My Grades For My 2014 Goals

My 2014 Goals Final Grade:

Join DFW Tri Club and start training for my first tri. Might be a small one for 2014 but I would be focusing on 2015 for an bigger tri race for sure. Of course apart of this goal will also involve me to learn how to swim with a bad shoulder and that one other little thing. Finding a bike. 

Grade B-: I did join the DFW Tri Club and I did do 5 sprint tri's and I am a ton better of a swimmer than I was a year ago. But I am far from doing any bigger races this year as I just do not feel comfortable enough with my shoulder to do any long open water swims which would prevent 2015 being that year when I went beyond the sprint tri.

Run at least 2 marathons this year. First of those two is in two months. So after that it would probably be the BCS one in College Station or I will find one before the year is over.

Grade C: I did Cowtown in February and then never saw another marathon.  So only half of this goal was completed and thus a C was given.

Try to get entered into the Marine Corp Marathon. Just luck of the draw for this one. It sells out quickly every year.

Grade F: Because I didn't make it to the marathon.


Get my weight down to 140 again. I gained weight for the marathon but now I need to focus on getting it back to an manageable weight.

Grade F: As I weight myself tonight and I am at 166.  So 26 over goal is not good enough.  I got a long ways to go that is for sure on this one.

Get more involved in my church for men's and single's ministry. I may not be volunteering a lot, if any at all, but I still need to be involved in other ways regardless.

Grade C: I did not get involved in men's or single's group.  I did attend one single's group and my anxiety shot through the roof and that was before they asked everyone to go around asking questions and find people with the same likes as you.  I saw an exit sign and went out it.  But I did do Equip Classes throughout the year and that saved my grade from an F to a C.


Try to learn one thing a week. Could be simple like how to cook salmon on the grill, to how to improve my knowledge in business, to something weird like math formulas. As long as it is new to me.

Grade B: I did learn a lot of triathlon stuff like swimming and biking and I did learn a few other things throughout the year but in the end not as much as I would have liked.


Train my mind to stay focused on my running goals.

Grade B-: For a person who believes he lives like he has ADD I think I did okay.  Nothing great because I did find myself losing focus now and then.  


Get a grip on my General Anxiety and Social Anxiety in my life and to be there for anyone else who might struggle with this as well.

Grade F or D-: Well let's just say that even though I was a fun run director for LGRAW overall I sucked in this category and it is the hardest thing I have to deal with in my life. I failed at getting better as I was in and out so quickly on some events that I heard was that Flash because all they saw was me in and back out quickly. Example is I went to two Christmas parties on the same day and stayed at one for about five minutes and then stayed at the other for about an hour.  Yes I am that guy.


Get closer to God.

Grade C-: Okay I will always feel I need to get closer to God and I will never be satisfied with how I am doing it as well.

And finally to find a person or two in my life that would think that these goals are beyond my reach. I have one already in my life but if I can add another person or two that would only motivate me all the more to prove them wrong.

Grade C: I really did not pay attention to the haters in my life even it came to this goal so I didn't look for people who doubted me.


2014 is all about going beyond what I have ever done before in my life. To prove to myself that I can do the impossible. And heck if I can prove others wrong along the way more the merrier for me.

Overall Grade C+: I achieve more than I thought I ever could when it came to triathlons and I still found a great church and took part in it, not as much as I would like, and overall I saw some growth in what I did.  I know I can do better but goals are meant to exceed your expectations and I believe I did that in the end.

9 Miles of Happiness

This past Saturday I forgot my cycling shoes.  Mind you I didn't forget the bike, the clothes or the rider just the shoes.  After saying a few choice words of unhappiness I decided to do the next best thing.  See just how far it is one point of the lake to the other point of the lake.  Being White Rock and being me starting from my car and ending at my car.  Just in case you were wondering it is 9 miles and pretty close to being exactly 9 at that as well.  I haven't ran that far on any one run since Cowtown Marathon and the summer of the back issues.

Well over the last month or so I have been aggressively taking cryo and using the machine that they have to have adjust the back.  It didn't work at first but then again nothing ever just starts solving a problem.  It takes time and patience to see results.  I am starting to see my mileage increase with every run and I am thinking of doing to full marathon again before the year is over.  Ask me that question in July and August and I would have said a hell no to any thought of a marathon again.  But now I am already planning on two halfs before my birthday (don't ask me when that is) and a goal of a full in December.

So as I was running I noticed that I was sore but not in the back.  I am sore due to lack of distance in my training but I went the full 9 miles without any issues with the back.  That brings me a good nice smile to my face.  I truly thought that I would be limited to be just an average runner with little to no chance of actually doing anymore long distance runs.  NO WAIT.  I did run 9 miles since Cowtown.  How could I have forgotten Too Hot to Handle.  I mean yes that was a race I would like to forget don't get me wrong but the distance still counts.  And that was a 15k so that was actually longer than my 9 mile run this past Saturday which almost makes this blog pointless.  Darn it.  But I will continue as if that race never happened in order to keep this blog having some significance.

I have the Dam Half in Lewisville in a couple of weeks and hopefully through my training I will be ready for that.  I know that this past Saturday my pace is extremely way off what I use to run.  I believe that at the 6.5 point I would have been on pace to finish a half in about 2:40 which would not only be my slowest half ever but by almost 20 to 25 minutes.  And to think that my best half time came during the BCS Marathon when I ran the 13.1 in a little under 2 hours.  Like 1:59:59 or something like that but hey it still counts as under 2.  Of course after those first 13.1 everything went downhill like a chubby kid rolling down a mountain.  It was fast and painful and when I eat brownies on the course and wish I had more of them to eat yes you know I had lost my mind at that point.  So anyway like an ADD kid I am off the subject and need to get back on subject.  It was a fun Saturday for me seeing myself run that far without any back issues.  It was great to know that I am getting back being an average runner who wishes he was as fast as Jay.  I got a few days off this week and will be running Katy Trail tomorrow for sure during the hot day.  Because nothing says running in Texas like running when it is hot outside.  But I do love running in the heat.  It helps me to lose those few extra pounds that refuse to leave my body.

Off to the State Fair and Katy Trail tomorrow.  I still owe my blog the results of my last two Denton tri's.  I just keep not wanting to review them but it is coming soon.

Click and Swim.

Tonight I finally saw everything click for me in the swim.  Granted the distance is still not there but at least for the moment I saw myself swim with control, kick with a control and actually breathed with some control.  Each 25 meters were without stopping and without taking too much air or holding my breath too long.  I even tried to imagine the depths of the water being deeper than they actually were too hopefully prepare myself for the depths that I will actually be facing this Sunday.  It was as if Coach Lyndsi was there telling me to slow down and don't wear yourself out by swimming too hard or too fast.  I will need to work on this again tomorrow along with the open water swim on Saturday.  But for today I was deeply happy with something I never thought I could do.  While it is just one day and one swim it was maybe the start of something different for me.  Maybe it was a fluke but then again maybe something finally clicked in my thoughts and attitude towards my swimming.

I can't wait for tomorrow and see if this is something I can gain on and move forward on my swimming or if it is a start but still got a ways to go before this becomes the norm rather than the exception.

Now on the other hand my running was horrible to say the least.  My lower back was not the only thing hurting me this time around.  My running pains were expected because I am still fighting tightness and right now I am just going to have to fight it because apparently it is here to stay for a while.  Like last year it just came and then just went away.  Hopefully it will be the same for this year.  It was a good June at least with very little tightness but July has been hard on me for sure.

Sunday Sunday Sunday it my next tri-event and I cannot wait.

Dude Just Tri...

