USAT Nationals Race Report/Travel Madness Continued

After all the craziness of friday the race on saturday seemed like the easy part. The weather was beautiful even though by the time I got onto the run course it had gotten really hot. Going into the race I had some specific goals in mind, all of which would lead to an overall time of under 2 hours and 15 minutes because then I would be eligible to race as an amateur elite next year. My swim was a little slower than I wanted, 27 minutes instead of sub 25, but I more than made up for it on the bike. I had set a conservative goal of sub 1 hour and 10 minutes for the bike leg and I killed it, finishing in right at 1 hour and 5 minutes (22.5 mph average) on a really tough course that also had 6 turnarounds which really kills your speed. Out on the run course I realized that I was under the pace I needed to finish in 2:15 so I was able to relax and just go for it. Again, the run course was tough and hot, but I still finished the 10km in just over 37 minutes which is right at my PR. I finished the race in 2 hours and 13 minutes, beating my goal by a solid 2 minutes and officially making me an amateur elite!! My ranking overall and in my age group weren't that great and I didn't even come close to qualifying for the world championships in Beijing next year but the time is what I really wanted.

Now you would think that having finished the race the rest of the weekend would be pretty uneventful... and you'd be very very wrong. Sunday became the longest and most frustrating travel experience of my entire life! After arriving at the airport and checking in for my 11:15am flight I was informed at the gate that due to labor strikes at the airport in Detroit, which is where my plane was coming from, my flight had been cancelled. On top of that there was only one seat left to get me to Indy that day and it left out of Atlanta at 8:30pm. That's bad enough, if I was already in Atlanta... too bad I was in Birmingham!!!!! There were no flights to get me to Atlanta either, so what did I have to do? Rent a car and drive to Atlanta just to get on a plane and fly to Indy! ohhh man did that suck, not to mention the car ended up being a 2 door which made getting my bike case into it a little more than tricky. The only good part was I had some 7 hours until the flight left and it only took 2 hours to drive to Atlanta. Once in Atlanta I found out that the flight had been delayed until 10pm which would mean I would get to Indy by about 11:30pm! In reality the plane didn't leave until 11pm, I landed in Indy a little after midnight and I didn't get home and into bed until after 2am!!! so i was traveling from 8:30am until after 2am.... that makes sunday the longest day ever!!! It was atrocious to say the very least but my bike actually made it too for a change and Delta will certainly be hearing from me in the near future. If nothing else it is a great story to tell and luckily I have plenty of time to catch up on the sleep I missed thanks to my new status of being solidly in the offseason, ahhhhh!!! In all reality things are good. I'll post some pictures from the race when I get them...

USAT Age Group Nationals Pre-Race Madness!!

wow, today has been one hell of a day. Starting at 5 am this morning I have been moving pretty much nonstop until right about now and its just about 9 pm. Not exactly the ideal way to spend the day before my biggest race of the year but what are you gonna do? I didn't really have a choice thanks to f***ing Delta Airlines. I flew from Indy to Atlanta, where I met my mom, then we both flew to Birmingham. My bike, on the other hand, had no trouble getting from Indy to Atlanta but somehow Delta managed to lose it in Atlanta for a few hours. So much for that "handling" that I paid a $200 fee for!!!! I saw it come off the plane, in fact it was the first thing off the plane... how did it not make the connection?! And how did no one know where it was until about 4 this afternoon when I had landed in Birmingham at 11:30am? It has easily been one of the more frustrating moments of my entire life... Packet pick-up was no big deal, but I had to drive the hour back to Birmingham from Tuscaloosa to pick up my bike this afternoon and make it back by 7pm in order to get my bike checked into the Transition area on time... I made it, but just barely. I think I checked my bike in at 6:57 and I was just about the last person out of the 1300 that will be racing tomorrow. I guess that this means that all that is left is the easy part... racing tomorrow, I'll let you know how it goes. It can't be that bad because just a couple hours ago I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to race at all...

