It was an exciting last month of the season.  Early October brought the US Open, part of the LifeTime fitness series.  Building on the good results I had had in August, and the strong training weeks leading up to it.  This was going to be a good barometer of my readiness for Austin.  

  It was a cold weekend.  With temperatures at the start barely climbing into the upper 40’s, jumping into the 73 deg water was a great feeling.  My roomates started with the collegiate wave 15 minutes ahead of me.  Once in the water, I felt strangely calm, and focused.  Moreso than I usually do.  After the normal craziness at the start, I found a groove and established a pretty hard pace.  I was surprised when I was still holding the pace rounding the first turn buoy.  What amazed me even more, was the fact that i was starting to catch the waves in front of me so soon.  I started getting excited, and had to hold back a little so I didn’t overswim.  Coming out of the water in 26:43 is by no means fast, but the amount of energy and comfort I had when i finished the swim was the big surprise.  All the work in the pool has been paying off.  Making the long run to T1, grabbing my bike and getting started I knew the bike was the most important part of my race.  Its my strongest leg, so it can be a bad thing too, trying to make up too much ground would ruin my run.  Out of T1 I got down on the drops and went.  I began catching collegiate racers almost immediately.  My HR stayed pretty even and I started to blow by people.  About 5 miles into the bike I began to notice that i was catching a LOT of racers from two and three waves ahead of me.  at the turnaround I had established a pretty good time and was hoping to stay comfortable and really be able to hammer through the last 12 miles.  at mile 21 I caught Chas and rode the adrenaline all the way into T2.  Posting a 59:40 on the bike (24.9mph) I was ecstatic at how strong I still felt.  

  Heading out on the run, I met a challenge I dont have a lot of practice with in Lubbock.  Hills.  I attacked them and made the most of the two loop course.  There was very little level ground, I was amazed at how hilly the roads were.  Never being able to find a good groove I struggled and started to get into my own head a little.  At the 5K mark I made it a challenge to negative split my next one.  I pushed and it got a little easier.  The awkward feeling was unsettling and I was just praying my legs would do what they know how to do.  with about .5 miles to go, it was all downhill.  Quite steep one too.  Blazing down into the finish chute and ending my day with a 2:10.  

Overall this race was a great race for me.  I learned what i needed to work on going forward to Austin, but I also had a 4 minute PR and finished 2nd in my AG.  The workouts had transferred to a race, finally.   

And now Austin.

  The race has had a target on it for a year.  Being pulled from the course by a volunteer last year still has a dark spot in my heart.  This was simple.  Revenge 101.  My workouts leading into the weekend after Toyota were intense and I was right where i needed to be.  One week before, because nothing is ever easy, I was hit by a car while heading to class.  A bruised hip and shoulder weren’t going to stop me from getting down to Austin and having my revenge.  Having some friends doing the race as well was nice.  Gave me some people to talk to about it and really keep my nerves in check.  I was the last wave to start, so i got to sit around for over an hour before i even started warming my arms up.  

  It was cold.  Not gonna lie.  I was shaking like a weed in the West Texas wind until I got into the water.  It was a nice 72 degrees.  At the gun I did the same as Dallas, found a pace I liked and maintained.  This kept me out of the big groups and I started to pick my way forward through the waves ahead of me.  The swim was uneventful, and slow for what I wanted to do.  33:13 put me in 29th place in my AG.  A bit higher than I am used to finishing in the water.  Running into T1 I found every goathead I could with my bare foot.  grabbing my bike and carrying it to the pavement, I paused to pull 3 large goatheads out of my foot and mounted my bike.  I spun up my legs and punched it.  I felt incredible.  The long bricks in the wind had prepped me for this.  The only difference was the lack of wind on this course.  Holding my cadence right around 100-105 I began passing anyone and everyone I could.   Every now and again i would pass a group of drafters, who would try to grab my wheel.  It was a good feeling knowing I was riding them off my wheel.  The rolling hills werent as bad as the profile made them out to be and I was able to maintain an even ride for the entire 56 miles.  2:18:29 on the bike had propelled me into 5th in my AG.

  I started the run with the plan from my coach to run under 1:45 for the 13.1 miles.  Starting the run at a little faster pace than I needed to, I took some Shot Blocks to eat.  Big mistake…. about 2 miles in they came back up and cost me 4 minutes of time behind a port-a-john.  Grabbing a water at the next aid station i began to run again….  This was the biggest surprise of the day.  I had life left in my legs.  This is the first time I haven’t felt like I was “running backwards”  It was a great feeling.  Passing people on each lap, and seeing my dad and friends every time I passed the expo/finishing area, I negative split my second lap and held even for my third, coming in at 1:35:14 for my half marathon.  Still not a fast time, but it was a minute faster than my time at the Panhandle Half-Marathon two months ago.    With an overall finish of 4:31:35, a 10 minute PR.  And confidence that I can do this, I was really happy.  I finished 7th in my AG, 49th overall.

