The 2013 Santa Fe triathlon

A few weeks after I came to grip with, and announced that I'm retiring from multisport the Santa Fe triathlon registration opened. The Santa Fe triathlon and the Atomic Man duathlon are two races I try to never miss. So even though I'm officially retired from triathlon I've registered and will be racing the Santa Fe triathlon on September 21st. Just call me Brett Favre....

2013 national duathlon championships

A few weeks ago I had decided to retire from multisport..... Today I received an email from USA triathlon stating that I had earned a spot to the 2013 National Duathlon Championships while racing at the Atomic Man duathlon earlier this year. This is the 7th time I've earned a spot to a national championships race, the first time I'd earned a spot in duathlon. Now I'm not sure if I should hang up the cycling shoes now or wait until after the 2013 National Duathlon Championships....... Not an easy decision.....

If I decide to race the duathlon national championships I need to get busy training and losing some serious weight. I'm currently weighing 240 pounds and haven't biked consistantly for over a year and a half.....

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.

2013 triathlon, X-Terra, and Duathlon schedule

I had been waiting for the South West Challenge Series to come out with their schedule before I decided what my race schedule for 2013 would be, but I haven't heard anything from the SWCS since November. Not only have they not posted their 2013 schedule, or the 2013 points standings for the 2 races that have been held thus far, but they also haven't even had their awards ceremony for the 2012 top 3 age group and division athletes. I became anxious and decided to build my 2013 race plan based off of what race info is currently out. The Chasing 3 New Mexico Open Water series has had their schedule out for over a month, so it looks like for the 1st time in 8 years of racing I wont be competing in the South West Challenge Series, I'll be competing in the Chasing 3 New Mexico Open Water series instead.

Feb
1) The Missile Man Duathlon, White Sands Missile Range NM

April
2) The Spring Fling triathlin Rio Rancho NM
3) The Atomic Man Duathlon, White Rock NM

May
4) Jay Benson triathlon

June
5) The 4 corners X-Terra, Farmington NM
6) The Billy The Kid Tombstone Tri, Fort Sumner NM
7) Storrie Lake Tri, Las Vegas  NM

July
8) The City of Lakes Tri, Santa Rosa NM
9) Cochiti Lake tri, Cochiti NM

Aug
10) The 505 triathlon, Cochiti NM

September
11) X-Terra Dread Mon, Truth or Consequences NM
12) The Trinidad Del Muerto or Chupacabra challenge, Truth or Consequences NM

Atomic Man duathlon 2012

I competed in the 2012 Atomic Man duathlon today. This was my 80th multisport race, and my 19th duathlon since 2004.

I pulled my quad last week at the Spring Fling triathlon and hadn't been able to train all week. I decided to approach the Atomic Man as a light workout to test my leg. I decided to jog/walk the runs and bike very light.

On the 1st half of the 1st run I felt a little pinch where the injury was, but nothing bad enough to worry me.  I finished the 2.25 mile run in a safe and leg protecting time of 22:22.

I was worried about my quad on the bike because this course has some big climbs. I wasn't sure if my leg was ready to attempt climbing like that yet. Thankfully I completed the entire bike without any pain at all. I finished the 8.13 mile bike 33:28.

On the 2nd run my leg felt great. I picked up the pace to a high zone two and never felt any pulls or
pinches from my leg at all. The 2nd run was 2.42 miles  in 21:03.

I finished in a total time of 1:19, taking third place out of 3 in my age group and 27th overall 40out of.

I have completed 4 races in the 2012 South West Challenge series, one 1st place, two 2nd place finishes, and one third. I have a total of 36 points and am in 1st place overall in the 35-39 AG.

Looks like I'll start training again this week. I plan on cutting all my rides and runs in half this week. If my leg feels better after this weeks long days on Friday and Saturday then I'll try and train my full schedule the week after.

inury update and a day off

My quad is healing relatively quickly. Not as quickly as the last time I pulled it, but fast enough for me to not be freaking out. I can climb stairs and stand up from a sitting position without much pain. I’m thinking I’ll take today and Thursday off completely. Friday I’ll do an hour long bike all zone 1 and zone 2, Saturday I’ll try a 45 minute zone 2 run. I have the Atomicman duathlon on Sunday. I’m relatively certain I won’t  be able to push myself at race pace but I’m still going to show up to run and bike nice and easy with my only goal being to finish. A finish still gives me points for the South West Challenge series, and I love competing in the SW series!

