Swimming a lot

This past week I have already swam more than I have ever swam in any given month over the last couple of years.  And I still have a 1 on 1 swim lesson tomorrow and a swim scheduled for Friday NOT to mention race day on Sunday.  If I survived this week I should be a better swimmer than I have ever been.  Now I just need to figure out what is causing me to cramp up so much half-way through my swims.  

I know this has been one of my weakest areas of my game during the tri-events.  But hopefully these next 6 months will prove to be beneficial in my swim game.  I would love to see myself at least swimming the 300 meters required for the triathlon better and hopefully faster as well.  If I can get my swimming better than I could hopefully start seeing myself moving up the leader board. One day I hope that instead of seeing myself in the bottom 3 I will start to see myself in the middle of the pack.

Swim on young man just swim on.

Cowtown Report

Got to Fort Worth today at 5:35AM and slowly got over to the race.  Like my usual routine it is getting to the race early and getting myself ready for the race.  Saw a couple of my friends before the race.  Got into my corral.  And froze until the race started.  Now before we start the race let's see where I was before this race.

Trained a lot before this race.  Worked with Coach Lyndsi and a bunch of great people for the last many weeks.  It all runs together when you are an old man.  But I did at least go from a person who was tired of running and wasn't successfully doing it in my tri's over the last couple of years to now someone who feels like his running is improving his run game for the coming year.

Race starts at 7 and I didn't actually get started until 7:18 because of my corral.  First 3.1 miles I ran at a pretty decent pace for me.  Ran it in 31 minutes which for me lately I would take in a heart beat. And considering how my 5Ks go for triathlons, yes please, I would love to have that time.  Then my right top of my ankle started getting tight.  Which is strange considering that all through training it was on the left side for that tightness.  So I fought through that for a few miles.  Around mile 6 or 7 mile the pain went away and I was on my way again.  Fought through a lot of endurance issues after that and hit a wall around mile 11 which sucks because it was so close to the end.  And like last time I ran this race the end is never the end.  It was a never ending turn after turn hoping to see the finish line only to see more road then finish line.  Finally found the finish line and the race was over for me.  This time I finished in 2:17 something.  I usually find myself finishing in some form or another in the 2:15 range give or take a minute or two.  And today was no different.

I am ready to take my running game up a level this year.

And special thanks goes to Coach Lyndsi and the program with DFWTri that helped me get to this point.

Next race is the Shannon's 5K, 12th of March.

Back for Year 3 for This Tri "Wannabe" Athlete

 Well I am getting ready for year 3 of this triathlete experiment.  Year 1 was the learning stage of my experiment.  Year 2 was the try and improve on the 1st year.  Now in Year 3 it is to see if I learned from my past mistakes and have I taken any steps forward in improving my overall game.

Well I can say that this year I will be going into the season with a better running game then I did over the first two years.  I am in the mist of training for the Cowtown Half at the end of February and then I start my tri-season only a couple of weeks after that.  So I feel that for the running portion I should be able to see some form of improvement there.

My swim game will still suck but what's new there.  I am hoping to get Coach Lyndsi to be my swim coach but that would not start until the first of March so needless to say I will not be ready for the swim portion when St. Pat's Tri comes a calling.

My bike game is in the same boat.  I feel like I am a better biker than I was last year but I haven't been on the bike to much yet to start 2016 off.  So I might be a little behind for the first race as well there.

Well that is a bunch of good news for me.  Two events I feel I have no shot at and only one where I do.  But I am going into this year with one goal.  Just have fun and don't let the stress of swimming overcome me to the point where I am allowing that experience to ruin everything else.  I know going into any race that if I am able to walk / run away from the pool and heading to my bike then I have achieved the goal of not drowning.  And I need to start leaving the anxiety of swimming behind me after that point and head to the areas where I stand a chance at competing.

So this year my other goal is to write more blogs and to keep track of what I am doing in a more regular format.

Pioneer Sprint Tri '15 Report

Well this race day didn't start how I would have liked.  Even after getting all my gear ready the night before I still left my house around 5 am.  Well if you know me and that the transition area opens at 5:30 then you would figured out that I wanted to be there at 5 am not just leaving.  So I was a little bit rushed but I worked on keeping my calmness in situations like this and it worked.  I got to Denton at 5:27 so I was still there plenty of time to get my gear set up and ready for the race.

