franks and beans

blah...

2012-01-24T16:05:00.000-08:00

Ugh...tough week so far. We lost power around 10am Thursday morning and its now Tuesday evening and we are still without power. I'm not sure how I feel about it, it wasn't a particularly bad storm, but there is quite a bit of damage from trees breaking. The weight of the snow and ice broke a lot of branches which, in turn, fell on power lines thereby causing loss of power. Certainly, some areas are more affected than others with ours being one of the worst. I don't see why though. We had less then a foot of snow over the week, and a little bit of ice. In fact, at no point would I have actually called it a storm. The only difference between last week and any other week here was that it was slightly colder for a few days, hence the snow. People were freaking out though. The whole situation seems silly and completely avoidable to me. Most of the Seattle area was not so affected as us, but its just a consequence of the specificity of where we live. Boo!

So whats new? Nothing. Training was going well up until the aforementioned problems. Its making me cranky! Our whole schedule has been thrown off. All I've been doing (amidst the running from place to place trying to keep warm and busy) is sitting around and thinking about things.

I'm wondering how good the blog has been lately. It seems to me that I've let it fall off a bit. We have so much going on at the moment its hard to sit down and focus. I never have the time to write when I feel like it, or have the inspiration to, so I end up writing a scattered rambling of afterthoughts.

The other hard part about writing this thing is deciding what to put in it. Its hard not to write about personal life when so many changes and big events are taking place. There is definitely a strong sense of catharsis that occurs when I train, which is strongly linked to my growing irritability at the moment, and it is hard to put into words post workout.

Lately, I've been feeling more and more like writing on topical subjects within running and triathlon as well. I have some ideas for a few things that will hopefully be interesting. I do a lot of reading, and I mean a whole lot, and find so much misinformation out there I have to wonder how much of it people buy into. Subjects like heel strike, cadence, rest and recovery, running form, swim stroke, etc. are just some examples. I'll try to address things in a positive and helpful manner, and I'll still do my normal updates.

Its now Thursday and we finally got our power back on last night. Yay! That was SEVEN full days of no power. Crazy. Any way, things are back to normal and a regular schedule of training will resume once again. I think I'm going to post something on gadgets (GPS, power meters, etc.) next, and possibly strength training and how to work it into your schedule.

Cheers peeps,
ff

Snow Day

2012-01-18T16:42:00.001-08:00

I finally got my new Kurt Kenetic trainer last week...just in time too. So far I think its pretty cool. The last trainer I had was a magnetic one, and it didn't really stand up to anything more then low intensity rides. This new one is a beast, not to mention, its much much quieter. It took a while for me to find one. I was hoping that I would get lucky on Craigslist, but I ended up buying one off Ebay. Good deal though, and well worth the money.
Last week I finally got back out on the bike and on the road, so my first ride this year was not on the trainer. Let me tell you, it wasn't easy. I'm kind of in the same limited situation here as I was in Austin. There are only so many ways I can ride due to a limited amount of roadways that allow me to get past the freeway to the east. I can't go west (water), and north and south aren't exactly safe or conducive to riding more then a few miles. The route I took was one I scouted several weeks ago, which turned out to be fairly tough with two of the biggest steepest climbs I've done in many years, making me feel like a total wuss. Its been a while since I had that kind of burning in the quads, but at least it made me forget about the cold wet weather.

Everything went well last week though. I'm a full on triathlete again now that I'm back on the bike. I didn't put too many big miles in. I kept my runs moderate and let my body adjust to the load of a full schedule of training again. My swims all went well, and I actually had some strong workouts in the pool. I thought all of the weights and leg work I've been doing the last few months would pay off a little more on the bike. Nothing can truly prepare you for the real thing except doing it, but I'm sure I'll see the benefits pay off soon. It always takes a few weeks to get the body reacclimated . I'm already feeling stronger this week.
Monday I did a session on the trainer and then went out for a run in the snow. I figured I had spent enough time inside already, so I might as well try to run outdoors. Luckily, it wasn't too slippery but I kept it tame just to be on the safe side. I don't think I've ever run in these kind of conditions before, so it was kind of cool. This was first time I've seen a whole lot of people enjoying the outdoors in our neighborhood. The snow makes it seem less cold and crappy as opposed to the rain I suppose. I had fun, and I ended up running quite a while.

Now I'm wishing I had gone somewhere with better scenery that day. The snow has gotten a little worse and we are now enduring what is termed "The Blizzard of 2012." Yeah, they don't get much snow up here in Seattle despite what one might think. All of the hills make it dangerous, and I think we had about 9" on the ground this morning, so it was a pretty good snow and most of the city is shut down. Its the most I've seen since I was a kid. Pretty cool for me at least, except the pool is closed and I'm stuck indoors. Boo! Part of me doesn't want the snow to melt, but most of me wants to be able to be outside doing my thing. I really want to get up to the mountain an do some snowboarding. That would be super awesome right now. Don't think the Empala would make it up there though.

Meanwhile, I'm doing my best to make all of this indoor training count. I'm definitely not used to it, and I find it a much bigger test of will power to get done, especially riding on the trainer. These days when the pool is closed I sub in weight room sessions. Consequently, I'm carrying a lot more weight then normal. I think its going to be a good thing in the long run. I still have a little "winter coat" around the mid-section, or as I like to call it, "fun handles." I don't worry about it though. The fat will come off in time. I'm more worried about consuming enough calories and building lean muscle. I weighed myself yesterday just to see where I'm at and kind of got a shock because I thought I had probably lost a few, but in actuality I had gained a few. Body fat is down and muscle is up, so I guess its all good. My feeling on weight, or "racing weight," is this; workout properly, eat healthy and your body will weigh what its supposed to weigh.

Hopefully Seattle survives the winter storm of 2012, and I will be back outside training soon. Is it spring time yet? I don't think that means much here. Everyone says it doesn't change till July the fifth. Thats a long ways off yet. Doh.

coaches and trainers

2012-01-09T15:25:00.000-08:00

Recently I've been thinking a lot about coaching, both the coaching/training I do for others, and also looking for a coach for me. I think its important to have someone to guide you and work with you towards whatever goal it is that you set. So I thought I'd do a blog on the subject as I'm sure there are lots people out there who might be interested and might actually get something out of it. Since it tis' the season for many folks out there and get on the workout wagon I decided to make this in general terms for any coach or trainer you may be looking for. A lot of it will be more triathlon or run specific, but I will try to emphasize the important points.

First and foremost you have to recognize why you are looking for a coach/trainer and why they are important. This, often times, forces us to learn an important lesson which is this; you don't know everything, and you probably know even less then you think you do about getting fit. The other thing that is hard for most is to look at ourselves objectively. Depending on the type of person we are, we do not always know what is best for ourselves. Sometimes we push too hard, and more often then not, we don't push hard enough. Its hard to get a gauge on how we are performing day in and day out, and our mind can play tricks on us. Unless you are really in tune with your body and can decipher the biofeedback you are receiving from it, which comes from years of training (and even then its not always clear), you may not know what your body is telling you. You can't see yourself and judge accurately how your exertion is affecting you, nor can you see your form.

I'll give you a case in point using my track kids. Some of these kids will run as hard as they can till they're crying and their nose starts bleeding, and some of them start crying as soon as they do anything more then get up off the couch. When we have easy days there are kids that we constantly have to reign in and slow down, who would otherwise run themselves into the ground and injury. On hard days there are other kids we really have to push and find ways to motivate to get them through the workouts. Are they tired? No. Do they think they're tired and/or can't do it? Yes. How is it we know they can do it? A good coach knows how to read his/her athletes. You know because you know the amount of work they have already done in the past and you can see what they will be capable of as they move forward.

The same thing goes for the adults I work with. Many times I have people finishing a personal training session not knowing how much they just actually did. I work them the best way possible for their capabilities, and I know how to push them without killing them. A good trainer never makes you sore to the point where it hurts to get out of bed the next day. I find out what they're capable of at the point when I get them, and I look for the best way to move them forward. I had a talk with a client the other day about where he was a couple of months ago compared to where he is now, and the difference is amazing. It made me very happy to see how far he has come, and to know he feels good about it.

With that being said, how is it that you find a good trainer or coach? Its not easy. I'm going to seperate this next section between coaches and trainers starting with trainers. Doing your research is key here. I would say your best bet is finding a private contractor trainer (or private studio) vs. a large corporate gym trainer. There are few reasons why; a private contractor runs his/her own business and usually puts more work into their profession, they're good enough to make it on their own merit and no longer need the constant influx of new gym members to retain clients, which also makes them value their clients even more.

Corporate or private, its hit or miss. Personal trainers often get a bad rap, and is often times the case, its well deserved. It can be a great way to make good money in a short amount of time, and with no government regulation, its a profession almost anyone can get in to. I certainly spent my time in a corporate gym, which was short, and for good reason. But not all places are like that, and I will say that one of best trainers I know worked in that same large corporate gym. Still, a corporate gym is motivated by sales and sales alone. Most of those trainers work on quotas and commission, and selling is hands down more important then the actual training for those types of places.

So what do you do? Put Google to use, interview some trainers, and find someone you like who knows what they're talking about. And just like any other job interview, ask for references (or testimonials) for this person you're interviewing. Have they produced results for their clients? Ask what certification they have. Look it up and verify its a good one and not some weekend course they took a couple of weeks ago (they're out there!). This person should be TEACHING you how to exercise and be healthy, not just working you out!

Coaches. This one is tough because anyone can call themself a coach. Some of the same things apply. Make sure they have produced results in the people they have coached. Find out where they got their knowledge from and what experience they have. I think there are lots of good running coaches out there. Triathlon...not so much for a couple of reasons; its a relatively new sport, and the three disciplines make it very technical, but there are a number of good coaches and teams out there.

What I'm about to say may be hipocritical (though I'm not pro), but pro-athletes and former pro-athletes do not always make the best coaches. Reason number one why, they're probably very talented and they think that every person should train the way they trained. A lot of times their knowledge is very specific to them and what they experienced personally, so that can leave them with a narrow view of how to train an athlete, and no two people are alike. Still, one of the best triathlon coaches in the world is a former world champ herself, and an athlete can relate to what it takes to realize your full potential.

If you're planning on heading into either one of these sports a coach can provide you with a great deal of knowledge and necessary help. Depending on what you are looking for you can generally go group style, or private one-on-one. Some teams/groups are better for socializing, others for competition. Either way find a place you're comfortable. If you decide to go the competitive route and/or want to see what you're made of, I think it becomes really important to find a proper coach. There is no magic one-size-fits-all program for everyone, and that applies ten fold for triathlon as compared to running. Like I said no two people are the same, we're all built differently and have different biomechanics, and we all come from different backgrounds and abilities. What works for Chrissie Wellington and Ryan Hall won't work for you and me.

The fitness world is full of gimmicks and B.S. and stupid crap. There is always someone selling something new out there that claims to make you leaner, faster, stronger or whatever. Keep an eye out for it and use your best judgement. You can find good coaches and trainers out there, and they usually have the results to prove it and a number of people around them to confirm it. Ask around and you'll find someone. One thing I've found is that word of mouth is the best advertising in this business. Everyone loves to talk about the weight they lost, or the marathon or triathlon they just finished.

Hopefully this was informative and it gives some folks out there a place to start if they're looking for a coach or trainer . Anyone with questons should feel free to contact me and I'll do my best to help you out.

Peace out homies,
ff

resolutions schmezolutions

2012-01-02T19:24:00.000-08:00

I always thought New Year's resolutions were, well, kind of dumb. I never understood why people thought just because the date changed they were going to change, as if some magical force was going to change a lifetime of thought processes, patterns, and habits. It always seems to carry a negative connotation as well, despite the hope of a resolution having a positive outcome. Usually one hopes to quit something, or change a negative aspect of their life. I think the last resolution I ever made was to give more hugs, which was more of a joke then anything, and I have since given more hugs. However, in the interest of staying positive I think its best to set goals, and goal setting should be ongoing process throughout the year.
Enough about that. So it seems everyone is doing their 2011 year in reviews. They all kind of say the same things, "I grew a lot, I learned a lot, had some ups and downs, cried a little, laughed more, blah, blah, blah..." I usually do something of the like at the end of the triathlon season, and I've already done that. What I can say is that, "HOLY CRAP 2011 was crazy!" If you would have told me a year ago that I would end up living here in Seattle by the end of the year I'd a slapped you in face and called you Suzy. Maybe I wouldn't have slapped you, but there definitely would have been some name calling and mocking. I couldn't be happier though. The one thing that I've really been enjoying up here is running, I think I've said this before. This (above pic, one I pulled off google) is the coolest part of where I ran today at Point Defiance Park in Tacoma. The concrete ends about where the trees start and from there its mostly sand and large gravel. Saturday's run had some spectacular scenery and I was wishing that I had my camera then, but today I really wished I did. None of these pictures can do it justice. Once passed the concrete and onto the beach it turned from cool to awesome! It was 47 degrees and raining, but spectacular. I didn't feel cold at all. It was so nice not to hear traffic and city noise. The only sounds were the raindrops hitting the trees and water's surface of the South Sound, and the constant rhythm of my feet digging into the sand and rocks. Every now and then I would hear a breath or two as I jumped over fallen trees and ducked under low hanging branches. It was probably one of the most peaceful and surreal running experiences of my life.

These are my pics from the start/finish point of my run today. It gives you an idea of what it was like today. Across the bay there is where I was running Saturday when it was colder but sunny. The views were a little different from the other side. I had a nice view of downtown Tacoma, but the day was clear so I could see the snow covered Olympics off to the west and the massive Mt. Rainier to the southwest. Today I was right on the water and was running down into what is called "The Tacoma Narrows," so the views were altogether different. Much different then anything I've experienced before. I'll put it up there with my moonlight run on the beach down in Texas this summer. Damn, I love running.

No resolutions for me as I've already started working towards my goals for the year. Today was 12 miles for 2012, 12 rain soaked super-fun miles. Thankfully, I had some dry clothes in the car and was able to get out my not-so-dry dryfit running attire. I'm pretty sure I was carrying an extra ten pounds (and I'm not talking about the enchiladas I had for lunch!) by the time I got out of the rain. Made a mental note to remember to always carry some extra clothes though, makes the ride home more bearable. After that I grabbed a little coffee and went to have a nice little Pilates session with Crystal at Core to get some core work and stretching. It made for a nice finish to my kick-ass day. Ready to do it again tomorrow, yeah!

so sleepy

2011-12-30T11:34:00.000-08:00

Christmas break, I don't think there was much of a break, but there was a lot of cartoons. I now know who Phineas and Ferb are, and the Mickey Mouse club ain't what it used to be. I took a couple of days off from workouts, but had a good week last week again. I'm still tired from Christmas though. We didn't "work" for a few days, but it seems like we were busier then usual. I don't get why daycare decides to take a two week break as if it was school...what are you gonna do? I've been entertaining a four year old, tough job. Consequently, I now have a growing discontent for the Disney channel. There are some serious issues going on there. I probably look at things a little differently though after doing a whole year of media studies, but I digress (hehe, been waiting for the proper time to use that phrase).
So, my subject for the day is working out when you're tired, because I have been wiped this week. The motivation is pretty low to get out and get to work. I keep looking for excuses to get a nap in, or chill out for a minute, but with little to no luck. I know that if I can just get started I'll be fine, its just hard to get started. The other part of that is the time for unstructured training has come to end, so things have to start resembling a training plan for me at this point, and that means tougher longer workouts.
Yesterday I had a one hour swim followed by a one hour run. Let me tell you, it wasn't easy. I felt like hammered sh#t in the pool. I did actually swim for an hour and only managed to get through 2.5k. My mind was working against me. I was stuck in a bad mood, and my poor swimming only made me more annoyed. Off onto my run, it was more of the same. I still felt tired, it was cold and drizzily, and just altogether fun. I kept looking for ways to turn the tables and make it positive and get a little enjoyment out of it. Finally, I just came to the conclusion that these are the days that make you tougher. If you want to succeed and achieve your goals, you gotta push through the bad days too.
I started to get in a better mood by the end of my run. The route I took was hard, lots of steep hills, and no flat parts to relax. I got stronger as I went, and that made me feel better. I think keeping the aspect of mental toughness helped a lot too. Pushing when you're tired is something we all have to learn how to do. The mental part of training is so important, especially in endurance sports, because at some point we all hit the wall.
I still feel drained today, but I'm going to get my butt in the gym and get my training done. Friday night will be a early to bed night for sure. Hopefully tomorrow will see a more refreshed and energized Frank.
I hope everyone had a great Christmas. I did even though I was away from my family in Texas, but this was a whole new experience and we really had a good time. I hope everyone has a safe and happy New Year this weekend. Please be careful, don't drink and drive. And jail sucks, its better to wake up in your own bed or random place of crashing for the night then a crappy cell with a bunch of smelly people.

Happy New Year
ff

2011-12-20T15:25:00.000-08:00

(from an artist I like, Mike Mitchell http://sirmitchell.com/)

So, its been a while, but from what I remember Oscar the Grouch was probably my favorite Sesame Street character. Apparently, I was pretty fond of BigBird as well. My grandma likes to tell stories of me going "apeshit," as she put it, for BigBird at a Sesame Street Live show when I was 5. "He just went crazy when BigBird came out, I'd never seen him act like that before" she says. Any way, I still love Oscar and I wish I could find my Oscar the Grouch Halloween costume from my childhood. It had a little trashcan that you wore and everything, it was awesome. Other then our homemade Mr.T costume (which would probably be considered politically incorrect these days) that was probably the best one. I did keep on pittying the fools though, and will continue to do so.

I was kind of a chump a few weeks ago. Running on the treadmill and having strictly indoor workouts was making me grouchy and unmotivated. As a result I fell off the workout wagon for a bit, but I called myself out and got back at it. Last week was 6 days of workouts, and I felt great all 6 days. I did 32 miles of running in 4 days, 3 days of weights, and got some swimming and Pilates in there too. Not too shabby. Right now I'm building the mileage to be ready for some half marathons and trail-runs in the next couple of months. The main focus is base and strength building, so lots of low heart rate cardio with a combo of weights/TRX/and plyo. I'm trying to keep my body weight up too. I feel like I lose to much power when I drop under 173lbs. Its going to be some trial and error with finding a race weight. I'm going to try and keep up over 175, but thats going to take a LOT of calories.

The short break I unintentionally gave myself was good though. I felt amazing last week and I performed better than I had been all across the board. I lifted better, ran better, and had more energy. Friday also turned out to be a beautiful, fairly warm sunny day, and the best run I've had since I've been here. Ten miles of good work through a nice, beautiful, hilly area. I finished the last 3 miles strong and felt amazing afterwards.

Not wanting to use the weather as an excuse anymore I decided to invest in some running tights (Nike dryfit, very comfy, super awesome), and I'm not gonna lie...I love them. I suppose I'm one of those guys now, the guys that run outdoors in tights. I think that means I'm serious now. But I decided to embrace them as I did the super short warrior shorts, which I donned of my long run Friday by the way. You gotta own it, and my girlfriend seems to like em'. They are seriously comfortable to run in, and it makes the 30 degree temps much more bearable.

Well, I hope everyone has a great Christmas. Don't let the holidays be your excuse not to do something. Instead, make it a family and friends affair. I know there would probably be some flag football going on if I was back in Austin. Maybe there will be some snowboarding here instead.

Merry Christmas

gettin movin

2011-12-13T14:20:00.000-08:00

I think any athlete has a continuous battle against his or her mind and body. This week I did some reading on Dean Karnazes, who for those of you who don't know, is an ultramarathon runner. Some think he's run more miles than any other human being on earth. Maybe, maybe not, but the guy is an undeniable mutha-falcon badass. Most of his athletic exploits I already knew about, it was the way he started running that was new to me to me and very interesing. He got super drunk on his 30th birthday and decided to strip down to his drawers at the end of the night and just run. He ended up running about 30 miles and his wife had to come pick him up in the morning at a gas station. Now we, or more specifically I, have done many a crazy things under the influence, but I think that is beyond impressive. It was the moment that changed his life too.
To be able to go out and run 30 miles when you're not really a runner (or even if you are) is not normal, so next time you have a few too many do not try it...you'll probably just pass out somewhere along the line and end up in a not so pleasant place be it the hospital, or jail. Most of us are not that genetically gifted to have such abilities, however the human body is amazing. Besides the horse, we are the greatest endurance athletes on land. No other land mamal can do what we can do, or have the potential to do at least. I say potential because most people do not even come close to fulfilling that potential. Yesterday we sat and watched an interesting story of a 550lb woman work her way down to a mere 280lbs over a period of a couple of years. While I do applaud her dedication to losing weight, as it was certainly no small feat for her, one thing she said stuck out in my mind and that was, " I don't like to do anything hard." Hmm.
Back to Dean, this guy is on the far end of the mindset spectrum. He started believing he could do anything. He quit drinking and turned his life around. Perhaps he replaced one addiction with another, but at least he found a healthy replacement. I find myself fighting with what I think is plausable for me and my body, and struggling with that little hint of doubt that sits in the back of my mind. Part of me wonders how good I can be? Can I get a win at a 70.3, can I qualify for Kona on my first shot? I think so, I've been successful at shorter distances, why not longer? But I often think I am just not working hard enough. Why? Why don't I work harder? But maybe thats the type of thinking that keeps me pushing. I believe the most important lesson I learned early on in my athletic career is that there is always more gas in the tank.
Last week was a good week. Got some good training in, and this week has started off pretty good. My little training partner up there (pic above) decided to get some matching tattoos with me. She did pretty good with the placement too. Her workouts have been getting intense; push-ups, squats, free weights (she has little pink 1lb weights)...she does it all, its awesome! Building good habits early in life and learning to love being active and healthy is so important. It makes me appreciate the life I had when I was a kid and how much fun it was. Thanks mom ;)

ff

excuses and cold weather

2011-12-06T14:04:00.000-08:00

So no rain here in the past few days, but eff me its been friggin cold, and I'm not gonna lie...I haven't been doing much. I can easily picture drinking cinnamon dolce lattes and playing video games all day, as well as possibly getting larger. But other crap keeps coming up, or at least thats been my excuse. They say the hardest part about exercising is getting off the couch. Thats generally not my problem. I can't stay put that long, nor do I have the attention span to sit in front of the TV and play video games. The really hard part comes in opening the door and feeling that blast of chilly thirty something degree air.

I used to have a thing about running and swimming outdoors in cold weather, 50 degrees was my cut off for swimming outside and wearing shorts for my workouts. Since I've moved here I've found that I can run comfortably in shorts when its in the upper 30's. My toes are cold at the outset, and it generally takes a mile or two for them to get warm, unless its really wet. The legs are fine except for my knees. They tend not to ever warm up but its bearable. Still, its hard to just get my butt out the door. The alternative is the treadmill. Boo! I've gotten much better about doing my runs on the t-mill, its not the monotonous torture fest it used to be. The ipod helps immensely, and I do a lot of visualization, but it remains much less fun then running outside. However, as I write this, I feel like a panzy. I can remember running through the desert over Christmas break when I was in high school when it was super cold out. The ground was wet and muddy, and it was snowing off and on. I must be getting soft in my old age. Maybe may toughness is disappearing with my hair. Ahh. I'll get back out there soon enough.

The results from my first private Pilates session were positive. I found some new mucsles to make sore. More importantly, I can see where I'm going to gain a lot of benefit from it across the board. The goal now is to gain some consistency and start bringing everything together and set a plan for next year. I left my bicycle trainer in Austin, so I have to get a new one of those pretty soon. Most of the time its too wet and nasty to ride for me out here on this type of landscape, on my tri bike any way. The last thing I want to do is an endo over the front of my bike and break a colarbone or something.

Time certainly is flying by though. I can't believe how long I've been here already. Sometimes it feels like I've been here forever, but most of the time it feels like I just got here...crazy.

Good times,

on the road again

2011-11-30T10:12:00.000-08:00

I'm finally getting back into the swing of training again. Things are settling down, december is almost here, and I think we know what we're doing as far as where we are going to be living for a while. The debate was not if we are going to leave the Seattle area, but when. The way its panning out at the moment it looks like we'll be here till the end of summer. Its probably not what we wanted, but its the practical thing to do. I have to say this place is starting to grow on me a little. I never get tired of the trees and hills, or seeing snow covered mountains in the distance. I'm not wild about the city, but as we've been able to expand our horizons a little more I'm finding more places that I like. We travel south to Tacoma a lot more often then we go north to Seattle.
Although the rain prevents it (for my tri bike any way), most of the towns around here are very bicycle friendly. Thats one category this place definitely has an advantage over Austin in. As much as Austin likes to tout being bicycle friendly it never was in my mind (I thought even El Paso was better). The streets are too narrow, the bicycle lanes were not very usuable or convenient for anyone riding a significant distance. Living down south, I was limited to a very few safe routes because of bridge crossings and a small amount of roads with significant shoulders to ride on. Getting out of the city was always tough too. Most of the county roads were narrow and shoulderless, and could be very busy with traffic and unforgiving rednecks who did not like to share the road. It was getting boring riding the same routes all of the time, and it even got me to thinking about finding somewhere else to live that would be more conducive to riding. But I think you would be hard pressed to find a better town to swim and run in, so many great pools and places to run. Deep Eddy and Town Lake, how I miss thee.
I found some nice places to swim here that are close by. The aqautic center across the street hosted the Goodwill Games in the 80's, so thats pretty cool. Unfortunately, it is often busy with swimming/diving meets and it costs $5 for one swim. They don't give a very good discount for 3 month passes either, and open lap-swim times are limited. On the positive side I think they will be hosting the NCAA Championships this spring, and the Olympic trials! That should be awesome, I would love to see some Olympic swimmers in action. So far I like swimming there, the water temp is nice and its well maintained. There is another place close by, but I'm going to have to be sneaky to get in there. I don't wanna pay $8 to swim for one day, thats effin crazy, but I have secured a key card from one of my clients who doesn't use his. I feel guilty for cheating but $8 is too much, I just hope they don't notice the picture on the card.
I think the toughest part about staying here, which isn't necessarily terrible, is getting to races. There are no spring time triathlons anywhere close by. The season doesn't really begin till mid-summer, so I will be traveling to races...and traveling far. I've got a bunch of possibilities listed, but I'll just have to wait a little longer to see which are feasable. As far as Ironman goes I don't know. I'm dying to get to one, but Ironman Texas sold out immediately (as did most of the North American races), and I'm only left with a couple of choices. It looks like St. George will be the one. However, we have a lot on our plate at the moment and I just don't know if training for a full Ironman will be doable. Hopefully it doesn't sell out before I know if I will be able to put the time in to train for it. I figure I should have a better idea by the time January rolls around. As for the other races it looks like I'll go to Texas in April for either the Ironman Texas 70.3, or the HITS half-iron. The HITS race would probably be better prep for St.George if I can do that. After that it gets easier with actually having some quality races within driving distance by June.
In the mean time it looks like I'll be doing a lot of running races and some duathlons. Trail running is big up here, which I'm very excited about. That season starts in January and should be a lot of fun. I feel like if I have a root in running its trail running, it reminds me of when I was a kid and running around all over the mountains and desert. I absolutely love it, and I'm even getting the Ultra bug. I think I'd much rather do a 50k Ultra on the trail vs. a marathon on the road. Just seems a lot more exciting.
Suffice it to say, I'm excited in general at the moment. Lots of good things going on, and only good things to come. My body feels really good and strong and ready to bring on the miles. My goal here for the next month or so is to keep building to be ready for some serious training and make for an injury free year. I think we've got most of my weaknesses spotted and will be working on fixing those. I've got my first private Pilates session here in 30 minutes, should be fun. I've also been working hard in the weight room, and am finding some new ways to make that work for me. Base training is beginning too, and I'll begin a training plan in the next couple of weeks. Still just getting back into the swing of things at the moment, no regimented training yet, but glad to be on the move once more.

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving,
ff

time flies

2011-11-10T18:55:00.000-08:00

Its been a handfull of pretty days here by the Puget Sound. I think there's actually been more sun then rain in the last week, but with the time change we only have till about 430pm to enjoy it. I'm finally adjusting to being here and not wanting to sleep all of the time anymore, and I finally feel that motivation to train growing stronger. It seems like the more I workout the more I want to workout. The time off was nice, and working into it after the move has been helpful. This whole transition has been pretty smooth, but I guess thats the good thing about not being tied to down to a bunch of useless crap in one's life. I suppose it says something else about the nature of the change and that it was the right thing to do. Last week I got a little homesick for Austin. I miss my friends and family, and I miss all that the city has to offer. As big as it is here there just isn't a whole lot going on, or not much that I'm interested in. Yet, my life here is completely different, so looking for the same old things in some respects is pointless...i.e. no more single life. Not that I was into the bar scene or things like that, but living as a couple is much different than living as a single. Even still, being here makes me appreciate how much I enjoyed living in Austin. That being said, life is what you make of it no matter where you are. There is so much more here for me to see and do, and what I want to do now is prepare for next year.

