27 April 2010-
Well it is that time of year again to kick off the year with a big race. All packed and ready to head out for Wildflower. The family stepped it up this year and got an RV for the trip and we will be heading out tomorrow morning, well actually here in 5 hours to hopefully get a full hook up spot. A buddy of mine that I have raced with in Germany and Florida came out from Wisconsin for the race and got into town today. It is always nice to have someone else to experience race week with and get in a few last minute workouts and prep for the race with. So Thanks to Gary for coming out and getting to experience the greatest race on the west coast.
The past 11 days home have been fun filled with all kinds of craziness keeping me busy. Was able to see a lot of old friends and catch up with a lot of them as well as family. Managed to squeeze in 2 family BBQ's and even some family pictures. Was also able to play volleyball a couple times and even travel up to Chico to watch some DII College softball and then stop in Davis and play some 2v2 Grass Volleyball. This trip has turned into a huge adventure and it is only half way over. Still have Wildflower to tackle and then 6 days in Germany with a good friend that I trained with in Korea.
As for how I am feeling and what I am expecting for Widflower, well that is up in the air. Legs are feeling really good and fresh, for the run that is. I think I have lost a little strength on the bike but have made it up in the run so not to worried there. My swim has come around over the winter and I am feeling really good in the water. I was able to swim with the local masters group here in town and was pushed for some good workouts. I think I put in my biggest swim week last week ever with 10K in 3 days, not sure it was at the best time but it felt great being pushed hard by some fast swimmers. I even managed to complete a few 100IM sets and not drowned, well it may have looked like I was a fish out of water, but I completed the sets just not in fashion!
For Wildflower I will be really happy with the following splits and outcome:
Swim-32min-34min
Bike- 2:40-2:50
Run- 1:38-1:45
Top 5- Age Group
Overall- Top 10%
If I can accomplish those times and placings I will be very happy with the race, if not I guess Saturday night will truly be a great night with the case of Shiner Bock I have to celebrate with or drink in shame of a crappy race ;) Whatever the outcome is of the race it does not matter because Wildflower is truly a great race and great atmosphere, so in the end great friends will be made and current friendships will grow stronger! Best of Luck to everyone racing!
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Climb for a Cure 10K
24 Apr 2010-
Well I found a local 10K that fit into my training plan and worked out well for a Saturday morning run. The best part about it was that there was a 1 Mile fun run as well. My Mom and Madyson were able to compete in the 1 Mile fun run, while myself and Steve (my Step Dad) warmed up for the 10K. The reason I liked this race is because we were able to all participate. When the fun run started Madyson was glued to my moms leg and it took here a little while to get going. As we were waiting Steve was telling me that Maddy was fast and they had been running here and there for a little bit, mind you she is only 7 years old. We were waiting and the joke of the day was that Madyson told Mom before the race that she would meet her at location "X" because she was going to beat her. We weren't sure if they were going to start the 10K during the fun run or not so she had a plan to wait for mom at the finish. Sure enough at 9 minutes Maddy was the first "little" kid to come in and finished in 9:20, and was 2nd in her Age Group which was Under 19. She got beat by a 13 year old so that is not really fair competetion in my opinion, and she was 10th overall. Mom finished in 12:51, not bad for not running at all in who knows how long ;) Talk about being proud of my little sister and giving me some motivation for the 10K ;)
The 10K was suppose to be relatively flat according to the website so I was looking for a PR but wasn't really worried about it since Wildflower was the following weekend and I didn't want to put a beating on the legs. Standing at the start line the guy next to me looks over and says "Are you an IRONMAN?", my response which I believe is true is "No, I am to young for that long stuff". We talked a little bit and he knew some of the guys in the race so I asked about how he thought the race was going to go and his buddy was suppose to run 36ish. I figured well I should just run with him and that would keep me on pace for a PR, that is right forgot to mention my Garmin was dead so I ran totally on feel and had not a clue what was going on time wise. Off we went and I figured I would push the pace and see what would happen. Well never looked back from there and 37:41 later I crossed the line of what ended up being a not so flat course that had some decent elevation on it.
For a local charity run it ended up being GREAT! Winner of each 10 year age group received a bottle of wine, minus my age group because we had 20-29, so they have us a $15 gift certificate. Cannot complain about that, and then the best part was for winning Overall I received $100 gift card to Royal Robins here in Modesto. For a $28 race entry it was a great deal!
http://www.shadowchase.org/2010_CFAC10K_Overall.HTM
Below are some Pictures of the Family! We all took podium spots: Mom 1st in her Age Group, Madyson 2nd and Steve 2nd (45:04)
Coming to the finish line!