Well Dude Just Tri proved one thing for me at least.  No matter what kind of an event it is, timed or un-timed, lots of people or very limit people there is one common in it all.  I choked when it comes to my swimming.  I mean I am starting to swim a whole lot better at LA Fitness and even with  my coach but put me in front of other people and have someone tell me to start and all of my learning goes out the door.  In this event I would like to once again mention that this wasn't even a timed race. So for most people the thought of pressure would not even be an issue but not for me.  Here is where I believe it all went to hell for me.  I put in my time that I have been achieving while practicing and I even though it was pretty close to being exact if not maybe even buffering it a little for extra security. But either I lied about my time, or people refused to put in their time, or I just need to double my time next time I have no clue but I was #23 for the race.  Now granted 23 is a good number for me.  My favorite player was #23 for the Cardinals but that didn't help me any for the race.  Once I got there and realized I was near the front I started to panic or choke a little.  I didn't expect to be that far ahead of other people.  I honestly thought my time would have put near in the middle of the pack.  Having so many people potentially watching me and knowing I wasn't that good of a swimmer to be that far in front of others really did a job on me mentally.  I lost my swim before I even hit the water.

SO I get in the water and the guy says go.  So I go.  But during my swimming portion I totally forgot how to breathe under water.  Instead of exhaling in the water like I do 100% of the time when I am swimming at LA Fitness I just held my breath instead.  And for all my friends who are either tri or swimmers know that holding your breath is the worst thing you could do.  I only had 150 or so yards of swimming so at least the misery wasn't long lasting.  But seriously how can you forget to exhale in water.  It really isn't that hard even for me to know.  But put me in a race situation and there you have one complete idiot under water doing everything wrong.  So it wasn't the best start for a race that should have been for pure fun and experience.

Finally manage to get out of the water and get to my bike.  Since this wasn't timed I decided that I would just walk it instead of running from transition to transition.  This race was more about the experience and getting more of it then timing myself.  I get to my bike and start riding only to see my sunglasses fall of my bike and I had to turn around and get them.  Apparently putting your glassing on your handle bars so you don't forget them isn't as easy as someone might think.  But other than that I think I had a pretty good ride.  I was strong throughout that portion of the race and it was nice to be with people in the race instead of near the back to the pack with no one around you.

Finally got to the run portion and felt pretty good for the run.  Now some of it probably had to do with the fact that I had only a 10 mile race instead of the usual 16 or so miles you ride.  I did pretty good with the start.  I felt strong and that carried me for a pretty good distance.  I didn't have any back problems like I had in my previous two sprints.  And that is probably because I switched running shoes and these seem to be so much better for me.  I think I might be done with Brooks for a while in the running shoe department.  The last two or three pairs have not worked for me and wasting money on them and having back problems is probably not something I plan on doing anytime soon again.  But the run was the best of the three events that I have done so far.  I just need to work on this part of my game.  I really do not practice this part of the transition and that is probably not wise for me to continue to be doing.

So overall the race was good.  I saw my swimming coach after the race and she said that she saw improvements in my stroke.  So if I am going to fail in swimming at least something went right.  Still need to decide if anxiety pills before a race is something I need to consider or not.  I just do not know why I cannot relax and enjoy the swimming of the triathlon.  But for my first three races of my career all of my swimming have ended in the same manner in that none of them ended they way I wanted them to go.

The bike portion I am seeing great improvements from race to race.  And from St. Pats to Dude Just Tri I am a completely different rider.  St. Pats I was scared of the wet roads and winds.  Now I am not scared of either.  And even for The Caveman I saw myself even increasing my speed on the wet roads. For Dude Just Tri something went wrong because the weather was great for the race.  Apparently the Sprint Tri gods did not realize I was racing in this event or something.

My running still needs to be better and as I said most of it is due to me not practicing the transition from bike to run.  I tried it once at White Rock and it went horrible but I still need to practice it because that is one of the reasons my runs are not as good as they should be.  Once I get off the bike my legs are worn down and preventing me from competing strongly in something that should be my strongest portion of any triathlon.  That is something I will get better at once I refocus myself into my running.  Like I am doing tomorrow with the Too Hot To Handle race.  This is my first running event since the Cowtown Marathon.  I need to get myself back into at least one race a month to continue to improve my running and endurance.

Where did the land go

Well Saturday I swam the furthest I have ever volunteeringly (yes I believe I made up another word) did.  Never before did I ever say to myself I wonder just how far could I swam away from the shore.  NEVER.  Actually up until now I can honestly say it also never crossed my mind to do such a thing.  I mean who in their right mind would leave the security of soil for open water.  Not me at least.  But on Saturday with the awesome help of my swimming Coach Lyndsi I did just that.  I had a lesson with her on Friday and felt great.  That seemed to have rolled over to Saturday morning as I decided to see just how far I could go.  While I did not reach the buoy yet I did get closer.  I was probably 60% out so I am very much getting closer to my first new goal.  Which is to make it to and from the buoy while not drowning in the process.  I am seeing that I may have rushed my 2015 goals for the Ironman.  So I might reserve 2015 to get myself mentally and physically prepared for a run at it in 2016.  Right now I need to conquer the first buoy, then the second one and finally do a tri that is what I have seem to have forgotten it official name but the tri between sprint and ironman.  That I will need to conquer first in 2015 and then use that to boost me into a great and awesome 2016 for the ironman.  I just honestly knew swimming would be my major weakness but I also kinda thought I could have overcome it quicker than this as well.  Mainly because whatever I do I can learn it quick and master it quick as well.  But not swimming so that is why I am so happy for what happened yesterday.  It was a major step forward to a lengthy overall goal plan for my life in the tri-world.

After the swim I just did the 16 mile bike ride.  My calves were killing me still from a workout that happened back on Wednesday.  Darn me.  I increase my weights on my exercises for my calves and while it will build up my strength I may have gone a little too high in the weights.  But the ride was great.  Started out way to slow and I have no clue why the leader of the pack did that.  The only thing that did was just put about 15 riders about a few inches apart from each other.  Very dangerous IMO.  But once I got to a passing point I moved ahead of most the riders and just rode with the elite group until I was proven yet again to not be an elite rider myself just yet.  But hey I hung with them for most of the ride.  I am working hard on increasing my speed and am getting up there but I also know that I am still a ways off from getting to the speed that most of the riders are at.

Today it is raining so I am not riding my bike for sure.  So I am probably heading to the pool and practice what I learned from Coach Lyndsi on Friday and the advise from Coach Lyndsi and Coach Dave from Saturday.  Coach Dave gave me so really good tips on how to improve my swimming.  So I am going to try that today along with drills from Coach Lyndsi on Friday.

Back on the run

Wow today was both good and sore.  I got myself back out on the road running after being sick last week and fighting a sore or tight back all spring.  Today I decided to take it easy and also decided it was time to bring out one of those three pairs of shoes that I have store for future use and may that future today.  I got myself out there for a good 5 mile run with no back tightness.  It could be that I am focusing on back exercises and it could be that I am focusing on my core workouts or it could be that my old shoes were worn out and it was a matter of time before the real pain was going to come until I changed my shoes.  Well whatever it was it worked at least for today.  Prayer never hurts either.  Now I am sore in my other normal areas that you would expect to be sore if you haven't ran in a while.  Today's run was not pretty.  It looked like a new runner out there but no it was only me.

Plus the new shoes are cool.  First time to wear New Balance and the colors are totally not me.  But at least these shoes will allow me to wear pretty much any shirt and it will match my shoes.  Yeah they are a little wild.

The swim is improving still.  I am not there with the endurance still but I am getting further and further with the breathing working better and better now.  I am still not close yet to feel comfortable enough to start doing open water tri's.  But I am getting comfortable enough to at least aim for heading out to the first buoy.  I have missed the last couple of open water swims due to lack of sleep one weekend and sick last weekend.  I am both so excited to get back out there and looking behind me to see what next will hit me to prevent me from going this coming weekend.

Weekend wasn't as planned

Okay so this weekend didn't go exactly as planned thanks to Mother Nature and her hatred toward me it appears.  Saturday I got my bike ride and a little swim.  Sunday I got my swim in but due to a Frisco game it was tough to get anything in else.  Monday I only got a swim in due to the wet weather.  I was hoping for three straight days of riding and that didn't happen.  But I did notice that while I was riding around Grapevine it came to mind how it was when I first rode in Grapevine.  I could barely make it to the club and that small hill killed me and I thought that 3.5 miles felt like I was riding forever.  Now to present day I am conquering those hills and no longer is a 7 mile ride the max I can do.  Now I try to get in at least 20 miles per ride and on Sunday I really try to get in at least 30 to 35 miles.  Long ways from February to today.  But a good thing of course.

