The month of March was the 1st time I completed more than 575 miles of cycling & more than 100 miles of running in 1 month! I felt like I made huge fitness and speed gains on my fitness the month of March. Perfect timing since my A race, The Atomic Man Duathlon is on April 25th. Aprils miles wont be as high because I'll be tapering for, that's right, my A race, The Atomic Man duathlon!!!! My 3 goals for my A race is
1) breaking my race PR of 67 minutes
2a)taking top 3 over all
or 2B)taking top 10 overall
3)taking 1st place in the 35-39 age group
I'm eating my first meal made with local Prickly Pear cactus. I harvested it from my yard, burned off the thorns, cut off the skin, and then sliced up the meat & threw it in my salad. Tastes like green beans. It doesn't get any more local and organic than this!!!
My current weight is 193. I've been stuck at this weight for 2 weeks, but rather than becoming frustrated & risk falling off the wagon I'm going to stay consistent, motivated, and weather this storm! After all, I'm only 1 pound away from having lost 100 pounds total! If I end up maintaining this weight, I'm ok with that because I'm faster at this weight than I've ever been. But I believe I'll get past this speed bump and get to one of my 2 goal weight of either 182.5 or 175.
My next race is this this Saturday April 3rd. It's the Wind triathlon at White Sands Missile Range New Mexico. Wish me luck & tune in here for my race report!
Showing posts with label the Wind Triathlon. Show all posts
Showing posts with label the Wind Triathlon. Show all posts
March 28, 2010
The 2010 Sully Super Sprint Triathlon race report
The 2010 Sully Super Sprint Triathlon race report
Saturday morning my buddy & I got off from working a 12 hour shift and drove to Alpine Texas for the Sully Super Sprint Triathlon. There was a terrible snow storm that started the night before. The roads were a mess, dangerous, and we were on our way!
I knew it was going to be cold for race start on Sunday morning. The near freezing temperatures that was expected had me jumping for joy! I have break out performances at races where the temperature is at or below freezing.
I was feeling confident for this race. Along with the freezing cold I was going to be racing at 193 pounds which was 34 pounds lighter than my usual race weight.
My training has been at an all time high. I had really been hammering out the hill training & speed intervals! The only thing that may negatively effect my race would be fatigue. I'd just finished 3 consecutively harder weeks of KILLER training. & since the Sully Super Sprint Triathlon was a C race I wasn't taking any time to rest, which included a 1.5 hour base run the night before the race.
As soon as we got to Alpine we set up our tent. It was cold! It ended up getting down to 25 degrees that night. 25 degrees & sleeping in a tent made for a memorable uncomfortable night!
The triathlon was a reverse sprint, a 3 mile run, 15 mile bike, 360 yard swim. It was as cold as was expected at the start, somewhere around 33 degrees. As usual I raced with as little equipment & clothes on as possible. Most of the athletes were racing in shorts, cycling tops, cycling pants, a wind breaker, ear muffs, & gloves. I started with gloves & a triathlon suit- see the picture above of me in a triathlon suit. Not much to it eh? That's right, that is what I raced in, nothing else. I do this because racing with as little on as possible saves time transitioning from the run to bike & the bike to the swim.
The Sully Super Sprint has a very hard run for a sprint triathlon! Massive hills! Because of the fatigue from the hard training I'd been going through the 3 weeks before I was having a difficult time getting my legs going on the run. I ended up finishing around 13th place overall on the run portion. Not any where as well as I was hoping. Thankfully by the time I got on to the bike I felt like my legs were warmed up & I was ready to start reeling some people in!
As soon as I started out on the bike I knew I felt great & started hunting people down! The question remained: was I going to be able to make up the time I'd lost to my competitors on the run?
Since it was an out and back course on the bike I was able to count how many athletes were in front of me as they rode back from the turn around. Just before the turn around I saw there were only 2 people in front of me! I was in 3rd place overall!
At my last race, the Presidents day duathlon I was in 10th place overall spot and 10Kilometers from the end I was knocked out of the top 10 by fellow triathlete Mark Balsinger.
