Racing like a rookie at the 2010 Santa Fe triathlon & it's race report

Today I had decent times, made a few rookie mistakes, & was blessed by God.

It was a run 1st, & my goal was to keep up with triathlete extrordinair Jamie Despenza... I failed. Dang he's fast! But the effort I put into trying to hang with him had me finish the 5K run in 22 minutes & change. Rookie mistake #1 of the day, I realized half way through the run I didn't have a good pre-race BM, yes, you read that right, & yes I'm putting this up on my blog. I post all my good & bad racing & training here. Perhaps someone else can learn from my mistakes, or have a good laugh.

I hopped on the bike feeling pretty good about my performance so far. I did a flying squirrel mount, clipped in, & tried peddling. My bike was was still in the biggest gear, I almost fell as I was trying to peddle & down shift! That was rookie mistake #2.

I had a good bike ride considering I'm a horrid hill climber & this course had a lot of long energy sapping hills. I finished the 20K bike in 40 minutes, knocking off 2 minutes from last years time. I did a pretty decent rolling dismount going into T-2. 3 steps into T-2 my rear tire popped. & that's where God was so gracious to me today, flatting just a few minutes earlier would have ruined my race! Thank you Lord!!!

Rookie mistake #3, I ran into the wrong bike rack lane. After I finally found where to rack my bike I ran to the pool through the longest transition area I've ever seen! It was as big as IMAZ's transition area!

Rookie mistake #4 was I tried diving into the pool with my goggles on. Apparently this is something a person needs to practice because my goggles were down around my lips when I resurfaced. After readjusting my goggles to protect my eyes rather than my tonsils I started swimming....hard! There was a triathlete 3 body lengths in front of me who was a better swimmer than I , & I've been getting pretty good at catching peoples slip stream & drafting off of them. I was able to catch him, it just about killed me, but I caught him. I was able to draft off him the entire swim, on the last 50 meters I tried passing him, once I got even with him I ran out of gas so I tried drifting into his lane & doing a little bump & grind. A little physical contact while swimming usually freaks people out enough that they slow down. Not this guy, without missing a stroke he thew a well placed elbow to my face. Wow, this guy was strong & poised. I was impressed. He not only pulled me along the entire 400 meters, but he also was a good full contact swimmer. We both hopped out of the pool & sprinted to the finish, he beat me by half a foot. While they were taking off our chips I saw on his leg that he was 61 years old. Wow again! I was schooled by a member of AARP!

A prayer said by a friend

Kris, a friend of mine sent a prayer to me last night via Face Book. He is only 16 years old, but his spiritual maturity is amazing. He was registered for the Santa Fe triathlon, and last night he found out at the last minute he wasn't going to be able to race. He was upset, but accepted it like a champ. I was touched. Here is what he wrote,
"God,
Do be with Mr Hanson. Help him with his bike, and allow this to be something you use with his heart. Draw Him to yourself through this. Let the Athlete part of this lifestyle not come before the training in ones spiritual heart, as I have been learning. God, please, He has done so much for me in helping me, and encouraging me. I wouldn't be an athlete without his help, through you. So, Lord? If you would will it, let his bike work just fine tomorrow. Let his strength be like that of Sampson. He didn't become a great athlete just working out, He was strong by your spirit. Give Mr Hanson that heart, too.
Thank you for not letting me do the race. Let Mr Hanson and I be able to do another one. Thank you!
In your name, Amen."

AN EXPLANATION OF POWER TO WEIGHT RATIO & IT'S APPLICATION TO TRIATHLON

It is safe to say that one of the biggest buzz words in triathlon today is POWER. One of the more common ways of utilizing an athletes power data is in determining their power to weight ratio (P/W) during efforts, particularly climbing.

I've been studying this theory a lot the last couple months because I've been dropping a lot of weight, while also trying to gain power. I thought I'd share what I've learned.

So, what is the Power-To-Weight Ratio (P/W)?

Power to weight ratio is a fraction based on 2 variables: POWER (measured in Watts) & Weight (measured in pounds). The reason in determining & tracking ones power to weight ratio is to maximize its value to a specific task i.e.. running & cycling; not quite as much in swimming because of the buoyancy of the water.

Theoretically, a triathlete with a higher power to weight ratio will ride faster & climb hills better compared to a person with a lower Power to weight ration. Similar advantages apply to running. Some research has found that a runner can gain %1 in running speed for every %1 reduction in body fat.

For most triathletes one of the most simple & cost effective ways to get faster is to explore ways to increase your power to weight ratio.

The power-to-weight ratio is the power a person generates, divided by their body weight. Here's why this is important: Success in the sport of triathlon relates to one's ability to generate the greatest force & aerobic power, in the most economical manner, to overcome the drag or resistance of water, wind, or terrain.

You improve you power to weight ratio by becoming lighter & maintaining or increasing muscular strength. Being "lean & mean" is all about your power to weight ratio.

Utilization of a riders power to weight ratio is most commonly found when assessing their climbing ability. Let us assume there are 2 triathletes cycling who are of equivalent abilities with identical bikes, & components. Both cyclists will be climbing the same hill side by side at exactly the same time, the same day, under exactly the same conditions.

Rider 1 weighs in at 200 pounds & has an average sustainable power on the climb of 450 watts. Rider 2 weighs 150 pounds & has an average sustainable power on the same climb of 380 watts. If you were to base your opinion of each cyclists climbing ability solely on their power, you would believe that rider 1 would be able to beat rider 2 to the top. Granted, rider 1's sustainable power is 70 watts GREATER than rider 2's. (%15); however, power is not the only variable that counts for dragging themselves up a climb. TOTAL weight (body, bike frame, components, wheels, etc) also plays a role.

When we account for each rider, their weight in addition to their climbing power, we find that the power to weight ratio of each is:
Rider 1=2.25 watts/LB
Rider 2=2.53 watts/lb.
So rider 2 will get to the top of the climb first, even though rider 1 can generate %15 more power.

It would be hard to get rider 1 to lose the 10+ pounds needed to increase his power to weight ratio to that of rider 2 without losing power, and losing power would completely negate the reason to lose the 10+ pounds! What I & many more experienced athletes than I have found is that starving ourselves to attain our ideal triathlon weight can be counter productive. Although we might lose weight, figuring out where the weight loss occurred is the real question. If I am losing LEAN MUSCLE MASS, I am lowering my power output by cannibalizing the muscle that is generating my POWER!

