Just when I think no one's reading my musings, several people asked me where's my race report on the Dog House Sprint. Well, no race report because I didn't go. I call it the curse of saying "I never get sick." Took my assistants to lunch for administrative assistant's day and commented to one of my girls who gets sick a lot that exercise has helped me stay healthy. Famous last words being "I've never gotten sick since I started training for triathlons." 3 days later I sneezed and my wife, who is closely attuned to my every mannerism, said "are you getting sick?" I never get congested or need to use tissue. Suddenly I did.
Long story short, got double pneumonia and didn't train for week and a half. Started to feel better on May 14 and ran a little bit but didn't think I would be anywhere close to ready to go for an open water swim in 54 degree water so cancelled. Bummer. I learned from my friends Cody, John and Brooks that the weather was windy and cold in Lubbock so it's probably good I skipped it. Although I also found out there were no other Clydesdales entered into the Sprint and I would've taken first place just by showing up and finishing, but oh well.
I was still feeling bad enough that I skipped the Braden Aboud 5K on Sunday even though my wife and 2 of my kids did it. It is one of my favorite races and the race that I broke through on last year and set a major PR. I still felt sick enough that I didn't even resent or feel bad seeing all the happy racers around me. My hot ass wife even set a new PR of her own breaking 30 minutes for the first time! My 7 year old son and 10 year old daughter did awesome as well.
Next up for me will be the Milkman Triathlon in Dexter, NM on June 4, followed by the Ruidoso Tri on June 11, and then Chick-Fil-A tri in Amarillo on June 18. Back to back to back. I should be in shape again by then. My overriding goal is to do well in the El Paso Tri in September. I put in a poor effort last year and want to redeem myself.
My run has held up well. I biked this morning and felt good. So hopefully, I didn't lose too much fitness. We'll see come June 4.
Thursday, May 19, 2011
Monday, April 18, 2011
Holloman Duathlon
The race gets a negative for hassle with registration. As the name suggests, held on Holloman AFB. The registration form was harder to find than the Loch Ness monster. I think these military installations stage these races as activities for the good men and women of their respective military services. My guess is that if you serve at HAFB registration would be simple but for those of us who track down these events, they are less than inviting. I only found the registration after triathlete extraordinaire Cody Hansen posted it on his blog. Multiple voice messages and emails to the RD went unanswered. When we showed up, at least 10 people were there who had registered, some of which even had fax confirmations, and were rebuffed with "sorry, you're not on the list." I think everybody that wanted to race got to race, but still you don't want to drive hundreds of miles at the ass crack of dawn only to be told "you're not on the list." Boo for registration.
That being said, the race itself was excellent. No swim which made me happy. I would promise to quit griping about the swim portion of these triathlons, but hey, it's my blog and I'll complain all I want. Stupid swim (grumble). The parking lot was muy intimidating. Only about 50 people there for event but no newbies to be seen - only little skinny athletic looking-bastards.
Run and bike were flat, flat, flat. Road was 85% smooth and the bumpy part wasn't that bad. Car pooled with world's nicest guy John Gardea. We left my house at 5 a.m. and arrived plenty early. Started out strong on the race and clocked 6:56 for first mile. Felt some hunger pangs right from the start so should've ate a little more. Went out with the pack of the pack with the fast guys and hung on til turn around. Time started to slip away and 2nd mile was 7:35. 3rd mile was tough and couldn't seem to step on the accelerator. Watched the fast guys (fast to me) slip away and struggled to 8:15 3rd mile. (Excuse alert!). Sick this week for first time in a long time and took it easy for 3 days to recover. Don't know if I had trained through it if that would've made a difference but I suspect it would - and I know Gretchen would say it would, so there's that.
