Xterra Sport Triathlon, Waco, TX

Xterra Tri's are nothing like regular triathlons. The tri was being referred to as an "offroad" triathlon. This is the understatement of the year. The race consisted of a 1/2 mile swim in the brazos river, 15k bike ride in Cameron Park (voted one of top 50 in USA), and a 5k trail run. There were times during the bike course where I just wanted to pack it up and go home. More on that later.

Danny and I drove up to Waco on Saturday. The plan was to do some recon the day before the race and ride the bike course to kind of get an idea of what we were up against. We drive up to the Xterra HQ and noticed that it wasn't nearly as large as we though it was going to be.



We walked up to the Registration tent, grabbed our race packet, and took a walk around the HQ area. There was a small expo, but again, nothing like what were expecting. We checked out the river and tried to determine what the swim course was going to be and where was going to be the entry/exit points since there were no markers in the water nor on the bank. We noticed -what looked like to be a strong current- but later learned that the current on the surface was different from the current under water.




We also walked up to what they call "Jacob's Ladder". This was to be the beginning of the run portion. One word, "ouch".




Still excited to be there, we started gearing up for our recon ride. Only 4 miles into it, we realized that there was no way we were going to be able to ride the entire course without exerting more energy than we wanted to. So we cut it short and decided to check-in to the hotel, have lunch, nap, and have dinner. After dinner, we spent some time preparing for race day.







Surprisingly, I slept well and was ready to race. After some unexpected minor issues regarding my bib # and port-a-potty stops, we were on the bank of the Brazos River and ready to swim.



I think my nerves got to me a little in the beginning because my breathing was completely "off". It took me a couple of minutes to finally get comfortable. Before I knew it, I was in a little groove and starting passing people.



At the exit point, I was bracing for my usual dizziness and disorientation post-swim. Surprisingly, I felt strong and was encouraged because I felt my strongest points were the bike and run. I now know this was a false sense of security. 1 mile into the bike course, I realized that Danny and I had pre-ridden the wrong course!!! The course was FULL of climbs, switchbacks, more climbs, rocks, roots, and MORE climbs. It was unbelievable how many climbs there were and my lungs and heart were feeling it. There were 2 other guys who I was playing "cat and mouse " with. I think it helped in keeping me going because -as mentioned earlier- I wanted to pack it in and go home at times. Just when I thought I was going to start going downhill, we started climbing again. Mercifully, the downhill portion came and the course flattened out. The last mile or two were along the bank of the Brazos River. This really helped. The scenery was beautiful and -more importantly- helped with my recovery because I knew I was only a 1/3 of the way done with the race.

T2 could have gone a little faster but I accidentally put on Danny's race belt and took some extra time to hydrate before the run since I had ran out of water during the bike portion. Looking at the number of bikes in the transition area, I estimated that I was still in the top half (which was our goal before the race). A few more sips of Gatorade and a hammer gel and I was off.



My run is probably my strongest point in a tri so that's where I expected to start passing more people. With everything that I had experienced to that point, I had forgotten about the dreaded Jacob's Ladder. Previously, I had planned to run up it taking multiple steps. I realized quickly that that was not gonna happen and I ended up walking up the DAMN ladder. I felt better when I saw everyone else around me doing the same thing. Once the Ladder was climbed, I started to pull away from the 2 other guys I had spent most of the bike course with and I also started passing others. I ran most of the run portion, but I'm not ashamed to say that I walked some of those "insane" hills on course. Again, the last 1/2 mile of the run was along the bank of the Brazos and I finished with a time of 2 hours and 15 minutes. I was surprised to see that I had finished 5th in my age group. Goal accomplished!!!





Danny's family was kind enough to provide us with a great post-race meal in the park. They provided us with a spread that made us feel like Kings. Thank goodness because the Xterra post-race set up -again- did not meet our expectations.



Overall, I was happy with my progress in my training. The high point was my swimming. I was able to prove to myself that I could complete the 1/2 mile and am confident that I will be able to complete a 1 mile swim by the end of the racing season. The low point was probably my endurance when it comes to climbing. I always thought that I was relatively comfortable with climbs but I was not prepared to hammer out these types of climbs like I wanted to. I see many intervals in the future. The ultimate goal for the year is to complete the TX TRI at Canyon Lake toward the end of the year. Next race in preparation for the olympic triathlon is in July.

Windcrest Freshman Tri

With very little sleep, I finished the 1st sprint tri of our season. And after talking to Rick on the way to the race, it seems that he had the same "issues" falling asleep the night before. I can only hope that, after a few more races, I'm able to get more rest the nights before raceday.
Now I wouldn't call the race a huge success, but there are definitely some 'positives' that I'm taking away from the event.
Rick and I both managed to finish around the middle of the pack in our 30-34AG. Check out the RESULTS.