One thing is for sure, I have much more at my disposal as far as having all of the things I need to improve, and I have an extra motivator to help me achieve my goals. I have an in-house Pilates/movement/flexibility/fix-all-of-my-imbalances specialist. She's already helped me a ton and I know she will keep adding to my program. I think the two of us together will be able to build me into a swimbikerun machine, or a much more high-performance machine. We've been working on my hips and IT bands, and I can already feel a major difference. I've always been an advocator of not just building your superficial muscles (pecks, quads, hammies, all of the big ones you see) and cardio, but keeping your stabilizing muscles and connective tissues (smaller muscles, tendons, etc.) healthy and strong as well. Thats one thing we as athletes probably overlook quite a bit. We do our work on the road and in the water, but few of us get it done in the gym, and an even smaller few of us get past that.
I've enjoyed that part of being here quite a bit. Its nice to have someone who will work with you on your endeavors. I can't say that I have had that in the past. Sure a few came to races and cheered here and there, but no one has been in it with me before. Not everyone has the capabilities and experience either, thank you Crystal.
As I think of the reasons for leaving Austin that I had prior to actually going, and all of the changes that came with it once I did it, I'm so excited to see that a lot of what I had hoped for came to fruition. Its a big work in progress, and very little of it has to do with triathlon. We continue to move forward with work (yes, I do have a job I just don't do it a whole bunch...yet) and where to go from here. Somewhere sunny and warm hopefully. Going back to Austin is always enticing, but going somewhere new and different is equally so. I don't care where we go at this point as long as I can swim, bike and run in the SUN, and get to some races without breaking the bank I'm happy.

Cheers,
ff

I saw a see otter or something

2011-11-01T20:03:00.000-07:00

The weather isn't so bad. Its warmer when it rains then when its clear. I don't really mind it so much, but it almost got me the other day. It was nice and warm out, i.e. ~60 degrees, and I was getting ready to run in just shorts and a tee...then it started raining fairly hard so I had to take it inside to the treadmill. I stilll had a good run, actually, I had a great run. All of my runs here have been awesome. I don't know if its the lower altitude or what, but I've been feeling amazing during my workouts. I usually run every other day, and that probably had a lot to do with why I feel so good. Its nice to feel that way though. I keep adding a little more on to each run and the mileage is starting to build up nice and slow. I haven't been on the bike much due to a packing oversight (I forgot my pump), but I assume that will change soon (I got a pump). Went to the apartment "lap" pool the other day too. I put "lap" in quotation marks because its not exactly long enough for laps, its just a skinny pool thats just long enough for about 5-6 strokes or almost 3 breathes. Good news is there is an aquatic center across the street, so I'll be checking that out sometime this week. I haven't swam in almost a month.

I am enjoying the hills and the landscape quite a bit. Unlike a lot of people I really like running hills, the steeper and longer the better. Yesterday was a huge hill almost a mile long that headed down to the water. But for some odd reason someone decided to throw a big filet of salmon on the side of the road. I'm not sure how long it had been there but is was definitely a little past fresh. Nothing like having to draw in large breathes of dead fish smell, and it was the second dead fish I found on the sidewalk/walking path in the last 3 days. Mt. Rainier is still blowing my mind too. Its like a ghost that pops up out of nowhere every now and then. With the cloud cover you don't always see it, but its so damn big its a wonder why.

Lots of pretty leaves Sunday, and one giant leaf. Thats when we saw the sea otter swimming around just off the beach, or at least I think it was a sea otter. It was definitely some kind of sea mamal.

I'm still adjusting for the most part. The jet lag has finally worn off, and I'm starting to not want to sleep all day. Its been freggin cold the last few days, and the apartments only have these little tiny heaters in them...wtf? Seriously, its just one tiny little fan in the dining area thats no more than a space heater. It was 32 degrees this morning, talk about hard to get out of bed. I suppose it makes me appreciate our cats a little more as they like to come sleep on me, they're so warm. We're developing a nice symbiotic relationship though. They like to take naps, I like to take naps, they like to sit by me or on me, and we all like to be nice and warm. Kittays have a purpose, who knew?

Well, I've got the plan working in my mind for next year. Still don't know where exactly we're going to end up living. Seattle is pretty and all, but I don't think its going to be the place we want to stay. Either way I don't think it will affect my training plans to much. I just have to decide which races I want to do. It would be awesome to do Wildflower this year. No matter what I'll be traveling if I want to race in the spring. I'm hoping to be able to do Ironman Texas, but if we're going to be here St. George is much closer. Hmm, what to do?

Ooh, I finally drank some coffee. I chugged it too...it gets cold way to fast.

seattle day 7

2011-10-25T17:55:00.000-07:00

I've never been one to wait too long to act once my mind is made up, so once I decided to leave Texas it didn't take long to make it happen. The thought had been in the back of my mind for a few months, and in the matter of an instant, I knew it was time to leave. What has been funny, and somewhat surreal, is how natural all of this has felt. I've left before for this and that and never had a second thought knowing I would be home again at some point in the future, but as they say home is where the heart is and right now mine is here in Washington.

My first few days here were, of course, filled with rain. My first run last Friday was through the almost daily drizzle and mist. The day before in Texas I was running around in shorts and a t-shirt, and my run was shirtless in 80 degree temps. Much different then my wet and soggy 58 degree run here, but it wasn't really that bad. I even got kind of hot in my rain jacket, but didn't get completely soaked...just really damp. Its so funny the change and the realization that I'm in a whole new part of the world. Flying here in the plane watching the landscape change from brown and somewhat desolate to green and mountainous was interesting. I could see the patches of forest cut down for logging, was amazed by the half blown out Mt. St. Helens, and the shear size of a snow capped Mt. Shasta was breathtaking. As we decended into Seattle there stood a completely massive Mt. Rainier dwarfing the ranges around it and surrounded by a sea of white cloud tops that hung low over the coast. I can see it any time its fairly clear and it blows my mind every time. Once I get my other camera fixed I'll get some pics up.

Luckily, the last few days here have been really nice. The sun has been out and this place looks so completely different. Its still pretty, but the visibility is much greater and you can get a much better sense of where you are. I guess I arrived here at the right time of year. All of the trees are changing color so there are shades of orange and pink mixed in with all of the evergreens and it looks so pretty. I didn't do it justice with any of the photos I took with my phone, but you can kind of see it. The one thing I didn't think about was the landscape of this area. Sitting on this eastern edge of the Ring of Fire, the geology of this area creates a dramatic setting. My first ride today was an eye-opener (see the pic below). There is nothing but up or down here, and not big rolling hills like Texas, but steep and much larger hills. My 22 mile ride took a lot longer then normal, but I figure I'm gonna have some big legs and be one hell of a climber by the time next season starts. Its fun though and certainly much different then what I'm used to. The roads are nice and the scenery is nothing to complain about.

As for the city, I'm not sure how I feel about it yet. It reminds me qutie a bit of the Dallas/Ft. Worth metroplex, its freggin huge! I really had no idea it was going to be this big. Most of it seems just like any other large city, lots of chain restauraunts and retail stores, huge freeways and traffic, and everything else that goes along with all of that. There are parts of it that are unique and interesting, and I'm sure I'll find more things that I like as I get to know the area we live in better. I'm not much of a big city guy. Even Austin was starting to outgrow me, and it seemed to have all but lost its small town vibe. I still love it though and certainly miss it already. But this place has its perks, great roads to ride on, lots of running trails and parks, and I don't think I'll be getting tired of scenery any time soon.

(Pike Place Market)

The weather is going to take some getting used to. Its been hard not to sleep a lot. The few sunny days were nice because I knew it was time to get up when the sun came out. Other then those couple of days, its been constantly cloudy. You can never tell where the sun is, or what time it might be. It always looks the same no matter what time of day. Consequently, I've not been feeling like my usual self. I can see why everyone drinks so much coffee out here, its a necessity. I've been resisting as I'm not much of a coffee drinker...at all. I couldn't tell you the last time I drank any, but I think the next time may be coming soon. The mornings are cold and dark and you gotta have something to help you get going.

Just to give you an idea, the pic above is a diver who just got out of the Puget Sound. Its probably about 1pm, it had been raining on and off all day, but thats as bright out as it gets when its cloudy. Crazy, I've gone from one extreme to the other. But hey, change is good. I'm excited to experience this place and see what comes out of it. Well, the sunny days are over for the time being so I'm going to get my run in before it starts to rain once more. Maybe I'll have some coffee first.

Cheers,

1415.8 miles...and race report

2011-09-29T14:03:00.000-07:00

Sometimes a trip is more then just a trip, its a journey. This past week was definitely something that I will remember for a long time to come. The previous two weeks going into this race week was tough. I worked a lot, didn't get much of a taper, and was consequently exhausted. I left for New Mexico on Thusday feeling tired and not sure about what kind of race I was going to have. My hope was to make good time on the 700 mile drive so I could get there and get rested. The drive itself was pretty interesting. I went from a sun parched and burned out Texas Hill country to a moderately green high desert in west Texas and southern New Mexico. The air kept getting cooler the farther away I moved from Austin and our 100 degree heat. It was a welcomed change. I made it to my grandparents place in New Mexico at a decent hour after a short stop in El Paso to pick up some tacos and a couple hitchhikers.

At this point this trip became a lot less about racing and more about something else. I don't know how to explain a lot of it without becoming too personal, but I'll do my best to describe it. This past year has been tough, and I learned a lot, but I still didn't know where my life was going. I always trust that God will provide the answers, its just hard to wait for them when you're ready to go. But thats what faith is, believing in something that isn't always readily apparent. I went to New Mexico expecting to see my family, race, and have a good time. And I did, but I also came home with a whole bunch of answers about whats next for me. Its crazy, and exciting, and I can't believe what I'm about to do next, but its time to shake it up a little bit. The only thing I ever wanted for my life was for it to be interesting and I certainly haven't failed there.

Come race morning I felt completely relaxed. In the days leading up I had the worry in the back of my mind that I would not do well just because I was so tired. But as the days went on that worry faded. The race didn't matter so much only because I knew it would take care of itself. I slept well, got up early, had a little breakfast and made my way down to the race site. I've never felt so peaceful and focused the morning of. Everything just clicked like it was on autopilot. Plenty of time for transition set-up and pre-race poo's, a little meditation, and a nice swim warm-up. The weather was perfect, I had a ton of support, and I couldn't ask for a better day to do a triathlon.

Then bang! Its go time. We started in a large wave down a narrow chute, so I knew I had to get out fast to avoid getting beat to death in the middle of the pack. It worked out well, but it was still pretty rough. The coarse was a T shape with a bunch of turns and lots of bouys that didn't belong to the coarse, so it was difficult to navigate. I quickly fell into a good rhythm and it didn't really take too much to get out front, which kind of surprised me. However, there were a lot of guys banging around in the water and I was hoping it would string out soon. The fast swimmers started pulling away by the second turn, so when we got to the back stretch I could see a small pack out front with a few stragglers between me and them. Somehow I ended up towing a group behind me that made my swim a lot tougher. One guy in particular just kept pulling on me and pushing me down. He was a pretty big dude and I couldn't get away from him. I guess he was dead set on staying in my draft. I had another on my feet that I kicked a few times, but he wasn't really a problem. Its just weird having someone touching your feet while you're swimming. Still, the other guy was making my life hell, I kept thinking "I'm gonna punch this fool when we get out of the water." By the end of the swim I was exhausted from both the fighting to with the guys around me and the 4000ft. of extra altitude.

I remember the last time I did this race how disoriented I felt when I got out of the water. As tired as I was it was not near as bad despite the quarter mile run up the sand to T1. No smiles for my family and friends either, and I'm not sure I really ever saw any one I knew. I had some serious tunnel vision on, but I managed to have a fast transition and got on to my bike relatively quickly. Coming out of T1 was a steep little climb up to the highway. I was huffing and puffing hard core trying to get my legs going. Often times when I come out of the water I have a little burning in my legs as they start to get their rhythm. This day would be whole other story. And normally I catch my breath in a few minutes, but like I said...a whole other story was about to unfold.

A couple of miles in a young college guy caught me and we traded spots back and forth for a while. Finally, about 5-6 miles in I started getting my bike legs. I passed that kid on one of the climbs and started to move pretty good. We were closing in on a lot of other guys and I started to feel stronger. From then on I kept moving up reeling one in after another on the 5 mile climb up to the desert plateau. My legs were still on fire like I've never really felt before. I was guessing that it was the lower oxygen, but I was pushing pretty hard and really sucking wind the whole time. My mind was relaxed though, and I was doing my best to enjoy the coarse as it is very pretty. I clicked through the first 13 miles in 47 min. well under a 20mph average. The road was rough as hell and there was a lot of climbing, and it was just very taxing.

Finally, we peaked out and made the turn back to town. I kept the pressure on hoping got pick up a few more spots. I figured at this point there was no reason to conserve for the run. The road back was much better and fairly flat till we turned off to a small road leading back to the highway into town. I was hauling ass staying right around 26-28mph, but so were the guys in front of me. I was slowly making up some ground, but once we turned and hit the fast curvy downhill it was strung out till we hit T2. i

I was glad to get off the bike and yet not very excited to run. My lower back and legs were getting really tired by the time I hit transition and I didn't think I would have much for the run. Fortunately I had a little motivator to get me going. The guy I was battling against at the beginning of the bike turned out to be right behind me as we left T2. I laughed and told him I thought I'd lost him, but he said he was doing all he could to keep up. We started out together on the run, and I was doing all I could to keep up with him at that point.

A couple of guys on relay teams caught us by the end of the first mile which consists of about three quarters of a mile of hilly sandy running with a super steep climb up the hardtop. I made sure not to walk at all and to try and stay with my running partner. At the top there was an aid station and I took a second to catch my breath and get some water and gatorade. When I started to get it going again I felt much better. I pulled up to the relay runners and began to push the pace. Soon enough we dropped the younger guy and they eventually dropped me as we climbed up from the first dam. I felt okay, my legs were hurting, but I was keeping a good pace. I was happy to be moving in the 6min mile range because I felt like I was running 8's. The run coarse was just as tough as the bike, with a long climb up to the turn around. But I was making good time and picking up spots slowly but surely. After the turnaround I felt a lot better then I thought I would. It went by quick, so I just focused on the next runner in front of me. He was up quite a ways, but I knew I could catch him. It took me another mile, and I started to put some distance on the guys that were catching me on the way up. I also started to close the gap on the relay runners too. All I could think about was finishing though. I caught one more guy before the final mile in the sand, which was a little on the painful side. Bombing down that steep hill I was doing all I could to keep upright, and my poor quads were not happy, but I pushed it in and was so happy to cross that line.

I could hear my family off to my right but I just floated on for a minute or two in my exhaustion. It took me a few minutes to acknowledge that the rest of the world was still there. Its funny to think how much I withdraw inside myself when I'm racing. This one in particular was a fight. I can't even begin to tell you all the things I was telling myself to get through it. I don't really remember. But I went and found a shady spot to sit, and after a couple of more minutes I was fine.

It was a great day, I felt good about what I did. I didn't race with a watch except for my GPS on the run, so I had no idea what my total time was. I knew that I was close to the front, and that I probably at least placed. I was extremely pleased with the effort I was able to put in, and I pulled out a good run after a tough swim and bike. I would say without a doubt it was the toughest olympic distance race I've done. The results posted and I was second in the AG and 16th overall not counting the three relay teams that beat me, and only one minute slower than when I raced this same coarse in 2009. But if you add the extra time for T1 because of a much longer run up from the water I was actually almost the same. I had a faster swim and run this year, and was less than a minute slower on the bike. And the swim coarse on this one was definitely long, but I swam about that far off coarse last time too. So for 10 months off, a month of training followed by three weeks of sickness and losing 8 pounds, to come out and do what I did in less than 5 weeks is awesome. I think its just the tip of the iceberg though. I believe now that I can really come out and do some damage next year.

All that being said its time for a change. I'll be moving on from these parts here in the very near future, so no Longhorn 70.3 for me this year. I'm happy with what I've done and satisfied with my season even though it was only two races. A huge thankyou to my mom, my sis and nephew, Valerie and Louie, and Robin and Walter for coming out to support me and watch me race. Thank you to Crystal and Elsie for coming to visit and big thankyou to Crystal for stretching me before and after the race and for all the raceday pics. And a very special thankyou to my wonderful grandparents for being such gracious and generous hosts to all of us for the weekend. I had a great time and I'll see you soon.

Laziness

2011-09-12T16:01:00.000-07:00

(Mrs.P's Electric Cock on S.Congress)

Every now and then its good to be lazy, and today is one of those days where I've been completely lazy. I slept in, woke up, ate breakfast and lunch, slept some more...and thats about it. Got a couple of things to do, but they don't require a whole lot of energy. I'm not gonna lie though, I kind of feel like running, but I'm going to make myself chill. I put in a good week last week and at least one full day of recovery is needed even if you don't feel like it. Actually, I'm still a little sore. I think its just a compulsion to do something at this point versus a feeling like I'm bursting with energy. This next week of training should be fairly intense. Its my last full week of training before I go into a recovery week, and then go time!
A lot of good things going on right now. My fitness keeps jumping up rather quickly. I was able to put a lot of miles in last week, both on the bike and running. I think my training plan is working out well so far. I also jumped on the scale and got a surprise. The weight that was coming back so slowly is now all back. My efforts to keep the calories up, eat healthy, and eat at the right times has really made a big difference. I'm still looking to gain some as I think it will help with my swim and bike. I feel like a few more pounds of muscle in the right places will give me that extra push. I was worried for a little bit there though, I didn't think I was going to fill up my wetsuit for this race. It should be nice and snug now, not that I would know since I have yet to wear it amidst this summer of hot death. The hundred degree weather is back too. Hopefully this is the last of it.
After last week I began to wonder which race to do in New Mexico. I really, really wanted to do the half iron distance. This will be the first year they have it, and its going to be a beast of a coarse. I know those roads pretty well and its definitely going to be one of the thougher half iron races in the country. Lots of climbing on the bike, and a run coarse thats going to put the hurt on a lot of people. I hope this race gets bigger as it goes on, I would like to see what some higher level pros could do on it. But, as I was saying, I decided to opt for the olympic distance. I figured doing the half would probably put a serious beatdown on my body, and I would be forced to spend some extra days recovering instead of getting ready for the Longhorn 70.3. Plus, I might be able to put up a good fight at the shorter distance and come away with a medal. Whereas, I would only be trying to finish the half and I'm just not mentally capable of having that mindset of just "finishing."
I'm enjoying all of this little bit of triathlon season as it is for me. Its good to be healthy and relatively injury free. I've learned a lot about making a training plan for myself and pushing my body in the right ways. This heat has forced me to do things differently too. I've had to make indoor workouts count a lot more, and I often end up with a lot of night time runs, which is nothing new to me and I honestly love to run downtown at night. Not a lot of other big cities you can do that in and then go eat some fried chicken made in a trailer, thanks Austin.

ff

no more hundred degrees please!

2011-09-06T18:56:00.000-07:00

I hope this terrible summer of hot death is over. Seriously, it has been the hottest summer ever recorded here in Austin, but it wasn't as draining on me as the now 2nd hottest summer ever in 2009. That makes three of the last 5 years all record breaking HOTTEST SUMMERS EVER!! Eff that. Eighty days (may or may not be more or less then 80, I lost count at 73) over a hundred degrees can suck it. I thought it was nice out Sunday at 102, but yesterday 91 and today 95. It feels like freggin spring time. And I don't know if it was the temperature drop or what, but I had a badass workout today. I also got some new shoes, and some new shorts...warrior shorts.
What are warrior shorts you ask? They are moderately super short shorts with the splits up the side of the leg, and yes...I went there. I went there without underwear today too, just the netting. Only one word describes that feeling, Freedom. Freedom, like a bald eagle soaring through the clear blue skies of these great United States of America. I'll try to get a pic up soon, and I may or may not be wearing underwear with my warrior shorts. We'll take a pole (pun intended) of how many people think I am sans hanes or not.

I was rollin free in the above pic too during our three day stay at the beach. Thats about the only reason that pic is up, it has nothing to do with the rest of this blog. Well, I wanted to show Texas has nice beaches too. I didn't see any oil or hazrdous materials either. They said it was an exceptionally good week though.
But, yeah...today was awesome. I had an hour long easy swim followed by a ten mile run. They both went really well. I reckon it was the lower temps, but I was moving pretty well for my easy day. Much better then the suffer-fests I endured the last couple of weeks. It was definitely triple digits during all of my runs last week, and pretty much every week this summer for that matter. I felt great afterwards too. It makes me excited to be able to workout at any time of day now. Anything under 100 degrees I can handle no problem. Hopefully we don't see any more of those days.
Yesterday, however, was another story. I had 2.5 hours on the trainer planned. I went to the Redbox and got me some movies, and prepared to have as much fun on the anti-freedom machine (thats what I call the trainer) as possible. Anything to make the time pass. It was to no avail though as I only made it an hour. I was extremely fatigued for some reason. Work kicked my butt this weekend, so I suppose it finally caught up to me.

Last week went really well, even the workouts I had over the weekend. I guess I just needed sleep Monday. Friday I finally hit one of my long time goals. I do a trail run up the greenbelt thats a couple miles from my place every now and then. The turnaround point at the top is a very long, rocky, steep hill that I have never topped. I like to do 6min intervals up this little canyon. Most of the way up is a gradual climb with some technical bits here and there. Its a lot of fun, till you hit the end and have to make that climb. I always time out before I make it to the top, and the last couple of times I thought I was close I turned the corner to only see more steep trail and rocks. I started to believe it was never ending. So Friday I was doing mile intervals, instead of 6min, as I'm still slower than before, but I hit the bottom of that hill just as I was starting my fourth mile. I decided nothing was going to stop me and started making my way up. My legs were burning after about 2 min, and I was not yet halfway. There just happens to be no shade there either, so I was feeling the full force of the one hundred and whatever degree it was heat. I made to the highest point I had previously and still had a ways to go. I kept it moving though, and I finally made it to the top. Victory! Painful sweet victory. I think it took me a little over 6min to make it up ~.7 miles. I'm not sure, I didn't want to look at my watch.

I had some breakthroughs swimming Sunday also. I hit my fastest set of 400's ever too. Not by much, but it was definitely an improvement. I was tired and almost opted for a nap before the swim, but I figured I might not make back out if I went home, so I went to the pool and got it done. Glad I did. It ended up being a huge confidence booster.

I'm very pleased with how training is going. Especially considering the struggles after being sick. It makes me wish I had been able to go with my original plan when I started training this summer. I don't think I ever wrote it on the blog since I wasn't sure what I was going to be capable of after 10 months off, and there is always something that might come up; injury, sickness, what have you. But I had hoped to be doing Ironman Cozumel at the end of November. I had 5 races planned; Marble Falls, the Austing Tri, a half iron in New Mexico, the Longhorn 70.3, and then Cozumel. I wasn't sure if I could do it, even if things went well, but I wanted to try. Like I said in my last blog, "shit happens." I'm still excited though. I missed the Austin Tri, and now I will be doing a modified Olympic in New Mexico instead on a very tough coarse, and then I'll end it with the Longhorn. I feel like I most definitely could have been ready for Cozumel though. But I'll be happy with two more good races, both of which I did in 2009 with my most consistent and focused year of training. If I can get anywhere near what I did in 09' this year I'd call that a successful season. Of coarse, I still hope to do better. And I'm not gonna lie, I still think Cozumel is within the realm of possibilities. I mean, its almost 3 whole months away. Thats some craziness though. We'll see.

it never gets...any...easier

2011-08-31T09:34:00.000-07:00

This just has not been my year, neither was last year, but what are you gonna do? As they say, "shit happens." After my very pleasing return to racing at Marble Falls I took it easy for a few days the following week before I started working towards my next goal. Unfortunately, the week after that I became very sick. I knew I was possibly cathching a cold or something, gave myself a rest for a couple of days, started to feel better and hit it pretty hard the next day and I was done. By the end of that night I felt terrible. My fault for not giving myself more time maybe, but then I really got sick. Its so rare that I even catch a cold that I didn't expect to catch a full on flu.
The last time I felt that bad was when I caught pnuemonia in boot camp. It was towards the end, just before the Crucible, but there was no way in hell I was going to tell anyone and be held back another six weeks. So for about 5 days I felt like walking death. I was sweating profusely all through the nights, and barely dragging myself around during the day. I don't know how I did it or how the drill instructors didn't notice. I lost about ten pounds that week. Luckily, I got better before the Crucible started and made it just fine throught the rest of boot camp.
This stupid flu really took it out of me though. I missed work for the first time since 2004, and my recovery did not come so quickly. I ended up with some kind of infection afterwards, but didn't know it immediately. I thought maybe it was just allergies starting up. I didn't feel like I was sick anymore, but I didn't feel good either. I was fatigued all of the time, I had no appetite, and I really had no clue what was wrong. When I tried to workout I had no energy, it was strange and everyone started telling me I had mono. Due to my general stubborness towards going to the doctor it was almost two weeks before I caved and went in. There are only two reasons I ever go to the doctor; one is something is broken that I can't fix, and two is I'm dying. I thought I could wait whatever was wrong with me out if I just took care of myself, but that wasn't happening so in I went. They gave me some antibiotics and some other stuff and sent me on my way. After a few days and a trip to the beach I felt better. So in total I missed three whole weeks of training, lost 8 pounds (that I didn't have to lose), and still felt like poo.
I resumed a full schedule of training last week after working myself back into it the week before. It feels like I'm starting all over again, like that month of training in July didn't happen. It sucks, and it put a big kink in my racing plans for the fall. I am no longer doing the Austin Tri, which isn't a big deal to me. Thats not my favorite race in the world, but it is fun, and I would rather be doing it. I was planning a half iron at the end of September in New Mexico, and I think thats out. They have a shorter race, so I'll probably still do that. For a while I was hoping to still do the half, but after last week I don't think I'll be ready. I had worked up a crazy training plan to make it to the half, but with the weight loss I lost a lot of strength that I've really felt during my workouts.
My plan is now to be ready for a this modified olympic distance race in NM, and finish with the Longhorn 70.3 in October. Barring any unforseen craziness it should be doable. I'm still eager to race and test myself. I've got the plan written out so why not see what I can do?
Despite all of my bitching here there are good things that have come out of this. I'm not someone who believes in excuses. Things happen, thats life. This is what has happened to me. Its the kind of person we are and what we do with the obstacles that are placed in front of us that determines the outcomes. Its a choice. "Do or do not, there is no try." -Yoda.
I guess I realized some things too, and made some decisions. I decided I could be eating a lot healthier, and a whole lot more. Not that I was eating poorly, but perhaps I could do better, more fuits and veggies, eating at better times...that sort of thing. That could have saved me from getting sick. I think the main thing thats has come out of all of this for me is a mindset. I have roughly 5 weeks to get ready for this next race. How much can I do in those 5 weeks? How much can I improve? I've gotten by on physical talent alone more often then not. Since high school I have had that feeling of "I coulda been..." I hate that. Thats not to say I haven't worked hard, because I have, but if I'm going to do the things I want to do then I have to work a whole lot harder. I want my Vegas slot, I want my Kona slot, and I don't want to just get to the world champs, I want to get there and win. With that comes a whole lifestyle that I wasn't fully embracing. There are a lot of people a whole lot more talented then me out there, so thats one more thing I have to keep in mind. This isn't just a plan for the next couple of months, its for the long term. These things take time. I've got a lot of miles on my body and a lot of training under my belt, and the best is yet to come.
I've been talking about finding balance between training and the rest of life for a while now. The truth is I have that, its just that the scales tip more in one direction then another. I have my good times with my friends, but more often then not I'd rather get to bed and wake up early to train then have beers and party all night. Some people understand that, some don't. Just like some people have the ganas to chase their dreams, others don't. Maybe God has another plan for me, I don't know, haven't figured that out yet. In the mean time this is the way I'm going to go. Maybe I make it, maybe I don't, but I believe I can. I know my body will come around here pretty quickly. I'm not sure what kind of shape I'll be in for these next couple of races, but I'm hoping to surprise myself.

