Organizing Life...

Now that school is back in full swing it's a bit more difficult to get the necessary training done.  But I'm starting to hit my stride and am putting in some solid sessions.  What I've found is helpful is to try to stay organized with things in life...my idea of organization and Brit's might be different...but I do think mine works quite well.

Luckily for me I have a great support crew which includes so many...Brit, my family, friends, training partners, Zoot, Ceepo just to name a few.  Everyone helps to keep me honest and has played a huge role in this years Ironman build.  I'm pumped about the next 4 weeks of hard training before heading to the Big Island once again.

Sorry for the disjointed post here...I said my life was getting organized...not my brain.

Whoops...

So I realize it's been a while since I have posted here.  Sorry about that, life sort of happened!  Things are going great though, it's awesome to have Brit around all of the time now that we're married, work is starting to settle back into a more comfortable flow, and training is coming along nicely. 

Hopefully things will be firing on all cylinders come October 12th!  I'll be sure to get some more frequent posts rolling again!

Ironman Kansas 70.3 Race Report

Quite a while back Beert and I decided we were going to head back to Kansas to race.  At the time it sounded like an awesome idea (which it was).  

I'm going to keep this short as I'm typing it on my phone laying in bed the morning after the race, still in Kansas waiting for keating to wake up so we can hit the road.

Overall, I ended up kind of where I expected to.  I did race faster than I ever have at the 70.3 distance which is a plus.

Swim - 28:54 (or right around there)

Bike - 2:16:xx (not bad for a hilly course. And I saw some awesome power numbers)

Run - 1:23:xx (better than expected, but not where I want to be)

Overall 4:13:09 which was 12th overall, 4th amateur, and 3rd M30-34...yea can you say fast age group??

Thank you to all of my supporters and sponsors, especially Brit, Mom & Dad, Zoot, Ceepo, Gu, and L3 Endurance

My FAST Ceepo Viper

Kind of a cool award

Podium

The Ehh, Nice, and Ugly - Tower Triathlon Race Report

This past weekend I jumped into a local sprint triathlon put on by the Leaning Tower YMCA in Niles, IL.  I grew up in Niles, and have known about this race for quite a few years, just haven't done it.  No real reason, just haven't.  So this year one our L3 Endurance Athletes (and friend) wanted a race prior to his first half ironman of the season, so I agreed that this would be a good way to knock the rust off and to get a race in.  If you want the short version of the race report here you go...I swam alright (did get lapped by the dude in my lane who was FLYING), rode well (thinking the Ceepo Viper rode well and I was just along for the ride), and ran crappy (the Zoot Kiawe's were ready to run...if only I was ready to go with them).  I was able to win the race by about 2 minutes, so that's a positive.  That's the quick version...the longer version is below:

"The Ehh..." aka the swim.  I've been swimming a lot!  But for some reason I don't feel that it really showed in this race.  I guess the thing is that I don't have that "fast" in any sport right now so I swam the pace I always swim.  So not fast, not slow, but I could have been the last one out of the water in wave 2...slightly embarrassing I guess...but I don't know if I was or not.  T1 was uneventful and I passed quite a few people there.

"Nice" aka the bike.  5 loops on any course is annoying...though this didn't seem bad.  I thought it was going to get super crowded, it didn't!  The worst part was going over the timing mat which was like a speed bump.  The first (of 5) times that I went over it I thought for sure I was going to either flat or get launched since I hit it at 30+mph.  The Ceepo Viper was spot on and I ended up with the fastest bike split of the day by about 2 minutes.  Not too shabby for an 18k bike course I suppose.  T2 was once again uneventful, grabbed my other Spy sunglasses, through on my Zoot Kiawe's, SRAM truckers hat and was on my way.

"The Ugly" aka the run.  I ran slow, not because of the shoes, not sure what it was but I just didn't have that extra gear.  It didn't hurt, and a 5k is supposed to hurt.  For whatever reason I couldn't get the legs going, I couldn't get to that place where it hurts.  I was comfortable, and I was ok with that.  The good is that I did feel comfortable, so holding onto that pace for longer was sustainable, I have that going for me...but I wanted to run faster, it was upsetting at the time and a definite wake up call.

The next few weeks I'm going to run, and then run some more, and hopefully run some more. 

Special thanks has to go out to my awesome sponsors and support crew: Zoot, Ceepo, GU, Spy, Garmin, PR Bar, SRAM, Zipp, Speedfil.  And thanks Mom for riding with me to the race, and cheering me on as always!!!!!!!

It Happens...

Life gets busy, that happens.  Keeping things in perspective is really important, and I haven't been the best about that lately.  I did read something this morning which made me think and reflect.  Funny how sometimes the most simple statement can help you to reflect and to turn your attitude around.

I'm still super busy, and will be for quite a while (yea it's pretty much non-stop from 4:00 a.m. when I get up until 10-11:00 p.m. when I head to bed).  Balancing life is not always the easiest, but it can only make you stronger in the end right?