2009 is Over :( :(

24Nov09- Incirlik AB Turkey-

Well my season has officially come to an end :( I have ran a few miles since getting back from Florida but I wouldn't really call it running. It has just been for PT(Physical Training) for the class I am in right now. So it has been really low key and not asking to much of my body. Well where do I start...........It has been a heck of a year.......

It was only my second year into Tri/Running and it well with everything in life there is HIGHS and LOWS. This season I had all of that and some, but learned a lot more from the lows than the highs. To recap some of the highs: Qualified for IM 70.3 World Championships in China, Won a few local Tri's on military bases, Won some huge awards in the military and then to the lows........2nd degree burns from IM 70.3 China and a broken right radial in IM 70.3 Germany. The sun burn taught me that sunscreen is very important and well the broken bone taught me that riding on a flat 8 mile loop will not prepare anyone for descending down hills and through corners!

This year I tried to train and race a lot smarter than last year and I think I achieved that. I did however run a marathon on very little training, which I had done last year. That was the one DUMB thing that I did repeat and do again, but I think I have learned my lesson about that. Recovery is 100% harder when you have not properly trained for a race and the body takes a real beating.

Once again this season would not have been possible without some key people: My Family has been great and has supported me 110% this year which has been great, then comes all the friends: Mark, well this year would have not been as great if you would not have shown up to Korea and pushed me through the last couple cold months. Funny thing is out of the whole year Feb/Mar were my biggest training months. Des- Well once again having you as a logistics guy for my last couple months in Korea was awesome! Best of luck in your first IM, go get em in IM Western Australia!! OC- WILDFLOWER WILDFLOWER WILDFLOWER, need I say more. We made the first BBBC reunion a success because we had a reunion, so hopefully this year it grows and it continues to get bigger. All my fellow competitors and fellow triathletes that I have met this year, THANKS for pushing me at all the races around the globe. The best thing about Triathlon is the great athletes and people in the sport, they are the ones that make it awesome!

THANKS AGAIN to everyone that has helped me through this season and HAPPY T-DAY/MERRY X-MAS/HAPPY NEW YEAR to ALL!!

Well 2009 comes to a close and below are two pics off my race results and statistics from the season. I have also put some pics below to recap the HIGHS and the LOWS of the season..........

Click Picture to Enlarge
Click Picture to Enlarge
The Good!
More Good!
The Bad!!
The Ugly!

Race Day in FL- World Championships

14 Nov- Clearwater Beach FL-

Well today was the big day and my last triathlon of the 2009 season. Wow what a year it has been, the year recap will come in a week or two. So the day started out bright and early at 445am with the usual routine. Had a bowl of oatmeal and a cup of coffee and sure enough it took care of the morning business. This year I have been 3 for 3 on taking care of things pre race and not having to stop during the race. It turned out to be a beautiful morning and the weather had really calmed down compared to earlier in the week. Since I was starting in the last wave I took my time to get down to transition area and get the bike setup. So after getting the bike setup myself and my mom headed down to the swim start and was able to catch the pros start, which was really cool.

Once the pros went off we just hung around and watched Eric, Petra, and Gary head out for their swim then I started to get ready. The start was supposed to be a swimmer in the water one after another and then a break in between each wave. Well the start didn’t go as planned and they just kept feeding people into the water so instead of having 1800 people on the course over an hour we were all in the water in 25 minutes. Well what that does is create some big packs on the bike course and a lot of drafting.

Swim- The swim went as expected considering the fact that I have not been able to get in the pool since it closed. Also with the crash in Germany I was not able to swim for 6 weeks. So I expected to swim around 34-37 minutes and sure enough I came out at 35 minutes. The swim course was great minus the first portion due to the fact that it was right into the sun. At the first turn buoy I felt the ground on my swim stroke and was able to stand up which was really weird out in the middle of the harbor.

T1- I felt like I had a great transition and felt really quick. The volunteers were great and really helpful at getting my wetsuit off quickly.

Bike- WOW is all I have to say. I knew the bike would be super fast and had heard that there would be a lot of drafting. Surprisingly through the first 15 miles I thought it was going to be a clean race. I was with a guy for the first 15 miles and we were pacing off of each other and were within a legal distance. At the first U turn onto the freeway I look back and see a pack of about 20 riders 200 meters behind me. So I knew it was going to start happening sooner or later so I slowed up and joined the group. This is when the fun began. For about the first 8 miles the group really didn’t want to push the pace but after that the group got frisky and we took off. Most of the time I would look down and we were above 25mph, at some points we were “cruising” at 30mph. At mile 45 a race marshal finally came along and broke up our group, but by this time it was so narrow on the road that it was hard not to stay in a pack. Overall I felt really strong on the bike and felt like I contributed to our group and helped to push the pace. This might not of been the smartest thing since I beat my legs up pretty good pushing the pace but at least we hammered out a good bike.

T2- Once again I had a quick transition but it would have been about 30 seconds faster if I would not have stopped to pee. I made sure to hydrate well on the bike since it was hot out and was producing quite a bit of sweat and salt.

Run- Well this is where things did not go as planned. I came into the race hoping to run 1:35 but knew it would be hard after an extremely fast and hard paced bike. The other down fall to the run course was that we had to cross a big bridge 4 times and it was steep! So the bridge really took a lot out of my legs the first two times and by the last time just shuffled up the bridge instead of attempting to run. So I came in a little off my goal but was overall very pleased with my run.

Overall I had a great race and was very happy with the results. Only being at the end of my second season and too of just competed in the World Championships makes me feel really good and happy with the success so far. This race was really just to see where I stand in the big scheme of things with a lot of great athletes to compete against. Now that my season is pretty much over it is time to relax and let the body rest from the long season.

Times/Results:

Swim- 35:44 1025^th/1652

T1- 3:11

Bike- 2:16:32 551^st/1652

T2- 3:15

Run- 1:40:46 714^th/1652

Total Time- 4:39:26

Age Group placing- 37^th/55

Overall Placing- 697^th/1652

I also just competed in a Track meet here on base on Wednesday the 18^th. I made sure to recover quickly so that I could try and run a good race against some of the local runners on base. I took an Ice bath right after the race in FL and then got a massage on Tuesday. My legs felt decent considering how hard I pushed on Saturday. Coming up to the line of the track meet I did not think many people would run the mile, it was a pretty small race. Well a lot of people decided to run the mile and I thought I might have had to run hard. I took off out the gate and pushed pretty hard. I stayed in the lead the whole time and out ran 12 other guys and won the mile with a 5:30 mile. Just a small race but it felt good to run a 5:30 4 days after a big race. Now I am on complete recovery for 6 weeks and just started Airman Leadership School, so I really don’t have time to train. We have to do some physical activity 2-3 times a week but it is very minimal.

The harbor that we swam in. Off to the right you can see the start of the pro wave.

Myself and Eric, we raced China together and were both in Korea at the same time.