ff

Marble Falls

2011-07-18T14:27:00.000-07:00

Sorry, no pics as of yet. Just the race report. Well, recovery week leading into the race went as planned. I put in some long miles Monday and Tuesday and toned it down quite bit for the rest of the week. Had a little bit of speed work to shake out some cobb webs, and that was a little scary. Felt kind of rusty, especially in the pool. No worries though, I was extremely excited to be racing again. Saturday morning was fun, I did a long run with my track kids, and when it came time to pick it up I had to put the hurt on the high school boys. Not to shabby, they're fast so I couldn't play around if I wanted to make them work. So maybe I over did it a little bit. It was worth it. I think some sparks got lit up in a couple of brains about putting in the mileage. Hopefully a fire gets going.
I was good last week though. I ate well, got to bed on time, and made sure to be in a well rested state by Sunday. The morning started early, about 4 am and I was up and ready to go. Made it out to the race as planned and everything went pretty smoothly. No late check in to transition or anything like that. I seem to be 50/50 about cutting it too close when I'm racing near home. Did the usual swim warm up and stretch. Had a little bit of nerves, but for the most part I felt great. Even had the proper number of poo's.
Before I knew it it was go time. I started the swim right in the middle of the line, which can be a little rough. It always seems to be that way no matter what. Lots of bodies banging around in a confined space all trying to find their own way through the water gets a little chaotic. It was rough for about the first 200m, but then it strung out rather quickly. The guys always do the same thing; they go super hard trying to get out and then fade as the race goes on. I did my best to stay on line and tried to find someone to swim with, which I did after the first buoy. I was swimming side by side with this guy for a while and couldn't pass him, so I settled on his feet for a spell. It worked out, I caught a little break for a minute or two and then moved by him. At that point he drifted off course and fell behind, so I don't know what happened to him. I had already lost the front pack, but I wasn't thinking I could hang with them on this day any way, so I just continued with my game plan and began trying to pick it up through the second half of the swim. I didn't feel like I was swimming fast, but I felt like I was swimming strong if that makes sense. I felt in control, and my stoke was smooth. I started passing guys and moving up little by little and made a good kick the last 200m.
Coming out of the water was a little shaky. It caught me off gaurd and I didn't have my normal get to T1 urgency. There was a minute or two when my mind was a semi-foggy as I began to run up the hill to transition. I heard my mom's voice, and saw her, but it didn't register in my brain till I was half way up the hill. I think thats what snapped me out of the haze and I was in and out T1 very quickly. I even had nice flying mount onto the bike and was overcome by my usual happiness to be out of the water.
I set my sites on the guys ahead of me and began the arduous climb out towards the highway. This is the fourth time I've done this race and every time I forget how tough this bike coarse is. I've always been a good climber on the bike, but for some reason giant rolling hills don't suit me very well. Maybe its because I like to be in a rhythym and the hills make it hard to do that, I don't know, but this coarse kicks my butt every time. I passed a few guys early, but after that I think as many guys passed me as I passed. I did battle back and forth with one guy for about two thirds of the coarse. He was one of the guys that I passed early on but he kept surging ahead. He looked like he was about to break every time I passed him. I think he was hooking on and drafting every guy that passed by for as long as he could. It was pissing me off, as there were certainly some drafting rules being broken out there which drives me crazy. But every time the coarse flattened out (relatively speaking because at no point is it flat), or we hit a longer climb, I would pass him back up. I tried to make it stick, but as previously stated, he was managing to catch up. He passed me one more time after the turn around, and it took me a little while to overtake him, but I never saw him again after the last pass I made. It was a rolling decent back to town and I did my best to keep the hammer down all the way back. Only a few more people passed me or caught me after that, but I made up a lot of ground on the way back, and no one that passed me at that point got away from me. I ended up taking a few more positions back by the end of the ride.
T2 also went smoothly. Coming off the bike I was so excited to run. I had been feeling the niggle of a side stitch throughout the ride, but I was working pretty hard and stayed right at my threshold the whole time so I didn't think much of it. I was wondering how well I was going to be able to run, and how much my legs were going to have in them.
Running out of T2 I felt pretty sluggish all over. It only took a minute for my legs to start feeling better, but my insides felt terrible. I felt like my gut was about to split open. The stitch was there, but the pain was something else. Not really like cramps, it just hurt. I decided to keep picking up my pace as my legs kept feeling stronger and stronger, and in my mind I just tried to relax. I almost heaved a few times, but I didn't slow down. I just put it in my head that it would sort itself out and I just had to focus on breathing and letting my body loosen up. After about the first mile I was feeling slightly better. Meanwhile, I just started picking people off. I set my sites on the person in front of me and ran them down, one after another, next target. My near vomitting continued throughout the run unfortuneatly. After the two mile mark I finally felt like I had my run legs and started to push as hard as my body seemed to want to let me. I was determined to keep passing people even as the gaps between had stretched out.
The last guy I passed was quite a ways in front of me. I don't know if he heard me or what, but he happened to look back and see me gaining on him and he started to run harder. This was in the last mile and a half and the part that pleased me the most. I think last year I might have settled and let him go, but this time I made myself push forward and see how much more I could do. I caught him in about half a mile, he tried to stick with me, but I think he was already at the limit. With less then a mile left, and wanting to make the pass stick for good I kept on picking the pace up. I rounded the corner for the last half mile and nearly folded in half from a terrible cramp in my side. I came to a momentary pause and dug my thumb into my side to press it out and started to run again only to have to stop and walk. The cramp pulled tight again and I thought, "Nooo, not now!" I could hear that guys foot steps coming and an older gentlemen just starting his run yelled out to me "its the last half mile, come on!" I was kind of laughing to myself at the situation and began to run again before this guy caught me. I dug my thumb as deep as I could and squeezed hard as I began to try to go faster. Soon enough the cramp eased up and I ran the last few minutes to the line putting some distance on mu pursuer.
I was happy, damn happy with that race when I crossed that line. I had no idea what my time was or what my splits were due to the death of my watch just before the swim start. It was probably a good thing because it let me just focus on effort, and I was very pleased with the effort I was able to put forth. I felt like I stayed right at my limits the whole time not knowing if I would be able to or not, or what that was going to look like. I wish my gut had been feeling better because I know had I been feeling tip-top I could have laid down a better run. How much better I'm not sure, but it could have been a little faster. Still, with the amount of pain and cramping that was happening it was a good tough run.
The results, 21st overall, 4th or 5th in the age group. Not sure about the latter. There were some pro/elite level guys out there too. Any one with their name on their butt is probably going to be pretty fast and there were a few of them out there. Time was 1:50 and change. So earlier this week I decided not to look at any of my previous results. The last time I raced here was 2009, two weeks after my first half iron at Buffalo Springs. I would have assumed I was in way better shape at that point, but I only went 1:48 and change then. So, I was a minute and half, almost two minutes slower. Not to bad. The swim is where most of the difference is, but I think less then a full minute. The bike and run were only slightly slower.
I am very excited about how this race went. There are some things I need to work on, but nothing I didn't already know. The only question I have is why I felt so nasty during the run. Maybe I ate to much the day before, maybe it was my breakfast, I don't know. I think part of it was not replacing the salt I had lost the day before running and not consuming any the day of. I have yet to face this problem in training, so it has remained a mysterey to me. I'll just have to monitor my food intake more closely. I feel like thats where the problem is more then likely.
The rest of the day was awesome. Big thanks to my mom for coming out and supporting me, it always helps to have a cheerleader and someone to buy me a delicious breakfast afterwards. Thank you Brian and Jessica for your post race entertainment and a wonderful lunch. I had a good time, and I will get your name situation sorted out soon. And finally thanks to Khanh and Janet for a great time out at the lake and yet more food, it was a ton of fun and the meat was superb;)

cheers suckas!
ff

butterflies

2011-07-15T19:04:00.001-07:00

So, I'm a little nervous about racing Sunday. Its been a while...almost a year. I can't even believe that. I've said it a few times not really thinking about how much time that actually is. I had a nine month layoff from training. Thats a really long time. Considering I started doing this in 2005, and had been training consistently year round up until September of last year, its pretty amazing to me have that much time away from the sport. Every year I gave myself a post season break, but after a few weeks off I kept some level of training going afterwards. I usually kept running at the very least, and did some off season weight training. This past year there were periods of time when I just wasn't able to do anything. My feet not being in great shape kept me from running, and I didn't do much to make them better. They are almost fully healed now, the plantar fasciitus is all but gone. And I stayed off the bike completely for almost six full months. I rode sparingly, meaning no more then five times total from March till a month ago. I did go through periods of swimming three to four times per week, but not consistently for more then 3 weeks at a time. It was definitely the most innactive period of time for me since my early 20's.
All that being said, I have been training well. This first block went pretty good. I'm pleased so far, and we'll put it all to the test on Sunday. I feel strong, I've kept my weight up, and have developed a lot of good habits that I didn't have before. The first race of the year is always the most nerve racking. I'm usually nearing the end of a base phase and don't have any speed work under by belt, but I know that I'm fit and have the miles in me to put in a good race. This year I don't know. I didn't do a base phase. I've changed up the way I train quite a bit. I don't like feel like a different person, but I feel like a different kind of athlete. I feel more like I did in high school, not really worried about numbers and strategy. At some point in the last couple of years I feel like I lost the racer I was. Sure I was competitve, but I think I became more worried about improving on my own times. More then anything I think I got comfortable. I was finishing races not being tired. I started thinking in the back of my mind that perhaps I trained harder then I raced. I was finishing well, but not having the races I believed I was capable of, especially last year. I settled into paces that were not at the limit of my abilities, I became conservative.

Its different now, for whatever reason. I guess the step away from triathlon did me good. I haven't really pushed it too hard in training yet, but have hit some race efforts. This month was more of a work into it and see where your at phase. After this race I'll really start to go to work. But the efforts I hit and sustained this month did surprise me. My mentality doing it is whats changed. I can't even explain it. Something seems to be clicking that wasn't before. Maybe its this; previous years I knew what I could do, I expected to hit certain numbers and I did, and perhaps I did only what I expected. I liken it to putting a governor on a race car. These days I don't have a clue what I'm fully capable of, I just want to go as hard as I can and see where that gets me. Its become even more fun and enjoyable for some reason. I guess I just quit worrying so much about things. Again, I'm not really sure what it is, but I like it.
Tomorrow morning I have to get up and run with my kids. I have yet to run with them this year. Normally, I do some track workouts with them, but me being out of shape most of this season I didn't really give it a shot. They probably would have kicked my butt. Not now though. Its good for my older boys to know that old Coach Frank can still run and put it on em' when they get cocky. I talk a lot of trash, so I have to back it up now and then. Plus, it helps them to know that I know what its like to compete and the things I say might carry a little more weight. That being said its going to be hard not to race them tomorrow morning. We're doing a long run down at town lake, and I know the last two miles might get a little fast. Should be fun though...I just hope I can hold myself back if they do want to see what they're made of. Probably not, I can't let them beat me.

I'm excited. I'm not sure how race ready I am as of yet but there is only one way to find out. The swim and the run worry me the most. I have not been swimming as much as I've been trying to make more headway on the bike and run, so I may suffer there. The bike is the thing I feel like I usually do the best at effort wise, its the most familiar to me, so I expect to be able to lay down all I have on that part. I'm not even going to worry about what that will do to my run. My only goal is this; to run as hard as I can. I'd rather blow up and trot in then run conservative and not be tired when I cross the line. That would be the only disappointment I would feel. I want to find that limit. Its going to hurt, and for some stupid reason I hope it does. I hope it hurts a lot. But I feel good, I feel like I'm going to have a good race too. Yeah, I already know its going to be a good day. I'm going to finish it off with a nice evening at the lake with my homies. Maybe I'll take a little jump off a large cliff. Maybe not, I don't think theres enough water in the lake for that.

Any who, good luck to anyone else racing this weekend. Have fun, race hard, train hard, live hard, whatever you do do it hard. Make it count. Make it a memory worth having.

I don't wanna

2011-07-11T14:52:00.000-07:00

I'm not gonna lie, it was extremely hard to get out of bed this morning. Its kind of been like that all week, and I didn't really get as much training done as would have hoped for, but still got some quality time in none the less. Had way to much fun this week, and for some reason sleeping just wasn't working out for me. So last night I decided to get to bed early. I was tired and was doing my best to wait till the sun was down at least. I did, and I probably crashed out around 930-10. I watched Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind beforehand and I'm not to sure that was a good idea. You'd get it if you've seen the movie.
Today I had hoped for an early rise and wanted to get out on the road before the heat of the day. I woke up around sunrise, decided that was too early and slept in a little more. Bad idea. I woke up a few hours later feeling groggy and cranky. I had a long ride planned for today, but my nasty mood was telling me otherwise. I went through several different ideas of how else to get my training done...the other options were less then appealing. Spending a few hours on the trainer seemed even more oppressive then the heat. Knowing just getting off my butt and getting on the road would probably get rid of my reservations I got ready and headed out around 930.
The idea was to do a nice little 40 mile cruise. I haven't ridden any farther then that in almost a year. Over the last few weeks I've been feeling pretty good on the bike, and more often than not, end up going over the planned mileage for the day. I just want to keep riding, but as I've said before, I'm trying to be smart about this whole thing and not overdo it. Well, 40 turned into 50 very easily today. Seeing how it was nice and windy this morning when I left I decided to cut across the south wind and take the most east west route I could think of. That didn't really work out either. The wind whips around in different directions depending on where you are, especially out in the hill country. But, I didn't care to much. I just tried to keep in mind that I'd be facing a stiff head wind on the way home no matter which way I went since going south is not option from where I live.
I got out on the road, the day was nice and cloudy, and before I even realized it my crappy mood was gone. I started out climbing up the hills of 360 and the rollers out to Bee Caves. I turned north up 620 and got it in my head that it would be nice to go take a dip in Lake Austin just below the dam where the water is nice and cool. I underestimated just how much farther that would be, and I was hauling ass thanks to the nice tail wind and some long fast decents, so thats where my 40 turned into 50.
The lake was awesome though. The water was very cool and much cleaner at the top versus how it is at the bottom closer to the city. I had been thinking it would be a nice place to do some open water swimming, but not when its 25 miles from my place. I thought it was closer. Good to know for the future I suppose, its definitely a good hang out and play in the water for the day spot. Leaving the lake was a nice long climb back home. I stopped and had a smoothie in Lakeway today which was a first. I noticed the place on the way out and thought it might be a good idea if was feeling hungry on the way back. My stomach was rumbling after my brief swim, and what was supposed to be around a two hour ride was beginning to look a lot more like a three hour ride. The smoothie did the trick. Not to heavy, but just enough to quell the rumbling in my belly, and only a temporary brain freeze.

Hopefully I'll be racing this weekend at one of my favorite races, the Marble Falls Triathlon. I'm excited. I just hope I'll be able to make the late registration. Its a small race and generally not a problem to get into. Training is going well, and I'm finding I'm capable of doing much more then I intially thought I could. But racing is the only way to truly test that. So I might get torched, I might not. I don't know. Today felt really good, and I felt good afterwards. I've got another goal in the back of mind that I might try and make happen here in the next few months. Today was a good indicator of whether or not its a viable option. I'll post more on that later. I'm extremely happy to see my fitness is coming back so quickly. In another month or two I'll be dangerous. I'm going to get revenge at the Austin Triathlon thats for sure. Revenge on who I don't know, but I want the performance I deserve at that race. Unless I tear it up at the Marble Falls Tri I'll be racing age group and not open at the Austin Tri, but if I do I better get a medal and be in the top 20 overall. Well, top 20 might be a reach, but I'm saying it any way because thats what I want to do ;)

stay thirsty my friends,
ff

2 weeks down

2011-07-03T20:24:00.000-07:00

So I finally got a few pics uploaded. They're not the greatest pictures ever taken, but I think its nice to add a little color to the blog posts. Above is our South Austin Steel 4x800 youth girls relay (the four in the middle). We just had our AAU national qualifier meet this week in Converse TX, and I couldn't be more proud of what all of our kids did. Those girls there are some of the fastest 400m, 800m, 1500m, and 3000m runners in the country. I'm sure we'll be getting some medals at the National Junior Olymics this year. All of our runners performed well, and almost every single kid we coached that showed up to compete is going to be in New Orleans for Nationals. My numbers could be off, but of our 9 kids that compete in the distance and middle distance events(from the 400m to 3000m), they qualified for 18 places in their respective races with several golds and lots of podium finishes! Its just amazing what these kids did and Coach Smith and I could not be more excited or proud of them. They raced hard and blew the doors off the competition, and still kept their poise and sportmanship. They set PR's and were simply fantastic. It makes all this time and effort spent coaching them all that much more gratifying.

It was a heck of week for me though. Working late and getting up early to make it down to San Antonio took its toll on me. I managed to get a lot of good training in, but just couldn't keep up the pace with the lack of sleep and what not towards the end of the week. *Side note: I'll have to write a blog on doing stupid things, which is something else I seem to be great at.* Now that I'm thinking about it I really only missed one day and a couple of workouts...no big deal at this point. It was probably a good thing too as I just realized for the first time in two weeks I'm not sore any more. Thats a good sign that my body is starting to adapt to training once again. I had a great ride Saturday morning through the hills, wind, and this sweltering heat that doesn't seem to want to leave us. We need rain here in the worst way. After lunch with my mom we went down and had a good swim at Deep Eddy, and I'm so glad we did because I don't think I would have gotten out on my own. I was tired and looking for a nap right about then, so thanks to her for getting me to the pool.

This week I'm planning on implementing a little more speed into my training plan. The first two weeks I was really trying to build into the swim.bike.run again. I needed to see what I was capable of and how this new training methodology is going to work out. For the most part its going well and I'm seeing how its going to be beneficial. I have some tweeking to do and I have to adjust my own scheduled training times a little bit to account for the heat. My body still needs to acclamate, or at least as much as one can to 100 plus degree heat. I just have to get up earlier despite my deep rooted resistance to being an early riser.

Things are going well though, and I'm pleased overall with how I'm progressing. I can already see the difference in my body. One of the main things I'm focused on this go round is building good habits. That means not just the actual "training" part of training, but the rest of the lifestyle that goes with it. I think last year I was to light racing at 165-168lbs. I'd like to carry a little more weight this year, something closer to my natural weight, which is considerably more. I'm not too sure what that weight will be, but I'm guessing 7-10lbs more. We'll just have to see how it works out. The hardest part of that is consuming enough food on a daily basis. I do love to eat, but I do not always have the time to eat as much as I need to. I'll have to figure out how to make that happen.

The other habits are coming along as I make the effort to include them into part of my daily routines. Stretching has been one of the biggest parts of that. The most time I'd spend stretching before is 10min, but now its becoming more like 20-30min, and often times more than once a day. Its definitely helping me. My foot pain is almost completely gone, and its just good practice to keep it up to prevent injury and it will enhance performance as well. I've put that along with core work into my workouts knowing that once my ride, run, or swim is over my workout is not; that I still have more to do. That simple little change in mindset is making a big difference. I'm adding the weight room to that list as well, although it does not always include your traditional gym type workouts. I've added a lot of functional excersises, and other things to supplement what I'm already doing. I would like to add some yoga into that also, but that may have to wait for the next training block.

I've answered a lot of questions I had about how to go about this in the last few weeks. I still have a few, like which discipline is best for me to build my fitness around? At first I was thinking running, but now I'm leaning towards the bike. We all have things that we are better at in this sport. The trick is balancing the equation to get your best performance possible. We have to make our weaknesses become strengths, but at the same time we have to use the advantages we have. But I think I found the answer for me and how to do it. Even as I read through this post I realize it sounds like a lot, and it is, but thats the other thing...managing all this and a life as well. Thats another one of the intents I set out with as I developed my training plan. In years past once the season started I pretty much said good-bye to my friends, "I'll see you in October" was basically how it went. I'm keeping the balance in my life and making this work for me. The time I spend training is maximized and effective. I still have yet to race, but already I can tell this is going to work.

Hope everyone has a safe holiday weekend, and remember all the good things this country gives you this Independence Day. One more big congratulations to my South Austin Steel kids for all their hard work and effort.

patience and belief part 2

2011-06-28T15:02:00.001-07:00

Well, here is the second part of the blog. I got started last week and didn't have time to finish.

After one full week of training I now have a better clue of what I'm capable of. The good news is I'm not as slow as I thought I was, but I still have a long way to go. Every time I start training again I forget how hard it can be sometimes. But I always forget how much I love to do it. I often wonder if its as tough on others as it on me. Not just the physical part of it, but the part it plays in a person's life. I guess it depends on your personality.
Thats what I'm finding out, what I'm made out of I suppose. I knew heading into this that once I started it was going to take a lot of patience and a lot of belief. Patience knowing that I would not be as fast or strong, and belief that I will be soon enough. I went through this past year putting a lot on myself, expecting a lot, and doing my best to be successful. I've always been that way with everything I do. Thats one of the things I've struggled with in this sport. How much can I expect? Its been both a good and a bad thing. At times those high expectations drove me to achieve more, other times they were like a burden that weighed me down. But like with all expectations there is sometimes failure to achieve. I've done well so far, but have definitely faced my failures. Still, I learned from those failures. Yet, there is a different kind of failure to learn from. Its one thing to have to change a training plan, or a training methodolgy in order to improve one's performance. But its a whole other thing to change one's way of thinking. Winning races is just that, winning a race. What will that get you in the end?
I've changed my mindset, or perhaps its been changed for me. Last year I raced with a lot of emotion. I raced for others, for friends I lost, or family. I raced thinking of all of the things that I thought should drive me. The truth is they have nothing to do with it. They're all pieces of me, but this sport is mine. Its just for me. Running, swimming, riding, those things are all part of me. I'm best when I'm not thinking, when I'm just doing what I do...following my intuition. Last week I found that place in my mind that I had forgotten about, the place where nothing else exits and I'm solely focused on what I'm doing. I was doing a brick, looking for some race paced efforts thinking I would only be able to hold a modest pace on the run.
It went like this; first mile surprised me. It was faster then what I thought I could do, but I felt comfortable. I knew I could go faster and pushed the pace. 1.5 miles in I still feel comfy, moved it up some more, slightly increasing the pace till I hit 2 miles. Now I know I'm working, my goal was 3 miles or 21 minutes at race effort. I decided to let it go and put myself to the test dropping the pace 5:45, 5:30, 5:15, and finally 5:05 to hold on and finish.
It was the best feeling I've had in a long time. I did my cool down, smile on my face and a feeling of exhaultation. It was as though I had just excercised some demon.
Not all of my training has gone that way. Most of the days have been pretty tough. Yesterday was a test of will power. I had two workouts planned, the first one went well, but my evening run was a trial. I finished though, and it made today hard, but I still feel good. My body is sore, and my energy levels are up and down. I know its going to take a few weeks to really get back into the swing of the things. I just have to be smart not to overdo it. I'm still capable of putting in a lot of miles, but thats not the smart thing to do. Patience. I know my body, and I'll know how to increase the training load. I'm more prone to overdoing it than not doing enough.
I feel different though. Like some sheath of clarity is falling over me. I'm excited to train and get it done again. I haven't felt that way in a long time. I'm even prepared to go race and get my ass kicked. But I want to start winning again. It won't be any time in the next few months perhaps, but I will. I want to, but its not the only thing that drives me. I guess its just that, its part of who I am. I want to compete, I want to win, I want to train hard and live up to my potential more than anything else. I want to enjoy every bit of this. Words can't describe what this sport gives me and what it does for my life. Its funny to get emotional about it when so many people don't understand it, but who really cares? Just me.

train hard mi amigos,
ff

patience and belief part 1

2011-06-21T15:23:00.000-07:00

I can't even begin to describe all the things that have happened lately. Its been crazy to say the least, and I ended up second guessing myself a lot which is not something I've really ever done before. I couldn't make up my mind on what I wanted to do, and consequently lost all motivation to do much of anything. Luckily, someone gave me a good kick in the ass just when I needed it. Since then I've pulled myself back on track, or rather God gave me gentle nudge back in the right direction. It wasn't really that gentle, and some things got kind of ugly, but thats how it has to go sometimes. I'm better for it, and I believe my life will be too.

Last week's nastiness of moving now over I have no more excuses not to start training again. So last Sunday night I sat down and began writing out the new training plan. I've had all of these ideas floating around in my head for quite while now. Ways I could improve my training, prevent injury and get started. Truth be told, I had doubts about myself, what I could handle and how fast or slow I was going to be. I've been so fit and fast for so long, its hard to start again at the bottom. I'm not to sure what my body can do at this moment in time. I think in the past I set goals of how fast I wanted to be based on where I already was. My single focus was getting faster no matter what I needed to do to achieve that. This go round I'm changing my focus up a little bit and coaching myself as I would any other athlete that came to me. I have to be careful to take care of my body first and foremost. The one thing I believe about this sport is its all mental. Thats my next focus, training based on effort.

I've always been a very intuitive athlete. If you told me to run a 75 sec 400 on the track I could hit every time without having to look at my watch. If you said go and run 6 miles at 8min/mile pace I could do exactly that with no Garmin or whatever. I have the rhythms in my head, I know the amount of percieved exertion it takes to do it, its just something I've always been able to do. As soon as I began endurance sports I had the feel of how to do it, whether it was cycling or running. Really and truly thats how I've trained and raced, by my intuition. These days I have the heart-rate monitor/GPS (Timex by the way, its awesome, I highly suggest it over any of the Garmins), but I don't really use it to govern my training. Its just a tool to measure what I've done. I don't see the point in having a power meter, or keeping yourself in zones during your training looking to hit numbers as you motor through your workout. Are you really going to do that on race day? Besides, the numbers you hit in training will be different then you hit in a race. There are to many variables on race day as compared to a normal training day to consider; your taper, the weather, your competition, etc. However, I believe it is much simpler to simulate your race day efforts in training. I've always been a big believer in training to race, preparing yourself physically and mentally for what you want to accomplish.

Still, its a complicated thing putting a training plan together. This new one is probably the most original plan I've devised yet. It will either be genius, or just mediocre. Its definitely going to be a bit of trial and error. We'll just have to see...