Breakfast Optimist Club Muncie Tri Race Report

Great race this morning! Everything felt like it came together.... finally! I have felt like I was right on the edge of a breakthrough for soooo long, it's about time I finally did it. Race morning was super chilly, with temperatures in the mid 50s and a pretty stiff 15-18mph wind. Getting in the water actually felt great because it was so much warmer than the air. This was my first race in the elite wave so it was really nice to get out onto the swim course ahead of the hordes of people. Unfortunately, the swim is 2 laps of a 750 meter course so the second time around it was a little bit harder to find clear water. It slowed me down a little bit but I still managed a sub 18 minute swim after posting a 8 minute first lap. The bike was windy and COLD! Being that wet and riding into a headwind when the air temperature is only the 50s... man! But even so I put together a pretty solid split averaging a little over 22mph. I came off the bike in 5th place and then things really fell into place. Thanks to a 37 minute 10k i managed to run myself into 3rd place and my first appearance on a podium with an overall time of 2:08 (a solid PR). And to do it in my first go at racing with the elites was pretty sweet, and i got some money to boot! My only complaint about the whole day is this jerkoff that was drafting on just about the whole bike leg... number 371, i saw you! He came off the bike about a minute ahead of me but I ran him down in no time so at least he didn't beat me... that would have really pissed me off, but i still feel bad for the guy that drug him around the course for 40km and the guy didn't even get a time penalty at all! let alone get disqualified which is what he deserved. Where was the USAT official?!! (Rumor has it he was sitting in his car trying to stay warm... way to go) Anyway, feel really great about the whole race and now am super psyched for the last race of the year at Nationals in 3 weeks... this should be a good one!

Indy Sprint Triathlon Race Report

This morning I raced in only my second sprint distance race of the year in Indianapolis. Going in to the race I was looking forward to the chance to really test my speed leading into my last two olympic distance races of the year. All in all, the race went really well. The weather was not ideal, as it was rainy and that made the course really wet and dangerous (I saw at least a dozen guys go down on the bike course). Even so I managed to stay upright on the bike and post a near personal best 17:35 5k. The bike and run were definitely the highlights of the race and the swim belongs in the regrettable category. I had the opportunity to start in the elite wave but decided against it and paid for it big time! With some 500-700 people on a swim course that was only 500 yards long it made for some seriously tough going. I seemed to be constantly climbing over someone and didn't seem to find any open water for the whole leg. It really slowed me down: I posted a 10 minute split even though I felt much stronger than that in the water. Even with a super crowded swim, and a slower bike course due to the wet conditions I finished in 58:41 which was good enough for 13th overall. I'm pretty happy with the fact that I almost scratched the top 10 against a bunch of guys who specialize at this distance. This also makes me feel pretty confident about registering as an amateur elite at my next race in early September... hopefully I don't embarrass myself. I'll post some pictures when/if I get them...

Crazy Day at T3-MultiSport Muncie Triathlon

This morning was the Muncie Triathlon put on by T3 Multisport. The venue is a really nice course around the prairie creek resevoir south east of Muncie, Indiana. Since I've moved back to Muncie for the fall semester at Ball State University it's a great race for me to do, right in my back yard. This was my first race in just about a month so going into it I was a little unsure about my fitness level. I have been putting in some good consistent training blocks but when you haven't raced in a while there is always that little bit of doubt that creeps into the back of your mind.... little did I know that the actual race would be the easy part of the morning. First off, I managed to get slightly lost on my way to the venue since I had never been there before and reading mapquest directions in the dark, while driving can be tough. I still managed to get to the race site by a little after 6 am and since the race wasn't suppose to start until 8 am I figured I would be fine. Then I went to unload my bike, which I had packed into my car the night before, only to discover that the rear tire had a slow leak and was totally flat... LAME! But no big deal because I always carry a spare tube for just such an occasion. When I went to put it on I realized I had somehow accidentally gotten one that had a valve neck that was too short and it didn't stick out of my rim far enough for me to be able to fit the pump onto it... LAME TIMES TWO!! But still not a deal breaker because there is always a support tent where you can get tubes and things. They had tubes and the guy there gave me one (for the steep price of $5) and I went back to my car to put it on and it wouldn't fit. He gave me a 650x23c tube instead of the 700x23c tube that I asked for.... ANNOYINGLY TIME WASTINGLY LAME.... To make an already long story and little bit shorter, I was able to get another tube, of the right size this time, and pump up my rear tire. I still managed to set up transition and have plenty of time for my regular pre-race routine of nutrition and warm up. Once the race finally started things went very smoothly. I am nursing some sore joints and had very little problems with them and while I don't know my exact splits because the final results haven't been posted yet, I do know that I finished 4th overall. Good confidence booster with two more prep races to go before the big one at Nationals at the end of September. I'll post some splits and what little photos there are once they are made available to me...

