Nature Coast Twilight Triathlon

I did another triathlon this weekend - this time I had to race with the big boys - and by big boys, I meant the clydes..haha

This is my last time I could race clyde - I will be under weight any day now.

Full report to follow

The Crystal River Triathlon

So I did my first triathlon. My nemesis was the swim. I feared the swim. I wasn't looking forward to the swim. I gave up my lunch hour for the past month and swam laps at my gym every day instead of having lunch at the regular spots. Did it pay off?

here is a pic of me coming out of the swim. all the people with orange hats are in my group. There were 11 people in my class as you can see in this picture that I came out of the water in great shape.



I was in disbelief when I came out of the water. I thought that all the people in my group had left me in the dust. When I turned around to see most of them behind me I started thinking to myself "I can do this. I might get a top five finish and get on the podium." After all, I just want to finish my first TRI (anybody that knows me knows this is a complete lie...I am way too competitive to ever be satisfied with only finishing.)

I moved to the transition T1 with confidence. I had practiced T1 and T2 plenty over the past 2 weeks and had it down. The bike and the run were both out and backs which means you can see how far behind or ahead you are when you pass you competition on the way back. I wanted to use the bike, my best of the three legs of the race to maybe build enough lead to hold off 5 people on the run. The first 7.5 miles was easy and I held my form and didn't bury myself trying to go too hard. I got to the turnaround and then headed back. I had did it. I opened up a decent gap and was feeling good about getting on the podium. There was only one rider close to me. I put my head down and concentrated on spinning and keeping pressure on the pedals the entire way around and not just pushing and burning out the quads...I have a run coming up and want to leave something in the tank. As I rounded the corner for T2 I heard my Mom, Larry, My wife and Chris (CPARider) cheering me on. Yes this does help having family there to support me. My mother carted me around to every sport you could imagine for years and I owe tons to her for always being there. I finally let her make a sign and scream "That's My Boy"...haha. It was special. I shot to T2 knowing I had to just keep my head and I would get a top 5.






Now all that was left between me and heavy metal was a simple little 5k. I mean how hard could this be...I have done hundreds of these (most of those hundreds where over 2 decades ago..haha) I took off running "What happened to my legs?" they felt like concrete and were cramping. I guess it might be a good idea of practicing running right after getting off a bike. (my friend treadlight told me this several times and somehow it just didn't sink in) I just slowed down and got into a rhythm. I set a slower tempo until my legs would come around.....they never came around. This was a struggle. I had blown up my Quads on the bike. I got to the turn-around and had 1.5 miles left. Now I get to see how close the competition is. Uh oh..I was caught. I had a competitor that had caught me and was only 1/8 a mile behind me. He passed me with about 1/2 mile to go. I was in the middle of a prayer when he passed me as odd as that sounds. I was praying, thanking God for giving me the ability to enjoy a great race like this and for giving me such a wonderful family for showing up to support me. I found my legs again and then strided out toward the finish line. I blew by the guy that passed me and caught him off guard. I heard him say something as I passed him that was not a prayer..haha. It was too late for him to react and he just let me go. I came around that last corner for the last time and felt no pain. I just felt the joy of accomplishment and the wonderful sound of my people cheering loudly for me. Hearing the announcer call my name as I went over the finish line was incredible. "Did I really just do that?" Did I actually finish a TRI? Did I really win? I was on a cloud.




All that was left was picking up the hardware. The young lady wearing khakis, holding the camera that is smiling from ear to ear in the background is my wonderful mother that was happy to see her baby boy making her proud.



now just put it on your neck and start thinking of what is next....I am hooked

The Big O - a 120 mile...I meant 129 mile Journey - Part 2

So the ride ride begins - we get started a little late - 4:30 am

We are trying to beat the heat and get some miles under us before the sun comes up.

the big O part 1 supporting photos

The Big O - a 120 mile...I meant 129 mile Journey around the big circle - Part 1

All the talk and all the prep work was done. There was nothing left to do now but...the ride. This was a 120 mile ride around lake Okeechobee. I get off work at 5pm on Friday. The car was loaded up. My powders and mixes all carefully measured, weighed and put in their proper places. I start on the 3 hour drive to the big O. I touch base with Black Op Rob (the guy that saved my ass on the last two rides I did with him) and the Naked Indian (the madman/genius that put this thing together)and they are on the way as well. Paintboy and son and already there. They are cozy up in a hotel room that is a couple miles from the trail head. R2 (Rob Roberts) and NI (karlos)are going to scout out a place for us to camp out black opps style. I am jamming bad 80s tunes on the radio somewhere around Sebring anxiously awaiting a call from the fellas to tell me where to meat them so we can make camp. the phone finally rings.