Myself and Mom at the swim start area.

Brian and myself, he just got out of the Marines and is heading back to school.

Coming out of the water and headed to T1.

Headed out onto the bike course

Hammerin down on the bike.

Headed out onto the run.

Hurting out on the run after the grueling bike ride.

All smiles after the race.

The "crew" from Germany 70.3 (myself, Petra, and Gary).
Headed back to the hotel after the race.

The best post race recover ICE BATH!

Sitting in 1st Class on the plane seeing the best sunset I have ever seen.

Another great shot of the sunset.

Day 4 in FL....

13 Nov 09- Clearwater Beach FL-

Well today was the day of nice short workouts and a lot of logistics. Having to get everything ready to turn in is always a chore. I think next time I race a 70.3 I am going to make a checklist of what goes in the bags so I make sure I don't forget anything. It is pretty simple but still it would be nice to have my own checklist. So in the bike bag goes my helmet and race belt with number on it, pretty simple. The run bag is a little more complicated, having my shoes, socks, watch band, visor and sunglasses. Now what is in the bike bag ends up going in the run bag when I return from the bike. Now you ask about a swim bag? Well there is no swim bag technically. There is a bag that you turn in right before you head out to swim that has all of your morning clothes in it. Then your wetsuit and goggles and cap end up in your bike bag one you put on your helmet and race number.

So after the bags were ready I headed out to turn in everything at the transition area. We also went over and checked out the new swim course. They moved it from the ocean to the harbor due to hurricane Ida bringing some bad surf in. They moved it over for safety and it will make things a little more interesting, swimmers will go off a dock every 2-3 seconds. Hopefully it will spread things out a little more and the bike course will not be so congested.

I also went out for a swim in the morning and a run later on in the day. Breakfast was over at IHOP and was once again great. Tonight I had dinner with an old Air Force buddy and his family right next to our hotel at Shepards, and best yet it was buffet. Now I am just relaxing and finishing up the blog so I can try and get some sleep. They always say race night is the hardest night to sleep but I think I am pretty tired so I shouldn't have a problem. Everything is already to go for tomorrow so I will be getting up around 450am and having a bowl of oatmeal and some bagels. I will have the race day cup of coffee and hope that morning business gets taken care of, that would make 3 for 3 this year, so fingers crossed for that.

Now onto the important stuff. Since this is the World Championships coverage should be great online. Possibly even a live feed all day, so stay tuned to WWW.IRONMANLIVE.COM. The keyword to look for would be "Athlete Tracker" or "Live Feed". My race # is 1554 and age group 18-24.

So now onto the goals:

1. Finish
2. Finish under 5 hours
3. Bike Sub 2:30
4. Run Sub 1:35
5. Finish under 4:45
6. Most importantly have fun and inspire a spectator to race in the future............

This is the World Championships, the best of the best are out here for this race so it will give me an opportunity to see where I stand in only my second year in the sport and set a bar for where I am.

THANK YOU to everyone who has continued to support me this season and who continues to follow the blog.

Below are some pictures from today.

The new swim course.

The new swim start area.

Karen my "valet bike parker" and myself after we setup my transition area.

Day 3 in FL........

12 Nov- Clearwater Beach FL-

Well today was another disappointing day in Florida in terms of weather. Woke up to head out for an early 830 swim and once again the surf was bad and we decided to not swim. So I just walked around Ironman Village and did a little shopping. I got a new bike jersey and a visor along with a bag since the race bag we got with our race stuff was not that great. After doing some shopping I went and checked in and they took down my weight. I will be racing at a whole 170lbs which is 5lbs heavier than China and 10lbs heavier than Germany. So I am thinking that it will equate to more power on the bike but that is a long shot ;) Looking for excuses on why I put on 10 pounds, but it will all work out.

After check in we headed over and had brunch on the beach and I enjoyed some mahi-mahi. After brunch I enjoyed a short nap and then headed out for a 20 mile ride. It was extremely windy but was good to get out on the bike and have the legs moving. Once back from the ride I headed to the Carb Loading Dinner with Petra and Gary. We decided to ride our bikes since it was about 2 miles away. On the way over we got to see the sunset and it was really cool minus the fact of all the clouds. The awards dinner was down on the beach and it was really nice but once again the weather put a damper on the night. It was really windy and cold. However they did mention me in the race introduction. They only talked about a few people and since I am military they had a special Thank You to all the military members. They announced athletes from each branch of service and the Air Force has 4 or 5 members here. It was really cool to here my name announced and the people I was sitting with all clapped and thanked me for my service. Really cool experience and enjoyed it very much. Well it is late and this is the most important night for sleep so I better get to bed since I have an early attempt at a swim tomorrow, weather pending.

The three of us all dressed up and riding our "race" bikes to the dinner.

The awesome sunset. Where the palm trees are is where the dinner was and where the awards banquet will be.

Hanging out at the dinner.

The bike, myself and Petra walking to the dinner on the beach.

Day 2 in FL......

11 Nov- Clearwater Beach FL-

Well Ida is really showing some effects all the way down here in Clearwater. Woke up this morning to go swim @ 0800 and well the ocean sure did not want any swimmers in it. It was really rough and not to pleasant. I wouldn't really call what I did out there swimming, more like just splashing around. It was good to get out and into the rough water just in case it doesn't calm down by Saturday at least I will know what to expect. After the swim I headed over to IHOP to hopefully get what I attempted to order yesterday because I was quite hungry. Below is a picture from breakfast, and it was a breakfast of champions.

After breakfast I headed over to Clearwater Country Club for a round of golf. I figured it was a good way to stay busy and have a little fun on this vacation. It was a decent course and I think the guy hooked me up since it was veterans day. On top of the normal military discount I do not think I got charged for the "rental" clubs. I only pad $38 for 18 holes of golf, I brought my own golf balls but forgot to pack my glove so that was included in the $38. I also brought my golf shoes and some tees to prevent having to buy all kinds of golf stuff. Well planned out and turned out to be a good time.

Once back from the round of golf I decided to head out for a 30 minute run. It was nice and shot and was a great run. I ran out along the city strip and then came back running on the beach. It was funny watching all the "surfers" try and surf on the small waves that were crashing right on the shore. The run ended up being a little over 4 miles and my legs felt really good. After the run I headed out to dinner with Petra and Gary, Gary was also in Germany and is racing on Saturday.

Dinner was good and I have started my carb "loading" process, well actually just an excuse to eat a lot and not feel bad about it. Had a few Blue Moon draft beers and now I am back here just writing this pre race report and going to hit the sack. We plan on swimming around 830 tomorrow and then ride for a little while tomorrow. I also need to check in and get my race bag and then tomorrow night is CARB night and MOM gets into town around 10pm or 11pm.

Myself and Petra getting ready to rough it out on the brutal swim.

The Breakfast of Champions. (2 eggs, 2 sausage, 2 pieces of ham, 2 strips of bacon, hashbrowns, french toast and a big glass of OJ.)