Pretty quick transition for me at :55 seconds. Out on bike maintaining 20-22 pretty evenly. Got passed by one guy and I passed 3 on the way out. Bike was an out and back which I love because you get a good idea of where everybody is at the turnaround. I put 3 minutes on my erstwhile nemesis/good friend John Gardea and I was pushing hard on the bike for the first half so I figured I wouldn't see him for 3-4 minutes after the turnaround - wrong! Much to my surprise and chagrin, I saw John not 100-200 meters after the turn. Crap! I really, really pushed coming back in because I expected to see John whiz past me any second. I pushed so hard I passed another 4 people coming back in including super stud Cody Hansen with a little less than a mile to go. Cody looked like he was struggling a bit but, like the true competitor he is, he didn't take me passing him so well and immediately passed me back. The bike ends with a sharp right turn back into the transition area and after the nasty fall I took at MVT, I babied that last turn but sprinted to the finish after that with a bad case of John Gardea-itis. I finished ahead of John by 1:09.
Bike time was 52:23 for 18.8 miles average speed 21.6. The proof - http://connect.garmin.com/activity/79915393. John's bike split including transition was 51:25 so he made up 2 minutes on me on the bike which I barely held with my 3 minutes on him on the run. He told me afterwards that he was really busting it trying to catch me the whole way in so I'm extremely satisfied with my effort!
Got 1st place in Clydesdale with John a close second. The next Clyde was over 17 minutes behind me so I guess you could say John and I were in a class of our own in the fat boy division.
My boy Brooks Vandivort killed it and came in 3rd overall in a very, very fast field. Very impressive Brooks!
I've got no chance of catching John in the Southwest Challenge Series. Head to head, we're 2 and 2. I might could catch him if we did the same number of races the rest of the year but he has a head start b/c he did the Polar Bear and Jingle Bell Tris in December and took 1st in both so has a 20 point head start on me. Gretchen is telling me I need to be an age-grouper next year so I might not get me a fancy jacket for this year (award to the season winner). We'll see.
Next race is the Dog House Sprint in Lubbock on May 15th. My precious daughter's 9 year old birthday party is that day so I won't be leaving El Paso til late but race doesn't start until 9:50 so I should be able to get some rest. I'd give up the rest, however, to start a little earlier b/c it's going to be flipping hot! Swim is in Buffalo Springs Lake which means open water which means gulp! Funny thing is I went to law school for 3 years in Lubbock and never even knew they had a lake - guess I'm going to find out now. I'll post the race report to reflect on the carnage.
That being said, the race itself was excellent. No swim which made me happy. I would promise to quit griping about the swim portion of these triathlons, but hey, it's my blog and I'll complain all I want. Stupid swim (grumble). The parking lot was muy intimidating. Only about 50 people there for event but no newbies to be seen - only little skinny athletic looking-bastards.
Run and bike were flat, flat, flat. Road was 85% smooth and the bumpy part wasn't that bad. Car pooled with world's nicest guy John Gardea. We left my house at 5 a.m. and arrived plenty early. Started out strong on the race and clocked 6:56 for first mile. Felt some hunger pangs right from the start so should've ate a little more. Went out with the pack of the pack with the fast guys and hung on til turn around. Time started to slip away and 2nd mile was 7:35. 3rd mile was tough and couldn't seem to step on the accelerator. Watched the fast guys (fast to me) slip away and struggled to 8:15 3rd mile. (Excuse alert!). Sick this week for first time in a long time and took it easy for 3 days to recover. Don't know if I had trained through it if that would've made a difference but I suspect it would - and I know Gretchen would say it would, so there's that.
