pictures of the 2010 Atomic Man duathlon

Here are some of the pictures of last years Atomicman duathlon. I did this race with a stomach flue. Thankfully the worst of the stomach related issues didn't pop up until after the race.

the Turquoise trail duathlon & the Cupid's Chase 5K Run

A race I think is absolutely amazing & I'm very excited about is the Turquoise trail duathlon. I wont be doing it this year because it's to close to IMAZ and competing in this race would interfere with my Iron training. I've been talking about putting together a Heart break hill duathlon for a couple years now. I wonder if they got the idea from me? I posted the link to my old blog post at the bottom of this post to show I'm not full of it. Just click on RD'ing a duathlon below for proof. I don't care if they did get the idea from me though, because as intriguing as the idea was, I never would have followed through with it. I'm just glad someone is making a race using that amazing BEAST of a climb called heart break hill located North of Edgewood & Cedar Grove less than a mile south of where highway 344 & rout 66 meet. Cant wait to do this race in 2012!!!! Should be one heck of a challenge.

I'm also excited about the Cupid's Chase 5K Run. This race is less than 3 miles from my house. Although I'm not in decent shape right now, I'll still do it just because of the proximity to my house. And hey, I've never actually competed in a 5k run before. I've ran in triathlons that had a 5k run in it, but never a race that was just a 5k. Should be fun!!!

Teaching the manly fist pump

Today I was teaching my son how to be manly & do a fist pump with a grunt. He loved it & did it all day long. Very cute.

The first Half Iron triathlon in New Mexico!

The 2011 South West Challenge Series schedule is now out! They said there will probably be some small changes to the schedule, but it's finally out! It's at:

http://www.southwestchallengeseries.com/

I noticed one of the newest races in the South West Challenge series is the Elephant Man Half Iron in September at Elephant Butte New Mexico. I'm very excited about this! It's the first half Iron in New Mexico. The Ironman training program I'm doing has me scheduled to do a Half Iron the weekend of September 25th, & the Elephant Man half Iron is that weekend!!! I'm VERY excited, I'm going to do it! I'll be competing in the first half iron in New Mexico! The Elephant Man Half is a really hard course, it's imperative I get back down to 185 pounds by then. Did I say this already, I'm very excited!

Another race I think is absolutely amazing is the Turquoise trail duathlon. I wont be doing it this year because of IMAZ, but I've been talking about putting together a Heart break hill duathlon using the same course for a year and a half. I wonder if they got the idea from me? I posted the link to my old post at the bottom of this post to show I'm not full of it. Just click on RD'ing a duathlon for proof.

Seriously indecisive!

A month ago I'd decided to train for a 50 kilometer trail run in September. & a few weeks before that I'd decided to train for the Hermann Memorial 70.3. Finally, 3 weeks ago I had found a training program I was able to stick to. I've been training for the Albuquerque half marathon. I haven't missed a single workout in over 3 weeks & I've lost 17 pounds. Things are finally working out! & now that I've started training consistently for the first time in 6 months I'm getting the itch to swim & bike again. I'm contemplating starting a 3 month training program for the Spring Fling triathlon. My 3 year old son will be doing his 1st triathlon at the Spring Fling triathlon, so it would be a family affair. I 'm not sure exactly what I should do. If I choose to try training for a triathlon again I may not be fully over my burn out when I need to start my training program for Ironman Arizona. Bit if I start triathlon training now I'll have a much better multi sport fitness base. Should I risk ruining my recently found consistency by training for the Spring Fling or or stick with the Albuquerque half marathon?

Hmm. What to do? What to do?

2010 year end miles

I came very close to not posting year end miles for 2010 since I only trained Jan through July. After July all training essentially ended for me. Burn out:( But I always strive to give both the good and the bad on my blog, so here it goes.

Bike 4,505.6 miles
run 775.7 miles
swim 5,258.3 yards

It looks even worse than I had feared. But surprisingly I still had more miles than in 2009! I'll do better in 2011.

The Innkeeper (by John Piper)

Sick and blessed

Sunday morning I came down with a stomach bug. I couldn't keep anything I ate down & by that night I had the cold sweats & the shivers. I felt horrid. The next morning I was needing to take care of my 3 kids while my wife went to college. And after taking care of my babies all day I was needing to go into work for a 12 hour overtime shift, 6 p.m. to 6 am. There was no way I was going to be able to do all that being as sick as I was. So my wife & I turned to Jesus in prayer. We asked that He give me the strength to take care of my babies & that I get an easy overtime post at work. He granted our prayers. I was able to hang out with my kids, felt great the entire day & had a fantastic time with them. My work called & offered me a wonderful post for overtime that I would be able to stay off my feet at. My God is an awesome God! He's concerned with everything in my life & there's nothing too big or small for Him to help with.

