I only got back into swimming three years ago, so this should be my third COMSA masters champs since I started back in 2008. I will dissect this all down the best I can.

1000 Free

I first swam the 1000 free for masters in 2008, and I came in at 13:01 from a seed time of 14 and some change. (Lesson here is never to come to a time trial hung over when you’re trying to figure out your entry times.) The Tenderfoot triathlon also did 1000 for the swim, in which I entered the time of 13:01 for seeding. I came out of the water here at 14 minutes for the sake of conserving energy for the rest of the race.

This year, I entered a seed time of 13:01, and I finished the race at 12:17.57, which is a personal best overall.

The swim felt pretty straining and exhausting overall. I notice that I predominately breathe on my right side, which causes my left arm to cut through the water a little odd. (This was noticed by several of my coaches…) I was achy for the rest of the day, and I still had the 1650 to go. Thankfully, my friend Bryce was on hand to count for me, so he went and got some lunch while we waited between events.

This weekend, I went off the Paleo diet as of Thursday night and started carbo loading with brown rice and oats. I also put on five pounds. (Back to the two hundreds… GAH!)

1650 Freestyle

This is the first year that I’ve done the 1650 in a competition. 1650 yards is roughly a mile, and this year – because of IMAZ – I was concentrating on my distance events over my sprints. I entered a seed time of  26:09.00 – which is based off of an open water swim I did last year.

I’m proud to say I got a time of 20:34.52! The reason for the wide difference in time is because in the 1650, I was doing flip-turns and pushing off the wall, which gives me a little rest and a boost through the race. During the pull-out, I was doing three dolphin kicks off the wall, which helped quite a lot. I have my eyes on a 22 or 23 minute open water mile, which would put me at 44 minutes for a 2 mile. If I can get down to 20, I’ll be set. Then again, there are a lot of little factors in open water swimming that slow you down – especially when you’re prone to getting kicked in the face by other swimmers.

During this swim, I just relaxed and had a good time with it. I stretched out the stroke and went from a 6 to a 2 beat kick. I talked to the guy who runs the channel swimming group, and he said that my turns looked great, and I was staying right at mid-lane. The referee also congratulated me on a great race, since I came in first in my heat.

Coach Roger kept my splits, which were averaging about 1:12 per 100 yards, aside the last 200 which picked up a bit, and a little dip in the middle.

50 Freestyle

The first event of Saturday was the 50 free, which is always a quick, down and dirty all out sprint. I wasn’t expecting to lose much time on these sprints, since my focus has changed. I entered a time of 25.51, and got a 25.97. Less than a half a second loss isn’t all that bad.

100 IM

Next up was the hundred individual medley. I’m not the greatest short-axis swimmer in the world, by any means, and I love doing the fly just about as much as I love to run. I seeded at 1:04 even, and came out at 1:04.47. Again, another half second loss that I wasn’t too disappointed in.

50 Backstroke

I messed up my start on this one, as well as the turn. I’ve never really been able to do backstroke starts, other than when we were able to do a standing deck start back in high school. When the start was called, I dove in way too deep. Although I can kick off the wall a fair ways, it wasn’t really good that I was looking up at the competitor in the other lane. I seeded at 29.54, and came in at 31.25.

500 Freestyle

Rounding out my distance events, and starting Sunday off with a smile, was the 500 freestyle. This is an event that I’ve done all throughout my swimming life, as I’d always been able to hold a steady cadence over longer swims. This year, something just felt different about it. It’s kind of the same thing as running – a mile is only another number. In this case, the 20 lengths seemed to come and go fairly quickly.

I think I went out a little too quick on the front half of the event, although I was able to keep fairly consistent on the last part of it. I seeded at 6:22 even – I’ve been hovering right around the mid-sixes the past few years in competitions. I seriously thought, over the race, that I was going to gain time – but I actually came out in the fives! My time was 5:51.37, and it’s the first time since high school that I’ve been able to get back into that bracket. Even though it doesn’t mean anything in the scheme of things, it’s always fun coming in first in a heat, especially when you get the starting pistol on the last lap.

My triathlon coach, Aimee, was there for the 500. It was cool that she was finally able to see me swim, since we’ve been over everything else. Again, the flaw in the left arm came out because of my unilateral breathing habits on longer swims, and I wasn’t kicking off the wall as much as well as I should have. Again, Roger stated I was very consistent, and negative split the end half.

50 Breast

The breast was another event that proved somewhat problematic in my open turns. Again, I’m not a great short-axis swimmer. I also learned that you need to pay attention to which heat you’re in while waiting on deck. I was distracted, talking to another Arizona IronMan racer for this year. When heat seven came up, I asked him if he was up, and he said he was in eight. I looked at the board, saw my name, said “oh $#@&” and hopped up just as they were saying ‘take your mark’. I almost scratched, but the dive in and the actual swimming part felt pretty good, if not a little goofy from my lucky blunder.

I seeded at 34 even, and came in at 33.47. Half a second drop ain’t bad!

100 Freestyle

This was, by far, my most impressive time drop of all time! In the history of the world! I dropped a whopping 1/100th of a second! Yeah, that’s right! I was, literally, a blink of an eye quicker than I was last year! Seeded at 57.01, and came in at 57 even. Next year, maybe I can break into the high 56’s! LET’S GO 56.99!

50 Fly

Ah, my favorite stroke: well, as much as one can compare the experience of a root canal to a delicious bowl of paleo-safe frozen custard made from Almond milk. All things considered, it was okay. I got tired the last quarter of the sprint, which is only half a length of the pool. I’m not the right shape for this stroke. I did manage to knock some time off of the top, though. Seeding at 28 even, I came in with 27.76.

Relays

I did do two relays this weekend, the first was swimming the backstroke leg of the 200 Medley Relay. Again, with the sucky starts. My back split here was 31.12, which was a little faster than my actual race time. With the 200 free relay, my split was also marginally lower than my 50 Free time. The swim felt really good, too. I got 25.93 for my split, which is 5/100ths faster than my race time. My relay teams both got fourth place for their assigned age group.

Here’s to small victories!

First of all, I’d like to throw a shout-out to my friend Daphne! She just posted her first blog entry on IronDaph.com. Daphne has done the 2007 IronMan Australia, and crossed the finish line with a fracture in her foot just under 14 hours. This time around, she’s determined to finish with a much better time. If you recall, Daphne and I went to Arizona back in November to volunteer for IMAZ so we could get our spots for next year.

So, last Saturday, I had a stellar run. Saturdays are my distance days for running, and I did a seven mile zone 2 run with absolutely no calve pain. I could feel that my stride is lengthening a bit, the balls of my feet are getting stronger, the run is getting more efficient, and my heels are finally coming up under my hips where they need to be. There was hardly any fatigue in the run at all. Other than the sloshing through mud-puddles and slush, it was great.