Pretty quick transition for me at :55 seconds. Out on bike maintaining 20-22 pretty evenly. Got passed by one guy and I passed 3 on the way out. Bike was an out and back which I love because you get a good idea of where everybody is at the turnaround. I put 3 minutes on my erstwhile nemesis/good friend John Gardea and I was pushing hard on the bike for the first half so I figured I wouldn't see him for 3-4 minutes after the turnaround - wrong! Much to my surprise and chagrin, I saw John not 100-200 meters after the turn. Crap! I really, really pushed coming back in because I expected to see John whiz past me any second. I pushed so hard I passed another 4 people coming back in including super stud Cody Hansen with a little less than a mile to go. Cody looked like he was struggling a bit but, like the true competitor he is, he didn't take me passing him so well and immediately passed me back. The bike ends with a sharp right turn back into the transition area and after the nasty fall I took at MVT, I babied that last turn but sprinted to the finish after that with a bad case of John Gardea-itis. I finished ahead of John by 1:09.
Bike time was 52:23 for 18.8 miles average speed 21.6. The proof - http://connect.garmin.com/activity/79915393. John's bike split including transition was 51:25 so he made up 2 minutes on me on the bike which I barely held with my 3 minutes on him on the run. He told me afterwards that he was really busting it trying to catch me the whole way in so I'm extremely satisfied with my effort!
Got 1st place in Clydesdale with John a close second. The next Clyde was over 17 minutes behind me so I guess you could say John and I were in a class of our own in the fat boy division.
My boy Brooks Vandivort killed it and came in 3rd overall in a very, very fast field. Very impressive Brooks!
I've got no chance of catching John in the Southwest Challenge Series. Head to head, we're 2 and 2. I might could catch him if we did the same number of races the rest of the year but he has a head start b/c he did the Polar Bear and Jingle Bell Tris in December and took 1st in both so has a 20 point head start on me. Gretchen is telling me I need to be an age-grouper next year so I might not get me a fancy jacket for this year (award to the season winner). We'll see.
Next race is the Dog House Sprint in Lubbock on May 15th. My precious daughter's 9 year old birthday party is that day so I won't be leaving El Paso til late but race doesn't start until 9:50 so I should be able to get some rest. I'd give up the rest, however, to start a little earlier b/c it's going to be flipping hot! Swim is in Buffalo Springs Lake which means open water which means gulp! Funny thing is I went to law school for 3 years in Lubbock and never even knew they had a lake - guess I'm going to find out now. I'll post the race report to reflect on the carnage.
Saturday, April 9, 2011
Biking with the Big Boys
I've been doing rides in the Upper Valley of El Paso for about a year and a half now. There is this super fast group made up of extremely athletic people that just look fast standing still - you know the people I'm talking about. They just LOOK like triathletes. People like Bobby Gonzalez, Gretchen McElroy, Brent Crowley, etc. I've seen them in the parking lot but never got a good look at them on the bike b/c they'd just zoom by me. Well today my schedule called for me to ride the EP TriClub group ride that leaves at 8. The only guys there were guys that are even newer than me. We took off and were piddling along at 16-17 mph when we came up on this big group and, Gulp!, it was the fast guys. Included in the group were the aforementioned three godawful fast people, one of which is my coach. Gretchen said "Come on Rob" and so I did. In my mind, I was set up to ride maybe an hour and a half and go about 25 miles or so. I had no idea how far they were going but Gretchen said so off I went.
As a little background as mentioned in my last post, I crashed hard at the Mesilla Valley Triathlon, beat myself up pretty good, and sucked ass on the swim. My worst performance in the pool ever. So needless to say (although I just did anyway), my confidence wasn't that high.
I was tooling along with the group and we were going a pedestrian 20 mph or so and then we turned onto Highway 28 and whoom! Off we went. Turns out we were riding to La Mesa, home of the famous Chope's, some 21 miles from where we started. Much to my surprise and amazement, I hung on the fast people all the way out! In the last 3-4 miles, all that was left were me, Bobby, Gretchen and 2-3 others out of 15-20 that started. Way cool. We hit 29 mph and averaged 24 mph for that stretch. I had no idea I could do that. I had never hung with those guys for more than 1-2 miles at most. They probably viewed it as a normal training but it was monumental to me.