Truth be told, well trained athletes have far more control over gaining power than they do lowering their body weight. By focusing my energy through training to maximize POWER, which increases lean muscle mass & can decrease overall body weight, both power & weight are optimized.

IMPROVING MY POWER TO WEIGHT RATIO:

Here are a couple workouts that can be implemented into a triathletes training plan to help improve their power output, & with improved power comes improved speed & climbing.

1) Big gear training. These "on the bike" big gear intervals. Can be done on the road with a gradual climb or on the indoor trainer. You will push the big gears so that your average cadence is between 50-60 rpm, staying seated & concentrating on a smooth circular pedal stroke throughout the set. Intervals should last between 5-10 minutes, with recovery being half the interval time.

You can actually do big gear training for the run too. I learned this little trick from Barbara ("Barb") Metz Lindquist while at the USAT coaching seminar in 2006. Tie an old mountain bike tube around your hips/waist, tie a rope to the tube, and then tie the rope around an old car or truck tire. Then run & pull the tire while leaning forward at the ankles. The pressure of the tire pulling backwards on your hips will force you to pull your hips forward, which is proper run form, while also giving you the same benefits of big gear training for the run. A few hints for this run specific exercise,
A)keep your foot cadence high. Don't make your foot rpm's slower like you would if you were cycling.
B)DO NOT LEAN forward at the hips! That is poor running form! Practice leaning forward at the ankles & pulling your hips forward & lightly up as if you are stopping at the end of a pelvic thrust.
C)lower the duration of the intervals by half of what your doing for the bike.

2) Climbing. These are the crème-del-a-crem for triathletes looking to improve their P/W. These should be performed on long gradual climbs at cadence between 75-85 rpm. Stay seated. Recovery should last the time of the climb. Try & get your heart rate to 85-90% of your max effort, also called zone 5 if training by lactate threshold.

Again, you can do hill climbing for the run also, just make sure to lean forward at the ankles, & not the hips.

3) Weight lifting & core work. I'm going to go into more detail about weight lifting because weight lifting has received a bad rap by a lot of endurance triathletes, cyclists, & runners. Weight lifting increases muscle power in 2 ways: the more muscle you have the less effort it takes to produce a given power, & strength training trains your muscles to reproduce energy quickly so they don't tire as fast & can recover from short bouts of high intensity movements, like climbing or passing another triathlete. Energy production is achieved deep down in the muscle fibers, where the stores of glycogen, enzymes that increase the speed of muscular contraction, & stored creatine phosphocreatine are all increased because of strength training.
Increasing muscular strength increases muscular endurance. When you have more muscle to draw on it takes longer to wear out. I.E., if you find that you sometimes reach muscular fatigue before you reach cardiovascular fatigue, then you should increase your muscular strength so that you can have more in reserve. Endurance training decreases cardiovascular fatigue; strength training increases muscular endurance, which in turn decreases muscular fatigue.

From what I have researched, the optimal body fat % for triathletes is %4-10 for men, %10-15 for women. If your body is way out of these ranges you have the greatest opportunity for improvement.

If your going to try & drop body weight to increase you power to weight ratio:

-lose the weight slowly, eat small frequent meals, & avoid low protein, low fat, or low carb diets. Moderation is the key.

-Get your body composition checked every 4-8 weeks. If your losing lean mass you need to adjust your diet The most common way to get your body composition tested is the caliper measurement method. For this you must have the same person check you for consistent measurements. Accuracy (hence consistency) is based on the experience/skill of the tester, & measurements taken in the exact same location. A good tester will have the ability to compensate for various skin thickness & pliability. A good option for most triathletes is to find an experienced tester that uses calipers.

Water weighing measurement method, which is the dunk tank. This method tends to be the standard that all other measurement tools are compared to.

It's going to take time to make changes to your body composition; be patient. Some triathletes seek guidance from a sport dietitian for determining how much you should lose while maintaining energy levels to train well. A professional can provide some insight on how much weight you can realistically lose to assist you in reaching your goals.

Decreasing your body fat while maintaining lean mass, and the energy to carry out triathlon training, will take some planning. Most feel that decreasing your calories by 200-300 per day is a conservative, but smart, approach to fat reduction.

Remember that the quality of food matters. A serious triathlete will meet daily carbohydrate needs
with a variety of nutrient-rich foods. Avoid more processed foods. Protein should come from low saturated fat meats or plant sources such as soy beans or other legumes. Healthy fats from olive oil, flaxseed, nuts and avocados are a few good options. Avoid high sugar/calorie beverages (fruit juice blends, sodas, sports drinks) at and between meals. Go with low-calorie beverages to meet your hydration needs. Reserve the sports drinks and bars for use during training.

I have found I get MUCH BETTER results at building strength & losing fat when I take a protein supplement, multi vitamin, vitamin E, vitamin C, fish oil, & glutamine immediately before bed, as soon as I wake up, & immediately after workouts. Prevents your body from cannibalizing it's muscle stores.

The Silverman Half Iron & my 2 biggest weaknesses

In 2006 I attempted my 1st Ironman distance triathlon at the Silverman. I didn't make the final bike time cut off. I was pulled from the course at mile 92 of the 112 mile course. DNF. Did Not Finish. Those 3 words still haunt me. Out of almost 70 multisport races the Silverman is still my only DNF. Last year I registered for the Silverman half & was going to get revenge on that course. My wife & I ended up pregnant unexpectedly & a few weeks before the Silverman she had a C section, so I ended up not being able to get my revenge race.

Early this spring I had emailed the Silverman race director and told him of the bad things that had happened to me with this race & asked if he would roll my registration over to this year so I could get revenge. I never heard back from him so I assumed that was a no. Yesterday I received an email from the Silverman and they told me they are giving me a free slot to the Silverman Half, so it looks like I will be able to exact revenge from that course after all! (thanks Silverman RD! Just another example of God working miracles in my life!)

Now that I'm registered for the Silverman it brings to light my 2 biggest problems as an athlete.

#1) I've always been a much bigger athlete than all the people I usually race against. On flat to semi-flat courses I am able to finish with & often in front of those skinny guys. But on hilly courses my weight is a major issue! My weight is my biggest problem, which makes me suck at hills. I REALLY suck at hills, which is why I DNF'd the Silverman in 2006. But then again I tried to race it at 246 pounds!