Saturday night, I decided to go out with some friends, so we went to a club. Somehow, I screwed up my ankle dancing. I thought it was an eversion sprain on my right inner ankle. I was able to do my run on Monday with relatively few issues. I saw Dr. Dan Tuesday night, and he said I had jammed up my Talus somehow, then adjusted my ankles, knees and hips. He told me to ice it regularly.

Coach Aimee got back to me a day or two later, and told me that I should probably keep off it while it hurts. I hit swimming on Wednesday, even though the swelling hadn’t gone down by that point, and ended up pulling the majority of the set.

I’ve been using this time to get some things around the house cleaned up. Today, I need to attack the living room and the bathroom. Perhaps get the car cleaned out, and even pick up some Argos landmines in the back yard. The time off is driving me nuts, because I know I need to be out training, but even while off my feet, I’m still exhausted from all the training I’ve been doing.

I have a good feeling about it all, and I think I might pick up a 5K race at Washington Park on Super Bowl Sunday. Thankfully, next week is recovery week, then we get into base week 2:1. The distance will be amped up a bit.

The other issue on my mind is that I really need to find a new home for my dog. I’m training now about as much as I was training in the height of my last season, and as it is, I have very little time. It’s not fair for my roommate to have to look after him all the time, and it’s not fair that Argos has to be in his kennel so much because nobody’s there. He really deserves better. I love the dog to death, but I’ve come to an impasse with this one. The lady who we did obedience training with is looking into a lady who has agility dogs, to see if she would be interested. I hope it works out, or else I’m going to have to call the rescue operation I got him from.

Other than that, things have been uneventful and full of cleaning goodness. I have to keep things cleaned up so I can just freshen things up when I have some spare time. I asked the coach about it, and she said when she started, her and her husband got a maid to help clean the house. I really wish it was an option, but in my current financial state, it’s a no-go.

I have my final list of races for this season.

• Super Bowl 5K (February 7)
• COMSA SCY Swimming Championships (April 9-11)
• (A) Denver Colfax Marathon (May 16)
• Boulder Boulder (May 31)
• Tri the Creek (June 5)
• Triple Bypass (July 10)
• BAM Barebones Swim (July 18?)
• (A) Boulder IronMan 70.3 (August
• Horsetooth 10K Swim (August 15)
• Tour de Cure (August 21)
• Tenderfoot Triathlon (September 5)
• Gorilla Run (October 30)
• (A) Arizona IronMan (November 21)

Yeah, I’ve got a 6 mile swim in there. Where indicated by (A), those are my focus races for the season. I know there will be a few other races peppered in there for good measure.

Diet-wise, I’ve been having some issues jumping onto the Paleo bandwagon. Red meat still bothers my stomach, and it’s hard to completely kick cereal grains. I’ve sort of made a diet that combines features from the Blood Type diet and the Paleo diet both. I am trimming down quite a bit, but there are times when I need a bowl of oatmeal, damn it!

Well, I have to get home and clean. I will try to be better about updating my status and whatnot. That was my update, and I kinda moosed myself.

Steve over at Nerd Fitness posted this article on resolutions which seemed to hit the nail on the head. Basically, he says that one shouldn’t set open-ended goals, but instead, should quantify the steps within the goals for each and every resolution. Admittedly, I do have a list of resolutions, but they are more of a  road map of goals that I need to finish this year, rather than a promisary note to myself.

Successful resolutions take planning and also involve taking that first step. As Lao-tzu once said:

“A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.”

So often, when I talk of Triathlon with friends who aren’t into the sport, many of them call me crazy and say they couldn’t do it. Many say they are too set in their ways, or when it comes to diet, they like [insert random junk food item here] too much to give it up.

Bullshit.

One of the best things I ever did was get into Triathlon. I have to thank my good friend Kel for this one, as he convinced me I should do a tri after I bought a pair of running shoes to supplement my dry-land training, and to lose more weight. Best of all, I feel great, I look great, and I’m in the best shape of my life. The catalyst for it was easy: it’s easier to get into shape when you’re younger and maintain that physical fitness rather than wait until you’re metabolism has slowed down, you’re overweight with numerous health issues, and it’s hard to even move.

Something that I’ve heard a lot, while watching a triathlon or an IronMan on TV – people have a tendency to say, “I bet I could do that.” (Some say “I wish…” instead.) Triathlon is one of the fastest growing sports in the US right now. Some people sign up for it just to try it – to say that they did a triathlon. Some people use it as a springboard for better health. Others are just plain masochistic. (Why else would the IronMan exist?)

The call to arms!

Here is my challenge to you – yes, YOU!

I don’t care how out of shape you are. I don’t care if you just got over smoking, an ex-girl/boyfriend, the swine flu. I don’t care what your excuse is!! I want to challenge you to enter into a running race, a cycling race / tour, OR a triathlon. I can hear the collective moan right now, and I don’t want to hear your excuses.

Think you can do it? As they say in the biz… it’s time to put up or shut up.

Now, here’s how to do it.

First, let’s set some groundwork:

• Your first-race goal should be to finish. Chances are, you won’t place. If you do, congratulations! Just don’t go into a race expecting that you’re going to win your age group, or that you’re going to hand a pro/elite their ass.
• Don’t go out and buy expensive equipment… yet. Triathlon is an expensive sport, but you should do a few races before you go out and start buying things. The exception to this: you will want a good pair of running shoes. (Not from Wal*Mart – you will hurt yourself. Go to a running store and have someone watch your stride, and fit you for a shoe that works for you and your style.) As far as a bike, use what you’ve got. A mountain bike, an old road bike – hell, you can borrow a friend’s bike or rent one from a shop. Just remember that you will need something to train on, even if it is that bitchin’ beach cruiser.
• Don’t go into battle under or over-prepared. Yes, you can over-train. Set up a training schedule and stick to it the best you can. If you miss a workout, it’s gone. Don’t try to make it up. Just hit the next one, and keep going. Get a triathlon training book with your distance listed, or a running / cycling book with workouts in it. There are also tons of websites out there.
• Bring along a friend! Friends are great for moral support. If you enter the same race, and keep on each other about workouts, you will probably be more successful than if you go it alone. Not to mention, it’s always good to have someone there to push you. Also, joining a swim team, cycling club, running group, or Triathlon club is a good idea. There are people there who can help you develop your technique.
• Don’t… DON’T get in over your head. Your first race shouldn’t be a long-distance triathlon, an IronMan, a marathon, or even a century ride. You will want a few races or events under your belt before you do these, and you will really want to build yourself up to it. Start with a sprint triathlon, or a 5K running race, or a bike race that’s between 10 and 40 miles. Without having that experience, you could hurt yourself if you don’t know what you’re doing.
• Are you healthy enough to race? Please check in with your doctor to make sure you’re not going to put your life in danger if you race.