We hung out in La Mesa for maybe 5 minutes and then started heading back. I thought maybe I'll stick with them 5 miles or so and then I'll crack. Nope. Hung out with them to Gadsden and then started to crack - couldn't hang on the wheel and watched them recede into the distance. Then a truck with its hazards on came around me. It was a support truck for 3-4 kids that had latched onto the fast group on the way back. I found that if I got right behind that truck, I could hold 27-28 mph relatively easily. Within 3 miles, I caught up to the fast group again! I stuck with them all the way back after that and felt very proud when I pulled back into the starting point with the fast group. I stayed with them all the way!
Big day for yours truly. Just had to write about it. Next up is the Holloman Duathlon which is a 5K run and 30K bike. No swim! Yay! I have no idea how flat or hilly the course is since the good folks at Holloman are a reclusive bunch that post absolutely nothing about the race and apparently don't care if anybody registers or not judging by the difficulty I had trying to register for said race. I'll let you know how it goes since I need to redeem myself from the Mesilla Valley Triathlon.
As a little background as mentioned in my last post, I crashed hard at the Mesilla Valley Triathlon, beat myself up pretty good, and sucked ass on the swim. My worst performance in the pool ever. So needless to say (although I just did anyway), my confidence wasn't that high.
I was tooling along with the group and we were going a pedestrian 20 mph or so and then we turned onto Highway 28 and whoom! Off we went. Turns out we were riding to La Mesa, home of the famous Chope's, some 21 miles from where we started. Much to my surprise and amazement, I hung on the fast people all the way out! In the last 3-4 miles, all that was left were me, Bobby, Gretchen and 2-3 others out of 15-20 that started. Way cool. We hit 29 mph and averaged 24 mph for that stretch. I had no idea I could do that. I had never hung with those guys for more than 1-2 miles at most. They probably viewed it as a normal training but it was monumental to me.
We hung out in La Mesa for maybe 5 minutes and then started heading back. I thought maybe I'll stick with them 5 miles or so and then I'll crack. Nope. Hung out with them to Gadsden and then started to crack - couldn't hang on the wheel and watched them recede into the distance. Then a truck with its hazards on came around me. It was a support truck for 3-4 kids that had latched onto the fast group on the way back. I found that if I got right behind that truck, I could hold 27-28 mph relatively easily. Within 3 miles, I caught up to the fast group again! I stuck with them all the way back after that and felt very proud when I pulled back into the starting point with the fast group. I stayed with them all the way!
Big day for yours truly. Just had to write about it. Next up is the Holloman Duathlon which is a 5K run and 30K bike. No swim! Yay! I have no idea how flat or hilly the course is since the good folks at Holloman are a reclusive bunch that post absolutely nothing about the race and apparently don't care if anybody registers or not judging by the difficulty I had trying to register for said race. I'll let you know how it goes since I need to redeem myself from the Mesilla Valley Triathlon.
Monday, April 4, 2011
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
The good - aced the Sully Sprint Triathlon. Improved my time my 15 minutes from last year on exact same course for a 1:18. Won Clydesdale division comfortably and can genuinely say I pushed myself just right and was clicking. Everything was great. One word of advice - we stayed at the Maverick Inn which advertises itself as funky chic and charges $110 a night for a queen bed and room that would be $40 if it wasn't "funky chic." The room was ok, the people were nice and it's just across the street from Sul Ross. The problem was the flipping traffic and the damned Cousin Vinnie trains coming thru. I'm a very sound sleeper usually - got none at the Maverick Inn, just sayin'.
The Bad? The Mesiila Valley Triathlon raced yesterday. I'm a long way from getting cocky but I was getting a little more comfortable. Good crowd with about 200 people and pretty well organized. Lots of friends there. Cody showed up to race and pick up his award for the Southwest Challenge Series. The first person I ran into was John Gardea. John is my main competition in these contests in the big boy division. John passed me at the last in the President's Day and I bested him at the Sully Super Sprint. I use John as motivation to train and race harder but it's getting difficult because he's just about the nicest guy you'll ever meet.