On my swim this weekend it was good and bad and today I would even go as far as saying it was great.  While not pretty mind you I made it 100 meters without stopping when I was swimming.  The only stops were the small breaks between those 25 meter swims.  So that is very positive thing for me.  While I am still a long ways to go before I will feel ready for an actual swim in the open waters. But this does help me to get to that point.  I missed the last couple of open water swims due to the week just taking it completely out of me.  But I am not going to miss anymore.  I need that practice in the real water.  And hopefully with Coach Lindsey's help we will get a deeper pool for me to swim in so I can adjust to the depth problems that I have when I look down.  I did not have too much anxiety on my last swim but it was still there.  But with some training I know I can overcome that feeling and see myself getting stronger with the swim.

On to this week's schedule.  Swimming after work at least four times this week.  Back and core workouts before each swim.  And than running at the club after that.  But I am not seeing any improvements in my back right now.  Even with the additional work with my back it is not seeming to be working.  And this is what is killing me.  What use to be my strong point is now limited in what I can do as it is hard for me to make it more than a mile before the tightness comes.  And when that tightness comes it is down hill for me quickly in my run.  What use to be a sub 28 is now averaging about 34 or 35 or worst.  And in the end that is what is making my actual finish times for my tri sprints getting worst instead of better even with me improving my swim and bike times.

30 miles of awesomeness

The ride Sunday was awesome.  The weather was great and the ride itself was great.  I was at White Rock and rode both directions.  Towards the high five and then around White Rock itself.  I managed only 30 miles of riding but that was good enough for me yesterday.  I got a lot of practice on improving my speed and am getting sharper on my turns along with those sharp turns.  I am feeling about 85% confident in my bike now.  I managed to get myself through the 30 miles with only one almost crash and burn and that would have been completely my fault if I did actually crash.  I was looking at my Garmin and chose then to analyze my speed and predicting my finish when I should have been looking at the path because going up hill is challenging enough without me being distracted.  So I rode off the path like a drunk driver but managed to get back on the path without any problems.  What I am seeing is that I am improving now in big steps.  Still slower than the good riders I am guessing as I still get passed quite often.  I need to figure out what the average speed is for a good rider to compare where I am before, now and need to be in the future.

Good achievement for me was that I almost reached my goal mileages for two straight hours.  I made my first goal for the first hour in getting 15 miles in for the hour of riding.  And missed reaching that goal for the second hour by just 30 seconds.  Just like finishing 2nd in a race I would rather have missed that goal by a lot than to see me miss it by only 30 seconds.  Oh that one hurt.  I could just quickly go through that whole second hour of the ride and calculate where and when it all went wrong.  But instead of dwelling on me missing it I am focusing on the fact that I still managed 30 miles quicker than I ever rode it before and that this is only the beginning for me.

Next is hill training.  While I love White Rock the one thing it doesn't have on the routes I take are a lot of hills.  I know where to find the hills over there and am thinking of doing that route next weekend because I can get from White Rock to Deep Ellum on this particular route that we ran for marathon training.  So I am thinking of doing that and seeing how I do on those hills getting to that route.

Swim tonight was good but not great.  What I really need is someone to record me swimming so I can see if my lower half of my body is where it is supposed to be or not.  I am working on the drills and know that I am doing those right.  But once the drills are over and the swim begins that is when I just can't tell.

Also on the schedule for next weekend.  Yes I am jumping around now.  Is to focus on my 2nd transition.  After my ride this Sunday I only lasted 2 miles on the run and even that was painful as I found new parts of my legs that could have pain.  Who knew that parts above your knee could have such sharp pains and tightness all at the same time.  Well this guy knows that now.  And a lesson that will be learned again and again until I get this done correctly.  What doesn't kill my legs or myself can only make me stronger.  Or that is what I am hoping will happen.  I am wanting to work on the T2 all weekend not just on Sunday.  I am now determined to either kill myself or make myself stronger in the T2 area.  That is where I am losing time from my first two tri's.  And that is where I need to improve or else all my other improvements are for not.  I mean even when I swam faster on my second tri I still did worst overall due to the run portion.  I wear myself out before I even get to my strong part of the event.  Not smart at all.  But like all my ex's can contest.  Smarts and me were never really something that went together.  :)

Anyway I haven't run but once this month and that is all part of my master plan.  I am working on strengthening my lower back at LA Fitness and my core.  I am hoping and praying that this will improve my run with eliminating my tightness in my lower back.  I am now needing to get back on the track and start back up running again.  I need to test out my back and see where I am in all of my exercising and strengthening.

2014 Goals Review

Well it is almost May and that means that 4 months of the year is almost over as well.  So let's review my goals going into the year.

Goal #1 was to join DFW Tri Club, do a tri, learn to swim and bike and just overall improve my abilities.  -  So far this goal is a success.  I have done two sprint tris, my swimming is improving although still a ways off for the open water swim, I am training on Saturday's with the open water swim as well, I am finally getting confident with the bike and with that I am also seeing myself getting stronger and stronger with it.  Second part of this goal is now on hold.  That was to do a 70.3 in 2015.  I am not saying that I am not going to do it but I am saying that my confidence in the open water is shaky at best so let's work on that first before I sign up for one. No need to put any extra pressure on myself just yet.

Goal #2 was to run 2 marathons this year.  So far this is a success as well.  I did my first in The Cowtown and plan to end the year doing either the BCS Marathon again in College Station or do the White Rock Marathon as both are on the same weekend I can only choose one but I will get my second marathon for sure then if not before.

Goal #3 was try to get into the Marine Corp Marathon.  This one is a fail as the registration was the same day as The Cowtown Marathon I just couldn't be in two places at the same time.  But this is not a goal that I was putting a lot of hope on anyway due to it being truly based on luck when you register.

Goal #4 was to get my weight down to 140.  Yeah that was and is a huge failure as right now my body is stuck on 163 to 165 and I haven't been able to move from those numbers all year so far no matter how much I train, sweat or limit my eating at times.

Goal #5 was to get more involved in Gateway.  This is a 50/50 success and failure.  Yes I got more involved in things like Equip Class but I have not gotten involved yet in the singles ministry.  So a mix result here.

Goal #6 was to learn something new once a week.  Again a 50/50 success and failure.  I am learning new things for my triathlon training, hazmat training for work and even learned how to cook salmon but all of that started probably back in February so it started slow and really hasn't been consistent yet.

Goal #7 was to keep my mind focused on my training goals.  That has been a success.  My training is strong and continues to be strong as well.

Goal #8 was to get a grip on my anxiety in all areas.  50/50 here.  My General Anxiety is getting better but it still effects me at times.  My Social Anxiety is still pretty strong and while I am trying to get more involved with groups of people I still find myself preferring small groups or no groups at all.  But still working on getting control over both of these so hope is still on the horizon.

Goal #9 was to get closer to God.  I will never feel I can get as close to God as I should be.  But I feel that ever since I started attending Gateway Church I am finding myself getting more and more into wanting to get closer to God and find myself so excited for every Equip Class or weekend service so if nothing else I am finding myself getting more and more excited about wanting to get closer to God.

Goal #10 was to find a couple of people who think I am a complete bullshitter and that these goals of mine are worthless due to them not believing that I could achieve any of these even if they fell from the sky and hit me.  I still got one person in my life that fills this role but dang it I just cannot find the other person.  Why must people like me so much.  It turns out that finding that other person or two is harder than I thought it would be.  So this is a failure at the moment.

My theme for the year was "Going beyond what I have ever done before in my life.  To prove to myself that I can do the impossible."  And that is a success because I am doing things that even last year I never thought I would or could do.  The impossible is quickly being the possible.  So I need to start finding more impossibles for my life.  Skydiving anyone.

Easter Ride

Easter this year was fantastic to say the least.  First going to Friday service at Gateway was extremely  great.  I loved Fellowship Church but am extremely thankful every night that God led me to Gateway Church.  I cannot tell you how much I have grown in just the short amount of time there.  But anyway long story short by going to church on Friday it freed up my weekend for lots of training.