So same situation here at the Sully Super Sprint, with 5 kilometers left on the bike Mark Balsinger passed me (again) & knocked me out of the top 3 spot.
I entered T-2 around 15 seconds behind Mark & he swims about as fast as I do. I knew the only way I could beat him was if I had a much faster transition. This is where racing with less clothes/equipment has helped me. Even though he entered transition 15 seconds before I did, I departed the transition area before him & was able to hold him off on the swim, securing my first ever top 3 finish!!!!!!!
Lesson of the day, race as close to your birthday suit as the law will allow :-P
This was my 3rd 1st place finish in the 35-39 age group this year & I am currently winning the South West Challenge Series 35-39 with a total of 38 points with 4 races. The next placed competitor in the 35-39 is Gregory Gouveia with 17 Points and 2 races.
My next race is the Wind Triathlon on Saturday April 3rd 2010 at WSMR.
Thanks for tuning in!
Saturday morning my buddy & I got off from working a 12 hour shift and drove to Alpine Texas for the Sully Super Sprint Triathlon. There was a terrible snow storm that started the night before. The roads were a mess, dangerous, and we were on our way!
I knew it was going to be cold for race start on Sunday morning. The near freezing temperatures that was expected had me jumping for joy! I have break out performances at races where the temperature is at or below freezing.
I was feeling confident for this race. Along with the freezing cold I was going to be racing at 193 pounds which was 34 pounds lighter than my usual race weight.
My training has been at an all time high. I had really been hammering out the hill training & speed intervals! The only thing that may negatively effect my race would be fatigue. I'd just finished 3 consecutively harder weeks of KILLER training. & since the Sully Super Sprint Triathlon was a C race I wasn't taking any time to rest, which included a 1.5 hour base run the night before the race.
As soon as we got to Alpine we set up our tent. It was cold! It ended up getting down to 25 degrees that night. 25 degrees & sleeping in a tent made for a memorable uncomfortable night!
The triathlon was a reverse sprint, a 3 mile run, 15 mile bike, 360 yard swim. It was as cold as was expected at the start, somewhere around 33 degrees. As usual I raced with as little equipment & clothes on as possible. Most of the athletes were racing in shorts, cycling tops, cycling pants, a wind breaker, ear muffs, & gloves. I started with gloves & a triathlon suit- see the picture above of me in a triathlon suit. Not much to it eh? That's right, that is what I raced in, nothing else. I do this because racing with as little on as possible saves time transitioning from the run to bike & the bike to the swim.
The Sully Super Sprint has a very hard run for a sprint triathlon! Massive hills! Because of the fatigue from the hard training I'd been going through the 3 weeks before I was having a difficult time getting my legs going on the run. I ended up finishing around 13th place overall on the run portion. Not any where as well as I was hoping. Thankfully by the time I got on to the bike I felt like my legs were warmed up & I was ready to start reeling some people in!
As soon as I started out on the bike I knew I felt great & started hunting people down! The question remained: was I going to be able to make up the time I'd lost to my competitors on the run?
Since it was an out and back course on the bike I was able to count how many athletes were in front of me as they rode back from the turn around. Just before the turn around I saw there were only 2 people in front of me! I was in 3rd place overall!
At my last race, the Presidents day duathlon I was in 10th place overall spot and 10Kilometers from the end I was knocked out of the top 10 by fellow triathlete Mark Balsinger.
So same situation here at the Sully Super Sprint, with 5 kilometers left on the bike Mark Balsinger passed me (again) & knocked me out of the top 3 spot.
I entered T-2 around 15 seconds behind Mark & he swims about as fast as I do. I knew the only way I could beat him was if I had a much faster transition. This is where racing with less clothes/equipment has helped me. Even though he entered transition 15 seconds before I did, I departed the transition area before him & was able to hold him off on the swim, securing my first ever top 3 finish!!!!!!!
