Moving Along

My training for the San Antonio Marathon is moving along well. I am a little nervous about doing my 21 mile run so close to the actual race but it is necessary due to my schedule. I will do that run this weekend and hopefully I will be able to recover properly. I ran a little over 17 on Sunday and I feel pretty good. I plan to ride my bike today despite the cold weather. I have not been on my bike in over a week and I don't want to fall behind in this area. I will also get a couple swims in this week and a long ride on Saturday. My main issue right now is my diet. I have been eating really crappy the last couple of weeks and I need to pull it together and see if I can drop a couple pounds prior to the race. We will see. I do have to travel again next week so it may tough to diet.

On a weight lifting note, I have really been feeling good. I have been strength training 3 times a week for the last few weeks and its starting to pay off. I'm starting to feel my strength returning and its nice to be back in that mode even if its for a short time. I would probably weight train 5 or 6 times a week if it wasn't for the marathon.

The Beat Goes On

My training goes well this week. This last week I ran almost 40 miles for the first time in a long time. I have another run scheduled for Tuesday evening followed by 18 miles on Saturday. I feel like I should be ready to go for the San Antonio Marathon in November even though I am a little behind on my mileage. This week I plan to increase my swimming and biking a little just so I don't fall behind on the triathlon side of things. I really feel like I have hit my mark with my training over the last 6-7 weeks and look forward to my upcoming events.

On another note I want to say I am really proud of the Lonestar Team. I have really been pushing the miles with the team and they keep meeting the challenge. I really feel good about this team and I am sure that they will continue to do well.

No Rest for the Wicked

I have been feeling pretty good this week and despite some very poor eating and drinking habits I decided that I don't need to take time off this week to rest. I still have some marathons to run and I don't want to fall behind in my training. I have had three great weight lifting sessions that started with a superset on chest on Tuesday. I did a short swim on Wednesday and ran 7.25 miles on Thursday after a back workout earlier in the day. I finished off the weights with a good leg workout today. I am hoping to get a few miles on my bike Saturday with my team but I may have to ride SAG. I have a long run scheduled for Sunday morning before doing some "brick" training with some members of the Lonestar Team.

I am looking forward to watching some football and the Ironman Championship this weekend and seeing my friends and swapping war stories. I am also going to enjoy my last couple days of eating and drinking everything in sight.

Longhorn 70.3

Sunday marked my 7th and final triathlon of 2008. This season has been very productive for me. During the season I set several PR's and I have really surprised myself on how I have performed. My first race was the CBI Sprint in May where I did not PR due to a flat and some mechanical problems. A few weeks later I did the Silverlake Sprint where I beat my previous race time by 3 minutes. I finished off May with the Capital of Texas Triathlon where I beat my previous Olympic PR by 4 minutes on a hot and humid day. I didn't race again until August where I competed in the Clear Lake International Triathlon. This was the first year for the race and I finished in 2:07. Two weeks later I did my first Half Iron of the season competing in the PrairieMan Half Ironman. I had a cold and fever and I was still able to cut 27 minutes off my previous best. Last week I had my final tune up for Longhorn racing in the Stonebridge Ranch Olympic Triathlon and setting another PR with a time of 2:38:14 and taking almost 17 minutes off the PR I set at Cap Tex in May.

Now for my "A" race of the season the Longhorn 70.3. This was the first time racing in an official "M-Dot" event and I have to say it was a little exciting. When I arrived at packet pick up at the Sheraton Michellie Jones and Simon Lessing were in the lobby chatting. It was neat to see the pro athletes at the event. There was really cool swag in the packet pick up bag including a cool running hat and shirt. After I bought a couple things at the expo it was off to race site to check my bike in and then to the hotel to rest. One of the great things about the weekend was having the opportunity to race with Terry and Coach Liz. Both are tremendous athletes and as we were eating dinner I was thinking to myself I was just hope I can keep up with them.

My race morning started the same as usual. I woke up a little after 4 am and ate my pre-race meal of Capn' Crunch. For whatever reason it really works for me. I left for the race a little after 5 and when I arrived to the race site there were thousands of participants waiting to get on a bus to get over the transition area. There were so many people they delayed the start of the race to allow everyone to make it to the transition area. I was in the 5th wave and I was feeling a little nervous but I knew I was ready. I had an awesome swim shattering my previous swim times at this distance and coming in with a time of 36:52. I couldn't believe my time when I got out of the water. The bike course was little different than last year. Somehow they found a way to make it tougher by adding some extra hills. On top of the hills there was a horrible head and crosswind but I finished the 56 miles in 2:50:27 which matched my PrairieMan time. This was great considering the conditions. Then I was off to the run. The run course was same as last year. I wish it wasn't because there were some tough hills to run up. One hill, a very long hill, has the dubious honor of being labeled Quadzilla. Sounds fun doesn't it? The one difference from last year is that it wasn't quite as hot during the run due to a few clouds and wind. I ended up finishing the run in 2:08:22 and again I matched my PrairieMan time on a much tougher run course. The damage at the end was a time of 5:41:25 and another PR. I am still in disbelief. I expected to do well but not to beat my time from PrairieMan. To shave another 14 minutes of my PR is so sweet. On top of that I beat my time from last years race by 41 minutes. That is just insane. Needless to say I am really excited about my time at Longhorn and all my races in 2008.