The 200m swim was in a pool...a VERY CROWDED pool. There was a 5-10 second gap between each athlete. This meant the small, 4-lane pool was packed! It was a short swim, but it wore me out. I finished the 200m in 5:00, which was about 1 minute slower than I expected. I'm blaming the pool.

I got out quickly on the bike and was able to maintain an 18.2 mph average. That's about 2mph faster than my pace at the Calaveras Du. I was pushing hard because I knew Rick was right behind me and would probably catch me on the run...
...and he did. Rick caught me on the 2mile run, just after the mile mark. I didn't really feel good on the run until after he passed me...but there was no way I was going to catch him.

Like previous races, I left with a better understanding of what I need to work on. But unlike other races, I also had some 'positives' that I could celebrate.

Now it's time to get ready for Xterra Waco.

Here we go...

It's been a while since I've hit up the blog, but it's time to post a pre-Freshman Tri message. 5/1 is the big day for the Windcrest Freshman Tri. It's a sprint tri, 200m swim/10 mile bike/ 2 mile run. It doesn't sound too tough, except for the fact that my training has been minimal in the last couple of weeks.
Most of my "running" has been done on the soccer field, and now I'm paying for that. Not only do I think I'm going to suffer through the short, 2-mile run, but I'll be suffering with a fractured orbital. Soccer is not for sissies!
I'm hoping I can tough it out and stay relatively close to Rick. It looks like he'll be starting the time-trial style swim, right before me. I just want to keep him in sight throughout the race.
Follow-up to come this weekend...

Du Results

The bad news is that all that typing about my offseason workouts was a complete waste. I think I worked out for about a week and stopped. The blame will be placed completely on the weather. It is SOOO hard to get motivated to workout when it's in the 30's or 40's. Maybe I'll have better luck next offseason.

The good news is that the Calaveras Duathlon was on Feb. 20th and I am happy to report that progress has been made. My running pace has improved by about 3 minutes per mile. During the marathon training, my pace was about 10-11 minutes per mile. The Du results have my pace at 7min 13 sec per mile! Don't believe me? See here:

http://redemptionrp.com/Calaveras2010Results

Look for me under the "short" course. I know I'm still not blazing any trails and the Du was a short distance race....but progress is progress and has me confident and excited about the upcoming tri season. Right now, for the immediate future, the plan is to do the Muddy Buddy in Austin on May 16th and the Xterra Sport Triathlon in Waco on May 23rd. The major concern is the swimming and trying to find a place to train. Hopefully this weekend I will decide on a place.

Still Slacking...

With only 11 days left before the Calaveras Duathlon, I've been slacking! I hope to follow this post with several post about some good runs, in the next few days.
We had a decent 20+ mile ride yesterday, but we definitely took it a little easier than we should have.
Let's see how the next 11 days go...

WTF Mother Nature?!?!?!

Ok, so I'm trying to get back into regular workouts. I've put in 3 decent runs this week and I'm anxiously awaiting the weekend so I can ride. But the weather may not cooperate! I'll be on the bike one way or another, and I'm hoping it won't be on the trainer. It looks like Sunday will be clear, but who knows?!?!? I'll be hitting the streets early tomorrow a.m. to get a run in. Mtb'ing could be messy even if the rain stops, so I'm hoping the Felt in my garage will get to come out and play. Angela already told me she doesn't want me riding in the rain. Her words "...but what if you fall on your face again???" She couldn't just say "but what if you fall again?" It had to be what if you fall ON YOUR FACE again? Nice.

Let's Du this!

Danny was out of commish last weekend so I took advantage of a MTB riding excursion with my bro and some of his buds. We rode about 9.5 miles at OP Schnabel Park. Good times! Still love my bike. Can't wait to do it again.

As for my calf injury, I've ran two straight days and have had no pain. Time to kick it up a gear for the Du on Feb. 20!!

I'm a slacker!

So, this last week of training has included...wait, let me add it up...ZERO workouts! I guess I could blame it on the uncommonly cold weather we're having, but that excuse doesn't really apply to the gym, bike trainer and weights at home. So I've just been slacking. This weekends runs and bike rides were replaced with a Friday night dinner and night-o-cards with the guys. That night pretty much rendered me useless Saturday. I had to struggle through dog and baby-proofing our house. At least I was able to get everything done by the evening, just in time to watch Dallas destroy Philly! (I may count watching the game as a semi-workout)
My diet also went to crap this weekend. If the Friday night pizza wasn't bad enough, I also found myself craving a burger and Coke! I had to admit it, but I gave in to my cravings. The good news is that I'm now thoroughly disgusted and I don't think I'll have to worry about eating meat, especially fast food meat, for a verrrrry long time.