Overall Male and Female Winner showing off our $100 gift cards!
The Family all happy after a good morning workout!
Well I found a local 10K that fit into my training plan and worked out well for a Saturday morning run. The best part about it was that there was a 1 Mile fun run as well. My Mom and Madyson were able to compete in the 1 Mile fun run, while myself and Steve (my Step Dad) warmed up for the 10K. The reason I liked this race is because we were able to all participate. When the fun run started Madyson was glued to my moms leg and it took here a little while to get going. As we were waiting Steve was telling me that Maddy was fast and they had been running here and there for a little bit, mind you she is only 7 years old. We were waiting and the joke of the day was that Madyson told Mom before the race that she would meet her at location "X" because she was going to beat her. We weren't sure if they were going to start the 10K during the fun run or not so she had a plan to wait for mom at the finish. Sure enough at 9 minutes Maddy was the first "little" kid to come in and finished in 9:20, and was 2nd in her Age Group which was Under 19. She got beat by a 13 year old so that is not really fair competetion in my opinion, and she was 10th overall. Mom finished in 12:51, not bad for not running at all in who knows how long ;) Talk about being proud of my little sister and giving me some motivation for the 10K ;)
The 10K was suppose to be relatively flat according to the website so I was looking for a PR but wasn't really worried about it since Wildflower was the following weekend and I didn't want to put a beating on the legs. Standing at the start line the guy next to me looks over and says "Are you an IRONMAN?", my response which I believe is true is "No, I am to young for that long stuff". We talked a little bit and he knew some of the guys in the race so I asked about how he thought the race was going to go and his buddy was suppose to run 36ish. I figured well I should just run with him and that would keep me on pace for a PR, that is right forgot to mention my Garmin was dead so I ran totally on feel and had not a clue what was going on time wise. Off we went and I figured I would push the pace and see what would happen. Well never looked back from there and 37:41 later I crossed the line of what ended up being a not so flat course that had some decent elevation on it.
For a local charity run it ended up being GREAT! Winner of each 10 year age group received a bottle of wine, minus my age group because we had 20-29, so they have us a $15 gift certificate. Cannot complain about that, and then the best part was for winning Overall I received $100 gift card to Royal Robins here in Modesto. For a $28 race entry it was a great deal!
http://www.shadowchase.org/2010_CFAC10K_Overall.HTM
Below are some Pictures of the Family! We all took podium spots: Mom 1st in her Age Group, Madyson 2nd and Steve 2nd (45:04)
Coming to the finish line!
Overall Male and Female Winner showing off our $100 gift cards!
The Family all happy after a good morning workout!Monday, April 19, 2010
UVAS Reservoir OLY Tri
18 April 2010-Morgan Hill CA
Well since I have been in Turkey for the past 13 months I have had some amazing weather. I think through the winter it might of been down in the 30's maybe a handful of times. The low was normally in the 40's and it was a very enjoyable winter. Waking up yesterday morning and heading out the door to race was like a winter morning in Turkey. It was 40 degree's and CHILLY! Well to mother natures defense it was 4am. So yeah 340am wake up and a 2 hour drive later we had arrived at the race. I started off the morning with the traditional race morning coffee and instant oatmeal. I also threw in a new twist and had a Hammer Whey protein shake.
I had a lot of family there, 2 of my 3 grandma's both my mom, dad, stepmom, stepdad, and little sister. So having family at the race always makes it nice, something I am not use to racing primarily overseas. So having them there is nice but sometimes makes for an interesting morning with all the questions, but all in all they are a tremendous help.
SWIM-
730 was the start for the first wave which was Male 34 and Under. Off we went in the warm 60 degree water, it was actually the first race I have ever been happy to get in the water. With it being warmer than the air temp it was nice but still 60 degree water is chilly. I wasn't expecting much from my swim since my training this year has been hit or miss. However on Friday I felt really good in the water and was excited to see what I could do. I just concentrated on staying on some feet and staying in the draft. I found some feet early, then lost them then at about half way stuck to some feet from there on out. I was able to save some energy this way and perhaps this was the reason I set my swim PR for the OLY distance. I came in at 25:19 and was shocked when I heard my mom call out my split, funny thing about her calling out my split was in Florida last November she tried to call out my swim split and was about 6 minutes off. So this time luckily there was a clock at exit and I double checked and sure enough she was right. THANKS MOM!