Late Season Push

I just got back to Lawrence from a little vacation time in Estes Park, Colorado and I am happy to report that these first few days back to full time training have proven that I don't seem to have lost hardly any fitness during my week away. This is probably due to the fact that my family and I did some pretty serious hiking at altitude all week and I managed to cram in a couple run and swim workouts while I was there also. The time off has done wonders for my motivation and focus, the mental break was much needed! I'm totally ready for the late season push now. I have just 4 races left this season with the next one being the Muncie Triathlon on August 7. I feel like my conditioning is good for this time of year and I'm just hoping that I can maintain it and improve upon it for the rest of this season, which is the longest race season I have attempted. The major hurdle left to deal with is moving myself back to Muncie at the end of the week and then moving to a new house with my roommates once back in Muncie. It's going to mean a couple of really busy days and a whole lot of headaches I'm sure, these things never seem to go as smoothly as you think they will.... anyway, I'll let you know how it goes and talk a little bit more about my feelings about this upcoming race when it gets a little closer...

A Little Vacation? Yes Please!

The one thing that is tough about this long stretch of training without any races is the routine starts to get a little monotonous. Training day after day without any end in sight... it makes the motivation a little difficult to keep up. Also, this will be the longest race season I have ever scheduled so it is important that I don't burn out too early because these later races in August and September are some of the most important to me of the year, especially Age Group Nationals at the end of September. Luckily for me, the fam. is headed on vacation at the end of this week! We are heading to Estes Park, Colorado for a week of hiking and general relaxation in and around Rocky Mountain National Park. I'll still keep up some training: running some in the mornings and getting to a small pool at an aquatic center in Estes Park. Also, there is a stationary bike in the place where we are staying but for the most part I am going to take this opportunity to take a bit of a mid-season break, both for the body and maybe even more importantly, for the mind. It will be really nice to get some change of scenery and to escape this intense Kansas summer heat! Really looking forward to it, and then once I get back it will be time to make the push leading up to the August Muncie Triathlon on August 7th... plus I have to move to a new place, that I am really not looking forward to... more to come later.

Tour of Lawrence

The Tour of Lawrence was this past weekend, and since I won't be able to race the triathlon I had planned on racing next weekend I decided this could be a fun substitute. Also, I could use the experience racing in a group over some tight courses if I really want to race ITU someday. The Tour of Lawrence basically consisted of two races. A tough, hilly 4 mile circuit race on saturday up on the campus of K.U. and a criterium race around a 1 mile course downtown on sunday. Because I have never raced in any road races before I automatically ended up in the Cat 5 (the bottom category) for both races. That was fine with me except that it meant racing with a lot of inexperienced riders over some courses that require some pretty solid bike handling skills. The circuit race on saturday was a lot of fun, except that my water bottle got ejected from its cage when I rattled of a pot hole on the second lap and was never heard from again. The main pack jumped off the starting line way faster than I expected but I was able to bridge back up to the main group on the numerous, and pretty tough climbs (400ft of elevation change per lap). We did 3 laps and I ended up in 11th place out of some 50 riders... not bad for my first road race! The crit race downtown on sunday was a bit of a different story. Again, the pack shot off the line way faster than I was expecting and I got dropped completely by the end of the first lap. So I spent most of the 25 minute race out in the wind by myself, although I was able to work with some guys off and on throughout the rest of the race. If nothing else it gave me some good time trial practice and the course was a lot of fun. The whole experience was a good learning one for me about the intricacies of racing in a pack. It really does take some major skill and solid game planning to be able to hang in a pack for the duration of a race and my experiences this weekend along with continuing to go on group rides with the Lawrence Bicycle Club will really pay dividends towards making me as good at it as I need to be in draft legal triathlons. These road races just might be something I do a little bit more often... well, maybe. Here are some images from the races:

