the Spring Fling triathlon rather than risk feeling rusty for the Atomic Man duathlon the following week.
The Spring Fling Triathlon was a 5k run, 30k bike, 400yd swim. 1st off let me tell you, this is a VERY VERY hilly & grueling course on both the run & bike. It's probably the hardest short course triathlon I've ever competed in. In my opinion it's even more strenuous than the Los Alamos triathlon.
I started off the run with a fellow triathlete by the name of Rob at my side at an easy 7:30 per mile pace & decided to gradually increase my pace throughout the run. Starting off to hard on the run has always been one of my 2 biggest weaknesses (the other being hills which I'll get to shortly). Apparently Dave Fairbanks-clydesdale extraordinaire- was correct when he told me I'd be a much faster triathlete if I'd start off running slower & having a negative split because I ended up finishing the 5K run (3.1 miles) in 23:39 which is an average of 7:39 per mile. Considering what a mountainous and slow course this is I was very pleased!
The bike is as brutal as the run is. It's a 30K bike (18.64 miles). Even though I pushed myself as hard as I humanly could on the run I still felt GREAT on the bike, no fatigue or rubbery legs at all. I started passing people immediately & continued to do so until I hit a few of the bigger hills. I was passed by 3 people while in the midst of my max effort hill climbing! These were the only 3 people to pass me on the bike at all, it was no coincidence they passed me while climbing a hill. Only one of those was I able to repass after we were done with the climbing.
I have always known hills were my weakness on both the bike & the run. An athlete's ability to hill climb has to do with a persons power to weight ratio. To become a better hill climber a person can either build more strength or lose weight, preferably both. I spent this entire winter doing both. I did a lot of big gear training, hill climbing, & I also dropped 40 pounds of body weight. I assumed I'd be a powerful hill climber by now, but I was wrong. I have become MUCH MUCH better at hills, but hills are still my weakness. I'll continue working on increasing my power & dropping some more weight in the hopes of of becoming a stronger & faster triathlete in the hopes of using my passion & speed in triathlon to Glorify God!
Even though it was a bike course filled with hills (my kryptonite) I still finished the 18.6 mile bike in 55 minutes 6 seconds, which is an average of over 20 mph!
As I came into T-2 I was about to attempt a rolling dismount. A few feet from the dismount line I realized how fatigued my legs were & I decided to not attempt it. I think it would of ended up being less of a rolling dismount & more of a flying/ tumbling dismount. I found out later there was someone video taping the athletes dismounting & entering T-2, so I feel I made a good decision & possibly avoided becoming a star on America's Home videos.
I hit the water feeling GREAT! There were a lot of athletes close enough in front of me I knew I could work my way up the standings if I swam well and aggressive. In the first 25 yards a guy & I tried passing a much slower swimmer doing a breast stroke. Both of us attempting to pass at the same time make us 3 people wide in a narrow swim lane & made for a tight fit. I thought that was fun, that ended up being nothing compared to what was yet to come!
At one point there were 3 swimmers wide heading up one lane & 2 more wide coming the towards us from the opposite direction. Usually when this happens a few of the people will stop & wait for the group of people to thin out before swimming foreword to avoid a collision & thrashing around of arms, legs, & people. None of us stopped or slowed this time! 2 peoples heads made an audible & hollow thunking sound as they swam head first into each other. That left 1 person heading up the lane, he got kicked in the face dislodging his goggles. 2 people, me & one other swimming down the lane. The guy swimming the same direction as I was a far superior swimmer & he passed me with relative ease- even though I tried bumping & pushing him a bit to intimidate or slow him. When the bump & grind failed I tried catching his feet (drafting off him) but he was simply to fast.
I finished the 400 meter swim in 7 minutes 53 seconds. The 7:53 time included the time spent running into T-2 with my bike, racking my bike, getting out of my cycling gear & running to the pool. Not a great time, not bad either.
My finishing time was 1 hr 26 minutes 36 seconds. I finished 3rd place 35-39 AG out of 25. I was mistakenly placed in the 30-34 AG at the awards ceremony, but I'm actually a 35-39 AG this year. I finished 19th overall.
April 15, 2010
1st family camping trip (with a triathlon thrown in)
-It's our first family vacation in which all 5 of us are going (my wife, kids ages 4, 2, infant, & I).
-We'll arrive on Friday June 18th, set up camp, sing camp fire songs, cook smores, hot dogs, etc!
-On Sat morning, June 19th there will be the Chick-Fil-a triathlon for me. This will be a B race in which I'll have a small taper, so God willing I'll have a great race!
-after my race they will have a kids triathlon for my 4 year old daughter!
-Sat night we will watch the live musical "Texas".