My #2 biggest problem is lack of focus. I have big time problems staying focused. I've always been great at rarely missing training days. My type of problem with focus has to do with me setting a great goal, one that makes perfect sense, & then in no time I end up changing goals. That's the biggest reason I miss having a coach. I'd have a 2 hour zone 2 bike workout planned, & I'd ask my coach if I could ride from my house to Albuquerque via Highway 14, a 5 to 5.5 hour bike ride. My old coach Pete Alfino would get pissed off, tell me NO, & then tell me I needed to stay focused & stick to the plan! Great advise, which I need to hear more frequently. I'm constantly finding new & exciting goals before I accomplish the old one. Sometimes it means I'm switching A races mid training season, sometimes it means I get over zealous about a training day & do WAY more than I was scheduled. My lack of focus right now is making me constantly change my goal weight. Every week or two I change what my goal weight is, when I need to get there, how I'm going to do it, etc.

I'm very good at justifying my actions. 2 days ago my goal was to get to 188 pounds and maintain there until November. I got to 188 pounds yesterday, & I've already decided I'm going to switch my goal weight. Yes, I have a very good reason, I always do. My reasoning now is that I'll be competing at the Silverman half Iron, which is an incredibly mountainous course, & the only way I can do well on a course with that much climbing is if I get down to 175 pounds.... Yup, that's my new goal, to get to 175 pounds by November 1st. I'm 6 foot and have a big frame- a HUGE frame compared to other triathletes. I know 175 is probably to low for my body type. So rather than trying to get there blindly & risk ruining my race & possibly my health I'm going to get my body fat & power to weight ratio tested at the UNM physiology lab every 4 weeks. The minute I see my power to weight ratio go down I'll try & maintain the weight I am then. See how I switched my goal, am making a bad decision, & am justifying it very well?

If any of you out there are reading this & are willing, perhaps you can help keep me focused. I always post everything about my training & racing both good & bad on my blog. If you see me change my goal weight again, get on my case like you were my great, yet former coach Pete Alfino. Please help keep me focused. I need to learn to stay focused!

UNM physiology lab testing/sports specific training update

I have an appointment next week to go to the UNM physiology lab & get some tests done. I'll be getting my bike power to weight ratio & my body fat percentage tested.

I did this testing back in January of this year, & in January 2007. The previous 2 times I was tested I had my max VO-2, max heart rate, Ventilatory Threshold, & max watts tested. This time to save some green backs I'll only be getting my power to weight ratio & my body fat percentage tested.

I had decided to start getting tested regularly because I was planning on trying to get to as low of a body weight as I possibly could since light is fast in triathlon. It's important for me to get as light as possible without losing so much weight that I start to lose a lot of strength. The test I'm having done will measure my power to weight ratio. As long as my power to weight ratio continues to go up it means my body is happy & healthy with the weight loss, I'm still getting faster, & I can continue to lose more weight. Test results showing I'm doing well with my weight loss, & can continue to lose more weight would be:
-my body weight stays the same & my max power goes up.
-Or if my body weight drops & my max power stays the same
-the best scenario would be if I lost weight & my max power went up.

In 2004, I weighed 227 & my max watts was 399 making my power to weight ratio of 1.757 watts per pound of body weight. In Jan 2010 I weighed in at 207 pounds & my max watts went up to 410 giving me a pwer to weight ratio of 1.980 watts per pound of body weight!

The body fat testing I went through in January of this year showed I was at 18.4% body fat at 207 pounds. Right now I'm weighing in at approximately 188 pounds.

A couple posts ago I talked about sports specific training. More specifically that I was going to stop trail running & start doing all of my running on asphalt, because that's what I race on. My theory was sound because in 3 weeks my 4.1 mile zone 2 heart rate controlled run on asphalt went from 46 minutes to 39 minutes. To knock off 7 minutes in 3 weeks is a huge!

While playing around on the web I found that a couple years ago my blog made the list of the top 50 triathlon blogs. I was ranked 16th. Now I'm ranked 30th. Here's the link:

Top 50 Blogs in: triathlon - NetworkedBlogs.com

I'll be racing this weekend in the Santa Fe triathlon. The race start is 6 miles from my house, so I'll be racing to defend my home turf! There are usually some pretty fast hombre's that show up to this race, last year I finished in 1 hour 12 minutes 59 seconds & only took 9th place out of 14 in the 30-34 age group, 45th out of 280. This year I'm hoping to make top 3 in the 35-39 age group, top %3-5 overall! Whish my luck!

As soon as I can I'll post my Santa Fe triathlon race results & my UNM test results.

Peace!

Amazing grace!

Earlier this year I dedicated myself to spend less of my spare time reading, talking, & obsessing about triathlon & spend more time with God, studying His word, praying, having fellowship, etc. In return it seems God has decided to bless me in the one thing that I'd been allowing to take too much time & attention away from Him. This year has been BY FAR my best year of triathlon racing, yet I'm training an average of 5 to 6 hours a week less. I'm faster than I've ever been, I'm lighter than I've ever been, & a couple months ago I got my 1st sponsor, Frankie Flats bicycle repair shop! I am very excited about the opportunity to have a sponsor, especially one as wonderful as Frankie Flats! It's a great opportunity, one that I'm FULLY aware would be a dream come true for a lot of athletes who are much faster than me. But here I was getting the sponsorship!

Last year I qualified for the Halfmax National Championships for the 2nd year in a row. But it was looking like I wasn't going to be able to race it. The registration dead line was fast approaching & there was simply no way I was going to be able to come up with the money to register. We have 5 people living off my 1 income, my wife is a stay at home Mom, we have 3 kids under the age of 5. My wife just started going back to school so we had to pay for books & tuition, & 1st & foremost we tithe to our church every pay day. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't disappointed, but I'm a Christian & family man 1st, so I was willing to accept that this year I'd be missing my big national event. Then yesterday another miracle happened! I got word that I was approved to get sponsored by the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME)! I should be getting my 1st check from AFSCME soon & it'll be enough to cover the majority of my race registration fee! God is very good to me! All I had to do was put Him 1st & the rewards just keep piling in! I'm speechless! I can't believe I am now sponsored by 2 companies! Thank you Frankie Flats & AFSCME! & most of all, thank you Lord.

Ultra endurance trail running

I've always enjoyed training & racing for short course triathlons. I've found that the longer the race I'm competing in, the slower I am compared to everyone else. Since 2003 I wanted more than anything in the world to be an Ironman, but truth be told, I hated training for Ironman triathlons. I still have nightmares of having to do bricks consisting of 100 mile bike rides followed by a tune up run. Then the next day doing 2-3 hour runs. Uhg! That was no fun for me at all! Yet I trained for Iron distance races for 5 straight years before I finally accomplished my Iron dream.