Mid-Season Update

Now that it is the beginning of July and I have done 4 races up to this point out of the 8 or 9 that I have planned I figured now would be as good a time as any to reflect on how successful my season has been up to this point and what my expectations are moving forward. The first half of the season would have to be mostly defined as an exercise in patience and the ability to adapt. The weather has not been all that cooperative with two races already being altered due to heavy rain. Even so, my results have been pretty solid. I have already accomplished a major goal which is to qualify for Age Group Nationals for the third year in a row and actually go to the race this year in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. I'm really excited to have a big race like that to end the season in late September and it will also be a solid opportunity for me to gauge how I stack up against some of the best age group athletes in the country. My swim results haven't been all that great through the first 4 races even though I PR'd at the Topeka Tinman Tri a couple of weeks ago. I'm still optomistic, though, because I have been feeling super strong in the pool lately and I feel like my technique, form and fitness are finally coming together in a way that can result in some much more competitive swim splits. The frustrating part is I probably won't be racing for over a month because the race I was planning on entering next weekend was full when I tried to register the other night, I guess that's what I get for waiting so long. I'm also going on vacation with the fam later in July, which will be a nice break from the routine, but which also means no chance to race until the beginning of August. In reality, I could probably use the extended break from racing, to give my mind and body some rest and to put in a really solid block of training, but it's hard to swallow when it feels like you're wasting some really good fitness. Once again time will tell, and if nothing else this will just make me super pumped up when I finally do get to get back on the starting line at the Muncie August Triathlon on August 7th.

Topeka Tinman Race Report

Man, yesterday's race was a really tough day at the office! The weather was finally sunny and clear but that also meant that it was really hot and really humid. Surprisingly the race was wetsuit legal which helped me set a PR for the swim. That's good news especially because I didn't feel all that great for about the last 300-500 meters so I'm pretty confident I can go even faster. Unfortunately, after the swim things just got tougher. I had been feeling a little bit of tightness in my right IT band running along right around my knee and it made itself known right off the bat on the bike. It meant that I couldn't push any big gears because it got to be pretty uncomfortable, and I was forced to ride in lower gears with a higher cadence than I usually like to race with. That caused my average MPH to drop and it really wore out my legs. When I headed out onto the run I could really feel the fatigue in my legs and wasn't really able to find any kind of rhythm or maintain any kind of pace until the last couple of miles... that was really frustrating. The heat and humidity made it doubly tough and I was taking down water and gatorade at ever aid station that I could get my hands on! Luckily, as tough as the conditions felt for me they seemed to be worse for most everybody else because I easily won my age group and just missed out on the top ten overall, finishing in 11th. It's not quite the overall result I was hoping for, but I can't really complain either. Right after the race ended a big nasty thunderstorm rolled in and poured for the whole drive home, so I'm just thankful that it didn't effect the race like weather has all too often for me so far this season. I also got a really unique award for winning my age group: the standard medal, but it was presented hanging around the neck of a bottle of wine from a local vineyard! thats pretty cool... so far this year I have received a large beer jug (empty unfortunately) and a bottle of wine (very much full!), Kansas really knows how to do it! I put up some photos from the race below, thanks again to my personal race photographer who also happens to be my mom, and I'll post the photos done by the professional photographers on the course once they become available...

