Giant Eagle Race Report

My day started out early when I had to get up at 3:00am to make it downtown for T2 at 4:00am. The day before I dropped off my bike at T1 at Alum Creek for an overnight stay because I took advantage of the shuttle bus that was offered from T2 to T1 the morning of the race. Sitting there waiting to board the buses at 4:30 in downtown, John Sachs joined me for the bus ride to Alum. It was nice to have someone to talk to for this early morning start time of 7am and a HFP teammate as well. After finally heading out to Alum Creek it was 5am, we assumed that the bus driver knew where she was heading until she asked for directions and almost missed the turn at Lewis Center Drive. Then she did miss the next turn into the park. You would think if she was the lead bus driver that she would know the directions to the destination. After arriving at T1, I was pleased to hear that the swim leg was wet suit legal. That is always a plus in my favor. Once again I was signed up for the sprint race and we were now the second race to start behind the Olympic for a change. The Olympic racers had to swim 2 laps and we had to swim 1, which would make us merge into the Olympic swimmers on the course. This was a crazy swim due to this merger. I was swimming over and around all kinds of people, then heading back to the finish we had to swim close to shore and people started dolphin swimming for about 100 meters. I could see that one of my competitors Jim Aust (55 years old) was right in front of me and Todd Ricketts was swimming right next to me. At one point Todd and I looked at each other as we swam around a slower swimmer, I was laughing to myself doing this part of the swim as we made eye contact through our goggles. By the time I got up to the finish line of the swim Jim was already taking off his suit and putting it into his bag. I looked down at my watch and it said 12:10 which was a good swim leg for me considering all the people that we had to swim around and over. My T1 was a little slower than normal to make sure that I placed my wet suit into my bag and tie it off with a double knot. By the time I did this Jim was already out of T1 and I wouldn't see him again the whole race. Once I got onto my bike I was heading out of the park only to hear somebody call my name. It was Rob Lahota,  he had just finished his 2 lap Olympic swim and was heading out on the Olympic course which was in a different direction than ours. Both courses merged at around mile 5 or so for the Sprint course. The course was super fast and I kept seeing Traci Aust with her pink helmet the first part of the race and I just tried to focus on catching her throughout this first couple of miles. After catching Traci, I then focused on the next set of riders not knowing who they were. Once I caught them at mile 11 they tried to stay with me throughout the rest of the ride. Right around this same time Justin Dennen passes me by hammering away. I thought I would try to stay on his tail without drafting the rest of the ride, but he just took off. However, I was able to stay within 100 meters of him the rest of the way. Heading into T2 I noticed that most of the pros from the Olympic course had already headed out onto the 10K course, however I was one of the first Sprinters into T2. I was hoping to see Jim, but he must have had a great bike and was out of the course somewhere. My average mph was right around 25.2 a little slow for me, considering how fast this course really was. Heading out onto the 5K course I felt pretty fresh, meaning that I left a lot out onto the bike. At mile 1 a guy that I never met came up and attempted to pass me. I figured he was in my age group with the grand masters elite, because I noticed him on the swim and on the bike course. I stayed with him for about 400 meters and then went surged ahead of him finally. Just as I passed him, Brian Barker came up on my outside running fast. I attempted to stay with Brian but once again he was just to fast to run with. I did notice that once he passed me that he settled into a pace that was the same as mine and he finished 26 seconds in front of me, I was able to break 21 minutes on the 5K, but felt I could go faster. I finished 6th overall and 3rd in the grand masters elite. 4 of the top 7 triathletes in the sprint was over 50 years old. Overall this was a great race to be able to go from Alum Creek through Columbus and then finish the run downtown. HFP did a great job of organizing and directing this point-to-point race, and I can't wait until next year to do this super fast course again. My next race is East Fork Tri this weekend near the Ohio River.

