Spangdahlem Duathlon

8 May 2010- Spangdahlem AB Germany-

On the return trip home from the states I had planned on stopping in Germany for a Volleyball tournament but it had got canceled 2 weeks before I went on leave, so I made an adjustment to the trip. One of my friends that I was stationed with in Korea is now out in Germany at Spangdahlem and said I was welcome anytime. Why not pick a weekend to go visit when we could get a race in. I had got an email from him previously with all that they had going on there, and sure enough there was a Duathlon (5k Run/30K Bike/5K Run) lined up for the weekend I would be in town.

I figured it was a great opportunity to go see what the area was like since that is where I am headed in October 2011. I also figured I would get a feel for how they ran things there and what the competition will be like. I was excited to be racing on a bigger base, in hopes of more people showing up then the normal 25-30 athletes we get showing up here in Turkey. Well I was quite disappointed that only 10 people showed up, 5 of which were on Mountain Bikes. I believe there were more volunteers than athletes. It was a sad affair considering they put on a great event and not to mention it was free. They even had post race snacks and prizes to give out.

Myself and Mark showed up with both of our bikes on top of his car. Quite a funny scene to have two bikes on top of a car and our bikes combined are worth more than the car, shows where our priorities are at. Actually I think his bike alone was more than the car, but when you are riding a Pinarello that is expected. He hadn't raced a local race since he had been there because he had been so busy with work and moving into his house. We were both going into the race blind not knowing who the competition was or what it would be like, until a German guy showed up and Mark goes "O well have fun getting your legs torn off by him". The guy had beat Mark up pretty good on a ride 2 weekends before, and knowing how strong the Germans are on the bike I figured I would just have to out run the guy.

With the race being short in comparison to other events it means fast and hard the whole time. The run course had one good climb on it right after the turn around which put a damper on my calf's after only having a week of recovery from Wildflower. The bike course was a 3 loop course and had some decent rolling hills on it. Then the last 5k run was on the same as the first course so just that one hill after the turn around.

I went out hard on the first run to see if anyone wanted to go with me but I ran it pretty much solo the whole time and put a good gap into the group. On the bike I just pushed hard from the get go in hopes to keep the gap opened up and not let the German guy (Martin) catch me. I would occasionally look back and could never see him so I just kept pushing hard. Had a good transition off the bike and onto the last 5K and I had opened up a good lead on everyone that was on a road bike, the MTB guys only had to do 20K bike and I had one of them out in front of me on the run. My goal was to eventually catch him, so I just ran hard but my legs were really getting sore and fatigue was setting in. I finally caught the MTB guy at the turn around and just tried to maintain a decent pace to the finish. I felt pretty crappy after the race, my legs got tight and were really sore. Note to self do not race 1 week after Wildflower!

Run 1- 19:22 (5K) 6:15min/mil
Bike- 51:25 (30K) 21.8 mph/avg
Run 2- 19:39 (5K) 6:23min/mil
Finish Time: 1:32:45

Overall Germany was a good time and I can't wait to get out there and have a good group of people to train with. Spangdahlem FSS put on a GREAT EVENT; just sad that people didn't take advantage of it.

SPECIAL THANKS to MARK and his FAMILY for letting me stay with them and showing me around the local area and for the transportation to and from the airport!

Below are some pics from the trip:

Mark's bike and my bike on top of the VW

Accepting my awards which included a Towel, Sweatshirt, and Medal!

Mark, Myself, The German (Martin) were Top 3
The coolest thing I saw while there was this tube machine outside the bicycle shop!

I ate enough Gellato while I was in Germany to hold me over for quite sometime I would normally get 8 small scoops of different flavors and then a Banana Split, I think I spent all of my Euro there. Probably close to 40Euro, it was some good stuff!

Wildflower......What a Race!

1 May 2010- Lake San Antonio CA-

For those of you that have not been able to enjoy the Wildflower experience, I highly recommend it. Even if you are not an athlete or tri person just going and hanging out is quite an experience. This is not a typical race, it is a week long festival, AKA "The Woodstock" of Triathlon. Last year was a great time and we camped but only stayed for a few days. This year my parents decided to get an RV and we decided to go from Wednesday-Sunday, which was a very wise decision. With us staying so long and having an RV I sent out a mass invite to everyone I know that races. I had 2 takers on the deal and my buddy Gary from Wisconsin flew out for the race. We had met at IM 70.3 Germany and then both raced Clearwater. His wife and my mom spent race day together in FL cheering us on and they really enjoyed each others company. Amy who we camped with last year also decided to come out but wasn't to into the camping thing so she stayed at a hotel Friday night about 45mins from the race, forgot to mention WF is in the middle of nowhere. This will be a little more than a race report and more of a Wildflower Report.