Topeka Tinman Photos

coming out of the lake after a nice warm-up. too bad I still had 30 min. before my wave start!

was a little disappointed when the dive-in start was changed to an in-water start, but a dive-in start with 75 guys could have been pretty hectic...

this was about the last time I would feel nice a cool the rest of the day!

coming in off a pretty frustrating bike, unfortunately it wouldn't get much better from here...

i've never been so happy to see the finish line in my whole life! nice that my dad was there to cheer me on (guy in the green shorts and white shirt), thanks dad! happy father's day

Topeka Tinman Triathlon Preview

It's now just a couple of days before this weekend's Topeka Tinman so I thought I would talk a little bit about how I'm feeling and my history at this event. This was the first race I ever competed in back a few years ago so it has a special place in my heart even though the race didn't go very well. I struggled through the swim but still came out with the lead group and we all managed to get lost on the bike course and ended up back at transition well before we were suppose to. I later got a little lost on the run course too! Even so, I finished 7th overall and won my age group with a little help of some disqualifications of others who also went off the course. In all truth I probably should have been DQ'd also... shhhh don't tell. The event basically needed more volunteers. Last year I produced probably my best race of the year at this event and finished 6th overall, with the 5th and 4th places only finishing a few seconds ahead of me (the 5th place guy out sprinted me to the line and we ended up with the same time!). Because of how close that finish was I feel like this race holds some unfinished business for me. This year the event is under new management and the course seems to have been pretty much completely changed, so that should make it pretty interesting. The main reason why I'm doing this race is because I was peaking for last weeks Hy-Vee Tri but since that got shortened due to weather I have been working all week to hang on to that fitness with the hope of using it to a solid result on saturday. I'm feeling really strong and solidly recovered so expectations are pretty high for this weekend and barring any bad weather, which i'm getting really sick of dealing with, this weekend should provide a really fun event. I'll post some photos and a recap sometime after the race on sunday or monday...

Hy-Vee Triathlon: Race Report

I just got home from my little road trip up and back to Des Moines for the Hy-Vee Triathlon. This was suppose to be the biggest race of the year for me up to this point and the first race that I peaked for. Unfortunately for me mother nature had other ideas. It rained torrentially all morning on saturday causing the staff to cancel the kids race. Then things cleared up in the afternoon and when I got into Des Moines at about 4 pm to attend the race briefing and pick up my race packet there were only scattered clouds and things appeared to be looking up. It didn't rain over night and in the morning it was overcast but dry (as far as I could tell, it was still quite dark when I got to the race site at 5 am). Then just after I had finished setting up all my stuff and was getting ready to start warming up the race director made an announcement that they were expecting a huge storm to roll in by the mid-morning so they were changing the race to a sprint. That meant cutting the whole thing in half: 400m swim instead of 1500m, 20km bike instead of 40km, and a 5km run instead of the standard 10km. To say I was frustrated and disappointed would be the world's biggest understatement. I had this race highlighted on my training calendar for the past few months and had already driven 3.5 hours to get there, not to mention a very expensive entry fee. And I wasn't the only one, just about everyone that I talked to felt the same way. So I ran the race basically as a training day and did fine. I struggled through the swim a little due to a total lack of warm-up but found my legs on the bike and run and maintained the kind of pace I would want for 40km and 10km. The overall results and age group results weren't great, but that's okay because the race was more valuable as a benchmark for my pacing. I must give the organizers credit, though, because just as they predicted the skies opened up at about 7:30 and it rained like crazy and was still raining when I left town a few hours later.

I have just signed up for the Topeka Tinman Triathlon next weekend. It is a race that I wasn't going to do originally but because I don't want to waste my peak I figure this could be a good opportunity to have a solid overall result at a race where I have been successful in the past: 7th overall in 2008 and 6th overall in 2009. Maybe I'll even sneak onto the podium.... I'll talk more about this race as we get later into the week and closer to the event...

Hy-Vee Triathlon: Race Week

With Hy-Vee only four days away and being in the middle of my taper I must say I am feeling really good and am getting really excited about race day. I will be going up against some fierce competition which will be tons of fun and will give me a really good indication of how competitive I might be able to be at USAT Nationals at the the end of the season in September. I have been putting in some really good, consistent training over the last week and have been hitting all my marks during interval training. The best part is I have been recovering from such high intensity workouts really well... I haven't been training this consistently with this lack of soreness this deep into the racing season in as long as I can remember. I am finally getting to know what it feels like to train consistently effectively and not be right on the edge of being over trained all the time like I have felt in the past. Anyway, this weekend should prove to be a great experience and hopefully a really successful race (the only bummer being there are pretty good chances for thunderstorms in Des Moines all weekend, which could really suck). I'll post a race report and some photos sometime after the race on Sunday or Monday.