I didn’t work last night. This week was the 1^st time since December that I took more than 1 day off in a week, and being home with my wife and babies is my favorite thing in the world. Unfortunately celebration is a huge trigger for me, so I ended up struggling with my eating last night. I was able to avoid binging, but barely. With the exception of my struggles with my eating disorder it was a perfect night. As we were going to bed I told my wife, “For just one night I wish I wasn’t an addict. I wish I could be home and enjoy myself rather than having to struggle with my desire to binge eat.”

Today I start working with a 12 step sponsor, so I’m hoping I’ll begin to struggle less. He sent me a list of his expectations and I’m in agreement with all of them. I posted what he sent me in the email, but I changed some things to keep him anonymous.

He wrote:

So... I've been thinking about our sponsoring relationship. I am attaching the first set of reading/writing I'd like to have you work on. In my experience, it works really well to read my answers aloud to my sponsor. Have you ever done this?

Let's think about the tools:

1. Food Plan... Check. Could you please type up your plan and send it to me via email so I have it in print?

2. Sponsorship... Hey, that's me!

3. Meetings... What is your plan here? I'll admit that my own meeting attendance is spotty. Do you have a stated goal for meetings?

4. Telephone... Tell me about your phone usage for recovery/outreach calls. When I started OA-HOW, it was mandated to me that I would make or receive THREE live phone calls every day. I did it for 14 months, and it was awesome... and very stressful. It was definitely one of the things that drove me away from the program eventually. What's your willingness? What's your desire? What do you think your NEED is for phone calls?

5. Writing... I think this is key. Stepwork is WHY we get abstinent in the first place. I think, if at all possible, you should be writing every day, even if it's just to answer only one question. Or less... I like to just look at a clock. If I don't get the question answered in 15 minutes, I start on it again the next day, unless I'm really into it and I want to continue.

6. Literature. Ditto. Every day... But this goes hand in hand with the writing. Read, then write. Every day is a great plan.

7. Anonymity... Well, I don't know that I have any special thoughts on how to use this in our relationship, but of course I think it's important.

8. Service... We'll talk about this as we go.

9. Action plan... Again, I think this will be addressed as we go forward.

So, I guess the things we need to determine are:

How often should we talk on the phone? Are you able/willing to do reading and writing every day? How many people can you commit to calling every day, if any? What food plan will you follow? What's your plan for meetings?

Cody, it all boils down to this: How can I help support YOU in your recovery? If it fits into what I believe is helpful, from my experience, then I'm happy to do it. It helps me too.

SW challenge series points

I'd promised I'd post on my blog if there was any changes in the top 3 of the 35-39 age group of the South West Challenge series. Marty Moriarty has secured 2nd place in the series with an AMAZING performance last weekend at the Elephant Man Olympic distance triathlon. He finished in 25th place overall out of 280 athletes and teams and 1st place in his division of 12! In the series he now has 7 races and 63 points total. Before this season Marty was a pure cyclist, which made his triathlon accomplishments this year absolutely stunning! He finished the 1 mile swim in 30 minutes! That's fast. I've never completed an oly swim in 30 minutes before. It was no surprise at all that he had the 3rd fastest bike split out of 280 finishing the very hard 25 mile bike course with a 21.9 mph average! He finished the 10K run in 47:09 keeping a 7:49 pace. The Elephant Man run course is REALLY hard, so that kind of a pace from someone who had never practiced his running until this year is dang impressive. This guys a stud triathlete.

The 1st time I raced with Marty was at the Atomic Man triathlon earlier this year. Up until facing Marty I'd never finished outside of 1st placec in my division at that race. Here's a picture of Marty and I coming out of T-2. He's a few strides ahead of me:




Having Marty and Brooks Vandervort in my division is going to make me train harder and race faster or I may be in danger of never seeing another top 3 in the South West again!