26 days left of summer, mental toughness

This is a repost from Joe Friel's blog that I thought was a great read and that could help us all stay focused. "I was recently asked how it is that athletes can drag themselves through unrelenting physical and mental suffering in events such as the mountain stages in the Tour de France. This topic came up when French rider Thomas Voeckler was trying to get the polka dot jersey and then retain it on two back-to-back stages with several challenging climbs during long rides in the Pyrenees. This reminded me of a paper published in the Harvard Business Review a few years ago (Jones, 2008). In it the author reported on studies of Olympic medalists and successful business people which revealed the following characteristics which may be defined as subsets of mental toughness. He wrote that the interviewees were found to: 1-have the ability to psychologically manage pressure 2-pay meticulous attention to goals 3-have a strong inner drive to stay ahead of the competition 4-be internally rather than externally focused 5-be self-directed concentrate on excellence 6-not be distracted by others 7-shrug off their own failures 8-be masters of compartmentalization in their lives 9-rebound from defeat 10-easily never self-flagellate 11-have a relentless focus on the long term attainment of goals 12-carefully plan short-term goals 13-never stop striving for success 14-reinvent themselves following a success 15-celebrate their wins 16-analyze the reasons for their success 17-be very confident of their abilities Jones also wrote that mental toughness “is having the natural or developed psychological edge that enables you to, generally, cope better than your opponents with the many demands (competition, training, lifestyle) that sport places on a performer and, specifically, be more consistent and better than your opponents in remaining determined, focused, confident and in control under pressure.”

White Star PT Services Trithlon Race Report

This was my 8th race in 8 weeks. The White Star Tri was held in Gibsonburg, Ohio near Toledo. The race venue was a great location held at an old quarry turned into a metro park, and the distances were typical with a 750meter swim, 20K bike, and a 5K run. Once again, I traveled the morning of the race and got up at 2:50am and was out the door by 4:00am. I arrived at 5:45am at the break of dawn to be greeted by the HFP staffers getting the course all ready for us. I think I was the 3rd one in the parking lot and felt a little stiff from the long ride from Columbus.

This was a small race with 160 athletes and a large group of relay teams. The swim was a triangle swim counter clockwise starting with a beach start. I was able to hang out prior to the start of the race with Randy Lehrer, Daniel Smith, and Shannon Kurek. However, Shannon wasn't racing and was just chatting with us prior to the start. Eventhough the water temp was well into the 70s I still decided to wear a full wet suit just to help me glide better in the water. I'm so much slower without a wet suit. Randy made a comment that hopefully he'll make my blog for the race today. Yes, Randy made the blog by being a great competitor in the sprint tris. I knew if I was going to have a chance to do well today I would have to stay close to Randy and Daniel in the swim and then just try and pace with Randy on the bike and run. At the start of the swim we all started pacing in the water with Randy taking off and I was right behind Daniel for most of the swim. However, there were a few young good swimmers that were flying fast in the water along with Randy in the first group. On the back stretch I was able to see the first group that was about 100 meters in front and then Daniel about 20 meters in front of me. I came onto the beach and looked down at my watch and it read 12:25 and with a final time of 12:45 crossing the mat and I heard Sandy Donald the announcer state that I was 7th out of the water. By the time I got to my bike I didn't even see Randy around and noticed Daniel was mounting his bike at the mount line. I had a flawless transition and was timed at :38. However, Randy was the 3rd out of the water at 10:39 and it appeared that he had a very good swim. Daniel was at 11:56 just in front of me. The bike course was just a huge rectangle on very flat roads. Within the first mile of the bike course I was able to pass Daniel and 4 other riders moving me into the 2nd position on the bike leg. I just attempted to get a good pace and not slow down at all with a high cadence around 90-95rpms. It seemed as if my averages were staying about 24mph throughout the race and going up to 26-27 on some occasions. I was able to see Randy far ahead of me (1/3 mile) but it didn't appear that I was gaining on him at all. I sometimes would lose focus and start to day dream on the second half of the bike and this caused me to slow down at times once again. Coming into transition, I knew that it had to be fast to try and close the gap on Randy. When entering the transition I heard Sandy announce that Randy had a 2 minute lead in front of me.  I just wanted to try and make up as much time as possible, but I figured that this was just too big of a lead for me to make up, unless Randy was having a bad day. My final bike time was 31:49 the second fastest overall with Randy having the fastest at 31:32, and my transition time again was a very good :27. The run course was a cross country course with a lot of twist and turns on a wooded trail and with a few sections in an open area with more turns. I felt that I really couldn't get into a good flow with all the turns on the trail, but would just try and run a shorter stride for pacing. I was averaging around 7 minute mile pace, which was decent for me on this tight trail. The last mile was somewhat straight with only a couple of turns, and heading down the last 1/4 mile was a straight line to the finish where I was able to have a good kick. During this last sprint, I heard Sandy announce that another runner was coming up on my rear so I sprinted faster. It's a good thing because I beat this 25 year old by only 5 seconds. Randy announced that both Randy and I were in our 50s crossing first and second and then a guy right behind us half our age was right there. I thought this was so funny that we were over twice his age. My final run time was a 19:09 and I had heard that the run was only 2.9 miles long. My final overall time was 1:04:50 and Randy beat me with an overall time of 1:02:58. His run time was exactly the same as mine with a 19:09. I ended up 3rd place overall with a 43 year old guy that started in the 3rd swim wave beat my time by 9 seconds. My lesson for the race is to attempt to stay as close as possible to Randy in the water if I want to have a chance to beat him at our next race together. Next race for me is the Giant Eagle this coming Sunday, 9th race in 9 weeks.