Wednesday morning we left and headed out for WF about 530am in hopes of getting a full hook up RV spot. The GPS that we were using decided to take us a "short" way and we ended up taking a twisty back road, which would of been fine in a car, but not in the RV. The best part was this is right when I had took over to start driving. No longer than 20 minutes later down the road Madyson (my little sis) decided that I was a horrible driver and decided to throw up. We pulled of to the side of the road and let her get it all out. Since it was all my fault and not the twisty roads fault Mom took back over driving and I caught a much needed nap. We ended up arriving around 10 and found a full hook up spot right on the run course of the Half IM course. We were very close to our campsite that we had last year so it was nice to already know the area.

Once we set up camp I headed out for a 5 mile run on the run course which was from miles 7-12. It was a nice run and I was able to enjoy the scenery and see some wildlife, Deer, dead rattle snake, turkey, squirrels and some quail. I came back and told Gary that it was going to be a brutal run on Saturday, little did I know how brutal it would be.

Thursday morning I got in a nice morning swim and biked mid day with some new friends. Our next door neighbors at the camp ended up being a group from Canada. They had 2 RV's and 8 people total and were some cool people. I hung out with them quite a bit after our run and we hung around a camp fire and had a few beers and even some Margaritas, blended ones at that. Just so happened that some of the other neighbors had packed a blender for the trip, like I have said WF is one of a kind. "Team Trevor" was the camp that had brought the blender and in exchange for margaritas we had promised to go down and sign up for the bone marrow registry. It was a simple process and I stopped in and did this post race on Saturday.

Friday was the normal pre race day routine that I always go through. Get a good short morning swim in, try and bike around the same time I would be on the course and get a good short 10-15min run in. Once all of that in it was time to relax and stay hydrated. They always say to stay out of the sun, but I had to work on the tan a little bit so I just made sure to have a bottle of water around at all times. Mom made a good meal and I made sure to eat enough to make sure I could take care of the morning ritual on race morning.

Race morning came as usual other than waking up in an RV at 0500 and trying not to wake everyone else up was a little rough. I made it over to the showers and it seemed everyone else was still asleep and I was able to get a good wake up by the low 40 temps and a decently warm shower. Once back to the RV I was able to get my 2 instant oatmeal packets ready with the touch of a button on the microwave and 2 minutes later breakfast was served along with a banana. Breakfast went down as usual and I even had the race morning cup of coffee. The lucky morning routine streak is still on a roll and I have been lucky enough to go 4 for 4 over the past 4 HIM's with taking care of business (knock on wood).

The nice thing about Wildflower is that you do not have to pre check in race bags or your bike. However you do get to ride down lynch hill which tends to be really chilly in the morning AM. Once everything was all settled at camp I headed down to transition area to get setup as well as watch the pros head out. I was lucky enough to be the 3rd wave that started so we were going off at 8:10, as where Gary and Amy were starting over an hour behind. Mom, Steve, and Maddy all met me down there and it was nice to see them before the swim start. Steve was down there getting ready as well as his first Tri, the Mountain Bike Sprint Tri started after all the Long Course athletes went off. I think his start was just before 10.

Swim-

I was hoping to have a good swim after having a great swim 2 weeks ago at UVAS Reservoir. I felt good in the water and with it being a good size wave start of around 100-150 athletes it was a little rough for the first 200M and I couldn't find clear water or get into a good draft until about 400M. That is where I got in what I thought was a good grove but did not turn out so well. The swim course is a little difficult with the first half of the swim being into the sun. I just stayed on the guys feet in front of me and well he was spotting off the opposite buoys on the course. We ended up in the middle of the course and had to navigate back on course which had cost me some time. Once we mad it past the half way point it was a easy swim and I just found some feet that were swimming straight and hung on till the end of the swim. By far not a great swim but I was able to save some energy by staying on some feet most of the time.

T1-

Went really smooth and I was able to get in and right out. The boat ramp just makes for a long run to transition but other than that it was fine.

