Trying to get back on track.......

It's funny how easy it is to get way off track.......... self-discipline is not something that comes easy for me. The snooze button has become my best friend.


It goes like this:


Oh well, I'm sleeping in - I'll just do an open water "swim" this afternoon........


--or--


I'll just do the group ride - that'll be good enough...........


--or--


Whew, i just ran three solid miles..... i'm done - give me a BOOST Chocolate Shake (300 calories to replace to the 125 that I burned......)





Man, when it comes to making deals with myself, I'm definitely a used car salesman:

Well, I put it out there, no more hiding -- it's time to get back on the program. Not too much racing coming up except for the last BFAST on July 12th and then Xterra First Coast on the 27th. Tahoe is looming out there in October, seems so far away, but I know it'll be here before I know it and I'll be gasping for air at 7500' wondering what the hell was I thinkin back in June......

NOTE TO SELF: Tahoe is going to be HARD.

2008 - 1st Half RECAP

Well, here I sit at the halfway point of my season. Things have been going "ok" - not great, but I've had some good results and (lately) some not so good results. Here's some highlights of the past couple of months:

In February, me and the mtb-boys hit the 12 Hours of Santos for some team relay racing, as well some camping and some "beer-appreciation". Result: 3rd place Pro/Expert Team (refer to pic #1) AND a really fun time (refer to pic #2).
In beginning of March, I did my first ever Gate River Run. Now for those of you not in the KNOW - this is a HUGE running race held right here in J-ville. Its deemed the USA 15K Championship. Of all the years living here, I've never participated - so this year, with my tri-training in full effect, I figured I check it out and use it for some good run training. Had a great time, even with the 40mph winds on top of the bridge - and will definitely hit this race again. Now I will say it just for the record - I AM NOT A RUNNER!! So for me to be out there with some elite runners, I'll say that I was somewhat happy with my results - I'll definitely improve next time - I was kinda nervous about THE BRIDGE at the end of the race so I held back a little for the first 10k, but in retrospect I coulda pushed a lil harder. Next year - sub 1hr but this year's result: 416th OVERALL and 72nd in age group -- not bad considering there was something like 12ooo people there!

Here's a lil bird's eye view of the finish - Here's me and my bro-n-law (He's in his first year of running and this was his first River Run also - props to him most definitely)

Then in mid-March, I hit the first round of the SERC (Southeast Regional Championship) race in Gainesville (at Haille's Trails, which are some of the most fun trails to ride in FL - too bad they aren't open year round - BUMMER). I had figured it would be a good test of my mtb fitness, as I was kinda anxious to see how my training was doing AND I would be racing my first race in the 30-39 Expert class (yeah, I'm getting OLD!! 30?!?!?! - whoa!! ). Had a great race and found myself sitting in third for the entire race until getting passed on the LAST climb on the LAST lap - Result: Fourth place AND a big mtb confidence boost.

Next, it was on to my first Xterra race of the year - Miami (Oleta River State Park). I was anxiously anticipating this race - as I had decided that this was my main focus for this year. I had been working with Shawn Burke to help get ready for this and I was feeling GOOD going into this race. Now this wasn't my first Xterra ever- but it was my first Xterra ever that I have actually TRAINED for, so it would be interesting to see how I would stack up against some bonafide offroad tri-guys. The race went well - was actually leading after T2 (the transition from bike to run) after setting the fastest bike split of the day and passing Casey Fannin. On the run, Mr. Fannin put the hammer down and made me realize that I've still got a little work to do. Great race - really cool venue - especially the run, with some river crossings where you had to pull yourself across on a rope - A LOT OF FUN!! Result: 2nd overall / 1st age group

After Miami - I took my newfound MULTISPORT ability to the BFAS Duathlon in Nocatee on April 19th. This was kinda a small race but would serve perfectly as a tune-up race for an upcoming Xterra in Ft Yargo. Short distances of a 2mile run / 12 mile bike / 2mile run would suit me well, especially since - say it with me, "I AM NOT A RUNNER". Hit my goals with this one and went sub 1hr - avg'd about 6:30 pace on the run and about 24mph on the bike. Fun little race - hope they keep those things going. Result: 8th overall and 1st agegroup.