So on Sunday I went to my second favorite coffeehouse in The Design District.  From there I quickly changed my plans and from Trinity Park in Fort Worth to Katy Trail ended up being the location I went to.  I started off with a bike ride.  Riding the Katy was fun but also for the first couple of miles a little more stressful and slow due to the many runners and walkers who were taking up the full lane.  Now I know how bikers feel when I am running the Katy although I do tend to run to the sides of the path anyway so I am usually not their problem.  Or at least I hope not.  From there I jumped on the side road at the end of the path and headed to Mockingbird and SMU.  And wouldn't you know it church on the campus let out about the same time I hit the campus and there were even more people on all the path options I had.  But still managed to get around them and off to visit the campus for the bike perspective was awesome.  This was purely a easy ride for me so taking selfies was part of the plan.  I am finally getting myself use to taking these selfies.  I am starting to become a pro at self promotion or selfies as the rest of y'all call it.  But hey if I don't promote myself who will.  When and visited a lot of the campus and really got a fresh look.  Extremely pleasant time for me.  That ended up being right now 17 miles give or take some.  I haven't uploaded my data yet.

Got my run on next and started off real fresh and real ready to run.  And that lasted for a mile.  The rest of my run was good and with no back tightness so that is something I am happy with.  Now my running shoes I cannot say the same thing for.  I have been having a love hate relationship with my current pair of shoes.  I love Brooks but I tell you the fall of 2013 have not been their best time frame for shoes with me.  It is making me think of switching brands for this summer and beyond for sure.  I just cannot have it be a 50 / 50 chance on whether or not I am going to be having a good run.  That is just too risky for me and not good for my body as well.  I at least did buy three pairs of running shoes from The Cowtown running expo that Luke's Locker were selling for $25 per pair if you bought three or more pairs.  And I was glad to be able to buy three pairs for less than what it would cost me to buy just one pair.  So I may have to bring one of those pairs out.  I was hoping to save them until the fall but that might not be the case anymore.  Saving my ankles and knees should be the most important concern for me.

Today I ran 6 miles and the back tightness came back but I still managed to run 6 in a decent time.  Not a time I am proud of but about the time I did my first ever 10k in.  So that is strange but it also showed me that I need to just run 6 miles a day for the work week so I can get in my 30 miles of running and hopefully between getting myself stronger in the run and also stronger in the core exercises that it will benefit me for the long haul.

My swim on the other hand tonight was horrible and very short.  Tonight I finally realized why triathlons start with the swim and not end with it.  After running 6 miles and doing about 45 minutes of core workouts I finally got into the pool.  Only to swim one lap and then my left leg starts cramping up and from that point it was hard for me to get my kicking down because everything I would start the swim the leg would start to cramp up.  So tonights swim was quick but very painful.  And I learned a lesson.  Try to swim first IF possible and end on the run.  That I will still need to work on.

Tomorrow is a swimming lesson and I will then head over to Katy Trail and get in about 6 miles before heading home.  I miss my Katy so seeing her these past few days is great.  I just can't be with her as much as either of us would like.  But tomorrow I shall be with her and then end the night at Eatzi's.  Until then...

The Caveman Report

Well here is my report for my second sprint triathlon.  I was extremely happy with my results even though on paper I shouldn't be.  My total time for the tri was actually about 3 minutes slower.  But in the end the areas I wanted to improve I did.  So...

I get to the race around 5 AM because I am always early for any race I am in and glad I was.  I got into the transition area sooner and that allowed me time to get my gear set out, allowed me a chance to go inside and look over the pool and back to the transition area to get my final gear that I believe I would need for at least the pool event.  I get my pool stuff ready, finalize my bike gear and my running gear to help me speed through the transitions when those two times could up.  My bib # is 635 which means I really got time for a nap because it will be about an hour before I actually will get my turn in the pool.  While waiting we hear the great news.  It is raining outside and strong winds.  Because after all a triathlon with Stan in it can't be complete without extremely bad weather.  Waiting is hard because I get anxious about the swim.  I am very glad it is the first event but it is still hard to wait till it is your turn.  Finally I get in.

The pool event IMO was a huge success.  I am still having troubles with my overall swim form even though I can swim and breath perfectly well while training.  Once you put a clock to me I just seem to forget about all my training.  Strange but I think I can work though that for sure with just some more lessons.  Remember I have only been swimming for a little over 4 months now.  And for The Caveman I did not use my snorkel at all.  Now before we all say great, way to go Stan and congrats.  Let me say that I assumed by walking into the pool area and seeing the depths from the first row that all other rows would follow along.  Well just like my assumptions in relationships lets just say I was wrong.  It only got deeper as the lanes got further along the first row.  Damn assumption.  You only lose by assuming it.  BUT at the same time I had a very good swim for me and compared to St. Patricks Tri.  For the St. Patricks try my time was 20:56 with an avg. speed of 6:59 per 100 meters.  Well for The Caveman I cut that time down by a third and ended with a time of 13:25 and an avg. speed of 4:53 per 100 meters.  That was goal number 1 and that was achieved so I was like I said extremely happy.  And I did not panic or had a panic attack as well.  So there is hope for me after all.

After the pool I get ready for my bike ride.  I put on my biking and running cloths, get the bike and off we go.  For a change unlike last time I am actually competing with other athletes.  So that alone makes me very happy because no matter how good or how bad an athlete you may be you always want to compete against others.  So I hop on my bike and off I go for the 14 mile ride.  I take the first 7 miles strategically with me focusing on keeping up my speed even with the wet roads while trying to past the slow rides but not going after the ones with speed just yet.  Once I complete my first 7 miles my strategy chances to getting my bike up to my max speed while now going after all bikers regardless of speed in front of me.  This paid off as my bike speed went from 12.2 mph during the St. Patrick to 13.0 mph in The Caveman while still be a ton slower than the better athletes with their speeds probably about 10 miles or more per hour faster than that.  And to be fair I do average around 14.7 mph on good road conditions so if that were the case yesterday I think I could have top 15.5 to 16 mph.  But the most important number for me was I was only a minute slower but had an additional 2 miles more in distance.  Point taken and part two of my goal for this race was also a success.  And again there is hope for me after all.

And here is where I ended up losing time compared to my last race.  It took about 7 minutes SLOWER than my last race.  And to top that off I was only averaging 13 minutes per mile on my run.  Heck I know people twice my age that can run a lot faster than that.  But to be fair once I got off my body pretty much every part of my body from lower back down were in major pain.  To the point that walking it completely crossed my mind a couple of times.  I have been having lower back tightness problems recently and that sure as heck did not help me.  But what really hurt me was the fact that I gave it my all on the bike and left nothing for the run.  Major mistake and very dumb for a runner to commit as well.  A runner is the last person that should left nothing in the tank for their run.  I was trained better than that with some pretty good coaches.  And that is a mistake that cost me major time differences between my two triathlons.  I will say that I will not make that mistake again for sure.  But on the positive side my upper part of my body about the lower back felt great and I did meet a great guy on the path that we talked back and fourth and sarcastically about how slow we were.  But for the most part my run was wet, painful and very disappointing.  For this event this was a major fail.

I did at least beat the heaviest of rain.  It came down as soon as I was getting my gear put back up and ready to go.

That is it.  Overall I was disappointed when I saw the total time initially but when I started to really break down the numbers I realized that I actually achieved all that I wanted to in this race and that while the end time wasn't great the race itself was for me.  I just need to start focusing on all three events and not just two of them and leave the running to the side.  I cannot allow another race go by where it would appear that running was my weakest link instead of my strongest event.

OWS and Bike

Saturday comes and I am completely not feeling like getting out of bed.  I mean there is nothing in the world that could get in out of bed until I realize there was one thing.  The DFW Tri Club group swim and bike ride.  And I got my wetsuit on Friday so really why would I miss the opportunity to use that beast.  I get there a little late.  And let me say that I hate being late and I really hate being late to something that I live less than 5 minutes away from as well.  Seriously.  But when mother nature calls she doesn't less a message.  So I got to the OWS like 2 minutes late.