Part two coming up,
ff

I'm back

2011-05-31T11:25:00.000-07:00

Its been a long time since I got to write anything not related to school, so I really don't even know where to begin. Its been a crazy year, school went well, and all kinds of other things are happening, some good, some bad. I had some pictures to post too but they didn't seem to want to upload, next time I'll have some. I'm ready to get back to training and rededicating myself to posting more regularly. Its going to be a few more weeks though. Still have a bunch of stuff to do before I get situated again. Ever since January it seems like each week is full of its little challenges and tasks to do leaving me little time to myself to train or do much of anything other then what I have to do. Such is life right now. I was looking forward to being done with school and relaxing for a little bit, but I have yet to be able to do that. I've got a lot of things coming up in the next couple of weeks, moving being the most ominous part of my very near future. Boo! But I'm excited to move and get started on this next chapter, and I'm extremely excited about the summer. I think its going to be a good one.
So back to training. I'm not exactly sure what I wrote about last blog, I can take a guess. I think I was doing okay to get in shape during the semester. I've been swimming a lot more then anything else due to injuries and lack of time. I had put on quite a few pounds there for a while lifting weights and eating a less than desirable diet, but in the last several weeks I've made some big gains in fitness. I'm back to my training diet, no more eating out, or non healthy meals...at least not as much. I was shocked the other day to see lost 9 pounds in the last month. I've burned quite a bit of the school year fat off pretty quickly. I thought it was going to take a lot longer, but I'm at the point where I want to try and gain a few pounds now.
The big question thats been looming over me is how much fitness did I lose over the last several months? I'm still not sure how to gauge it. I can go for a long time, I can go fast, but I can't go fast for a long time. I think most of what I lost is power. I was on the track running 400's the other day thinking I was going to be terrible but actually turned em' out pretty fast with not to much trouble. Yet, when I go to drop my pace running for longer intervals or finishing runs I can hardly put down a 6:30 mile. I nearly lost my lunch the other day after doing so in front of full trail of people down at town lake. Thats a little depressing. I've got to figure how best to get it going again.
My biggest obstacle besides time was my foot. The plantar fasciitus is all but gone. I've been working hard to become more flexible and its really paid off. Its taken a few months, and its not been easy, but it certainly has worked. I can run pain free, and I don't wake up in the morning with sore feet any more. I've been holding back on some of the training I want to do till I was healthy enough for it, and now I don't have any excuses not to. I'm not gonna lie, I'm kind of scared to do some of this stuff. I know its going to be painful for a little while. I'm just going to try and be careful to work into it.
I still feel out of sorts though. My brain is all over the place, and I can't seem to focus yet. I think I'm just mentally exhausted from all of these things I'm trying to do. Thats part of the lure of training again though. I miss the solitude and simplicity of it. Its such a break from the rest of life, and I always feel better afterwards. I need it, it makes me a much happier person. I don't know if I will ever get back to the level I was at. I'm still disappointed with how last year turned out. I was in such great shape and never put together a good race. I still haven't figured out what I got out of all that. It was a tough year, and triathlon was just a side part. There were definitely some bright points early in the season, but all my big races were crap. At this point its not really motivating to me either. I think its just something that I've put behind me. I'm just more about training to train again. I have no races set on the calender yet. I have no goals other than to get in shape and see what happens. I'm sure as time goes on and I get fitter that will change. I'm still thinking of getting a coach, but I want to be in race shape first and go from there. The main thing I want to do is an Ironman. Thats the one thing I really want, but again I have no idea which one and when I will be able to start training for it. To much life going on at this point and to many uncertainties.
As for now, I'm just going to swim, bike, and run my ass off. I've got some new ideas for how to train that hopefully my body will respond to well. I'll post as I go, and we'll see what happens.
Had to say goodbye to some good people yesterday. Ashley and Clayton, good luck to you in your travels and life together. We miss you already.

happy trails,
ff

competition

2011-03-01T14:21:00.000-08:00

In one of my classes this semester we were asked to email our professor pictures of our inspiration. Naturally, I sent in a race pic along with some other non-tri type pics. My original intention was to use the race pic to talk about running and the inspiration I get from that, but as I thought about it I decided there was a lot more to it. The pic I sent him was from the Austin Tri last year, which was my last race. Its already posted on here somewhere so I won't post it again, but everytime I look at that picture, or any from that day I think about the same things.
That was a day of failure for me. Normally, I wouldn't say such things, but I believe we learn much more from our failures than our successes. I failed mentally that day, but then again, maybe I didn't. I was carrying a lot of baggage coming into that race with the loss of a close friend only days before, and a large amount of other outside stresses that had me fatigued both physically and emotionally. Some days I don't always reach my full potential. In fact, there are very few days that I do. Imagine if all of us lived to our full potential every day. Back to the point. Maybe I did hit my full potential that day, it just happened to be less then it normally is. My frustration came from not having the culminating feeling of months of training pay off by performing up to my full physical potential. But what does it really matter? What did I gain or lose? Nothing of any permenance.
As I get further along in training this year I feel differently towards a lot of things. I want to race, I want to do well, I want to compete, but why? Why do anything? I love competition. Do I love it because I often win or place? Not really. It brings something out of me that nothing else does. It gives me a feeling that nothing else does. Competition inspires me to keep reaching higher, and seeing others compete to the best of their abilities amplifies that. I don't care if its Macca winning Kona, or 250 pound 55 year old man shuffling to the finish line of his first ever triathlon in Austin, I love it.
That pic there is a representation of doubt. There were two guys in front of me that day at the end of the run, and they were a long ways in front of me. One of whom I had been chasing down all day, and the other (in the pic) I think was doing a shorter race. I was gaining on the guy I was chasing slowly but surely, I was just running out of real-estate. At about 300m I hit the gas when I didn't know if I could. I caught one of them, and I ran over the other guy at the line but he still beat me. He got the medal, I didn't. No big deal, I was happy with what I did that day. That was my first race last year, and it was my best race. No medals, I placed well overall, but it was the effort that made me feel good.
I'm getting ready, but I'm nervous about when to start planning for a race. Will I be better then last year? I started to doubt it...at first any way, but as I've already learned doubt does nothing but limit what you can do. Belief is powerful. I don't think I've realized how powerful it can really be though. I'm the type of person that thinks I can do anything, however I leave it to God to guide me and take me to where he wants me to be. I've been wrestling with where triathlon is going to fit in my life lately, if at all. But I keep finding a place for it and the will to make it happen, so it must be a blessing to continue forward which makes me very happy. I'll take it is a gift in my life that gives me confidence and belief in myself to overcome any doubts that I may have. I love the metaphor for life that this sport has become for me. Romans 5:3 "...but we rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces endurance, endurance leads to character, character produces hope. And hope will not lead us to shame..."

train hard my friends
ff

180

2011-02-22T19:45:00.000-08:00

Well, the last few weeks have been kind of rough. I had so much to get caught up on it really took a toll on me. But the good news is I got through it (successfully) and am back on schedule with everything. Just a little lesson in time management.
Last week I did something I have not done in years. I crossed the 180 lbs threshold. Its been almost four years since I weighed that much, and the reason I was that heavy then was for the Marine Corps as I got ready to deploy. I wanted to have some extra bulk before I left home and was forced to live on MRE's for a year. That was the biggest I ever was without being fat, and I maxed out at 191 lbs. It didn't take me long to gain the extra muscle then, and apparently it still doesn't. I slowly worked that weight down when I ended up staying home, and it wasn't until I changed my diet that I really dropped weight.
These days I don't know quite what the deal is. For a while I was eating poorly, but that was before the semester started, and truth be told that does not affect me to much. As long as I get calories and tend to eat on a regular schedule I seem to be okay. Last semester proved that, and I was not working out very often.
Its been 6 weeks since I started training again. I've been averaging about 5 days a week with some inconsistencies, but I've been able to keep bumping the intensity up. At first I dropped a few pounds, and then in the last 4 weeks I gained a little more then 9lbs. Again, I'm not sure how and I don't know where its all going, but I feel good. My swimming is coming along rather quickly. I have yet to check the numbers in my training log, but I seem to be just about where I left off last year. In fact I feel just as strong, and might be a little faster after only a few weeks. I have been hitting the weights pretty good, so maybe the combo and the still relatively short distances of running has contributed to the weight gain. Maybe its the extra fat thats making me faster in the water.
The foot has been getting better. It doesn't really seem to matter what I do to it. Everyone I've spoken to that has had the same problem all say the same thing. They had it for over a year, and the only thing that helped them was changing shoes. So I got different shoes with more arch support and a closer fit, and I generally wear them all of the time. It is making a difference. I did some sprint work that hurt me good the next day, but that was the only thing that gave me a problem. After an 8 mile run last week I thought it would be pretty sore, but fortunately it wasn't.
This year is going differently then a lot of other previous years. Each January I set goals, or I have a mindframe that I want to adhere too. I don't really have those kinds of expectations this year. The only thing I can think of is being flexible. The rest of the things I do take precedence over racing, but I still want to race. What capacity that will be in I'm not to sure. What I am sure of is that I want to be successful at everything I do, and I don't see any reason why I can't make that happen. I don't really care about the weight, I just think its funny. I was more worried I would lose too much to quickly. I'm not sure when I will get to race first this year. Suffice it to say that when I do I will be ready, I will be fit and lean, and I'll be looking to put the hurt on everyone out there.

train hard,
ff

PS sorry no pics, camera is broke.

week 2

2011-01-27T19:57:00.000-08:00

So here I sit ice bag on the foot, heat pad on my back, and my two and a half year old nephew asking my "why that?"

"Cause I'm old" I say.

He looks at me kind of funny and laughs. I'm kind of beat up right now but not from training. Just pre-existing injuries and a little tightness from getting used to working out again. I hurt my foot Monday like an idiot. I did something I shouldn't have done. Fortunately it only hurt bad for a day, and it was fine the day after that. Tonight's run seemed to aggravate it a little more than usual, but nothing to terrible. Good thing. I do have some other injuries; cuts and bruises, burn marks, metal in the eye. The usual. I did have to go to the doctor to get the metal out of my eye though. That was the first time I've been to the doctor in years. It was worth it this time. Money well spent.

I feel pretty good despite those things. I gained a little bit of weight last week. No doubt a result of the ten pounds of barbeque I consumed Sunday night. Thanks Khanh. It took me two whole days to digest that. I kind of forgot what its like to be hungry all of the time. That feeling instantly returned two days after I began training. Although the feast of Sunday night quenched it for a couple of days I've still managed to chow down everything I have to eat in my house. Grocery store time.

The next thing I've gotta fix is my sleep habits. I got used to sleeping in during the break. Most of my classes start around lunch time this semester, so I should be able to get my workouts done in the morning. Its difficult because I've always trained in the evening times and I've never been much of an early riser. Plus, I'm extremely lazy in the morning. Breakfast is my favorite meal of the day and I like to enjoy it. Ask my mom, or my family, I can put some breakfast food down! I don't know how all you freaks get up at 4-5am to get your workouts done. I was going to say I wish I could do that, but I really don't. Thats crazy. I generally wait till the sun rises to get going, and even then I may wait a little while for it to warm up a bit. The evening time on the other hand, then I'm ready to go. I love to run at night too. Its more fun.

Training (I'm going to go ahead and call it that now) is improving. I bumped it up some and I feel good. My foot is definitely slowing me down, and its making me a lot more cautious. Thats a good thing I'm sure. My fitness is improving quickly and I feel like I can go for hours already, but I don't want to risk further injury. I still believe its getting better, its just going to take a while. I'm convinced its a matter of strengthening and flexibility to support the stressed areas more. Any suggestions are appreciated.

Till its healed I'm going to start alternating doubling up on the other two sports. I figure I can get away with running only two or three times a week and still be fast. I need to improve swimming and riding a lot more any way. I'm thankful that the rest of me seems to be healthy. I haven't lost much strength, in the weight room that is, but I have a feeling the pool is going to be a wake up call. Yikes.

Pics from New Mexico. Later.

5 days

2011-01-20T21:42:00.000-08:00

I had a simple goal this week, work out 5 days for 30min each of those days. This may sound simple, yet at this point in my life its anything but. Like a lot of other grown-ups I've got a lot going on. School, work, social life etc...and we're trying to build a new business and getting ready to take on another one in the next few months. All of a sudden my plate is full when I already thought it had to much on it. Its hard to find the time and/or the energy to get everything done. Things like diet and exercise are easy to push to the side in place of something that we may feel is more important at the time. And if you're like me, you like to get a good nights sleep in occasionally as well. Hence my 5 days of 30 minutes. There is always 30 minutes somewhere in the day no matter who you are. You just have to plan ahead for your day, or even your week if you're like me. I think ahead and know the pockets of time I have available for a workout for every day of the week. I know that if I miss the morning pocket there should be one later in the evening, but sometimes you have to make it happen.

Its Thursday and I've got 3 days down, and only the first day was 30min, the last couple have been more. The results came rather quickly. After the second day I felt my energy level jumped immensely. Running is like a cure all for me. It clears my mind, and these short runs just help me feel so much better both physically and emotionally.

My mind tends to skip ahead to race season quite often. I wonder where I'm at fitness wise, and how much this 4 month layoff (yes FOUR months!) is gonna set me back. I haven't ridden my tri-bike since my last race on Labor day. It still has the race number on it, and my rear wheel is still in pieces thanks to the wonderful service department at Bicycle Sport Shop (that was sarcasm, they suck and they still owe me $, and now they're on my list). I've swam a handfull of times since then, but its been almost 2 months since I've been in the pool. And my foot is still hurting.

The good thing is I can run. My foot amazingly does not hurt while running, or at least not this week. Its just hurts the rest of time, but I'm trying to remedy that, and I think its getting better. What makes me feel good is that I can really run. Tuesday I decided to just get out and go at a moderate pace around Town Lake over a measured distance with no rest to test myself a little bit. My foot was feeling completely fine so I thought "why not?" I dropped sub 6:30 miles fairly easily, and hardly felt tired at all. Then tonight at the end of my run I decided to build and push it for the last 7min at a 5:30 pace, but I went on to 10min and dropped it down to a 5:10 pace because I felt so good. Not to shabby. There is hope for me yet.

I know that I have lost some fitness though. My heart rate was slightly higher at my easy pace then it has been at this point in previous seasons, but not much. I also fatigued a little faster, which was only evident because of the HR monitor, otherwise I wouldn't have noticed...I felt fine. My legs felt slow, but I checked my cadence and it was good. Even a little better now at 168 then last time I checked (about a year ago). Makes me wonder what it was in the summer during my peak training. I feel like it had to be higher.

Its time for some hard livin' and back to training. I've got so much to focus on in the next several months and that doesn't include racing. But perhaps that will be the magic key for me this year. Training will be such a release from everything else, and its going to be a necessity for several different reasons. As a personal trainer and coach I always tend to say it takes 6 weeks to form a habit. After 6 weeks your body will be used to working out and it will become part of your everyday lifestyle. My body on the other hand has probably been wondering what the hell was wrong the last four months. I already feel that urge to do it everyday again. I'm upping the ante for next week to 45-60 minutes, and will hopefully get some swims and rides in. I'll slowly work back into full on training here in the next few weeks, assuming my body (mainly the foot) cooperates. I don't know when I'll be ready to race though. I'm thinking the Cap 10k will be first up. I won't be sure till I'm back in full swing and start putting down some serious miles. I would still like to be ready for either New Orleans or the Lonestar half-ironman in April, and will hopefully be able to get ready for a full ironman in the fall. We'll see.

be healthy,

dare to dream

2011-01-05T10:50:00.001-08:00

So, I've been asking myself a lot of questions lately and I've been thinking a lot about this thing called life. Mainly, I've been pondering on where I fit into all of this. We all have dreams when we're kids. We all have ideas of what we want to be, where we want to live, etc. As we get older those dreams change into other dreams. Some are more plausible then others, and some are just dreams...flights of fantasy that make life more bearable. Dreams are often what keep us going whether they be dreams of success, dreams of happiness or what have you.

One question I always keep coming back to is what makes a man? At what point am I a man? Being a "man" carries with it a lot of connotation. There are not many men out there I would call a "man," most are just guys, or what I would call boys. Is there anything that qualifies my opinion of who or what a man is? No. I certainly have my ideals, and I'll just say I don't think they make em' like they used to. But thats more of a societal and cultural thing now. Men don't have to be as hard as they used to, or do they?

Back to the point. As I walk this path I wonder where I stand. If I'm a man what kind of man am I? What I think seems irrelevant, and I believe its what I do and how others see those actions that allows them to make that call. I have my dreams, my ideas for life, but as I stood in the shower this morning thinking about what I have to do today I came to a realization. Perhaps it was one that I already knew, but maybe hadn't put words to in a while. I gave my life away a long time ago. I put it in God's hands to do with as He wishes. I've tried and failed at many things, but all the things I've been through have brought me to this point right now, and no matter where I am or what I'm doing that will always be true. Its only the things that God puts in my heart for me to do that I know that I will not fail at.

I think about my triathlon life and where that is going. There are dreams and aspirations I have for that life, but maybe there not going to happen in the near future. Right now I have work to do. Its a funny thing to be on mission. I used to wonder how I would know if I was walking the path God had intended for me to walk, and I often still do, but its becoming more clear to me. This morning I remembered my life is not my own. This is a life that is lived for others, which is funny considering I'm not always everyone's favorite person. I'm aware of what people think when they first meet me, I'm aware of the impressions that I make, and I know that some of my family and people I've called friends for a long time still don't know me. Thats on me, I can't help that, and I don't care to. What lets me know I'm doing the right things is what stands the tests of time.

I walk and live for the people I love. I don't care what happens to me, but I know I'm in good hands and I'll never have to worry about it. That is powerful. That gives me the freedom to do what I need to do with wreckless abandon. I love it, and I'm so thankful for it. That is true freedom. So do what you have to do today, but ask yourself what is it for? And if you're a Christian and you follow God ask yourself are you for Him, or is He for you?

I'll run and compete again when the time is right. I'm sure its not that far away. These things will pass, I'll do what I have to do and we will succeed. This year is ours, and I fully believe in that.

Take care, and live hard

plantar fasciitus

2010-12-22T17:41:00.000-08:00

Well, I learned how to spell planar fasciitus now I just need to figure out how to get rid of it. This has seriously been one of the most frustrating injuries I've ever had. Its been nagging at me since some time in May or June. I'm still able to run and do stuff, it just hurts. For a while I hated getting out of bed because my feet hurt so much. Now the right foot is better, but there is some lingering pain that won't go away in my left. The good part is that it does eventually warm up once I start running. I do a little ice and heat therapy when I get done and that seems to be helping. I'm beginning to do some exercises to strengthen my foot, so hopefully in a few more weeks this will be gone. Till then I'm keeping my mileage low and getting ready to build up for the season.

I am kind of bummed that I won't be able to do any of the running races I had planned on doing. With any luck I'll be able to the 3M half marathon, and/or the Austin half marathon. Not sure yet how that will work out. It all depends on the foot.

Meanwhile I'm going nuts not being able to train the way I want to. I keep telling myself I have plenty of time to get ready for the season, but in the back of my mind I can't help but think of the fitness I may be losing. I'm really hoping to be able to do an Ironman this year. Thats my goal any way. Even if the foot is healthy that may or may not be realistic with everything I have going on. I still think I'll be able to train for half-irons and olympic distance races, which will be good enough for me till I have the time to step it up.

I really miss running though. Its such a big part of me that I don't feel like myself unless I'm able to get out and go even if its just for 45 minutes. I'm ready to get on it though, its definitely time.

ff

what have I been doing?

2010-11-05T13:01:00.000-07:00

It seems like my triathon life ended as soon as school started. I knew it would, but not to the extent that it has actually turned out to be. I thought I would still be training, just not as much. Turns out, I hardly have time for anything. I get a little bit in here and there. Mostly running. I guess I do a little more then I think I do, but as far as actual training, its become non-existant in my life. There were a lot of complications for me at the beginning of the semester and I kept thinking "next week, next week I'll start," but next week came and I didn't have the time. So I've packed on a few pounds, not too much. Maybe I look a little healthier with some fat on me. I've been trying to be careful about my diet. Thats the best thing I can do. I don't want to go through having to lose a bunch of weight to get back into racing shape again.

So what have I been up too? School, school, work, and more school. Thats how it goes. I've been taking tons and tons of pictures. I've probably taken more in the last 3 months then I have in my entire life. Its fun though and I like it. Plus, it keeps me outdoors and active. I've been all over the place. These pics are from a trip out to Pedernales Falls. My aunt Valerie, lil' Texas, my mom and me. Good times.

Still, I keep thinking about racing. This past season was frustrating at times, and just never what I hoped it would be. It really was just the races that I was disappointed with. I never had a good one. The flip side of that is, I still call it a good season. Why you ask? Even though I never got to show it in a race I know that I stepped up to another level. I had bad races and was still faster then I was the year before when I had a lot of good races. In this business you have to take things for what they are, and this year was a learning process. Not really in racing, but about life. I think I found another level to myself, and I can't say enough about my family and the life that God has blessed me with. This was a tough year, but to come out better for it and to know how much God continues to do with me is amazing. I can only see it now when I look back though I knew then what was happening.

I've got a plan in mind, I know whats on the plate for next year...Ironman. Which one I'm not for sure yet. This week I will start running again. I'm going to spend December preparing for the training, and will start down that road in January. I'm excited. I know its going to be a good year. Wathcing the world championships on the computer this year I knew I couldn't stay away from it any longer. I want to go to Kona. I've been obsessed with it ever since I was a kid, but its always seemed so far away for me. So I'm saying it now. That is my goal. I'm going to either Clearwater or Kona next year and I'm going to do it the hard way. I will make Kona at some point, and that journey starts now.

I'm motivated, although I have other stuff to focus on right now this is something that I'm not letting go of any time soon. I'll be ready to race come hell or high water next year. I know its time, I have all the support I need. I'm going to lay the beat down on everyone I race. I've got a whole year of frustrating races to push me that much harder, and I gauruntee thats going to keep me going hard

...and then there were two

2010-09-25T12:16:00.001-07:00

Weddings are one of those things that always seem like a pain in the ass till its over. Of course, I say that being a mere bystander in most of these things. It's just a little stand here, go there, chest out, smile for the camera, and have a good time. We had the great pleasure of traveling to Boston for this one, and I say that rather sarcastically. At least thats how I felt at first, but like most things it all turns out well in the end. I had a really good time, and it was awesome to see this part of the country.
I didn't really know what kinds of things Bean town had to offer up. My first shock was how small the city is. We walked around for not to long and really saw a lot. I got this cool pic of a memorial for my tribe's soccer playing skills. That was a random surprise I just happened to see walking through the common. There's a little shot of our beers at Cheers. That place smells like cats. We only stayed for a minute and wandered on through the town. The rest of the pics are from the groomsmen's day out, followed by some of the wedding.

Big thanks to Greg for helping us get around his town. We probably would've not had near as much fun without you buddy. Thank you Brian and Jessica for letting me serve as the best man, hope the speech turned out well. I still have no idea what I said.

That just leaves two of us not married now of the friends I've grown up with. My single friends are dwindling down to a tiny fraction of what they used to be just a few years ago, and the number of new babies keeps growing. All that being said it's nice to know I still have so many wonderful people in my life, and they're all healthy and happy.

As for me, there will be no rest for the weary. I'm sitting here in the airport waiting to jump on the plane home to austin. I can barely hold my eyes open and I know have so much to do next week. With any luck I'll get a little sleep and some studying done on the plane, and get to bed before midnight so I can be ready for a long week that starts at 7am tomorrow morning.

austin tri 2010

2010-09-14T11:28:00.000-07:00

I knew this was going to be a tough race, I wanted it to be that way and thats why I raced in the open division. Unfortunetly for me it was tough because of other reasons. I was certainly tired and stressed out from all of the goings on in my life lately. I didn't get a whole lot of sleep the week of, and I was just busy non stop. My taper was terrible, but I also knew that I was in pretty good shape. I thought that I could get by on that alone and still be able to post a pretty fast time.

There are definitely some benefits to racing with the pros; the race starts on time and no waiting around, we got to do a swim warm up when no one else did, and the coarse is much less crowded. I was pretty impressed with the pros in attendance; Michael Lovato, Phillip Graves, Richie Cunningham, etc. And if have one goal in my triathlon career its to beat friggin Desiree Ficker. I lost track of the reasons why, but for a while there she was at every race I was (running and tri) and was always just ahead of me at the finish. I thought surely this race would be the day.

I didn't feel to terrible in the morning despite the maybe four hours of sleep I got. I think that I was just used to it after the previous few weeks of insomnia. But I've raced on little sleep before and did fine, so I wasn't to worried about it. The swim start was pretty tame, not to much smacking around or getting kicked in the face. I pulled out quick and jumped on some fast feet when it started to string out. I was fine till the turnaround and from then on I just couldn't keep a rhythm. My energy levels were low, but I felt okay and was in and out of it. Being surrounded by a bunch of guys going the same pace was probably to comforting. Every time I tried to pull away I just seemed to fall flat and just stayed in my spot. It ended up being my slowest 1.5k swim in the last two years.

Going on to the bike it was much the same. I got stuck in T1 thanks to some wonderfully designed timing chips my wetsuit got hung up and it took me forever to get it off. All of the people I came into transition with were out of there well before me. So off I went alone on the bike coarse.

Right off the bat I wasn't really feeling it. My legs generally take a little time to warm up so I wasn't to worried at first. The initial climb up Congress went okay, it was coming down where I noticed I didn't have much pop. Normally I would take off, but the legs just weren't responding. Heading towards the capitol building I really felt flat out fatigued and was riding nowhere near the speed I would normally ride. There was no one close to catch, and no one was catching me, but I was still working as hard as I could. Lap two came and I felt the same, and felt a only slightly better by lap three. I did manage to catch a couple of people, but it was not a good ride. My mom would comment later about how tired I looked on the bike. The result, my worst ride in over 2 years.

By then I knew my day was kind of a mess, but I still kept the lessons learned from this year in my head and went out on the run as best I could. There was a race official riding along with me for a while. I asked him how far along the front guys were and he said "Phillip Graves is about 20 yards behind you." I was having a hard time getting into my normal cadence, and not to much longer afterwards I heard the footsteps of Mr. Graves closing in on me. He passed me rather slowly and I debated in my mind whether or not to go with him, not because he was to fast, but because I didn't want to be the dumbass amateur trying to hang on only to blow up. So there amidst the rain I latched on to Phillip for most of my first lap. It really helped me get going and find a pace once I calmed down a bit.

At that point I began picking people off and making up some lost ground. I ended up with an okay run considering everthing else. Not my fastest, not my slowest. I look at that race as good and bad. I really had to focus to keep it going, and it made a difference on the run. I definitely had my serious face on. Its not often I wear that expression and it made me laugh when I saw the pictures.

Am I disappointed in the race? Yeah, a little. Its just a testament to the kind of year I've had. Crossing that line I felt more tired then I have in a long time at the end of an olympic distance race. I saw my time and just kind of shrugged. That was the best I had to give for that day and I felt good about that. The sad part for me is that it was nowhere near what I can do. I've been like a little rocket in training, and I have seen huge jumps in my times over the last two months. Its kind of heartbreaking to be so fit and not have much to show for it, or not in the sense that I would have hoped. I know on a good day I can hang with the fast guys, and I was looking forward to that challenge in this race.

There is one more possibility for me to race. I don't have time to train for the Longhorn, but I may go to big D for the Dallas Open next month. Otherwise I'm just going to swimbikerun for the fun of it. I think I will probably do the distance challenge sans the marathon. My body feels good, and its always nice to get back to pure running in the fall. Watch the freak out though, I've got something to prove now.

I did however have a good time at the Austin Tri, maybe not as good as those two up there,but good nonetheless. Still glad the family came out to support me, and thanks to the hoops and hollars I got on the race coarse. If I didn't respond to you sorry, I was focused like a laser beam...a moderately fast laser beam soon to be super fast laser beam.

I am getting used to my new schedule and will be posting more stuff in the future. I'll probably post some workout strategies and such for those with limited time and the like. That, and my forray into the world of 19-20yr old college kids...school still sucks! Not really kids, go to school.

change

2010-09-02T08:20:00.000-07:00

Sometimes its amazing just how much life can throw at you. I say that realizing that most of the things that occur happen not just in my own life, but in lots of people's lives. There is not always a direct link to me, or rather, others are more strongly affected. One day you're walking down the street, the sun is shining on your face, and the world is what it is and has been for a significant period of time. Its easy to see the events that unfold before you, and its not that hard to imagine what the next day will be like. Occasionally you decide to make a change, perhaps a new job, a new haircut, a diet, etc. Every now and then you have to make a bigger decision involving more emotion such as leaving a significant other, changing careers, moving to another city, leaving home, and so on. Bigger decisions are harder because they involve more emotion, infer more change in one's life, and are pivotal moments. Most of us don't have to many of those.
Here I am, my life changed, but not just in the ways I would have suspected. I started school again, and with common sense, was able to predict many of the changes that would occur. As its been in my life, and probably so many others, nothing is ever as simple as one might predict. The big changes, the pivotal moments, come like a flashflood in the middle of the night. In the coarse of a few weeks life becomes completely different.
Even as hard as its been for me to adjust with all of the different things going on I still look at others and have a heart felt sentiment for what they must be going through. I lost another good friend to cancer a few weeks ago. This one was surreal to me, in the sense that maybe it didn't fully hit me till he was gone. Not just his passing, but the immensity of the disease and his fight with it. Often times when we hear someone has cancer, or some potentially terminable disease we think of that particular person. We don't think of all the lives that it affects as well; wives, husbands, mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, friends and relatives. This man was a brother to me, he was my fellow Marine, he was my roommate, and my fellow idiotic partner in crime. We beat eachother up, we harassed women, and did many a stupid thing together.
In the church I stood there like a Marine, at the cemetary I stood there amongst the other Marines with the solemn unflinching expression in accordance with keeping one's military bearing. I watched the family and friends file past the coffin and his immediate family, shaking hands, giving hugs, offering condolences. When the crowd had moved on towards their cars and the space under the awning was empty, I walked over to the coffin with its red trim and evenly spaced stars resembling a Marine's dress blues and stood. Then it became real to me. Richard Allgower no longer walks this earth. My life with him began to roll through my mind like a montage in a movie. Smiles and laughter, and sitting on the side of a giant hanger in the Morroccan desert with the sun setting eating a MRE doused in Tobasco talking about not wanting to go home.
The last I spoke to him he was getting out and coming home. "I'll call you when I get back to Texas" he said. Maybe we spoke once or twice after that, but thats the last thing I remember. I didn't visit him once I found out he had cancer. I emailed and kept up with what was going on, but I kept myself from seeing him. I'm not sure all of the reasons why, but having been through it before I suppose I didn't want to do it again. I prayed a lot knowing that was the best thing I could do for him and his family. Perhaps it was selfish, I'm not really sure, and its not in my nature to guess at such things.
There are bigger things in life, and knowing this man had a wife, a sister, and a mother and father who have to deal with the anguish of losing someone they loved so much makes my tribulations seem trivial. No, not everything is sweet and peachy in my life. Its a hard right now, but I have faith in God and that will carry me through whatever it is that lay in front of me. I know that in a few short weeks things will get sorted out and I'll have adjusted to this new life I have. I'll have a new job, I'll be knee deep in homework, and getting ready for a wedding. I know that Monday will likely be my last triathlon for the year. I'm racing the open class and looking forward to getting my ass kicked by the pros. That 2 hour barrier for the olympic distance will hopefully be in sight. I'll be racing with a lot of baggage, and kind of stressed out, but I'm so excited to get out there. I have a good feeling about it, and I'm going to run myself into the ground so that I can't hardly stand when I cross that line.