Hy-Vee Triathlon: 10 Days and Counting

So it's about 10 days until my first big race of the year: the Hy-Vee Triathlon in Des Moines, Iowa on June 13th. I'm really excited about this race because I have been putting in consistently solid training for the last couple of weeks and am feeling really good heading into the race. It will be an interesting experience also because I'm traveling up the day before and staying over in Des Moines before the race. Although I have travelled for a race before, this will be the first time in a while since I have had to spend the night before the race in a hotel room. There are so many extra considerations that need to be considered like taking breakfast with me and figuring out where to eat the night before. But mostly I'm really excited because this will be by far the strongest competition I have ever raced against. The course also looks pretty flat and fast which suits my racing style really well. All in all, I'm feeling really confident and just hope that I don't do anything stupid over the next week and a half to mess it up.... shouldn't be too hard to avoid, I guess I shouldn't do any extreme sports this week, oh darn! (enter sarcasm here). Anyway, I'll post another update closer to the race and have an Ironman Kansas 70.3 report after I volunteer for the race this weekend.

More KC Triathlon Photos

Here are some more photos thanks to Action Sports Images (as if you couldn't already tell that...haha)

Kansas City Triathlon Race Report

Yesterday was my first olympic distance race of the year at the KC Tri. The event was huge! This is only the second year it has been held but it is quickly growing into one of the best events in the midwest. There were easily a thousand participants between the two races (olympic and sprint). As for my performance, it was a day of a couple of positives and one very glaring negative. To begin with the conditions were not ideal. The weather was gorgeous, high seventies and partially overcast but the problem was it was really windy (15-20 mph) and the water was a very chilly 62 degrees. The wind slowed me down a little bit on the bike, even though I managed to PR anyway, but where it was really tough was during the swim. The swim course was your standard rectangular 1500 meter course with two left turns. Swimming along the backside was great because the wind was at your back, but going out and coming back the wind was blowing across my body which also meant the water was getting really choppy, making it hard to stay on course (the numb face, hands and feet didn't help). Also, my swim fitness is just not where it needs to be and I had trouble maintaining my form after about 1000m. In the end I came out of the water in 35 minutes, some 5-6 minutes longer than expected. Like I mentioned earlier the bike went pretty well, even with a head wind for a majority of the two loop course. Once I got on the run it took a little while for me to find my legs and I had to deal with a little bit of stomach cramping but I still managed a 38 minute 10k and ended up winning my age group. All in all, it wasn't too bad of a race considering it was my first of the year and I'm looking forward to getting a few good training weeks in before the

Hy-Vee Triathlon in early June. Oh! and by the way, Pip Taylor (google here, she's a pro from Australia) was the women's overall winner and she beat all but one of the guys. Apparently she lives in Lawrence during the summer, how cool is that?

Here are some race photos with more to come later in the week:

This was right after I managed to rip my wetsuit slightly... great start to the morning

Coming out of the swim, was definitely not in a good mood at this point...

Headed into T2 I finally starting to feel like the race wasn't going to be a total bust

The run might have hurt a little bit more than expected but I'm glad is stuck with it

More Race Pictures

Here are some more race photos from this weekend thanks to www.seekcrun.com...

mass start... definitely something I'm not used to

coming into T2, I was so happy to make it back without crashing out

had to take a pic with my biggest fan and exclusive photographer... thanks mom!

(check out the fact that she's sporting the GIZMO hat, way to represent for me mom!)