Now that it's over I'm training exclusively for sprint distance triathlons & am having the time of my life!!! So with that in mind, why in the world have I started dreaming of something that is even harder than racing an Ironman? I've awakened a desire I very well may regret! After my 9 mile trail run in the Sangre De Cristo mountains I decided I'd like to attempt an ultra endurance trail run. No time soon mind you, 1st & foremost I have to accomplish my current goal of finishing in the top %3 of a USAT sanctioned sprint triathlon, but I would like to give it a shot. My cousin Greg is planning to do a 50 miler soon. Yup, that's right, I said 50 MILER! That's the mid distance. The big dream of endurance runners is the 100 miler. No, don't worry, I have no desire what-so-ever to do a 100 miler. But a 50K or 50 miler does sound appealing- unfortunately.

For those who are new to such things as ultra endurance trail running, if a person finishes a race of that distance they get a finishers belt buckle. I proudly have my Ironman Arizona finishers medal hung on my bedroom wall for all who visit my house to see. But a finishers belt buckle I could have with me anytime I'm in public & am dressed, which is all the time- thus the appeal of the belt buckle. Why the appeal of a 50K or 50 miler, I have no idea. But I know me, & once I have some crazy dream or goal in mind I always follow it through. I'm thinking the one I'd like to try eventually is the Palo Duro trail run. I'll let you know when I decide to shoot for my new dream, until then I'll be having a blast training & racing the sprints.

Thanks for tuning in!

The importance of sports specific training

I've mostly been running on a dirt trail near my house for the last 6 years. Last Friday I was scheduled for a run & was a bit bored with my normal trail route, so I drove to the top of the Santa Fe ski area located on top of the Sangre De Cristo mountains to do my run.

In the 1st 7/10th of a mile I ran from an elevation of 10,298 feet to 10,855 & was seeing bright flashes of light in my vision & was a little dizzy, which was caused by running at such a high altitude at a semi fast pace. At the 2.5 mile mark I descended to 10,421 feet & the spots went away, not to return again the rest of the run. By the 4.4 mile mark of the run I ran to an altitude of 11,013 feet. By this point I was already becoming fatigued. I was surprised at how quickly I became tired, I never get tired at the 4.5 mile mark of a run, even when running at a time trial pace! By the time I finished the 9 mile run I was unable to run longer than 10 minutes without walking a while to recover. I was truly exhausted!

Today, 2.5 days later I'm still sore. Really sore. The altitude & terrain may have been a small portion of the reason I became so taxed, but the majority of the reason was my body isn't used to doing that kind of training. It's called sports specific training. I'm not used to it, so my body isn't very good at it. Which got me to thinking about my triathlon racing, I've made great gains on my bike, & even pretty good gains on my swim while virtually not swimming all year, yet almost no gains on my running.

In December I started running intervals, & that increased my average pace by almost 15 seconds per mile, but considering I've lost 40 pounds since the fall, 15 seconds per mile on the run is pretty pathetic. It wasn't until I did the trail run on Friday that I realized why my running hasn't improved much. The answer is I'm not doing sports specific training! I train on a dirt trail, & then try & race on concrete or asphalt! That would be as dumb as training all the time on a mountain bike then racing on a triathlon bike, or training on nothing but hills then racing on a flat course! Duh! I've been training for triathlons hard core for almost 7 years & have all sorts of knowledge about triathlon, how could I have not realized something as elementary as training predominantly on the surface I race on?

Today I was scheduled for a 7 mile run, & rather than run it on my normal dirt trail I ran along highway 14. Since I was running on asphalt I ran the 7 miles much faster than I normally would running of on dirt, which was sweet! Makes sense to me, run faster to be able to run in a race faster! I also became tired sooner than I normally would of, & I was much more fatigued at the end than I normally would be on a dirt run. I believe this revelation & change in training tactics will result in a big speed & endurance increase during my racing.

I'll let you know how the road running goes & if it effects my performance as much as I think it will. Thanks for tuning in!

An open call for a group mountain bike ride

My wife bought me a book called "Mountain biking Northern New Mexico". The book says the best mountain bike ride in New Mexico is South Boundary Trial. After reading about the ride I became really excited about doing it & am wanting to get as many of my buddies to do it with me as I can. So this is an open invite for a group mountain bike ride on Sunday August 1st.

The ride starts at the trailhead on forest road near Angel Fire NM & ends at the El Nogal camp grounds. Anyone who is interested contact me & we'll work out the details!

On another note I had a buddy of mine who lives in another state ask me about the Enchanted circle century. Any of you who has not done the Enchanted Circle Century, I highly suggest you do it. It's the prettiest ride I've ever done. It's a beautiful & strenuous ride through Northern New Mexico's mountains. There's a lot of climbing. The last climb is up Bobcat pass, a nonstop, no rest climb of 3000 feet ending at 9,800 elevation, then descending into Red River. If my buddy ends up coming up & doing it, I'll do it with him. The Enchanted Circle Century is on September 11th this year, which comes at a rough time because I've already paid for the Patriot Triathlon which is September 12th. So it looks as if I may end up doing a hilly & very challenging century on a Saturday & a triathlon the next morning!

Closer than I ever dreamed

I spent 5 years training an average of 15-19 hours a week for Ironman distance triathlons. During that 5 year stretch I never placed in an A race higher than in the 50 percentage of competitors. 2010 is the 1st season I've trained exclusively for sprint distance triathlons. I found out very quickly my body is better suited for sprint distance training & racing!

This year out of 10 races I've competed in I've taken top 10 overall in 3 & top 5 in 3. Today I realized I'm getting very close to qualifying for the National sprint distance triathlon championships. If my memory is correct I need to finish in the top 3% of a USAT sprint distance triathlon to qualify. In my last 3 USAT certified sprint triathlons I've missed being in the top 3% by 90 seconds on the flat courses & 4 minutes on the hilly courses. Considering I've been training for sprint distance triathlons for only half a season, I think my chances are very good for building enough speed & fitness to make the top 3% within the next year or 2.

