In the order they came in my head:
1. You are not only on first name basis with the bike store and running store owners, you have their cell phone numbers AND they immediately return your texts.
2. You can't pass a flag without checking for wind direction, even if you're in your car.
3. You take two showers a day.
4. You get to take an island vacation and instead of thinking about lying on the beach, you start scoping out running routes and planning open water swims.
5. On a related note, baggage for any out of town trip includes running gear and goggles.
6. You know the lap swim schedule for every pool in town.
7. A day off from work makes you happy because now you can work out whenever you want.
8. You think it's sane to do a 3 hour brick workout, burn 2000+ calories, and then look at the labels of sports drinks to see which one has the least sugar.
9. The inside of your car looks like a going out of business sale at Sports Authority.
10. You've come to accept the necessity/vanity of the 2 hours it takes to shave.
Feel free to discuss among yourselves and add to the list.
Thursday, April 19, 2012
Wednesday, April 4, 2012
Plan for the year
I've been derelict in my posting. I'm not even about doing 13 sprint triathlons this year. Did that last year and had a blast but this year I'm going to more scenic places than Roswell and Amarillo. I'm also going to ramp up the distances. I'll be doing the New York City Triathlon on July 8 and the San Diego TriRock Triathlon on September 9. Both are Olympic distances.
For the NYC tri, I'm competing as a contestant for the Challenged Athletes Foundation and raising charity dollars. The Foundation provides prosthetic limbs and wheelchairs for athletes So far I've raised $2,505 with incredible donations from people like fellow triathlete Brooks Vandivort and fellow runners Colleen and Craig Marusich. My goal is $3000 and anybody that wants to contribute to a very worthwhile cause can click here Rob Lovett CAF donation page.
I'm also going to do the Eagle in the Sun Triathlon also in September. Then I'm going to Costa Rica for a week in November to learn surfing. Fun times!
For the NYC tri, I'm competing as a contestant for the Challenged Athletes Foundation and raising charity dollars. The Foundation provides prosthetic limbs and wheelchairs for athletes So far I've raised $2,505 with incredible donations from people like fellow triathlete Brooks Vandivort and fellow runners Colleen and Craig Marusich. My goal is $3000 and anybody that wants to contribute to a very worthwhile cause can click here Rob Lovett CAF donation page.
I'm also going to do the Eagle in the Sun Triathlon also in September. Then I'm going to Costa Rica for a week in November to learn surfing. Fun times!
Friday, March 30, 2012
Not a 'wannabe' anymore
Saturday, November 5, 2011
Winter blues
Man I hate when it gets cold. I know that's a relative term considering that I live in El Paso, but it still sucks going to swim when it's dark and cold outside. It just doesn't compute for me. I detest biking indoors and now daylight savings time kicks in tomorrow which might as well mean "no daylight time." I remember back in college that I thought the Monday after daylight savings time should be a holiday just so we could celebrate the extra sleep.
I also got sick for the first time in over two years and was OUT for 2 weeks. This month marks 2 years that I've been training and I thought at some point you got to the point where training becomes second nature but it's still a chore for me. A chore that too easily slips to the back burner when one isn't competing and the winter blues set in. This is problematic considering that I signed up for the Flying Horse half marathon here in El Paso and the Vegas half in December.
I did manage to drag my sorry butt out of bed yesterday and ran 7 miles and felt surprisingly good considering I've ran maybe 4 times since the Elephantman. I ran into Brian Carter at the Walk a Mile in Her Shoes charity event and was grousing about my lack of motivation. He kindly invited me to ride with him and Mike Baker. I was a little intimidated because Bryan is a stud triathlete and Mike is a legend. Showed up this morning and off we went! I found out that Mike has done 40 Iron distance races including 8 at Kona - freaking 40! Great guys and we knocked out 50 miles the last hour or so with a 50 mph wind.
I feel good about my fitness level surviving my dip in enthusiasm and am back on track!
I also got sick for the first time in over two years and was OUT for 2 weeks. This month marks 2 years that I've been training and I thought at some point you got to the point where training becomes second nature but it's still a chore for me. A chore that too easily slips to the back burner when one isn't competing and the winter blues set in. This is problematic considering that I signed up for the Flying Horse half marathon here in El Paso and the Vegas half in December.
I did manage to drag my sorry butt out of bed yesterday and ran 7 miles and felt surprisingly good considering I've ran maybe 4 times since the Elephantman. I ran into Brian Carter at the Walk a Mile in Her Shoes charity event and was grousing about my lack of motivation. He kindly invited me to ride with him and Mike Baker. I was a little intimidated because Bryan is a stud triathlete and Mike is a legend. Showed up this morning and off we went! I found out that Mike has done 40 Iron distance races including 8 at Kona - freaking 40! Great guys and we knocked out 50 miles the last hour or so with a 50 mph wind.