Coach Lyndsi is coaching us newbies in the OWS arena.  And there is no one more green than me on this.  But she is the coach that can get me doing things I would not do on my own.  My wetsuit worked great I must say.  I on the other hand was only so-so.  I just for whatever reason cannot get myself to exhale in the water.  I am holding my breath which is a huge mistake for sure.  But I get my face in the water and all I see is brown and the thought of exhaling literally just flies by me and the thought of holding it comes in instead.  This is how great Coach Lyndsi is.  She realizes that getting me and Monty to go out further is a waste of her breath so she then has both of us swimming parallel to the shore thus the water will not get any deeper so we can focus on our swimming without the fear of being in a place of major un-comfort.  Monty and I must be special because we were separated from the rest of the group.  :)  But in the end every hour in the water does produce positive results just maybe not as much as what I am seeing from my pool training.  But in time I will be just as good in the open water as I am in the pool or at least hoping to be in the pool.

OWS is over and group ride is next.  This ride was by far my best ride yet.  I am seeing tons of improvement with each ride but Saturday's ride I saw the most improvement from any one event to the other.  We rode 16.6 miles and in that ride my legs only had trouble just once.  For me that is huge.  I have seen my legs improve with each ride and stronger as well.  But I haven't seen me go that distance with the results I had on this ride.  The group ride was only my second time to ride with the club with my first ride being not good at White Rock.  They were much better than me at that time and I felt sorry for the coach who had to stick with me because I wasn't comfortable with my bike during that first ride and was really slow.  But this time I kept up with the group and had a great time doing it.  Biking is quickly becoming an event that should not hurt me in the final standings in my future races.  I am also seeing myself getting more and more at ease with my bike during down hills and keeping my hands off the brakes to slow myself down.  Didn't think that time would ever get here.

Survived OWS

Today was the 2nd Annual Open Water Swim for DFW Tri Club and my first for both with the group or by myself.  First time to actually be in the lake water with the intention of swimming for sport.  Got there later than I wanted which is sad since I only live less than 6 minutes from the location we were going to meet.  So I get there sign in and go to get my wet suit only to find out that all the ones with sleeves were gone and only sleeveless ones were left.  At first I thought this is going to make this a long day but it ended up being the best thing that happened for me.  Because I got a lot more comfortable with the water and its temperature without the sleeves and that ended up helping me get more comfortable with the water quicker.  But still the open water is completely different that the pool water.  I knew it would be different just not this much different.  Once you are in the water you can barely see more than a few inches away.  It was completely muddy and sight was just thrown out of the equation for the swim.  I did do a lot today.  But what I really saw myself doing because of the murky water was not breathing like I was in the pool or from what I learned even this past Thursday.  I breathed a little but very little.  I do not know if that was due to the water or the temperature of the water or maybe even a little anxiety from everything above.  I think my group was only in the water for about 30 to 45 minutes because they were going over important things to remember when you are swimming during a race plus other tips to help us get better times, where and when to enter the water during a race and many other tips.  It was well worth the time for me to attend.

After the open water swim I went on a 21 mile bike ride.  For the first time I felt good throughout the ride.  I only had one very short period of time when my legs felt weak but outside of that the ride was completely successful.  It was an extremely great ride for me but I know I am still a little slower than all the other riders.  I got passed a couple of time but the speed will come.  Today my main focus was keeping my legs going at a constant pace without going too fast where it would wear me down quicker and not too slow where it would probably wear me out at the end of the ride.  I found myself staying right at that 3:58 to 4:09 per mile pace.  It was very consistent and I was glad to see that my focus on one thing worked for this particular ride.

Today I conquered one more hurdle when it was all said and done.  I got my shock over with in the open water.  I now need to find myself becoming a stronger swimmer so I can find myself swimmer further away from the shore.  I would love to see myself real soon reach that first buoy and conquer yet another wall that is preventing me from achieving all my goals for the triathlons.  But one step at a time.  Learning patience was never a strong part of myself.  I always believe that once I get my mid onto something and I could achieve it immediately.  After all I have always been a quick learner when I am thought from doing something.  I learn from doing.  But even after I learn from doing in the swim it is still not something I am able to just achieve.  It is now patience I must learn in this process.  And who knows that might be something that in itself will benefit me more in my life as well.

Water is my friend

Well I had a swimming lesson on Tuesday and then another one today.  Tuesday was very good for me more because we only got to swim about 1/2 the time due to a class so we worked on my core exercises the rest of the time.  So I got some really good core exercises to do during the week and got a little bit of swimming in as well.  But today it was all swim.  I didn't use the snorkel once during the full hour.  I got more confidence in one hour than I have had the whole time I have been swimming.  Granted that whole time is still only about 2 months.  But hey it still counts.  I for the first time managed to get 25 meters straight without stopping.  And I did that even a few times.  So I am ready for the next few times of practice to work on these steps.  He taught me things I haven't ever tried before and it worked as well.  So while I am still wondering how this will all work for me at The Caveman Sprint Tri when I look down and see the never ending bottom but if I can swim I am thinking I can swim in even those conditions.  But needless to say I am excited that a change is a coming in my swimming game.  It is by far the weakest part of my game but I will be damned if it will not become one of my strongest parts of my game.  I will not allow this to keep me back.  I want this to become something that propels me to higher levels, keeps me in the front of the pack instead of the back and lastly I want people to know that what was meant to be a torn to my side will become the thing that I step over and say what was that...

This weekend will be fun.  Will get my first chance to get some open water experience.  I know I will be with all the other beginners for open water people but I can't wait to break that one and conquer yet another mountain in my life.

St Patrick Tri Sprint Recap

Sunday comes and I am up and ready to go at 5 am.  I get over to the course around 6ish or so in the morning.  Had to wait for them to get ready for the athletes before they would mark us and allow us to find our spots to get setup for the actually race starts.  Get into the pool area and find out that they are starting the swimmers at a pace of one every five seconds.  Okay I am # 685.  So I got a LOT of time to wait until I am in the pool.  Good thing is that while others are in the pool I am able to hit the john.

Finally after only one plus hour of waiting I am next in line to go into the pool.  Got my snorkel and googles on and without fail I get into the water with no worries just trying to get over to the other side.  But that quickly changes as I am now seeing the bottom, seeing other swimmers in front of people that could cause me to stop and zero chance of me just being able to stand up and wait as the water is deeper than the Indian Ocean.  It was so deep I swore I saw an Russian Submarine down there.  Now not slowly but quickly I start forgetting how to breathe under water, my fear of swimming hits me and a full fledge panic attack hits me.  This caused the rest of the swim to be extremely long and very much out of my control as every time I got the courage to start swimming that fear or panic instantly hit me and I was looking for the nearest rope to hold onto.  After what seemed to be days I am out of the pool.  BTW I was not the last person in but I sure as hell was the very last one out.  This by the way will be the first and last time that I will allow my panic attack get to me in a way that I am last out of anything.  I got the pills to take.  Fool me once H2O and shame on you.  Fool me twice and shame on me.  So I will be prepared both with better swimming techniques and the right pills.

Ok what is good about an panic attack you ask?  Well lets just say that leaving the pool and exiting the pool area and walking to my bike in 20 plus winds and freezing temps I felt nothing.  I was completely unaware of the wind and temps because I was still trying to get myself calmed back down to finish the other two parts of this race.

Change and hope unto my bike and rode off.  The wind was so strong that it literally almost push me down on my bike twice if not three times.  And for the life of me I have no clue how no matter what direction I was riding the effin wind was right there in my face.  Seriously how?  Second loop was a little better as I knew what to expect from the strong winds to the hills to the wet spots.  Finish my bike ride only to see must people either already drinking their finishing beer, heading home or doing whatever.  Yet I was just finishing only the second of three sports in this race.  I still had the 5k to run.