Bike-

Coming into this race I knew I would need to be conservative on the bike since it was so hilly. I made sure to pace myself wisely and make sure I was taking in enough calories and liquid. For the bike I went with one bottle on the down tube that had 2X Hammer Perpetum Servings w/ 4 Servings of Hammer vanilla gel mixed in; it was quite concentrated. For my upper bottle on the aero bars I just used on course Gatorade and opted for the orange flavor, since the perpetum is orange vanilla. That made it a little easier to wash down than with lime. I had a few problems on the bike mechanically; one being on a decent at about 45mph I hit a hole in the road and a loud sound came from the front wheel. This was my second time racing on this wheels so I am still no comfortable on them at high speeds, so I stopped to check and everything was fine. Then at mile 45 after nasty grade I dropped my chain going from the small ring to big ring, luckily it was right at an aid station so I got off fixed the chain and grabbed a water bottle. With those 2 mechanical problems I fell behind the group that I had been riding with and had to ride solo for a majority of the ride catching a rider here and there and then being caught by some of the "older" fast guys. Overall I was happy with my bike split and felt that I had conserved some more energy for the run course which was going to be brutal.

T2-

Went really smooth and I was in and out with no problems.

Run-

Felt really good right off the bat and the legs felt decent for just riding 56 miles. I made sure to put down some salt pills as I had started to get some small cramps in my quads. I knew with the big hills and down hills the quads were going to take a beating so I took more salt in than normal, and I was sweating pretty bad as well. The first 3 miles went by and I was feeling really good by that point but then came mile 4 and 5 which included a lot of walking. The hills were more like climbs and were better suited for hiking than trying to run up. Well what goes up must come down so at the end of mile 5 it was straight down to what I was hoping would be the motivational water stop. It is known that at Wildflower the college kids get a little crazy out at this so called water stop and are normally topless, offering beer/liquor to hydrate with and even offering to make out with the athletes. Well to everyone's disappointment the water stop was out of order for the third year in a row :( On with the run I went and at mile 6 one of the female pro's I had caught on the bike caught me on the run, so that was some motivation to run a little faster. The next water stop we came across a somewhat crazy water stop. I was attempting to intake gel and salt pills at the same time as drinking water, which was a task that was hard. Then to make matters worse, well actually better one of the college girls say's "Free motorboat, guaranteed to take a minute off your time". The pro girls was still in the vicinity and started laughing and told me "well you better do it and take a minute of your time", so sure enough it happened and I believe that was what made my run time a little bit faster. Back onto the run with a little motivation I started talking to the pro chick and was pacing with her as we got to talking she was talking about how it was a rough day and how she was in last and what not. I reminded her that she was not in last and that other people had quit or had mechanical problems and that just finishing was an accomplishment, she was still not happy with being "last". Well not even 200M down the trail I see another female ahead and I look over and tell her "Looks like you aren't going to be last for long". She took off and ran down that girl and sure enough ended up not being the last girl. I felt strong towards the end of the run thanks to a 39 year old guy telling me to run with him and well he got me going really strong and I was able to run down a guy ahead of me. Thanks to that guy I was able to pick up that one spot and hold off the guy till the finish. Going down lynch hill was painful on the quads and I was hoping the guy behind me wasn't going to want to sprint it out because I wasn't sure how much I had left in me, luckily he was out of energy as well and finished 5 seconds back. Making it to the podium can be decided by mere seconds, which I learned the hard way in my first tri missing top 3 by 1 second (it was a wave start and that guy that finished 3rd wasn't in my wave), but I ran hard in hopes of that podium spot (WF podiums Top 5 since it is a big race).

Splits-

Swim-34:46 (1:48/100M)- 417th OA- 29th AG

T1-2:15 6th AG

Bike-2:51:41 (19.5mph Avg)- 165th OA- 8th AG

T2-1:33 11th AG

Run-1:41:47 (7:44/mil Avg)- 104th OA- 7th AG

Overall Time-5:12:02-113th OA/1860 Athletes- 5th AG/54 AG Athletes

Overall I was very happy with my race. I was proud to have family their cheering me on and also to have met some incredible people over the weekend. Thanks to Gary from coming out from California and being able to experience WF! The whole Canadian clan was an awesome group of people both prerace and especially with the after party (*disclaimer* bad idea to party with Canadians, you end up hungover for at a minimum 2 days). Jay from ST for settling into the campsite and enjoying the WF atmosphere for the first time. Great weekend and great trip, hopefully I can find a way to make it back next year for WF!

SPECIAL THANKS: MOM/STEVE/MADDY for coming the whole week and getting the RV. Mom did a great job cooking and taking care of us athletes for the days leading up to the race. Aunt Chrissy/Uncle Jr/Mayson/Mikalyn/Oscar for making the long trip out just to see me run by a few times.

Someone told me a couple weeks ago that I was "to into my hobby", which I find quite funny. My response was simple and the honest truth "Triathlon is not my hobby it is a lifestyle". I think that sums up most tri people, it is more than a hobby to us it is a lifestyle we choose to live. So I think it is quite clear where my focus is right now and I am perfectly happy with that, I work, I eat, I sleep, I train, and I continue to take college classes, I would say that is enough to keep me busy............

