Cap Tex Tri

27 May -

I had made a late decision to add Cap Tex to the schedule a month or so ago.  The only worry was that it was 5 days prior to Armed Forces Champs.  With it being a short drive from home and having a place to stay down there with an awesome sherpa, Amy Chow, I figured why not.

A week before the race one of the guys I train with, Barrett, asked if I can give a ride to one of his buddies down there and bring him plus another friend back.  So I ended up spending a good amount of time with Jon Bird from Canada who is an awesome guy.  He use to train with Simon Whitfield leading into London up in Victoria.  Jon was really cool to hang out with and shared a lot of stories and knowledge throughout the trip, he also had a solid race and finished 6th in the pro field.  Then on the way back I picked up Many Huerta from Barretts parents place and Jon, Manny and myself all headed back to Ft Worth.

Anyways here is a quick recap of the race:

Swim- 23:13

I got a decent start and found feet for most of the swim.  It felt like the swim was taking extra long, and apparently it did.  I was 14th out of the water out of 32 guys in the elite amateur wave, so not bad placing wise, but not great time wise.  I am not sure if it was the current or what, but I felt decent in the water.

Bike- 57:36

I knew quite a few guys were up the road and with it being a 4 loops bike course I would have a decent idea of where I was on the first lap.  At the first out and back section I knew one of my main competitors Scotty Wilkinson was just up the road about 20-30 secs.  I kept checking my relation to him at the turn arounds and it seemed like I was holding the same gap for the first 2 laps.  The third and fourth lap he put in a little bigger gap, but I just kept riding hard.  I was really happy with how I felt on the bike and ended up coming off the bike in 4th place.

Run- 37:44

I had a decent T2 and felt great out of transition.  I put in a solid first few miles and was able to see that I was down by about 2:40 on the leader at the first turn around point.  I didn't want to kill myself on the run with Armed Forces coming up in 5 days so I just tried to run comfortably uncomfortable.  Around mile 2 I moved into 3rd place and knew there was a strong runner in Randy Arriola coming from behind.  I had raced against him at St Anthonys and he blew by me out of T2.  Somewhere between 5K and 4 miles I mentally checked out of the race and was satisfied with 3rd through 5th place.  I was really wanting to make sure I did not destroy myself and couldn't justify risking digging super deep to possibly finish 3rd or 4th instead of 5th.  It sounds like an excuses, but in all honesty Armed Forces means a lot more than CapTex did.  I looked back at my splits and mile 4 was slower than the rest and mile 5 I picked it up a bit when the guys made passes on me, but I ended up not going with them.  I got passed for 4th with about 1K to go and was content with finishing 5th.  I am not sure if I could have given them a run for their money, but a huge congrats to Randy and Brad Miles for blowing by me in the last 2 miles.

Swim (1.5K) - 23:13 / 14th Elite Male / 42nd Amateur (http://app.strava.com/activities/56717624)

T1-2:23

Bike (40K) - 57:36 / 2nd Elite Male / 2nd Amateur (http://app.strava.com/activities/56717386)

T2-1:12

Run (10K) - 37:44 / 5th Elite Male / 11th Amateur (http://app.strava.com/activities/56717628)

Total- 2:02:10 / 5th out of 32 Elite Male / 5th out of 1088 Amateurs

Overall I was pretty happy with my results and how my swim and bike went.  The run was solid and the legs felt good, I am glad to know that there was more in the tank.  I am excited to lay it all on the line this weekend and see how things end up.  Seems like there is a new group of athletes down here at Armed Forces and it should be a great race.

Thanks to everyone for all of the support and especially the Team RWB Crew that was out at Cap Tex volunteering and cheering on all the athletes.  It was great to see the RWB Eagle all over the place down there.  The other great thing about this race was that it was the Paratriathlon National Championships and it was amazing and inspiring to see the athletes compete out on the course.

Special thanks to FRS Healthy Energy, Honey Stinger, Kiwami, HED Cycling, Zoot, teamTBB, Fort Worth Cycling and Team RWB for all of the support!  Without the great help of these great companies and organizations this season would not be going as well as it is.  So THANK YOU!

