Singapore 70.3 Pre-Race

19 Mar 2011-

Well first off I now am officially 1/4 of a century OLD, yes I said old. I was reminded of this when I skyped with my mom this morning, as it was still my birthday back in the states. So with that comes age grouping up, I guess you can say I am becoming a big boy and having to race with the men now and not the college/young guys. Believe it or not as you age group up in triathlon it gets tougher until you reach the 45-49 age group, and even then things still aren't easy. So tomorrow will be the true test of how this age grouping up thing goes.

Over the past couple months I have been coached by Scott DeFilippis, a Pro Triathlete on Team TBB(www.teamtbbcoaching.com). The team started an online coaching service late last year and I jumped on board in December. I realized to continue to progress in the sport and be successful I needed more structure and someone to keep an eye on my training other than myself. I use to just go out and run or go out and ride. And then the mediocre tossing and turning I was doing in the pool, I guess you could call that swimming. I had first realized what structure could do for me when I sat down with Elissa when I was back in Turkey and laid out a marathon plan. Having an experienced athlete/coach sit down and lay things out for you makes a huge difference. After that I realized that a coach for triathlon was a step I needed to make.

With the change in place a lot of pieces to the puzzle have fallen into place. I have been fortunate enough to be surrounded by great athletes and people that have helped me in many ways. A CAT 1 and CAT 3 cyclist are both at Osan right now and I have been lucky enough to ride with them on a consistent basis, thanks Zach and Aaron for putting up with a tri guy! I was also lucky enough to come across a great swimmer that has helped me with my stroke and then just constantly kicking my ass day in and day out in the pool. Unfortunately Traci is going to be gone for the summer and not be able to continue to help me, but she will be back in the fall and we will pick up where I left off. Over the past 4 weeks an AF Marathon/Cross Country team member was TDY to Osan. It was nice getting in a few runs with Jason and showing him the ropes of Korea and how awesome the racing is. Can't wait for him to get back out here so we can terrorize the Korean running scene. Thanks for the ass kicking Jason! Then of course having Scott as a coach has been the biggest change. Knowing that someone is there that reviews your plan and your workouts and puts things into place to help you improve is awesome. I still have to put in the work, but having a structure plan with a purpose is the thing that has helped the most. Then knowing that he is checking my workouts makes me accountable for putting in the work. With all of this happening I believe I am in the best shape I have been in, and I am here in Singapore ready to prove to myself that the hard work has paid off.

The plan for tomorrow is to go out and execute the race plan. I have been putting a lot of time in the pool, but I still am just trying to survive the swim and then get out and have a solid bike and run. The humidity has been bearable here, I thought it would be a lot worse. I think I will be alright considering the heat/humidity, but you never know what race day can bring. I just plan to go out tomorrow and to give it my all that is really all that I can guarantee. I can guarantee that and that I am racing for more than myself, I am racing with a purpose. Since I have started racing for more than just myself the races have been more meaningful and satisfying.

Today marks a special day, it is a good friend of mines birthday. She is no longer here with us, but I miss her quite a bit and think about her from time to time. It seems like it was just yesterday that myself and April were headed to watch our friends play in the HS Football All Star game. When we were headed out Patterson we got too a bad accident just before Mchenry. The road was closed and they made us take a side street. I remember telling April that it had to of been a really bad accident, and more than likely a fatal since they had shut the road down. Little did we know that it was one of the nicest, most caring people in our senior class. We had just graduated a month or so prior and had been fortunate enough to not lose any of our close friends through all of HS. We didn't find out till we got to the game that it was Kristina, and it hit all of us really hard. It was one of the hardest loses I have been through, other than my Grandpa. So tomorrow I will race for "K", also known to me as beautiful. We would always see each other at school and I would call her beautiful and she would call me handsome, just our little nicknames. My buddy was dating her and he didn't mind as we always managed to put a smile on each others faces.

I will also be racing tomorrow for my boss's son. My boss left work on Wednesday to head back to the states to be with his family. His kid had come down with bronchitis or pneumonia, not exactly which one it was but if I remember he is only 6 or 8 and one of his lungs had filled up with liquid and had then collapsed. I have not got an update since I left, but I continue to pray for his child and his family. I can only hope for the best and will race hard tomorrow for both of these people.

Well now that the sad part of the blog is out of the way, I have been enjoying Singapore. Yesterday I got out for an easy ride and rode along the coast. I also found a local pool and swam there twice. It was an interesting experience as it had no lane buoy lines and they would not let me use paddles. Other than that it was a very nice pool and only about 0.80 cents to swim there. Today I went down to transition area and checked the bike in and got an easy swim in. It wasn't too far from the hotel, maybe 8-10K so just a short ride. I have found free internet in the hotel, from someones router close to the hotel, but they turn it off during the day for some reason so I am using internet at an internet cafe. Only $1.50 an hour so very reasonable compared to the hotel where they want $2 for 15 mins. It has been nice to just relax and be completely stress free.

Well if you have read down the blog this far then you can find out about tomorrows race ;) You can track the race at www.ironmanlive.com, bib number 364. Race starts at 0820 Singapore time which is: 420pm West Coast time, 720pm East Coast time, 720am Korea time.

I will add some pictures tonight when I get back to the hotel. Thanks again for all the continued support, with out great family/friends I would not be who I am today or where I am today. Thanks again!