I feel good about my fitness level surviving my dip in enthusiasm and am back on track!
Saturday, October 1, 2011
Elephant Man Butt Whupping
Did my first Olympic distance triathlon in EB last Sunday. Just writing about it now because haven't had time and I needed the time to gain perspective on the race. The race was a 1 mile swim, 27 mile bike, and 6 mile run. My thinking was to be under 3 hours based on my performances in sprints this year. A confluence of events caused me to rethink my strategy race morning. First, I already had enough points in the SW Challenge Series so, unless I got first place in my division, it wouldn't effect my point standings if I came in 2nd or last in my division. Second, I looked around at the start and holy cow there were some studs there! There were teams from Univ of Arizona, the Black Dog Tri team, and overall some big dudes that looked like former Navy Seals that all had their game faces on. Having no particular ego-induced delusions about my own athletic prowess, I meekly asked Coach Gretchen at the transition area, "Uh Coach, would you be pissed if I just 'experienced' this race?" For those of you who don't do these masochistic events on a regular basis, when you don't have a good race you just say "I wasn't racing that event, I was just using it as training." Works like a charm. Gretchen told me this is your first Oly, this is a very, very difficult race, it's the last race of the season - just have fun! Well, that's why she's a good coach, so that's what I set out to do.
I repeated my prerace approach from Socorro and rode my bike from the hotel to the transition area. If you have the chance to do this, I highly recommend it as your family doesn't have to get up at dawn, you bypass all the traffic and hiking to transition area, and you get a little warm up/equipment check for free. Besides that, you look cool riding to your race with your tri gear on your back (at least I think so). Had a large contingent of local tri geeks in attendance. Training partners Brooks Vandivort and Art Sanchez were carrying the big stick and doing the 70.3 (both 1sts for them, which leads me to question their sanity because this race will definitely not be my first 70.3). Cody H. did the 70.3 as well and is a stud of all studs for doing so (he knows why). Gretchen, Jason M., Greg G., Juan E., Lowry B., Dr. Mark and a host of others were doing the Oly.
As stated, the swim was 1 mile in open water although all agreed it looked a lot longer than a mile. My number one goal for the swim was to survive as the longest open water swim I had done was 500 yards in a pond at Dexter that's maybe 5 feet deep and that took me 12 minutes. I was less than enthused about swimming a mile where I could never touch the bottom. I've been working hard on my swimming though so I figured 35-45 minutes would be acceptable. The water was 78 degrees and no wake, no wind at all so perfect conditions. I wore a sleeveless wetsuit for the first time because I feel too constrained in the full. I kept up with the pack for the first 100 meters or so and then settled into a quasi rhythm interrupted by frequent sight checks. I can't swim a straight line to save my life but managed not to take too many detours. I stopped one time early on b/c my wetsuit strap kept wrapping around my right arm and was driving me batty (note to tri newbies - make sure your strap is tucked in). Overall, I kept a very steady pace but slow and managed to come out of the water in one piece in 45 minutes.
I repeated my prerace approach from Socorro and rode my bike from the hotel to the transition area. If you have the chance to do this, I highly recommend it as your family doesn't have to get up at dawn, you bypass all the traffic and hiking to transition area, and you get a little warm up/equipment check for free. Besides that, you look cool riding to your race with your tri gear on your back (at least I think so). Had a large contingent of local tri geeks in attendance. Training partners Brooks Vandivort and Art Sanchez were carrying the big stick and doing the 70.3 (both 1sts for them, which leads me to question their sanity because this race will definitely not be my first 70.3). Cody H. did the 70.3 as well and is a stud of all studs for doing so (he knows why). Gretchen, Jason M., Greg G., Juan E., Lowry B., Dr. Mark and a host of others were doing the Oly.
As stated, the swim was 1 mile in open water although all agreed it looked a lot longer than a mile. My number one goal for the swim was to survive as the longest open water swim I had done was 500 yards in a pond at Dexter that's maybe 5 feet deep and that took me 12 minutes. I was less than enthused about swimming a mile where I could never touch the bottom. I've been working hard on my swimming though so I figured 35-45 minutes would be acceptable. The water was 78 degrees and no wake, no wind at all so perfect conditions. I wore a sleeveless wetsuit for the first time because I feel too constrained in the full. I kept up with the pack for the first 100 meters or so and then settled into a quasi rhythm interrupted by frequent sight checks. I can't swim a straight line to save my life but managed not to take too many detours. I stopped one time early on b/c my wetsuit strap kept wrapping around my right arm and was driving me batty (note to tri newbies - make sure your strap is tucked in). Overall, I kept a very steady pace but slow and managed to come out of the water in one piece in 45 minutes.
