The 2013 Atomic Man duathlon race report

I competed in the Atomic Man Duathlon this morning to make up for being a no show last week at the Spring Fling triathlon. This was my 84th multisport race, and my 20th duathlon.

The Atomic Man duathlon is my favorite race of all time! This was the 8th time I competed in this race, and this year it was a qualifier for the duathlon national championships. Last year there was a couple pro's and an Olympic duathlete who showed for this race. The RD's go all out to make sure everyone has a fantastic time. They had a ton of stuff in the race packet bags from performance t-shirts, chap stick, gels, bars, water bottles, coupons, honey, wet suit bags, & those re-usable shopping bags, and pro photographers throughout the course! They have the most comfortable timing chip straps I've ever seen at a race! They also had more swag than I've ever seen in a non-Iron distance race! Ruby helmets, Ruby sunglasses, gift certificates to tri sports, gift certificates to a local bike shop. they had free coffee (5 gallons worth), gluten free sandwiches, organic meat, organic veggies, organic bread, fruit, many other things.

The race is a run/ bike/ run format. The first run I completed having kept an 8:58 minutes per mile average. The bike is a very difficult and MOUNTAINOUS course, but I still kept a 15.5 mph average, which suprised me since I'm weighing in over 230 right now. The 2nd run I kept a 9:15 minute per mile average. I finished the race 1st place Clydesdale, 18th place overall.

Celebrate at the Spring Fling triathlon

It took me a few days to recover from the shock of realizing I had only lost 11 pounds during my 9 week weight loss competition rather than the 29 pounds I thought I had lost. Eventually I realized 11 pounds is still something to be happy about. Unfortunately it's all to easy for me to lose track of the little things when I'm working 70-90 hours a week and seriously sleep deprived. Add into the equation the memory problems I've been having from the traumatic brain injury I sustained in September 2011 when I got ran over by a vehicle while cycling, these brain farts seem to happen a lot.

Once I got over the disappointment I realized 11 pounds is still something to be happy about. I've decided to celebrate by registering for the Spring Fling triathlon held in Rio Rancho New Mexico this Sunday. This will be my first triathlon in 6 months. This has been the longest I've gone without competing in a triathlon since I first started competing in multisport in 2004. The Spring Fling triathlon is a sprint triathlon, the distances are 400yd swim, 18k bike, and 5k. This will be my 4th consecutive year competing in the Spring Fling triathlon, it will be my 65th triathlon and 84th multisport race all time.

The link for this race is: http://www.trisportcoaching.com/races/springfling2013.html

The upcoming 2011 Spring Fling triathlon

This Saturday I'll be competing in The 3rd annual Spring Fling triathlon. This will be my 70 multisport race, and my 41st sprint distance triathlon.

Last year I had a decent race time of 1 hour 26 minutes 36 seconds, I barely missed making top 3 AG. This is a really hard course for a sprint triathlon, the RD shortened the bike this year. I'm not even sure if it's the same bike course, so I wont be able to compare my times from last year.

This is my 5th race for the 2011 South West Challenge Series. This is turning out to be my most challenging year for the series by far. I've got some really fast athletes gunning for the 35-39 AG series this year. This will be the 1st year I'm not able to podium in the series if I don't start getting my bike times up.

Fatigued triathlon legs

Yesterday my daughter asked if I could build her a garden. I'm wrapped around her little finger, so of course I built her a dream garden. The garden is separated into 3 sections, each is 8 feet long & 3 feet wide. I dug down a foot and a half in each one to make sure the vegetables I plant can have a deep strong root system. It has a raised beds so that the root system will be be warmer which stimulates growth. It has steer manure & mushroom compost. It'll be a %100 organic garden. I started working on it at 9 am & finished at 3:30 PM, then went to work for a twelve hour shift. Sundays are my scheduled day off of training, but I raced at the Holloman duathlon instead of a recovery day. My legs are already fatigued and I have races the next 3 weekends in a row. I'm tired, & I know I should be taking the day off to let my body heal & come back stronger.

I weighed in at 199.8 pounds this morning. I've weighed in under 200 pounds every morning for almost a week. If I take the day off I won't be burning the calories, which will make me that much farther from reaching my goal of weight of 190. I know my thinking is flawed. I know I need rest & recovery to heal. My drive, focus, & desire is what makes me as strong of a competitor as I am, but I also know it's mt biggest weakness. Pushing myself as hard as I can all the time in everything I do is the only way I know, so instead of resting I'm doing bike speed intervals. Here's to HARD CORE baby!

This weekend I'll be racing the Spring Fling triathlon. It's a very hilly race. I own a 404 rear wheel that is awesome for hill climbing. I haven't been able to save enough money for the front 404 yet, so I'll be using a HED3 front wheel & a 404 rear. I'll look like a nerd, but I'll be a faster nerd. Besides, if I ride fast enough I'll just be a blur as I peddle by.

See you at the races!

Run lactate threshold test

Yesterday I did a run lactate threshold test. Although I am still slow & out of shape I've made massive improvements. January 10th I did a run LT test that I ran in a horribly slow 9:14 per mile pace. Today I ran a 8:14 pace, which is still slow, but I got 1 minute faster per mile in only 6 weeks. My next race, the Spring Fling triathlon is 2 months away. Hopefully my run will be in the low 7 minute per mile range by then, I'll need to be that much faster to be able to take top 3 in the SW Challenge series for a 6th consecutive year.

I'm currently weighing in at 213. I have 28 pounds to go until I reach my ultimate race weight of 185. I'm hoping to get to 185 by the Storie lake triathlon Scheduled for June 19th.

Today I'll be completing a bike LT test. If my last race taught me anything it's that my bike is my weakness right now.

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

2010 Spring Fling Triathlon race report

April 18th 2010 I competed in the Spring Fling Triathlon in Rio Rancho New Mexico. I was particularly motivated for this race for a few reasons.

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.