Now for next season. I have tough work ahead of me with at least one but probably two full Ironman races in 2009 and a handful of other triathlons, marathons and bike rides. I need a little rest but I very excited about what I have coming up.

Stonebridge Ranch Triathlon

On Sunday I competed in my 6th triathlon of 2008 with one more to go. I traveled to McKinney to compete in the Stonebridge Ranch Olympic Triathlon. This was my final tune-up for the Longhorn 70.3 on October 5th. I had a great a day out in McKinney that always starts with those pre-race nerves. Here are the details:

When I arrived to transition it was actually a little chilly outside. I got my bike racked and my transition area set up and then it was off to the swim start. The swim was 1500 meters and was two loops around this man made lake. The nice thing about the lake was that it was cool enough to make it wetsuit legal and the bad thing was the water tasted awful. As I started the swim I just wasn't feeling it but I motored on. I'm a slow swimmer and I like to take my time as to not use too much energy but I still had an O.K. time of 37 minutes. The run from the water to transition was down a hill and over a bridge. When I got on the bike I felt pretty good. The ride was tough. There here some tough hills that you couldn't get any speed on and I was also riding part of the race with Sprint Race people and at times it did get a little frustrating. After all was said and done I finished the bike in 1:06:48 which was a 21.6 mph pace. Pretty good considering the hills. I got back into transition and I began to realize that I was on a PR pace if I had a good run. The run was hilly as well. I had to run down hills through different tunnels and then back up another hill to the street. As I was running I began to get a little pinch in my right side and I had to slow down for a little bit to get my breathing in check. After the pinch went away I was able to pick up my speed and finished the run portion in 48:24 which was a 7:48 mph pace. That was awesome for me. As for the overall results I set a PR for an Olympic distance triathlon with a time of 2:38:13 which was 8th in my age group. I did not set out to do that. I just wanted get some training in for the Longhorn 70.3 next week. I am very happy with this time which is almost 17 minutes faster than my previous PR that I set in May.

Now one thing about me. I am a very competitive person. When it comes to triathlon I am competitive but it has always been against myself. I have always tried to improve and get better race to race. I know I am not the fastest so I just try to race well each time I go out. With this race I really did set out to just get some training in but when I realized that I was going to have a chance to PR it was opportunity to prove something to those people that don't take this sport seriously or who think they are better than everybody or who don't value me. There a few people out there that I just wanted to prove to that I can hold my own. Now I know that I really don't have anything to prove but it was nice beating some other peoples PR's who think they are better than everyone else.

I'm pretty anxious about Longhorn but I know I am ready. I am also ready to put an end to this tri season. I haven't been doing my job as a Dad and I need to get my act together. I'm looking forward to quality time with my kids.

Johnny Romano

It is with great sadness that I write about the passing of Johnny Romano. Johnny passed away yesterday. Here is an excerpt from Julie Romano's blog:

"Johnny is a trooper. He never cries, screams or complains. NEVER. Not once. Such a hero. But we never sees it that way. Heroes never do."

As I was typing in the excerpt from Julie Romano I was getting a little choked up. As a father of two I continued to be thankful for having very healthy and happy kids. There are times that I wonder why I stay with Team In Training. As a coach or a participant for the third straight event you start to get a little tired and you want to have your time back. All I have to do is read Johnny's blog and I don't have to wonder why I am here.

I have never had an opportunity to meet Johnny or his family. I hope to meet his family soon. I have two triathlons over the next two weeks. I have an Olympic in Dallas on Sunday and I have a Half-Iron in Austin the following Sunday. When I'm out there sweating, hurting and starting to cry and complain I will think of Johnny. I want to be a hero too.

My Training

My training goes well. I have not done a lot of long distance training except since the PrairieMan Half-Ironman two weeks ago but I still feel pretty good. I am off work this week and plan to get in some long distance work in anticipation of the Longhorn 70.3 in two weeks. I really need time on my bike as I have only done one short ride which was today since PrairieMan.

On another note I have had three great weight training sessions in the last week. Weight training is my first love but it tends to get in the way of the whole swim, bike and run thing. I realized something the other day when I hit gym. I was wearing an old shirt at the gym and the shirt was big on me. This was a shirt I wore in my pre-tri years. I used to really fill this shirt out specifically in the arms. I really need to spend some more time lifting. Maybe after Longhorn, or the San Antonio Marathon, or the Houston Marathon. I guess not. Its the price I have paid to the Triathlon Gods.

Later