I really don't think there's any way to mimic open water swimming in a pool. You just have to swim in big bodies of water which we are unfortunately lacking in El Paso. I suggest all local triathletes pool our money (pun intended, ha ha) and get us a nice man-make lake in which we can train. We could call it Lake Proud in honor of uber athlete Diana Proud who just passed from ALS. Diana Proud local legend
Food for thought.
Food for thought.
This race has by far the longest transition of any race I've entered. Turns out when you have a triathlon with an open water swim, and the body of water is at a record low level, you have to go a long way to get to the parking lot that is serving as a transition area. And you have to go up a big ass hill, barefoot, in the sand. At least I had a cheerleader in my corner.
This particular 8 year old cheerleader had just completed his race the day before with his old man running up the hill beside him yelling encouragement including that he was being passed by certain other 8 year olds. So he dutifully told me, "Dad, he's passing you!" at about this point. You can see the burst of speed I put on while telling him there's a long way to go.
Thanks to my beautiful wife for taking the photos and also encouraging me all the way.
My calves cramped up when I sat down to have my wetsuit stripped but it stopped when I stood up. Got on my bike knowing that sub 3 hours was probably out of the picture due to my swim and decided to push hard but not kill myself and enjoy the experience.
Even with that, I managed to pass 30 people on the bike (yes, I counted). The bike course has an elevation change of over 1000 feet because there are some good climbs in and out of some canyons. I had no problems on the bike despite the rough road surface and felt pretty good coming back into transition and my bike split was 1:33.
On to the run. For perspective, Clay Mosley won the 70.3 in a time of 4:44. I heard him say afterward that the run course was the hardest he had ever been on. It was brutal. No flat terrain, up and down winding hills, no shade, no relief. I took my time like I've never done before, walked most of the uphills and finished the run in 1:06 for a total time of 3:30.
Do I regret not pushing myself more and putting up a more respectable time? Absolutely not. I enjoyed the experience and for a first time oly distance on such a hard course, I'm happy with it. I even managed to have some encouraging words for other athletes and a smile on my face for parts of the race.
The race itself was well-organized with tons of helpful volunteers. The race director? Not such a nice lady but I'm kind of spoiled by race director extraordinaire Gabby Gallegos who always had a smile on her face even though there were over 500 athletes at the Eagle in the Sun asking lots of questions. I think Kori just wants everybody to show up, race, and keep their mouth shuts. I was very leery of her going in due to some comments she made after the Dam It man Triathlon but kept a open mind. I know now how she earned her reputation as she was very terse and dismissive when I tried to ask a couple of questions. That being said, the race was organized and executed beautifully so personal dislike for her communication skills aside, I give the race a thumbs up.
Wednesday, September 14, 2011
Holloman Raptor Duathlon
I know I've always had trouble in the past locating registration forms for the races held at Holloman AFB so when I located the form, I decided to post just in case anybody else has issues tracking it down. Here's the link: http://www.hollomanfss.com/FitnessNSports/Forms/Triathlon2011.pdf
It's a 5K, 30K bike, and 700 meter swim and it's called the "Raptor" for cyring out loud! How can you resist? See you there!
It's a 5K, 30K bike, and 700 meter swim and it's called the "Raptor" for cyring out loud! How can you resist? See you there!
Sunday, September 11, 2011
Yucca Triathlon, Weekend training
Did the Yucca Triathlon at White Sands Missile Range on Saturday. I really, really thought about not going to this one. I am tired. Just got a huge influx of cases from a big shot television advertising lawyer from out of town who decided he didn't want to handle his El Paso cases. Have a trial starting on Tuesday. Worked what seemed like 80 hours this week and I left all I had on the table at Eagle in the Sun. But come 9 the night before, I dutifully started putting my stuff together by shaming myself by asking what would Cody or Gretchen do? They'd compete and so I did. Not to mention this event was carbon made as a good training event for the upcoming Elephant Man as it was advertised as an 8K run, 45K bike, and 400 meter swim. Close to olympic distance and would be the longest distance tri I've done so far.
If you haven't done a triathlon at WSMR, I highly advise it. The base is never crowded, it's only a hour drive from the west side of El Paso, and they have good volunteers and are well organized. The schwag? Not so good but who couldn't use another cotton race t-shirt right?
Got up at 4 to get ready and make the drive and was searching the base for the staging area by 5:30. When in doubt, just follow the other guys with tri bikes and they'll get you there. There was noise about cancelling the race because only 30 people had signed up but they got enough late registrants to yield about 51 racers so we were on. Race was a reverse distance course. Run was basically a 4.25 loop on streets and I felt good and managed to negative split the miles and came in just under 34 minutes. I needed to put time on my Clydesdale competitor John G. because I knew he'd be coming for me hard on the bike. The slightly longer run gave me an opportunity to get ahead of him but the longer bike to come would give him a greater opportunity to catch me and pass me before we got to the swim. We're about equal in the water, so I didn't want him passing me on the bike.