There's 1 race remaining in the series but the top 3 has already been determined. They are as follows:

1st place Brooks Vandivort with 8 races & 76.25 points
2nd Marty Moriarty with 7 races and 63 points
3rd Cody Hanson with 10 races and 56.5 points

Next year I plan on going back to specializing in sprint distance triathlons so that I have a chance against these 2 power houses. I'm hoping I can get my wrecked and totaled triathlon bike replaced by then!

The 2011 Atomic Man duathlon race report

Sunday was supposed to be my day off of training, but I raced in the Atomic Man duathlon instead. As a matter of a fact the last three Sunday were supposed to be recovery days, but I raced instead!

The 2011 Atomic Man duathlon was my 71st multisport race & my 17th duathlon..

Like I posted before, this is my favorite race of all time! 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! 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, organic meat, organic veggies, organic bread, fruit, many other things. The only thing they didn't have this year was photographers taking pictures that they had given out on the net for free on previous years.

I had a hard time racing today. I was low on motivation. I just wanted to sleep. Thank goodness this race decided to have a late 9:30 AM start time. I really needed the extra sleep on race morning! If it was a traditional 8 AM start time I doubt I'd of shown up. I've been trying my best to function on 4 hours sleep 5 days a week since my wife started up this semester in school. I'm SO TIRED! I feel like I could lay down & sleep for a year only waking to eat, which I haven't done much of for the last 4 months either! My legs felt dead on race morning. Part of the reason was lack of sleep, part is having been on a calories restricted diet since January 1st, I've lost 42 pounds since then, part was from not having a day off from training since April 24th, & partly because I'm putting my body through a new workout routine that it's ENTIRELY unaccustomed to. I have done nothing but high intensity short course training since late 2008, & I just started a training plan for Ironman Arizona that has a ton of long grueling workouts. My body is in complete shock from all this long distance training! My legs have been sore for 3 weeks straight. The thing I missed most about training for Irons is the amazing sleep! I fall asleep immediately & get the deepest sleep I've ever had when I train for Ironman- or perhaps it's because I'm not sleeping much & my body is overly tired.

Anyway, back to the race report. The Atomic Man duathlon is a seriously hilly course!!! I posted the terrain in with the pictures above.

I ran the 1st 4K in 19 minutes 15 seconds, which averaged out to a 7 minute 28 second pace. Not bad for someone who is chronically fatigued & racing on exhausted legs.

I felt great on the bike & I ended up much faster on the bike than I thought I'd be. I finished the 15K bike in 28 minutes 20 seconds keeping a 19.7 MPH average! For that course I felt I'd had a fantastic performance!

I thought for sure I'd fall apart on the 2nd run. I was hurting & my legs had began to feel flat. I couldn't hit that 5th gear to save my life! Turns out a kid all of 4' tall passed me about half way through the run, after the race I found out he was 13 years old! I wasn't going to let a young child spank me, so my competitive juices got all fired up & I dug deep & ran extremely hard the last half! I was shocked to find out I ran the 2nd 4K in 20 minutes 20 seconds keeping a 7 minutes 45 second pace!! BTW, the 13 year old kid still beat me by 20 seconds! That kid could race!!!!

My finishing time was 1 hour 8 minutes 48 seconds. Not to shabby on a sleep deprived, calories restricted, & overtrained body, but still 2 minutes 20 seconds behind my PR I set last year racing with the stomach flue.

I finished 2nd place in the 35-39 AG behind Marty Moriarty.

I race this Sunday May 8th at the Jay Benson triathlon. By the Jay Benson triathlon I will have trained hard everyday for 28 consecutive days, so I'm not expecting much out of my body. I'll be happy with just finishing!! Wish me luck, I'm going to need it!

The upcoming 2011 Atomic Man duathlon

I'll be competing in a local race this weekend, The Atomic Man duathlon. The Atomic Man is my favorite race of all time. The Atomic Man has a ton to offer any athlete. There's two distances races to choose from, there's a free bike mechanic, a mobile coffee van, Great RD's, amazing swag, a GORGEOUS course, free pictures including a great finish photo, free pre and post race food, someone announcing your name and where your from as you cross the finish line on a PA system, a great finishing chute, pro photographers on the course, a team competition, and both courses are really challenging, & all the pictures from the course are free. Most races charge athletes for thier pictures. This small local race really does have a big time feel & draw to it. Last year there was a couple pro's and an Olympic duathlete who showed for this race.