Now, here's where it starts gettin good -> the weekend of April 26th and 27th was an action packed weekend full of good times and some decent results. Saturday was the Ft. Yargo Xterra, put on by GoneRiding - who always does such a GREAT job with running races. SUPER fun trails had me stoked to be out riding and I put in the second fastest bike split - right behind Xterra pro Craig Evans. I started the run in second - but faded to 5th overall (probably due to the fact that - "I AM NOT A RUNNER") but was stoked to say the least cuz I actually felt somewhat fast on the run - definitely faster than my run in Miami.

That's me in the wetsuit with the orange cap doing the freestyle stroke --

Coming out of the water -UH -- where'd I put my bike again????

AhH - i love these TRAILS!!!!

Startin the run --

And then this is what's its all about:

The next day was a SERC race and I figured that since I was there then I might as well race - especially since the trails were AWESOME - was feeling pretty good in the race - actually held third until the final lap when i got passed on the last climb (uh, don't they call that dejavu?) (uh, don't they call that dejavu?) Oh well, fourth place for a race that I did totally without any expectations - stoked (as well as $80 richer - expert racing has its advantages!!)(hey check out Trent Maddox (first place dude) - I think he's WASTED!!)

After the Yargo Experience, I had a month until my "A" race, so I hit the training hard - including some good rides with the Bluester:

As a prep race, I did the first round of the BFAS triathlon - felt kinda off that day for some reason - might've had something to do with running late and not getting in a warmup (note to self: warmup at next race). Still ended up 2nd in age group and something like 18th overall. Those are super fun races (and close to home!).

Next up was the BiG Daddy of Xterra Races: the Southeast Championship in Pelham, AL. Was super stoked and looking forward to this race like no other. BUT, it just so happened that I came down with some nasty head cold on the Friday before the race. ARGH!!!!! I don't get sick very often but this was the most INCONVENIENT time possible. Oh well, after a decent swim and a mediocre bike section, my body decided that it didn't want to move forward anymore. Just finishing that run was probably one of the hardest things ever!! The run was a 10K and about half of it was some super steep climbs - a lot walking (and some crawling) and more cramping spelled out a bad race for me. Was in 2nd agegroup but fell back to 7th - but I finished, so considering that I felt like crap - I have to be somewhat happy that at least I didn't die out there on the trails. Well, here's a pic - i had to digitally alter it so that you couldn't make out the painful grimace on my face - I did my best to pretend that I was running when I saw the photog, because MAN, I WUZ HURTING!!

Oh well, 1st half of 08 is over with. Time to move on and learn from the past six months. Looking forward to some fun times over the next couple of months - the big day is approaching (September 6th) and that is gonna have most of my focus for the coming months, but I'll be racing a little bit and will try to put something together for the USA Xterra National Championships in Lake Tahoe in October.

Looking ahead

About a month to go until 'Bama (Southeast Xterra Championship)....... this will be my first "A" race of the year. Is gonna be a tough race - should have some heavy hitters there in my AG, but hopefully with a long bike section, I should be able to hang towards the front pack. I've ridden that course once before and its a LOT of fun - some good steady climbs with some good technical descents......... definitely a great mtb course. BigBlue will be scouting it out the week before with the Bump and Grind.
This week I've been takin it ez as my last recovery week before 2 Build weeks and then a Peak week - and I'm needing this recovery for sure. Seems like all the training is coming around - I've been feeling good on the bike and swim - even my running has improved (a little). Not that its where it should be, but I can at least tell there has been some improvement. So for the rest of the week I'm gonna ENJOY the light training load and get ready for the next couple of weeks of ramping it up. I'm planning on using next weeks BFAST sprint tri to test my running off the bike. Planning on going as hard as possible for the 5K along a good hard effort on the bike. Should provide some insight on what I can hold for the short distance, so we'll see.

Well, I'm takin the day off from training - and, actually, I'm gonna FINALLY clean the Spark (uh, yeah, from Yargo 2weeks ago), so that'll be some work for sure. I hope that thing still works.

BigBlue ready to hit the town..............this guy knows how to party.

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.