One of the good things about a non-USAT sanctioned race held on a military base is they are not sticklers for the rules. Case in point - no mount/dismount line. You could run up to your bike, get your shoes on, mount and cycle right out of the transition area. You could also do the same coming in off the bike which I took full advantage of and made for some lightning fast transition times.
The bike route was out the base down a long a gradual hill and then a small loop off the main road on a pea gravel road that shook the crap out of everybody. You were on that road for about 12-13 miles and felt it later in the day. No volunteers at the turn points anywhere so you just had to follow the crowd and keep an eye out for markers. One guy missed the turn barrel and ended up doing the bike portion backwards but got it done. After getting off the gravel road, you were back on the main road going back up that long gradual hill which strangely wasn't so gradual anymore.
I thought I was flying down the hill and keeping the distance between me and John but at the 14 mile turnaround, he was right freaking behind me! He looked beat though but I knew that didn't mean anything when it came to John. I figured I could hold him off to maybe 20 miles and then he'd pass me but I kept going as fast as I could go. Shockingly, he never caught me on the bike and into the pool. I was Cadillac'ing the swim because there was nobody in front of me I could catch and nobody trying to catch me. Swim was up and back in 25 meter pool for 8 lanes. I was looking for John and saw him coming up the first lane when I entered the 3rd. The rest of the swim was something like swim, swim, swim, look for John, swim, swim, swim, look for John, repeat. Finished in 1:54 and took 1st in the old fat guy division!
Then I looked at the Gretchen torture, er, training calendar for tomorrow hoping for the always appreciated but rare "off day."
Nope - I quote "This is a critical workout for Elephant Butte." 26 mile ride followed by 6 mile run. Gulp. I was tired but, again, dragged my sorry butt out of bed and joined the group for the ride. Kept up just fine until I got to 13 miles then turned around and headed back on my own. Grabbed my running shoes and my running buddy "Bo the wonder dog" and off.
6 miles was 2 miles to get legs under me, 2 mile at Yucca tempo (8/mile) and then last 2 doing 30/30s. I forgot to take my "sports legs" power pills this morning and my legs started to cramp something fierce while doing the tempo miles. I managed to keep up the tempo but I could feel that if I tensed up my quads at all, they were going to lock up. I had never felt that while running before. After the workout? Lotsa times. Never during. Note to self - load up the sports legs pills before any 2 hour or longer workout!
If you haven't done a triathlon at WSMR, I highly advise it. The base is never crowded, it's only a hour drive from the west side of El Paso, and they have good volunteers and are well organized. The schwag? Not so good but who couldn't use another cotton race t-shirt right?
Got up at 4 to get ready and make the drive and was searching the base for the staging area by 5:30. When in doubt, just follow the other guys with tri bikes and they'll get you there. There was noise about cancelling the race because only 30 people had signed up but they got enough late registrants to yield about 51 racers so we were on. Race was a reverse distance course. Run was basically a 4.25 loop on streets and I felt good and managed to negative split the miles and came in just under 34 minutes. I needed to put time on my Clydesdale competitor John G. because I knew he'd be coming for me hard on the bike. The slightly longer run gave me an opportunity to get ahead of him but the longer bike to come would give him a greater opportunity to catch me and pass me before we got to the swim. We're about equal in the water, so I didn't want him passing me on the bike.
One of the good things about a non-USAT sanctioned race held on a military base is they are not sticklers for the rules. Case in point - no mount/dismount line. You could run up to your bike, get your shoes on, mount and cycle right out of the transition area. You could also do the same coming in off the bike which I took full advantage of and made for some lightning fast transition times.
The bike route was out the base down a long a gradual hill and then a small loop off the main road on a pea gravel road that shook the crap out of everybody. You were on that road for about 12-13 miles and felt it later in the day. No volunteers at the turn points anywhere so you just had to follow the crowd and keep an eye out for markers. One guy missed the turn barrel and ended up doing the bike portion backwards but got it done. After getting off the gravel road, you were back on the main road going back up that long gradual hill which strangely wasn't so gradual anymore.
 |
| Obligatory Cheesy Medal Shot |
Then I looked at the Gretchen torture, er, training calendar for tomorrow hoping for the always appreciated but rare "off day."
 |
| Bo the wonder dog |
6 miles was 2 miles to get legs under me, 2 mile at Yucca tempo (8/mile) and then last 2 doing 30/30s. I forgot to take my "sports legs" power pills this morning and my legs started to cramp something fierce while doing the tempo miles. I managed to keep up the tempo but I could feel that if I tensed up my quads at all, they were going to lock up. I had never felt that while running before. After the workout? Lotsa times. Never during. Note to self - load up the sports legs pills before any 2 hour or longer workout!
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