-Sunday we will see all the sights & activities of Palo Duro state park including riding on a train that travels through the majority of the canyon (my 2 year old son will LOVE that).
-Sunday night we'll drive into Lubbock & visit my cousins who has kids the same age as ours.
- Monday we'll visit my Grandma & Grandpa in Hobbs NM!
This will be such an amazing vacation! Can't wait!
April 11, 2010
The parable of the talents
I knew in essence what this parable was about, but I learned so much more & would like to share with you what I feel God meant for me to learn & to apply in my triathlon training & racing.
14"Again, it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted his property to them. 15To one he gave five talents of money, to another two talents, and to another one talent, each according to his ability. Then he went on his journey. 16The man who had received the five talents went at once and put his money to work and gained five more. 17So also, the one with the two talents gained two more. 18But the man who had received the one talent went off, dug a hole in the ground and hid his master's money.
19"After a long time the master of those servants returned and settled accounts with them. 20The man who had received the five talents brought the other five. 'Master,' he said, 'you entrusted me with five talents. See, I have gained five more.'
21"His master replied, 'Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master's happiness!'
22"The man with the two talents also came. 'Master,' he said, 'you entrusted me with two talents; see, I have gained two more.'
23"His master replied, 'Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master's happiness!'
24"Then the man who had received the one talent came. 'Master,' he said, 'I knew that you are a hard man, harvesting where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed. 25So I was afraid and went out and hid your talent in the ground. See, here is what belongs to you.'
26"His master replied, 'You wicked, lazy servant! So you knew that I harvest where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed? 27Well then, you should have put my money on deposit with the bankers, so that when I returned I would have received it back with interest.
28" 'Take the talent from him and give it to the one who has the ten talents. 29For everyone who has will be given more, and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him. 30And throw that worthless servant outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
This is what I learned today & how I believe it was meant to be applied in my life. The majority of what I am writing from here on is by memory of the church sermon this morning & my own interpretation of what I remember and am reading. If there is any biblical misinterpretations please know it is my fault, not that of God, the particular version of bible I am reading, or my pastor.
'
-the master who departed in this parable is Jesus. When He departed he left each person (his followers, including you & I) with money (or talents) according to their abilities. No one received more or less than they could handle. If he failed in his assignment they could not claim they had failed because of being overwhelmed. Failure could only come from laziness or hatred to his father. The talents represents any type of resources we are given. We are responsible to use what God has given us. The issue isn't how much we are given, but how well we use what we have.
In verse 19 it says "after a long time He shall return". The verse doesn't say a specific time frame. We should live like He is returning tomorrow, we are to use our time, talents, & treasures diligently in order to serve God in whatever we do.
When the master returned the 1st 2 servants showed they had taken the money (talents) they were given & had invested it well. Verse 21 says "His master replied, 'Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master's happiness!'
If you notice the master rewards each of the 1st 2 servants equally. What matters isn't how much you are given, what counts is what you do with the talent God gave us.
The 3rd servant had a talent, but instead of using his talent for his master he buried it. The 3rd servant was only thinking of himself. He even admitted that he knew his master, "harvested where you have not sown & gather where you did not plant." What, "harvested where you have not sown & gather where you did not plant." means is that Jesus expects us to use the talents He has given us to spread His word.
The last servant was judged because of his self centeredness. We as God's children must not make excuses to avoid doing what God calls us to do. I believe God is truly my master & I must obey Him willingly. My time, money, & abilities are not mine in the 1st pace, they are His! I am a caretaker of my talents, not an owner.
This parable describes the consequences of the attitude of Christ's return. The person who diligently prepares for it by investing his or her talent to serve God will be rewarded. The person who has no heart for the work of the kingdom will be punished. God rewards faithfulness. Those who bear no fruit for Gods kingdom cannot expect to be treated the same as those who are faithful.
My pastor said each & everyone of us are given a talent. It is our responsibility to figure out how God has specifically gifted each of us.
I believe I have a passion for triathlon. When I started training for triathlon I was VERY out of shape & over weight. My only goal was to finish a triathlon. not even to finish with a half way decent time, just to be able to finish. After I finished my first triathlon I became addicted & now I train obsessively. Each season I've become a little faster, & with each improvement I made I became more passionate. As I gained speed & finished faster each year another unexpected thing happened. More people started to come up to me & asked how I was improving so much.
When people ask me how I have become faster or how did I do in the race, that is my opportunity to use the talent & passion God gave me! When people ask me how I became faster I will glorify God! I will say,"God spoiled me today. He deserves all the Glory!". On top of mentioning God any opportunity I get I am going to buy a Christian triathlon bib to race in, I'm going to put something on my bike that says I race for Christ, & I am going to use this blog to glorify God & all the things he does to help me in all things triathlon.