Out on the tee box getting ready to golf.

Riding around in the golf cart, a somewhat relaxing day on the course.

Day 1 in FL....

10 Nov- Clearwater Beach FL-

After 27 hours of flying I finally made it to Florida and got checked into the hotel. Ended up hitting the sack around 3am and was able to get a good 5 hours of sleep in. Some good things about the trip over was that I got charged ZERO dollars for my bike box, cough cough "sports equipment". I tried a new theory this time and packed it with only my bike and wheels and absolutely nothing else. It came in at exactly 41lbs and was 19kg. The lady in Istanbul said you are lucky it is light or else we wouldn't let you take it. I was thinking well what would you make me do with it, leave it here?? So luckily I was not charged and it was checked all the way from Istanbul to Tampa, only had to take it to customs in JFK and that was it. I made sure to get plenty of sleep on the flight over to try and adjust to the time zone. I woke up with about an hour left of the 10 hour flight and the lady sitting across the aisle looked at me and said "I envy you". I was confused at first and then she told me how I was "out" for a good majority of the flight. Well I have had a small cold lately so I took some Nyquil and I am sure that is why I was "OUT".

Day 1 here in FL was a good day. Got up at 830 and went out on a search for Waffle House but could not find one so settled for IHOP. I ordered the "sampler" and the waitress screwed up and brought me something else but it was very similar minus the hash browns, so I received 3 eggs, 2 sausage, 2 french toast, 2 pieces of toast and a big glass of OJ. It was great and held me over for a little while till I met up with an old friend from Seymour Johnson AFB, one of boss's out there who is now a MR. instead of a Capt. We met up and had lunch on the beach and caught up on life and how everything is going. It is one of the nice things about the military is you meet so many people and have friends all over. He lives near Clearwater over in Tampa so we might get together Friday for dinner as well.

After lunch I headed out for my race week "long" ride of 30 miles. It was really windy from the storm up north of us "Hurricane Ida". It has brought some rain and wind down on us. It didn't start raining on me till the last 8 miles of the ride which of course dirtied up the bike, which means I have to clean it again. So I plan to ride on Thursday and then clean it after that. On my ride I spotted a VFW and stopped in to see if they had any hats. Of course they all stared at me like I was crazy. First off I was in my bike gear, spandex and helmet. Then being under 50 and walking into a VFW you stand out like a sore thumb. I picked up two hats from their post for some friends in Korea and then headed back out on the road. Felt really good on the bike and the tail wind back really helped and I was flying.

So I got back from my ride and was just hanging out in the hotel room and came across Terenzo Bozzonne's Tweet about being at a local bike shop (he is last years Ironman 70.3 World Champion). So I figured nothing going on so I would catch a cab over to the bike shop and check out his sweet ride and hang out. It was a good time and got to talk to several folks from around here and then here him talk about some race strategy and got some race tips. What is cool about the pro triathletes is once you tell them you are military they normally have a bunch of questions about you and your life with training and the military. They are all really down to earth and are cool people. After the bike shop I headed back down towards the beach to have some dinner.

Dinner was GREAT! Had some awesome raviolis which came with a salad and bread. Threw on some extra carbs with two Blue Moon drafts. It is hard to come back to the states from Turkey where I do not have the luxury of draft beer and not have a couple while I am back. I also met up with a friend that I met in Germany and enjoyed the beers with her while we caught up and told "triathlon 'war' stories".

Well now I am laying in bed getting ready to watch my favorite show on TV, only problem is I will have to watch the darn commercials. SONS OF ANARCHY, hour and a half special!!

Check back tomorrow for a Day 2 Update!

Team HOYT ad in the airport. If you have not heard of this father/son team, check out this link.....TRUE INSPIRATION! http://www.teamhoyt.com/

A view from the hotel.

Terenzo's SHIV; a SWEET and AERO ride!

Terenzo and myself at the bike shop. Last years 70.3 World Champion!

Petra and me at the Bar!

Humbled by racing with 13 other Countries......

25 Oct 2009- Alanya Turkey

So this weekend I made a 6 hour voyage up the coast of Turkey for an Olympic distance Tri. It was a long trip and we left here at 1:30am since we cannot get off base after 2am. I went with another buddy from here on base and it was his first tri. We made really good time getting there since there was no traffic. We did not have a hotel lined up so once we found where the transition area was we picked a near by hotel so the logistics would be easy come race day. Here is a picture from the hotel balcony, transition area is in the bottom left corner. Upon arrival we got in an early morning swim and then went and registered. For $70 the race entry included: A T-shirt, race entry, swim cap, race numbers, Pasta dinner, and a post race dinner that was AWESOME because it had FREE BEER well the food was awesome as well!!! So that was the good thing they did provide quite a bit for a great price.

Now onto race day. Well here is where everything kind of changed and it was obvious why it was only $70. First off having a race start at 2pm was different, they had the mens and womens ITU race before the Age Groupers which was fine, but I noticed last year in Korea I did a very similar race and it was much more organized. So with the afternoon start my nutrition was all messed up and I ate a big breakfast but chose not to eat lunch since we were starting at 2. Well they decided they did not have enough room in transition area for all the age group bikes so we had to wait till the womens race was over to set up our transition area. So by the time everything was said and done we did not get started till 3:30, which would have been fine but daylight saving went into effect on race day. So by the time I was coming in from the bike it was getting dark out and by the run it was really dark out.

Swim-

So the swim was going to be my first open water swim without a wetsuit. I was fine with this because my swim had come a long ways since last year. I swam in my opinion really well at Wild Flower with a 26min swim and thought I could possibly go 28-30mins. I figured I would be a little slower since the recent fracture/crack in the radial up in Germany. But I did not think I would swim as slow as I did. I came out of the water in 31:31. The good thing about the swim is I was on some peoples feet for most of the swim but lost the toes with about 400M's to go.

T1- This was a real struggle since my Tri Suit had torn in Germany from the crash and I did not realize it till a week before Alanya. So I did not have time to order another one and went with a shorts and shirt option since that was the only option. Having to put on a tight tri top after being all wet was really a pain and took some time.

Bike-

Well the race was not suppose to be a draft legal race but just like Korea no one really cared. So I came out of the water behind the 3rd main pack. I pushed hard right off the bat so I could try and catch a small group of 3 in front of me and we could push toward the 3rd pack. Once I was with them we tried to work together but only 3 of us were doing the work and the other guy was just hanging on. So after about 1 1/2 laps we caught the third group. The plan that we had talked about was to go right by them and not let them latch on with us. Well we ended up all merging together and had a group of about 15. I did not want to be with the big group and made a big push and myself and one other person broke away from the group. So I had a really strong bike and felt really good. There was only one scare while riding in the group when a dog was out in the road. We had seen a dog take out 2 people earlier in the day and one guys bike got pretty messed up, see pictures below. So other than that the bike portion went really well.