This will be mt 5th time competing in the Atomic Man duathlon. My PR was set last year in a time of 1 hour 6 minutes 29 seconds. I seriously doubt I'll get anywhere close to beating my PR this time. Last year I was in much better shape, I weighed less, & I was racing on a borrowed pair of 404's (thanks Jason McClure!!!). Those wheels were super fast for a race as hilly as this!

This will be my 6th race for the season & for the 2011 South West Challenge Series, my 3rd race in 3 weekends, my 71st multisport race, & my 17th duathlon.

pictures of the 2010 Atomic Man duathlon

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

2010 Atomic Man duathlon race report

Sunday April 25th was the Atomic Man Duathlon. This was my A race. I'd been training for this race exclusively since December. My training had been going great & each race I'd done this year I'd become progressively faster.

Saturday, the day before the Atomic Man duathlon I slept 20 hours out of a 24 hour period. I rarely am able to sleep more than 6 hours straight. That was unusual, but I chalked it up to my taper. Tapering usually does weird things to an athletes body.

Sunday, race morning my stomach was upset. This is also very rare. I inherited an iron stomach. I can eat anything anytime & I never have stomach issues.

During the 1st 4 kilometer run I was on the verge of puking. I had a decent run time considering how I felt, although if I had felt better I'd of been able to keep up a much faster pace. I ran 4K in 18 minutes 41 seconds, finishing the 1st run with an average pace of 7:29 per mile.

T-1 was 55 seconds.

I felt fine on the bike. It was a 15 kilometer bike which I finished in 26 minutes 33 seconds keeping a 21 mph average. My bike was the 7th fastest split of the day.

T-2 was 40 seconds.

My 2nd run was a disaster. I was dry heaving the majority of the run, now my stomach was cramping horribly & my stomach issues had dropped a bit lower if you take my drift. I was contemplating voluntarily DNF'ing my first race. The first half was just a bit faster than a trot. The 2nd half I was making a mad dash for the port-o-potties that were at the finish line! Because of my internal and uncomfortable motivation to move with a purpose I had a negative split, finishing the 2nd 4K run in 19:42 keeping an average pace of 7:53 per mile.

All in all I finished in 1 hour 6 minutes 29 seconds. God blessed me that day. This was the 4th consecutive year I'd completed this race, & I PR'd it with all the stomach & GI issues I had that day. I took 11th place overall & 3rd place in my division.

30 minutes after I got home from the race & awards ceremony I got the chills, cold sweats, & all the unmentionable problems associated with a stomach flue. I spent the next 2 days in bed feeling like death warmed over. I realized it was not "unfortunate" I had problems during the race. I realized it was God blessing me by holding off the worse of the stomach flue until I was done with my race. Thanks to Him I still went to my favorite race & set a best personal course time while sick.

My next race is the Jay Benson triathlon in Albuquerque on May 9th 2010. The Jay Benson will be my 8th race for the 2010 South West Challenge Series competition. I'm hoping to beat my course PR of the Jay Benson of 1 hour 4 minutes. So far with 7 races completed I have 63 points for the series. My closest competitor is an all around great guy & fellow triathlete named Greg Gouveia who has 38 points. The Jay Benson triathlon will be my 60th multisport race.

I have decided to register for a 2nd scheduled half iron this year, the Silverman half iron which will be held on November 7th in Henderson Nevada. The Silverman & I have unsettled business. I tried the full Iron distance race in 2007 & received my only DNF in almost 60 multisport races. The Silverman is the hardest Iron in North America!

The other half iron I'm scheduled for is the Redman half Iron triathlon in September which is the Halfmax national championships. I qualified for the Halfmax national championships last September with a half iron time of 5 hours 30 minutes. I'm racing about 11 pounds lighter right now than I was then, so I hope to set another course PR & qualify for the Halfmax nationals for the 3rd year in a row.

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.

The similarity of the taper blues, pregnancy, & PMS

My wife & I started talking about the similarity of a taper to pregnancy & PMS.