The run was solid pacing off Cody. We traded places a few times but he was always there just behind me. I know this because you can hear him yelling to encourage lots of people. Another helluva nice guy. For guys that train as hard and invest so much time in personal improvement, triathletes are surprisingly a rather non-egotistical bunch. On to the bike where THE BAD comes in. Cody beat me out of transition (gotta work on that, the list is long), and then Scott Darling passed me too - that pissed me off and I went after him. So I'm hauling ass, down a hill, see Scott make a corner to the left ahead of me - doesn't look that bad. I hit that corner about 20 miles per hour and almost had it but caught the soft dirt and BAM! Down I went skidding across the pavement. My left hand had a hole in it the size of a quarter, scrapes lots of places, my only water bottle flew 20 feet away, twisted up my handlebars and my chain got all wedged into places it shouldn't have. I got up and a kid that was standing there helped me put my pieces back together. Took me at least 3-4 minutes to get the chain back on, etc.
I was hot, angry at myself, hurting and watching people zoom by me. I felt like the guy that's passing everybody on the freeway and then gets pulled over and has to watch helplessly as all those people he passed earlier go smirkingly by as the cop writes the ticket. I got back on and did my best. I was busting hard and felt like I passed 50 people on the rest of the bike but it was probably more like 20. Limped into transition but managed :42 seconds which is good for me. And then THE UGLY.
The swim was 500 meters in an outdoor 50 meter pool. I jumped in, took 2 strokes and had to stop because I couldn't breath. Goggles kept filling up with water. [insert your excuse here]. It was bad. All those people I passed on the bike seemingly passed my slow ass in the pool. I normally can swim 500 in 10 minutes with a medium to fast effort. Took me over 14 flipping minutes. I was embarrassed because Gretchen was there, my wife, my kids and my parents. It was not good.
Learning lessons - slow down for corners, I'm not in as good shape as I thought I was, don't get cocky, work on swimming, work on transitions, and try to smile more. Oh well, I'll get them next time.
The Bad? The Mesiila Valley Triathlon raced yesterday. I'm a long way from getting cocky but I was getting a little more comfortable. Good crowd with about 200 people and pretty well organized. Lots of friends there. Cody showed up to race and pick up his award for the Southwest Challenge Series. The first person I ran into was John Gardea. John is my main competition in these contests in the big boy division. John passed me at the last in the President's Day and I bested him at the Sully Super Sprint. I use John as motivation to train and race harder but it's getting difficult because he's just about the nicest guy you'll ever meet.
The run was solid pacing off Cody. We traded places a few times but he was always there just behind me. I know this because you can hear him yelling to encourage lots of people. Another helluva nice guy. For guys that train as hard and invest so much time in personal improvement, triathletes are surprisingly a rather non-egotistical bunch. On to the bike where THE BAD comes in. Cody beat me out of transition (gotta work on that, the list is long), and then Scott Darling passed me too - that pissed me off and I went after him. So I'm hauling ass, down a hill, see Scott make a corner to the left ahead of me - doesn't look that bad. I hit that corner about 20 miles per hour and almost had it but caught the soft dirt and BAM! Down I went skidding across the pavement. My left hand had a hole in it the size of a quarter, scrapes lots of places, my only water bottle flew 20 feet away, twisted up my handlebars and my chain got all wedged into places it shouldn't have. I got up and a kid that was standing there helped me put my pieces back together. Took me at least 3-4 minutes to get the chain back on, etc.
I was hot, angry at myself, hurting and watching people zoom by me. I felt like the guy that's passing everybody on the freeway and then gets pulled over and has to watch helplessly as all those people he passed earlier go smirkingly by as the cop writes the ticket. I got back on and did my best. I was busting hard and felt like I passed 50 people on the rest of the bike but it was probably more like 20. Limped into transition but managed :42 seconds which is good for me. And then THE UGLY.