Lesson of the day, race as close to your birthday suit as the law will allow :-P
This was my 3rd 1st place finish in the 35-39 age group this year & I am currently winning the South West Challenge Series 35-39 with a total of 38 points with 4 races. The next placed competitor in the 35-39 is Gregory Gouveia with 17 Points and 2 races.
My next race is the Wind Triathlon on Saturday April 3rd 2010 at WSMR.
Thanks for tuning in!
April 12, 2009
April 10th 2009 Wind triathlon Post race report
Today, April 11th 2009 was the Wind triathlon at White Sands Missile Range. It started off with a loop 5k run.
Since last Dec my run has been absolutely atrocious. I came into this race not expecting to do well on the run leg & was fully expecting to have to make time up on the bike & swim legs. I surprised myself and felt pretty good out of the gate.
The first mile was a slight down hill & I clocked the 1 mile mark at 7:05. Shortly after that there was a very long & gradual (grueling) uphill. Usually hills sap my strength, but after I topped this long uphill I felt great & continued back to an 8 min per mile pace. I finished the 5k (3.2 miles) in 25:30 & had about a 90 second lead on anyone else in my division. Of course, the closest person to me in my division was Jason McClure who is my arch nemesis on the racing circuit- outside of triathlon he's probably the nicest person I've ever met. But let me tell you, he & I have had some insane battles during races.
On mile 5 of the bike Jason McClure caught & passed me. As usual he doesn't just pass me, he screams past me at a pace I could never dream of keeping. Because Jason is such a beast on the bike traditionally the only hope I have of beating him is if I can run a sub 24 minute 5k. That usually puts him deep enough in a whole that I won't see him again. Today's 25:30 wasn't good enough to keep old McClure away. He passed me, & I saw another Clydesdale drafting off him.
Occasionally people will draft for a few seconds. But this guy rode Jason's wheel for 10 straight miles!!! That made me angry, & like Bruce Banner so eloquently proclaims, "you won't like me when I'm angry." I start hammering, & hammering HARD! I was going to catch this cheating Clydesdale & convince him to stop drafting. & if he didn't stop I was going to personally remove him from the course. Finally & surprisingly I caught the 2 of them; surprisingly because I'd never caught Jason once he got ahead of me cycling.
I started yelling at this lecherous triathlete. At first he tried to ignore my protests & continued his illegal escapades; you see, in triathlon drafting is against the rules. He realized pretty quickly I was not finding his antics funny in the slightest. I yelled at the top of my lungs & was gradually pushing him closer & closer to the gutter. His choices was to let go of wheel he was riding, or eat dirt. He chose correctly.
From that point on I realized Jason couldn't drop me like usual. He'd get approximately 75 meters ahead of me, then I'd start reeling him in. He'd see me start to catch him, kick in his after burners, & then again I'd start reeling him in. DING! Eureka! I realized at that point what big Jason McClure had been doing to me all these years. He'd sprint passed me on the bike leg until he'd have nothing left. But once he got a half mile or so ahead of me I'd unconsciously slow down. Essentially he's been beating me on the bike with a mind game. I figured out today that if I stay with him for a few minutes of his hammer fest; as painful as that will be, then he'll ride at a sustainable pace.
Unfortunately just before the turn around point Jason flatted out. This is unfortunate because I believe I could have stayed with him today & passed him in the pool. I really believe that today would have seen me victorious over the great & mighty Jason McClure. But instead I won by default. Yes, I know that for the South West Challenge series a win outright scores the same as a win by default. But I hated to see that happen. I hated it partly because I think I'd have squeaked out a victory in the end. But the biggest reason I hate that he flatted out is because even though I'm his biggest rival he still goes out of his way to be helpful, supportive, & honorable. No one as gracious as him should have such an ill-fated & abrupt ending to the day.
About 2 miles left on the bike a MASSIVE wind picked up out of nowhere! It was blowing directly in my face. My speeds slowed down to a CRAWL, but I hung tough & finished slightly behind Felix Hijnoso. Now Felix isn't in my division, but I've only finished the bike this close to him a couple times before.