One of the best ways that I’ve found to do a triathlon and stick with it:

1. Find an event that you can finish. Research it, talk to people who’ve done it, and decide on one that you would enjoy doing.
2. Register for the event. Do it right then. Don’t wait, unless the registration isn’t open or you need that next paycheck to roll around.
3. Once registered: you have this event hanging over your head. You’ve paid good money for it. Now, set a schedule. Pick up a copy of the Triathlete’s Training Bible, or use an online workout plan.
4. Set up an account with OnTri, TrainingPeaks, Beginner Triathlete, or any of the other numerous workout tracking websites. A lot of them will also give you access to free workouts and scheduling features. USE THEM to your advantage.
5. Tell everyone you’re doing a triathlon. Build a support base. Now that you’re telling people you’re determined to do this triathlon, you’re not only holding yourself accountable, everyone you tell about it is holding you accountable.
6. Ask Questions. There’s a big sports community out there. Pick their brains!!
7. Do your event.
8. Bask in the glory and the sun-shiny feeling that you’ve accomplished your goal. If you bonked your race, at least you tried and you’ve learned what you’ll need to do differently next time. If you cross that finish line, which is one of those happy moments in life that you really need to experience at least once, you have earned the official title of triathlete / runner / cyclist.
9. Use your bragging rights accordingly. If you’ve been bitten by the triathlon bug, (or whatever sport you’re doing) plan for your next race, and how you can improve the next time around.
10. There is no ten. Just go out and do it.

It’s time to find your inner animal. Can you do it? Are YOU up to the challenge to better yourself?

Where else would I be right now but at my favorite perch in an inconspicuous corner of some random Caribou Coffee? Well, probably at some inconspicuous corner of a random Caribou Coffee… sipping brew… waiting for the SPORE expansion pack to finish downloading. Nothing really going on for the rest of this weekend, and after yesterday’s triathlon, I figured I’d be lazy today.

So far, this weekend has rocked. I haven’t had such a fun Labor Day Weekend in a long time. Thursday night, I got all my stuff packed for my trip to Salida for the Tenderfoot Triathlon. I bought a new tool box to put all of my extra bike parts, tools, spare tubes, c02 cartridges, and accessories in. It was roomy enough to put my gels and magnesium supplements in, as well. Makes it so much easier to go on a random bike ride, because all I have to do is grab the kit, load the bikes, and hit the road.

Work on Friday dragged on a little bit. I didn’t have an edit session, so I was at my desk all day, other than what time was spent in and out of staff meetings. At about two, I departed my cubicle and headed to pick up Sean. He was originally supposed to partake in this triathlon with us, but he tweaked his back out a few weeks ago, and wasn’t able to partake. Instead, he came along to take pictures of the event.

On our way!!

After I got Sean, we went down to Centennial to a bike shop there. I was calling around for a bike cover that would keep the handlebars and seat clean while it was on the roof rack, and they had some that were built for road bikes. I asked the guy if they’d fit a triathlon bike with aero bars, and he told me that the material was stretchy enough that it was possible. When we got there, we found out that it wasn’t as stretchy as he’d originally thought. We went next door, got some Jimmy John’s, and headed to Golden to pick up Josh. Talk about making a big loop around the city.

While on our way over, Sean and I architected a new word. Yes, behold! A portmanteau of pure beauty!

chilunder (chlndr)
verb.

1. To plunder in a manner chillful or cool.
2. To steal candy from a friend, specifically on a road trip, in a way that is nonchalant and fun.
3. A portmanteau of chillfully and plunder.

All I can say is that some of Sean’s Gummy Bears were at steak, here – and things like Gummies are a dangerous thing around me.

After we got Josh, we hit the road. Labor Day Traffic was worse than usual, which shouldn’t have been surprising in Denver, seeing as everyone was trying to get out of Dodge – so to speak. The drive up was a lot of fun. We stopped at one of the scenic overpasses along the way – just kind of poked along and had some fun conversation.

It was starting to get dark when we pulled in. We got all checked in, unpacked, and then we had to head over to the orientation for the triathlon. While there was still some lingering light left, we decided to drive the bike course and see what we were in store for. Somehow, we managed to miss one of the turns – ironically, it was the sharp turn in the middle of a steep grade. Other than that, it wasn’t too bad at all. Few false flats, an easy hill or three.

Well, I’d be eating those words in the morning.

We went looking for a place to eat, and settled on the place right next door to the hotel. It was decent, as far as food fare was concerned, but there were, like, four kids in there that couldn’t have been more than 12 years old working. Our waitor was a nervous acting fellow, but provided a few good laughs for the bunch of us. When he said, upon handing us our check, that he needed to go home and “please his WOM-ANNNN!” (complete with pelvic thrust and rowing arms), Sean almost choked on his burger.

After that, the group went back to hit up the hot-tub. After boiling for an hour, we went in and started packing our transition packs, I shaved down, we watched a few episodes of South Park (just to wax irony…), and then it was off to bed.

Race day and Josh’s Jitters

Making sure the disc wheel was seated right...

Transition opened at 6AM sharp, and everyone had to have their stuff set up by no later than seven. We decided to wake up at ten till five to get there right when it opened, but somehow, either by a flux in time or being abducted by UFO’s, we somehow lost track of time and ended up there at ten after six.

I guess everyone else had the same idea. We weren’t the only ones leaving the hotel to get set up. We didn’t get our stuff right next to the transition exit, but we were both on the end of a rack, so it wasn’t too shaby of a deal. Anon, back to the hotel for a little breakfast. Sat around the room for a bit. Josh was trying to psych himself up.

Josh’s heat was well before mine. Personally, I think they should have considered doing age group waves instead of waves by swim time. I was one of three people in the final wave: me and this one kid entered at a 13 minute swim. There was one guy, who never showed, who claimed 10 minutes. In a triathlon situation, I don’t think that would be advisable.

But the suckyness of this methodology is that I still suck at running, and I didn’t want to be the absolute last person crawling over the finish line. Well, that and the fact that by the time I DID cross the line, all the massage people were booked for the rest of the afternoon.

Waiting in the waves...

I waited with Josh on the pool deck before his heat took off. He had a case of the first-tri jitters. You can’t fault him for that – I remember my first time, and I was there completely by myself. I kept telling him that things would start feeling right somewhere in the swim, since there always comes a point where you stop worrying and concentrate on the race ahead of you.

He was starting with a pretty cool group of people. The race director was flying along and starting people early, so I headed back to the hotel to get into my tri-suit and make sure I was psyched up for the race.

I got back to the pool, and they were already two waves away from mine. I guess it was a good thing that I didn’t decide to go back to the hotel and nap until the time we were assigned.

The Swim…

That's how I finish the swim so fast... I walk on water... pretty cool party trick, eh?