T2-

Went really smooth compared to T1 and I felt like I had some go in the legs.

Run-

Felt really good and consistent throughout the run. There was one hill on each of the 5 laps that was right after the transition area. It was steep and then on gradual hill for about 200M. I felt good and it was nice to run at night since it was a little cooler. I think I pushed a little to hard on the bike because I had a decent run but felt like I could of been faster if I would have stuck with that 3rd pack and just stayed in the draft. Still really happy with the run and felt really good running in my Zoot race flats, I have decided to use them for Clearwater.

Swim- 31:31 69th/128
T1- 1:21 (SLOW)
Bike- 1:01:07 8th/128
T2- 1:02
Run- 44:17 32nd/128
Overall- 2:19:17 36th/128 (PR by exactly 5mins, went 2:24:17 at WF)

Overall it was a really good day and I felt good with my results in terms of time. In terms of my placing I was really disappointed but realized with 13 countries represented it was a big international race that brought a lot of fast people. I guess that is what happens when they offer money for the age groupers. I have come to learn that with every race there is a positive thing and from this race I gained a lot of confidence with my bike time and reassured myself that that is my strong point.

A BIG THANKS goes out to LtCol Timothy Brock who was deployed out here to Turkey about 3 months ago. He was out here and did not have a bike to train on so I let him use my Trek 1200 for his stay out here. In return he has decided to help me out for this race and covered my entry fee. Thanks TIM!!

The view into the harbor from the hotel room. This would be where part of the swim took place and finished.

On the pre race day ride. That mountain is back where transition area and the hotel was.

The transition area is in the middle of the picture where the red tent is, kind of hard to see. But this is the view from out hotel.

The pro's bike that hit the dog. Snapped his fork in half.

Myself and Berlin getting ready for the race.
The "P4", the first time I have seen one in person and my bike the "P3". 2 of Cervelo's top of the line bikes in Turkey. The P4 was from Israel and was sweet. I actually was faster on the bike than him, so its not about the bike its about the "motor" ;)

55 Seconds.....So Close

19Sep09- Air Force Marathon, Wright Patt AFB OH-

What an experience this whole trip was.....From the travels over the pond to get to the race to just being back in the states. It all started with 2 flights to get to Germany and then we stayed on base for less than 9 hours and then turned around and drove back to the airport. On Tuesday night headed from the airport to base it was about an hour drive on the autobahn. About 10 miles into the drive a BMW went flying by us between 150-175mph, it shook our van thats how fast it was going. Since I had just been up in Germany a month ago I was use to the fast speeds, but what happened next I was not use to. About 5 seconds after the BMW passed us I noticed its tail lights go from the far left lane crossing all 4 lanes and disappeared. I did not see an exit up ahead so was quite confused by what had just happened, then reality set in and there was a huge wreck in front of us with at least 3-6 cars. We were driving right threw it as debris was still sliding down the road and our shuttle driver would not stop. So I will just assume that at that speed the driver did not make it. So then we made it to base got checked into the hotel and got 6 hours of sleep. Woke up bright and early to get a short run in, which was amazing because the weather was great. So the flight across the pond was not bad at all and we landed in DC, ran through the airport and of course I got flagged by customs since we only had 30 mins to get to our flight. The reason they flag me is because there was a "Jessica Williams" that for some reason they thought I knew. Who would of thought since my last name is WILLIAMS I would know her, small world huh? So we made our flight after a good laugh with the US Customs guys. Once on the taxiway waiting to take off some more craziness happens........2 rows in front of me a guy in his mid 50's starts shaking and having a seizure. So everyone is looking around like what in the world is going on so I stood up and yelled to the attendant because we were in the back of the plane on a little puddle jumper. She came running back, called the pilot and back to the gate we went. After about an hour at the gate getting him off the plane we made it back out to the runway and took off. I asked the attendant if our baggage would catch up to us and she looked at me like I was crazy and it was already on board. I just laughed and knew there was no way it could of made it. So 3am in the morning 8 hours after arriving to our Hotel our luggage showed up.

So the three days leading up to the race in Dayton were awesome. I was so glad to be back in the states and have so many different places to eat at. I mean that is something that I love to do is eat. And once the trip was all said and done I sure did eat my $$$$$'s worth of food, $350 worth to be exact. So with all the great food I ate I made sure to go to a different place each day: TGIF, Olive Garden, Noodles (pretty awesome place), Cheese Cake Factory, Sake, Arby's, Hooters, Buffalo Wild Wings and Packys (the hotel restaurant).

Race day........I used the same morning routine I have been using this year for the longer races. Had my 2 packets of oatmeal, 1 banana, and cup of coffee and took care of the morning business, so I am 3 for 3 on that. We took some team pictures the morning of and then headed over to the race start with about 45 mins to get ready. Then next thing I know we are running a marathon, pretty crazy how it just sneaks up on ya.

The race went by really quick for the first 18 miles, thanks to Berlin, Manny and Rodney. I had heard a lot of stories about Manny and Rodney through my buddy Mark and met up with them and ran the first 18 miles with them. Manny and Berlin were both on the USAFE team, so it was cool to run as a group for the first 18 miles. We stopped once for a bathroom break at mile 4 and then picked up the pace to catch the 3:20 pacer. We eventually caught up to him between mile 8 and 9 and slowly pulled away from him. At the halfway point we hit 1:35 and I was really worried I had went out to quick. At mile 18 I realized I had a shot at a Boston Marathon qualifying time (3:10:59) and figured I needed to pick it up a bit. I started concentrating on one person at a time and would slowly make my way through the people. At mile 24 I realized it would be really hard to pull of the Boston time but ran as hard as I could. I ran mile 25 at 6:57 and mile 26 at 6:25 so I knew I had some left in the tank which was hard when I crossed the line at 3:11:54 only 55 secs off of a Boston spot.

All in all I was really happy with the results and went into the race not knowing what to expect. I just looked up the numbers and the month leading up to the race I ran a total of 64 miles with only 10 runs in 35 days, not exactly the kind of mileage I should of been running leading up to the race. Germany really took a lot of out of me mentally and physically so that is the reason for lack of mileage. I also realized after the accident that I had been going pretty hard since 1 December and rest is what my body was in need of. So running a 3:11:54 with only 64 miles of training leading up to the 4 weeks prior was great in my book.

I just want to say THANK YOU to everyone that continues to support me and follow my passion for endurance sports. A special thanks to my co-workers, leadership and USAFE for allowing me this great opportunity. We were treated somewhat like Pro Athletes in how we were driven around, accommodations and flights were paid for and having all the support of the Services Staff that was there just to support us.