So now I start the process of figuring out how I'm going to knock of 1 1/2 to 3 minutes on a sprint distance triathlon.
-Hiring a coach would make a big difference! Later this year I'll put in for that promotion at work I've been procrastinating putting in for the last decade. Once I get that promotion I could afford to hire a coach again. I already have the coach I'd like to hire picked out. Julia Rossi from Mile High Multisport.
-I don't swim consistently at all! If I was to start swimming at least twice a week every week I could knock off at least 20 seconds on a sprint distance race.
-I haven't done any strength training for my legs since I started self coaching back in September of 2009. Having more power in my legs would increase my speed on the bike, knocking off perhaps another 30 seconds.
-More speed work/track intervals could knock off 15 seconds on the run.
-The single biggest thing I need to do to become faster is drop some body weight. My dream weight is 179. I'm currently 193 (I gained a couple pounds from the family vacation we went on this weekend). That would be a 14 pound weight loss. 14 pounds in endurance athletics is HUGE! Just dropping that weight alone would make me fast enough to qualify for the National Sprint triathlon Championships easily. Up until a couple weeks ago I was trying to lose an average of 2 pounds a week. I kept getting down to 188, then falling off the diet wagon & shooting back up to 192. A couple weeks ago I'd decided to stop trying to lose weight & maintain until November. Rather than take that all or nothing weight loss stance, I think I simply need to try & lose weight more gradually. I'm going to shoot for hitting my goal weight of 179 by Dec 1st. That will make for an average of .58 of a pound a week of weight loss to hit 179 by December. Attempting to lose weight much more gradually would give me more calories a day to eat, which would make me less hungry & less likely to end up falling off the diet wagon & binge eating again & again & again. Losing the weight more gradually would also make my body much less likely to trigger some of the self defense mechanisms that our body has to having lost as much weight as I have so far, & hope to lose by December.

Whish me luck!

Chick-fil-a sprint triathlon race report

I competed in the Chick-fil-a sprint triathlon June 19th 2010. It was a 400 meter swim, a 12.6 mile bike, & a 3.2 mile run. This a an AWESOME race! I've never seen so many volunteers for a sprint! The run was a great course winding through a HUGE sports parks that went in-between soccer & baseball fields that had kids games going on. People were stopping the games to hoot & yell for us triathletes.

It was the flattest fastest bike course I've EVER competed on. I used my HED3/ disk wheel set. They had finishers medal for every finisher, & the best awards I've ever seen at a sprint for the top 3 in each division. The top male & female overall got free Chick-fil-a for a year. They had free Chick-fil-a meals for all the competitors post race. They had a DJ playing music, & a guy dressed as the Chick-fil-a cow playing with all the kids. They had a kids triathlon after the adults race. All the kids got finishers medals. The RD's name is Mark G., & I called him 4 times the 2 weeks before the race asking questions that would annoy most RD's. He seemed happy to answer any questions I had. I loved this race & am planning on making it an every year race for my triathlon schedule.

I could go on forever about the great things pertaining to this race. The only bad thing that happened was my fault. I had my wife register me. During the registration process they asked my wife what my swim time was, she put 2hrs down as my 400 meter swim time. It was a seeded swim start, meaning they start a swimmer in the pool every 15 seconds starting with the fastest swimmer 1st, the slowest swimmer last. I was the last person to start my swim. This was bad for my race for a multiple reasons.

1) The race was scheduled to start at 8am. I didn't start my swim until 9:15 am. I ate at 5am to make sure my food was fully digested & my fuel tanks were completely topped off for the 8am race start. By the time I started my swim I was very hungry & incredibly thirsty.

2) By 9:15 it was getting really hot. My biggest deficiency as an endurance athlete is my inability to tolerate the heat. The heat hits me hard & slows me down much more than most athletes. By the time I hit the last half of my run it was sweltering hot!

3) All the people I was swimming with were averaging a 12-20 minute swims, mine is normal approximately a 7:20, so while I was swimming it was like I was trying to traverse an obstacle field. I must of passed 15 people. I guarantee I lost 15-20 seconds on the swim, I didn't want to swim around those people as aggressively as I normally do because I knew these were new swimmers & triathletes. I didn't want them to leave having received any elbows or having been swam over or dunked- yes that is normally what I do.

All is all I still finished with a decent time. 1 hr 5 min 39 seconds, taking 2nd place in my division out of 25, & taking 10th place overall out 200. I now have 75.75 points in the South West Challenge Series & am in 1st place in the 35-39 AG.

I finished 23 seconds behind Wade, who I have looked up to as an endurance athlete for many years. Hopefully some day I can finish in front of him at a race. I can guarantee you, knowing him as long as I have, once I beat him he won't be a poor sport about it. He's an honorable sportsman who would be excited & congratulate me. I strive to be as wonderful of representative of the sport of triathlon as he has been.

After the race I took my family camping at Palo Duro canyon outside Amarillo TX. We were very excited about our camping expedition. It did turn out well. It was unseasonably hot. It got to 101 that day. The night was miserably hot too. We're going to try camping again the last week of July, but this time in the mountains where it will be nice & cool.

My next race is the Santa Fe triathlon July 2010.

I quit, I'm raising the white flag!!

Looks like I may be giving up on a couple things. Just call me the local French representative!

The 1st thing I'm quitting on, I'm done trying to lose weight. I'm burned out. I think my body needs to try & maintain at 188 pounds for awhile to get used to this new lighter weight I'm at. It's stressful on the body to drop weight while still training hard. I've been losing or gaining weight non stop since last July. I've decided I'm going to attempt to stay at the weight I'm at until November 1st. At that time I'll try & drop this last 8 or 9 pounds. My dream weight is 179-180. If everything works out the way I'd like I'll be at my goal weight by the 1st race of the 2011 race season.

I did a lot of praying both last year & this year to get faster at multisport, & I became faster than I ever dreamed I could be. Now I'm going to continue to pray for speed at triathlon, and to maintain my weight until November. For those of you who are new to my blog, my weight has always been an issue for me. It wasn't until late last year that I was able to drop a significant amount of the weight I'd been hanging onto the last 5 years. The most important thing pertaining to multisport I'll be praying for is for me to be able to use triathlon & duathlon to spread God's word.

The other thing I may end up having to bail out of is the Halfmax National championships this September. I qualified for the Halfmax National Championships last September & was hoping to race & attempt to qualify again for the 3rd straight year. It's not that I don't want to compete in that race, because I desperately do, it's that I can't afford the entry fee & travel.

I've been working on getting sponsored by AFSCME. If I can get them as a sponsor before the registration deadline I'll jump at the opportunity to race at the Halfmax National Championships, but if not then it just wasn't meant to be. I'm ok with that, I am a Christian & family man 1st, multi-sport athlete 2nd.