Since the guy with the ten minute seed time never showed up, it was just me and this other kid splitting a lane. Little did I know that I was about to have my ass handed to me, in the swim leg, by a 15 year old. Well, by a body-length or so. I jumped into the pool and let him take the start. Their timing system is such that they had to start each person manually instead of doing a mass start. I let him go first, then, 5 seconds later, I was on my way.

I passed him pretty quick, and was leading him most of the way. Somewhere around 750m he passed me, and kept just out in front of me. He got out one body-length ahead of me – and he took first place in the swim. The kicker was that I took third. So, somewhere in one of the other heats, someone crept in with a time that was right around half a body length, if that makes much sense.

I was pushing the last 200 to keep up with the kid. I think that’s part of what undid me, because my bike was down in average MPH from where it normally is. I finished the swim at 14:44.

The Bike…

Disguised as "Aero"

I got through the transition area okay. I decided to have my shoes already clipped in, and since we had to pass over a gravel pathway on the way to the road, I carried my bike out. The MC said “And there’s Dustin coming strong out of the transition area, trying not to trash his bike, there.” Well, I wouldn’t want to trash the service course tires I was using. Wouldn’t do well to have a flat on the course.

I started out okay, but I was pretty winded from the swim. I got to the first turn, and I knew better, but for some reason the guy directing traffic was pointing down the wrong raod. And I went down the wrong road.

He called after me and I got turned around – but I almost ate concrete executing a sharp turn. I got up on the right road and headed down toward the little muni airport. Those easy false flats turned out to be a bigger pain in the ass than I originally thought. It wasn’t that they were steeper than we’d thought, it was that they were drawn out longer, and we were in a car when we checked them out. Also, the first hill at the end of the false flats was a lot steeper, and a lot longer than I had originally guessed. Guess that I shouldn’t overestimate these things.

I got up to Hwy 285 and turned toward the hill. At first I was thinking that this was going to be a nice drop, but I got about a quarter of the way down and decided differently. It was a long, sloping curve next to a huge drop-off, the only thing between me and 400 feet down was a guard rail. I got to that point where I was going too fast for the odometer to pick up the magnet, so I didn’t know how fast I was going (just that it was somewhere over 40). Then the front wheel – which was one of my Hed 3’s – started to wobble pretty bad. It got worse when I tried to creep up my aero bars to rest on the main bars. I had to break before I could get off the bars, and by the time I got to that turn, I probably ground my pads down like a set of used erasers. It was pretty intense.

Good morning Aethon...

Right at the turn there was another hill which was straight. This one I just let myself go and let the bike do it’s thing. The back half of the course was either flat or slightly down hill, which made it a breeze. There was a hill about three quarters the way through the loop, but it was short – probably an elevation gain of no more than 200 feet. It was the most steep incline in the set.

On the second loop, I passed by Sean. I gave him a key to my car so he could go on the course and take photos. Turns out that he wasn’t able to get any from the bike leg because he got turned around and ended up on the wrong part of the mountain. Other than that, the second loop was pretty uneventful.

I took 15th place overall in the bike, maintaining an average of 18.6 MPH – which is down from the 5430. I think it was because I went out so hard in the swim. My time was 1:20:48. Josh came in right at 1:20:30, which was pretty good. He stated that his goal was to beat me, even though this was his first triathlon. I told him that he should just enjoy the race, and make his goal to finish – but he insisted. I said that now my goal was to not get beat. And it was so.

Josh’s normal run time came down, though, and I think he fried his legs in the bike portion of the race.

The trot…

I so hate running. One thing I don’t like are triathlon courses that are on a loop. It’s just a bit of a kick in the butt when you know in your head that you have to do it again. I like new scenery. I like one loop or out and back runs. Thankfully, this race was an out and back run, and there was plenty of spectacular scenery to boot.

My T2 time was pretty high, but my T2’s are always a bit longer because I have to swap my orthotics from my bike shoes to my running shoes, and that always takes a few extra seconds. That, and this race I had a knee brace to put on to keep my ACL from becoming a bastard half way through. I got out on the course, and the first thing I notice was that there were a lot of people coming in already. Even those who were numbered in the high 80’s and even some in the 90’s. (These people started closer to where I did.)

A mile and a half in, I passed Josh, who was coming in on his last mile and a half. We had a brief exchange, but we both kept going. With this course, you concrete path, then pass through part of Salida’s historical district, which was a pretty neat area. Take the bridge over the Arkansas river, and then you had to cross a field with all sorts of train tracks. It takes you to this gravel road that you have to stay on for two or three miles, and it seems someone who designed the course has a twisted sense of humor. There’s a nice, big hill right smack in the middle of the run. Thankfully, there was an aid station at the top.

At least what goes up must come down, and that part of the run was the nicest. A little wind in your hair, some breeze over your shoulders. I passed Sean again, this time going back over the train tracks into the city.

I noticed that there was a girl who was about two football fields behind me for the last two miles. Slowly, as we got closer to the finish line, she edged closer and closer. I was just trying to keep a jogging gait, and my knee was starting to ache again. Finally, a hundred or so meters from the finish line, I hear this girl behind me break into this mad sprint. I’m sitting there thinking, shit, I didn’t come this far to be passed at the end of the race.

Yarrrrrgh!

As much as it hurt, I broke into a sprint. At this point, if she would have passed me, I would have let her have it – but I wasn’t going to make it easy. We were shoulder and shoulder for a while, and I used everything I had in my tired legs to pull forward in the last fifty feet to the finish line. Little lady gave me a run for my money, that’s for sure.

My running time was nothing at all special. 1:03:37 – a ten minute mile. I was ranked 51 – which is half-pack, really. Total time of 2:42:52, ranked 15th for males, 22nd overall.

Looked much worse on the back of the knee.

When I took of my leg brace, Sean pointed out that it had scratched the hell out of the back of my leg. Next time, I’m getting a stabelizer without velcro straps. Ouch. That’s a bad place to have velcro-burn.

I hammered down two turkey wraps and some almond butter. Kinda cursed my luck that all the massage people were tearing down to leave. My legs could have used the attention.

While we were sitting there eating, they started handing out age group awards. I was a little surprised that my name was called. I got second place in my age group! I wasn’t even expecting it, since I don’t ever win age group events in triathlon. Josh won a raffle for some gift certificates to an alcohol store in Salida.

And this brings us to Triathlon Tip # 1023: proper disposal of Gel packets. When you are done with them – find a trash can in which to throw them away. Do not put them in the pocket on the back of your racing suit.

The last little bit of gel leaked out of the packet and I found that my suit was stuck to my butt. It was entertaining for a moment, but not fun while you’re trying to clean up your transition area.

We packed up the car, and while Sean watched the bikes, I got to hit the showers at the rec center. Went and got gassed up, stopped and picked up some snacks, and got lost in Salida trying to find the darn liquor store. Josh’s swag included Buttershots, Sour Apple Pucker, and a bottle of wine.