Stats:
Time: 3:11:54
Overall 58th/2014 participants
Age Group 5th out of 136

Military Division-
15th out of 489
2nd out of 65 Age Group

Average Pace: 7:19min/mile
Fastest Pace: 5:22min/mile
Average Heart Rate: 158 (80%)
Calories Burned: 3,500
Shoes: Aasics Gel Cumulus 9
Fastest Mile: 6:25 mile 26
Elevation: +1,123/-1,048
Mile Splits:


Below are some pictures from the race and travel during the trip:

AF RECRUITING TOOLS....Tricked out Mustang and Chopper were on display at the Expo

Team Dinner pre race night

Team USAFE 9 Marathoners/8 1/2 Marathoners

Team Turkey....had 4 members, the biggest group from one base!

Feeling the pain

This was around mile 24 and I was asking the guy if I could make it in time for Boston....He said "Run fast, you will need 7:20 or faster miles and you can do it"....Our math was off because I ran sub 7 min/miles and came up short :(

Feeling good and showing off the tan lines.

This guy ran the whole marathon with the flag display. He is a bad ass!!

Visited the AF Museum and it was cool.....

The F-22 on display with some prototype plane above it.

Myself and Berlin at SAKE Japanese grill for our last meal. Berlin never had SAKE so I had him try some and you can tell it got to him ;)

Life's a Roller Coaster......And It Just Keeps On Climbing

12 Sept 2009-

Figured it had been awhile since I have blogged and with all the good news lately figured I should get on here. So where to start.........As many of you know since the crash in Germany things were not looking to good. I was suppose to be out for at least 4-6 weeks from swimming, biking and running. Once I arrived back here to Turkey the Doctor here had his own opinions on my arm and cleared me to run immediately and I was also cleared to ride the trainer. I have now gained about 85% rotation back in my arm and this past week I was cleared to swim. So things started looking promising but I was not motivated to train. The first 3 weeks back I just lounged around and reflected on life and how privileged I had been this year.

I have been in "training" mode since 1 December(3,951 total miles), so lounging around for 3 weeks in August is probably what my body was needing. I have been too 6 countries and have raced in 5 of the 6. I have qualified for the World Championships for the Half Ironman and won two overall triathlons on military bases. I am slowly establishing myself as a endurance athlete and becoming "known" around the community. But when I look back and reflect NONE, ZERO, ZILCH would be possible without the great foundation that supports me. First of FAMILY has been behind me 100% and has supported myself in so many ways. Then comes the FRIENDS, without you guys I would not be where I am today. Then the fellow athlete's, who continue to push me day in and day out. You may not be here stationed in Turkey or you may not even know me but when I train I am training because you might be out there training just as hard or if not harder than me. You are the ones that push me to go harder and strive for more everyday. Then those that doubt me or don't believe in me. I know there are people out there that are waiting for me to fail, and were probably glad to see poor results in Germany (when in all reality the crash and then finishing made me even stronger as a person). These people are around everywhere in life, especially when things start getting good and you start accomplishing great things. So for the people out there that are waiting for me to fail, when I am training it is to prove you wrong. So bottom line THANK YOU to everyone who has been there pushing me and supporting me since the start of this season and the start of the passion for Tri's/running.

Alright so now that the reflection process is over here is all the good news:

I was 1 of 18 individuals selected to represent USAFEurope at the AF Marathon. It was a last minute selection process but I applied in hopes of getting picked up and having a paid trip back to the states to compete at such a great race. We leave on Tuesday to head out to Dayton OH for the race on September 19th. This will be my second marathon so I am quite excited about it.
On Thursday I found out that I was selected for promotion to SSgt (E-5) and will more than likely put on the stripe in December. This now means I will be in a supervisory role, yeah I know SCARY huh?



Then when I thought nothing else could get any better Friday I got more good news. I was selected as the 2009 Incirlik AB Athlete of the Year. My package is now up at MAJCOM level (USAFEurope) and I will be competing against other athletes from around Europe for that award.

So like the title says Liefs a Roller Coaster.........And it just keeps on Climbing. But what goes up must come down, so lets hope this roller coaster doesn't derail for quite some time.

2009 Hits a WALL!!!!(Literally)

20Aug09-

Well I know it has taken extra long compared to normal to update the blog post race. There is a good reason for it and I am sorry it has taken so long.

So race morning was a typical race morning. I was up bright and early at 0430. Morning went well, took care of the biggest fear on race day, the morning business. Ate my 2 instant packs of oatmeal, banana and the un-routine cup of coffee. The bag was already packed and luckily the hotel was only 1/2 mile from the bus pickup to take everyone to the swim start and T1.

So out the door I went and I arrived at the bus stop with a bunch of other athletes. Ended up sitting across from 2 other Americans, so that was nice to have someone to talk to in the early morning that was from the US. Come to find out there was only 13 of us that raced, 30 were signed up for the race. I think that is a good sign of how bad of shape our economy is in.

So I got to T1 pretty early and had plenty of time to get everything set up. Started sipping on the pre-race bottle of HAMMER HEED and began the days hydration process. My swim start was not till 835 so I had a lot of time to walk around. Ended up running into 2 other AF people and had a morning talk with them and wished them luck. Eventually had to take care of the morning business one more time and felt really good that everything was out of my system from Carb dinner #2 from the night before.

Swim- It was a good swim course in the shape of a rectangle and was just a 1 lap swim course. The only different part was that it was a in water start about 100 meters from the shore. So we swam out there and had to tread water for about 5 mins, well really just float in the wetsuit. The start was pretty good and I did not get swam over that much. I quickly found some feet and stuck to them for about the first 800M. I ended up losing those feet and drafting partner and right after the turn picked up on someone's feet and stuck to them for the rest of the swim. I have been working on drafting these past couple races and have slowly felt better and more confident doing it. Now I just need to work on finding the right set of feet that are just a little bit faster that me so it can make a difference. I came out of the water and the announcer acknowledged me and that I was in the USAF, so that was cool to hear and motivated me. Came out of the water in 33:21 which was an improvement from China so that was good to know.

T1- It was a long run from the swim exit to T1 so that was what took the most time. I felt really fast going through it though and as always it helped already having my shoes clipped in. So as you can see in the picture below I have not got my shoes on yet as this was my photo exiting T1. 3:09 was my official T1 time.