Before the race even started I decided not to do any practice laps.  Even though it was only 200 yards and I could have done a couple of laps without it effecting my overall performance because you know I suck at swimming.  Instead I just walked a little into the outer water area to get a feel for the temperature of the water and then I did what I was contemplating using my anxiety pills before a race.  I hadn't gone it for the first two this year and my swim was bad both times.  I believe it isn't about the depth anymore but rather the fact that once the guy says go I am on the timer.  But this time I decided to take my anxiety pill and try it out.  Well it must have worked.  Once I heard him say go, I got into the water, swam 50 yards pretty much with one of my quickest times and ended up having my best swim ever for a race.  Only 200 yards but for me it might as well been swimming across the English Channel.  I did it in 7:43 which was also about 2 minutes faster than I swam that same distance last year.

Finished the swim and for the first time ever my mind was clear, my nerves were normal and I was ready for the next event.  I got my bike and off I went.  I rode the first let's say 6 miles at the fastest time I have ever had.  But those Denton hills that just keep on going slightly higher and higher ended up doing me in.  But the time I got to the turn around spot I was starting to feel my legs getting a little worn out.  But I stopped for a brief moment to put on my riding gloves and started back up and still finished very strong for me.  I ended up doing the 16 miles in a little over an hour.  For me, even on practice rides, I only get about 15 to 15.3 miles for a hour ride.  So thanks to Coach Lyndsi I am starting to see speed, not the drug, on my rides.

So I get to my point where I should have been saying yes my strongest point of the game RUNNING.  But no so fast there.  I start off looking for water.  I don't care if a strange man in an over coat had some or if I had to steal it from a little kid but I just needed water.  Found it.  And now I can start my run.  I ended up doing the 5k in about 37 miles I believe.  Not good at all but to be fair.  This has actually turned out to be my weakest part of my game.  I still have not gotten myself over the brick.  I can ride and I can run but put them back to back and yes I am pretty much done.  But even with the heat I didn't feel like my body was done I just felt like I sure would love to see a finish line right about now.

Last year when I did this race about 15 yards or so away from the finish line both of my legs cramped up horribly.  I cross the line got my medal and headed to anything that I could hold unto until those cramps past through.  It was horrible to say the least.  This year when I cross the finish line the only thing that was cramping was a memory of last year.  Because this year I felt very good crossing that finish line.

So now I can just worry about preparing for my next race(s).  And that would be me considering a back to back sprint tri's Labor Day weekend.  I might want to ask Coach Lyndsi if she thinks I can handle it.  But again I am not good so it is not like if I wear out on that 2nd race that it would greatly effect my timing.

Tri Season Underway

Well I forgot to post my first race results so I am doing a double duty tonight with reviewing both races.  I am comparing myself to last years results to see improvement or if improvement is still needed.


Season started off with the St. Patrick's Tri and that was also my first ever tri-event I did.

Last year I finished in 2:00:20 overall.

Swim (300 meters) - 20:56 - and of course that was good considering I was freaking out due to the depth of the water.

Bike (12.6 miles) - 58:57 - this was tough because it was cold, wet, strong winds and again I was still freaked out from the swim and that carried over to my bike.

Run (3.1 miles) - 32:42 - which considering everything that happened I was shocked I ran so good.

This year I finished in 1:48:42 overall and an almost 12 minute improvement.

Swim (300 meters) - 11:46 - Coach Lyndsi and I really focused more on improving my swim and endurance and it worked.  I still freaked out but not as bad as it was last year and that shocked me because I felt ready to go.  Still overall very happy with this result.

Bike (12.6 miles) - 56:17 - not really happy as there was no improvement which was evidence through my time and at the end of the bike I felt my legs were more tired than they should have been.

Run (3.1 miles) 37:00 - yeah not a great run and my tired legs were not getting any stronger as I continued to run.

So for St. Patricks Tri I was overall satisfied with my results as I was mostly focusing on over coming my swimming troubles and felt like I did.


This past Sunday was Caveman Tri.

Last year I finished in 2:03:01

Swim (275 yards) - 13:25 - of course better than St Pat Tri for my second tri event and a little faster but still I was hugging the middle rope in the water to get from point A to point B.

Bike (14 miles) - 59:57 - which for last year and this year about my average speed which is around 15 miles every hour.