Stay healthy, and be thankful. Please say a prayer my friend's wife and family, it always helps.

ff

30 miles and then some

2010-08-11T09:57:00.000-07:00

Recovery week came and went. I had a good time, got rested up, and started another training block last week. The plan was, and is, to keep upping the ante with training. Well, I mean to prepare for a race, but to also push this obsession to another level. Maybe in the absence of a girlfriend, or any other distractions it seems that way. I keep getting deeper and deeper into this thing. Its turned from something that I enjoyed doing to something I keep wanting more of. Last week it was running.
I felt like running everyday last week and had to stop myself so as not to overdo it. Still, I ended up running 5 days and over 30 miles. I had a couple of 9 or more mile runs and some short runs the other days. The other side of that was keeping up the number of swims and rides as well, which I did. A few of my runs came at the end of days where I wasn't sure I had a whole lot left for a good run. This is where I wanted to improve too. Running after I'm tired, or running past the limits where my mind says maybe its time to stop.
I don't know when exactly I started to think like this, or where this idea came from, but in high school I started to tell myself there's always more gas in the tank. I always believed there was more, no matter how dead I felt. My coach used to make fun of a guy that beat him in a race once saying that he ran till he was bleeding out of his ears. For some reason I always admired that, and I think my coach did too. There is a certain level of pain we all reach that makes us want to stop. Some people can push through this, but a lot of people stop. I've certainly had those moments this year when I didn't get over that wall.
I no longer believe what holds me back is the amount of training I do, or how I do it, but my mental capacity to pull the absolute best out of my body. Its all part of it, but its the mind and the heart that makes the difference.
Saturday I put on a monster brick session with race pace efforts. After an intense ride I took my run to the trail with lots of climbing, and some serious hills. Every time I do this run it takes the amount of suffering I endure up to another level. Trail running is just so much fun and I want to fly as fast as possible, add to that running down the mountain bikers, and I'm having a good time. There is a hill at the turnaround of this run that I always give a go. I usually hit it at the end of an interval and only go up for a minute or so. This time I had a whole 6 minute set to try and top out on. I've never been to the top, or even seen it, so I set out to conquer it. I started hard, but every time I turned the corner thinking I would see the top, there was only more hill. My legs were burning as I tried to navigate the rocky slope searching for the best path with stable footing and a little shade. As the acid built up I refused to look at my watch till the end was in sight. The sun, humidity, and harshness of the climb put my mental toughness to the test. I felt like I was hardly moving. Finally, I had to look at my watch realizing I had to be getting close to time. I turned around disappointed I didn't hit the top, but feeling good I managed to go as far as I did.
Rest time over I charged on to finish my run. This is where the real test came. That climb took a lot out of me and running after that was a little painful, but thats where I wanted to pull through. I kept wanting to stop, moments of doubt crept into my mind, and I began fighting the emotional tug-of-war that occurs when you're exhausted. "There's always more gas in the tank" I thought. My inner monologue seemed to get louder "I can get past this, its just pain, it doesn't mean I have to stop. I'm far from death or falling over. This is the last mile of my race."
I finished that part of my run feeling good, tired, but good. I still had a few miles to trot on home at much more leisurely pace. That was how I finished last week, and I'm taking that tenacity with me to start this one. Even as I read this I wonder how it seems enjoyable. Its hard to explain what it gives me. One of my favorite verses comes to mind "...but we rejoice in our sufferings, because suffering produces endurance, endurance produces character, character leads to hope, and hope will not lead us astray..." Rom 5:3. I think it comes down to the why I do any of this in the first place. Its such great metaphor for life, and it lets me know just how alive I am. It makes the sweetness of enjoying a late breakfast with my mom, and drinks and dinner with my friends in the evening all that much greater.

happy living,
ff

recovery week

2010-07-28T11:40:00.000-07:00

So my new training aproach has been going pretty well. Last week was pretty good, and I really felt like I got into the groove once again. I haven't really felt that way this year. I'm not to sure how much good its doing me, I need to test myself i.e. race. Unfortunately for me its not looking like I'm going to have the time this month. I'm hoping to do a sprint in the near future, but its going to be a struggle getting to a race. We'll just have to see.
I've really been focused on the mental part of training and racing. I feel like thats what I've been missing for quite a while. Looking back at last year I was just single minded of focus, especially towards the end of the year. When I raced the Longhorn I knew that was my best effort. It was the preparation leading up to it that set me up for a good race. Yes, I trained hard, but I raced really hard. That run was one of the most emotionally fulfilling experiences of my athletic career. My legs were beat to hell, but I never had that "I wanna stop" moment. The entire time I kept thinking I can go faster. I was calculating splits and pace times at every mile marker, and I was bound and determined to get under that 7 min/mile barrier that I was see-sawing back and forth on.
Previously I was talking about focus and what that can do for you. I used some high profile athletes as examples, but if anything, I think it goes to show what life can to do you no matter who you are. I read recently an article where a sports writer completely slammed Lance, and I kind of felt bad. He's in the twilight of his professional career, and at 38, is still one of the top cyclists/athletes in the world. I'm sure he finished the tour in the style he intended to all along. There are few people who've acheived the level of accomplishment he has in his career, and you can't get that far without being totally committed to what you do. He's still amazing in that respect.
My old cross country coach used to tell us "running is 90% mental." I'm sure lots of old coaches have said the same thing, but it is. The treadmill used to kill me because I would get so bored until I broke my pre-existing rule of no music while training. Then it became bearable. This year I've been riding and running on the road with music to see if it has the same effect for me. The short answer is no. Truth be told I hardly ever pay attention to it no matter what intensity I'm training at. Occasionally I'll hear something and sing a long, but I sing random songs on long rides any way. The music does little to increase my effort during intense sessions, and more often then not its a nuisance.
I have to be in the moment and in my head. A few weeks ago I did a long run with no headphones. It turned into the longest run I've probably ever done, and after a couple hours of running I couldn't have been happier. Last week I did nearly the same thing with headphones, and it made no difference to me. I fall into a zone of thought and whatever else is going on seems to fade away. I start thinking about races, pacing, and all kinds of things.
Mental preparation is so key to performing well, especially for endurance athletes. I see it all the time with the kids I coach. I had one last year who was a superstar in practice, and was one of the fastest kids in the nation. For whatever reason as the season went on she never performed well at meets. I have another kid this year who is very similar in athletic talent, but is the opposite when it comes to training and racing. Its tough to get her to practice the way she needs to, but when you put her on that track at race time she's unstoppable. The desire to win is so strong she crushes everyone. I'm curious to see what happens when she faces other kids as talented as she is at nationals who've been around a little longer then she has. I think she's still going to go out and kill it, she may or may not win, but she won't go down without a fight.
During a conversation with a friend a while ago he said that people who do these things must be able to put up with a certain level of discomfort. I thought thats putting it mildly. I've never felt pain in my legs like I did at the Longhorn last year, but it didn't stop me or slow me down. Perhaps thats why I've been so disappointed with my performances this year even though I've done well for the most part. I've never really been in it. I keep looking for reasons or excuses, but the truth is its all mental. Physically I'm ready to go. I feel pretty amazing right now. I'm faster and stronger then I've ever been, but I think there's been some sort of subconcious barrier keeping me from being where I want to be. Its hard to figure out what it might be. There are so many different factors and emotions that could be involved I'd be pissing in the wind attempting to guess.
I know I'm on it right now. I want to race bad, and I will for sure be at the Austin Triathlon on Labor day. My feeling towards that race is the same as it was towards the Longhorn last year, and I know its going to be a breakthrough for me. The switch up on training has been great. I've hit the goals I've set this month and then some. Its not so much that I've hit my goals, but how I've been able to do it, and how well I feel right now physically and mentally.
Recovery week is tough, I want to do more, but I'm trying to be smart and let my body rest up even though I don't feel like I need it. I'm excited to see what I can do, and the undercurrent of self doubt I had before is gone. Hopefully I can race soon. I've got all this pent up energy I need to let out, but it may have to wait another month.

Happy training,
ff

lance, tiger, and chrissie

2010-07-21T13:31:00.000-07:00

Hello sports fans, it's been an interesting summer so far...in my opinion at least. There has been so much going on that I really haven't felt the normal lull between the end of basketball and the beginning of football. I thought the world cup was fantastic, but I generally always love it, and this year's tour is shaping up to be pretty interesting. The one thing that has really stood out to me is personalities. In just about every major sport you've had someone who stands out for a variety of reasons. Some are getting in trouble, some are making headlines, some are failing miserably, and some are out there showing everyone what a true champion is.
I'll start with Lance. Any one who knows me knows I am not the biggest Lance fan, but my story with him goes back a long ways. When I was a teenager first getting into road racing he was the one I looked up to. He was young and he had just become the US national champion. This is long before the tour, or any stage wins, he was still new. I read about his training, and how hard he worked not just on the bike, but off. He was the first person I knew really went out and did strength and core training to improve in cycling. Shortly there after he came down to race our regional championships, and rode a small road race with us in El Paso. I was pretty amazed at what he could do, and followed his career as he climbed the ranks of pro cycling. Once he began winning tours I believed, and still do, this man was one of, if not the greatest, athletes ever. As far as him personally, meh. I know to many people who have had to many bad experiences with him. Then again, he is one of the most famous people in the world, and I'm sure thats no easy thing to deal with.
This years tour has been pretty exciting. I've been pulling for Andy Schleck since last year. I don't believe Lance ever really had the intention of winning it. The guys plastered all over the TV screen. I think every stroke of his pedal is followed by cha-ching, cha-ching. Dollar bills ya'll!!! That just doesn't seem like the work of a man who's focused on winning the most epic endurance race in the world. He looked better last year. Albeit, the crashes and what not hurt him, but they hurt every one...even Schleck who lost his brother and number one man in the mountains but he's still doing it. Then there's Contador, thats him below. Enough said. He's amazing and probably still going to win, but I would love to see Schlek give him the finger bang from the top of the podium.
And poor Tiger. Golf's greatest athlete can't get it together. He's easily the most gifted man in golf, but if anything it just goes to show what a lack of focus can do to you. I almost feel bad for him, but again, as much as I love to watch the guy play golf I could care less for the kind of person he is. After I saw him throw his club last year with complete disregaurd for poor Steve (his caddy), I thought this guy has no class. I already knew he had no personality, but that he would treat someone who was his friend like crap just sealed the deal for me. We all know the rest of his story.
Then there's the bevy of pro athletes who just seem to shatter our perceptions of sports heroes. I'm not going to list anyone, ESPN does a good enough job of filling the sports world with useless gossip and news of criminal misconduct and the like. All I tend to think is who are these guys really? LeBron seems to have crashed with his media masterpiece. That trade just makes the Heat and the NBA look like a joke to me. It didn't seem like it was about basketball at all, and I can see why fans are disgruntled. No class for the greatest athlete in basketball, whom I really liked before. Again, where is his focus? But he's young, and he still has time to get it together and do something with the immense talent he's been blessed with. I'll still be pulling for him.

Then there's Chrissie Wellington, who is in my opinion the greatest athlete on the planet right now. What she did at Challenge Roth (Ironman distance triathlon) is proof that she is in a league of her own. Is it super-human? Not when you look at the numbers. It seems doable from swim to bike to run. She just happened to hit it all perfectly. Perfect practice makes perfect, and her training must be perfect. Is it that she's physically superior? I don't think so, there are other women who seem as gifted to me. Its the sum of all of her parts. Mentally, physically, and emotionally she is on the money. Her intelligence and attitude are all part of it. Craig Alexander appears much the same way to me. I don't think he is as talented as her, but he trains and races to the top of his abilities. Not a lot of athletes do that. There are 5-6 guys, that if they were as focused as those two, would crush Alexander in Kona. But its the whole person who makes the athlete. Craig and Chrissie are humble and respectful towards their sport, and its the kind of people they are that makes the difference.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not here to pass judgement on any one. These are just my opinions and are always subject to change. I think we often forget that these athletes are still people with lives like the rest of us. They have friends and families, good times and bad, ups and downs, and they make mistakes from time to time. Their lives are under a microscope, can any one of us imagine what that would be like? How would we appear to the world? No one is beyond reproach, and I'll always be hoping for people to step up their game and give the world its heroes.

Cheers to Chrissie for being that person. Here is someone with a masters degree, whose lived a fearless life trying to make the world a better place and found a gift in sport. Her story is quite amazing and I wish there were more athletes like her that people could see and young people would idolize. I don't know what its like in the rest of the world, but I've been hoping for a reinvention of the american athlete. Forget the "everyone gets a trophy" philosophy. I want atheletes that are tough, focused, intelligent people who work to achieve recognition. Americans have gone soft both mentally and physically, and our culture has turned to movie stars and shells of people to idolize. I'm tired of the days of superstars, million dollar contracts, and sponsorship deals. I suppose its a sign of the times, but times they are a changin'. I believe that too.

another good week

2010-07-19T20:20:00.000-07:00

Thats two good weeks in a row. One more and I can take a recovery week. Everything went smoothly, and little by little I'm starting to include a little bit more of all the things I need to do to have a great second half of the season into my training. I had some really strong workouts all the way across the board. I spent a LOT of time in the pool, and had a great speed session early in the week. Its nice to know that even without a whole lot of speed over the past month and half I've still improved. My rides and runs all went well too. Except I did have a lot of flats this week, and I lost my glasses and a water bottle, but oh-well.
I worked hard to keep my diet on track, and have managed to gain back about 5 pounds over the last few weeks. It makes all the difference too. I really feel so much better then I did. I'm sleeping better, training better, and am just in a much better mood.
I think taking a step back made all the difference as well. I feel like I fell into a mindset that I had a couple of years ago when I put to much emphasis on getting faster. It made training less fun and more like work, but as many people already know the miles go by faster when you love what you're doing. I've really just enjoyed this sport a whole lot more lately, and its turned out to have a very positive effect on my performance.
A lot of triathletes are characterized as type "A" personalities. They can get up at 5 in the morning to train, go to work, train some more. They have regimented and strict schedules, follow numbers very closely, go to coaches and clinics and all that. Some people blow my mind with all they do. Its amazing to me, and I often kind of wonder if it would benefit me to be more like that. But, I know myself better. I know I have to keep a love and passion for what I'm doing or I'll lose interest. I know that I'm to laid back to live that way, and the things that I enjoy about swim.bike.run. are not always what you might think. Being physically fit is great, but being able to run for miles is better. Its more about the experience for me than the results. Thats how I get myself out the door more often then not. Its not worrying about being fat, but that if I go run or ride I'm probably going to have a really good time and come home with a smile on my face.
Its been fun training lately, and I'm going to keep upping the ante here. I've got my next series of races in mind, and hopefully the rest of life works out so that I'll be able to put a full effort into them. Again, I just hope to make every day count. I know I did it last week. I trained hard, had a good times with lots of different people, and finished it up with a great day out on the lake. Life is good, and I'm so very thankful to be so very blessed.

ff

rebuilding

2010-07-07T15:02:00.000-07:00

So I decided last month, while contemplating my retirement, that I would spend some time rebuilding my body. I've definately got some aches and pains that I haven't had in the past. They are very minor, and provide only slight discomfort. Its mostly things I feel after training, especially running. For a while I thought it was a lack of flexibility in calves and achilles, but I realized I've actually gained a lot of flexibility this year. After a little experimentation I discovered it was my shoes giving me problems. Thats an easy fix, and since I switched I have only felt occasionally what I was feeling almost daily.
My next issue is diet, which is probably the biggest problem. I'll be the first to admit its been terrible lately. Why? The usual reasons; short on time, to tired to cook when I get home, out of groceries, etc. Again, easy fix. A day off and a trip to the store and I'm set. Why is it so important? You are what you eat...literally. After a couple of weeks of feeling tired and run down it finally occured to me what my problem was. For me its never an issue of eating to much, but not enough. I have to constantly be eating something it seems. I've probably dropped 5lbs. in the last month, and not in a healthy way. I was on a pretty fixed schedule that my body was extremely regimented to. A good breakfast in the morning, training or work followed by a small-moderate sized meal, evening training followed by a small meal or recovery shake, and 1-1.5 hours later a modest dinner after which I usually graze and eat more for a while. Its not exactly a schedule I would give to my clients, but its what I need to do to replenish my body. For the most part I eat a pretty healthy, almost vegetarian diet, with very modest amounts of beef and chicken (I don't like fish). I might eat meat once a day, but usually no more. My goal is to gain back the weight I lost, but more importantly to get back to a healthy diet, and limiting my Whataburger intake to once a week (I've got a serious weekness for it).

(my nephew munching a corn dog. kids rarely ever eat more then they need to, its not about enjoyment for them, its just fuel. they eat when necessary and no more. we should all be that way.)

My next goal is rebuilding my body a little bit. I've got a lot of positives going on right now. I'm more flexible then I've been in 15 years. It's actually motivated me to increase upon what I've already got going on. I don't think you can really be to flexible, and plus, it makes you so much faster. I've been adding little bits of pilates, yoga, and some other little tricks and exercises to into my training. The combination has really helped out quite a bit, and I've seen a great deal of improvement in almost every part of my body.

My cardio is pretty strong at this point, infact I rarely ever get tired these days. If I'm fatigued its usually my muscles and not my heart and lungs. That being said, I'm going to be focusing a lot more on my power to weight ratio. I'm pretty light right now, so I think adding power to my frame will really push me up to the next level. Last year I did a really good job including plyometrics into my training plan. This year its been spotty at best. I have been consistent in the weight room, but have not done much to include explosive type movements into my program. Besides giving you a little extra kick when you need it, these things will help your moving economy, as well as help prevent injury.

Just like flexibility I believe your core can never be to strong. As a triathlete your core is so important, and must be strong in every plane of movement. Swimming, biking, and running all put stress on different parts of your core; so any weakness in specific areas will be exposed leading to breakdowns in moving efficiency and injury. The good thing about core work is there is so much to do, and this part of your body recovers much faster then the rest of it. That means you can do it every day. I usually do something a little different each day with a specific focus; some days I work hips more, some days lower back and glutes, some days obliques, and abdominals every day. I do a lot of different types of movements, as well as static exercises like plancks and body weight exercises. I love the stabililty ball, simple pilates work, and I'm learning some yoga thats been great.

My last little deal is mileage. This is where I'm thinking of changing things up, and possibly the reason I may be getting a coach. I've been thinking a lot about the beating training puts my body through. Over the winter I run a lot. The intensity is not as high as when I'm building for a race, but over the last two years thats when I've gotten so much faster. Even swimming in the late winter/early spring thats where I've gained more when I'm at lower intensity. I'm reminded of something I learned getting my personal training certification at UT. The good ol' FIT principle. Frequency, Intensity, and Time. I think its real easy to get over worked and have to much high intensity training. Thats why so many people fail with P90X. Training becomes to much like work and less like something we love to do. I know there are certain workouts I never look forward to, especially when I'm doing them week in and week out. Besides being painful hard workouts break our bodies down unless give our muscles and connective tissue proper time to recover. That doesn't mean do nothing, but lower the intensity and let your body heal.

I'm probably going to limit the amount of intense miles on the road and yards in the pool I do, but increase the frequency and time I spend training. This should benefit in a couple of different ways. One being, less wear and tear on my body but increasing my moving economy due to higher frequency of movement; and two being the mental aspect of enjoying much more of the amount of training I do. I think in the long term I'll be able to handle a much larger training load, especially when I'm thinking of doing an Ironman in the next year.

I'm going to see how this month goes, see how much I can build into this new program. At the end of the month I'll make the call whether or not I need a coach. I just really hope to enjoy what I do more. This week has been great, I even had a good time in the weight room. I'll keep the progress noted in this blog, which is what it was intended for in the first place. I'm going to start simple though. I've got a number of how many swims, rides, and runs I want to do each week. My focus will just be on getting those things accomplished along with the rest of the above mentioned training ideas. It seems like a lot, but I think it will balance out. We'll see.

happy training,

Buffalo Springs 70.3

2010-07-05T22:09:00.000-07:00

Where do I begin? I've read about people having bad races, I've known a few who have had them, but I've never really had a "bad" race. Sure, there have been some that not everything went right, maybe I had to walk a little or slow down to recover from cramping, but never any that I would deem "bad." Till now.
Everything went pretty well for the most part. I had the best night of sleep ever before a race. I was super relaxed and feeling confident. I knew it wasn't going to be easy, but it's a freggin half-Ironman! I had a good breakfast and arrived in plenty of time to wait the 30 minutes required to get to the parking area. There was plenty of time to get set-up and do my pre-race rituals, porta-poty, and last minute transition checks. Got the wetsuit on had a nice warm up, scouted the coarse out a bit, took a little jog and stretched. All good. Felt good, relaxed, and focused.
The gun went off (or some dude yelled go) and away I ran down the beach and into the water. It was a rough start, but I got up towards the end of the front pack and stayed. The pace was good and we began to string out and mix in with the previous waves, but I was focused and kept myself pushing. I didn't feel super fast, but I knew I was doing well. My arms were tired, which was odd, but other then that I felt great. I came out of the water right around 29min flat, which I was very happy with. Goal number one accomplished.
T1 went alright, a little slow, but I was on the bike coarse ready to go. I immediately fell in with a couple of guys and ended up sticking with the same guy the whole bike. Everything was great, I kept within myself, but was still picking up spots and toasting everyone on the climbs. We had to come back into the wind, which I was prepared for, but this is where it all went downhill. I had been taking lots of water and gatorade, as well as electorlytes. All things I'm used to. I took an EFS shot and about 10-15 minutes later I was in trouble. Usually I take them with a lot of water to thin it out so its not so sweet and hard on my stomach. Unfortunately I did not have a whole lot of water on me at the time. By the time I got to the next aid station I was already having problems, and by problems I mean throwing up my EFS shot. At this point I'm getting tired too and need to focus on pushing through the wind, but I slowed up. I lost some time but I still felt like I could manage a good run.
Coming into T2 I was right where I wanted to be. I thought if I was anywhere around 3 hours I would have a chance to place with a strong half marathon. I think I was somewhere around 3:05 or more, but again I believed I could run under 1:30. As soon as I got off the bike I was hurting. I went through the first mile very slowly. My stomach was in knots and I was just trying to wait it out. Finally I had to stop, and of course I stop and walk only hear to hear "c'mon mate, you can do it." I lift my head up to see Craig Alexander looking at me rather disappointedly, or at least I believed he looked disappointed. I trudged on for a while, telling myself just hold a 9min mile and things will get better. Mile 3 was the tipping point. I felt terrible, my back was starting to hurt, and I began to wonder whether or not it was a good idea to finish. I thought about all of the things I needed to think about and why I do this. I noticed I was in a pretty good mood for some reason that is beyond me still. There was a smile on my face, so I said screw it, I'll finish even if I'm walking.
Little did I know that would be the case. I kept telling myself my stomach would get better and I would be able to run faster soon. For a while I would jog, start to feel okay, slowly get faster, then blah a little dry heave or not so dry heave. I repeated this about 8-9 times. But, I can run with that. What did me in was my back. The first downhill is where it really began to tense up. I guess there was still some bruising or injury from my accident. I was able to stretch and relax it at first, but as the race went on it got worse. Still, I believed I could turn it around and finish okay. My mind became set on hitting the half way point and starting a whole new race from there. For a while I did, but the last two downhills put me in more pain then I wanted to deal with and I was forced to walk at mile 10.
Somewhere during mile 12 a friend caught me. I was wondering when he would, and was kind of surprised it was so late. It was a blessing though, because he pulled me in the rest of the way. His day wasn't going well either, so we walked but mostly jogged the last part of run together. Bad days for both of us, but that happens sometimes in such a demanding sport. I can honestly say there wasn't a moment in that whole day when I wasn't smiling. Even with the pain and the frustration I had a little grin or chuckle to go along with it.
Where does that leave me now? Even before that race began I was pondering retirement. Not real retirement, but a Brett Favre type of retirement. The kind where you check out the ol' body, reevaluate the creeks and pops in the ankles and knees, and have a quality of life check.
Truth be told it's been a crazy last six months. The fourth of July came as a reality check about the previous 364 days, and I thought "it's not just the last six months, it's the last year." Just like that race I believe its going to get better. When its all said and done, whether it was a success or disaster, it doesn't really matter. What matters is that as I sat in the medical tent I was still cracking jokes and flirting with the pre-med girls clumsily sticking needles in my arm while attaching the IV, that I had a great time with my amazing and beautiful cousin in the days afterwards, and that for all my troubles I still went out and finished with a smile on my face.
Life is what it is, you are who you are, and whats in the past is already done. I know that I am on a path and where that leads I haven't a clue, but I know that I'm going to swim, bike, and run part of the way there. There's no retirement, maybe a little rebuilding period. I have to figure out what to do race wise, and Washington in August has been on my mind. I'm also contemplating a coach. I think it could bring some positive change into this deal, but I'll have to think about it some more. I've been missing the love though. The love of just doing these things. I took last week off and ran today, and it was nothing short of amazing. I felt great, my head was clear afterwards, and I definately needed it. Its bed time now, ready for a swim tomorrow and another run, core work, and all that good stuff.

Train hard, love what you do

ff

captex race report and bslt in the morn

2010-06-18T12:45:00.000-07:00

The Captex was its usual mess I suppose, but I always try and look for the positive angles. Every race is learning experience in one way or another. Some races you learn more about your sport, others you learn more about yourself. This one was an eye opener for me because I learned a great deal about myself.

I'm sure every one of us has our hang ups; some of them are things others can see that we can not, some are things only we can see but hope no one else notices, and some are things that linger just under the surface of our conscious selves. Over the past few years God has brought a great deal of change in my life. Much of it was hard to face, but once on the other side I could see and feel the reasons why. It started with taking a hard look at myself and giving it all up to Him to fix and do what He needed to do. I am still the same Frank, but a Frank with different priorities and hopes in life. I am for all intents and purposes a much more peaceful Frank, but a Frank with flaws and hangups nonetheless. This last race exposed one of those flaws to me that perhaps I didn't want to admit to myself.

For those that know me, and even to myself, it seems kind of odd but a short run down of the race is necessary before I explain what I'm talking about. Race morning went well, I had plenty of time, everything was ready, and for once this race started on time. The swim begins, and I'm immediately out front with about 4-5 other guys. I find some feet to tuck in behind and make sure I'm up front. The pace feels slow to me, but I figure I was in a good draft and the adrenaline is still going a little. By the first turn I know its slow, so I decide I need to make a move. At this point we catch the previous wave's stragglers, so things get messy. I start to move up and get in a groove. I felt fast and knew I was on it. There was only one other green cap in front of me, so I knew I was where I wanted to be. I notice the coarse seems different, but pay no mind to it as it was really just passing thoughts as I went. We hit the swim exit and I look down at my watch to see 29 minutes. At this point I begin to freak out a little. I haven't swam slower than 25 minutes in over a year, and I felt fast today what the...? I tell myself just move on and make it up later.

I get on the bike and it goes well. 1:02 or something like that, just what I wanted. The whole time on the bike I kept feeling better and better, and kept getting faster each loop. Good job. Going on to the run coarse I feel strong. My stride is hitting right out of transition, no weary bike legs, nada. Cadence is good, I'm flying past people, not tired...great. There were even some comments "great stride! you're flying!" from random spectators. Those things always make me feel good. I hit the 5k, look at my watch and see 21 minutes. 21 minutes!? What's wrong with me? I start thinking about everything. That pace felt to good, it was way to slow I thought. There must be something wrong. I start to slow down and rethink my whole race.

It was a moment a haven't really faced often. I lost all confidence in myself. A battle ensues in my head and my pace goes up and down. Stopping to walk seems like a reasonble thing to do at this point, but I keep going. Upon reaching the aid station I grab some water and walk for about 15 seconds. It just seems wrong...to walk that is, so I start running again. I tell myself to move it hard and finish like I'm supposed to. I don't want to lose by 30 seconds again, and I finish pretty strong.

Looking at my time after I cross the line I see 43 minutes for the 10k and 2:20 for the race. It just blows my mind, and I wonder how I did so bad. I go over to my mom who is volunteering in transition and tell her all the confusion going on in my head. She stays confident in me. As I walk over to see the results a friend catches me and we talk about the race. We had the same time, he raced in the open wave so I never saw him. I immediately feel better though, and it turns out I placed third and in the top 50 overall. Goals accomplished, but something isn't sitting right with me.

In the morning I'll be getting up to do Buffalo Springs 70.3. This month has been pretty helacious. I've moved, fell in a cactus (don't ask, I'm a clutz and I do stupid things sometimes), and got in a car accident. Training has been a mess. I'm hoping all the work I've done this year has paid off, and that what I've done this month is enough to have maintained my fitness level. All that being said, I feel great. These things that happen happen for a reason. Its been a couple weeks since the accident (nobody was injured, just a little sore) and I can't say that I've had a bad day since. Its been quite the opposite, I've had a great time, and honestly feel even more blessed then I ever have.

I feel altogether different, more confident in my own skin and what I can do. Its a strange thing to be humble, yet confident, and not let one's self become arrogant. One of the challenges with the kids I coach is getting them to believe in their abilities. As an athelete its important to believe in yourself and be confident, but its equally as important to remain humble enough to know that there is always room for improvement.

This was supposed to be my "A" race, the race where I wanted to get a podium finish and a spot at Clearwater for the 70.3 world championships. But in taking a look at the last six months of my life it's easy to see triathlon has been on the back burner. Its been a trial, but one where I've learned a whole lot and I sit here writing this knowing how much God has done in my life.

I have no idea what to expect tomorrow. I know that I'm in better shape then I was last year, but other then that I don't have a clue. Can I place? Maybe. I believe its possible. Is it realistic? Probably not. Does it matter? Not really. One of my favorite quotes comes to mind "Experience is what we get when we don't get what we want." I know how to race this coarse, I feel rested, and I've never been more relaxed the night before. I'm gonna wake up in the morning ready to race and take it from there. This race holds a lot of significance for me now, but not in the context I would have originally thought. I'll be racing with all the emotion I can muster, thinking about all of the things that brought me to this point, for my friend Rich who is fighting for his life, and for my family who has been through so much. I'm thankful that I'm blessed enough to go out and compete, and to be given yet another new and beautiful perspective on life.