Now you may think in a triathlon if there is a run, then a bike, then next would be the swim right? Wrong. The most neglected leg of most triathletes is the transition. Transition #1 is how fast can a person get out of his/her run gear & into their bike gear. Then transition #2 is getting out their bike gear into their swim gear. Thankfully I practice this. Even though Felix had a ten second lead into T-2, I beat him handily out of the transition area & into the pool.
I finished the 400 meter swim some where around 7 minutes 30 seconds to 7:40. Giving me a finishing time of 1 hr 48 minutes & taking first place Clydesdale!
I now have 3 first place finishes & one 2nd place for the 2009 SW series. Which gives me 39 points & a first place standing in my division. 2nd place is Alex Garcia with some where around 32 points & in 3rd is Jason McClure with 29.
Next race is the Atomicman duathlon April 26 in White Rock NM. I'll keep you informed on how I do.
Thanks for tuning in.
Since last Dec my run has been absolutely atrocious. I came into this race not expecting to do well on the run leg & was fully expecting to have to make time up on the bike & swim legs. I surprised myself and felt pretty good out of the gate.
The first mile was a slight down hill & I clocked the 1 mile mark at 7:05. Shortly after that there was a very long & gradual (grueling) uphill. Usually hills sap my strength, but after I topped this long uphill I felt great & continued back to an 8 min per mile pace. I finished the 5k (3.2 miles) in 25:30 & had about a 90 second lead on anyone else in my division. Of course, the closest person to me in my division was Jason McClure who is my arch nemesis on the racing circuit- outside of triathlon he's probably the nicest person I've ever met. But let me tell you, he & I have had some insane battles during races.
On mile 5 of the bike Jason McClure caught & passed me. As usual he doesn't just pass me, he screams past me at a pace I could never dream of keeping. Because Jason is such a beast on the bike traditionally the only hope I have of beating him is if I can run a sub 24 minute 5k. That usually puts him deep enough in a whole that I won't see him again. Today's 25:30 wasn't good enough to keep old McClure away. He passed me, & I saw another Clydesdale drafting off him.
Occasionally people will draft for a few seconds. But this guy rode Jason's wheel for 10 straight miles!!! That made me angry, & like Bruce Banner so eloquently proclaims, "you won't like me when I'm angry." I start hammering, & hammering HARD! I was going to catch this cheating Clydesdale & convince him to stop drafting. & if he didn't stop I was going to personally remove him from the course. Finally & surprisingly I caught the 2 of them; surprisingly because I'd never caught Jason once he got ahead of me cycling.
I started yelling at this lecherous triathlete. At first he tried to ignore my protests & continued his illegal escapades; you see, in triathlon drafting is against the rules. He realized pretty quickly I was not finding his antics funny in the slightest. I yelled at the top of my lungs & was gradually pushing him closer & closer to the gutter. His choices was to let go of wheel he was riding, or eat dirt. He chose correctly.
From that point on I realized Jason couldn't drop me like usual. He'd get approximately 75 meters ahead of me, then I'd start reeling him in. He'd see me start to catch him, kick in his after burners, & then again I'd start reeling him in. DING! Eureka! I realized at that point what big Jason McClure had been doing to me all these years. He'd sprint passed me on the bike leg until he'd have nothing left. But once he got a half mile or so ahead of me I'd unconsciously slow down. Essentially he's been beating me on the bike with a mind game. I figured out today that if I stay with him for a few minutes of his hammer fest; as painful as that will be, then he'll ride at a sustainable pace.
Unfortunately just before the turn around point Jason flatted out. This is unfortunate because I believe I could have stayed with him today & passed him in the pool. I really believe that today would have seen me victorious over the great & mighty Jason McClure. But instead I won by default. Yes, I know that for the South West Challenge series a win outright scores the same as a win by default. But I hated to see that happen. I hated it partly because I think I'd have squeaked out a victory in the end. But the biggest reason I hate that he flatted out is because even though I'm his biggest rival he still goes out of his way to be helpful, supportive, & honorable. No one as gracious as him should have such an ill-fated & abrupt ending to the day.