  I want to say thank you to David, a great roommate and my best friend.  He made the trip to just help and take pictures and cheer.  I couldn’t have done any of the things I have this season without his help and the peer pressure from him as a roommate to keep pushing.  Even on the days I didn’t feel 100%  Thank you to Hydro-Train Outfitters, and HTFU for the kickass gear and support.  To my friends and family for putting up with my ridiculous schedule and crazy workouts.  Next year I look to improve on the finishes and have even more fun.  Stay Tuned.

It has gotten to be that time again.  The time where the races stack up and its time to see if all the hard work and less than stellar results have made me stronger.  The resounding answer so far is Yes.  

We’ll go back to Buffalo Springs and pick up the season with a less then my best outing.  Leading up to the race was perfect.  Natasha had come into town to stay with us,all of the race prep, meals and workouts had been great.  Really seamless actually.  I was geared up to really rip it up.  Going into the water I knew I hadn’t been focusing on the swim as much as the run and bike, so I was planning on staying calm and just maintaining a healthy pace in the water.  Which I did until I go to shore.  When I put my feet down however… my right hamstring seized and knotted up like crazy.  I limped out of the water trying to stretch my leg out, knowing there was a giant hill on the bike course immediately out of transition.  The bike leg suffered due to not being able to/being scared to push harder than a moderate pace.  I followed my nutrition plan anyway and just took more fluids, which was good because at 10mi to go, an entire bottle cage came off my bike and left me with no fluids of any type to drink until I got into transition.  The run as you can imagine was hell from the get go.  David was out on the bike and was encouraging me, but there was nothing left in the tank.  At this point I was just praying to finish.  I didn’t want to have another DNF on my resume.  A very slow half marathon later and a complete leg seize/cramp as I crossed the finish line and I passed out.  I came to sitting in the IV tent next to Natasha and William Ritter.  Overall it was a rough day.  I can’t call it a race, it was just a long, long mental exercise.  This has proven to be a block to build off of for the back end of the season.  

One week before the Toyota US Open I have done two smaller sprints to work on top end speed and building into the longer distances again.  It was a two spritns in two days weekend, the first being the Comanche Warrior Sprint in Big Spring, Texas.  a 500m swim, 30K bike, and a 5K run.  We woke up early and headed to the race.  Chas, David, and I were the only three we knew going down there.  Upon arrival we found it to be cold and raining… after signing in and getting the bikes out it began to clear and stay overcast.  It turned out to be a nice morning for a race.  Hitting the water I felt pretty good and when we rounded the first buoy I noticed I was in 4th place…. jumping at it a bit I worked to stay smooth and fight the urge to overswim what I knew I could do.  With a slow swim i was still 4th out of the water and that made me really excited.  A mostly flat windy bike course was ahead of me, and that is where Ive been doing most of my work the last month.  Taking off out of transition i pressed and really felt strong.  I kept looking for the two people in front of me, I finally found them at the turnaround of the out and back bike course…. They were still a ways ahead of me.  I managed to close over 2 minutes on the leaders on the bike and still felt great coming into T2 with a 25.5mph average for the bike leg.  

Now those of you who know me can attest to me never having been able to run faster than 7:30’s off the bike… And this has always been my MO… running “backwards” in races.  Not today.  Coming out of T2 ith a bit of a pop in my step I managed to hold a steady 6:12/mi pace and finish the race strong.  This was the second time I had done this sprint and I managed a 7 minute new best on the course and a 3rd overall finish.  We grabbed lunch and headed back to the house and started focusing on the Texas Tech Rec Tri the next morning.

This has always been a fun “super-sprint.”  the 400yd swim, 12mi bike,2.5mi run course is a very flat and very fast course.  Its a time trial start so its impossible to really keep track of who is where on the course. Its pretty much a threshold effort for a little under an hour.  No letting up.  The swim again was my weak link, but I managed to hold a steady pace and felt pretty good about it.  I got passed by 5 people… meaning I was already over a minute in the hole to a few of my stronger competitors.  Getting on the bike, the pursuit began.  My main goal was to have David in my sight by the end of the bike… which I almost accomplished.  Along the way I managed to overtake everyone who had passed me in the water.  I also managed to put a good amount of time into them on the bike.  Coming into T2 with a 26.6mph average i was very pleased with my effort.  My HR was still down and I was ready to go. 

