Yargo recap.....

Well, back to the grind after a great weekend of racing. Heres how it went down:

Ended up hittin the road on Friday with Radd to head up to the Ft. Yargo XTerra (Saturday) and the Southeast Regional MTB Race (Sunday). After taking the LONG SCENIC route (thanx mapquest) we finally made it to the park around 7ish on Friday. We jumped out and went straight out for a preride - nothing like going from sitting in a truck for 6+ hours to climbing hills on the bike!!!! The Xterra course was laid out and since that was my main focus - I just wanted to preride the first part of the bike course and then the check out the run course. It ended up working out perfectly b/c Dave Berger (of GoneRiding) had set up the run course to use the first 3 miles of the bike course, so I got in about 30min preride on the mtb then jumped back out to run the last mile of the run course -this really helped me to visualize the last mile of the run, so that way I knew when I would be able to push the pace. The course was all around the huge lake and was super fun and in great shape - I knew it was going to be a great race. After some pasta at Ruby Tuesday, me and the Radd-ster headed to the hotel for some rest - we were going to be back at the park for an 8am start.

As we arrived on Sat morning, I realized this was going to be bigger than Miami -and this race only had one distance so everybody would be starting together - MASS STARTS ARE FUN........not. Luckily, the race started in the water and I didn't get caught up too bad in the "salmon spawning traffic". Had a decent swim and just kept a steady pace - I knew that there would be a couple of dudes that I wasn't going to touch in the water - namely Craig Evans, Bruce Gennari, and good-ole Fannin. So I figured that I'd settle in for the swim and then reel em in on the bike. This worked perfectly as I started pickin people off real quick on the bike - but I didn't catch Gennari towards the end of the lap and I NEVER even saw Craig (he ended up puttin down a 47min lap compared to my 49min lap........ dang!!!), so headin into T2, I was in 2nd overall - with Gennari and another guy within a minute or so behind me. Now, I've been somewhat working on my run, so I truly wasn't dreading this run as I normally do. I went out and just tried to settle in to a comfortable pace.....not an ez thing when you're runnin up and down hills with a bunch of dudes chasing ya!! My heartrate stayed jacked for the first 10min and that's about when Gennari came by as well as the other guy, so now I'm sittin in fourth - just knowing I've got Casey Fannin back there somewhere. I try not to think about it and just concentrate on going forward -and i feel like i'm actually running kinda fast. So then I come to the last mile, which I had scouted out the night before, and its downhill towards a bridge over the lake and then back along the lake towards the finish line. Its right then that I sense somebody coming up on me - I don't look back - but just keep on running ---- arggh, FANNIN!!!!!!!! He comes by me and as always, throws out some encouragement, and then (as always), proceeds to drop me. I try to rev it up a bit - but doesnt help - I end up 5th overall - just about 30 secs behind Casey. But this scores me 1st place AG since Craig voluntarily pulls himself out due to being a pro. That dude seems like a class act - its fun to race with a pro, just to see how you compare (usually its pretty humbling - but I'll have something for him if he's at First Coast!)

Then Sat nite we hit up the Athens Twilight Criterium to check out some roadies doin their thing. This place was packed with drunk college kids, drunk mtber's, and some sick-fast roadies. We walked around a bit and found some Italian restaurant (with no AC) to grab some grub - I had to remember that we still had to race on Sunday - and that it was going to be a 2-1/2 hour suffer-fest in the trails. So we scored some pasta and had a couple of Terrapin Rye Ales and then watched the crit. Rashaan Bahati ended up winning the sprint - but i'd say that all of the dudes that finished that race, deserve some props. I'm bettin that they were going at least 30-35 mph the whole 90 min!! CRAZY. So anyways, we mustered up some self-control and left the bikes and beer party that was Athens, and headed back to our hotel. After sleepin in we awoke to a rainy morning. At this point, I decided that I wasn't going to race in the mud, and that if it kept raining, then I would just run support for the crew. Well, once we got to the park, the rain let up and I of course got swept up with being at the race, so I decided that I would race after all . I knew I was gonna be in a world of hurt, but figured I might as well support the race (since the Berger's truck broke down) and get my butt out there. The race started fast and I planned to just go for as hard and as long as I could - I found myself sitting third with Trent Maddox and Ray Billings pulling me around. Their pace settled in and I hung on until midway thru the third lap. At this point, they either picked it up or I backed way off - or maybe a little of both : - )

