The Tour de Houston, Galveston and other fun stuff

I am really doing a crummy job updating this Blog lately. Sorry dudes!

First things first. It has been about a week and a half since I last visited the doctor. Everything seems to be O.K. I am feeling good and I am getting back into a nice routine with my workouts. Two weekends ago I ran 12 miles and followed that with a 43 mile ride in Galveston. (The headwind was brutal) I did a fairly long brick last Thursday and all seems back to normal. (Finally). I am happy to be getting back on track.

Last Sunday I rode the Tour de Houston. As some of you may remember I started this event last year but had to pull out 2 miles into the ride due to that bad crash Norma had on her bike which landed her in the hospital for 3 days. So as you can imagine I was a little anxious about this year's ride. The ride started around 7:20 and I was in the second wave to get started and everything was going good. It was a little cold but I knew it would soon be plenty warm. It didn't take long to start getting a little worried about this ride. There were around 5000 riders and the roads were a mess. Lots of pot holes and cracks made it very tough to stay in an aero position but I did my best. At mile 8 I hit a bump in the road very hard and I lost one of my water bottles.(My Longhorn 70.3 bottle =/). I was surprised I did not blow out a tire but I also knew it was only a matter of time before I got a flat. So true to form at mile 10 my back wheel went flat. I got the tire off and tube changed pretty quick but as I was inflating my tire my inflator broke. I wasn't sure what to do. A Ride Marshall helped me out and I was soon back on the road. I was making good time despite the road conditions and the amount of riders and I felt good on the bike.
There were a few spots where traffic control should have been better, specifically anywhere the Mobility Response Team was, but overall it was a decent ride and I finished the 70 mile route in 3:26:00, pretty good considering I have done very little long riding this year. After I finished the ride I ran a little under 6 miles and I'm feeling a whole lot better about my training.

The Lone Star half-iron team did its last long ride prior to race day. I took the team down to Galveston so they could ride the race route. The wind was not as bad as the day that I rode out there but it was still pretty rough. The team did well despite the fact that we had 5 flat tires on the route. The team has just three total practices prior to race day and I think people are tired. Attendance at practice has been down the last two weeks and I know many of them are anxious to get the race over with. I feel pretty good about everyone and their training and I am confident that they will all do well.

Take a Hike Ike

I am very behind on my updates so I cramming a lot into this entry. Sorry.

Last week most of the Lone Star Half-Iron team participated in the Take a Hike Ike Duathlon at Lake Houston. The race was supposed to be a triathlon but was changed to a duathlon because of the choppy conditions in the water. I think this worked out well because it was freezing and very windy out.

The race started out as a mass start and everything went well at the start. The first leg was a 5K run. Around 15 or 16 minutes into the race the first runners were making their way into transition. Jonathan was our first runner in followed closely by Jacob and Tom. Everyone looked real strong coming into T1. The one odd thing was all the trouble people had coming out of T1. People were falling, some wanted to mount their bike in transition but most had mounted their bike before the red line out of T1. The Lone Star team did a pretty good job with this but we have room for improvement.
The real fun however came when the riders came in from the 10.8 mile bike and were getting ready to begin the second 5K run. I have never seen so many people take off out of transition with their helmet still on. It was hilarious. It wasn't just new triathletes it was experienced ones as well. Runners were just throwing helmets all over the ground it was quite a sight. The second run portion went well and the team looked really good. I am very proud of each of them.



Here is the final tally for the Lone Star Half-Iron team. We had five people place in the top three. They were rewarded with a nice plaque. We also had another four people finish in 4th place. So it was great day for our team and they all did well. I can't wait to see them race on April 5th. I know they will all do well.


Okay now for the not so fun stuff. Two weeks ago I went to the doctor for a problem that I had going to the restroom. The doctor prescribed a powerful anti-biotic because she felt like I had a viral infection that was embedded in my Prostate. She also felt like it could be something more serious but I won't comment on that until I go back this week for further tests. The anti-biotic she gave me made me feel pretty crummy. I petty much felt like I was going to hurl 24/7 but it seemed to be curing my ailment so I toughed it out. So I'm feeling better in that department and then about a week ago I start developing flu like symptoms. Now how that happens when I'm on anti-biotics is a mystery to me. As the week went on I kept feeling worse. So on Wednesday night I went to the Urgent Care to see what is going inside my body. The doctor told me I did not have the flu but I had another viral infection but this was in my throat. He prescribed another anti-biotic and at this point I felt like I was going to die. I go through the rest of the week feeling pretty crappy but Saturday night I finally got a decent nights sleep and Sunday I started feeling better. I'm up and at my normal routine this morning despite feeling tired and still a little congested but I'm sure I will live. I have now missed 9 days of training the most in years and I'm looking forward to getting back after it. I'll cross my fingers on my physical and my tests this week.