Caesar Creek Race Report Day 35

Caesar Creek Tri is usually one of the more competitive races of the season due to the location between Columbus and Cincinnati. I found out during the week that the bike leg was changed to an older course that was used previously by HFP. I looked at my times and they were at 1:17 for the entire Tri back in 2006. I know that I could beat that and last year I did a 1:13:20 with a similar course.

The water temp was 76 degrees which permitted wet suits. I still wanted to wear my full suit no matter what. However, once we got into the water and I started on a good pace I was feeling overheated half way through. Eventhough I was getting overheated, I was able to keep up with the main pack of swimmers throughout the swim. The only one that took off from us all was Ross Hartley. He was around 2 minutes from everyone at the end of the swim with rest of us within a minute of each other. Looking down at my watch it said 10:57 but I was at least 30 seconds from the timing mat, but still a great time for sure. Todd Ricketts was just behind me along with Sean Williams. Chris Cain, Shannon Kurek, Zach Aust and a young 27 year old was in front of me within a minute. My swim time was 11:37 Total. Coming into transition I could see Shannon taking out of T1 along with Chris, Todd, Sean and Zach right behind. I was leaving T1 when I heard that Brian Barker had just got into T1 and I thought I didn't give myself enough time between Brian and I to beat him today. Bad negative thoughts for sure. I knew I would have to push it even harder to try and get some distance on the bike between Brian and I. My transition time was :55 and it was my best one of the year yet with no issues.

During the bike I passed Sean and then Sean passed me and then I passed him again for good all within the first 4 miles on the bike course. The course was a rolling hills with a couple of climbs, but mostly flat after that. Coming onto the last 3 miles I could see that Sean gaining on me again with Brian right behind him gaining as well. I finally got into transition with Sean and Brian right on my wheels where I had the 7th best bike time of the day at 33:30. Again, my transition was great with a :51 with no issues, but Brian and Sean beat me out of transition along with Zach and the other young guy that I didn't know. Todd was way up there with the three front leaders. The run was an out and back course along the dam that at times was pretty rough due to the gravel and all the turns getting to the dam. However, it was a flat course to run and pretty shading as well. I set into a good pace and maintained it throughout the run. I averaged a 6:55 for each mile throughout the run but didn't try to push it at all and just cruised in within 45 seconds of Brian in 10 place overall for the race. My final time was 1:08:26 with Brian's at 1:07:40. Lessons learned for the race: Tighten up on my transition and reduce 10 seconds on each T1 and T2 and push a little harder on the run and not relax so much. At one point on the bike I zoned out and let Sean and Brian come up to me which was a mistake for sure. That might have cost me with beating Brian. Next race is the White Star Tri, 8th race in 8 weeks this Saturday.

