The Lone Star Triathlon

This past weekend was the Lone Star Triathlon and it was an exciting weekend. 8 months of training came down to a tough race on Saturday.

We arrived in Galveston Saturday morning and after getting settled I went out on a short run on the actual race course to get myself more familiar with the route. It was hot and humid and the course was fast with lots if turns. After my run I gathered the team together for the safety meeting and then it was off to the swim start for a short swim. The water temperature seemed good and I think everyone felt better about the first leg of the race. After everyone was out of the water we headed back to the hotel for a short nap and then we met for the pasta party. The team looked great in their running shirts and it really showed our team unity. The pasta party started off with comments from the head of the South Texas TNT chapter and then I addressed the group. I was asked to speak about the race course, rules and what to be ready for. After my speech Johnny Romano's mother Julie spoke to the group about her experience with TNT and about our team's inspiration Johnny. I don't think their was a dry eye in the house. It was a touching story and we could not have asked for a better honored teammate in Johnny. When the pasta party adjourned we had a brief team meeting with some final instructions and some recognition. Norma made a really neat poster for each member of the team and the team bought me a super cool bike helmet. It is the same helmet that Lance Armstrong wears and I can not wait to wear it. Thanks for the gift team! After the meeting it was off to bed for some shut eye.

3:45 am on Sunday came quickly. I was tired and a little anxious for the team. We all met in the lobby and we headed down to transition for body marking and so everyone could set-up their transition area. Our team did not start until about 8:30 so when they finished setting up they headed back to the hotel for some rest. Everyone looked nervous as they headed down to the swim start and while they were waiting for their wave to get in the water. The race got a little behind but when it got started everyone looked good and I headed over to the swim out to watch everyone run into transition. Everyone looked good coming out of the water. There were a few surprises about swim times. Most of the team finished the swim faster than I anticipated and that was great. Coach Liz was out on the bike course at the turn around to keep an eye on the team for me so I could watch everyone leave onto the bike course. (Thanks Liz!) After the last swimmer was on the bike I went to grab my bike and headed onto the bike course. I rode out to the last bike aid station to watch the riders. I was there for about 30 minutes before I saw my first athlete. Jonathan flew by with his head down and I figured that I should head back because I knew a few more of the team would be coming by soon. I took a side road back to Moody Gardens and as I was riding the wind, which was already bad, really picked up. This worried me because quite a bit of my team had wave starts towards the end and I knew they would be riding through it. When I got to Moody Gardens I started getting updates from Liz. She said she saw everyone and had to help Nikki change a flat tire. Unfortunately Nikki got a another flat and crashed coming into transition. (She had a rough day). Heather was the last of my team to make it in off the bike. She was not feeling well but she wanted to keep going. I told her talk walk for a while and try to take in more fluids. I felt bad for her but I knew she would make it. I talked to most everyone when the entered the run course and they were hurting but moving. As everyone was running I moved all over the race course to keep an eye on everyone and cheer them on. They were all tired and dehydrated but they weren't going to quit. I had the opportunity to run in with a few of the team trying to keep them motivated to finish and that was a great experience for me. I am proud of each and every member of this team. They all finished the race and they all raised thousands of dollars for cancer research. It is a great accomplishment.

This post doesn't include everything that happened race day. There was so much going on its hard to write it all down. It was so enjoyable talking to families of the team and hearing how proud they were. I enjoyed talking with my tri friends and I was just happy to be part of the experience. It was nice seeing people who early season I had my doubts about finish and finish strong. It great to see those people who wanted to quit the team and those who wanted to do the shorter tri tough it out and finish. It was inspiring to see people like Norma who couldn't even swim two years ago finish her first half-ironman. I'm super proud of her! This was one of the most enjoyable experiences of my life and I look forward to next season. For now I'm focusing on my family and my race schedule. Good luck to all of my team in whatever comes your way. I know you will all do well. Bye for now and I will see you on the race course.

Bluebonnet Express, the Lone Star Team and my Vegas Trip

Sunday I rode the Bluebonnet Express. It was a pretty good ride overall but I didn't see too many Bluebonnets. Unfortunately, I just was not feeling it on Sunday and I cut my ride short. I only put in around 36 miles but it was still good training. I did follow that up with a 6 mile run at Memorial dodging all the people at the park who were there for the Art Festival. I will have to be creative on my training this weekend but I think I have a good plan.

Yesterday marked the final practice for the Lone Star Team. It is a bittersweet moment for me. One on side I will be glad to get some time back for myself but I have to say it will be tough to say goodbye because I have become very fond of them. I know a number of them want to keep training together and I really hope that we do. They are great bunch of people and I know they will all do great on Sunday. I will update everyone sometime on Sunday or Monday with a race report.

Last but certainly not least. I have two weeks until my first triathlon of the season. I am a little nervous because this race is going to be tough. The elevation gains on the bike and on the run look brutal and I am just hoping I have the legs for it. The other part that is going to be tough is that it is in Vegas. There are lots of bad influences in Vegas and most include my co-workers. I hope I didn't bite off more than I could chew with this one.

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.

My training is going Okay. I put in quite a bit of time in the water last week due to the various different injuries I have. I did however put in 2 short runs and a short bike ride. The runs were not too painful and the ride was good. The best part of last week was the swimming. I did two open water swims and in total put in almost 3000 meters. The water has been real cold but it has been great to get back in the open water.

Yesterday despite a very upset stomach I put in a 7 mile run at Memorial. It was the first pain free run I've had in weeks. My knee, hip and ankle feel much better and I think dialing back the mileage really helped. I'm hoping to start slowly increasing the mileage this week so I can stay on track.

Later

I have been pretty banged up the last couple of weeks and it is really affecting my sleep and my training. I have several nagging and a few painful injuries. First of all my lower back is in a lot of pain and my right hip keeps shifting and is causing me some knee pain. Also, my left ankle and Achilles tendon are very tender and lastly I am going in for an X-ray on Friday to see if I have a stress fracture in my right shin. Oh, and I have had a headache for about a week. Sound fun, right? So due to all of these injuries I have decided not to run the Cowtown Marathon and focus on my Half Ironman races for the time being. The swimming and biking do not seem to aggravate these injuries and I have enough of a running base that I should be ready for my first race in April.

One final update. My diet is back on schedule. I've lost about 8 pounds which puts me at 175 and heading in the right direction. I would like to get down to 170 by the end of the month and I really feel on track to hit my mark. I would like to be at my normal race weight of 165 by the end of March and 160 by the time hit I Cozumel in November. 160 had been a tough weight for me to hit. I have reached it a couple times over the last couple of years but I have not been able to maintain it. My fear is that I would have to take off a lot of muscle to reach that weight and that is not how I want to get there. I'll work on the details of the diet, perhaps with a Nutritionist, to get this all worked out.

The Gym

I haven't been to the gym to lift in over a week. I was supposed to go last Friday but I didn't make it. So last night I reverted back to the days when I primarily weight lifted and I hit the gym late in the evening. I must say things have changed a bit since my days of working out at 10 pm. Now, I like to throw around the "F" word as much as the next guy but even I was starting to feel uncomfortable. There were dudes having conversations from one end of the gym to the other saying "F" this and "F" that. It was strange.

The other thing that was funny about going so late to the gym was the way people were dressed. I like sunglasses as much as the next guy but in the gym at night. Whatever? The workout gear people wore was inappropriate and I must say the whole thing was just bizarre. I'm going to try and avoid the late night gym workouts from now on.