Run (3.1 miles) - 40:15 - the bike course killed my legs and the pain I had running was wow.  Very slow for anyone to run but I made it through and that I guess is all I can say.

This year I finished in 1:57:45 and only a slight improvement but I had to struggle with two flat tires on my bike that cost me a lot of time and still improved by 6 minutes even with those troubles.

Swim (275 yards) - 9:51 - this time and for the first time ever I felt good during and after the swim. Major improvement from last year by almost 4 minutes.

Bike (14 miles) - 1:02:41 - okay this was the first time I ever thought about really calling a cab, swag wagon or a stranger to just take me back because I was done.  The course just like last year was hilly and killing my legs and draining any strength that I had left.  Plus I got a flat back tire.  Fixed it quickly and was back on the road ONLY to have the same tire go flat again about 1 or so miles down the road.  I got lucky as I pasted the Tri Shop car who was there to help bikers in trouble and I was one of those bikers needing help.  I got lucky as he was able to fix the tire quickly and efficiently. Finally was moving again and while the break helped my legs I lost a ton of time.  Finally finished my ride in a bad mood, tired legs and just wanted to get this done.

Run (3.1 miles) - 37:26 - again this run course like the bike course hates my body.  My legs were in the most pain ever.  It even hurt when I walked but after a great swim I wasn't going to quit now.  I had my chances to quit on the bike course and didn't use them.  So I just decided that pain or not I was going to finish because as they say pain is temporary but glory is forever.  Or something like that.  And yes the pain went away once I was finished.

Next race right now is scheduled for Cooper Tri on May 16th.  So I have time to work on my game.  I am excited about how the season is starting and can't wait to continue my journey.

The Swim Lesson

I love my swim coach.  She encourages as she teaches and she see positives in areas I see negatives.  One hour of swimming is a lot of swimming but I made it due to her.  Today's lesson was a great one. I am working on getting myself ready for the 2015 season which starts in about 6 or so weeks.  I am already signed up and am looking to expand my season by another 3 to 5 more races than I did last year.  But I know that no matter how many races I run I must conquer the swim first.  Whether I agree with it or not swimming is apart of the triathlon.  And due to that I have to get through it no matter what.  Even if I die while swimming and they come and revive me I know that I would STILL have to finish the swim first before I am allowed to go forward.  So that is why Coach Lyndsi is so important to me.  Because without her I would still be that person that is looking at the water and saying you want me to do WHAT and followed by the words OH HELL NO.  But since she has helped me since day one I am actually in the water and while I am still panicking I am at least seeing improvements along the way.  Hopefully this season I will improve on my swimming times.  It truly is the only thing I want to see improve the most.  I would love to see my cycling and running times improve but in the end if I can see improvements in my swim then no matter how bad the rest of the race might be I will still be able to say at least I saw improvements in my swim.

2015 Goals

Here are my goals I am setting for myself entering into the year of 2015.

1 - Getting myself stronger physically and spiritually

2 - Improve on my 2014 Sprint Tri times

3 - Run 6 to 8 half marathons this year with the first one being probably Benbrook.  I need to keep myself in the best possible running condition.  It is something I failed to do last year and I paid for it with my first four triathlons 

4 - Train and run a marathon sometime this year with the training coinciding with me running an ultra-marathon either late this year or Cowtown of 2016

5 - Train for Hotter Than Hell bike race - 100 mile race

6 - Become more involved at Gateway Church. I have already put my name in the hat for a couple of volunteering possibilities

7 - Start taking part of the group training with DFW Tri Club.  Time to swallow my pride and fear of not being up to par and just go.  After all my race results have already proven I am both not up to par with the rest of the group and that even 70 year olds can get across the finish line quicker than me.  So I need to go and improve.  Period

8 - Increase my sprint tri's participation and I will do that by adding 3 sprint tri's from Cooper Craig Ranch and will try and find more throughout the year

9 - Lose at least 20#s and change my diet to a more healthier one

10 - Work on my social anxiety  part 2.  As I mention in my recap of 2014 I failed to improve IMO and will try once again to improve on something that both scares me and I am uncomfortable with it

11 - Work again on learning something new on a weekly basis

And this year I am adding a verse I want to live by for this year as well

James 4:14 "Whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away" NKJV

I will be changing all my email signatures to reflect this.  This means a lot to me because we are only on this planet but for a blink of an eye.  I need to make what blink I have mean something not only to me but to others around me.