"when I was pregnant my ankles were swollen," she said.
"My feet don't fit into shoes," I replied (after my 1.5 mile run, 32 mile bike with 7X 1 mile max effort hill climbs, then a 2nd run of 5 miles with 9X quarter mile sprints).
"I wanted to sleep all the time."
"I do too!"
"My back hurt."
"Mine does too!"
"I had weird cravings for Taco Bell Mexican pizzas" she said.
"And Wienerschnitzel Chile cheese hamburgers & Chile cheese french fries!" I threw into the mix as my mouth was watering!
"I was emotional & got hurt feelings, & angry for no reason," she said.
"Yes, yes, me too!"
"You do sound like your pregnant! Or having PMS." she said.....

.....I didn't find her last comment very amusing, true or not. Which of course it is true... but regardless I had no idea how similar the symptoms of triathlon training, pregnancy, &, er, well, PMS were.


So, as you see I'm into my taper. I'm getting the taper blues. As any endurance athlete can tell you tapering causes bi-polar type issues with the body & mind. The harder the training block the athlete endured the harder the taper is to endure-for both the athlete, & the friends & loved ones of the triathlete.

I recently pushed myself harder than I ever have before. In the month of March not only did I set personal run & bike mileage records, I also completed more hill repeats, lactate threshold sets, & speed work than I ever dreamed I would or could. I was focused, dedicated, & pushing myself farther than I had ever imagined. Consequently this taper is feeling particularly difficult. One day I feel like I can bike or run better than any athlete in the world! The next I feel like a 3 toed sloth on a bicycle. One minute I'm setting personal best training days, the next I'm winded & needing to rest after climbing a single story of stairs. I'm starting to feel pains that I freak out on, thinking they are injuries, but disappear in days or in hours:(

I feel constant fatigue, I'm needing more sleep now than I did when I was hammering out the big & fast miles. Like I said earlier in my post, I'm hyper sensitive, grouchy, moody, even angry at times. I'm over reacting to the smallest transgression, sometimes even to imagined slights. I'm having massive food cravings!!! & to think us triathletes do this to ourselves on purpose!!!!

Because of the taper I have been backing off on my workouts. I'm reducing my training 30% during 1st week of the taper, 50% week 2, and 75% week 3 which is race week.

I have always been told to use the above described reduced training plan as a guideline, and to back off more if needed. The number one rule during a taper is to let your body heal, rest, and reboost from all the intense training. I'll let you know how the taper goes, if I can get my lazy butt out of bed to do anything as physically demanding as blogging. Ugh, I'm so tired! & did I mention I'm crazy hungry? I'd kill for some Wienerschnitzel Chile cheese hamburgers & Chile cheese french fries!!! But no! I can't touch 'em, because I'm down to 190 pounds!!! & I need to avoid putting on any weight before my race! April 25th is the date! White Rock is the place! Put The Atomicman duathlon on your calendar peeps because this former Clydesdale is going to rock that course!!!!

May's workout

Until my wife & I can afford for me to hire coach Julia Rossi from Mile High Multisport, I'm building my own training plans. The 1st time I did this back in Sept I felt very out of my realm. The 1st race I built my own plan for was the Atomicman duathlon, which will be held on the 25th of this month. I feel confident in my plan, my self coaching, & my upcoming race. I'm expecting even bigger things from my next training plan I'm building now which will have me peak for The Santa Fe triathlon on July 17th 2010! I will have just finished an A race so I'll be starting off slow, recovering a bit, as the month progresses I'll start doing progressively harder workouts, starting w/ some zone 4, some fartleks, & a bit of zone 5. June & the 1st part of July should be monster months! Lots of hard zone 5 intervals & track speed days! Tune in here for my training plan for June-July!

Here is my training for the month of May. I haven't built my swimming workouts yet.