The swim was 500 meters in an outdoor 50 meter pool. I jumped in, took 2 strokes and had to stop because I couldn't breath. Goggles kept filling up with water. [insert your excuse here]. It was bad. All those people I passed on the bike seemingly passed my slow ass in the pool. I normally can swim 500 in 10 minutes with a medium to fast effort. Took me over 14 flipping minutes. I was embarrassed because Gretchen was there, my wife, my kids and my parents. It was not good.
Learning lessons - slow down for corners, I'm not in as good shape as I thought I was, don't get cocky, work on swimming, work on transitions, and try to smile more. Oh well, I'll get them next time.
Thursday, March 17, 2011
Gadsden 5K report and upcoming race musings
Can you tell I'm at home watching NCAA b'ball? 3 posts in one day when I haven't posted in over a month. My wife says I'm incapable of doing just one thing at a time and I'm beginning to believe her. The reason I started posting again is because I got a message from my brother Craig that humbled me. I had no idea anyone was reading my blog except for my wife, who is contractually obligated to be excited about just anything I do. Apparently Craig has been reading my blog and it inspired him to start a diet and exercise regimen. Craig is a big dude who has had major knee problems. It makes me feel really good that my little journey/midlife crisis has positively affected others, especially my "baby" brother. Craig if you're reading this, I love you and couldn't be more proud that you're taking control of your life. Keep it up! Don't overdo it, don't get discouraged, and just take it slow. Exercise has to be part of your life just like sleeping, eating, and working or it will go to the wayside.
I did the 2nd Annual for the Love of Books 5K at Gadsden Middle School on March 12. This was a special treat for me because it's exactly 14 miles from my house on backroads and didn't start until 9 so I met Gretchen at 8 and we rode out there, did the race, hopped back on our bikes and rode back. Felt very triathlete-like riding up to the race, finishing, and then riding away. Downside was Gretchen was there and since she wasn't running the race, she came up with the idea of pacing me on her bike. Whoops.
First mile was 6:37, 2nd 7:05, last 7:23 - overall time 21:09 - new PR baby! She wanted me to "kick" last half mile to keep up with this little old dude and I really, really wanted to "kick." Didn't happen. That little old dude beat me by :24 seconds and that little old dude was only 48. So I got 2nd in my age group, 7th overall. My time would've won my age group in Austin by a full minute but in the racing El Paso corridor, not so much. Good training day altogether but I've got to figure out if I'm pushing myself hard enough. I think that I am but I guess you never know until somebody has to leave on a stretcher.
Next race is the Sully Super Sprint Triathlon in Alpine at Sul Ross University. I did it last year and it was my first official triathlon. I did it in 1:33 last year and hope to improve that by 9-10 minutes. I'll let you know.
I did the 2nd Annual for the Love of Books 5K at Gadsden Middle School on March 12. This was a special treat for me because it's exactly 14 miles from my house on backroads and didn't start until 9 so I met Gretchen at 8 and we rode out there, did the race, hopped back on our bikes and rode back. Felt very triathlete-like riding up to the race, finishing, and then riding away. Downside was Gretchen was there and since she wasn't running the race, she came up with the idea of pacing me on her bike. Whoops.
First mile was 6:37, 2nd 7:05, last 7:23 - overall time 21:09 - new PR baby! She wanted me to "kick" last half mile to keep up with this little old dude and I really, really wanted to "kick." Didn't happen. That little old dude beat me by :24 seconds and that little old dude was only 48. So I got 2nd in my age group, 7th overall. My time would've won my age group in Austin by a full minute but in the racing El Paso corridor, not so much. Good training day altogether but I've got to figure out if I'm pushing myself hard enough. I think that I am but I guess you never know until somebody has to leave on a stretcher.
Next race is the Sully Super Sprint Triathlon in Alpine at Sul Ross University. I did it last year and it was my first official triathlon. I did it in 1:33 last year and hope to improve that by 9-10 minutes. I'll let you know.