About 2 miles left on the bike a MASSIVE wind picked up out of nowhere! It was blowing directly in my face. My speeds slowed down to a CRAWL, but I hung tough & finished slightly behind Felix Hijnoso. Now Felix isn't in my division, but I've only finished the bike this close to him a couple times before.
Now you may think in a triathlon if there is a run, then a bike, then next would be the swim right? Wrong. The most neglected leg of most triathletes is the transition. Transition #1 is how fast can a person get out of his/her run gear & into their bike gear. Then transition #2 is getting out their bike gear into their swim gear. Thankfully I practice this. Even though Felix had a ten second lead into T-2, I beat him handily out of the transition area & into the pool.
I finished the 400 meter swim some where around 7 minutes 30 seconds to 7:40. Giving me a finishing time of 1 hr 48 minutes & taking first place Clydesdale!
I now have 3 first place finishes & one 2nd place for the 2009 SW series. Which gives me 39 points & a first place standing in my division. 2nd place is Alex Garcia with some where around 32 points & in 3rd is Jason McClure with 29.
Next race is the Atomicman duathlon April 26 in White Rock NM. I'll keep you informed on how I do.
Thanks for tuning in.
April 07, 2009
still losing & fatherhood
This has been the longest I've gone without updating my blog. Things have been busy busy. I'm back to being consistent with my triathlon training (hurray), I'm back to working 6 twelve hr shifts a week (not so hurray), my wife is going to school now so I'm on baby duty 2 days a week (a big hurray).
A few weeks ago my weight was up to the 230's. Based off what I read on Couch-potato-to Ironman's blog I decided to try upping my daily calories to see if I could stay more consistent with the ole diet that way. It has worked miracles! I'm a little hungry, but never REALLY hungry or ever feeling like I was starving the way I had felt before. I've lost an average of 2.3 pounds a week the last few weeks. I weighed in at 222.2 this morning. I'm so happy to have diagnosed the reason I was having such horrid up & downs with my eating. If I keep losing 2 pounds a week I'll be down to 200 pounds by July, just a little late for my A race in June. But better late than never. I'm even having dreams of grandor of racing EVERY race next year as an age grouper. Rather than doing like I did in 20008, when I dropped below 200 for only 2 races, but then had to compete the whole year as an AG'er or lose the points of the races I did below 200 pounds.
Like I'd said my training is back on track again. I had been burned out since I'd completed Ironman Arizona in November. I haven't been missing workouts like I had been. I'm hitting most all of them, even the swims!!!! I know, it's amazing. I'm even swimming!
I am training exclusively for sprint distance triathlons this year rather than Ironman distances like the last few years, so my training emphasis is on speed work rather than long & slow. But even so, my long bike rides are up to 62 miles & my long runs are up to 7 miles. I've knocked off 18 seconds on my 400 meter run intervals in the last 3 weeks. I'm still no where as fast of a runner as I usually am, but I'm improving quickly. Hopefully I'll be back to running my usual 6-7:15 minute miles for a 5K. My biking is actually faster now than I ever:)
Right now my diet is great, my training is awesome, & my speeds are improving quickly. Life is looking good my friend!
This weekend I have another triathlon at White Sands Missile Range. It's the Wind Triathlon, a 5K run, 30 K bike & a 400 meter swim. Should be interesting because my biggest competition, Jason McClure will be there. This will be the third time of the 09 season that we'll be racing against each other. The first one I won, the 2nd he slaughtered me by 7 minutes! Even though Jason is much faster than me right now, it just so happens that I'm slightly ahead in the South West Challenge Series. He has 26 points, I have 29. As long as I place in the top 3 in my division at this weekends race I'll be able to keep my lead, even if only by a point or 2. I'll keep you posted on how the race & the results go.