Sat May 01
Run
50 min z-2 run

Sun May 02
Rest

Mon May 03
Bike 42 min wu
8X20 sec Z-5b w/ 2 min r/i
20 min cd

Tue May 04
Run Fartlek
40 min z-2 w/ 8X30 sec R/I @ 5B

Wed May 05
Brick
bike 1:15 z-2
run 45 min z-2

Thu May 06
Brick
bike 1:15 z-2
run 10 min z-2

Fri May 07
Brick
bike 1:45 z-2
run 50 min z-2

Sat May 08
run
55 min z-2

Sun May 09
RaceDay
Jay Benson triathlon
3mi run/ 12 mi bike/ 400m swim

Mon May 10
bike
44 min w/u. 8X20 sec @ z-5B w/ 2 min RI

Tue May 11
Run fartlek
run 45 min z-2 w/ 8X30 @ z-5B

WedMay 12
Brick
bike 1:15 z-2
run 45 min z-2

Thu May 13
bike 1:15 z-2

FriMay 14
Brick
bike 2 hr Z-2
run 50 min z-2

SatMay 15
Run
1 hr z-2

Sun May 16
RaceDay
The Dog House Sprint
500m swim/17.6mi bike/3.1 mi run

Mon May 17
Bike_TT LT test

Tue May 18
Run_TT Run LT test

Wed May 19
Brick
45 min z-1` bike
35 min z-1 run

Thu May 20
Brick
bike 26 min w/u. 26 min z-4. 20 min c/d.
run 10 min z-2

Fri May 21
Brick
bike 1:45 z-2.
run 10 min w/u. 18 min z-4. 10 min c/d.

Sat May 22
Run
50 min z-2

Sun May 23
Rest

Mon May 24
bike speed
23 min w/u. 9X1min z-5b w/ 2 min ri. 20 min c/d

Tue May 25
Run
10 min wu. 15X30 sec @ 5B w/ 2 min ri. 10 min c/d.

Wed May 26
Brick
bike 1 hr z-1
run 40 min z-1

Thu May 27
Bike bike 2hrs z-2.
run 10 min wu. 26 min @ z-4. 10 min cd

FriMay 28
Brick
bike 2 hr z-2.
run 10 min wu. 26 min @ z-4. 10 min cd

Sat May 29
Run
run 1 hr z-2

Sun May 30
Rest

MonMay 31
Bike bike 30 min wu. 11X1 min z-5b w/ 2 min ri. 20 min cd

big training month & a first taste of this unusual organic veggtable

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!

2009 Atomicman duathlon race report

This last weekend was the Atomicman duathlon. A 4K run, 15k bike, 4k run. This is my second favorite race of all time. The only race I've done that I enjoyed more was the 5430 half iron.

This was my 4th year in a row doing this race. Last year I busted out with one of my top three performances finishing 1st place AG 30-34 & 9th place overall in a time of 1hr 9 minutes.

This years race was bitter sweet. I started out the run chasing a guy who looked like a fellow Clyd, only he was tall & lean. I was struggling right off the bat. I never felt tired, much less exhausted. But I just couldn't force my legs to go as fast as I wanted them to. I finished the first 4k averaging a little over 8 minutes per mile.

The Clyd I was chasing had at least a 60 second lead going into T-1. Coming out of T-1 his lead had shrunk to about 20 seconds.

Right out of T-1 there's a long and gradual hill. At my current weight I'm not a very good hill climber, but I had put on an 11-28 cassette to help me out on the uphill & make up time on the downhill. That plan worked well. I'd lose the Clyd I was chasing on the uphill, but make up a ton of time on the downhills.

This course is a very mountainous course on both the runs & the bike. But the bike in particular is brutal. The ride is in & out of these huge canyons. I was constantly riding around the 40 mile an hour mark on the downhill of those canyons. At one point of a fast decent a cross wind hit hard & out of no-where. I came dang close to wiping out. The good news is at forty miles an hour I wouldn't of felt much pain. I'd of been knocked into unconsciousness or killed immediately.

The last decent on the bike was about 3/4 of a mile long and came right up to T-2. Most people slowed down a lot coming down that last hill. I didn't. I kept the speed up until the last second. Dismounted & made up another 20 seconds on the guy I'd been chasing all day. Now I was only 40 yards behind him & my legs still felt fresh.

Apparently his legs felt pretty good too because he averaged just over 6 minute miles on the last run. I was able to keep my 2nd run of the day within a minute of my first run. It's not that I am a grwat pacer, it's that I still have great endurance from my Ironman a few months ago & am able to hammer all out without my legs getting fatigued.