Myself and Gary on the way up from packet pickup.

Rasmus Henning and myself, he won IM China the year I raced there.

The 4 racers on race morning.

Maddy and myself right before the swim.

Coming out of the water from my half crap swim.

During the beginning of the bike.

Coming down the finishing chute feeling strong.

Amy and myself both were top 5 in the 20-24 Age Group

The family came and supported me :)

Top 5!

The other guys in camp lost a bet at beer pong so I joined in the non sense, and then redeemed ourselves by beating the girls!

The great thing about triathlon is the 74 year old lady still racing and having fun!

After a long weekend a much needed nap, we had just packed up and were headed out so that is where the bike went for the trip home.

Wildflower Pre Race

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!

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!

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/

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.

Slow Start to 2010

15 Feb 10-

Well 2010 has started off quite slow. I brought in the New Year the right way with a century on our 8 mile loop here on base. Had two friends that stuck around for 50 miles and then met up randomly with another friend for the last 8 miles, and ended up doing 104 total. A century is pretty fun when you have a big group of people and awesome scenery to ride through, however the same 8 mile loop with no climbing or hills is not fun at all. But it was a good way to start off the year. I then kicked of training for Wildflower Long Course the following Tuesday. I found a pool to swim at which is 10 miles from base by bike with the last mile up hill. I have turned my first road bike into a commuter and put fenders and a rear rack on it. Works out much better now for the wet and rainy days and I don't get near as wet or have mud flung all over my back.

I also treated myself to a promotion/re-enlistment/X-mas gift and purchased a 2009 Cervelo R3 road bike. I mainly got it for when I get to Korea I will have a road bike to ride with groups and possibly do a few road races on. Ahhhhh that's right I don't think I had mentioned I will be headed back to Osan Korea in August for another tour. Looking forward to the return and already have 3 Olympic distance races on the schedule for later in the year.

Now to the not so good part and why 2010 is off to a slow start. The third weekend of January they had a New Years resolution 10k here on base so I went out and ran that. Well one guy took off and I knew there was no way I was keeping up with him so I ended up running with two buddies for the first 5 miles. Well that is when we started to have some fun at mile 5 we started to pick up the pace and split sub 6 for the last mile. We ended up only running 40:40 and were just having fun. Well my knee/IT band did not like me running that hard that early in the year and since then I have been having a lot of pain on the outside of my left knee. I have a doctors appointment for tomorrow so hopefully I can find out what is really going on. I have taken a week off from running and it didn't get better. Then took a week of from everything and it didn't get better. I have iced it, been taking IBU, and stretch it when I get up in the morning. Hopefully the doc will have a plan that will have me back and running in two to three weeks or else Wildflower is really going to be painful.

On a good note work has been treating me good. On the 1st of Jan I put on Staff Sergeant. Two weeks ago I found out that I was selected as the 2009 Maintenance Squadron and Maintenance Group Airman of the Year. The Annual Awards Banquet is in two weeks and I will be up against 5 other Airman for Airman of the Year for the Base/Wing. A couple weeks ago we had a C-130 gunship stop in and they ended up breaking and were stuck here for a few weeks and since we helped them out quite a bit they left us some thank yous. Below is pics of a 105mm shell that is shot from there cannon as well as a 20mm shell that is shot out of the A-10. This weekend our base Volleyball team is headed over to the local University to play them in preparation for our US Forces Tournament up in Germany in May. I play on the team and looks like I will be starting middle blocker. Our team has some talent and hopefully we will have a good time playing the Turks.

Hope everyone is having a great 2010!

Below are some pics!

Promotion day!
Shot glass, 20mm shell, 105mm shell.....
For anyone that plays Modern Warfare 2 the 105mm is what makes the big boom w/ the AC-130! The plane this came back on had over 100 confirmed kills in Afgan!!

Trek 1200 was my second bike and is now the commuter. And the Veloce on the right was my first ride that people feared to ride behind. The rear wheel was so out of true from all the torture I brought upon that $200 bike. It is waiting to be brought back to Korea so I can give it to one of the Korean Postal guys, he wanted to buy it before I left but I didn't want to sell it then. Now he can just have it.

2008 Cervelo P3C and 2009 Cervelo R3......Waiting to get the R3 in a good fast group ride and on some hills to see how it rides.....
The 6 mile 45lb ruck march I did with some of the cops.

The university pool I swim in....Is it normal for the lane lines to be where the rope is?? All the other pools the lane line is down the middle of the lane...........Hmmm IDK I am not a swimmer.....

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!