The lost city of South Park… City…

Jiving m00se

On our way home we were passing through South Park. We missed our chance to take a picture with the welcome sign going through the first time, so we decided that if we had time, we were going to stop on our way back. Josh spotted a sign for Java Moose coffee, and of course we had to stop there. Well, I made Sean stop there. (He was driving…)

We also saw a little clothing store called the Crazy Salt Licking Goat. We each bought a shirt there so we could have it for the picture. Here are a few snap-shots…

Relative of mine?

Goin' down to South Park...

... Gonna have myself a time...

We had a few people honking at us while we were set up on the side of the road trying to take the South Park photo, but it was fun. These are the sorts of excursions that make these little road trips so much fun.

On the way back, Josh decided that he wants to do this one next year. It’s a pretty good triathlon, and I wouldn’t mind doing it, either. Sean wants to do this one, too. So long as he doesn’t hurt his back again, I’d say it’s on like Donkey Kong! (Oh, and I convinced Josh he should do the Boulder IronMan with me next year. We are both officially signed up. Guess that’s a big enough poke in the sides… better start training. Heh.)

This was a great triathlon put on by a very cool small community. Even though it’s not USAT sanctioned, I definitely think it’s worth the drive. It was a LOT of fun. Next year, I anticipate much the same. Squee!

m00se

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I mentioned before that the triathlon season is drawing to a close. Unfortunately, here in Colorado we don’t have the luxury of having a year round training season like they do in Californialand. But I do have one final farewell hoorah for the 2009 season coming up. This weekend is the Tenderfoot Triathlon in Salida, an Olympic distance that I’m entirely unfamiliar with.

Then again, swim season is just starting for the winter, and COMSA will be here sooner than anyone thinks. We also have this swim meet the team is hosting in October, which should be fun.

Last night I got the first part of my P90x kit together – the pull-up bar. Man, seems like a good way to break your butt if you’re not careful. I can just see that thing sliding off the door frame, and I’d be flat on my duff. The one thing I wasn’t able to find that I thought would be easy was a set of resistance bands. Not just one, but a set. I checked both Wally*World and Tar-zjey, but neither one had what I was looking for, and it lead me to believe that perhaps exersize equipment should probably be purchased from a sporting goods store. Perhaps I should see what sort of goods Dick is sporting… erm… I mean… I should probably check out Dick’s Sporting Goods.

(So easy to set that joke up, and it never gets old. *Ba-Dum-TISH*)

Disney gets Marvel for a cool $4-bil

(Insert Novel of Discontent Here.)

Tiny librarians…

Once in a while I stumble on something that shows just how odd, fascinating and/or fun this world can be at times. Something that just goes to show that someone upstairs has a sense of humor. This week, a nice juxtaposition on the stresses of a normally quiet, mouse-like existence. (Yes, mouse, not moose.)

When most people think of librarians, one would think the silver-haired lady behind the counter with her glasses sitting at the end of her nose, and the chain resting delicately about her shoulders. As she whisks you down the isles in search of that latest Twilight book you’ve been looking for, the glasses swing freely – as if liberated just for a moment – from her neck. Then, she shushes some random boisterous library patron, and goes back to cataloguing her books by Dewy Decimal.

Uh… This librarian is known as MegaBeth, and she’s into Roller Derby.

Remind me not to mess with any librarians in the near future. This is your Monday Minute on Tuesday, and if you’re not quiet in the library, this lady’s gonna make sure you get m00sed.

Anon down St. Vrain

Holy cow-rap -- what an intense weekend. Well, not in the way that one would expect, but sitting here at the coffee shop, a little after six, on an idle Wednesday afternoon, it’s just hard to believe that the 2009 5430 Long Distance triathlon has already come and gone -- and I’m officially half of an IronMoose… erm… IronMan.

Only my third triathlon and it was a doozie. I really do have a new appreciation and respect for people who can finish the IronMan series races in the six hour range, because, well, you can’t be human! Skynet called -- they wan’t their T-100’s back.

Thursday and Friday… and maybe Saturday.

Ah, taper week, my love! I took Thursday and Friday off of work so I could take care of some errands and relax -- just get away from the job stress and focus on what would have to be accomplished on race day. I did intend on cleaning house a bit, but I didn’t get much around to it. Oh, well.

I did get some laundry done, and I somehow managed to finish the fourth season of being cracked out of my mind… erm… I mean the fourth season of Stargate SG-1. (Josh has been kind enough to let me borrow them, season by season.)

Thursday, after a long, exhausting day of playing Sims 3, Josh and I went to the park to do some riding. I needed to test out the disc wheel for riding dynamics -- just get a feel for it and determine if I wanted to race with that or the HED 3 rear wheel. The wind kicked up a little bit due to an afternoon storm, so I got to feel what it might be like if there was a little breeze out on the course. It wasn’t really any different than fighting with the HED, so I thought that the disc would provide some good aerodynamics for downhill inertia. (Boy, was I right!)

While we were out, I passed right by KBoss, who is one of the editors at the company where I work. She had Thursday off, but I didn’t hear her call my name.

Friday I did some shopping before my nieces birthday party. I got a new tri-suit with a thicker chamois and a fuel belt. Went from the bike shop on to Lady Bug’s party -- she’s four this year. She decided she wanted a pool party, so I spent most of the time in the water keeping track of her and my 5 year old nephew.

For someone who was supposed to be resting, I was throwing kids around in the pool, swimming around, and trying to teach my oldest nephew (I call him either Tiger or Bud) how to do butterfly. After that, I took Monster (the middle nephew) to the playground, where he, and the rest of the kids, pulled me around, climbed on me, hung off my arms and legs, and drained the rest of my batteries. Better than any other workout I’d get. I wish I had their kind of energy for a race! Where does it all come from!?

Saturday I had team counsel meeting with the swim team, and then I had to jet to the rez so I could get to the mandatory pre-race meeting. Same old stuff. Rules, regulations, and course information. Got to pick up my packet, got a 12 pack of hammer gels, some magnesium supplements, and a gel bottle. Ran into Andy and Patrick from the team, and we went to a place in downtown Boulder called Proto’s Pizza. They didn’t have chicken, so I got a pesto and spinach pie. Pretty good stuff, if you’re up that way. Check them out!

Got back in time to take Argos to training. Of course, he would only listen to the class instructor. Little turd. After that, went home, got shaved down, packed for the race, and I was in bed by 10:30.

Race Day

Ugh. Four in the morning is too early for anyone to wake up. For some reason, my roommate was still awake. I took a quick shower, got dressed, had a pre-race meal, let the dog out, loaded the car and for some reason, I recorded this (updated, so you can actually hear the audio):

So, I sound like a tool when I wake up. Scatter-brained. No starbucks opened, so I wouldn’t be able to get my morning cup of coffee. Epic sad. And to make matters worse, transition opened at 5:00, and that’s exactly when I was hitting the road. Half way to Boulder, I realised that I forgot to get a can of spray-on sunscreen. I called Patrick to see if I could borrow some of his -- he was already there with everyone else, and I was just turning off I-25 onto 36.