Today when I laid my 2 boys down for a nap I felt so good I did a 45 minute easy indoor bike ride & when I was getting off the bike my wife walked in, so I was able to throw in an 4 mile easy run also. With how wonderful I felt it's amazing to me that I was down & out with a stomach bug the entire day before! God truly does answer us when we ask Him for help.

I've also started praying for God to help me get back down to my dream weight of 185 pounds. I was very fast in triathlon when I was at 185 & I desperately want to get back down to that weight again! I'm praying that God either grant me my prayers of getting down to 185 pounds or to help me accept His will over my wishes. Either would be wonderful.

Thanks for tuning in!

Traveling trooper

My 14 month son is an amazing trooper. He's constantly in his car seat while we drive all over the nation for triathlons or back & forth 2 hours a day for Isabella's pre-k. He rarely gets grouchy about it.

My years racing schedule

After much back & forth I've decided what my racing schedule will be from now until March 2012. I've decided to try & race less this year so that I can concentrate more on training in the hopes I can break 13 hours at Ironman Arizona.

This year for the 1st time I'm not going to attempt to take 1st place in my division in the South West Challenge series. I'm just going to do the minimum amount necessary to place in the top 3. If I can get away with only needing to race the minimum of 5 races to take top 3, I'll be happy.

That being said, I've heard a rumor that the new multisport series called Chasing3 will award a Clydesdale series champion. If that is the case I may end up racing in 4 or 5 of their races this year in addition to the 5 SW Series races to try & win that series also. What can I say, I'm a multisport addict.

February 19th 2011
Presidents day duathlon,
White Sands Missile Range New Mexico

March 27th 2011
Sully Super Sprint triathlon
Alpine Texas

April 16th 2011
Albuquerque half marathon
Albuquerque New Mexico

April 23rd 2011
Spring Fling triathlon
Rio Rancho New Mexico

May 1st 2011
AtomicMan duathlon
White Rock New Mexico

May 8th 2011
Jay Benson triathlon
Albuquerque New Mexico

June 4th 2011
Albuquerque Century
Albuquerque New Mexico

July (date unknown) 2011
Santa Fe triathlon
Santa Fe New Mexico

September 10th 2011
Enchanted Circle century
Red River New Mexico

November 20th 2011
Ironman Arizona
Tempe Arizona

December (date unknown) 2011
Polar Bear triathlon

December (date unknown) 2011
Jingle Bell triathlon

March 2012
Old Pueblo 50 mile trial run!

Races undecided on:

June 19th 2011
Storrie lake triathlon
Las Vegas New Mexico

July 10th 2011
Cochati triathlon
Cochati lake New Mexico

Sept 11th
Patriot triathlon
Rio Rancho New Mexico

Sept 24th
Redman half Iron
OKC OK

indecisive

A couple months ago I tried to get myself out of a serious state of cycling & swimming burnout by registering for The Memorial Hermann 70.3 & Ironman Arizona. Yet my burn burnout continued.

A few weeks ago I realized I was still enjoying running, it was just all the bike & swim miles I was dreading, so I decided to start training for my 1st 50 mile ultra endurance trail run. As a starting point & to start building up my mileage for my eventual 50 miler I signed up for the Albuquerque half marathon. So far training has been good. For the last 2 weeks I've done nothing but running & am enjoying myself thoroughly! Everyday I'm excited to put my run shoes on.

Now after only a couple weeks of pure running I'm starting to miss being on my bike. Just a little. By no means am I missing multiple hour bike rides! An hour a couple times a week would hit the spot. The fact that I'm already starting to get a small itch for my bike got me to thinking; perhaps I could continue running predominantly, cycling only a couple times a week on my recovery days. And if I continue to gain my motivation to bike, perhaps after I run in the Albuquerque half marathon in April I could be motivated to start Iron training for IMAZ. From April to November would give me 6.5 months to prepare, which is exactly how long most coaches suggest to train for an Iron. I think that would work well. After all, I did just drop $600 on an Ironman registration. To not race it would be absurd. To start training for IMAZ I'd have to give up my 50 mile trail run goal for awhile, which I'm fine with.... At least for now. Not sure if you've noticed, but when it comes to my athletic goals & aspirations I've been a bit indecisive.

hula hoop girl

My daughter trying to learn how to hula hoop. Very funny stuff.

Our youngest

While making lunch today I didn't hear Rion making any noises. That's usually a warning that he's doing something he shouldn't. Apparently he has learned the ability to climb. Since then I've caught him climbing onto kitchen chairs, then up onto the kitchen table. He's used the toilet to climb up onto the bathroom sink. Up onto the coffee table, & the worst was he climbed up onto the top step of his siblings bunk bed! Aaahhhh!