Team RWB Tri Camp / Selection to AF Tri Team / USAT Military Sports Award

15 May 13-

A little on the late side for this blog, well at least for the Team RWB Tri Camp.  After returning back to Texas from South Beach Miami back in April I didn't even have time to unpack and I was headed out the door again.  I headed down to Austin to help out and volunteer at the Team Red, White, and Blue Triathlon Camp.  I was really looking forward to this opportunity to be able to give back to our Veterans and current military members that are wounded not just physically but mentally.  The mission statement of Team Red, White, and Blue is to "enrich the lives of America’s veterans by connecting them to their community through physical and social activity".  Back in 2011 the morning after the IM World Championships I woke up with an email from Mike Erwin, the founder of Team RWB.  He asked that I consider getting involved with the organization and becoming an athlete ambassador.

I did a lot of research before committing to the organization.  I wanted to make sure it was something I was passionate about and something I believed in.  I talked to a few friends that were involved and I sent Mike an email back letting him know I wanted to get involved and help out anyway I could.  So here we are about 18 months later and I have been back in the states for about 6 months.  When I was in Korea I did as much as I could but it was more less just reaching out to people and trying to spread the word about the organization.  Now that I am back in the states I have got involved with our local chapter and I am seeing first hand how big of a difference this organization can make in peoples lives.

Now back to camp.  So I arrived down in Austin early morning on Thursday and linked up with David Wenger of Durata Training for a bike fit (blog to come on that soon).  Spent about 3 hours tweaking both the P3 and S5, and then went out and met up with Jeremy Brown for a ride on MOPAC Loop.  That afternoon there was a BBQ and introductions with everyone that had already arrived.

Friday morning the camp officially started and each day was about the same.  We had Jess Jacobs, Jess Meyers, Timothy O'Donnell, and Logan Franks there who are all pro triathletes.  They would lead small groups of athletes.  We had a few introductory clinics for each sport and then did some small amounts of training.  The main focus of the camp was focusing on the little things as we had a lot of first time triathletes there and I think overall everyone enjoyed the clinics.  There was not a lot of volume in terms of training but a lot of great bonding and sharing of knowledge going on.

I lucked out and was able to spend a good amount of time with Tim.  We had to drive quite a bit from place to place and basically I was his  personal taxi, no worries though just a small fee of having me pick his brain for knowledge the whole time.  It was great to get his opinion about the whole going pro thing since South Beach was the weekend prior.

I had an amazing time down at camp and was glad to be able to help out some of our nations finest veterans.  It was great to see first hand how effective sports and social activities are for those that are struggling with physical wounds and PTSD.  An AMAZING experience that made me realize I am involved in an organization that has a great mission and is something I am even more passionate about now.

Shifting gears........................A few weeks back Air Force Sports made the announcement for the 2013 Triathlon Team.  Looking at the list of guys and girls we are taking this year, I am excited to see what kind of damage we can do this year.  Last year we were unable to defend the mens title, however our girls pulled off the 4th title in a row.  With 2 "new" guys on the team, they are actually veterans of the team, but were not there last year, we are looking to have a solid team.  I am excited to be on the team again this year and looking forward to Armed Forces Championships on June 1st in Pt Mugu, California.  Going to be a busy 7 days, with CapTex on Memorial day down in Austin.  Driving back up to Ft Worth, work on Tuesday, fly out to Cali on Wednesday and race Armed Forces on Saturday.  Really looking forward to it and seeing how my body reacts to racing back to back like that.

Back in April I was notified that I received the USAT Military Sports Award and was an honorable mention.  Robert Hilton from the Marine Corps won, congrats man on a great honor.  Rob has beat me the last 2 years in Hawaii, and I am hoping he makes it back this year, hopefully the third time is a charm ;)  I did not race 3 races that were USAT races last year so was not eligible for Age Group All American or Honorable Mention, looking to take a shot at All American honors this year.

As always thanks to everyone for all of the support.  I couldn't do it without the amazing family and friends I am surrounded by and the great support of my sponsors.  THANK YOU!

Here are some pictures from Camp:

 Mike Durner (The US Paracycling Team Coach) and myself

 Bike Skills Clinic out in a huge park

 Logan, Scott, Jess, and myself at lunch

 Carloline thought I was modeling and snapped a photo ;)

 Practicing swim starts.  We swam all weekend at Austin Pure Quarry, and it was awesome!

 Austin Veolway for some loops

 Jess and myself before my near death experience on the Austin Veloway, those corners can sneak up on you there.

A picture from last weekend, not at camp just out on a training ride.  #WEARTHEEAGLE #ITSOURTURN #DRINKFRS ;)