This Saturday I'll be competing in the Chick-fil-a sprint triathlon in Amarillo TX. I called the the RD, Mark G. & asked him exactly what the bike course is like. He said "flat!" I asked, "rolling hills flat, or really flat". He replied, "flat as a pancake flat!" I'm was already excited about competing in The Chick-Fil-a triathlon. But now I'm even more excited! As many of you know I am much more powerful & competitive on a flat course than a hilly one. I struggle badly with climbing. Any race I do with hills I will get beat by people I normally finish ahead of. Case in point, I beat a fellow by the name of Garrot Rennonat the Dog House Sprint triathlon in Lubbock TX in May by a minute 19 seconds. A month later I competed against him in the Gallup triathlon, which is a VERY hilly course! He beat me by 2 min 13 sec.

It's rare that I get the opportunity to race on a very flat & fast course. I love flat & fast courses!!! I always have my best performances at flat races. Oh me! oh my! I am excited!

A great thing happened at work last night. I witnessed to one of my fellow co-workers. He's now wanting to come to church with my family & I. I'm going to do my best to plant the seed of God's great word & hope God makes it grow. Anytime I try bringing others to Christ I always feel like I am such an unworthy person to be bringing such a great thing as God's grace into someone's life. He's such an awesome God, & I'm such an average man-on a good day. Most days, I'm a wretched, sinful man who would have no chance of entering heaven on my own accord. For someone like me to try & spread God's word, I feel a bit overwhelmed. But then I think of some of the stories I've read in the bible. The story of Moses is the one that comes 1st to my mind. Moses felt like he wasn't a good enough of a man to do all that God asked of Him. But through God, anything is possible. If any of you prayer warriors out there are willing, I'd sure love a few prayers for me to be able to show him the way, & let God take it over from there.

The Gallup triathlon race report

I completed the June 12th 2010 Gallup triathlon, no flats this time! This was my 63rd multisport race, which doesn't include centuries, marathons, etc. I'm 37 races away from hitting one of my multisport goals of completing 100 races. The race results didn't get posted until Monday or so. But overall I was very impressed with this race. BTW, it's the hardest sprint distance triathlon I've ever competed in. VERY Hard course!

It was a seated 400 yard swim, 12.6 mile bike, & a 3.2 mile run.

My splits were:
400 yard swim in 6 min 29 sec.
T-1 45 seconds
12.6 mile bike in 37 min 56 seconds, a 19.93 mph Ave
T-2 in 34 seconds!
3.2 mile run in 23 min 19 seconds, a 7:31 min per mile pace.
A total time of 1 hr 9 min 3 seconds, crushing my previous PR at this race!
I finished 4th place overall out of 82, & 1st place in my division.

I drove up there with a co-worker & friend named Pete Jackson. His times were
Swim 10 min 43 sec
T-1 1 min 59 sec
Bike 47 min 5 sec 16.6 mph Ave
T-2 1 min 5 sec
Run 31 min 38 sec. 10:12 min per mile pace
Total 1 hr 32 min 30 sec
He was 1st place 45-49!
Considering this was only his 3rd race, he's doing amazing!

With this 1st place finish I'm securely in 1st place in the South West Challenge Series 35-39 age group with a total of 74.5 points. I have 4 first place finishes, 2 second place finishes, & 2 third place finishes.

My closest competitors is Greg Gouveia who has 38 points in 5 races, & Cory Adair who has 36 points in 5 races.

I'm now in a position that in 6+ years of hard core training & racing I've never been in before. I have accomplished my major goal of the season, so now I can train & race as I please. If I don't train as hard as I usually do, that's ok. I'll enjoy the down time so I can come back the later part of this season refreshed & ready to train hard core again. Or if I decide to train as hard as I want, I can do that too! Whatever I want to do at this point I can do without any feelings of guilt or impending dread, of shoulda, coulda, woulda! My next race that I need to take seriously isn't until my first 2 races of the new season, The Polar Bear triathlon & The Jingle Bell triathlon this Dec. How refreshing this is! I believe God has granted me this gift of achieving my seasons goal so early in the year because I have started using triathlon to glorify Him & spread His word

My next race is going to be the Chick-fil-a triathlon in Amarillo TX June 19th 2010. It's going to be flat, so I think I'm going to race on my HED3, disk wheel set. The Chick-fil-a triathlon weekends race was my fathers day present & it will be the 1st race my family has attended since the Buffman and Squeaky triathlon in 2008. I'm excited to be able to finish a race in front of my kids. Hopefully they will think it's exciting & think it was fun to watch Daddy race.

Wish me luck, & I'll see you at the races!

Gallup triathlon & goal weight

Last year at the Gallup triathlon I got a flat at the half way point of the bike. Rather than quit I ran with my bike 6.1 miles, then finished the 3.2 mile run. I finished dead last that day. This was the 2nd time I'd raced that triathlon & the 2nd time I'd flatted on the bike.

I currently have 71.25 points in the South West Challenge Series. I'm almost 30 points above the nearest competitor. I have decided to cancel half of the races I was planning for the last half of the year. The Gallup triathlon was one of the races I was going to cancel. But after thinking about it I decided I needed to do that race again. I need to redeem myself at that race.

June 19th, the Gallup triathlon will be my next race.

My dream weight is 180 pounds. That would put me under 5% body fat. I know this because of the body dunk test I got at the University of New Mexico physiology lab. I'd be a screaming fast triathlete at that weight.

Since April I've been fluctuating from 187- 194. Although I'm very happy to be that low I'd be lying if I didn't say I am obsessing about getting down to my dream weight of 180. Seems every tine I get down to 187 or 188 I self destruct & pop back up to 192.

I'm going to try & get down to 180 one more time. My goal is to be at that weight a little before the Santa Fe Triathlon mid July. If I self destruct again I'm going to try & maintain 188 for a few months to allow my body to get used to being at a low body weight, to heal up, & hopefully be ready to drop that last 8 pounds by the beginning of 2011.

May 22nd brick

On May 22nd I did a 4 mile run, then rode my bike into Alb. 65 miles total. I love this ride. It has great views and is a challenging course. Here are some of the pictures of this ride. I saw an aryan brotherhood compound. I took a picture (1st picture), someone from the compound saw me take it, they got into thier vehicle & followed me for a few miles before turning around. I was a bit nervous while they were following me to say the least. If you can see it, the symbol above thier gate is a lightning bolt inside of a zia sysmbol, that signifies the NM faction of the AB. Glad I didn't have a liscence plate or any way for them to identify me.


Today May 27th I taught my daughter to ride her bike w/out training wheels. This was her 2nd attempt. By the evenning she could ride around the block. She just needs help getting onto the seat and peddling the 1st few feet.