Perhaps God may decide to germinate some of the seeds I am spreading in His name, for in Matthew's it says:
And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.
Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:
Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen.
And in Mark 16:15 it says: And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.
He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.
The word "Go" is a verb. These two scriptures are known as the Great Commission, and if I can't get motivated from the words of Jesus...........
April 09, 2010
The similarity of the taper blues, pregnancy, & PMS
"when I was pregnant my ankles were swollen," she said.
"My feet don't fit into shoes," I replied (after my 1.5 mile run, 32 mile bike with 7X 1 mile max effort hill climbs, then a 2nd run of 5 miles with 9X quarter mile sprints).
"I wanted to sleep all the time."
"I do too!"
"My back hurt."
"Mine does too!"
"I had weird cravings for Taco Bell Mexican pizzas" she said.
"And Wienerschnitzel Chile cheese hamburgers & Chile cheese french fries!" I threw into the mix as my mouth was watering!
"I was emotional & got hurt feelings, & angry for no reason," she said.
"Yes, yes, me too!"
"You do sound like your pregnant! Or having PMS." she said.....
.....I didn't find her last comment very amusing, true or not. Which of course it is true... but regardless I had no idea how similar the symptoms of triathlon training, pregnancy, &, er, well, PMS were.
So, as you see I'm into my taper. I'm getting the taper blues. As any endurance athlete can tell you tapering causes bi-polar type issues with the body & mind. The harder the training block the athlete endured the harder the taper is to endure-for both the athlete, & the friends & loved ones of the triathlete.
I recently pushed myself harder than I ever have before. In the month of March not only did I set personal run & bike mileage records, I also completed more hill repeats, lactate threshold sets, & speed work than I ever dreamed I would or could. I was focused, dedicated, & pushing myself farther than I had ever imagined. Consequently this taper is feeling particularly difficult. One day I feel like I can bike or run better than any athlete in the world! The next I feel like a 3 toed sloth on a bicycle. One minute I'm setting personal best training days, the next I'm winded & needing to rest after climbing a single story of stairs. I'm starting to feel pains that I freak out on, thinking they are injuries, but disappear in days or in hours:(
I feel constant fatigue, I'm needing more sleep now than I did when I was hammering out the big & fast miles. Like I said earlier in my post, I'm hyper sensitive, grouchy, moody, even angry at times. I'm over reacting to the smallest transgression, sometimes even to imagined slights. I'm having massive food cravings!!! & to think us triathletes do this to ourselves on purpose!!!!
Because of the taper I have been backing off on my workouts. I'm reducing my training 30% during 1st week of the taper, 50% week 2, and 75% week 3 which is race week.
I have always been told to use the above described reduced training plan as a guideline, and to back off more if needed. The number one rule during a taper is to let your body heal, rest, and reboost from all the intense training. I'll let you know how the taper goes, if I can get my lazy butt out of bed to do anything as physically demanding as blogging. Ugh, I'm so tired! & did I mention I'm crazy hungry? I'd kill for some Wienerschnitzel Chile cheese hamburgers & Chile cheese french fries!!! But no! I can't touch 'em, because I'm down to 190 pounds!!! & I need to avoid putting on any weight before my race! April 25th is the date! White Rock is the place! Put The Atomicman duathlon on your calendar peeps because this former Clydesdale is going to rock that course!!!!
April 08, 2010
May's workout
Here is my training for the month of May. I haven't built my swimming workouts yet.
Sat May 01
Run
50 min z-2 run
Sun May 02
Rest
Mon May 03
Bike 42 min wu
8X20 sec Z-5b w/ 2 min r/i
20 min cd
Tue May 04
Run Fartlek
40 min z-2 w/ 8X30 sec R/I @ 5B
Wed May 05
Brick
bike 1:15 z-2
run 45 min z-2
Thu May 06
Brick
bike 1:15 z-2
run 10 min z-2
Fri May 07
Brick
bike 1:45 z-2
run 50 min z-2
Sat May 08
run
55 min z-2
Sun May 09
RaceDay
Jay Benson triathlon
3mi run/ 12 mi bike/ 400m swim
Mon May 10
bike
44 min w/u. 8X20 sec @ z-5B w/ 2 min RI
Tue May 11
Run fartlek
run 45 min z-2 w/ 8X30 @ z-5B
WedMay 12
Brick
bike 1:15 z-2
run 45 min z-2
Thu May 13
bike 1:15 z-2
FriMay 14
Brick
bike 2 hr Z-2
run 50 min z-2
SatMay 15
Run
1 hr z-2
Sun May 16
RaceDay
The Dog House Sprint
500m swim/17.6mi bike/3.1 mi run
Mon May 17
Bike_TT LT test
Tue May 18
Run_TT Run LT test
Wed May 19
Brick
45 min z-1` bike
35 min z-1 run
Thu May 20
Brick
bike 26 min w/u. 26 min z-4. 20 min c/d.
run 10 min z-2
Fri May 21
Brick
bike 1:45 z-2.
run 10 min w/u. 18 min z-4. 10 min c/d.