Challenging Weekend

First off, I want to talk a little about Danny's crash. He covered most of the details. Here is a pic.

It looks like a funny picture but it was actually kind of scary. I was riding behind him (probably a little too closely) when he dove face first into the ground. First thing on my mind was not to ride over him. I swerved to the right and threw my bike down. I actually heard a "thud" and saw that he couldn't bring his arms around (probably because they are too small) to break his fall. I could see that he was going to be ok when he turned over and only had a few scratches on his nose. Still, it could have been a lot worse.

Other than this crash, the MTB ride was nice. It was a Friday and a great way to start the new year. First time out at OP Schnabel Park and I can't wait to go back. My GPS said that the ride was 8.23 miles. Hopefully next time we can go a little further and improve on our pace per minute. This was also my first ride with my new MTB and I'm in love with it. I wish I could ride it to work!

We also did a road ride on Sunday starting out at IH10 and 1604. The ride was 20.5 miles and (as always), the first half seemed a little tougher. Once we got warmed up, our pace picked up and I was satisfied considering it was 48 degrees outside. This week is going to be even colder. Supposedly it's going to get down into the 20's this week. My brother wanted to go for a MTB ride later in the day, and I wanted to go SO BAD! But I felt guilty because I had already been away from home for a few getaways.

The challenging part of the weekend involved my beautiful kids. I love them to death and I feel honored to be their Dad. But it's tough. I don't know how Jess does it with them all day. I understand that siblings bickering and fighting over toys is natural, but it takes a toll on me. I feel like I am either breaking up little shoving matches all day or following them around everywhere paranoid that one of them might get hurt. For me, its more mentally draining than physically. I was actually ready to get back to work. Of course, while at work, I missed the hell out of them and Jess. That's the way it goes.

I'm going to try to test out my calf injury and go for a short run at some point during the week. If I feel good, the plan is to run with Danny this weekend and throw in a ride at some point. Also, this week, I'm going to start a strength training program for 3 months. The program was created by Dos Remedios. He's a strength and conditioning coach from some college in California. I've tried the program for 2 or 3 weeks and have liked the results. Hopefully I can stick with it for 3 months. Basically, it's 3 workouts during the week. Because of my busy schedule, and me not being a morning person, my workouts start at 9pm during the week. We usually put the kids down between 8 and 8:30p. Jess will be joining me so we'll be able to spend quality time together!

Smashing start to the New Year!

So 1-1-10 showed up accompanied by beautiful weather. I wish I could say that mountain biking skills were equally as beautiful.
My day started with a nice walk in the park with the family and dog. Not too tough, not too easy. The perfect start to a New Year. After the walk, we come home and I grab a little snack while Angela does a little shopping. Still...the New Year is going smoothly.

Rick shows up at the house in the early afternoon and we begin our trek to a nearby park for some mountain biking. In retrospect, I should have known something would go wrong. I was riding like a sissy!
We made our way through some trails, saw a lot of walkers, joggers, roller-bladers(I can't remember how long it's been since I've seen roller-blading in San Antonio). Anyway...we're riding along and Rick is leading most of the way. We come to a split in the trail, stop for a moment and pick a path. This time, I'm leading and we get moving again. We come to a point in the trail that seems to have 3 lines, all going in the same direction. I'm headed down the center when I notice there's a large rock that I'd have to avoid. So I start taking the line to the left and at the last second, I realize there's a small bump followed by a big hole! I didn't have time to speed up or change direction so I try to give it a little bunny-hop...I guess I should mention my bunny-hopping skills leave something to be desired. My front tire goes straight down into the hole. It happened pretty quickly so all I remember is my face being about 5 inches from the ground. Then time slowed down as I planted my nose, head and chin into the semi-soft mud and dirt. I felt/heard a few "cracks" and the first thought in my mind was "I wonder how much it costs to replace teeth." I pulled myself up, slightly dazed, eyes blurred, and head pounding. I guess the helmet took the worst of it, because aside from the headache, sore neck and some scratches I'm sportin' on my nose and chin, I'm OK! I'm still trying to figure out where my hands were through all of this. I do have some small cuts on my elbow, forearms and knees, so maybe I tried to catch myself??

So that's my smashing New Year's Day ride! The ride home was a little fuzzy, but my head was clear this morning. The weather is beautiful again, so I'm going to try to get in a quick 6 mile run.
I'm sure Rick will fill in some holes in my story. He had a much different perspective.