Chicken me

Looks like I won't be doing any Tuesday night crits after all. I'm chickening out. I have more than enough fitness, but I don't believe my group riding skills are ready for a crit yet. Hopefully next year.

This Saturday I'll be doing a brick starting at noon. If anyone wants to do all or part of it with me, feel free. The more the merrier. I'll be starting with a 4 mile run starting at my house, located at the Penitentiary of New Mexico just South of Santa Fe, approximately 1.5 miles south of the 599 rail runner stop. After the run I'll be cycling to Albuquerque via highway 14, a 62 mile bike ride ending at Paseo Del Norte & Wyoming, then another short 10 min run. If interested feel free to email me o.c.tri@comcast.net

The Dog House Triathlon 2010 race report

This past weekend, May 16th 2010 was The Dog House sprint triathlon. It was a 500 meter swim, a 17.6 mile bike, & a 3.2 mile run in Lubbock TX.

I was motivated to do well in this race because my cousin Greg, who got me into triathlon way back when was going to be racing with me.

Like I'd posted on my last blog entry, I wasn't expecting much from myself in this race. I'd over trained leading up to my A race 3 weeks prior to the Dog House triathlon & had been struggling to get through any workouts, much less been able to finish any races with any serious speed.

Because of my poor performance the last month I took some time before the race to pray. I asked for a strong race if it was Gods will, or to give me the strength to accept a bad performance if it was what He wanted for me that day. This particular prayer is one I pray frequently: to have the strength to accept His will when his desires conflict with what I want. I have made great progress with accepting His will over mine, which isn't an easy thing for me to do. I'm a man of sinful nature & all to often I see myself acting just like a stubborn & strong willed child would, resenting when things don't go my way, pouting, & feeling sorry for myself-case in point look at my last blog post, jeez, that was ridiculous! I try & remember God is ALWAYS right in everything He does, even when- no especially when it goes against what I want.

The race started with a 500 meter open water swim. It was a mass start in water just a bit over a 60 degree temperature. The last time I raced in Lubbock (2008) I waited in the back of the pack to allow the majority of the athletes to get out onto the swim course before I started swimming. Not this time! I've improved my swimming speed & skills & was confident I could swim in the middle of the the pack where all the pushing & thrashing is. As soon as the gun went off I took off running into water. As the water became deep enough that running became too slow & cumbersome, but it wasn't yet deep enough to start swimming yet I started to dolphin. I was surprised to see I was the only athlete doing that.

I really needed a great swim because I knew the swim was where I had the biggest advantage on my cousin, who struggles in the water. He is an AMAZING cyclist, & knew I had to put a lot of distance on him in the water or he was sure to pass me early enough in the bike that I'd never be able to catch him on the run. I ended up with one of the 2 best swims of my life, getting out of the 500 meter swim in under 8 minutes!

I made a rookie mistake & couldn't find my bike in T-1 losing a good 20 seconds.

The bike course is very hilly & challenging! There are a 3 or 4 BIG hills each way on the out & back course, the 1st of which is the largest & longest and starts 100 feet from the bike start.

I had a strong bike performance finishing the 17.5 mile bike averaging approximately 22 mph. Amazingly enough I had finished the swim in a good enough time that my cousin wasn't able to pass me on the bike.

I started the run with my stop watch telling me I was just under the 1 hour mark total. I knew I was having a great race, pulling off some wonderful splits, but the run had been where I was struggling most recently. I had no idea what to expect, but I was motivated because I kept imagining my cousin was about to pass me by any minute, & I didn't want to get into a situation where he & I were running the entire course stride for stride, pushing each other to the breaking point, because I know how much heart that man has, & he'd end up testing my limits beyond what would be fun for me, squeezing every last bit of energy I had out of me, until I had nothing left & he'd end up dropping me, leaving me to struggle on the rest of the run on wobbly legs, exhausted, barely able to hold myself in an upright position, much less run with any authority.

Since it was an out and back run I was able to count athletes coming by from the turn around point. By my count I was in 5th place overall. I was able to hold onto the 5th place overall until there was 1 mile left on the run. At that point a lady by the name of Gretchen passed me. She was running very well, with perfect form, up on her toes, her steps were light, fast, & rhythmic, I could barely hear them at all. As she passed me her steps sounded like small patters of rain & I never once heard her breath heavily, which was completely the opposite of me, which I imagine sounded to her like she was getting chased by an asthmatic elephant.

I hung with her a well as I could, but this lady was strong! She ended up finishing 15 seconds ahead of me- remember me being unable to find my bike in T-1? That 20 second mistake cost me a top 5 finish. That just shows a person never stops learning, or in my case, never stops having to relearn:)

I finished the 5K run in approximately 23 minutes.

After I finished I went back out onto the course & paced my cousin the remainder of his run. We really kicked up the speed the last half mile! Being able to finish the remainder of his run with him was a great moment, I'll remember that fondly the rest of my life!

I finished the race in a total of 1 hour 22 minutes. Finishing in 6th place overall & 1st place AG 35-39. I now am in 1st place in the South West Challenge Series 35-39 AG with a total of 71.25 points.

Self coaching is for the birds

I started self coaching back in December. I built a training plan to peak for the Atomicman duathlon in April. I based the program I built from a triathlon book by Matt Fitzgerald. While on this self made plan I was doing WAY to much hill & speed work & not enough zone 2 & 3. I ended up over trained & got sick the weekend of the Atomicman. I pushed myself so hard that I ruined my 1st A race of the 2010 season, which happens on occasion for all endurance triathletes. A peak & a taper is a balancing act.

My self made training plan not only ruined my Atomicman duathlon, it also ruined my Jay Benson triathlon. I was very excited about competing in the 2010 Jay Benson triathlon. It's the biggest & most popular race in NM- although I suspect the Elephant Man Oly tri & the Cochati Oly tri will soon surpass the Jay Benson's popularity & draw of local elite triathletes. I ended up missing my PR by 2 minutes & missing my goal of 1 hour or below by 5 minutes.

Since the Atomicman I've been struggling mightily with my running & cycling. After talking to a buddy who was a professional cyclist & knows about such things, I found out that I am struggling now because my base deteriorated from a lack of zone 2 training. So now instead of peaking again for the Santa Fe triathlon in July I'm going to have to spend an extra couple months rebuilding my zone 2 fitness. I'll still do the Santa Fe tri, but it'll be a C race & I'm not expecting to race very well. My next A race will now be the Patriot triathlon in Rio Rancho in September.