I wasn’t the last one there, thankfully. Traffic going into the rez was a mess, and it took me almost ten minutes to get to my parking spot due to traffic. There were people riding in on their bikes from Boulder, transition bags on their backs. That’s one good way to do it! I got my bottles filled at the car, got my bike together, tires checked, stickers and race numbers on the bike, and headed toward the transition area.

Got my body numbers just as the sun was starting to come up. Walked into the transition area and heard one of the workers call out that we had only ten minutes left until the transition area closed. Crap. Took me a moment, but I found a spot in the Wave 8 area (it was almost completely full), and I had to throw my transition area together at the speed of light. I was starting to freak out a little, because I thought I was forgetting something. Something just… eating at the back of my mind.

“30 SECONDS! PLEASE MAKE YOUR WAY OUT OF THE TRANSITION AREA!”

Did a once-over and everything seemed to be together just fine. Walked out and realised that 1) I was still wearing my street-clothes and 2) I was carrying my transition bags. (Usually, I would store all my crap in my transition bags and leave them behind my bike, so I wouldn’t have to worry about it during the race.) I wasn’t even in my wetsuit yet, and I still felt like I was forgetting something.

I met up with the team, since Andy said we should meet up behind the stage and watch the pro/elite wave take off. When I found them, Patrick was saying that the timing chips that we were wearing around our ankles reminded him of those angle tracking anklets that they give to prisoners on house arrest. That was it. I forgot my timing chip.

After some pictures, Andy took me to one of the Boulder Triathlon teams tents, which he practiced with after work from time to time, and we left my bag with them. It would have been better than walking the half mile back to the car to store it (because I would have had to walk half a mile back to it to change, and I would have been too exhausted after the race to be running around all over the place.) Then I borrowed some sunscreen from the team -- from the industrial sized tub of it they had -- and the numbers on my arms -- put there in permanent marker -- rubbed clean off. Not even a trace!

When I went back to get my timing chip, I had one of the ladies re-mark my arms, then I was good to go. (The numbers came off again in my wet-suit during the swim. Bleh.)

And so it began…

I’m all for taking a refreshing dip in a lake at half-seven in the morning, especially after tossing and turning all night long and waking up at 4. No -- I’m serious. It wakes you up, and I knew that this was going to be the best part of my race. (And I was right. I was ranked 100 in the swim out of 1134 athletes. Top 9% baby, YEAH!)

I got back to the beach about fifteen minutes before my wave. I had my wetsuit half on, and I was looking for Patrick since we were in the same wave. The sun was shining right back toward the beach, and from where I was standing, I could see the people in the orange wave taking off. But the orange caps looked red from where I was standing. So there I was, standing far up on the beach with my wetsuit half on, thinking crapples! My heat’s leaving without me!!

It was a good thing that another red wave person walked by me just then, or I would have felt like a real dumbass — running down the beach, pulling on my suit, and starting in the wrong wave.

I warmed up a few laps, then found Patrick standing in the shallows. He was shivering pretty bad since he wasn’t wearing a neoprene wetsuit. There was only one wave ahead of us, and they were just about on their way out the gate when I found him. Purple heat took off, then the reds took up position at the starting line. Man -- that pit of adrenalin. Wished Patrick good luck, counted down with the crowd, and took off at the front of the line.

There are some aggressive swimmers out there. I got smacked upside the head a time or two… elbowed… shoved… kicked in the chest.

Man, I LOVE open water swimming. It’s so much fun, and full contact freestyle aside, I was really digging this swim. I went out good, I was keeping ahead of the pack, and most of all, I was feeling really good. Never even really got tired, and I could have pushed myself harder, but I wanted to save energy for the rest of the race. Looking back now, I really wish I would have picked it up — with my ACL acting up in the run, I didn’t have much of an endurance issue after T2 until the last 3 miles of the race. I swam the mile in 26 before, and if I could have made the whole 1.2 miles in the very low 24’s (VERY low) I would have ranked first in the swim.

Notice: Left arm behind me reaching for the zipper strap, and the darn thing is wrapped around my right arm. Behind me: the guy I was pacing with.

By the time I got back to the beach, I was in a mixed crowd of purple, pink and orange wave swimmers. I think I was fourth in my wave to leave the water. Me and this other red-cap were really racing after the last turn, since we paced almost the whole way around the lake. My goal was to get a body between me and him. I hit the beach first, but he was the smart one and ran into transition, whereas I walked up the beach trying to find the strap for my zipper on the wetsuit. I lost about 20-30 seconds there, and lost one place because of it.

But, then again, I wasn’t there to be seriously competitive. My only goal was to go at a comfortable pace and finish the race. That’s it.

The Bike

Got into the transition area, got my wetsuit off quick enough. Threw on my Aero helmet, my glasses, and my socks, grabbed Aethon, and out of T1 I ran. I had my shoes clipped on the bike already, so I got to the mounting line and slipped in.

You could always hear when someone with a disc wheel was about to pass you. It’s funny, they kind of give off a noise like a car, for some reason, except it’s kind of unique. Speaking of discs, one lady said she loved my wheel as I passed her up. I don’t think you’d be able to tell what the design was as it was spinning, but the red is set to match the rest of the bike.

The first portion of the ride was like any other ride I’ve done in Boulder over the last few weekends. Nothing really changed other than I was a little more fatigued than usual, and I was holding back to conserve some of my energy. One thing we didn’t do when practicing was do the right part of the course on the back half of the loop. Going down St. Vrain, we’d always turn right at 65th street, instead of 75th. My guess is that in previous years they’ve done 65th instead, because they used to loop back in toward the rez, turn around and start over. This year, they went down 75th, which eventually turns into 73rd, then turned in on a side road toward IBM for half a mile, and turned back around and continued on. This new straight was nice because it was all flat. The road into the rez is a little on the hilly side, and the last little bit is murder on tired legs.

The bike rode like a dream, and I didn’t have any issues with it other than the speedometer setting. (Not even a flat tire!) After about 20 or so miles, it stopped taking speed, but did fine with cadence. This is why I really need a Garmin of some sort. Satellite telemetry to tell your location and how fast you’re going? Heck yeah! Oh, and speaking of St. Vrain…

Vrrrrroooommm!!

Don’t kill me, Mom -- but I got a ways over 44 MPH on the hill the first time down. There’s that pesky inertia thing again. Before we went down the second part of the hill, I had to slow down both times. The first time, where I was going over 44 (that’s where my wheel was spinning so fast, that the speedometer couldn’t pick up the magnet, and went from 44, to 23, to 7, to 3 then to 0), the front wheel started to get a little bit of a wobble to it. Did not want. The second I was getting too close to the person in front of me, and I didn’t want a drafting penalty.