Feeling disappointed by that fact I finally did see some runners ahead of me.  Finally proof that I would not finish dead last overall.  So I took off with the determination that I was not going to allow whoever was in front of me to beat me in the run.  After all this is my strong point.  Finally while meaningless due to how long it took me to get out of the pool I was facing people and knowing that I can make up ground and beat them.  Confidence I had on this part of the race.  Time I did not have.

Finish the race, got my medal, my beer and then headed home.  Took something to relax me to hopefully rid myself of the anxiety that I still had from the race.

Final results were:

Swimming 20:56 for 300 meters.  Which will bad was actually one minute shorter than I thought I would have done.

Bike 58:57 for 16 miles and a 12.2 mph pace.  Slower than what I trained at but then again I had the effin wind hitting me face on for the whole 16 miles.  So not too disappointed at it now.

Run 32:42 for 3.1 miles and a 10:33 pace.  A lot slower than I would have liked but again for my second brick I was actually happy with that.  And remembering how my first brick ended up I am very happy.  Because my first brick attempted ended in me feeling like I could throw up from start to finish if I attempted to run any further.  So first brick last a horrible 1 mile.  At least this time it lasted the full 5k distance and that will only get better.

Overall it took my slow ass 2:00:20 to finish everything.  And believe it or not my goal was actually 2 hours and no matter how bad certain segments may have looked for me by me it ended right where I wanted to finish for my first tri.  It just didn't go as planned from start to finish for me because I was expecting more from myself than what I saw myself doing on Sunday.

Now it is back to training for the Caveman in April and hoping and praying that this time my swim will be a lot better.  The good swimmer swam 300 in about 4 minutes and I did it in 21 minutes.  So if I can just get myself down to 10ish minutes I know I can complete for real in the next race.

That is it.  I couldn't post this yesterday because I was still in the effect of feeling extremely anxious and I had thrown out more f-bombs during my bike and run to make even a sailor blush.  I will work on that.  Like I always say I am not perfect no matter how much I believe I can be.  But perfection doesn't just stop with me it continues to my abilities for running, swimming and biking.  And because of that I will have my perfect race soon that I can guarantee anyone here.

30 + 1

Well today I reach new highs for my early cycling career.  I rode with the DFW Tri Club today and my actual first group event other than beginner swimming that I have taken part of with the club.  BTW great people that is for sure in the club.  But then again it is hard to find people who aren't great in the running and tri world.  Just something about people getting out there and doing those events that makes people happy and friendly.  But today I rode with them and while I am still slow compared to the rest of the riders I am thankful for Coach David for him having patience with me as he hung back to ride with my slow ass.  While giving me a bunch of great tips for me going into next weekends tri-sprint race.  While I may still be slow I am also getting more and more comfortable with my bike and finally getting confidence riding it as well.  Today I reach two new highs.  I went 20 miles straight without stopping to rest my legs and overall went 30 miles.  The last 10 miles I did by myself.  I kind of told a little "white lie" and told Coach David that I was only going 20 miles.  But in reality I didn't want to hold him up and let's face it my legs needed me to stop peddling and just stop and rest and I wasn't going to get that with him.  So after a few moments of rest and drinking my ucan  energy drink I was off a different direction to finish those last 10 miles.  It went great and the weather was great as well.

After the ride I got a protein shake, water and went to start my run.  One thing I have learned is that Colleen, Sakina, Nick and a couple of others were ol so right on this next thing.  The transition is so important and so hard.

So I get my protein shake, change into my running gear and parked by the lake.  Started my run and was so sore.  But that ended up being the best part of the run.  About only a 1/2 mile into the run my stomach didn't feel too good.  I was kind of having that feel of if I go any further expect somethings to start exiting the body and quickly too.  I really was not feeling good at all.  This was the first time I have ever done the transition so I expected some issues but never thought it would come basically within eye sight of my car.  So disappointing to me to get sick or have the feeling of getting sick.  I mean I never got sick in training for my two marathons and I hear all the time of people who would throw up and then continue running but I never got to that point in any of my running days including the marathon training and actual marathons at time.  And for the Cowtown I did see a poor girl doing exactly that in the middle of the race.  But I have been a beast at avoiding that.  BUT not today.  Granted 30 miles is almost twice as far as I will actually have to ride in my first two sprint races so maybe tomorrow I will keep my biking at 20 miles or a little less and try the running after that as that would be more the actual race distance for the cycling part of it.

Tomorrow I am first hoping the weather improves as where in the heck did this cold weather come from.  I do not follow the weather but wow this was not something I expected.  

Were are now down to the final few days until the sprint race.  Excited but still so much to do before next Sunday.  Still got to practice my swimming without the snorkel more as my goal is to go into the race without using it.  I would not be disappointed if I did use it but I would not be completely satisfied either if I had to use it.  

Countdown to St Pats Tri Sprint is officially starting tomorrow when it would become T-seven days till my first and not the last tri event.  And my days as only being a runner will officially be over because after that race I can finally call myself a triathlete with goals of doing more and hitting the 70.3 in 2015.  And I can also tell the people who said I couldn't do it or shouldn't do it where to stick their opinions about me and my goals, beliefs and activities going beyond running.  

As Phil Dunphy would say "Bring It"

Just breathe

Had my latest swim lesson and I am starting to see in the future that I might actually be a swimmer.  Although Coach Lyndsi also tried to kill me as well.  Right after we said hello she tells me to swim 200 meters.  And that was a killer for me but I did it.  After that we went between swimming with the snorkel and swimming without it.  I am starting to learn and have the base to learn from when I practice on my own after tonight's lesson.  Tonight we started the process of me getting myself able to breathe without the snorkel.  I am still thinking way to much about it.  It involves a lot for a person who is still less than 2 months into his swimming career.  When to turn your head, what direction to turn your head and what angle do you turn your head.  It is like my head is going to explode.  I get it then I lose it.  I think I am improving then I am drinking pool water.  Coach Lyndsi is so good as a coach.  She had me swim a couple of strokes, breathe, stop and then repeat.  We did that for a little while then we extended it to a couple of strokes to couple of strokes, breathe, couple of more stokes, breathe again and then stop.  We did that in a hour.  I am going to be practicing this all coming week. My goal is to have my decision of whether I am going to use the snorkel or not on the day of the race.  My real goal is to really swim the race whether I am ready or not without the snorkel.  I want this so badly.  It is something I am aiming for and it would be nice that my first race is also my first long swim without the snorkel.

Tuesday I also did my first spin class and it will not be my last one either.  I found it very difficult yet pleasing as well.  I know my legs need one hour of hell at least twice a week through a spin class.  This will only benefit me in the long run.  It and my bike training will help me reach my goal of increasing my speed and distance on the bike.  Plus I would love to see myself finding my distance increase in such a way that come the next Hotter'N Hell Hundred I will be able to do it with my boss. Which is in Wichita Falls which my grand-dad would always say it is the hell hole of all creation or something like that.  So where else is the perfect place for the Hotter'N Hell Hundred.  That is in August I believe.  I have gotten myself up to one 26 mile ride and a bunch of 16 or so mile rides.  So all I need to do is just increase my endurance and distance by say 7 to 10 miles a week and come August I would be ready to take it on.  I am not saying I am going but I am saying that I would like to see myself be able to ride that far if that chance ever did come up.  But I still have no interest in traveling to Wichita Falls though.  Talk about a boring ride there is nothing between Fort Worth and Wichita Falls.  And you do not get to Wichita Falls by accident I tell you that.

My running is going but I will admit it has kind of been put on the back burner this past week.  While resting after the Cowtown I kind of let it slide while trying to improve my other two activities.  Main reason why is because my first two tri-events only requires me to run a 5k.  Heck I can do a 5k while getting out of bed without any warmup.  So that reason is allowing me to let this slide.  I am still going to keep my long runs over the weekends but I might lower my mid week runs to just a couple a week instead of 3 or 4 times during the work week.  Still running at least 6 miles per run so I should still be good there in the end.

This weekend the weather is supposed to be awesome and I cannot wait to have my 4 or more hour workouts both on Saturday and Sunday.  Saturday I am now debating between going to White Rock and riding with the DFW Tri Club there and end with a long run or go to Plano and ride with the DFW Tri Club there as they are doing hill repeats and do my long run there.  I would doubt if I did hill repeats that my long run will be easy that is for sure.  But it might help build my strength even more and possibility even faster as well.