Outer Limits Race Report Day 40

This race was billed as a local Columbus race ideal for 1st timers. 1/2 mile swim, 16 mile bike, followed with a 5K run. I got to the race site at 5:45am to check in and set up my bike area. The transition was a small one right next to the quarry on a hill:). You could see that the yellow buoys were in a rectangle shape as usual. The announcer stated that it was a no wet suit event, due to the water temp was at 85.5 degrees. USAT states that over 84 there is a mandatory no wet suit rule. However, I know that I'm still much faster with a wet suit on than without. Once I was able to set up my transition area with my of shoes clipped in to the pedals and helmet on my bars, my bike was ready. I layed out my visor, sun glasses, and shoes and I was ready!

Since I'm in the 50-54 age group I started in the last swim wave in the race. I thought I would have to pass the entire field by the time I finished if I had a chance to come into the top three in the race. By the way, Ross Hartley was racing today. I don't think that he has lost a race all year long, so I know I would only get 2nd at the highest. There were close to 200 races registered for the Du and Tri.

At the start of the race the tri was 5 mins behind the Du and my swim wave was 8-10 minutes behind the du. It was pretty difficult to be already to go and just have to wait for the last wave. However, when you are old that is life in racing.

Finally, my wave started. I was able to stay on the heels of the lead swimmer in my wave and just relax on the way down to the turnaround. On the way back I kept feeling another swimmer hit my heels with his hands every other stroke that really disrupted my pace and swim stroke. Finally coming out the water I noticed that my watch said 15:15, very slow. That was the slowest swim of the year. It was probably due to no wet suit and my heels being hit all the way back from the turnaround from the swimmer in the yellow cap.

My transition was pretty fast with 38 seconds and while running out of the transition, I slipped on gravel and dropped my bike. Thankfully nothing happened to my bike and I was off and riding.

I was able to get a good pace going averaging 28mph heading to the turnaround slightly going downhill and with the wind to my back. On the way back the guy that was hitting my heels came flying past me on his bike with a great aero position. I stayed with him and saw him shake his head at me like that I was drafting off of him. I came up to him and said that I was the one that he was hitting in feet during the swim. I just took off and felt that he would have to stay with me if he could. He could and came by me again a mile later. I was sucking a lot of air at this point and decided to just let him go and stay as close as possible to him. Coming into transition I was 10 seconds behind him and I knew that he was in my age group due to his age group letter on his calf. My bike time was a little over 40 minutes averaging 23.6 mph. Second fastest bike spilt in the race behind the guy that passed me.

Coming into transition I came in too fast and almost missed the whole entrance. I had to sneak under the yellow tape to keep going and I knocked down a BIG orange cone. Going to my rack I noticed my shoes and I was able to rack my bike. I got my shoes on but couldn't find my visor and glasses. Looking around I noticed that I was on the wrong rack. The shoes I had on were not mine. They were identical shoes with the same size. Mine were 2 racks over with my visor and glasses. That was wild, 2 transitions in the place of 1 in just 1 minute and I was off and running again. I was thinking what an idiot I am putting on someone's shoes.

I noticed that the guy that passed me on the bike was still only 10 seconds in front of me running. He must have had a slow transition as well. I just set into a good pace and started to catch him going at a 6:30 to 6:45 mile pace. Within the first mile I was able to pass him with no problem. At the one mile mark Ross comes from the other direction heading to the finish line. He was at least a mile ahead of me even with the adjusted start time. The run course was nice and flat going off road at the turnaround. I was able to continue my pace and head to the finish line with my best run time of the year, 20:53 a 6:45 mile pace and no cramps again.

I ended up coming in 3rd overall behind a 39 year old and Ross, and 1st in my age group. The 39 year old beat me by around a minute, and the guy that kept hitting my feet came in 1 minute behind me. If I would have known he was there I probably could have been with him during the run. However, my bike to run transition was horrible. I managed to pass almost the entire field, because only 6 racers were finished by the time I was done at the finish line area. Next race is Caesar Creek this Sunday.