Good luck to everyone racing tomorrow here and Ironman CDA.

twas the night before the captex...

2010-05-30T20:14:00.000-07:00

...and I'm still awake, but not for to long cause the captex awaits. I've swim and I've run, I've rode and lifted weights, it's all been done for this 31st day of May. In the morn I will rise, I'll be up before the sun, to plunder and pillage and do what damage can be done. Fret not my friends, it's been months in the making, I'm gonna make short work of this small undertaking. A swim through the lake, a ride on the road, a run through the streets and then I'll be done. Revenge will be had, that one thing is for sure, on this race that has done me in so many times before.

I'm done rhyming now, and I just wanted to put up some pre-race thoughts. I've never had a good race here before for several reasons. I don't expect fireworks tomorrow either, but I want a good strong effort. And I'm not gonna lie, I want a medal too. This whole week I've been stressing myself out over how well I'll be able to perform. At one point today I just had to tell myself not to worry about it, I'm going to do what I'm going to do. The work has been done, there's no magical key to doing well, I just have to put forth my best effort. I know that if I do that the rest will take care of itself.

All that being said, I had a good week of training. I think I've had a pretty good month of training for that matter. I took it easy, sort of, this week. I did put in a really long difficult ride, but it was really enjoyable. I feel like my fitness level is pretty high right now. Its evident in my training, and I can really see it in my body now. I know this race, I know exactly what I want to do, so all I have to do is execute. I know that at some point tomorrow, if everything goes to plan, its going to be mind over body to finish. Thats what I want. I don't care what the time is, I just want to reach that limit. I know that even if its not perfect this will be my fastest olympic distance race yet. I have high expectations, but I believe they're realistic. Yet, I'm still treating this like training. My main goals are much bigger then doing well tomorrow. The way I'm looking at it is this is the kick-off for my next block of training. Its my reward for the work I've done, and an indicator to what I'll be able to do for next month.

I'm excited, and curious as always to see what I've got. The plan for June is going to be much different, but I'll write more on that later. After the race I'll be headed to the lake for some much anticipated fun in the sun. A little bar-b-que, a little refreshment, a little cliff diving, and hopefully a lot of fun.

what a week

2010-05-18T21:01:00.001-07:00

I guess just because you created a training program called "the plan" doesn't necessarily mean everything goes according to plan. This past week was kind of a mess, but I got a lot of good work in. My rides and runs all went pretty well, and the little bit of swimming I got done went well also. It gets hard fitting everything into a week. You get blocks of time here and there, and it doesn't always seem like there's enough of it...for me any way.

I decided to try something new this year with my training. Last year I adheared to a regimented program in which a lot of the workouts were repetitive. I found this sometimes hard to swallow, especially when I knew the forthcoming difficulty and pain involved with a particular workout. This year I'm sticking with the same general principles, but just changing it up a bit to make it more fun and/or tolerable. The results produced from last years program were pretty good. I improved quite a bit all the way across the board. This year I believe will be just as good if not better.
For my speed workouts this past week I went back to the basics in the pool and on the track. I was really pleased with both efforts as I was able to do better then what I had imagined I was capable of. On the track I went with an old fashioned miler routine from my high school days and laid down a fast set of 400's. The goal I had in my mind was 72 sec per and I was able to get well under that, which made me realize how close my goal for the year was (65 sec avg.) I'll be pretty fast if I'm able to do that.
In the pool I was again surprised. I did a relatively similar workout of 100's at threshold. My goal was modest, maybe a little high I thought. With most of my training sessions I try to give myself something to shoot for thats at the upper limits of my capabilities. I didn't catch the times on my first two laps, but every one after that was at least 2 sec. faster then my goal. When I checked my watch later for my first two I found they were both two of the fastest 100's I've ever swam. Unfortunately, I was unable to get all of the swimming in I wanted to the rest of the week due to the weather, but I'm getting excited at how well its coming along.

Saturday morning came with thunderstorms and wind. I was getting bumed thinking I would have to spend another saturday on the trainer, but the clouds blew off and it turned into an awesome day. I haven't had a long ride outdoors in over a month, and I was determined to make this a good one.
When I was a skinny little kid doing my first road races I was a monster climber. It made sense, I spent most of my time on mountain bikes, and I weighed next to nothing. I rode up and down Mt.Franklin in El Paso weekly, and I just really liked to climb. At the time I had no idea I was that good at it. I remember doing a 100+ mile race in Santa Fe where I started out in the pack with my team and the rest of the men. Most of the climbing was in the first half of the course. We came into the mountains right off the bat and started our ascent and I quickly popped out front. However, I was still only 14 (I think) and I was worried about being out alone for the whole race. I kept on going all the while pulling ahead and getting more nervous, but the team van came up to check on me and ask me how I was doing. I think I asked if I should wait up, but they said if I felt good to keep on going, so I did. That was the last I saw of my team till the end of the race, which I did alone for the most part. I know I was toasted at the end, but you're fearless when you're a kid.
Back to this weeks ride and my goals for the present. I want to be that climber again on the bike, so I picked out what I thought would be a long ride with lots of climbs. I kind of winged it and got lost, but I had a tremendous day and felt great afterwards. My fear was that I would really be tired with all of the hills, and lack of long road rides, but it was quite the opposite. I didn't even require a nap, I kept on trucking out to eat with mom, and finished the day off at my favorite disc golf course with my sis and brother in law. It was an awesome day.

This week is going well so far. I'm looking for a strong finish to this block of training going into recovery week. I've got some tough days planned and I'm already looking forward to my next long ride on saturday. I know where I want to go, and how bad it kicked my butt last time I did it, so I'm curious to see how much of difference two months makes.

ff

i got a bike.

2010-05-12T19:39:00.000-07:00

So my friend keeps going on non-stop about this girl. He's pretty smitten to say the least. "She's so awesome! She does this and that, and blah blah blah." To which I reply "that's great man, good for you." Then he keeps going and all I can keep saying is different versions of the same thing "that's awesome, I'm happy for you, etc." Then it turns into "you suck." Yeah, I'm moderately jealous, but more than that I'm happy for the guy. I felt like that once many moons ago, and I know how great it can be. You walk around glowing, not caring about all of the other not so great stuff in your life. The future starts to include her in it. All you want to do is talk about this girl and how great she is. I was that guy once so I understand, and again I am really happy especially for this guy in particular. He kept talking about her the other night to which I finally replied "uhm yeah...I got a bike."
I do love my bike though with it's sleek and sexy self. Although I think it has a more masculine personality and appearance. It's definately not a sexy lady bike (like a curvy Cervelo). However, it is most certainly my significant other and I'm not sure how sad that is. We spend a lot of time together and we make eachother happy. Enough said.

No running, and my bad foot. Not any more! My foot miraculously healed itself last week when I thought it was for sure going to take a couple of months to get better. I'm going to go ahead and call it a miracle. It is to me any way, and I took full advantage of it last week. I put in a full workout load and some huge runs. It kicked my butt, but I feel strong and ready to go. I'm once again optimistic about my upcoming races.

Sunday was swimrun day. It was cloudy and raining here and there. I had a long easy day scheduled and was pretty excited about it. My swim went well, that is until this 13-14 year old girl started swimming next to me. She was like a little fish that skimmed effortlessly across the water. Not wanting to be chicked by a little girl I picked it up a little. Then Patrick Evoe jumped in the lane next to me. Let me tell you I am way bigger then that guy, but he is way faster then me. Nothing like swimming next to a pro and a bada$$ 13 year old girl to put some humilty in you. I had been swimming for about an hour straight at that point so I gave the girl a little run for her money while I finished up. She was sitting on the side and swimming a down and back with Mr. Evoe every other time he reached her side. Then she got tired and waited to do them with me. I finally wore her out too, but I think she still got the best of me.

I went on and did my long run through a little bit of rain. It felt good though, and it was pretty down by the lake. My ego was healed a little too with the thought of "I'd like to see that girl come out and run with me too, I'll destroy her on land." Not really, it was just an awesome peaceful run and another awesome sunset on Sunday.

I saw this little lizard a couple of times today both before and after my workout. I'm surprised he stuck around my apartment for so long. He just looks cool is the only reason I decided to immortalize him in my blog.

Here's to the rest of the week, love in the spring time, my bike, and I Chingachcook...last of the single Mohicans. You bastards and all your swave lady gettin ways leaving me all alone. Who I am I kidding? I'd rather be training. At least for now, or when I get hurt again (which is hopefully never), or until I find a female version of myself who is equally awesome and won't expect me to sacrifice swimbikerun time for significant other time. Here's to dreams.

bodies and temples

2010-05-02T21:50:00.000-07:00

Over the last couple of days I keep seeing this visual definition of fitness being promoted by various magazines, websites, etc. I was just checking out some other blogs and came across a crossfit video, one of oh-so many. Those crossfit folks really love to make videos of themselves doing their hardcore workouts. But it just really got me thinking how much junk we see come out of the fitness industry. I'm not trying to beat up on crossfit, or p90x, or any other training system; it's just the mentality they sale with it. First and foremost I'm all for being fit and healthy. Whether its crossfit, triathlons, martial arts, aerobics, or what have you; do what you gotta do to workout. Find something you enjoy and do it, but don't knock on others for not doing what you do.
One of my biggest pet peeves in the gym was the elitist attitude so many people walk around with in there. I hear it all of the time people complaining about why they don't like the gym. Girls feel uncomfortable because guys hit on them, guys don't like all meatheads hogging up the equipment, its just a meat market, and the list goes on. Working at a corporate gym was one of my least favorite jobs I ever had, which is sad because I love training people so much. The main problem I had was the mentality of the staff and the business in general. It was never about fitness, it was about money and looking good, but mostly money.
This video I just watched had an interview with a 30 something woman at the beginning. All she did was talk about how terrible it was to have models on the front of womens' fitness magazines. That it was just about being skinny. Then it broke into the typical crossfit video of crazy workouts in old garages and what not. Many of the exercises were terrible, not a lot of focus on form, but hey...they're getting it done. Its just the same attitude of "I'm better then you because I do this" that bleeds through.
Yesterday I caught myself thinking the same thing as I thumbed through Austin Fit magazine's swimsuit issue. There were two women, probably fitness pageant competitors, and a crazy buff guy. I looked at them and thought the same thing, "these people don't look 'fit' to me." They look like people who spend a lot of time in the gym, take lots of supplements, and eat crazy diets to achieve a certain aesthetic look for their bodies...they're not athletes. The women I have more respect for, they certainly look more athletic then the guy, but still its more about looks. But the guy, he was just big and ripped, a body trained for no skill. Whats the point? I'd rather see athletes then fitness models, but I also think athletic bodies are so much more beautiful then bodies sculpted in the gym. Yet, I realize this is just my opinion and we're all entitled to think what we like. I could be completely wrong about those people.
My problem is this; what is being sold? Its not a healthy lifestyle, its not bathing suits that most people would wear. Is it just an idea? Is it our ideal image? Is it a true definition of fitness? Is it an attitude or frame of mind? I see it among my fellow triathletes more often then I'd like to admit; I train with so-and-so, this triathlon store is better then that one, I do this distance race, I ride this kind of bike and these kind of wheels. Who cares?
I often wonder if these attitudes and images adversely affect our population more then we know. Most people in this country are not fit, they are in fact far from it. I go crazy every time I go to El Paso (consistently one of the most overweight cities in the U.S.) because so many people call me skinny, but in a derogatory manner. I always say the same thing, "I'm not skinny, everyone here is just really fat." Its not nice, but the truth hurts, and it blows my mind every time I go there. But why are they content to be so overweight and unhealthy? Why is it becoming cool to be fat and lazy?
Our bodies are temples and should be treated as such. The deeper I fall into my faith the more apparent that becomes to me. Being healthy and fit has become a marketing tool used to sell a multitude of products and services, which in turn has cheapened it into an almost strictly superficial pursuit. I can see why it seems so unobtainable to so many people when the only idea of fitness they have is chisled abs, riped bodies, and man-made implants. When the only reasons they see for being fit are wearing certain clothes and looking a certain way.
Be active because you'll be happier. Be fit because you'll live better, be sick less, live longer, have fewer medical problems, have more energy, save money on health care, be smarter (its a fact, the more active you are physically the more healthy and active your brain will stay), and never worry about what you look like. You will be capable of so much more. You don't have to look like you fell out of a magazine to be fit, you don't have to be a superstar athlete, or a p90x maniac. Everyone has different genetics, different personalities, and we all look how we look. Just ask yourself "how do I feel?"
Here's my challenge to those of you reading this. Don't turn your TV on till its dark out. Don't go grab some fast food, or sit in a bar. Find something to do. Open your door and go outside. There is so much more to the world then TV, videogames, and the internet. Earn that yummy home cooked meal, or that tasty beverage of your choice.
Screw stupid magazines and gyms selling you a bunch of crap. Screw people and their "I'm better than you" attitudes. Screw the smug jerks at the gym, put your headphones and go to work. It's about you and your life, your very mortality, and the way you live.
But then again this is coming from a skinny masochist who spends almost as much time training as I do working, but I love it. I wish everyone could feel as good as I normally do. Even this afternoon I found myself really tired after work and ready to skip my workout, but I made myself get outside. I went for a swim and then an easy run downtown. As I was running across the Lamar bridge I had a beautiful sunset over the lake on one side and an amazing view of the Austin skyline on the other, and I was so glad I trained today if just for that. Thats just me and what I like, but I can't imagine what I could have experienced sitting on my couch that would have come close to that.

ff

the lonestar

2010-05-01T21:46:00.001-07:00

The last time I was in Galveston I was probably somewhere around 9 years old. My mom decided to pack me and my sis up in her little Toyota truck and drive 800 miles to the other side of Texas. It was quite a road trip, I don't even remember everywhere we went, but it was the 80's gas was cheap and I think it was our first ever real vacation. We stayed at a tiny little motel across from the beach that I'm sure is long gone by now. The roaches probably destoyed it long before the hurricane. My sister and I had never seen the ocean before, but I can still recall wondering where the giant blue waves were. We had fun though; playing in the merky gulf coast water, digging up the crabs, running from the crabs, laughing at my mom getting bit by a crab, eating cheese and crackers with the motel roaches...good times it was. I remember going into the men's room somewhere we were eating and it was the first time I had been in a bathroom where the walls were covered with pictures of naked ladies torn out of mens magazines and made into wallpaper. Wherever it was, they made a tasty burger and shake.

Fast forward twenty something years to last weekend. Galveston was not the seaside gem of Texas I remembered it being. It is now a town of two great pyramids and the Lonestar Triathlon Festival. I signed up for the olympic race last minute thinking it would help me get out of this slump I've been in. Besides battling my foot injury I had turned into an insomniac for a couple of weeks prior. No reason, nothing bad going on, just couldn't sleep. I had only ran a total of three times since my last race, but had tweeked my foot again a week out from go time. I thought it would be best to just rest it and see how it felt race day, and on top of that I caught a cold mid-week to add to the already shaky week I was having going into the race. The night before I was beginning to wonder if I should even race, so I downed some Nyquil and crashed out pretty early and thought I would see how I felt in the morning.

Race morning I felt okay. I slept good, I felt better, and thought I could at least start the swim and go from there. Funny I took that picture of the swim coarse the day before. I thought the warning sign was kinda funny. Little did I know it would be funnier the next day. The morning sky was all clouds and rain, and the wind was blowing pretty strong. I got to transition super early and kind of wandered around for a while and posted up on the sidewalk looking towards the bay. The swim coarse looked nasty, I was beginning to wonder how bad that swim was going to be and whether or not they were going to have a swim. I could see the concern on people's faces, it's not something I would have been comfortable swimming in as a relatively new or inexperienced open water swimmer. Race officials called it off and went with a time-trial start bike/run race.

It was fine with me, and it gave me some time to warm up and test the foot out. Everything seemed okay, and an hour and a half later I was on my bike heading out on the coarse.

The way transition was set up I ended up being one of the last rows out. All the men and my age group left long before I did, and I had to work my way up through all of the women. I took off pretty hard and just tried to keep the pressure on the whole way. The coarse was super flat and straight, but the wind was blowing pretty good. I had it in my mind to go to work and push it during this race. I didn't bring race wheels, race flats, nothing but my everyday training rig. Thats the mentality I wanted to have, as I feel like I work so much harder in training then I do when I race. It worked out pretty well, I pushed as hard a gear as I could the whole way and had a pretty fast bike.

Going out on the run I could tell right away it was going to be a struggle. My legs felt okay, but my energy levels were drained. I went through the first mile at a measley 6:20 and felt like I was done already. Every time I tried to pick up the pace I came up flat. Towards the end of the bike I started to catch up to some of my age group, and was trying to run people down, but even that wasn't working for me. It was mind games from there on out. I kept telling myself no matter what I was not going to walk, even if I slowed to a jog. I hit the 5k at 19:30, and just kept thinking I can go faster. My foot was hurting a little, but by mile 4 I didn't notice it anymore. It was hot and muggy, which I like, and it kind of got me going a little bit. Still, I was really having problems and went from trying to go faster to trying to get done faster. I crossed the line in 39:04, a full minute slower then last month on a very similar run coarse, and not even close to what I'm capable of.

This was one of the few times I finished a race and just wasn't really happy. Most of the time, even after a bad race, there's always a feeling of "yeah I did it." I was just kind of blah. I think it was being sick catching up with me. Mentally, that was tough. I was really surprised to see I finished as well as I did, 3rd in the age group 9th overall, so I was pretty happy about that. That race was supposed to be a special qualifier for USAT nationals, but I'm not sure now since there was no swim. I'll be in a wedding in Massachutsetts that day any way instead of Tuscaloosa Alabama racing.

(one of the great pyramids of galveston)

Thats my happy face with my cool glass trophy (not shown). Leaving the race I felt good. If thats what I can do on a bad day, then my good days are going to be hard to beat. Back in Houston I stood in the shower thinking post race thoughts of what to do for my next race. I came up with a challenge; 2 hours or better at the CapTex tri next month while still focusing on Buffalo Springs 70.3 in June. But as I drove back to Austin tinges of pain began to surge from my foot up the length of my leg. By the end of that night I could hardly walk. The next day I was walking with a slight limp, slight pain the next day, did a hard track work out the day after with no pain whatsoever. A whole week later and it feels %100.

I did enjoy the coarse at the Lonestar, and the race was well put together. I'll definately come back to do the 70.3 in the future. Thanks Mom and Linda for coming out to watch me race, I promise I'll put on a better show next time. This week I'm going to put in a full training load and see what happens. Its been over a month since I've been able to do that, so before I confirm that challenge I have to see if I can handle training. I think I can.

I can run again!

2010-04-12T20:40:00.000-07:00

Every year its something. I somehow get some crazy injury and have to lay low for a bit. This time wasn't so bad. I could still swim and ride, so I didn't go completely insane. If there is one thing I can afford not to do its running. The bad part is, thats what I love to do the most. Whenever there's a period when I'm not running, which is very rare, I always seem to get depressed. Then I usually make it worse by trying to run when I'm not healed up yet. This time I did my best to play it smart and make sure I felt okay. I still have no idea what is wrong with my foot. There's a small tender spot just below my ankle that won't go away, but its hardly noticeable at this point. For the most part it feels fine, so I decided to chance it today and go for a run.
Before getting on the road I thought it would be best to keep it limited to 30 minutes on flat roads at an easy pace. I started out pretty nervous, but with no pain. I kept the pace slow for about the first 7 min. and picked it up little by little. My foot felt fine with no hints of stress or discomfort, but my legs on the other hand were a different story. There were definitely some cob webs to shake out. In the absence of running last week I did a lot of weight training and plyo focusing on the lower body, of which I'm still feeling some of the effects. Around 12 minutes I began to relax and get into a rhythm, and then I decided to push it and test the foot a little more. I finished the last 20 minutes with some race pace efforts and a little extra 400m just to get the lead out. It was a good run and it made me happy to be able to do it again. I can start to feel normal once more.
After that I got on the bike and did some speed work, and then followed that up with a long core and stretching routine. I'm going to be careful with the miles this week and see how it goes. If everything works out I'm going to look for another late April early May race to do, and then start prep for Buffalo Springs in June.
I'm still thinking about my last race. I settled into a comfort zone during the run and never really got out of it. It was my fastest 10k yet in a triathlon, but I could've been much faster. Thats the worst thing to think about, could've been, so now I've got something to prove to myself.
I'm just glad to be running again though, and I know that the races will come soon enough. The madness of the past few months is over, and hopefully life will fall back into its normal rhythm...eat, sleep, work, train, repeat. Its time to sink back into training as usual and see what I can do.

ff

stop and smell the flowers

2010-04-04T20:33:00.000-07:00

As great as I felt after my race last saturday sunday brought a fairly dramatic turn for me...as far as triathlon life goes that is. I woke up early to get in a recovery swim/run. To my surprise the pool was reserved for swim lessons or life gaurd training, so I had to just go run and wait till later to swim. I was in no hurry and took off at a fairly slow pace. As I went on I could feel a slight tinge of pain in my foot. I figured it would work itself out as often is the case, but it only got worse. Although I cut my run short the damage was already done. What happened I have no idea. The next day just walking was painful, and I spent the next couple of days afterwards limping around.
A week has gone by and it's significantly better. I'm a little leary to run on it yet, but it seems to be healing. I considered going to the doctor, but what would he tell me besides stay off it. Its one of those in between injuries, so I'm going to give it a little more time. One thing is for sure, I won't be attending the Lonestar 70.3. Not a big deal, but a little disappointing.

I'm going to take it as an oppurtunity to revamp some things and tweek the training plan. Some post race thoughts left me with a few things I'd like to work on. The biggest being my core strength, and overall strength training in general. My core is okay, but I feel like I could gain a lot more power, especially on the bike, with an upgraded core routine. Last year I did a lot more plyometric training at the beginning of the season, and I think that would have prevented me from injury this week had I been doing it more consistently. I have been lifting weights, and I think the program I'm doing is working well, but I have not been putting in to many stabilizing exercises, which would have again possibly helped prevent my foot injury.
Its frustrating when your body seems to be firing on all cylinders except for one little spot you would never think about. Somebody made the comment to me this week "you're getting older, these things happen more often." While that may be true, it doesn't have to be when you take care of yourself correctly. On the other hand, I feel like my foot problem was just a freak accident and may not have been preventable. Whatever the case is it's getting better, and I'm committed to using this as a learning experience.

After a week of laying low I'm ready to do what I can till I can run safely again. Saturday I went for a little ride to test the foot out. I started off rather mildly and with no problems. There were tons of cyclists on the roads and I don't blame em', it was a beautiful day. A guy came by me and we started to talk a little bit. He recognized me from the last Saturday's race, or I should say he recognized my bike, as he was probably one of the few that passed me that day. We just happened to be going the same way and kind of went back and forth a bit, talking when we went by one another. He passed me on the flats and I would pass him on the hills. My rear derailleur was acting up, so I had to stop and adjust it before we hit the super steep climb on Travis Heights just before 2244.

He put some space on me at that point, and what was supposed to be a Saturday spin turned into a little race pace training session. It took a while but I reeled him in on the big rollers going out to Bee Caves. We blasted by all sorts of people, and when I finally caught him I decided to push it a little harder to see if I could drop him. I kept thinking he was on my wheel the whole time, but when I turned off and looked back he was a ways behind. He caught up and we chatted for a while. He beat me last week at the race, but not by much. His bike split was about 3 minutes faster then mine, which was enough to edge me out on the run.

I hit my turnaround point and went on back home. My legs were a little spent after that, but we had fun and I probably needed it. I cruised on and watched all the folks out taking pictures in the bluebonnets and other wild flowers. It was funny; little girls in sundresses, whole families dressed alike in jeans and white t-shirts, kids rolling around in the grass, all on the side of the highway. Spring time in central Texas is hard to beat. My morning ride set the tone for a great Saturday. I followed it up with a little track practice, lunch with mom, a nap, disc golf in the evening, and a little egg painting with the familia to finish it up. As I lay in bed later that night some of my favorite words to live by ran through my mind "make everyday count." I was exhausted, my eyes burned a little, and I was pretty content and extremely thankful to be so blessed. I could hardly keep myself awake to say my prayers, but I can't think of a better way to end the day.

the champions 2010

2010-03-31T13:03:00.000-07:00

Starting the year with the Champions tri again, in a very different place this time, but with the same happy feeling. Just like last year it was windy and overcast for most of the race. Stupid wind. I'm still not over the water temp. I had the privilage of getting in Elephant Butte lake a couple of times thinking that was coldest water I would be in this year. Wrong!! Lake Pflugerville is the coldest water I ever willingly got into and swam in. Even with the suit on it was cold. My face and feet were numb after a couple of minutes of warm up swimming.
Lets get to the race. It was a mass start with all of the men, which made things interesting. It was rough, the water was super choppy, friggin cold, and there was lots of dudes bangin around. My goggles were kicked off in the first 100 meters, I could still see out of one eye, but the other goggle was full of water. I kept swimming for a while contemplating whether or not to just keep going. Common sense won out and I rolled over drained the goggle and had it back on in a flash. Thankfully, I've been practicing the roll-over-to-backstroke-and-back move in practice this year. Worked like a charm. Focusing back on the race I weaved up to the front trying to find some fast feet to hang on to.

Unfortunately, I didn't make the first pack and was stuck leading a bunch of other guys after the first turn. I was feeling really strong and just sunk into a rhythm. Once I got under control from the frenzy of the first part of the race I really began to move up. I picked guys off one or two at a time and finished pretty well despite the awkward shallow water deep mud swimming/wading of the last 50 meters. Time in the water was 23 in 40 sec, 24.33 to the mat. My fastest swim yet.
As always I'm thrilled to get on the bike and go. My T1 time was terrible, but thats an easy fix. My feet were completely numb and I kind of fumbled around a bit to get my suit off. Once that was done I was gone. I immediately began picking people off. I felt super strong and just decided to hammer. I knew there was not to many people in front of me, so I kind of used that to motivate myself. Except for the first few miles, the whole coarse seemed to be going into the wind. It was flat for the most part and kind of suited to me. By the end of the second loop I made up a lot of ground and already felt good about my race... and I could feel my feet again!

After pushing so hard on the bike I was wondering how my legs were going to feel on the run. I haven't done any real race pace bricks this season, so this was a big question mark for me. A bunch of college guys came into T2 right behind me and were off on the run like rockets. About 5 passed me in the first half mile, but by the end of 1.5 miles I passed em' all except one, who I reeled in by the end of the second mile. I felt pretty comfortable and was moving up on the next couple of guys. Finished the first 5k in 19.30, not bad, but I knew I could be faster. I started to speed up bit by bit. The next guy up in my age group knew I was coming and I could see him really pushing it to stay in front. I was gaining on him, but didn't know how high of an effort level I could sustain through the end of the race. We hit the turnaround with him about 150m ahead with an older guy. He yelled to the old guy "if you haul ass you won't lose that spot." Little did he know he was going to any way.

They both pressed on hard, but I was still gaining. I could see the older gentleman's form falling apart, and the guy I was chasing was slowing. I was running out of real estate though. The last mile and half I really started pushing the pace. We hit the last quarter, finish line in site, and I dropped the hammer. To my surprise my legs had a lot left, I mean a whole lot. I flew by the older guy, who put in an awesome effort, and was across the line just after what turned out to be 3rd place.

It was a good race for me. I felt really good about my whole effort. Considering all the training difficulties I've had over the past couple of months, I'm really pleased at where my fitness level is. I definately could have ran faster, but now I know I can push a lot harder on this distance. Here's the breakdown numbers wise: swim 24.33, bike 1:10.53 (coarse was long), run 38.06 total 2:15.52 for 9th overall/4th age group. 2 min 10 sec seperated me from first place, in a strong field. I had the 4th fastest swim in the age group, which is super awesome for me, I couldn't tell where that ranked overall. 2nd fastest bike, again good for me, but not sure how that ranked overall. Fastest run in the age group, 3rd overall. My mechanics, efficiency, and nutrition were all spot on. No cramps, no breakdown in form, everything was strong.

Post race activities were awesome. My nephew and all the other kids seemed to be pretty amazed with this crazy climbing deal at the park. Injuries were avoided despite the number of kids I saw fall and get tangled in the ropes.