Running out of T2 I knew I was in second overall and could see david about a quarter mile ahead of me on the run course.  I tried as hard as i could to hold him even…  Which I managed to do for the most part.   I made sure to not look over my shoulder on the run… always a bad idea.  I knew that at the turnaround the real race would probably be starting.  But when I hit the turnaround I couldnt see anyone behind me. the next person in the race was over a minute behind me still.  I got excited and began to push harder… wanting to make sure I held the gap.  Finishing in 50:24 (a new PR by 4:30) I took 2nd overall and managed 6:07’s.  Which is big progress in the right direction.  

Since those races, I have spent three weeks really pushing the top speed and extending the endurance.  Really focusing on not pressuring myself and really having fun with the races I get to do.  I’m happy with how things are going and thankful for the friends/roomates/training partners that I have.  I wouldn’t be able to make the progress that I have without them.  Thanks also to HydroTrain Outfitters for the swim gear, its helping with the pool work that I have been doing a lot of since the sprints, thank you to HTFU for the kits and the support, my friends and family, a special thanks to Patrick for being patient with me and working with me to really start pushing and making me even stronger.  Its been a fun year and its not quite over yet 🙂

Well its about that time again.  That gap in the heart of the season where you start wondering why you do all the crazy stuff you do.  Asking if its worth it to put your body through all the torture day in and day out.

Well, the answer is yes.  At least for me, a resounding yes.  It has been a month since my last race, which went horribly.  The past few weeks have given me time to understand why it happened and how to make it the last time something like that happens.  A little back story…  My last race was the Buffalo Springs Lake Ironman 70.3.  Its a race pretty much in my backyeard and I was excited.  Ive never been this excited for a race, except maybe vegas last year.  Physically and mentally I am twice the athlete I was then.  I was chomping at the bit.  The race morning rolled around and I was up and wide awake.  I had a great warmup, slipped into my wetsuit and finished up in the water and got ready for the race.  I had a decent swim for me, still not my strong suit but when I put my feet down to get out of the water, my right hamstring knotted up worse than it has in a long time.  Cramping has never been an issue so i didnt know how to deal with it quickly.  I stretched some and started riding, it didnt help much.  My bake split was flat and the half marathon was sheer torture.  There was no hiding it, I was pissed, sad, in pain, and tired…. it made for a long morning

After the race I couldn’t help but lose it.  Being ready and so set up for something to have it blow up in your face is a hard thing to deal with.  Since then I have sat down with my coach and tried to has out what happened.  I’m accepting that it happened and I will never really know the reason.  But I can make strides to prevent anything like that from happening again, and we have started a new cycle in training that will push my limits even further.  Next race is Sept 8…. plenty of time to get faster between now and then.  

Quick shout out to the people who help me: HTFU, HydroTrain, MerleEndurance Coaching, Thunderbird Energetica, Broadway Bikes, and SZIOLS

Thanks for reading and keep the rubber side down…

Decided to sit down and gather some of my thoughts….

Its a week til my first really big race.  I’m easily in the best shape of my life, have never been more prepared for something than I am right now.  I fly out thursday morning for an adventure like I have never been on.  Sure Ive been involved in a world championship event with Phantom Regiment, but that was as an entire drumcorps… This is just me.  Its quite humbling, and exciting the oppurtunity I have been given.

I’ve never been to las Vegas, and knowing my history and where I have been, this usually would be a trip that would involve nothing but partying and debauchery.  The idea of that right now actually dis-interests me more than anything.  I guess that means i’m growing up.  When i get back from Vegas, it will be 7 months to the day without alcohol.  Something I never thought I would be able to do, and also a huge reason behind my success.  It was a huge anchor that has really held me back.  I’m kinda kicking myself for not realizing that earlier.  Just happy that I could get away from it before it really messed my life up.  I’m on the right track, school is finally moving along properly, I have a great group of friends, some of whom are even coming to the race this weekend, and I’m doing something I love, and the fastest Ive ever been in my life and only getting faster….

This ones pretty short, but there will be updates daily once I land in Vegas… Looking forward to a fun adventure in Sin City…. 🙂

Greetings to the world of the blog.  I figured its time for me to really start concentrating on keeping track of what I do and sharing it with people in a more organized medium than random blurbs and single line comments on twitter and facebook.  I will still post on those but race reports and a lot of updates will be posted on here now.  So please subscribe and see if you can keep up!!!