T1-
Wasn't really sure if I wanted my long sleeve jersey or not and wanted to dry off but ended up not drying off. Was really indecisive here and kind of wasted some time.
Bike-
With Wildflower coming up I would of been really happy if I could of found a hilly OLY race. Well without knowing it I found one and it had some good rollers as well as one good climb. Having trained on base on the 8 mile FLAT loop over the past 5 months I am skeptical about my bike strength. Well I put it to the test yesterday and it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. Rode really strong didn't pass as many people as expected but when I came out of the water there was only 12 people ahead of me and they were all fast. I think I passed one guy and was passed by two guys. Ended up passing and staying legally with a group from about half way on. I say legally because out of the 4 of us 2 of them got hit with 2 minute drafting penalties, I was at the back at the time and was legally back and the guy pulling had been honest throughout the bike leg. One of the two guys got stuck in a bad situation and then the one guy deserved the penalty as he had been wheel sucking since I had passed him. It was good to see race officials out there and actually do there job.
T2-
Was pretty slow in my opinion and should have been a lot quicker. It took a little long to slip into my shoes, might throw some body glide on the heel area next time in hopes of slipping right in.
Run-
Left out of T2 with a group of 3 other guys and they were out a lot faster than me. Good thing was only 1 of them was in my AG, so I just concentrated on him. At mile 2 he was 40secs up on me. I just kept slowly working on him and really concentrating on him. At mile 5 I finally caught him and stayed about 10 feet back hoping he wouldn't know I was there. He never looked back but I am sure he had an idea I had caught him. At mile 5 1/2 I pulled up next to him and made a surge for about 30secs just to see what he would do. I knew there was no one ahead of us in our age group so knew I couldn't worry about my overall time but just needed to concentrate on playing some mind games with him. Those 30secs he started breathing pretty hard and was trying to keep up and he hung in there. So I slowed it back down and waited another 30 seconds and then decided to push hard till the end and see what would happen. Took about a minute and then he dropped off and I put some distance on him. Run ended up being a little slower than I wanted but felt I could of been a bit faster but conserved some energy to make sure I could pick off the one guy that was in reach.
Splits-
Swim-25:19-72nd (1:41per/100m)
T1-1:01
Bike-1:06:24-14th (22.4mph)
T2-1:09
Run-41:48-31st (6:44mi/min)
Overall Time-2:15:42*PR -22nd/239 OA 2nd/10 AG
Overall I was really happy with my results, PR'd by 4mins and felt really good. I can't wait to get on a flat course in Korea and see what I can really put down. Hoping to concentrate on the short distance stuff the remainder of the year after Wildflower and see what happens with my speed. Glad to have all the family there and it was a good time. Below are some pics from the race!
Also this race was one of the best races I have participated in. They had some great SCHWAG for the overall winners and they even had prizes for the premium winners of Swim,T1,Bike,T2,Run. Swim fast times got Xterra wetsuits, truly amazing for a $100 entry fee. Not to mention top 3 in each Age Group got a bottle of wine. And the best part that is really hard to believe FREE BEER post race, as well as the usual carb/protein food! AMAZING RACE put on by great people for there first annual race. THANKS http://www.thresholdracinginc.com/
Well since I have been in Turkey for the past 13 months I have had some amazing weather. I think through the winter it might of been down in the 30's maybe a handful of times. The low was normally in the 40's and it was a very enjoyable winter. Waking up yesterday morning and heading out the door to race was like a winter morning in Turkey. It was 40 degree's and CHILLY! Well to mother natures defense it was 4am. So yeah 340am wake up and a 2 hour drive later we had arrived at the race. I started off the morning with the traditional race morning coffee and instant oatmeal. I also threw in a new twist and had a Hammer Whey protein shake.
I had a lot of family there, 2 of my 3 grandma's both my mom, dad, stepmom, stepdad, and little sister. So having family at the race always makes it nice, something I am not use to racing primarily overseas. So having them there is nice but sometimes makes for an interesting morning with all the questions, but all in all they are a tremendous help.
SWIM-
730 was the start for the first wave which was Male 34 and Under. Off we went in the warm 60 degree water, it was actually the first race I have ever been happy to get in the water. With it being warmer than the air temp it was nice but still 60 degree water is chilly. I wasn't expecting much from my swim since my training this year has been hit or miss. However on Friday I felt really good in the water and was excited to see what I could do. I just concentrated on staying on some feet and staying in the draft. I found some feet early, then lost them then at about half way stuck to some feet from there on out. I was able to save some energy this way and perhaps this was the reason I set my swim PR for the OLY distance. I came in at 25:19 and was shocked when I heard my mom call out my split, funny thing about her calling out my split was in Florida last November she tried to call out my swim split and was about 6 minutes off. So this time luckily there was a clock at exit and I double checked and sure enough she was right. THANKS MOM!