The poor racing & training I've been experiencing the last month triggered me falling off the diet wagon for awhile. I went from 187 back up to 192 pounds. Thankfully I'm back to eating healthy. I should be back down to 187 by early June, just in time for the Gallup triathlon.

I knew from past experience I didn't like self coaching. With this heart breaking experience I've realized I dislike it & am worse at it than I even remembered. I'm trying to work out some things financially so that I can get myself a coach again. If I had it my way I'd get coach Pete Alfino back. He was AMAZING, but since he's as good as he is, he's about 3X more $ than I could afford. Barring getting the mad scientist coach Pete Alfino back I'd like to hire coach Julia Rossi. I've heard nothing but good things about her. She has a degree in sports something-or-another, her coaching philosophy is very similar to Petes, plus she's a phenomenal triathlete herself.

My wife realizes how important having a coach is to me, so we're trying to put our heads together to see if we can work the $ thing out. It's a serious struggle because my wife is a stay at home Mom who I'm putting through school, & we have 3 kids, all living off my one income.

If we are unable to figure it out then we've agreed I'm going to go for a promotion at work- something I've been avoiding for all I'm worth the last 15 years. We'd use the pay raise to hire Julia Rossi as my coach.

Until my wife & I can make some money magically appear from our finances or I get promoted I'm going to do the best I can figuring out my training plan on my own.

This weekend I'm competing in the Dog House Sprint triathlon in Lubbock TX. I love this race. It's well put on, organized, a VERY FUN course, great awards, etc. I'm not expecting a very good performance, but will enjoy the experience regardless of how I perform. At the end of this race they have a photographer taking pictures of triathletes running across the finish line. The last couple times I've competed in this race I got a picture as I ran across the finish line carrying my daughter. This year my son is old enough that I'll be getting our 1st picture of he & I crossing a finish line together. I'm really excited about that. I'll post the picture as soon as I get it.

Thanks for tuning in.

Unbalievable! & unavoidable!

I started working at the state penitentiary in 1995 at 19 years old. My favorite joke at the time was to ask some of the older officers there, "how long have you been here?"
If for example they said, "I started in 1981".
I'd reply, "WOW! You've been here since I was 6 years old!"

Haha! I thought that I was being very funny at the time! Well guess what happened to me last night..... A young guy who just started working at the NM state Penn asked me how long I'd been there- how did I not see this coming?
"Since 1995." I replied.
"Dang! You've been here since I was 6 years old!"
Somehow it seemed a lot funnier when I was not on the receiving end of that punch line.......

I completed my first 2 triathlons in 2005. I immediately became severely addicted to the sport. I've done an average of 16 triathlons a year every year since. Even for a hard core triathlete I race a bunch (a bunch being the most precise word I could come up with). Next weekend I will be competing in my 9th multisport race of the 2010 season. Racing takes a lot more effort than it sounds. The race is the easiest part of racing a triathlon. There's the packing of the bikes, extra race wheels, & gear. The travel to a race, rarely do I get to race in my home town. I pick up my race packet the day before the race. Then to save $ I find a camp ground & set up a tent & a camp out for the night. The next morning I wake at 4-5am, drive to the race site, set up my transition area, check my bike & gear to ensure they are in good working order, race, attend the race ceremony, go back to my camp sit & break down my tent & repack for the drive home, drive home, then spend that night on the couch not spending quality time with my amazing wife & kids because I'm tired!

As unbelievable as this is to those who know me, I'm tired. I don't want to say I'm burned out, because by no means am I burned out. I still LOVE to race! But I'm getting a little tired of racing so frequently! So, I'm still planing to finish the 2 races a month I have scheduled the next few months, but after July I'm going to take a hard look at my placing in the South West Challenge Series. If I'm secure in the top 2 of the 35-39 AG I'm going to skip the 2 races I had planned in August, 2 of the 4 races I had planned in Sept, & Silverman Half Iron I had planned in Nov. Even after missing those 5 races in the later half of the year I'll end up with 19 races for the year, 18 of those would be South West challenge series races.

I know this is a big "IF".... But if at any time I feel I'm secure in the #1 spot in the SW series I'll limit my racing to The Santa Fe tri in July, the Patriot & Redman Half in Sept, & the Jingle Bell & Polar Bear tri in Dec.

There's never a bad race

It's always nice getting in peak shape for a big race. Being able to show up for a triathlon I've been training months for, hammering out top speeds for obscene distances. Finding someone just a little faster than me, using him or her to pace off of & push beyond my bodies pain threshold! Seeing someone try to keep pace with me & pushing myself harder and faster, pushing with all I have, pushing myself to the breaking point until my competition's will breaks & I ride or run farther & farther away from him. Oh my, this is the fuel that feeds me to train for 15+ hours a week.

Then there's the rebuilding phase after an A race.... It's always amazed me how fast & far I can go for my A race, & immediately after the race my speeds & endurance just seems to disappear! I know the reasons. I understand it's the process of periodization, the peaks are high & glorious, but the rebuilding phase is rough.

The past 2 weeks I've been struggling to get through distances that a few weeks ago I'd of laughed at. Each day this week I'm building a bit more endurance. Each day I feel my fitness returning, slowly but surely. Thankfully the human body can take massive amounts of long slow training, also known as base work. I know the more I swim, bike, & run at this slow pace now, the faster I'll be able to swim, bike, & run later.

This Sunday May 9th is the Jay Benson triathlon. I love the Jay Benson triathlon! The fastest triathletes in the state show up for this race! The fact is it's just 2 weeks after my A race, so although I'm going to push myself as hard as I can, the unavoidable fact is I'm still feeling sluggish. So I have two choices,
1) rest a bit & hope to squeak out a half way decent race, but still no where near where I normally would.
or 2) realize this soon after an A race I'm going to have a slow race no matter what, so I might as well take advantage of the each & every minute I have to build back my base.

Long term choice #2 makes the most sense. My step Dad, Bob Foster used to tell me don't borrow from the future to pay for my present. So rather than take it easy on Saturday, resting my body for Sundays race I'm going to squeeze in as many base miles as I can. I'll be getting off work at 6 am on Saturday. I'll wake up around 2pm, hop on the bike & ride from my house in Santa Fe to Albuquerque via highway 14, approximately a 70 mile ride full of big mountains & lots of climbing. Then I'll compete in the Jay Benson triathlon the next morning on legs fatigued from training. I like the feeling of being tired & sore, & I love racing. Sounds like a great combination to me!

Let the competition begin, let the glory go to God!