Austin Livestrong 5K Report
I completed the President's Day Duathlon on February 19th, took a quick shower and hauled ass for the airport to fly to Austin. Nora and our good friends Craig and Colleen Marusich and Courtney Rios were already in Austin to do the half marathon on February 20th. I entered the 5K as a "recovery run." Us big time triathlete-like fellows apparently do "recovery runs" after busting our collective butts in races. I thought you were just supposed to assume the position and sit on your happy tail but Gretchen (my trainer) thinks otherwise.
Got into Austin about 4 p.m. and we had some good Italian, walked around a bit and went to bed early. Got up at the ass crack (thank you time difference) and staggered down to the Capitol. They staggered the start so Craig and I got to see Nora, Colleen and Courtney off and then I started my race. The plan was to "run easy." Apparently I don't know how to do that when there's 1100 hundred people around me. I held steady about a 7 to 7:30 mile and ended up in 23:47. Pretty good for having done a duathlon the day before.
Craig and I waited for the girls to show up and show up they did. All 3 ladies including my beautiful wife set PRs on a very difficult course. The guy who won the marathon repeated from last year but was 9 minutes slower if that tells you anything. We all went back to the hotel to clean up and I decided to check the results. Imagine my surprise when I found out I finished 3rd in my age group among 33 guys! I was shocked. Slowest time that I ever won a medal for but hardware is hardware baby! Cool medal too.
Got into Austin about 4 p.m. and we had some good Italian, walked around a bit and went to bed early. Got up at the ass crack (thank you time difference) and staggered down to the Capitol. They staggered the start so Craig and I got to see Nora, Colleen and Courtney off and then I started my race. The plan was to "run easy." Apparently I don't know how to do that when there's 1100 hundred people around me. I held steady about a 7 to 7:30 mile and ended up in 23:47. Pretty good for having done a duathlon the day before.
Craig and I waited for the girls to show up and show up they did. All 3 ladies including my beautiful wife set PRs on a very difficult course. The guy who won the marathon repeated from last year but was 9 minutes slower if that tells you anything. We all went back to the hotel to clean up and I decided to check the results. Imagine my surprise when I found out I finished 3rd in my age group among 33 guys! I was shocked. Slowest time that I ever won a medal for but hardware is hardware baby! Cool medal too.
President's Day Duathlon Race Report
Holy crap it's been a while since I wrote. I've been training well. Some missed workouts here and there but largely I've been training consistently. People keep telling me that I need to eat a hamburger or something because I'm getting too skinny but my weight is staying the same. Right about 202. I would actually like to be about 190 but then I couldn't compete as a Clydesdale. More on why that's where I need to be later.
First race of the year was a duathlon at White Sands Missile Range. Important race for me because its the exact same race that was my introduction to multisport exactly a year ago. 5K trail run up and down a little and then what was supposed to be a 18 mile bike. Did really well on the 5K with a time of 23:22 and was 3-4 minutes ahead of fellow big guys. More than a minute ahead of my time from last year. Gotta work on transition as I always seem to hesitate to catch my breath a second or two (in my head) and ends up being a minute or so in transition which isn't necessary when all I have to do is change shoes and put on a helmet. My bike time was 52:27 and an average of 20.5 mph. Improved my time from last years same event by over 8 minutes! That's the good news.
The bad news? I wanted to win the Clydesdale division. The head stud was Cody Hanson who rocked last year in the Southwest Challenge Series and was coming in overall in top 5 at lot of events. He kind of lost his enthusiasm for the sport and showed up to this race but out of shape so I never saw him and he ended up finishing about 3 minutes behind. My other competition - John Gardea. John is an inspirational story - used to weigh close to 400 pounds and now is about 210. He had already won Clydesdale division in two prior events that I didn't race. I was 3 or 4 minutes ahead of him on the run and never saw him. I was only about a mile and a half from the finish on the bike, I was hurting but going along good. I shit you not, just as I thought, "I'm ahead of the other Clydes as long as John or Cody doesn't catch up," freaking John passed me flying. *&$!#!!!. I immediately tried to give chase but ended up finishing 20 seconds behind him. Dambit! Completely pissed me off and made me not so happy even though I beat my last years time by over 8 minutes.