T1-
Wasn't really sure if I wanted my long sleeve jersey or not and wanted to dry off but ended up not drying off. Was really indecisive here and kind of wasted some time.
Bike-
With Wildflower coming up I would of been really happy if I could of found a hilly OLY race. Well without knowing it I found one and it had some good rollers as well as one good climb. Having trained on base on the 8 mile FLAT loop over the past 5 months I am skeptical about my bike strength. Well I put it to the test yesterday and it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. Rode really strong didn't pass as many people as expected but when I came out of the water there was only 12 people ahead of me and they were all fast. I think I passed one guy and was passed by two guys. Ended up passing and staying legally with a group from about half way on. I say legally because out of the 4 of us 2 of them got hit with 2 minute drafting penalties, I was at the back at the time and was legally back and the guy pulling had been honest throughout the bike leg. One of the two guys got stuck in a bad situation and then the one guy deserved the penalty as he had been wheel sucking since I had passed him. It was good to see race officials out there and actually do there job.
T2-
Was pretty slow in my opinion and should have been a lot quicker. It took a little long to slip into my shoes, might throw some body glide on the heel area next time in hopes of slipping right in.
Run-
Left out of T2 with a group of 3 other guys and they were out a lot faster than me. Good thing was only 1 of them was in my AG, so I just concentrated on him. At mile 2 he was 40secs up on me. I just kept slowly working on him and really concentrating on him. At mile 5 I finally caught him and stayed about 10 feet back hoping he wouldn't know I was there. He never looked back but I am sure he had an idea I had caught him. At mile 5 1/2 I pulled up next to him and made a surge for about 30secs just to see what he would do. I knew there was no one ahead of us in our age group so knew I couldn't worry about my overall time but just needed to concentrate on playing some mind games with him. Those 30secs he started breathing pretty hard and was trying to keep up and he hung in there. So I slowed it back down and waited another 30 seconds and then decided to push hard till the end and see what would happen. Took about a minute and then he dropped off and I put some distance on him. Run ended up being a little slower than I wanted but felt I could of been a bit faster but conserved some energy to make sure I could pick off the one guy that was in reach.
Splits-
Swim-25:19-72nd (1:41per/100m)
T1-1:01
Bike-1:06:24-14th (22.4mph)
T2-1:09
Run-41:48-31st (6:44mi/min)
Overall Time-2:15:42*PR -22nd/239 OA 2nd/10 AG
Overall I was really happy with my results, PR'd by 4mins and felt really good. I can't wait to get on a flat course in Korea and see what I can really put down. Hoping to concentrate on the short distance stuff the remainder of the year after Wildflower and see what happens with my speed. Glad to have all the family there and it was a good time. Below are some pics from the race!
Also this race was one of the best races I have participated in. They had some great SCHWAG for the overall winners and they even had prizes for the premium winners of Swim,T1,Bike,T2,Run. Swim fast times got Xterra wetsuits, truly amazing for a $100 entry fee. Not to mention top 3 in each Age Group got a bottle of wine. And the best part that is really hard to believe FREE BEER post race, as well as the usual carb/protein food! AMAZING RACE put on by great people for there first annual race. THANKS http://www.thresholdracinginc.com/
Thursday, April 15, 2010
Coming Home :)
15Apr10- Incirlik AB, Turkey
Well the time has finally come where I get to head home for a couple weeks. I am excited to get back and see family and friends and get some good racing in. Wildflower is set as my A race for this year but it is so early in the year once I get out to Korea I could find another late Half IM and get another good race in. I found a local Olympic distance race to go to on Sunday which will be a good prep for Wildflower. After the race on Sunday we are going to have a family BBQ and I am excited to see some old friends from HS and all of the family.
I have got a good amount of training in and am feeling really strong on the run and about the same as I was last year on the bike. I wasn't sure how my run speed was coming along as I hadn't really done any speed intervals or track workouts, I had done a few tempo runs and they felt good. So the true test was taking my PT test last week. The last time I tested was back in October and I ran 8:19 for 1.5 miles. Last week I was just wanting to hit mid 8's, but I went out really hard and felt great. Came across the line at 7:57, which was quite shocking as I was not expecting to be that fast this early in the year. I was going to try and break 8 later this year, but now it looks like my new goal is 7:30.