"We can't find a place to camp" NI says. "what do you think"

I am thinking to myself "I think we should get an air conditioned hotel room. I am already scared I am not going to be able to complete this ride" After all NI has already tried this ride once before without success and I know that he is a much more seasoned rider than I am.

"I have no idea" I replied.

"we are going to get some dinner" NI said "meet us at (some mexican resteraunt I can't remember the name of"

So as I pull into Okeechobee I remember something that NI told us before this venture started "don't worry, I speak spanish and jive" and from the looks of this place, that is exactly what we needed. This is not beverly hills folks.

I find NI, R2, PB and PB Jr with empty plates of Mexican food and think to myself "was that a good choice of dinner the night before a long long hot ride?"

"So what did you guys figure out for sleeping?" I asked.

"We couldn't find anything so we are going to sleep on Pb's hotel room floor.

I am 42 years old and am thinking that I can't sleep on the floor. There is no way I am going to be able to ride the next day after that.

We go to Publix to get last minute supplies and then head to the hotel.

There is barely enough room on the floor for two guys so I decide to sleep in my car. It is almost approaching midnight by now and we have to get up at 3am to get ready for a 4am start.

I get locked down in my car and then this shady character rolls up on a home made chopper bicycle and starts staring at me and riding around the parking lot. I get scared and grab my bike and go up to the room.

I decide the floor is better than getting robbed.

The guys all get a good laugh out of my run in with the chopper ghetto fab gentleman.

PB offers up his bed and he gets in bed with PB Jr.

NI and R2 seemed more than willing to hop in bed together and give up dome blankets for me to use on the floor.

I fall asleep sort of - it was not comfortable folks laying on that hard ground for 3 hours.

finally some relief...We get our lights turned on and get ready to start what we thought would only be a 120 mile ride around the big O.

1 x 20 push interval from last night

2 1/2 hour ride - did 1 20 minute push interval in the middle trying to keep HR in a pre-determined zone

A week in the life

I have had a lot of people asking me what I do each week. It would be easier for me to just graph it out here.

This is my typical week at a glance:

Sunday:

5 mile run before church easy pace - 600 calories

Recovery ride - 30 miles easy pace 18.9 MPH ave. - 1200 calories

Monday:

500 meter swim before work 300 calories

Gym (after work) 10 minute cardio warm up - Chest, Back and Core 10 minutes cardio cool down 10 minute stretching 506 calories

Tuesday:

500 meter swim before work 300 calories

2 Hour interval bike ride - 34.3 miles 1691 calories

Wednesday:

Gym before work 10 minute cardio warm up - Arms and Core 10 minutes cardio cool down 10 minute stretching 506 calories

1 hour Smooth pedal ride - 20 miles - 942 calories

Thursday:

500 meter swim before work 300 calories

2 Hour interval bike ride - 34.3 miles 1691 calories

Friday:

Gym before work 10 minute cardio warm up - Shoulders and Core 10 minutes cardio cool down 10 minute stretching 506 calories

Saturday:

San Antonio ride - 3 hours of hard hills - 57 miles - 3000 calories


next week - I will show you what the nutrition is looking like

push 10x2 2 hour ride

34 and 2.89 / silly numbers that made me smile today

34 = for the first time since I was 22 years old, I fit into a pair of 34 inch waste pants.

2.89 = I did a 20 minute time trial today (silly doing it today because I did a 4 hour mtb ride this am-but with this weather....I did it anyway) 2.89 was my my 20 minute relative threshold profile reading today - My ave power over the 20 minute effort was 285 watts. I hope to have this over 300 come race season.

So here we are - another follow up to the progress of this journey. I was a bit disappointed looking at the scale and seeing that it had actually gone up a bit. I have been hitting the gym pretty hard in order to build core strength and tone up and make myself better fit. So I got an assessment done at the gym and the results made me happy. I gained 2 pounds on the scale but actually lost 10 pounds of fat since the last body composition analyzation.

So this test was to see where I am overall fitness wise and see where my weakness that I need to work on are.

the scale you see below is out of 100 - so if I scored a 35 that means that out of 100 people my sex, my age, 65 of them would score better than me.

Just as I thought - i still need to work on body fat/BMI. I also need to work on flexability (I knew this going in)

I was, however very surprised at how my VO2max has improved a LOT - it is 4.9l/min which is the best reading I have ever had (49.7 mkm)

I am still right on track to being where I want to be looking toward some races in September.

to all the people that are supporting my effort and helping me out along the way...a HUGE thank you.

before - during - after pics

here are before and during - after pics are a couple months away

Muddy face is a happy face

What a fun ride at oak mountian - the fitness and weight loss is really making a difference in ride quality