My trainer says I need an aero helmet and a new wheel set for my bike. I ride on basically bullet proof Armadillo tires because I hate getting flats. They are great for training, not so great for racing apparently b/c they're heavy. Didn't realize that. The helmet is one of those dorky looking things that you make fun of when you see spandex-wearing 120 pounds guys go flying past you. I guess we'll see how it looks on a 200 pound guy next race. I've always hesitated to buy the fancy looking stuff b/c I didn't want to be "that guy" who shows up with all the gee whiz technology and gets dusted by a dude on a Schwinn wearing cargo shorts. I think I'm safe from that guy now so I'll put my big toe in the fancy waters.
I ended up 2nd in Clydesdale, 22nd overall out of 67 individuals. Had I competed in my age group, I would've been 4th and out of the hardware. I didn't compete as a Clydesdale last year because I didn't know if I would stay above 200 for an entire year of training. Now I know I will, and I'll keep trying to beat the big boys!
First race of the year was a duathlon at White Sands Missile Range. Important race for me because its the exact same race that was my introduction to multisport exactly a year ago. 5K trail run up and down a little and then what was supposed to be a 18 mile bike. Did really well on the 5K with a time of 23:22 and was 3-4 minutes ahead of fellow big guys. More than a minute ahead of my time from last year. Gotta work on transition as I always seem to hesitate to catch my breath a second or two (in my head) and ends up being a minute or so in transition which isn't necessary when all I have to do is change shoes and put on a helmet. My bike time was 52:27 and an average of 20.5 mph. Improved my time from last years same event by over 8 minutes! That's the good news.
The bad news? I wanted to win the Clydesdale division. The head stud was Cody Hanson who rocked last year in the Southwest Challenge Series and was coming in overall in top 5 at lot of events. He kind of lost his enthusiasm for the sport and showed up to this race but out of shape so I never saw him and he ended up finishing about 3 minutes behind. My other competition - John Gardea. John is an inspirational story - used to weigh close to 400 pounds and now is about 210. He had already won Clydesdale division in two prior events that I didn't race. I was 3 or 4 minutes ahead of him on the run and never saw him. I was only about a mile and a half from the finish on the bike, I was hurting but going along good. I shit you not, just as I thought, "I'm ahead of the other Clydes as long as John or Cody doesn't catch up," freaking John passed me flying. *&$!#!!!. I immediately tried to give chase but ended up finishing 20 seconds behind him. Dambit! Completely pissed me off and made me not so happy even though I beat my last years time by over 8 minutes.
My trainer says I need an aero helmet and a new wheel set for my bike. I ride on basically bullet proof Armadillo tires because I hate getting flats. They are great for training, not so great for racing apparently b/c they're heavy. Didn't realize that. The helmet is one of those dorky looking things that you make fun of when you see spandex-wearing 120 pounds guys go flying past you. I guess we'll see how it looks on a 200 pound guy next race. I've always hesitated to buy the fancy looking stuff b/c I didn't want to be "that guy" who shows up with all the gee whiz technology and gets dusted by a dude on a Schwinn wearing cargo shorts. I think I'm safe from that guy now so I'll put my big toe in the fancy waters.
I ended up 2nd in Clydesdale, 22nd overall out of 67 individuals. Had I competed in my age group, I would've been 4th and out of the hardware. I didn't compete as a Clydesdale last year because I didn't know if I would stay above 200 for an entire year of training. Now I know I will, and I'll keep trying to beat the big boys!
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