I let a gap form and then decided to ride out the last half of the last lap solo - and then about 2miles to the finish - a guy from my class comes up on me - and I got nothing for him - he cruises by me up one of the climbs - and then I sit up and cruise in for fourth (30-39 Expert). All in all not a bad showing for the weekend - Radd won his sport race despite some pressure from a guy from Tennessee and Char won her race as well. BigBlue finished up strong as he's setting himself up for the Bump and Grind in June. Well, thanks for reading -

Next race = Beaches Fine Arts Sprint Tri on May 17th..........

- sbc

This weekend........

........ is the Duathlon at Nocatee. Its put on by the Beaches Fine Arts Series folks so it should be a good event. Its gonna be a 2 mile run followed by 12 mile bike then finish off with a 2mile run. I'm gonna try to ride the QR Kilo that Chris B. has let me borrow. Just hope it isn't too big. This is what it looks like......

Its a pretty nice bike, not quite my dream bike , so i'll probably hold off on buying it. (Especially with the wedding coming up).

A couple of months ago, I went to see pro tri-guy Chris Lieto. He spoke about setting goals and all that kind of stuff, and he brought up an important point........ he talked about how when you tell someone that you are going to do something, then it increases your accountability towards that goal and that should help your motivation toward accomplishing that goal. So for this race on Saturday, my goal is to go sub-1hr (59:59.99 or better). I've broken this down into its components and it should work out something like this (in theory):

• 2 mile run (1st section of race): 13 minutes (6:30/mi pace - will probably hit 1st mile hard (6:00 min) due to the excitement of the race and then try to settle in for 2nd mile at about 7:00 min.
• T1: 45 secs--> going from run to bike. For this, I'm gonna practice getting in my shoes while on the bike, might even have them clipped in with the rubber bands holding them in place (note to self: research this before trying it to see if it actually works
• 12 mile bike: 31.5 minutes (this is based on a 22.85 mph avg - kinda conservative, but gotta figure in that there might be wind and turns)
• T2: 30 secs --> from bike to run; should be quick, i'll practice this on friday as well.
• 2 mile run (last section of race): 13min - this is gonna require going HARD off of the bike, but I think I can handle it for thirteen minutes (hopefully less). As the coach says, "Just know that its gonna suck, no matter what!"

If you add all that up (26 min for running, 1-1/2 minutes for transitions, and 31-1/2 minutes) it comes to 59 minutes. So i'm giving myself 59 second room for error. Hey it all sounds good in theory, right?

But I'll probably trip within the first 50 yards and twist my ankle and it'll take me two hours to finish (Never give up, right?)

b sbc

A lot of stuff going on.......

Well, the J-ville Classic seems to have been cancelled - most definitely a bummer. But on the bright side, there is still the BFAS Duathlon going on that day (Sat 19th of April), so now I don't have to worry about trying to "squeeze" in two events in one day. Its only a 2mi Run/12mi Bike/ 2mi Run so it shouldn't be more than an hour (I hope!). I'm thinkin about riding from the house that morning to the race to try to get in some extra miles and a good warmup. Not sure yet though cuz it'll probably still be dark and it would suck to get hit by a car before the race. We'll see. After that I've got Ft. Yargo - Xterra on Saturday and then a Southeast Regional MTB XC race on Sunday. Should be a lot of fun and probably a lot of pain - especially on Sunday!!

Well, the training is going good - been purposely trying to make the most out of my running workouts. Gonna probably try to run with that Sea Turtle group on Sundays as much as possible. My swimming has come along great and the bike is starting to feel good again. Should be a good tri season.

So after careful negotiations with the Stephanator, we've finally set a date for the wedding. We even got a place. So with that, I've gotta save some money!!!! The racing is gonna get scaled back a bit - kinda funny cuz this is the most I've ever trained for the least amount of races, but oh well. I'll be puttin up a revised schedule soon - mostly Xterra stuff with some sprints and a couple of mtb races.