That is it.  Countdown to St. Pats Tri Sprint is heading into less than 7 days.  Come Sunday it will be right at a week till race time.  I am reading articles, training as hard as ever, asking questions to my tri friends and preparing myself for the excitement of that coming day.

What the...

Ironic that I read an article of preparing your mind for the cold water if you can't before a race get a chance to do a pre-race swim.  I was thinking Sunday, oh yeah, I can prepare myself no problem.  How are can it be I mean water being cold is just that cold and you move on.  Well not so fast.  I found out tonight what extremely cold water feels like and how it takes the air out of you as you are swimming.  Holy Cow I thought this is going to be impossible because my body just can't get itself to accept that the water is indeed cold.  So tonight's swim was sponsor by the letters W. T. and F.  Because once my body hit the water the first thing out of my mouth was probably not something you would tell a little child.  Yes I am a sinner and yes when my body hits water that feels like it is in the 40s I can only tell you that this little Christian boy will commit a sin or two.  Deal with it I know I have.  Plus it is not like I really said it out load.

I swam and swam and swam and then realized that I was only swimming a few meters because the cold made my mind go crazy.  I kept thinking I was swimming further than I actually was.  A very good training I guess on this one.  Because now I know what the magazine article meant by you need to prepare yourself for cold temperatures before a race if you can't do a pre-swim first.

Swim overall went decent.  I did get myself into the water and then completely in the water before finally getting myself swimming probably only did 200 meters tonight because in the end the temperature did win out this time around.  Nice time... Oh heck it will probably win out then too.  Let's be honest.  I will be seen wearing a sweatshirt when the temperatures outside reach mid-70s to high-70s because I am so cold natured.  But eventually I will win that battle just probably not now.  Only if I was honest with myself.

The weekend that wasn't

Well this weekend really did not turn out the way I needed it to be.  What I needed was 4 hours of biking, running and swimming on at least one of these two days and neither of them happened for me.  I did get a decent swim in on Friday night and I got a good bike ride in on Saturday as well.  But with church and other things on Saturday my day just didn't work out.  Now with that said I also wouldn't have changed a thing on Saturday either.  Becoming a member of Gateway Church was something very important to me and I wasn't going to delay that process for anything.  And I will also not miss the 4 pm service if I am available and in town.  Using training as an excuse will not work for me when it comes to getting to church on Saturday.  Some things are just more important than training.  And God is it.  Well okay maybe family too.

Sunday well lets not go there.  I went to my coffeehouse Ascension in the morning hoping it would warm up a degree or two when I finally got to White Rock.  And let's just say that didn't happen.  It was still freezing as it was in the morning at the coffeehouse except now I could add in the wind coming off and around the lake.  Put that factor into the mix and you got one hell of a cold day.  My hands were pretty much frozen from the moment I got out of my car until the moment I got back into my car.  The bike ride was horrible and didn't last long.  Anything you cannot feel your fingers is not going to be an enjoyable event.  And this by far wasn't enjoyable.

So here I am less than two weeks away from the sprint and I missed 48 hours of possible training.  Granted I know I can run a 5k in my sleep but what I don't know still is if I can run a 5k after finishing a bike ride of 16 miles.  That was my goal today and now it will have to be my goal next weekend instead.  I know I can ride 16 miles on my bike granted not in my sleep yet but again what I do not know is if I can ride 16 miles after I got out of the pool, wet, pants I put on will be wet and I hate being wet for too long.  So that should be interesting to see.

I did read some great articles on doing your first tri-even and what to expect and what you need to know so you do not make common mistakes.  Those were so great reads over a couple of cups of coffee today.  BTW if you have never been to either Crooked Tree Coffeehouse in Uptown or Ascension in the Design District what are you waiting for.  These are two great places to drink coffee without going to those franchise places like Starbucks.  These are real coffeehouses and you support the local community in the process.

Here's to hoping the rest of this week is profitable for me in my training.

Cowtown over and triathlons are starting

Okay so going into the Cowtown I actually had a plan for how to run the race.  And also for a change, if not a first, I actually followed the plan to a T for the first half.  I wanted to take it easy and try to stay in the 10:30 per mile range and then for the second half get myself in the 10 per mile range.  Well the first half went according to my plan and I stayed in the range I wanted to stay in.  The problem is that when the second half of the race started I was about to hit my wall.  Miles 14 and 15 were going decent but I could feel the wall coming.  I tried focusing on other things I the runners in ponytails.  Yes a weakness of mine.  I follow runners with ponytails.  There is just something about a runner in a ponytail that just drives me crazy and also keeps on focus on that instead of the run ahead.  But even with the beautiful women and their beautiful ponytails the wall slapped me hard yet again.  Two marathons and two walls that came and took over.  Plus around mile 16 I, and I want to put this nicely because I have no clue how in the hell this happened, pulled a groin muscle will taking a quick rest-stop.  Seriously how is it even possible to pull a muscle like that while standing still and going to the bathroom.  Ok but even that didn't bother me much because it wasn't much of an issue until mile 23.  So for miles 16 to 23 it was impossible for to keep the pace going.  Finally at mile 23 the groin issue became a huge factor.  It is tough to run knowing that if you had to stop then the groin problem would be a factor in your ability to start running again.  But in the end I finally finished two days later or it felt like it.  It did really take me 5:16 to finish it and an average of 11:55 per mile.  The slowest race average I have ever had.  So in the end I think I may have had my plan all wrong.  I probably should have been a little more aggressive at the start of the race because it appears that no matter how many full marathons I do I am just not the runner who can break through his wall.

I also learned one other thing.  You get what you paid for.  I didn't really train that hard for this marathon.  For the past two months of training I only had one long run of over 14 miles.  With no long run over that I really was not prepared to have my best race.  I took these past two months to focus on some running but mostly I was focused on my swimming.  But I had one goal coming into this year for my running and it was to compete two marathons so I have one done and one to go.  That one will be in December in College Station most likely as I really loved that marathon and who they supported with their money from the runners.  I will always support a run that helps fight human trafficking.  Between that and suicide prevention I will support any run or group because those are the most important causes that I believe in and will support to the fullest.

Now on to the most important thing.  My focus is now fully onto triathlons.  I got one signed up already and another one a month after that.  This is now fully the year of the triathlon for me.  My goals now are fully on to making this happen with an ultimate goal of my first 70.3 in 2015.  The race is still not picked out but Knoxville is looking good for me.  I would love to swim in the same area that hosts the Vol Navy during the college football year.  But Knoxville is almost in the mountains so any bike or running done will probably involve some major hills.  Another option is to skip the states and head to Europe and find a race over there.  Maybe Czech Republic or Ireland or Netherlands.  The waitress at Ascension is from the Netherlands and wow.  That is all I am going to say other than she is married so dang it.  

With my triathlons the most distance I will be running would be mostly 5k's to start my season off.  I am hoping near the end of the season I can see myself in a couple of longer races.  

My Saturdays are now going to be filled at White Rock most likely with a bike ride of 30 or more miles and running of about 10.  Sundays I hope are filled at Trinity Park for another 30 or more miles and some swimming.  

Swimming 4 or 5 days a week now.

Biking hoping 3 days a week now.

Running 4 days a week now.  Mostly 6 miles per run with a Saturday long run of 10 miles.

Respecting Rinny more than ever

Sunday I got the great opportunity to ride 26 miles with my bike.  The longest ride yet and with that ride it really built my confidence in my bike even more.  I still need to find a way to get my butt use to riding longer milage.  I am only going to go further and further not shorter and shorter.  So my butt will either have to get use to the seat or I will need to learn how to ride without sitting down as much.  Either way the distance will win out.  My butt can recover in the car when I am driving home.  Things I noticed while riding.  My legs are getting stronger.  While I noticed my legs wore out during the first 13 miles I saw them getting stronger for the 2nd part of the ride.  Still along the way I noticed that certain parts of Trinity Trails had me saying oh crap I hope my brakes work.  There is a certain part of the trail that is steep with a couple of shape turns along with the fact that if you miss the turn you will be missing the rest of your birthdays too.