Bike- AMAZING!!! This course is the most difficult course I have ridden to date. I remember thinking a few times if the climbs would ever end. I would come around one corner and go "WOW I thought the climb was over", then I would just find the road still going up. So I was feeling really good on the bike and my nutrition plan was working wonderful. The downhills were really fast and really fun, making up for my average speed of climbing all the hills. So at mile 45 is when the day took a turn for the worst. In the pre-race briefing they had told us that they would have flaggers at the corners that were going to be bad and that we would need to slow down for. We had already went through a few of these corners and I took them extra safe as I knew a crash could possibly end my day. Well coming down through one of the villages I slowed for a corner where the flagger was and then proceeded on. About 1K down the road I got to a section on a descent that was really really bumpy. It just so happened that it was through the corner and instead of my tires having traction and being able to corner at 20-25mph they started wheel hopping. So I had no traction and was headed straight for a curb/wall. So I tried to hop the curb to avoid going down but my front tire clipped the curb and took me down. Luckily the only damage the bike took on was a flat front tire and minimal scrapes on the rear derailleur and front brake lever. Now my body on the other hand took quite a beating. I had road rash on my hands, hip, buttocks, elbow, and shoulder. At the time I did not know it but a bone in my right arm was broken as well. So once the medics took care of me and bandaged me all up I fixed my flat and was off on the course again. I was light headed and a little nausea's so I sat around for a few minutes to get everything under control. But lone and behold right after the corner I wrecked on was the biggest hill on the course at 10% grade for about 1km. So after be off the bike for about 30mins the legs had other thoughts about riding a bike and decided it was time to cramp up. So going up a 10% grade hill all bloody and scrapped was some American guy, going 2.5-3mph looking all beat up and in pain. Yes that was the speed I was doing as I remember looking down several times. Luckily after this last climb there was only 2 more rolling hills and the rest was a beautiful downhill section into down. For me it was taken very cautiously and slow as I did not know how bad of shape the bike was in. So once into town the real fun began..........

T2- Well knowing that my "race" was over I took my sweet time looking for my bag and changing. I got everything out and started getting everything on. I get to snapping my watch into its holder (it comes off the bike and has to snap into a thing on my wrist), and this is where I am humbled. Here I am 23 years young in great shape have been training for this for quite sometime and I can't even do a simple task like snap a watch into its holder???? So that is the point where I knew something was wrong with my arm. So trying to get a non-speaking triathlete to snap my watch in took sometime but eventually we got it figured out. So THANK YOU to whoever that guy was who took some extra time in T2 with me so I could have my watch on the run.

Run- Now you are all thinking what in the world are you doing running 13.1 miles with a broken arm. Well I did not travel to Germany to race and not finish. Crap they make you finish here to get the shirt and of course the medal. So I did not travel all this way to not get a shirt or medal and I am not a quitter. So off onto the run, it was a 4 lap course which had a lot of spectators and athletes on it. Its hard to fit 2,000 athletes on a 5K run course so it was quite crowded towards the end. The great thing about it being 4 loops is I was able to see a lot of fans and here the word "schiezer" (O SHIT, in German) about 1,000 times. I would hear it from the fans, the people I passed and the people that passed me. So they were all going "schiezer" about how pitiful I looked running. So after the 1st lap I got some motivation to actually run and stop messing around. I started picking up the pace and realized my legs felt quite well. Long story short I ran a 1:43:48 1/2 marathon w/ a broken right arm. Painful...........YES...........Best pain medicine.........ADRENALINE!!!!

Final Numbers:

Swim- 33:21 31st/94 AG
T1- 3:09 26th/94 AG
Bike- 3:07:42 53rd/94 AG (Was on pace to go 2:38-2:40)
T2- 3:26 85th/94 AG
Run- 1:43:48 24th/94 AG
(Legs were feeling good on the run I just wasn't there mentally. I think I had a sub 1:35 run in me)
Total- 5:31:27 412th/2052 Overall

So all in all this was a great race. I learned a lot from this and have proven to myself that it is going to take a lot to stop me from finishing. All though this recovery process is going to take a lot out of me mentally and physically I feel I will overcome the side affects of it and come to Clearwater ready to race. I may be under trained but I will show up with a well rested body ready to go Sub 5 hours as that was my goal for this year.

The recovery process as of right now is scheduled to take 4 weeks before I can run/bike again outside and 6 weeks out of the pool. So the pool will be the biggest set back as I can still train on the treadmill and trainer for the run/bike. I have a follow up on Monday to find out if surgery will be needed but as of the Monday after the race surgery will not be needed.

I have a lot of people to say THANK for this past week. I will start with most importantly SHAUNA and LUCY!!!! Without you guys the days after the race would have been miserable and I would not have had a smile on my face. Along with all the pre-race support and accommodations you guys have given. Lucy can always find a way to make me smile. Next would be my Family, you guys are always there supporting me whenever things go good or bad. All of the friends who followed the race and congratulated me on an embarrassing 5:31, even though you didnt know about the accident. The whole BBBC crew, old Osan Alumni and the new Turkey riders that followed the race. To Amanda for whipping my butt in the pool the last day and letting some random guy "draft" on some hard 100's. To Frank for letting me ask endless amounts of questions and giving me advice for the taper and race. To everyone else out there that I may have forgot that randomly follows my blog or on Facebook. THANKS AGAIN TO EVERYONE!!

Below are some pics from the pre-race and event.

Headed from the hotel to the Bus

T1 was a huge grass field
The bike all setup in T1Coming out of the water and starting the running stripper ;)Out of T1 without the feet in the shoes yet......

Climbing up "THE HAMMER", trying to fight of cramps and not fall over, this was right after the crash.Checking my pace making sure I am doing alright. Also checking to make sure the Tylenol didn't mess with my Heart Rate.
Coming down the finishing chute all bloody......
Would of looked a lot better with a Sub 5 hour time up there.
Myself and Shauna with my "acquired" signPhhhheewwwww.......My legs are fine and not scraped up ;)
All the above pics are in the hospital. I had to keep Shauna entertained for the 12 hours we were in the ER so some of them I was messing around. I was not on medication in any of them and was in some pain. Still found a way to keep smiling and make it through the night....

Bag Check/BIke Turn In/Grub on some food

15Aug09-

Well everything is prepared and ready to go for tomorrow. It was a good short day but started to drag out towards the end. Everything got accomplished and I am feeling good. Got a short run in and short swim. The bike was ridden but just from the hotel to bus and from the bus to Transition Area. Not to much to write about except for our dinner excursion that went on for about an hour and a half of driving around in circles. Well Shauna has a Garmin GPS for her car and the thing works great for getting from point A to point B. When it comes to finding an italian place to eat dinner at now thats a different story. It took us to one that was just way over priced and then we went to 3 other ones that were either not open or did not exist in that location. So we ended up doing exactly what she said we should have done from the beginning and just have eaten at the restaurant downstairs of our hotel which had italian food. I guess I should have just listened to her in the first place. So we ended up eating there and I made sure to eat a good meal and hoping it will provide for a great race tomorrow. Well I am going to post a few photos and a
video of Lucy from dinner tonight. She was telling me about what was going on tomorrow.

LIVE TRACKING UPDATE-

Looks like www.ironman703.de will have a live feed running during the race. Not sure exactly where the footage will be from but I will be wearing a black/white w/ red trim tri suit. My bib # is 1313 and I will be wearing a white visor w/ orange on it for the run. My bike helmet has a USA sticker and Cali sticker on it. So check out the live feed and see if you can see me. Also www.ironmanlive.com should have the tracking service up and running so you can see how my splits are going throughout the race. See blogs below about other information in regards to tracking.