Well, as I've said before my daughter who is 3.5 years old is taking swim lessons. & I'm excited to say she swam for the first time this last week. She swam about 4 or 5 feet, all under water & using a semi-breast stroke. I was so excited I when I saw her do this I interrupted the class by jumping up & down & yelling hysterically "she's swimming! She's doing it! She's swimming, she's swimming!" I must say, that was one of the coolest experiences of my life. She's 2 years younger than the next youngest child in her class of 8 kids, & she is the 2nd one to be able to swim. There's only one kid who can hold her breath longer than my daughter too. I'm telling you peeps, my baby girl is a natural swimmer.
I've been hoping my daughter could do the Jay Benson kids triathlon in May. To be able to do that race she needs to be able to swim 1 lap which is 25 meters by herself. I wasn't sure if she'd be able to learn to swim that far by then, but it looks like she may. How cool would that be. You can bet I'll record the entire triathlon on our camcorder. Oh, how wonderful father hood is!
A few weeks ago my weight was up to the 230's. Based off what I read on Couch-potato-to Ironman's blog I decided to try upping my daily calories to see if I could stay more consistent with the ole diet that way. It has worked miracles! I'm a little hungry, but never REALLY hungry or ever feeling like I was starving the way I had felt before. I've lost an average of 2.3 pounds a week the last few weeks. I weighed in at 222.2 this morning. I'm so happy to have diagnosed the reason I was having such horrid up & downs with my eating. If I keep losing 2 pounds a week I'll be down to 200 pounds by July, just a little late for my A race in June. But better late than never. I'm even having dreams of grandor of racing EVERY race next year as an age grouper. Rather than doing like I did in 20008, when I dropped below 200 for only 2 races, but then had to compete the whole year as an AG'er or lose the points of the races I did below 200 pounds.
Like I'd said my training is back on track again. I had been burned out since I'd completed Ironman Arizona in November. I haven't been missing workouts like I had been. I'm hitting most all of them, even the swims!!!! I know, it's amazing. I'm even swimming!
I am training exclusively for sprint distance triathlons this year rather than Ironman distances like the last few years, so my training emphasis is on speed work rather than long & slow. But even so, my long bike rides are up to 62 miles & my long runs are up to 7 miles. I've knocked off 18 seconds on my 400 meter run intervals in the last 3 weeks. I'm still no where as fast of a runner as I usually am, but I'm improving quickly. Hopefully I'll be back to running my usual 6-7:15 minute miles for a 5K. My biking is actually faster now than I ever:)
Right now my diet is great, my training is awesome, & my speeds are improving quickly. Life is looking good my friend!
This weekend I have another triathlon at White Sands Missile Range. It's the Wind Triathlon, a 5K run, 30 K bike & a 400 meter swim. Should be interesting because my biggest competition, Jason McClure will be there. This will be the third time of the 09 season that we'll be racing against each other. The first one I won, the 2nd he slaughtered me by 7 minutes! Even though Jason is much faster than me right now, it just so happens that I'm slightly ahead in the South West Challenge Series. He has 26 points, I have 29. As long as I place in the top 3 in my division at this weekends race I'll be able to keep my lead, even if only by a point or 2. I'll keep you posted on how the race & the results go.
Well, as I've said before my daughter who is 3.5 years old is taking swim lessons. & I'm excited to say she swam for the first time this last week. She swam about 4 or 5 feet, all under water & using a semi-breast stroke. I was so excited I when I saw her do this I interrupted the class by jumping up & down & yelling hysterically "she's swimming! She's doing it! She's swimming, she's swimming!" I must say, that was one of the coolest experiences of my life. She's 2 years younger than the next youngest child in her class of 8 kids, & she is the 2nd one to be able to swim. There's only one kid who can hold her breath longer than my daughter too. I'm telling you peeps, my baby girl is a natural swimmer.
I've been hoping my daughter could do the Jay Benson kids triathlon in May. To be able to do that race she needs to be able to swim 1 lap which is 25 meters by herself. I wasn't sure if she'd be able to learn to swim that far by then, but it looks like she may. How cool would that be. You can bet I'll record the entire triathlon on our camcorder. Oh, how wonderful father hood is!
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