Bike Source Triathlon Race Report

This morning's race was a bit of an adventure. Thanks to a week full of crummy weather the water quality was not good enough to allow for a swim leg so the race was changed to a duathlon. I was pretty disappointed by this because I was really looking forward to getting a good indication of the state of my swim fitness. Oh well, guess I'll just have to wait until next weekend's Kansas City Triathlon. As far as the actual race is concerned, it went pretty well. I felt pretty strong on both runs and on the bike, even though the bike course was really slippery which caused me to lose some time. I have never seen so many people pulled over on the side of the course fixing flat tires in my whole life. There must have been at least a dozen if not more, which only added to my sense of caution when it came to navigating the course. I ended up winning my age group and finishing in 9th overall. A top ten finish at my first race of the year is pretty good especially considering the state of my training in the weeks leading up to the race. This gives me some confidence and I'm really looking forward to getting a good week of training in before next weekend's race. The competition will be a lot higher so hopefully I can bring something more resembling my A game, plus the weather looks to be worlds better (80's and sunny!) so one can only hope.... Here are a few action shots from the race:

trying to stay warm before the race...

trying to push it on the bike without crashing out, got a little squirrely a few times...

putting in what little kick I have into the finish. thanks to my mom for the pics!

Back Into Training Mode

Now that I have been home for almost a week I have finally been able to put together some consistent training days. I was getting really frustrated over the last month or so because travel and illness were keeping me from developing anything in the way of advanced fitness. It was a bit of a struggle for the first few days but I have been able to build up to my regular routine and now I must say that I am feeling pretty good about where I am physically. I'm certainly not at the level of fitness I could have been had I not gotten sick but it's still pretty good. The Bike Source Triathlon this weekend will be a good test of how fit I really am... hopefully this all doesn't blow up in my face! Anyway, the job search continues and I'm starting to fear that I will be spending my summer at KU Catering just like those glorious high school days.... (enter sarcasm here). I'll post a race recap and some pictures after the race this weekend...

Home Sweet Home

So I made the seemingly endless drive home yesterday. 8 hours of basically nothing but I-70 has to be one of the worst drives possible, but I made it in one piece and without falling asleep behind the wheel (more of an accomplishment than you might think). Now that I'm home it's time to handle a couple of things. First of all I need to get back into my training schedule now that I'm healthy again and evaluate where my fitness is and when I feel like I will be ready to start racing. My first race was suppose to be at the Bike Source Triathlon next weekend but depending on how training goes the next couple of days that may not be a real option. Maybe more importantly though, I need to figure out my employment situation for the summer. Hopefully I will hear back from Sunflower Bike Shop or Gary Gribbles running store in the next few days or it may be back to the dulls of K.U. Catering for me... money is money I guess, and I need to make some. Anyway, update on the status of my training and race schedule will follow in the next couple days.

Homeward Bound

So I will be packing up and shipping out this afternoon and finally heading back to Lawrence for the summer. It's a long trip (9-10 hrs) and about as dull as any drive can be but I'm looking forward to seeing the fam for the first time since January when I left for Australia. My infection is totally cleared up and all that is left is a little soreness. Also, my fitness seems to be reemerging, even if ever soooo slightly. Hoping to get home and put in a solid couple of weeks of training and maybe salvage the Bike Source Triathlon. Having a job would be nice too! Sunflower and Gary Gribbles need to call me back!!! By the way here is the link to a really cool video of American Olympic Triathlete Matty Reed racing an STI!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GL5pw8_sqnM&feature=player_embedded

Post Numero Uno: this is fun

Soo this will be my first post on this new website. pretty exciting... just an update for those who have been following my recent exploits. Australia and New Zealand over the last 3 months was awesome!! Got in some great training and saw some amazing things. Unfortunately for my early race season, I caught a staph infection on the way home and haven't been able to train for about the last 2 weeks. It seems to have pretty much cleared up at this point but with my first scheduled race only 2 weeks away I'm not sure if I will have the fitness to compete... I think I would rather wait and be more competitive later than race too soon and get blown away. Anyway, here's a look at some of the Aussie, NZ highlights:

This is a view up to Lennox Head point right outside where I lived in Australia

Hobart, Tasmania: Beautiful city with Mt. Wellington in the background

View down to Christchurch, New Zealand from the Summit Road. Best cycling day of my life!