All in all it was a great day. Finished it off with some good food, a little nap, more food, and an early night. Thanks family for coming to the race. Its always nice to see people you love when you get finished, and then get dragged around by a 2 year old afterwards. He knows uncle frankie has a hard time saying no.

training craziness

2010-03-25T22:18:00.000-07:00

Another good day in the books. I'm wicked tired, but the last couple of days have been pretty funny. I had a bunch of errands to do yesterday, and to be honest, a lot of sleep to catch up on, so I had to wait until the night time to train. It was drizzling all day, and I figured a little fog and dampness couldn't keep me off the track. The temp was decent so I headed out to break in my new racing flats. I got a couple of sprints in and it started to turn from a mist into a sprinkle. Another slightly older gentlemen out on the track running in the opposite direction hollared out "only us real men out tonight!" Of course, I didn't bother to check the weather before I left the house, maybe I would've stayed inside. At the start of my second set it began to come down a little heavier and the wind began to blow a little harder. By the end of that set it was full on raining. The other guy was now running circles under the covered entrance to the school.
Before I began my third set it turned into a torrential downpour. The wind was blowing harder and harder. I was already wet and still fairly warm, so I figured I might as well finish. It was hard to see, there were no lights, and I could actually hear the water running down my neck and slightly pooling up in the small area just behind my colar bone as I ran. Then the lightning started getting closer. Now I was running with a little fear and little more purpose. Headlines were running through my head "runner found on track, extra crispy, school children poking him with sticks." I finished my last lap and ran home drenched, with lightning all around, and wind rattling the street signs.
When I walked in I turned the tv on to see a crazy line of thunderstorms rolling through. As I was changing into some dry clother I could hear the lightning setting off car alarms and all kinds of craziness. And just like that it was gone. I put the bike on the trainer and finished up.
Today I busted out the wet-suit and went down to Deep Eddy to do a little cold water test swim. Its been almost 5 months since I had my suit on, and I just wanted to make sure it fit. Fortunately it fits better now then it did for the Longhorn. Thankfully I've put on a little upper body weight lately. My swim went well, very well, and I was plenty comfortable. The water was great, super clean and lots of it, a nice contrast to what we had to deal with over the summer. I'm still surprised at how well my swimming is going. Makes me curious to see what I'll be able to do this year.
Saturday will be the first test. The coarse is apparently nice and flat, so it should make for a good season opener. I have no idea how its going to go. Maybe I'll surprise myself. However it turns out, I hope my body is firing on all cylinders with no cramping or other issues. I just want to let it all out and see what happens, see what I need to work on, and get myself ready for the big races. A win would be nice too.

ff

Ahh Yes.

2010-03-23T21:15:00.000-07:00

I'll start where I finished the week...in New Mexico. 4000 miles and one month later all of that is behind me. We held my dad's services this weekend and that was that. There are some other things we're going to have deal with, but as far as traveling and what not its all done. I kind of feel like I can focus back on my own things now and my life here. That being said training has been good. I was unable to do as much as I would've hoped over the weekend, but I did get a tremendous 12 mile run in.
There is nothing like running in the desert. It was cathardic and freeing, fast and hard, hills and sand, cliffs and rocks, cold and windy. Next thing I know I'm running out of light. The sun was setting behind the mountains. I stood on a hill overlooking the lake and my last few miles home; the drop down into the valley, the path through the brush, and the final mile uphill to the house. My legs were already tired and burning and I dove down the hill plodding through the deep sand, I hit the flat bottom and let it go. I burned my way through the brushy maze, and arrived at the final climb determined to set my legs on fire. "Run the stress out" I thought, and I drove as hard as I could till I hit the corner on the dirt road my grandparents live on. I walked for a while afterwards and caught my breath.

Thats kind of how I feel about everything right now, like I'm catching my breath. Its good though. You gotta go through the bad to get to the good every now and then, and when you get there it seems all that much sweeter. I've put in a couple of really strong weeks training wise and managed everything else pretty well too. I feel good about life right now as I go into recovery week. Last week was my first go at speed and strength workouts. For the first time ever I'm more pleased with my performance in the pool then on the track. I've still got a lot of work to do on the bike, but that comes easier then the other two. I'm feeling pretty strong as I go into this first race of the year on Sunday. I don't know what to expect really. I'm sure my effort levels are going to be hard to judge since I've really only been doing base work, but I've got a good strategy in mind. I'm excited.

Today's pool workout was just what I needed. A little speed, a little race pace work, and then a little relaxing. Yeah, it was good. The day was perfect, the sun felt nice, the water was great, not to much more I could ask for. I finished the day off with a good meal and a little guitar. I've got a couple things to do to get the bike ready for Sunday, but other than that, it's recovery week (in more ways than one). I'm already looking forward to getting back into some hard training next week and getting myself in 70.3 shape. I've been asking myself a question lately, "why this?" Why do I like it so much? Why do I keep driving so hard? When will I stop? I don't know yet. Its kind of funny though. I choose to do this rather than so many other things, and it may not always be a good thing. Oh-well, I guess its just me.

P.S. get off your butt and get outside, its awesome out!

gettin back in it

2010-03-13T20:35:00.000-08:00

Finally things are getting back to normal. Ahhh, its good to have a full week of training. I feel like more like my normal self again, and maybe with a little more appreciation for how blessed I am. As far as triathlon goes, I was beginning to have my doubts about whether or not I would get to do all the races I have scheduled. I'm still a little concerned about how ready I'll be for the Lonestar 70.3. I feel confident about finishing, but I don't know how competitive I'll be. I'm going to give myself a couple of weeks to see how my mileage is progressing before I make a decision on that.
Any way, back to this week. All the traveling and what not took a lot out of me last week, so I did the best I could, but still needed a lot of rest and destressing. By the weekend I felt great and was able to get back on schedule. I was surprised to feel as good as I did on my long ride last Saturday. The rest of the week got better, and I started getting super motivated again. Not that I ever lost my motivation, but training fell on the back burner for a minute, now I'm focused once more. Having great weather helps a lot too. I was able to put some serious work in, and by the end of the week, ended up fairly sore. I like it though.
This was the last week of base training for me as well. I ran quite bit through the winter, and have swam a lot since January, but have not been on the bike as much as I would have liked. I feel pretty good about things for the most part. My base phase last year was a little more consistent, but I started out much stronger this year and my volume is also higher. No injuries to deal with this year either, so thats another plus. I'm getting really excited to race, and to put some speed work into my training. That will give me a better idea of where I'm at.
Today started with a track meet and standing in the sun for several hours leaving me with a nice sun burn, but it was a lot of fun. I got a kick out of seeing all of those kids smiling just because they ran down the track. They didn't care whether they were first or fifth. The old folks did well too. I saw some cops drop some fast times in the 200. They were big guys and they could move...it made me think twice about being able to out run one of them. If they don't get me in 200m I've got em' beat though. I wish I would've run the mile today. To bad I left my shoes and stuff at home. Oh-well, next time I guess.
Once I got home I got my bike ready for my long ride around 430pm. The awesome farmers tan/burn I got today was a concern. I attempted to mix different sunscreens to even it out. A heavy one on the already burnt skin and a light one on the not so burnt. It didn't work, but I had a great ride through the hills. I found a new route to try too. I ended up racing the sun home and had to finish the last part of my ride on the trainer. It worked out and I feel pretty good. I really was surprised how fast I rode today too, so I guess I'm not as far behind as I think. The weather was fantastic which made it really enjoyable, and I got to see an awesome sunset.
Next week is a short week and I have to go out of town again, but the week after is race week woohoo! I'm ready.

ff

its been a while

2010-03-09T20:40:00.000-08:00

You never know where life is going to take you. I guess most days you know its going to take you to work, on a run, or home, and finally to bed. Some days something unexpected occurs and you're taken on some strange detour. Then there are days when you know you have to do something different. Last week I had to take a trip out to New Mexico. Not because somebody asked me to, or was forced to, but because I felt like I needed to be there. It would have been easy to find excuses not to go; work, training, the distance...and truth be told I wasn't exactly sure it was a good idea. I knew my grandparents were dealing with a lot, and I didn't want to be a burden, but I figured I might be able to help.

I left the day after it snowed here in Austin and drove all day to El Paso, had dinner, and then on to my grandparents in New Mexico. For the most part the drive flew by, but was still exhausting. I woke up to a cold windy day and breakfast with my grandma. We sat and talked for quite a while, which would become a daily ritual over the course of the week. I then made my way to my grandfather's shop and we went to work. He was behind a bit, so I did the best I could to help him catch up. I spent the rest of the days grinding and welding away, kind of relearning some old skills. The evenings came around and I was ready to train. Unfortunately, the weather was nasty at times. There's wind, and then there's wind in the high desert. The two windiest (last time I checked any way) places in the U.S. are just a few miles away. That kind of killed my bike riding plans, so I ran quite a bit. It was loud, I could hardly hear my music when I was turned into the wind. Every few minutes I'd get a nice stinging sand blast across my legs, it was kind of a strange sensation, not really painful, but not to pleasant either.

Even with the weather I still loved it. I kind of found a new appreciation for the desert. Or better yet, I remembered all the things that I had grown accustomed to when I was younger. There's no trees so you can see for miles. It may be raining on you, but six miles north the sun is shining, and when you look west you see a range of snow covered mountains (sorry I didn't get a pic, they were beautiful though). I spent quite a bit of time staring at those mountains. In my early twenties I used to work out there. I went from end to end mostly on foot, occaisonally in a truck, and every now and then on a horse. Oh the simple life, how I miss thee.

I did get some rides in, and they were awesome. In fact, I believe my most favorite ride in the world is there. The beginning is curvy, and hilly, and has a fantastic five mile section of serious climbing; followed by a long, straight, super fast back road; and ends with a crazy fast and curvy downhill back home. Its one of the most fun rides I get to do. There's no traffic, or cars at all really. I did get chased by dogs however. Those little guys were fast, they did 25mph like nothing, but once I hit upwards of 27mph they started to fall off. I'm glad too, because it was hilly and my legs were starting to burn pretty bad. I won though. Other than that, its quiet, and just amazing. I always feel faster when I ride out there.

My runs were all amazing too. We usually didn't stop working till it was almost dark, so I had to train at night with no street lights, roads, or side walks. I normally got away just before sun down, and ran on into the night. Luckily, it was a full moon so I could still see pretty well. If I have a picture of where distance running came from its this, just running across the land, whatever that might be. I would run down the little dirt road towards the lake, and once it ended I just picked out spots I wanted to see, or openings in the brush, and just went. The sandy desert terrain is so carved up by erosion it makes for a crazy place to run. There are steep hills and deep gullies carved out by flash floods, and lots of cliffs lining the lake front. There's huge rock faces, and little boulder filled canyons all over the place. Most of the time I just ran wherever looked like the most fun. Its a wonder I didn't fall and break something. I was jumping off, or over, everything I could. It was a great feeling, I loved it when I was a kid, and I love it now.

I didn't get to do as much training as I would have liked, but what I did do was productive. I'd never get run in those kinds of hills, or that kind of sand in Austin, and being 4000 plus feet probably helped even more. I think the most important thing I took away from it was the spiritual side of it. I'd have my fun while I could see well enough to dive off some cliff, but once the night came I would relax a bit and just cruise across the desert. The moonlight makes the sand seem like its glowing, and everything is some shade of blue and silver. Its peaceful, and something about it just puts my mind at ease.

I guess I figured some things out about myself out there. My life's priorities stood out more clearly, where perhaps they had become a bit muddled lately. The training was just a small bit of what I did. Most of it was spent with two people mourning the loss of their son. I had said I was unsure about whether or not it was a good idea to go out there, but upon arrival I knew instantly it was the right thing to do. Saturday night I sat up with my grandma and had a couple of drinks. She told me all about her family, and their history. Many of the stories I had heard, many of them were new to me. Life was different then, people were different, stronger. I spent Sunday out on the lake with my grandpa. It was cold, the water was freezing, and it was a little windy yet again. We went to other side of the lake, which has no roads or people living on it, and had a few things to do. We talked geology and earth history, we both love rocks, and kind of explored around a bit. The view was amazing. It was raining to the south, and snowing to the north and west. Its one of the most wonderful things I have seen in a long time, and the company made it even better.

I know there is a lot I don't know in this world. I know there are times when everyone thinks they're alone, but I believe that doesn't have to be the case. It doesn't take much to put a hand out for someone else. I say I had to go to New Mexico because God had put it in my heart for me to go. I could not have stayed here, there's no way. I'm so glad I went. I can't explain the feeling it gave me. It wasn't gratification, it wasn't something self fulfilling. Its something wholly different, something deep and penetrating. It just made me realize how true it is that a beautiful life doesn't come from searching for your own happiness, but in sharing what you have to give with others. My life is blessed with so many amazing people, and that number just seems to keep growing. I'm blessed to be able to do what I can for my family and those I love, and I'm blessed to have someone who is there to give me what I need too. I couldn't be more thankful.

Feb 13th

2010-02-18T09:07:00.000-08:00

There are days when its easy to get out and train, and there are days when its not. The last few weeks of cold and rainy weather started to get on my nerves, but I trained through it. The good part of it is I always had my own lane in the pool, and well... thats about it. There wasn't to many people out on town lake, and even the ducks didn't want to go any where. Ahh February, the longest month of the year. It's cold, it's not pretty, and I can't wait till March.

It has been sunny the last few days, which is nice. Its made everything more pleasant, and I even got a little tan while swimming yesterday. I got up early saturday for my long ride and was happy see it clear and bright outside. However, I did suffer a bit of shock at how friggin cold it was once I got on my bike. I decided to head west out of Austin to see something different. The hill country was calling my name with its quiet roads and majestic scenery. I was really looking forward to leaving the rumble of the city. One thing about the hill country is, its full of hills. Big ones, and I was riding into a head wind. Being me, and always wanting to be going fast it was a bit of a problem at first. It was a little frustrating, but I finally put myself in check and began to enjoy it. The last time I did this ride it was September and everything was scorched from the heat and no rain. Saturday every creek and stream was flowing, and the land looked so much healthier.

I came up on a water crossing (above) that I had to get off my bike for, and decided to wander around a bit. There were several layers of exposed rock the geology nerd in me wanted to ooh and ahh at, so thats what I did. Nothing special on my mind, just looking at rocks. It was my grandma's birthday, I thought about her, and wandered down the way a bit to look for some better pictures. I went back to the road and pulled my shoes and socks off to cross the creek. I helped some other guys cross, and I made the climb out of that little valley and came up on some fast open road and got my speed fix on for a bit. Then it was hills all the way to Johnson city.

I picked out a spot to take a break at before I headed back home, the windmill seemed like a good marker. Strange how things happen in life. I laid my bike down, sat down for a drink, and checked my phone. There were a bunch of missed calls and texts. It was to let me know my dad was about to pass. I said a prayer, and called my grandpa. I guess it already happened, he was standing outside in the parking lot. There's not really much to say at times like that. I wasn't very close to my dad, he wasn't the greatest of men, nor did he live the greatest of lives. I made my peace with him long ago, despite what he had done to my family, he was forgiven. But I put myself in his shoes, tried to look at life from his point of view, and imagine what that would feel like. I thought of my grandparents who continued to give in the best way they knew how, and never gave up on their child even after a life of self inflicted tribulation.

I got back on my bike, left a headphone in one ear just in case anyone else called, and put a little music on. I smiled on my way home, the wind was pushing me, the air got warmer. Things looked different on the way back. I don't know whether my dad was a good man who just made to many poor choices, or a bad man doing the best he could to be good. I know that I called him by his name, and that every time I saw him he seemed to age ten years if it was only two. I know that he didn't have much, but he has a family who needs some prayers. I know that he never gave me anything in my life, but that God chose him to be my father for whatever reason, and whether he was there or not, he had a hand in making me who I am today and for that I am thankful.

May you rest in peace, Robert Larry Fisher Jr.

its friggin cold!

2010-02-09T20:02:00.000-08:00

So I really hit a few nerves in some people with my last post. I got a bunch of different responses, which was interesting. I don't know that it really did what it was intended to, but I guess thats what happens sometimes when you write something emotionally charged. Each reader reads something a little different, or everyone thinks I'm an idiot...I don't know. I was going to clarify my intent afterwards, but after a little deliberation I decided not to. I just wanted people to think outside of themselves, and perhaps look at others in a different light. Maybe step outside of normal life, and normal tendencies, and learn something about what makes people who they are. It worked for me.
Changing the subject. Its friggin cold! Swimming outdoors has been a little unpleasant the last couple of weeks. Stupid rain and cold weather is bad for training. Instead of sticking to "the plan" I've been planning according to the weather. I've had to get my swims in when I can, but fortuneatly I've only missed one. Tonight was the coldest. I swam for a long time, I finished my set, and then decided it was to cold to get out and kept swimming. I hardly stopped at all because my face would get so cold when I took a break. Then when I finished I kept looking at my bag from the edge of the pool with my head barely poking out of the water. It was so far, and the unpleasantness of trying to get dry and warm while doing my little I'm freezing dance (you know where you hop around to keep moving and dry off at the same time) with my towel was looming large in my mind.
Eventually I got out, froze for a bit, did my dance, and headed to the gym. I finally got warm about half way through my weight training session. It went well, I had a lot of energy, and really had a good workout today. The swims were kicking my butt till the beginning of last week. It was like someone turned a switch on, and all of sudden I'm much faster. Everything else is going well. I've had a lot of long tidious trainer sessions on my bike, but finally got out on the road last week. That was nice. I've become much more accustomed to the treadmill for some reason. I guess we've made our peace. I've hated it for years, and it will never compare to the road, but we're friends now I guess.
I'm so tired now, my stomach is full, and my body is worn out. Its funny how much energy I had all day till about 30 minutes ago. I love this feeling though, being exhausted from a good day, it makes sleep so much better. Goodnight.

ff

another day

2010-02-04T11:29:00.000-08:00

I woke up this morning not feeling like doing my scheduled training. Not out of laziness, or a desire to sleep in, but from a call to do something else. To read. I'll readily admit that I've gotten complacent in studying my Bible, and for whatever reason, laid down the books I had been reading in the months prior. Over the past few weeks I've felt something tugging at me from the inside to resume those things, but have just not gotten around to it. The reasons are many; I'm to tired, to busy, to lazy. I don't forget but I find an excuse.
Recently, I can't help but notice all the turmoil I find myself surrounded by, the darkness living in those around me. I find myself in conversations about why these things happen, why are certain people drawn to me, why have I lived the life I have lived and turned out to be the person I am. I find people looking for answers, and not knowing where to look. I have someone warning me away from someone else. I see fear. I see timid souls tiptoeing through life looking for the safest way to live before they reach death. I see someone who could by laying on his deathbed, having lived a life that is epidome of fear and weakness manifested. I hear someone say they don't feel like they were meant for happiness. I see a family falling apart.
It is at this moment I feel the Light inside me shining brighter. This morning I picked up that book. This morning I read. This morning I felt the dots connect. This morning I am the man I was yesterday, "wretched man that I am.." Paul says. I have felt darkness, pain, loneliness. You who read this, who feels these things, you are not alone. I won't live in complacency or safety. If I feel the call to help someone I will, despite what I may lose. I had began to wonder if I had lost some part of what God has given me, if I had begun to slip back into an old life. What a blessing it is to realize thats not the case, to realize what grace I had been given became normal, that I can continue to move forward and experience more.
If I could ask you to step outside yourself today, to put yourself in someone else's shoes. Someone who is angry, who is lonely, who is an outcast, who is different from you, and think about what they may feel. Offer a smile, a hello, or take it a step further. There is more to life then ourselves.

remember remember

2010-01-27T21:17:00.000-08:00

I just recently began swimming again after a two month lay off from the pool. The first couple of swims were pretty rough. During my first swim I started out fine, but after about 400m I was definately hurting. The positive side of that was that it was just muscle fatigue and not aerobic conditioning. I can deal with soreness, and I always seem to forget about it once I start. Every day that I swim I get better, and I remember something, or find something to improve on that I had not previously thought of. I'm also setting the bar high right out of the gate, and I'm finding that I'm perfectly capable of hitting those goals. There are also some other things I'm remembering such as the fatigue associated with long training sessions, and the unbelievable amounts of food I consume.

Something else has come to mind as well. Remembering the past, remembering what happened last year, and the year before. How much of it is worth remembering, and what do we do with what we keep in our hearts and minds? At the end of the year I remembered results, but also lessons learned. What sticks out most is how I felt, and how my motivation changed. I became more honest with myself and how I approached triathlon and everything else in my life. I look at that picture above and remember how I felt that day riding for hours in north Texas through farms and cornfields, and small towns, and thinking "now this is Texas." I can see the state flag painted on the side of an old barn, and old ladies sitting on the porch watching the cars go by. I remember my thoughts of how different life is out there, and how such a simple thing as riding a bike can offer a humbling experience.

Back to the present. I ate it the other day at the very start of my run. Got some good scratches, and was pretty muddied up, but had to laugh at myself. For a moment I felt like a kid, slightly embarassed and clumsy, and kind of goofy and helpless all at the same time. Life is funny, and training is good. I spent the rest of that run trying to think of stories to tell people when they asked what happened to me like, I was hit by a car, or was attacked by giant rabid squirrels and had to fight for my life.

Its good to be a triathlete again, and now that I'm back in the pool I wonder how I was gone for so long. I forgot how people at the pool always seem to be content, and how great a good swim is. The single minded focus it brings never fails to rinse away whatever else happened during the day. Each day has a goal, and each day has its reward when you make it count. Its good to get it done. Its good to be tired.

the 3M

2010-01-24T19:46:00.000-08:00

It was an interesting morning to say the least. I've never been to a road race that didn't start on time before, so standing at the start line of the 3M half marathon this morning seemed a little out of sorts. I actually rose out of bed on time and got to the race at a decent time as well; stayed nice and toasty in my truck till it was time to get out, hit the port-a-potty, and a little warm up to the start. It all went as planned. Got to the line, huddled amongst the human heater of people huddled closely together, and was feeling pretty good. Then the wait. The 45-55 minute wait. It got cold, it was windy, and not all that fun to be standing around in shorts and a singlet top.
When the race finally started my legs felt like lead weights. I was beginning to wonder how well I was going to run. It was no bother though. I had been contemplating all week how to run this race. I knew I didn't want to go out and kill it, but I wanted a decent run. I figured anything under 1:30 was good, thinking somewhere around 1:25 would make me happy. I just wanted to start strong, settle in, and be able to build throughout the last parts of the race.
Seeing as how my legs felt so terrible I started kind of sluggishly, which turned out to be okay. My first two miles were the slowest at 6:40 a piece, and I was comfortable to hold that pace through the first half of the race. I spent the first 4 miles trying to catch packs to block the wind, and tried to find someone to run with. As people began to thin out I found myself in a group of 4 guys running pretty well. Miles 5 and 6 my legs really started to loosen up, and I began pushing the pace. One guy dropped off, but I was also having some stomach/bladder issues, and was wondering if I would be able to go the whole race without a pit stop. Around mile 7 I felt ready to make a move and dropped the other guys I was running with. Unfortuneatly, my aforementioned issues got worse and as soon as I spotted the port-a-potties I went in for a pit stop.
The pit stop turned out to be a good call on my part, and I started again feeling so much better. Lesson learned (relearned really), don't eat so late the night before a race. I pretty much flew through the last 5 miles, and was able to really build as the race went on. My last 5k was a shade under 18 minutes. I finished at 1:23.40 not counting my little emergency break. I think that puts me at a 6.23 average for the race, and I did it fairly easily. I wasn't tired or winded at the finish, and felt fantastic all day for the most part. Its good to know my aerobic conditioning hasn't really suffered to much. This was also my first stand alone half marathon too, so it was a bit of a new experience as well.
All that being said, I have been back in the pool, and back on a triathlete training schedule again...and ouch. I'll post more on that later. It was a good race today, and yet another good confidence builder. I ran it in exactly the manner I had hoped, and even exceded my expectations, so I feel safe in calling that a great day. Thanks to the cheerleaders out in the cold wind today, and thank you to the good folks who gave me a ride back to my truck. Thanks to my post race massage, and to my family for steaks and football this evening. What a great Sunday, and a great day to be thankful for all the blessings I have in my life.

ff

simplify

2010-01-16T21:00:00.000-08:00

I'm going insane. Today was my first run in over a week, and my first workout in at least 5 days. At the beginning of last week I was so motivated to train, I still am, but just wasn't really allowed the time. It's kind of nerve racking to want to do something so bad and not really be able to fit it in. On the flip side of that, so many good things outside of sport have happened I can't really complain to much. So the question I've been asking myself all week is, how important is triathlon to me?
Unless you're a professional athlete, you more then likely have a lot of different responsibilities to tend to in life. Family, work, relationships, social life, etc. Even without training it seems like there's hardly enough time in the day. I've been a zombie for the past couple of weeks. It seems like every day is full of work and who knows what. Most of it has been good, but there comes days like today when I just don't want to do anything but still have commitments to honor.
Last year I really went into a serious training mode. I pretty much cut out my social life entirely, and I definately became distanced from a lot of people I care about. Thankfully, most of whom I've re-established my relationships with, but others not so much. I know this year I want to maintain a better balance in my life. While swimbikerun is so much fun, there are a lot of other things that I love to do to that I've been missing out on. That thought hit home the other day while I was playing a round of disc golf with a good friend. There were some people running around the park, who I instantly recognized and mentioned to my buddy, "those are 3 world class athletes right there," followed by "what the hell am I doing playing disc golf?" He laughed at me and said "I would never ask myself that question."
He's right. I was having a great time, and there was no reason to be doing otherwise. Then came the rest of the week, and I just found myself agonizing over my situation. My body felt yucky, I needed sleep, and just didn't have the time to train. But I realized there is only so much I can do successfully. Simplify, prioritize, and get it done. I've gotta get my body back into its normal routine; train, eat, sleep, work, train, eat, sleep, repeat.
So...as of today, I'm back on the plan. My life is good right now, but without triathlon I don't feel like its as it should be. I've been so extremely blessed with all good things I've been given lately, and the good things I know are coming, its often easy to be distracted and unfocused. There is the life we have, and the life we dream of, and in the middle there is balance. My hope for tomorrow is to make it count in every way possible and to continue building on that each day that follows.

ff

The 5 minute mile

2010-01-05T21:12:00.000-08:00

Its that time of year again, the "okay its time to get serious" time of year. I nursed myself through december, but was not super productive training wise. To be honest, I didn't have the "itch" really. It was more of a "better keep working out in order not to get fat" kind of training. So I ran, lifted weights, did some core work, and a lot of stretching. I just recently started putting in some big miles, but its coming along pretty well. I kind of forgot how long training sessions could be, and how much I love it.
The first few weeks it was hard to get going, but more and more I'm starting to feel the reasons why I do it. I was really waiting for it to hit me though, that urge to train. I haven't had it. So yesterday I headed out right after work to get some long miles in, and it started coming back to me. I went out in shorts, a dry fit top, and arm warmers. The sun was out, it was pleasant enough, then the temp dropped. It must've dropped 15 degrees in the first 30 minutes that I was running. I kept trying to find the sunny spots on the road to warm me up, but eventually decided that was useless and just went. Before I know it snot is running out of my nose, my fingers and ears are frozen, but I feel pretty good. I finish my base time and push the tempo up a little bit for my last few miles, I get warmer, and an old man nearly sandwiched me between another car as he tried to enter the wrong side of the entrance to the gas station. I'm pretty sure I got an 80 year middle finger thrown at me too. It was funny, and it got the blood flowing a little faster.
I enjoyed every minute of my run though. I forgot what my neighborhood looked like a little bit, or how much different things look in the winter time. I forgot how peaceful it is to just be out running without intervals or pace targets. I forgot how much the rest of life just falls by the wayside as the miles go by. I forgot what it feels like to not look at the watch and just go where I feel like. I forgot the long thoughtful prayers that run through my mind during, and the peace I feel after I finish. I forgot how much I like to be by myself.
Today was different. Today was short. Today was a couple miles of warm up, and a little pace check. I got myself warm, stretched, and got ready for a little mile time trial. I just really wanted to see where my fitness level was, and how much speed I might have lost, (though its not important at this time) and maybe have a little fun. I wasn't going for a record, just a little curious. I stood there at the start of my mile coarse, which is a little hilly, but not to bad; and kind of stared off into the sunset a little bit. It was beautiful, deep pink and orange, and I gave thanks for such a nice little moment and reminded myself to love what I do. I took off at a moderate pace and pushed a little up the first hill. I felt good and comfortable in my stride, and hit my half mile marker at 2:42 thinking I was going to finish around 5:16-5:20. It was feeling pretty easy, so I stretched it out a little on the downhill and hit it once I made the next turn going into the next uphill. A car made the turn slightly in front of me and seemed to slow down to pace me, I think they were a little lost, but they were not going much faster then me so I decided to catch em'. I felt good and just kept pushing faster and faster, and the car sped up with me. By this time I'm going pretty fast and feeling strong. The car pulled into a lot and I had about 400m left, so I held my pace for the last little incline to the finish. I hit the lap button at the mile marker and waited a bit before I looked. I was guessing 5:12... maybe, but then I looked down at the little grey face of my watch and I saw the numbers 5:02.
It put a smile on my face. I haven't ran a mile that fast since I was 20, and I did it pretty easily. I knew that I was capable of going well under that at the end of the season, but I didn't think I could run that so readily today. It certainly lit a spark in me. I wanted to do it a few more times, I definately could've done 2 or 3 more like that and been okay, but now is not the time. I took my small victory and jogged on home.
Now I'm ready, now its time to get going. I'll take that 5:02 as a precursor for whats to come this year. I normally don't like to post times, but this was kind of important to me today. It was a realization of what I'm capable of, and where I can be once I start getting into racing shape. Suffice it to say it just hit me on a couple different levels. It gave me what I needed to be ready for another great season because you can't put the time commitment into this like I do and have it go only skin deep. It has to mean more. Thats how I see it any way.