I started to come through for the second lap, and Doston (who was supposed to be doing this race but mysteriously wasn’t) was taking pictures of our swim team members in the race. I was starting to feel it, though. I fried my legs a bit on the first six miles of the second loop on the false flats, and I was starting to falter a bit. Not quite to the point of bonking, but I was really feeling it. (It always felt good to grab a fresh water bottle and down it while passing the aid stations. But man, I had to pee so bad by the time I got into the run.)

After fifteen or twenty miles, you really do fall into a pack. I noticed that I was playing leapfrog with the same ten or so people for the rest of the bike leg. Of course we’d pass other people, and get passed by quicker racers (the elites were just finishing their second lap and passing me just as I was turning in toward the IBM turn-pin on my first lap. Sheesh, those guys are crazy fast!) I passed a clydes or two, which got me to thinking that in this particular race, perhaps I should have raced in the Clydesdale division. I wasn’t going to win anything in the age group category…

I got to the third aid station (the pirate themed one) and I yelled out for a gatorade. She wasn’t able to get the seal off in time, and she said she couldn’t as I passed. I didn’t think it would be a huge deal at all. (The had run out of the regular water bottles for gatorade, and were handing out the plastic bottles with the drink spouts. Well, not only do they have the plastic seal, for your protection, they also have a freshness seal INSIDE the bottle. So I was trying to drink, and nothing was coming out. I couldn’t get the flap up, so I was going down the road, tucked in aero position, trying to gnaw the darn seal off this bottle. Took me a while, but I got it off… AND a healthy splashing of orange endurance formula gatorade all over my face and arms. Ugh. Fun.

By the end, my lower back was starting to ache. I think I need to invest in a better seat, as well -- the one I have isn’t really doing it for me, and it’s not entirely comfortable after 35 miles. The last eight miles was where I was really starting to question weather or not I would be ready for an IronMan by November of 2010 -- even after doing a triathlon series with a half included over the preceding summer. (Looking at it now, I still kind of figure I’m crazy in the head.)

Running on shaky legs

I took my time when I came back into transition. It took me a bit to find my spot again, as there wasn’t this big honkin’ red bike to flag me down like a road flare. Sat down, had a gel, took some magnesium suppliments, and moved my orthotics from my cycling shoes to my running shoes. Got my race number belt on, then my fuel belt.

On a side note, if I may: Why in the world doesn’t FuelBelt integrate a race number bib clip on any of their products? People DO wear them for races, so it would make sense to add the ability to hold your race number so you didn’t have to wear two separate belts on the run! Just a thought.

Coach Hawks (behind me in the green shirt).

ANYway. I was leaving T2, and I heard someone call my name. Well, they called the name I used to go by when I was younger. I figured I heard my brother in law, but when I looked, I saw my high school swimming coach standing right next to the gate! Still don’t know why he was there, or who he was there for, but that really did put some wind in my sails for the first part of the run. Endurance races are a mental game, so every little bit of encouragement helps a lot.

I put myself into a nice, steady pace -- just to run as far as I could without having to walk. I was being passed by… well… everyone. I don’t think I ever actually passed anyone. (There was a guy with some hip pain on the last leg, but we were doing the whole leap-frog thing…)

After I got between the second and third aid station, about four or so miles in, something in my knee started acting up. I was still feeling strong, other than that. I’d been having these knee pains for the last two or three months whenever I run, but they hadn’t been this persistent. The second time it happened, I had to hobble back to the car. This time, I just worked through it the best I could.

On the back half of the loop was the ONLY porto-potty on the whole running course, and like I said before, I really had to pee. I had to wait in line for ten minutes before I could get in. I think this pit-stop took about 15 minutes off my total time. (Next time, I think I’ll stop at one of the restrooms on the bike course, since two out of the four stations have one.)

My ACL was progressively getting worse. The strange thing was that if I would slow to a walk, it would hurt more than if I was to keep a slow pace, but I needed to let it recover a bit ever so often. It wasn’t an endurance issue with this race, it was a knee issue. Blast it all!

Passed the starting line for my second lap, heard Doston cheering again. Jogged through the area so it at least LOOKED like I was doing something to all the spectators. Something really odd happened, though. I got to the one mile marker sign, and even though you’ve already gone seven and a half miles, you’re sitting there looking at this sign… and for some reason I was like… awwwww… man. This is where it was turning into a mental game, because it felt like I was just passing the first mile and the rest were for naught.

I kept my chin up and kept psyching myself up. Thought about all the people at home who said they’d be thinking about me, and there was my second wind, beit a pain in the knee sorta wind. Andy passed me up. He left waves before I did in the swim, and I passed him going out on the bike. Seems like all that distance I put between me and anyone else in the race was closing fast. He did great, though.

Then, Patrick passed me. My knee was really starting to get the better of me. People along the course were really supportive, though. It was nice having the people at the aid stations cheering you on and keeping you going. I was alternating water and gatorade by station, every third I would get a gel. I got ice where I could and iced my knee when I really needed to stop, dumped the rest down my suit to try and lower my temperature a bit.

Consequently: don’t unstrap your fuel belt and try to readjust it when you have ice hanging out in the front of your suit.

I got past the porto-potty, and started feeling a little fatigued. I had four more miles to go, and I was a mile away from the next station, so I decided to break into one of my own gel packs that I was carrying. It was the first time I needed to use one of my own, since they had them so readily available on the course. I made a stupid mistake. I was already starting to feel like I was going to hurl. The heat was stifling, and the gels were warm from being up against my body the whole race. I pulled one out of the pocket, tore it open and took it down. I don’t even remember buying one that was coffee flavored, but that’s what I got. After almost gagging on it, I forced it down with the last few drops of water on my fuel belt, and kept on going. I still had that feeling, but I was running along feeling like I was about to hurl a cup of coffee all over the footpath.

And I had coffee burps the whole rest of the way.

At the finish line.

The last two miles were really hell. I wanted to run it all the way, just to say I did. “Come on, Dustin! You can do this!” I kept thinking to myself. But with the knee, I was stopping every quarter of a mile to walk about a hundred feet, then starting the run again. There are so many times on the last two or three miles I just wanted to give up and walk. Then again, hell, I was determined to finish the damned thing, and I was going to give my everything.

I got to the concrete. Last quarter of a mile. Closer and closer. Finally, the finish line was in sight, and that’s where I really started picking up the pace (but not my feet, I guess.) There’s a small surge of emotion when you cross the line your first time, where you’re sitting there thinking holy crap! Did I just do a 70 mile race?!