And then I really started to respect people like Rinny, Heather Jackson and Katya Meyers.  These people go from swimming to riding to finally the run.  I took a two hour nap between my ride and my run AND STILL the run felt like my legs were rubber.  And to top that off I only ran 6 miles not 26 miles.  I always knew how great Rinny was but watching her in Kona 2013 was amazing to see her make up almost 8 minutes in time for the final 26 miles of the run and then add to that lead of hers.  Because after my two hour nap the run just felt like I was running in slow motion but really slow motion at that.  I couldn't even imagine running 26 miles and wait.  I only biked 26 miles not 112 miles that they all do.  So yes I am no where near my goal for 2015 but I reached half of the distances in biking and running on Sunday or close to it.  My goal for 2015 is a 70.3 Ironman.  I will need to bike 56 miles so 26 is not half way there but I am confident that 56 will be no trouble for me.  Heck I am at 26 miles and I have only taken my bike out for two days prior to this one.  So I am getting there and should be to that mileage by the end of the summer.  I have run many a half marathon so that distance is easy for me.  Heck I even ran a couple half's without even training due to work and volunteering at church and still did pretty decent.  So I am good there for sure.

BUT having to do them both back to back without my two hour nap along with only a 1.4 mile swim well that is a totally different story.  And that is where I see my goals.  I got all year to learn how to swim that distance.  I still need to one major fear that I have and that would be the open water swim.  If I have to stop in the pool I can just stand up and walk back to any location in the pool but if I stop in the open water I am not standing up unless I am drowning at the bottom of the lake.  Because as we all know the longer and further you swim the deeper the water gets and the longer my legs will need to be if I want to stop and walk to the side.

While I am extremely excited about the Cowtown I am even more excited about the tri-season.  Not sure how many races I will do during my first season as I will use this season to learn every aspect that is associated with this sport.  But I will get into more than just one race and I will learn everything from the swim and the bike to the transition that is needed to get from swim to bike and bike to run.  I will learn how to make it better and I will do what I always do and that is that I will also learn how to adapt those transitions into how it makes more sense to me and from there make it even better.

Can't wait for St. Patrick's Day.  Not because I love to drink Irish beers although really they are  good. But that is the day that I will have accomplished one of my goals and it will be the first step into a bigger and greater goal.

Some people say they have reached their goals but they never really do.  Because people will always set a goal high and then slightly set the goal that they want to reach to feel about themselves lower than that goal.  People will always do this because people do not want to fail so they will always cut their goals off to make it more attainable.  So I more that March 16th is one of those situations for me.  Yes it is part of my goal but in the overall scheme of it all it is just short of my overall goal because what my overall goal is and will always be is the 70.3 in 2015.

Twist and Turn

Had my swimming lesson today and I am yet again seeing some more improvements.  Not joining the Olympic Team just yet but getting closer to that invite.  Learning on my rotation in the water and better using my arms and shoulders to help produce the power that I need to get to point to point faster.  I love seeing improvements and it helps fuel me for continuos training in this area.

Talked about the sprint event in March and what to wear.  Just as I was thinking.  I will not be able to do a lot of changing so I will need to be very careful on how I want to dress for the event.  It appears I need to take a couple of rides without my cycling suit on because I really do not want to finish the event with a run in that same outfit.  While great at padding my butt for the ride not really something that will be comfortable in the run.  So I am so glad this weekend will be a lot warmer for me to get another great and long ride in to help build that endurance that I so very lack.

Well it is almost a month to go for the race and I still got a lot to do.  But I cannot forget about the Cowtown Marathon.  I am still in that regardless of how my back feels these next couple of weeks.  And I still need to get some runs in to help me through these weeks until the race starts.  But after Cowtown then it turning my full attention forever more to triathlons.

My biggest weakness will always be that once I decide to do something I go into it with full speed.  I will get all the gear, all the tech and whatever else is needed to help me.  I never jump half way in it is always in the deep end.  But then again if you do something why shouldn't you did it with full force.  Why would you want to something half ass.  So I am be a newbie here but I am already thinking about 2015 and how did I can go after this season is up.  Bring on the Ironman.  Just will I do it in Knoxville for my first or somewhere else.

15 miles and 300 meters

Yesterday in the mist of a 40 degree afternoon I set out at White Rock to ride my bike for my longest distance yet.  It was cold and I doubted I wanted to do it for starters because all I had was biker shorts and not long pants.  But after a few minutes of talking back and forth I decided that real men wear shorts as they rode their bikes.  Short of finding that real man I decided I could do it as well.  So I set out and went around 15 miles around White Rock and other parts of the area.  I used some of the routes that I took while training for my marathon with Luke's Locker.  And from those areas managed to not get lost and find my way back to the path that would ultimately get me back to my car.  Let me say that for a person who is out for only his second time and a week between those rides as well that 15 miles felt like 50.  My legs were killing me near the end of the ride and today my legs paid me back at work as I was finding it hard to get started every time I left my chair.  But what I also learned yesterday was that I am still a little ways off before I can just take off like a baby bird jumping out of a nest hoping their wings will keep them from hitting the ground.  While I did manage NOT to crash I also came close a couple of times.  I am still not able to just stop real fast and to remember to twist my ankle to get my foot released from the peddles.  I am still needing to learn how to react better and faster in situations that will come up quickly on me and without notice in order for me to start getting rid of that nervousness and start the conquering part of this bike thing.

And tonight I swam for a hour and while I still look like a fish out of water I am finally seeing some improvements in this area of my game.  While it may not be Pamela Anderson running down the beach sexy I am seeing myself getting a little bit further without the snorkel and getting air as I swim.  Still depending too much on the snorkel and still finding myself forgetting to breath while swimming.  Strange once you remove the snorkel the thought of breathing completely leaves my mind.  I am just holding my breathe it seems until I realize wait didn't I miss a step here.  Oh yes breathing.  Who knew.  Tonight I swam overall 300 meters with the last 100 meters not using the snorkel.  So that last 100 meters would have made great comedy on YouTube.  I would definitely make the viral status if it ever was posted.  Still at least I am seeing improvement and hopefully can see even more after tomorrow.

I know that with the day getting longer little by little, with my weekends being free for me to add to my training time and with me getting some evening time at LA Fitness that I will soon be able to at least make a decent appearance at my first sprint tri-event in mid-March.  I also know that you cannot do a St. Patrick Day event without drinking a little adult liquid beverages.  I just hope that once I cross the finish line that the only thing that would be finish would just be the race and not me too.

The Day From Hiati

Okay this day wasn't really that bad.  It started off slow as I yet again woke up with a sore bad and that kind of delayed a lot of my activities this morning.  Finally got over to White Rock only to find out I forgot my Garmin, my towel and who knows what else.  Still ran as I at least brought my desire to get out there and run in the cold like in was no one's business.  It was a pretty decent run for me although the back is still a problem I am going to have to deal with sooner or later.  I need to get my KT tape out again and start using it.  My shins are great so once I can get the tightness of the back solved I am back to full strength again.  Run was great other than that and BTW I still hate 635.  I see no point to driving on it and need to find other ways to get back home from White Rock.

Home at noonish and hurried to get over to LA Fitness for what I thought was going to be some cardio followed by a swim.  Well I did the cardio and it kicked my butt from one end to the other end.  I need to increase my endurance outside of running and after today realize that it is still a ways off.  A  long ways off at that.  Did about 30 or so minutes of cardio and to be honest it felt like 30 hours and when I was done so was my shoulder and arms.  And since you kind of need them to swim I also realized swimming was out of the question after my cardio.  I will have to swim tomorrow after my biking in the morning or so.

But yes the day was great and it just seemed to get even better later on as well.  Got my nap after all my workouts today.  Followed that by church and then finished it off with a great meal.  Now I am planning out my tomorrow.  I got a lot I want to do with only so many hours to do them all.  I am not sure where I will start or finish but I know it will include a lot.