Sat May 22
Run
50 min z-2
Sun May 23
Rest
Mon May 24
bike speed
23 min w/u. 9X1min z-5b w/ 2 min ri. 20 min c/d
Tue May 25
Run
10 min wu. 15X30 sec @ 5B w/ 2 min ri. 10 min c/d.
Wed May 26
Brick
bike 1 hr z-1
run 40 min z-1
Thu May 27
Bike bike 2hrs z-2.
run 10 min wu. 26 min @ z-4. 10 min cd
FriMay 28
Brick
bike 2 hr z-2.
run 10 min wu. 26 min @ z-4. 10 min cd
Sat May 29
Run
run 1 hr z-2
Sun May 30
Rest
MonMay 31
Bike bike 30 min wu. 11X1 min z-5b w/ 2 min ri. 20 min cd
April 04, 2010
2010 Wind triathlon race report
I weighed in on race morning weighing 191, this woyld be the lightest I'd ever raced at. March I had a BIG month of training miles, so I wasn't sure if I'd suffer on this triathlon from fatigue or if I would have recovered enough to get a speed increase. I started jogging to warm up about an half hour before the race & couldn't seem to get that nice warmed up feeling. I wasn't sure if that was a bad sign or not. Either way, it was time to find out.
The last couple races a guy named Dave has really spent a lot of time teaching me some of the more subtle things about triathlon. Such as: My biggest problem is pacing. I start every race like I'd been shot out of a gun. I take off sprinting, and slow down more & more as the run progresses. I decided I was going to force myself to slow down my run pace for the first half & see if I could get a negative split.
Even though I started slow I was in the top 4 for the 1st 1.5 miles. Like I'd said, I start out way to fast, so this is usual for me. What wasn't usual was that as the run progressed to the point where I usually slow, I didn't seem to be slowing at all this race. At the half way point I was maintaining 5th place overall, sustaining a 7 minute mile pace. Then something unusual happened. At the 3 mile mark I got a stomach cramp. I've only gotten stomach cramps at 2 other races before. This was unusual & very heart breaking because I was having such a stellar race. By the 5K mark I was running bent over with pain, I saw Dave slipping farther away & my competition catching me slowly but surely. The pain became so intense I was becoming nauseous. At the 3.5 mile mark the pain seemed to become to much for my body, so it did it's best to alleviate the problem, & I threw up. Problem alleviated! I felt great again & the stitch in my side was virtually gone. I took off again, back in the hunt!
I ended up finishing the 3.9 mile run in 27 minutes 45 seconds, keeping a 7:09 pace.
I hopped on the bike, which I'd really been working on over the winter & tried to reel in some of the leaders. There is something about the WSMR bike courses, they seem to be very difficult to have fast times at, even on a great day. My best WSMR bike average was 19.1 mph set this Feb at the Presidents Day Duathlon.
Today I felt like I had an average bike at best. I caught one person who was ahead of me right before the turn around putting me into 4th place overall. Then a youngster wearing a New Mexico State University triathlon team singlet passed me on the bike with 5K to go. I tried my best to hang with him, to no avail. This kid was FAST! I finished the bike in 5th place overall with an bike split of 62 minutes, which is an average of a little over 21 miles an hour- course PR baby! I got into T-2 approximately 45 seconds behind the NM state kid.
I had a fast transition & made up about 15 seconds on the youngster. I entered the pool & started trying to find my rhythm. Around 150 meters into the swim I passed the NM kid & was able to hold off the rest of the competition with an average at best swim of 8 minutes & change.
I ended up securing a 4th place overall finish, 2nd place age group 35-39 with a total time of 1 hr 38 minutes setting a personal course PR baby!
This was my 5th race of the 2010 South West Challenge Series. I now have 3 first place finishes, 1 second place & one third place finish for a total of 47 points for the SW series 35-39 AG. A fellow by the name of Gregory Gouveia is in 2nd place with 24 points.
My next race is the Spring Fling triathlon in Rio Rancho on April 18th. A fellow competitor has let me borrow his pair of Easton 404's for that race! Those are a $2000+ pair of wheels & he just said, "here ya go. Mail em back when your done!" Wow. What a great guy. I can't believe how wondeful this guy is! Thanks Jason!!!
See you at the races!