I found John right after I finished. He had just taken a quick dip in the rez, and it didn’t sound like a bad idea at all. I put my belts, shoes and glasses with my transition bag, and I took a quick swim to get washed off a little. Man, I really felt like I was going to barf. I went back to the bag, put my clothes on, and went to the food area. I got two slices of watermelon, a banana, a little carton of Athlete’s Honey Milk, and half a vegetarian Qdoba burrito. Man, food has NEVER tasted so good as it did at that moment. Literally, I was famished!

Got loaded up, and headed for home. Man, I was just sore all over the place. Just drained. (In a good way, of course.)

Later on in the afternoon, we had a potluck dinner with the swim team -- which was really awesome. Everyone brought such awesome food, and I was still really hungry. I had JP look at my knee, since he does acupuncture and works on sports injury. This is where I found out that the pain in my knee was in my ACL. I think I’m going to see Dr. Dan in the next two weeks or so, then have JP do a treatment on it and see if I can’t get it back to feeling normal.

Overall, I felt pretty good about the race. It’s really a life experience I would suggest that anyone try at least once. Even if you don’t do well, at least you can tell people you did it and finished, and most people can’t fathom doing a race at that distance.

821’st place out of 1134 athletes. Ranked 67th in my age group (darn knee).

Swim: 31:13 -- Ranked 100 -- top 9%

Transition: 2:36

Bike: 2:54:13 -- Ranked 585 -- Avg. 19.3 MPH

Transition: 2:53

Run: 2:58:55 -- Ranked 996 -- Run pace: Continental Shift (erm… I mean 13:40 Minute mile)

Total time: 6:29:51

Goal for Boulder IronMan 70.3

Next year, when I do this thing again, I think I’d like to take at least an hour and 15 minutes off my time. I would like to be ANYWHERE UNDER 5:15:00, which means I’d have to bring my running pace to around an 8 minute mile, and boost my average bike speed to the low-mid twenties. I think I also want to go out quicker in the swim, and try to rank in the top 3%, or do better than 25th place in the water. (This calls for a plan of action!)

I think I want to plan this race out a lot better, as well. Nutrition and goals are a good thing to have for a race like this, and I hope I’m in better shape to be able to do it all.

Sorry for the novel, if you read this far. Check out the gallery below. Cheers!

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From Mark’s Daily Apple:

So what is the deal with weekend warriors, otherwise fit people who haven’t trained specifically for a marathon, or at least haven’t trained enough, jumping head first into this taxing and demanding physical feat? Even Lance Armstrong after completing the New York City marathon in 2006 in just under three hours said, “that was without a doubt the hardest physical thing I have ever done.” And this is Lance Armstrong people. You know the guy. He’s the 7 time Tour de France winner and arguably one of the greatest athletes in recent history. If Lance thinks it’s tough, the weekend warrior will undoubtedly be sobbing like a baby at the finish line (assuming he or she makes it to the finish line and is hydrated enough to even produce tears).

You can read the full article here. It’s worth some serious consideration if you’re thinking about doing a serious endurance event.

You’ve just been moosed.

Who let the old-school dog out?

Finally got a hoof up on my Stargate Trailer, and I’m ready to submit it for a critique. I haven’t done a stand-alone promotion at work for two months now, and I’m in “image” mode – those being commercials for our station that feature several movies that we’re playing that month. Working at HDNet Movies messes up my schedule a bit, in the fact that we work roughly two months ahead, and right now I’m running around thinking it’s somewhere between July and August.

Don’t ask me for the date. If your life depended on that little tid bit of information, you’d be screwed.

I don’t usually talk about work, or how cool my job is. I’m lucky that they let people bring their dogs to work, so I don’t have to leave Argos at home. Not to mention, I get to be creative. My only down-swing is moving to the day shift. When I started, I was a night time editor, and I had days for training. Now that I’m on days, I’m still trying to figure out how to get my body adjusted to waking up at 5:30 AM to go run.

Speaking of running, my friend Brandi got back to me on a running schedule. Funny thing is that I coach her in swimming, since I’m a fill-in coach for the Squids, and she coaches me in running, since she’s far better at it. The plan looks straight forward, and now I’ve got some basis for my calendar. She says not to do much gym work as far as weights, but I need to go in for more core, back, and arm / slash / chest stuff. I don’t really need to do weights, but man, I still need to rip some abs.

Talked to Daphne on Tuesday night. She’s the girl I’d be going to Arizona with, and it seems like we’re totally both on board for this thing. Go check out that course, meet some new people. I haven’t done a fun road trim in quite a long while. She’s doing a hundred miles on Sunday, and I think I’d like to get in a good distance ride like that. We’ve also got one of the other guys on the team considering the IM, as well.

To quote Martha Stewart: It’s a good thing.

Trying to decide weather or not I want to do a long course swim meet this weekend.

I’m still looking for a good training log software. So far, I can’t find a single thing that would suit my needs. I want graphs and features, damn it! I could make my own, but unfortunately, file maker pro doesn’t support graphs, and I don’t have the time to sit down and figure out the PHP required to put together a site of this caliber right now. (I’ve thought about it – making a website with very exclusive and comprehensive workout tools…) Oh. (And I might just, yet.)

Always so many projects going on it gets overwhelming. Too bad I can’t will myself to clean the house.

Erm… YAY FRIDAY. That is all.

m00se

Vlog on the way.

• Swim
  • Time: 12:01.9
  • 19th Place (4th without the Pro / Elite wave)
  • Open Water, .75 Miles
• Transition 1
  • Time: 1:35.5
  • 40th Place
• Bike
  • Time: 48:23.2
  • 62nd Place
  • Avg. 18.6 MPH
  • Distance: 15 Miles
• T2
  • Time: 1:21.7
  • 83rd Place
• Run
  • Time: 32:36.9
  • **cough cough ninety** 9th Place (99th)
  • Avg. 8 Min Mile
  • Distance: 4 Miles
  • Little girls that passed me on the run: All of them.
• Final Time
  • 1:35:56.2
  • Overall Place: 58th
  • Age Group Place: 5th
• Total
  • Athletes: 117
  • Disqualified: 3
  • Pro / Elite Athletes: 15

Actually, I can’t say that I was embarrassed by the triathlon. This years goal was to finish, and next year will be to beat my first time. I had a lot of fun with this race, and now I know what I need to work on in order to do better — mainly running. Cool thing is that one of the girls on the swim team told me that she’d help me work on my run technique. And I started running a bit this week. By now, I should be up to 90 minute runs on my heavy days. Jeebus, I need to get with it.

My goal for next year:

• 40 Seconds off my swim – I could have done this had I not been veering off to the right on the starting leg. But otherwise, not bad for my first open water competitive swim.
• 4 Minutes off my bike – I’d like to maintain a 20 MPH pace or better. I was OK with this result, but I could have pushed myself much faster.
• 7-8 Minutes off my run – maintaining a 6 minute mile or better.