The park that I ran through this morning. Also happens to be the race course. It is nicely shaded as well as only has one hill, which I accidently ran up this morning.
The outside shot of the race briefing/awards ceremony building.

The stage for the Race Briefing and Awards Ceremony

The beginning of the race briefing

You finish the swim under all of the flags for the countries repersented

The swim course is in a harbor

My next bike that I will get hopefully early next year. 2008 Pinarello Prince

Lucy tellin me what I am going to do tomorrow. She is 3 years old and missing Church to come root me on :)

Day 2...Pasta Party/FREE BEER!! and Race Registration

14 Aug 09-

Well today was a pretty busy day for 2 days prior to the Tri. Woke up at 0700 and got out of bed and made some breakfast. Which included bagel and cream cheese, Yogurt with blueberry, banana, some OJ and 2 homemade muffins from Shauna. After that I loaded up my bike and off we went to the base. It is about 8 miles from her house through a couple villages. So I went to the pool swam a nice and easy 1K and the headed back out towards her house. I guess someone was looking out for me and really wanted me to take it easy because I forgot my bike shoes and road the bike all the way back with flip flops on. With several steep climbs along the way I just put it in the small chain ring and spun right up them. I took some nice pictures along the way as well.

That is what I just came up, you can't see the road so it must be steep right??

The glasses fogged up from all the heat my body was putting off after that climb so I had to take them off.

A motorcycle coming up the hill which I was about to go down.

Riding through the local village.
A cool looking house or mansion not sure which one it is. All the houses are so huge here.

After viewing all the awesome scenery and snapping some photos I figured it was time for some brunch. So I stopped at the same cafe as yesterday and ordered the "Brad Special": 2 eggs over easy, 2 salami and cheese sandwiches, 1 raspberry and pudding croissant, and a roll. Here are some pics of breakfast and the cafe.

Myself and Moni at her Cafe.

Moni's Cafe Bistro and the P3

So then finally I arrived to the village where I am staying:


So after all of that I needed to clean the bike from the dirty and wet ride yesterday. Once all of that was done it was once again time for that much needed nap. So I slept for about and hour and then packed everything up to get ready for our afternoon departure. So bags were packed and off we were for my first autobahn experience. I wan't to impressed as we did not get passed by anything doing over 110mph so it was pretty un-eventful.

Once arriving to the race area we attended the Pasta Party and had a great dinner. Here is where the FREE BEER comes into play. So many of you may know I have not had any alcohol for the past 5 weeks in prep for this race, well minus the glass of wine and shot for your digestive system last night. So I figured I am on vacation and it was the Pasta/Carb Party and beer has lots of Carbs, so why not load up?? So I got 2 beers along with 3 plates of pasta 2 waters and some peach tea. This is why I love Pasta Parties, it is all you can eat and supposedly drink at this one. Well after the first beer I start thinking to myself I should at least be feeling a little buzz since I have not drank in so long and this is German beer and all. So I start looking at the label and in German it said Alcohol Free according to the translation I received. :( :( So it was alcohol free beer hence the fact they were handing it out for FREE!! Big disappointment but I looked at the nutritional backing on the "beer" and it had a lot of Carbs so at least I accomplished that.

So after dinner I came back to the hotel and got everything ready for tomorrow since I have to turn in the Bike and Bike/Run bag. They do this the day before so there is not so much going on race morning and it is kind of a logistical night mare for the organizers if they have 3,000 people turning in a total of 9,000 bags on race morning so they cut it down to 6,000 on Saturday and 3,000 on Sunday with only your stuff for post race being in your Sunday bag. I have attached some pictures off what my room looks like 2 nights out from race day getting everything ready for pre-race day.

The 3 bags and all the gear that goes inside.

All the nutritional supplies for race day. The Zym's were just in case a hot front came in but looks like I will just be sticking to all HAMMER!!!

The P3 already for race day, just needs the bottles race morning. New addition to the seat post and helmet are the US/Cali Stickers. Have to represent when in other countries!!

The room with everything everywhere. My parents might disagree that this is just during race time as my room gets like this when I am home on leave, but I have so "much" going on I just dont have time to clean it ;)

So with the blog being updated now it is time I head off to bed. Going to get up tomorrow for complementary breakfast at the hotel and then a short run down the road to the race briefing......Hope everyone is enjoying these updates.

Germany Day 1=Amazing...but WET!!

13Aug 2009-

Well the plan for today was to get up after a good nights sleep and go out for a run down to the local cafe in the next village over. So I slept great and woke up around 830 and was out the door for a 4 1/2 mile run and then stopped at the cafe for breakfast on the way back. Well breakfast was great: 2 eggs, 2 salami and cheese sandwiches on rolls, 1 croissant with raspberry and pudding and 2 waters and OJ. Walked to Shauna's house from there which was about 1 mile up the road, YES it is uphill the whole way.

So with the travel day yesterday I figured it would be good to get caught up on rest so I took a nap after my mid morning meal. Then of course the one thing I absolutely hate about having to travel via airplane is packing/unpacking and assembling the bike. So that was next on the days agenda. Only took about an hour and everything was good to go. Went out for a test ride of 4 miles and it worked like a champ.

So after all that I went out for my real ride. Got everything together that I would need because it was more than just a ride. It was what was going to get me to base which was where I would meet up with "SUPER DAVE" whom I was stationed with in Korea. We had planned to meet up on Friday morning for breakfast but his flight out was earlier than expected so we met up tonight for dinner. Well in my jersey pockets I stuffed my camera, a change holder w/ Euro in it, a pair of sandals, and a change of clothes (shorts and long sleeve shirt). So off for the ride I went.....The plan was to ride 11 miles in the opposite direction from the house and then back to the house and then the 8 miles to base for 30 miles. Well mother nature quickly change my plans. I get 2 miles out from the house and it starts to rain on me, so I look back and it looks lighter the other way so I turn around. Well it just continued to rain the whole time for my 30 mile ride. So it should of been miserable right?? NO it was absolutely amazing I could not complain one bit. I am in Germany riding through absolutely beautiful scenery and its pouring rain. I never ride the P3 in the rain but it is so awesome here I couldn't come back. And if I came back how would I meet up with Dave for dinner??

So 30 miles later I was soaked from head to toe but had an amazing ride and felt really good. So I met up with Dave on the base and we headed out for dinner after I had my shorts and shirt dried and got out of my soaking wet bike clothes.

Dinner was amazing just like the ride. Had great raviolis, great salad, a nice glass of wine, a "sampler" dessert w/ 3 items and a shot to wash all of dinner down that was suppose to help "digest" your food.

So official Day 1 is complete and was truly amazing. Germany is an awesome place from what little bit I have seen so far. Below are some pictures from the day..........