Thankfully the Clyd I was chasing wasn't a Clyd at all, he ended up being an AG 35-39. I finished in 1hr 14 minutes & first place Clyd. I finished a little over 2 minutes faster than the next Clyd. Despite being 8 minutes slower than last year, I still added another year to my unbeaten streak at this race. 4 years in a row I've finished the top of my division. All in all a decent day at a fantastic race!

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.

big 3 paranoia

I just did some MAJOR restructuring of my triathlon schedule. I'm canceling my first A race of the year, the trisports.com Dessert Classic duathlon & another mid season race -can't reveal which one just in case your reading this & are one of the big 3, that is one of the three Clydesdale Open Division athletes that are at this point in time faster than me, & all together likely to prevent me from taking top 3 Clydesdales this year. I'm also changing my A race from the February 22nd trisport.com dessert classic duathlon to a race in June. Can't tell ya which one in June will be my new A race just in case you are one of the big 3;)

This restructuring of my schedule gives me longer to build a bigger peak to really crush my A race and all competitors. By not travelling to AZ later this month it also helps my wife & I recover a bit in the pocket book. Which at this point is badly needed.

I'm really excited about my Multisport season this year. I've always enjoyed sprint distances most. I'm not only much faster the shorter the race is, but there's something exhilarating to me about going out & moving really fast, pushing as hard as possible for as long as the race is, not allowing myself to slow no matter how much my legs & lungs burn. Why would I want to monitor my heart rate and pace myself when I could hear a woosh-woosh as I pass stationary objects on the side of the road or pass other triathletes like they are a stationary objects!!!!!!!!

Another reason I'm excited is because I have more & stronger competition in my division (Clydesdale Open also called the Clydesdale 39 & under) this year than I have ever faced. I call these guys the big 3.

In 4 years I've never had a Clydesdale 39 & under beat me on the run portion of a Multisport race. Now there are 2 Clydes who can out run me George Ferland & David McDonald (he's a fellow follower of Christ! Praise the Lord!). There is also the big bad cyclist Jason McClure. He's the most dominant cyclist in the Clydesdale open division. In December Jason McClure beat me by 8 minutes in a sprint race! 8 minutes! Ouch. I have my work cut out for me this year, & I wouldn't have it any other way. This is awakening my competitive side. Not only has this week been my best week of training since Sept, but I've not gone into an emotional eating frenzy since the last week of 2008!!! That's 5 weeks people!!! The last time I had a streak last this long ended in May of last year!!!! If I continue to lose weight at this rate I'll be down to my dream racing weight of 200 by mid April. That will give me a couple weeks leeway for the Atomicman duathlon April 26th! I may of lost 8 minutes on my 5k this winter, but now that I'm this focused I'll get it back that lost speed as quick, if not quicker than I had lost it. If your competing in the Clydesdale Open Division be afraid, very very afraid.

Now that being said I must say God puts things in our laps for reasons we may never understand. God suddenly put the love of triathlon in David McDonalds heart. He then put David in contact with me. It's my love for Christ and my desire to follow Gods words when he says to love my fellow man like I love myself that had me send every piece of triathlon info and resource I have to David who is my 2nd most dangerous competition in my division. Everything from articles, my USAT coaching certification books & paperwork, Joe Friels "the triathlon training bible", offered to take him with me to any out of town races I go to, told him which is the best race in the series for clydes to get a 10 point finish for the series, & have even offered to let him use my race wheels at a few multisport races. I must say, it sounds like I'm a good person doesn't it. I'm not. It's God who's good, He changes my heart & convinces me to show the fruit on my tree. As always I must give ALL the glory to God, because I am a wretch of a man who has been shown the light and the goodness of Gods ways.

Atomicman duathlon post race report

Atomicman duathlon post race report.
I completed the Atomicman duathlon today. The Atomicman duathlon is by far my favorite race of all time, followed closely by the Buffman & Squeaky triathlon in Lubbock Tx. Which will be my next race on May 18th by the way. I ended up swithching my registration at the Atomicman
from the long course to the short one. It was a 4k run, 15k bike, 4k run. Last year I had done the Little boy course (that's what they call the short course) & PR'd it with a 1;11 time.