The other test to see where I was endurance wise was a local duathlon last month. It was a 5k run followed by a 12k bike. Really short but something to get the HR up and going, the one thing I do not like about the short stuff is it seems to hurt a lot more than the long stuff. I stayed up front with my buddy "Flash", one of the other fast guys on base and we took it easy on the run and came in at 19:12 together. The one thing that I have learned from the past 2 years is transitions can make you or break you in the short races. So I really concentrated on getting out of their fast. I ended up putting 30secs on him just in transition. Bike felt good other than a nasty head wind on the backstretch and I rode 18:53. So it was a good morning all in all and I ended up winning by 2 or 3 minutes. Funny thing that I have noticed is people do not like the same person winning all the time. Example, Tiger Woods, Jimmie Johnson, Jeff Gordon, Dale Earnhardt. It seems when they were at their prime and they were winning all the time they gained a lot more people disliking them and rooting against them. So at the little awards ceremony someone decided to make a comment about me "When are you leaving so someone else can start winning". Thought it was quite humorous and responded with "Don't worry I just extended for another 2 years". The funny thing was I didn't even know the guy. Well it is about time to board the plane here in Turkey and make the voyage home.
One more thing that some of you may have not heard is that I am going to Spangdahlem, Germany after Korea. I am schedule to arrive in October 2011! Pretty stoked about that assignment and the amount of racing over there and traveling that can be had.
Below are some pics from the Duathlon and the Volleyball game I mentioned in the last blog.
Hitting out of the middle.....
The Turkish and our Base Team
Around mile 1 of the 5k run
At the start of the run....
Coming in for the finish of the bike
Tore the bike down for the annual cleaning and put a coat of wax on and here she is all ready for the season.
Well the time has finally come where I get to head home for a couple weeks. I am excited to get back and see family and friends and get some good racing in. Wildflower is set as my A race for this year but it is so early in the year once I get out to Korea I could find another late Half IM and get another good race in. I found a local Olympic distance race to go to on Sunday which will be a good prep for Wildflower. After the race on Sunday we are going to have a family BBQ and I am excited to see some old friends from HS and all of the family.
I have got a good amount of training in and am feeling really strong on the run and about the same as I was last year on the bike. I wasn't sure how my run speed was coming along as I hadn't really done any speed intervals or track workouts, I had done a few tempo runs and they felt good. So the true test was taking my PT test last week. The last time I tested was back in October and I ran 8:19 for 1.5 miles. Last week I was just wanting to hit mid 8's, but I went out really hard and felt great. Came across the line at 7:57, which was quite shocking as I was not expecting to be that fast this early in the year. I was going to try and break 8 later this year, but now it looks like my new goal is 7:30.
The other test to see where I was endurance wise was a local duathlon last month. It was a 5k run followed by a 12k bike. Really short but something to get the HR up and going, the one thing I do not like about the short stuff is it seems to hurt a lot more than the long stuff. I stayed up front with my buddy "Flash", one of the other fast guys on base and we took it easy on the run and came in at 19:12 together. The one thing that I have learned from the past 2 years is transitions can make you or break you in the short races. So I really concentrated on getting out of their fast. I ended up putting 30secs on him just in transition. Bike felt good other than a nasty head wind on the backstretch and I rode 18:53. So it was a good morning all in all and I ended up winning by 2 or 3 minutes. Funny thing that I have noticed is people do not like the same person winning all the time. Example, Tiger Woods, Jimmie Johnson, Jeff Gordon, Dale Earnhardt. It seems when they were at their prime and they were winning all the time they gained a lot more people disliking them and rooting against them. So at the little awards ceremony someone decided to make a comment about me "When are you leaving so someone else can start winning". Thought it was quite humorous and responded with "Don't worry I just extended for another 2 years". The funny thing was I didn't even know the guy. Well it is about time to board the plane here in Turkey and make the voyage home.
One more thing that some of you may have not heard is that I am going to Spangdahlem, Germany after Korea. I am schedule to arrive in October 2011! Pretty stoked about that assignment and the amount of racing over there and traveling that can be had.
Below are some pics from the Duathlon and the Volleyball game I mentioned in the last blog.
Hitting out of the middle.....
The Turkish and our Base Team
Around mile 1 of the 5k run
At the start of the run....
Coming in for the finish of the bike
Tore the bike down for the annual cleaning and put a coat of wax on and here she is all ready for the season.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)