ff

ducks in a row

2009-12-26T20:36:00.000-08:00

So I keep my bike by my bed. I like to look at it when I wake up in the morning, and I like it to be there staring at me when I go to sleep at night. Its a little strange, I know, but look at it...sitting there saying, "ride me Frank, just a quick spin, we can do it in the living room while you watch t.v., or a even a movie if you like." Thats the only thing in my room saying that to me. Ahh, burn. But really, there are a couple of reasons for that. One being, my place is small and I don't have a lot of options on where to put it; and the other is, I like to be reminded daily to train. Even when I lived in much bigger places I did the same thing. Its just like keeping your running shoes by the front door.
I was tempted to do one of those year in review things, but I've pretty much already done that. From a racing/training standpoint at least. I can't help but want to put things into perspective though. 2009 was a crazy year. Now that I look back at it so much happened it's hard to imagine that it all occured in one year. Going into 09 it was so easy for me to focus on training. Everything was going pretty smoothly, and 2008 was one of the best years I had in a long time. It was easy to pour my life into triathlon.
This year its different. I'm a little torn to tell the truth. Actually, its more of a feeling about what looms on the horizon. If things go well there's going to be a lot on my plate and I don't know where everything is going to fit. I guess it depends on how big my plate is. All I can say is that there are a lot things I feel like I must do with my life, that I want to do, and I know I'm going to be pulled in a lot of different directions with the possibility of failure in any one, or all, of my endeavors. There is a quote in something I read recently that puts things like this into perspective for me," experience is what we get when we don't get what we want." Sometimes we get a little of both.
I'm fixing to take some huge chances, its kind of exciting, and kind of nerve racking all at the same time. But thats what makes it fun. The hard part for me is fitting triathlon into the mix, and staying motivated to accomplish my goals. I would love to improve upon last year. Thats my hope. I'm going to aim for a Clearwater spot, and breaking that 2 hour mark for the olympic distance (they both seem realistic to me...I think). It takes a lot of training to accomplish that though, but all I can do is try. So, the plan is set into motion, the wheels have begun to turn. "The Plan 2.0" (thats what I'm call my training plan) is in the works, and we'll see how it all comes out. Maybe I'll be writing as Frank the elite triathlete come this time next year, or maybe Frank the full time student again, or Frank (and my bro) the successful business entrepreneur, or maybe just the same old Frank. Who knows? Hopefully there is some mix of all of those things in there. Its all about finding a balance and prioritizing what matters most in one's life. That being said, I trust that my faith will take me where I need to be, and thats more than enough for me.
May you have a blessed and happy 2010.

ff

the treadmill

2009-12-08T21:31:00.000-08:00

I open the door and walk in and my senses are immediately flooded with a new environment. The smells, the noise, the other people. But I only came here to do one thing. I see the guys checking themselves out in the mirror and looking over to size me up. I pull my hoodie off, and strap on my heart rate monitor. Yes, I am wearing short shorts. No, I don't do P90X. And yes, I am fitter then you.
I walk over to the row of treadmills and there you are. The same one I killed yesterday, and hopefully they've fixed you...made you faster, stronger, better, because I am here to kill you again today. Yeah P90X guys, I'm going to break this thing again, just like yesterday. I put my headphones on and hit play. I press the up arrow on the speed and start the heart rate monitor. The noise is deafening. The sounds of the cardio equipment, the guys lifting weights, and the slow wind up of the electric motor.
Treadmill, you are not my friend. I don't like you, but you're my only option tonight. I must run. You whine every time my foot hits your belt, and your plastic parts rattle unnervingly. I will break you again tonight, but not just yet. My heart rate settles in. Slowly the other sounds of the gym fade away and all I hear is the music. I let my mind wander. I want the tidious time of running in place to fly by just like it would as if I was on the road. I can close my eyes and run. Each song reminds of something else.
I am seventeen and running through the desert in the winter time. Snow covers the mountains and there are small patches across the sand and under the mesquite trees. Its cold, and I am wet and muddy. My nose, ears, and toes are frozen; but I feel good. I want to win a state championship. Another song comes on, a happy song. I am in my mid twenties, and I love someone a little to young for me. My life is changing and I start to run for a friend I lost along the way. Cancer got the best of him, but I will not take for granted this life God gave me, I will not let my friend down. New song and its next year. I will be 31. I want to be better then 17, I want to be better then 26, I want to win again. I will do this for my friend. My legs ache a little from yesterday, the treadmill is not kind to me. I do not like you treadmill.
Base time is up, time to go, time to change the music. The tempo is faster, I push the pace up. I can hear your motor straining under the stress of the higher speeds and I'm just getting started. I settle into another song and I am racing. I just got off the bike and am getting into the rhythm of my run. The bridge of the song comes, and I push the pace up a little more. I'm starting to breathe a little heavier, the sweat is starting roll off of me. New song, its hitting harder, I push the pace up yet again. I am pounding you to pieces now treadmill, but I am smooth and fast. My mouth is open, I am breathing heavy, my shirt is soaked, and I have one more song. I push harder, but you're still hanging in there. We go faster. Don't break on me again. Its the last lap and I want to win. There's one more guy in front of me, but he doesn't have what I have. The music is pushing me, and I see myself coming through the last half mile. I am flying, you are about to come apart. I want to smell your motor burning up, I want to pound you to pieces, I want to break you again.
The song peaks and breaks into a slow rhythm, I'm done. I hit the quick stop, and slow to a walk. I'm back to reality, sort of. I take my headphones off and all I can hear is one breath in, one breath out, one breath in, one breath out. Its getting slower, and slower. I feel the chill of the air through my sweat soaked clothes. There's no one left in the gym. I walk around, I see myself in the mirror, I start to hear the buzzing of the flourescent lights and the music still going in my headphones sitting on the treadmill. I grab my keys, put my sweater on and pull the hood over my head and walk out the door. The air is cold, the mist is falling. It feels good.

ff

failure

2009-11-30T22:12:00.000-08:00

No other words needed.

to much time on my hands

2009-11-28T21:20:00.000-08:00

Thats a picture from Thanksgiving last year. It was one of my favorite Thanksgivings in recent memory. Lots of friends, family, food, guitars and singing. I was kind of looking forward to this one and to doing the turkey trot this week, but decided it was best not to. My ankle was still hurting, my bed was so warm thursday morning, and it just seemed like it might not be a great idea. I'm a little disappointed, but oh-well. I did however play some flag football, which was hilarious. I can't remember the last time I threw a football, but it turned into a great time followed by an awesome Thanksgiving.

In my ample spare time I've been watching a lot of TV. Not my favorite thing. I do however like late night commercials. Apparently there are lots of really bored hot girls in my area who are waiting for me to call them. I'm playing hard to get though. I figure a lot of them may have been viewing my facebook profile already, so they know whats up. Maybe not.

I've been thinking what a weird age 30 is nowadays. Maybe its being 30 and single. All of my 30 year old friends that I actually like are married, making babies, or something weird is going on. Then I began to wonder if triathlon was all there was to me besides work. I guess thats not a bad thing. What else should a 30 year old single guy be doing? I don't "party" much these days. Girls in bars isn't really my thing. I was having a conversation with one of my married 30 year old counterparts the other day about this very thing. It was a lot of "yeah, we used to blank and now I'm home by 12 cause I'm sleepy" followed by laughing. I'm tired of the remember when conversations, so if you're thinking of starting one of those with me soon plan on getting stonewalled. Quit livin' in the past man!

Then there's the pressure to be dating. I call my grandma the first thing she is asks is "are you dating?" My aunt, same thing. Even my grandpa occasionally throws it in there. The answer is usually no, which is followed by "have you talked to so and so of a short list of ex-girlfriends (she actually says their names) lately?" My married friends think I should have a girlfriend. Even my mom is worried. She says I'm catch, but just not that good looking. I think its the other way around. My sister scans the room for girls every time we go somewhere, which is then followed by laughing at my social awkwardness. Its pretty damn funny though.

I talked to a girl last week who said she rode a bike. It went like this... Me: "oh-yeah, what kind?" Her: blank stare. Me: "a fixie, a ten speed?" Her: blank stare Me: "how many gears does it have?" Her: " I don't know, it has three thingies." Me: "a tricycle? kidding, where do you go?" Her: "just to work, about a mile. did 'THE' westside tour last week" Me: "oh really, where does that go?" Her: "I don't know, we went to a couple shops and stores." Me: "interesting" (it wasn't really) Us: awkward moment followed by awkward banter Me: "oh, hey Jerry." My bro, glad he was back. My bro: "I'm Jerry, this is my brother Frank" Her to me: "yeah, I've seen you in here before I'm so and so." I don't really remember what was said after that. I didn't even tell her I rode a bike. Don't know if it went to well, she was nice and pretty, it was awkward, and we (my bro and me) laughed about it later.

I guess maybe next time I'll tell her I too ride a bicycle, but mine only has two thingies. Then she'll ask me about where I ride and all that, which makes me self concious. I always feel weird talking about training and racing to non-athletes. It somehow feels like bragging and I feel like some jock db. Maybe I'll just make stuff up and tell her that. Yeah, thats the ticket.

Life is good, and funny, but I miss training. I've had ample family time, lots of fun with my nephew, plenty of guitar time, and a little bit of disc golf. I'm ready to run again though, sore ankle or not. I go through the same thing every off season. All of a sudden the rest of my life catches up with me, I realize another year is in the books, and I'm a little older. I watch movies, eat lots of food, feel my pants get tighter, and wonder where the time has gone. Life's lessons learned, and the excitement of starting another year sits at forefront of my thoughts.

Happy Thanksgiving

back at it...sort of

2009-11-24T17:30:00.000-08:00

Still resting, not by choice though now. I've been eating, sleeping, and having way to much fun over the past few weeks. It took a little while to get back to "normal" life, or life without working out 3-5 hours a day. The consequence of all that is an extra little layer of frank. I didn't really notice till last week, but it was kind of funny. It gave me that little moment of "whoa! I need to get back to it." So saturday morning I went for a little trail run. It was overcast, a little rainy, super muddy, and super fun. My last few runs have not been all that great. My legs still felt dead, and I just didn't feel any bounce or flow. I felt slow and labored, and I was wondering how much fitness I might have lost. After those runs, I thought it best to just keep resting my body for a few more days.

Saturday I felt great. The trail was pretty slick, and the creek was pretty high so I had to take some detours around the trails I normally run on. It was beautiful with the leaves changing and the water blasting over the rocks like it was. As soon as I got on the trail I got excited. It was hard not to break into a fast pace, but I didn't want to go crazy and run to hard. There were plenty of puddles to jump over and waterfalls to check out, so I was able to keep a moderate pace and still have fun. Unfortuneatly, I did twist an ankle pretty good. In high school I sprained both ankles pretty bad playing soccer, and did some pretty serious damage to the bones in my right foot that never healed properly. Any time I even bump it wrong it hurts, but I was having so much fun saturday I kept running. I just didn't feel like stopping, so I ran another 45 minutes thinking it wasn't that bad. After I stopped it got pretty stiff and swelled later on, which put an end to my running this week.

I had a lot of fun though, and it got me motivated to start running again. I'm ready to get back to my "normal" life of training. I may make the turkey trot, I should be healed by then. I decided to get ready for a some winter running races too. There's an awesome trail run in january in Bandera that I'll be attempting. Apparently all the cool kids do it, so I'm going to give it a go. They have a 100k, a 50k, and a 25k. I'll be doing the 25k.

Thanksgiving is just days away, and I'm super excited. Its by far my favorite holiday. The timing should workout pretty nice. It will be one month since my last race, and the perfect time to get back on the wagon. I hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving, and hope that you don't let all that food go to waste i.e. get out and do something friday and burn all that energy you're storing.

Ahh Texas

2009-11-16T21:35:00.000-08:00

Ahh Texas...I love this place. I haven't done much in the way of training in the last three weeks. It was hard at first, but I got used to it after a couple of weeks. The body feels pretty good, the pants have gotten a little tighter. I've been having a good time though. I decided to get out and enjoy some of the places I have been riding or running by over the past year. These are all pics from Pedernales Falls, a little bit of country just 40 minutes from my door. It was an awesome 80 degree November Day in central Texas, so we got a little swimming in.

Here's lil' Tex having a good time in the Pedernales River. Thanks El Nino for the water, we've been missing you. The Falls below. The geology nerd in me had an awesome day too, lots of great fossils and cool stuff to look at. Forgot where the dinosaur tracks were though.

Nice sunset. It was an awesome day, and there were lots of people out enjoying it along with us. I love November. I love the weather, the leaves changing, Thanksgiving, and all the wonderful sleep I've been getting lately. I've consequently become a night owl, but that will be changing soon as I begin to finally workout again. Its been a good rest, I defineatly needed it, and I feel so refreshed. I'm going to start some light running again, and weights, and perhaps work up to a half marathon in a few weeks. Just going to see how I feel. I start a new training program in a month, so I don't want to overdo it before I begin.

Stay tuned for more of my tour of Central Texas parks (assuming UT football game times don't conflict) . I took all of the pictures with my cell phone, which I think turned out pretty cool. Maybe I'll get a real camera soon...

party's over

2009-11-03T14:33:00.000-08:00

I just got my awards from the race I did in New Mexico, which just kind of signified the end of the season for me. I had an urge to run the Run for the Water 10 Miler this weekend, but that flame was quickly put out after my run today. My body is still beat up I guess, and there's no use in putting any further wear and tear on it at this point.

Not training has me kind of bored. I don't know what to do with myself. I spent a large part of last week catching up with friends that I haven't seen in months. That was fun, but I feel kind of distant from everyone. They went and did their thing and I did mine, and I've lost that commonality I used to share with a lot of people. I guess I changed a lot of my ways over the past year too, so that has a lot to do with it as well. Its just a weird transition from spending so much time training to all of sudden not training.

This has definately been my most interesting year of racing. I've matured a lot in the way I approach triathlon, and life too for that matter. My first year I did it for something new and to get back to the things I love, my second year was fun (the top pic is from that year, probably my 3rd tri ever), my third and fourth year I was out to prove something (to who, and for what I'm not sure), and this year I just did it for the love of doing it.

I think the look on my face in both of these pics is the same. Kind of a focused excitement, and a happiness to be competing. I went into this year with the simple focus of enjoying as much of it as I could. I didn't set out to do any one thing in particular. I knew that I wanted to get faster, and that I wanted to do a half iron by the end of the year. I wanted to see what I could accomplish on a set program, and explore my potential. Every year prior to this was done on talent and short blocks of focused training, with a kind of do what I feel like doing in between.

I went through a monster block of base work at the beginning of the year, and that alone set me up for a great season. My aerobic capacity is the highest its ever been by a long shot. I was so surprised by my performance at my first race, I knew that I could finish 70.3 and went for the BSLT. I learned how much I could suffer and still keep pushing there in Lubbock, and was again surprised at what I did.

I was disappointed a few times as well. Cap-Tex was the worst. I was so ready to light that race up, and I did, till the run. I was so frustrated afterwards, but I took it as a learning experience. It was a simple race day nutrition mistake that I had to learn the hard way. Things in the rest of my life got weird after that. Work, business, personal relationships, and me doing stupid things all combined for a lot of stress. In the past I might have let triathlon go at that point, instead it turned into my saving grace.

I learned to bring back the emotion into training and racing. Consequently, it gave me the outlet I needed to let whatever bad was happening go. I found the fight again. I found peace in putting that fight into something focused and pure. As I ran today, I thought I no longer felt like a kid anymore. Not that I feel old, but I feel evened out. Throughout my youth I went from one extreme to another; losing bits and pieces here and there, acquiring new traits along the way, all the while searching for balance. My race season seemed to follow that same path. It went from good to bad, to mediocre, and ended with a huge personal victory at the longhorn. Every little piece of me went into that race from patience to fight. It was beautiful and I loved it.

My head is already turned to next year. I'm not sure what God has in store for my life, but if I get to race I know how its going to be. I kind of feel like the potential I thought I had was only a fraction of what I think I can do now. Technically I know what needs to be done. I know how to get faster, and I know that I love the long course. I don't know about Ironman, but I will definately be doing a few more half irons. I'm thinking New Orleans in April to start. I don't know for sure though. I don't like to think that far ahead. I'm just going to do the same thing I did this year; make a plan, see how it goes, and modify as needed. Its like Bruce Lee says, "be like water..."

One thing is for sure, I'll be looking forward to no structured training the rest of November. I'll also be bored too, so don't be afraid to hit me up. Oh-yeah, congrats to Desiree Ficker for 10th at the NYC marathon. And hooray for Meb Keflezighi being the first American to win since Alberto Salazar, as well as having six Americans in the top 10. Awesome!

the longhorn 70.3

2009-10-26T13:29:00.000-07:00

I wasn't really sure how this race was going to go. The last month hasn't been exactly fantastic training wise. It was good, but as I've mentioned before, I missed several key workouts. Still, I managed to get some good training in, and I felt pretty good coming into it.
The morning was pretty funny. I got up early, got ready, and mananged to get to the race at a decent time. I had some worries about riding on tubulars and the first thing I notice when I get to transition in the morning is a flat tire. Of course I can't get it to air up either, so with transition closing I run over to the Mavic tent for help. It turned out to be no big deal, the pump I was using just wasn't working for some reason. The tire was fine...good news. I also got the wrong race number put on me, but I found a supergenius bodymarker to fix it. Hence, the box on my leg and smiley face on my arm. So big thankyou to the nameless girl bodymarking artist who fixed my problem with a smile and a magic marker. The short debacle that was kind of gave me confidence. I thought "thats it, thats all that is going to go wrong today."
My wave was one of the last, and I understand the reasons for it, but what sounds good in theory isn't always good in practice. I got off to a bit of a slow start. A group of fast guys got out pretty quick in the first 100 meters and I was about 20 meters back, but started to close the gap. When I began to get close we started getting mixed up in the endless line of other age groups that started before us. It was a pretty rough swim. The water was chopped up, and I was stuck on the inside weaving through slower swimmers. It wasn't so much weaving as it was bumping, running over, and kicking all those poor people. I'm sorry, I did my best not to drowned any one. I felt good though, I was holding an okay pace, and picked it up when I had some open water. After the final turn I lost my bearing a little bit and was spotting on another guy who was veering off coarse. I fixed it quick and began my final push to shore, but had to check myself a bit because of a small side stitch. I felt like I was going a little long on time, but I knew it was going to be close to 30 minutes. I came out of the water at 32 minutes, which was good all things considered.

T2 was a little long. The first thing I did was check my tires, which were fine and I was happy. I felt pretty good and hopped on the bike ready to go. My legs were super fresh and I was feeling very fast from the start. One thing I learned from Buffalo Springs was to make a proper plan for the bike. The first 15 miles of this coarse were the hardest, so I wanted to make sure I didn't burn my legs up to fast. I knew where I wanted to let it go and where I was going to make the most time up. Feeling so strong out of the gate I had to keep holding myself back quite a bit. A couple of 20 year old guys came flying by me around mile 10 and I jumped on with them, but they were going to hard and I had to let em' go. Mile 20 came pretty quick and I was right on time (56 minutes), and figured to just hold that pace the rest of the bike and I would be fine. Around mile 25 some other guys from my age group came by while I was putting down some calories. Again, I attempted to catch on with them, but it was just a little to much out of my comfort zone.

At this point I began to feel like I could really start to "race" this coarse as opposed to just finishing. The wind was blowing pretty hard and I just worked in and out of the endless line of riders, catching drafts when I could, but mainly working by myself. Other than the two groups of guys who passed me earlier no one was catching me, and I was flying by everyone else. Finally, around mile 40 a big fast guy came by. He was riding just a little faster than me, plus he was a big dude who blocked a lot of wind, so it worked out perfect. I hung back enough to be legal, but just enough to catch a draft. He pulled for about 15 minutes till we hit an aid station then I got in front. I was up there for about 10 then he passed me. He pulled for another 10-15 mins. and gave me the "it's your turn look" (I think) and I went ahead. That was the last time I saw him, I thought I'd make a strong push the last 6-8 miles for the both of us, but he fell off for some reason. I came into to T2 with a 2:29 bike split (22.4 mph avg), which made me ecstatic. After previewing that coarse beforehand I thought I was looking at 2:40, especially with the wind blowing like it was.

My legs were a little tired, but I felt like that was acceptable considering how tough the ride was, and how fast I went. I felt way better than I did in Lubbock. T2 went fast and I was on the run coarse before I knew it. My plan for the run was simple; run a moderate first loop and make a push after that. The first two miles were the slowest while I was waiting to get my runnin legs and hoping that my abdominal cramps would work out. I pulled down a lot of fluid and electrolytes in the first loop and really started to feel pretty good by mile 4. I got into a good pace early on, and knew that was going to be pretty close to where I would stay. That coarse turned out to be tougher than I expected. Loop 1 took me 31 minutes, just over a 7 min/mile pace. I spent the rest of the race trying to get under that. Loop 2 was 29 minutes, but I was really beginning to wonder if my legs could go any faster. They began to knot up during mile 6-7, and it was getting a little painful. My brain quickly alluded to the Texas Independence Relays and what I ran through during that, so I pushed on and the knots went away. Starting the third and final loop I felt pretty good besides my legs hurting. I really wanted to break that 7min pace, and was going back and forth with it all day but could not get under it, so I made a final effort to take it up a notch. There were a lot of people on the roadside giving me confidence and telling me my stride was looking good, that I was running well, which helped out a lot. Seeing my family just before the aid station gave me that little extra mental push each lap.

About mile 10 I began to start reasoning with myself; wondering if I really needed to keep it up to the end. My legs were starting to say "up yours, take a break." I didn't feel tired, but the pain was starting to work on me. Then I thought "no, I can run through this." At that point I passed a friend who has kicked my butt all year going back to the end of last year, and I thought we'll push eachother to the finish together. I nudged him and urged to come on. We hit a water station, I walked for a second, took one last drink and made my mind up to put in a good finish. As I started running again a whole slew of thoughts and emotions ran through my mind ranging from beating this other guy, to getting it over with, to putting out a full effort and leaving no room for the "I could've done a little better" post race thoughts. My legs kept getting a little faster, and with each step I pushed a little harder. I finished my run with a time of 1:31:25 and broke the 7min/mile barrier just barely in those last two miles and managed a 6:59 min/mile for the half.

Here are the results: 75th overall (including pro's), 34th amateur, 9th age group with a total time of 4:40:40. Thats 23 minutes faster than I was at Buffalo Springs. "The Plan" worked. I knew the goal of being 30 minutes faster was really high, and probably not within reach, but all things considered I feel really good about what I accomplished. Thats 23 minutes in 4 months.

That being said there is so much that went into that, and so many things not regarding triathlon that made it possible. I'm so thankful for all the blessings and great people I have in my life to support me in doing what I love. The feeling I had after I finished yesterday is hard to explain. I've been frustrated all year with sub-par races, so it meant a great deal to have my last race be my best. Not only that, but it was probably the best race I've ever had period. It was something I did for myself, but what gets me through and pushes me past limits I might not otherwise go through is thinking about everyone else. From people that I know and have trained, to my friend Jose, to my friends and family who have no idea what triathlon is. The first thing I do when I finish is call my mom, if she's not there in person, and call my grandpa. She gets to see most of them, but he doesn't. The greatest thing I can do is race as hard as I can for them, and yesterday was a blessing. I could not have done any better. That was every bit that I had to give, and I could not ask for anything more.

I'm so greatful for all the blessings that God gives me in this life, and all the many forms He shows His love. Thanks everyone for supporting me. Thank you fellow athletes, thank you friends, and thank you family.

beat frank

2009-10-21T17:35:00.000-07:00

A couple of months ago at work a random woman told me "you do a lot of triathlons don't you?" I said yeah, and she told me about how her ex-boyfriend was always trying to beat me. I didn't recognize his name, or remember racing against him, but it seemed to have been going on for a while from what she told me. I recognized her from several races, but couldn't place the guy. I don't know that he was ever close to me, but who knows. She said that at one race she was going to have her kids make signs saying "beat frank." Pretty funny. I don't know what I would have done if I saw that sign. More then likely I would not have noticed it, or wondered if it was meant for me. I mean it must have really been one of his goals. Perhaps thats terrible to say, but if he ever wants to be me he's going to have to work at it.
That being said there are definately some guys I always want to beat, and its usually the guys that are just a bit out of my reach...for now. Then there's Ficker. I'm always a minute or two behind her, except in Lubbock, I wasn't even close. I've closed the gap quite a bit between me and her; and some of those other guys, a lot of whom have also gotten faster. The competition really jumped up quite a bit this year, which is awesome. How cool is it to see so many people getting so much faster?
I really have no idea how I will do Sunday. I have no goals for beating any one person, or placing, or anything like that. Its a long race, and I really want to go out and be able to enjoy it. The mistakes I made at Buffalo Springs are pretty easy to correct. I'm just going to race my race and see what happens. I'm still hoping to knock thirty minutes off my time from my last race, but I think thats a pretty lofty goal. I know I'm capable of going faster, and I know it would take a perfect day for that to happen, but I've yet to have a perfect race. Truth be told ten minutes faster and I'll be happy, although I'm not going to settle for that.

Good luck to everyone racing this weekend.
ff

feel like a fish

2009-10-17T20:27:00.000-07:00

Alright, one week left. I'm excited to race, and I'm almost just as excited to take a break. The last few weeks have gone pretty well. I put some hard workouts in this week with some pretty good results. I've been working on setting my race paces, and for the most part I've been able to go faster then I thought I would be capable of. I'm so curious to find out how I'll hold up next weekend.
This morning went really well, I had a great swim and feel pretty good about setting a strong race pace. I'm hoping to break 30 minutes on sunday. I do it pretty consistently in the pool, but in a race is a different story. Hopefully I won't get lost and will get a proper warm up. I think that I should be able to do it as long as I get a good start. Today I went out like I would in a race and tried to settle into a good cadence. It went well, and it turned out to be a good confidence booster.
After I finished my workout I kept on swimming for a while. The morning was so nice, I felt great in the water, and it was just really peaceful. Even though I say I'm looking forward to a break I know that I'll be missing the pool once it gets cold. I was feeling very fish like this morning though, I would've stayed longer but I had more to do before the Texas OU game.
I'm going to get a coarse ride in tomorrow and then I'll be taking it easy till next sunday. I'm feeling pretty good about everything. My body feels pretty good, no aches or pains, and not much fatigue. I'll be way more prepared for the half-iron this time around. Its time for a little SNL and Shakira before I crash.

Have a great Sunday, its gonna be nice out.
ff

i love the rain but geez!

2009-10-12T19:24:00.000-07:00

I hate to admit it but I'm getting tired of the rain. Its really cutting into my training. There's nothing worse than having to spend 3 hours on the trainer, but I did get to watch football, so it wasn't that bad. Still I would have much prefered to spend my day on the road. I had to miss a swim too, but I'll chalk that up to being a wuss and not wanting to swim in the cold rain.
However I did get a good long brick done today. I was actually surprised at how well it went considering the amount of good training I've missed over the past couple of weeks. Hopefully the rest of the week isn't so nasty out. Even if it is I'm still going to have to get it done. I'm still pretty nervous about the bike. I rode well today, nice and relaxed, but I'm just wondering how it's going to workout in the race. I've definately got a better idea of how to race this distance, so I think it will come out okay. I may not hit my goals that I set, but I will for sure be faster. I'm still excited though.
I spent most of saturday watching the Ironman World Championships. This is the first time I've watched the whole thing and not the abbreviated version you often see on NBC months afterwards. It was pretty amazing. Those guys and girls were hauling the whole time. What Chrissie Wellington did was pretty special to see. Breaking a record that has stood for 17 years, with virtually no competition, must have took a great deal of self motivation. It was probably one of the first times anyone has seen her visably in pain, while finsihing 22nd overall, and beating some very notable pro men. Pretty awesome.
The race between Craig Alexander and Chris Lieto was probably one of the most fantastic Ironman's in a long time. The men's race in general, was great from start to finish. Those guys really went at on the bike, and Lieto did his normal thing putting a gap on the field going into the run. It wasn't till about half way into the marathon that I began to wonder if Crowie was gonna catch him. Watching that guy run was very inspiring. He just kept pushing. I think he's one of the most admirable people in sports. Humble, yet confident, and always a competitor.
Congratulations to everyone that finished that race, or any other this year. I'm so glad Chris Lieto did what he did and finally put an American on the podium this year. He definately suffered through the end of that race and still found a way to keep going. I definately took some lessons from watching that race, especially Craig Alexander who races similar to me (not that I'm that great)by being patient on the bike in order to lay down a great run.

Happy training,
ff