The "mansion" that I am staying at. 6 bedrooms and 4 baths. I have a 1/2 bathroom and full bathroom just for me :) THANKS SHAUNA!!!
The Church down a few villages
After the 3o mile ride coming onto base

Dave and myself.....He brought a towel so I could dry off before getting in the car. I was soaked from head to toe and the bike was a disaster!!
Leshia, Dave and myself at Dinner. BBBC "old school" members always find a way to meet back up.
The sampler "dessert" platter..........AMAZING!!!

All Packed and Ready to Fly in T-12hrs

Well with this race popping up last minute it has been a hectic last couple of weeks. Trying to get the paperwork signed so that I did not get charged leave and could go race on the AF time was a hassle but well worth it. Had a good solid 4 weeks of training and the legs are feeling fresh from the little bit of taper that I have been doing.

So today we had a Change of Command ceremony for our base commander. So with not only having to worry about getting everything ready and packed I also had to be into work this morning at 645 to be out in the hangar for the ceremony. So the ceremony started at 8 and lasted an hour and it was pretty warm being in full service dress. Below is a picture of me in my full service dress.

The tie looks off center but I think the coat was just off ;)

So after the ceremony I came home and went for a short swim and then since I was up so early I felt the need for an afternoon nap. Post nap went out for a short run and then continued packing. Once everything was packed I have been fighting with my computer for the past 2 hours and lone and behold I think my MagicJack has took a crap. The weird thing was it was making the computer not start up or shutdown so I think I will just go buy a new one.

Alright so now on to the pre race portion of this.

Pre Race Notes:

Height-6'1"
Weight- 160
Wetsuit- Zoot Zenith Full Suit
Race Bike- Cervelo P3C
Wheels- Easton EA90 Aero
Shoes- Asics Gel Cumulus 9
Nutrition Plan: 5 Servings of Hammer Gel, 8 Hammer Endurolyte Capsules, 5 Servings of HEED

Goals:
Finish
Top 5 Age Group
Go Sub 5 Hours
Top 100 Overall (Suppose to be 3,000 people)


Goal Splits:
30-32min Swim-Hoping to improve on the rough swim in China
2:33-2:43 Bike- 4,500ft of Climbing is going to be tough but the bike is my strong point
1:35-1:45 Run- As long as we don't see heat like China I think I have my legs ready to run. Might even go sub 1:35 depending on how the hills kill my legs.

Once again I have set high expectations but I am prepared for this race and feel like if everything goes smooth I will come out with the results I am looking for. The main reason for this race is to prepare for Clearwater in November, although the courses are not similar in altitude and elevation gain just having another 70.3 under my belt is what I am looking for. And why not take advantage of the opportunity to travel to Germany and race on "work" time :) So everything is packed and I have about 5 hours till wake up so off to bed I go......I know 5 hours is not much but I will get the extra sleep on the plane ride :) Here are some pictures all packed up and ready to go.

Everything all ready to go!!

The beanie baby was a "present" from Maddy and I was told to take it with me whenever I travel and take pictures with it. I have been bad about this here in Turkey so figured its first travel should be out of country.

Also the race should be able to be tracked online starting at 1135PM West Coast Time Saturday Night, or 0835 Germany time Sunday morning. Below are the links that should be tracking the race. My bib # is 1313.

www.ironmanlive.com (should be looking for a link that says Athlete Tracker Germany 70.3)
www.ironman703.de (should have a link to the live tracking not positive though)

It should at a minimum update the swim time, bike time and run time as well as have a finishing time and place. Hopefully it will have a half way bike split and it might have run splits every 5K. To know how the day is going if you are tracking it live just compare my times to my goal times and that will give you a good idea of how the days is going.

First track meet= realizing im not all that "fast"

15 July 2009, Incirlik AB Turkey-

Well I had known about this track meet for a few weeks and was excited to have something competitive to look forward to. So I decided well lets make it a workout and just not a race. So I signed up for every event I could that was not a sprint or Shot Put. Here is the list of events they had at the race:

100M
200M
400M- Raced
800M- Raced
1.5 Mile- Raced
4X400- Raced
4X100

They were in that exact order except between the 400 and 800 they did the sprint finals. So I raced in 4 of the 7 events and well it made for an interesting night!

400- They had 2 heats of 6 people. So when they said heats I thought we would get to have a Final but that was not the case. They just used our times and decided where we placed. So off the start the guy to the inside of me in lane #1 was fast. We came out of turn 2 and he was already even with me, it was a staggered start. So I let him go and stuck even with the other guys till the 200 point. At that point I decided to kick it up and see how the rest of the group held on. Well I bridged myself a gap and put my eyes on the guy in lane 1. I tried to kick it up in the final 75M and could not reel him and realized that with about 30M to go and just backed off since I still had 3 more events. I ended up going 1:03 and that guy went 58secs and took 3rd in the 400 too 2 other runners in the 2nd heat. So I ended up 4th overall with a 1:03.

800- There was only one heat in this event and we had 7 people. So one guy took off and I hung with the second pack which included myself and 2 others. We stayed together and let the leader go and with 50M to go the sprint was on. The 2 of them were side by side and when I went to make my move I passed to late and could not get both of them and ended up losing 2nd by 2/10 of a second. So I placed 3rd in the 800 with a time of 2:13.

1.5 Mile- Well this is the event where I knew for sure we would have the most competition. My legs were shot and sore but figured I would give it my all. Ran really well considering the past 2 events on my legs. Ended up running an 8:48 and taking 3rd place. The winner was the meet organizer and he ran a 7:44, but that was his only event. He is really fast and I wish I could of just raced him heads up in the race but figured just running 1.5 miles would not be enough of a workout for that night so entered 4 events instead of just one.

4X400- We had a squadron team with 1 Senior NCO, 2 SSgt and myself. The "old" guy actually ran quite well and was surprised how they held up considering the competition. My legs were pretty shot so I ran 3rd and with having to pass of the baton I was not able to clock my time. I think I ran right around the same as my first 400 due to the simple fact that it was a team event and I did not want to let our team down. We placed 3rd in this event with a time of 4:27. Good overall time considering all of us had ran multiple events.

So overall it was a great night and fun event. Ended up with 3 podiums, all of which were 3rd place but it was still a great time. Thanks to Seth from the Health and Wellness Center along with the Gym for putting on such a great event.

Below are a few photos from the event:

Coming across the line for the 400.Right before I went to pass the 2 guys in the 800. Should of squeezed the inside instead of going outside.

The start of the 400.

BREAKING NEWS!!!!!!!!!!!!

Last minute decision by my leadership in my squadron has allowed me the opportunity to race Germany 70.3. The race was full but I sent an email to the race organizers explaining my situation with being military and just getting here to Turkey and not being able to register in time for the event. They were kind enough to let me in. So I will be departing for Germany on the 12th of August and racing on the 16th. I will then return to Turkey on the 20th. I am excited about this race as it will give me a good experience with the 70.3 distance and be a good prep for the World Championships. I have 24 days left till race day so my schedule is packed with training. For more information on the race visit: www.ironman703.de. This race will have live tracking so check back for more details on that.