I got off of a 12 hr work shift this morning at 5am. Drove straight there and raced on no sleep. Both of my runs were great, but I threw a chain on the decent of Ocho canyon. By the time I got the bike stopped, put the chain back on, & got back up to speed I'd lost no less than a minute, probably allot more. Even with the thrown chain I finished in 1:07:13 taking 10th overall, & 1st place in the 30-34 AG. My 2 runs were an 18:25 which averages out to a 7:28 ave & a 19:00 for an ave of 7:36! My bike time was a 28:29 which averages out to a 19.6 mile per hour average. Those were by far my best runs ever, considering how hilly this course is those times still seem a little unbelievable to me. Turns out I was 45 seconds behind the 8th place guy. If I hadn't of had mechanical problems on the bike I'd of been in 7th or 8th place. Not to bad for a recovering fat guy eh?

My coach, Peter Alfino, has really been doing miracles with my training. The longer he works with me the more he knows what my body is capable of. He told me when I hired him the longer he trains me the better results I'll get from his training plans. I believed him, but I had no idea he could get me this fast. I never dreamed I would be able to race as fast as I did this weekend. I've been coached by other coaches before. Some were better than others. But coach alfino has been performing near miracle typ results with me. He's in a class of his own. He says if I continue to follow his plan he's pretty sure I'll finish IMAZ in 13 hrs or less! & to think I'm still in the base phase of training where athletes tend to be slow. Can't wait to see what will happen when I get into my build/speed phase!

www.triatomics.org/duathlon

Huge goal accomplished!

I weighed in today. I weighed in at 192. I have now lost a total of 100 lbs since I was at my heaviest of 292!!!!!!!!!! I think I'd like to see if I can get to 180. That would be pretty skinny, but light is fast in triathlon, & I want to be fast.

I love to ride my bike. Not just in training but also as a form of transportation. I really enjoy taking my bike rather than a vehicle to drop off rented movies @ the video store, buy groceries, ride to the pool, etc. My problem has been that both my road bike & my triathlon bike are worth a bit of money & I'm constantly afraid someone will steal it while I'm doing my errands. Today a buddy of mine said he has a cheap road bike he bought for $100. It's a GMC Denali model. He's going to bring it tomorrow so I can see it. If it's in decent condition we've agreed I can buy it for $50. That will be my commuter bike from now on. I'll chain it up of course, but if someone goes that extra mile & cuts my lock or chain I wont be devastated by the loss. It'll take most of my worry about commuting away. God is good to me:) The only problem I have is that I will now own 5 bikes. 2 MTB, 1 TT, 2 roadies. Add my wife's road bike we just got off lay away that is 6. We have 8 pairs of wheels too. I'm running out of room in my shed!

I'm competing in the atomicman duathlon this weekend. It's a 10K run, 40K bike, 5K run. It's by far my favorite race of all time. Great RD's excellent support, great shag, super challenging course-I believer its a harder course than the BSLT, just not as hot. I got a HED 3 rear wheel yesterday off ebay. So I'll be sporting a fest wheel set. I'm really excited. This will be my 3rd year competing in the Atomicman, but my first as an AG. Not sure how I'll place amongst those little guys, but I know regardless of where I place I'm going to leave it all on the course. Is that cliché enough? I love this race, I really do. so far I've taken 1st place clyd both years I've raced. That would be nice to see this weekend because I've got 2 races in the SW series & only 14 points. Meaning I'm averaging a 4th place finish in the series so far. I'm not going to be doing many races this year, so I need high placing in every race I do if there's any chance of taking top 3 in the series. So, yes I want to place high, but my only real goal is to shatter my PR. It is 3:01. I'll be racing around 33 pounds lighter this year than my 2 previous years. I think I can go sub 2:45, shaving 15 minutes off my time would be a stretch. But I'm up for the challenge!

By the way, I had decided not to go low carb because of all the great advise & reasons not to given by my fellow bloggers. Thanks for the advise. Especially S.Baboo.

Peace!

See you at the races!