Day 47

Today I had great workouts all before 12 noon, and they were my favorite swim, bike, and run workouts. With the swim, I did 20 x 50 meters at below 40 seconds per 50 with 30 seconds rest and feeling really strong on each one with the last few 37 seconds per 50. My bike was a 20 mile interval with 8 x 1:30 faster than race pace with 3 mins of rest between each one. I was trying to average 25-26mph with each interval and was consistent with each interval. A couple of intervals, I was able to stand peddling with the hardest gear on a flat path, that was pretty tough. I did a brick right after the bike with 4 x 1:30 intervals faster than race pace with averaging 6:15 mile pace with 3 min rest. If I could only run that fast during a race after a hard bike I will be up there with all my competitors. We'll see on Sunday how this translates into my race pace. The weather wasn't a factor today eventhough they said it should be around 100. Friday is always my light bricks of the week with short intervals and little volume, so I know the weather will not be a factor eventhough it will be 102. Light on the feet:)

Day 49

Well it's below 50 days of summer left before I head back to teaching. 49 days is a very long time not work, so I feel very grateful not to work throughout this summer. With Barb being home and not working a regular job, it's the first time that both of us haven't worked at the same time since we have known each other.

After having a flat on my bike during my ride yesterday, had to head to the bike store to get some CO2 replacements and quick fill cans for the carry on during my rides. My flat fixing technique saved me during my 40 mile ride when I had a flat 5 miles from my truck. After changing my inner tube I used a CO2 cartridge to fill my tire, but it didn't fill. So I used another and it still didn't fill. This was the first time that I have changed a flat with my new aero rims that has a valve extender. After taking my tire and valve back apart, I realized that my extender was connected to the valve on my tire, so I just waisted both CO2s. However, my last resort was my quick fill can. I used this to fill my tire to get me back to my truck and it worked. Lesson learned for sure is to make sure that the extender is in place before attempting to use a CO2 cartridge.

Today I struggled through my morning workouts and hoping my afternoon workouts will feel better. My Monday and Tuesday workouts are my toughest of the week and then I start to taper for the weekend race with only doing short 1:30min accelerations up to race pace and resting. I do these both with biking and running on Wednesday through Friday. Saturday is a complete rest day. I did have a good pool workout for 2000 meters but wasn't motivated and felt tired. My run was a 6 mile tempo run and also felt tired at the beginning but finished strong with a 7:30 pace last mile.

Yesterday I started working on the Columbus City School's flex credit program. Students that elect to take flex credit attempting to test out of the subject and receive full credit if they pass. This is a new program for students in public schools in the state of Ohio. I'm working on the entire assessment for PE I and PE II courses for the district. I had already started but never had the go ahead to complete it over the past year.

Also, I have to go out to Sabos camping store to pick up a tail light bulb for our camper. Hopefully they have some in stock or they will have to order one for me.

Day 50, MiltonMan Tri Race Report.

Barb and I got up yesterday at 1:50am and headed up past Akron for the MiltonMan Tri for my 5th race in 5 weeks. We left the house by 3am and arrived by 5:30am. The check-in procedure was a little different than most Tris, but still very organized. The volunteer had our name and told me to go to the designated bike rack and I would find my packet. It was there with rest of the old people's packets...lol. The Olympic waves started off first and then the Sprints. I was the next to last wave to enter the water versus the first wave as normal in HFPs elite wave. The sprint consisted of one 750m swim, two 8-mile laps for the bike, and out and back 3.1 mile run. I estimated that I would eventually pass most of the field either on the swim, bike, or run since the Olympic folks had further to travel with a 2 lap swim, 3 lap bike, and a 2 lap run. I had a great swim staying with the fastest person in my wave and coming out around 12:15 for the swim, and the transition was nice and quick. Out on the bike course I just tried to hammer as fast as I could in a good aero position passing athlete after athlete on a mostly flat and fast course. My only real challenge came was on the first lap when a 35 year old male passed me. I stayed with him and finally passed him for good about a mile later. I figured I was going to slow and decided to hammer it a little more to get distance from me and him. I tried to keep the speed over 24mph on most of the course and came in under 40 mins for the total 16 mile leg. I had another error free transition and headed out for my run. I maintained a good pace averaging 7 min pace for the first 2 miles and then under 7 on the last. My final time was 1:16:30, and my run was error free with no cramps this week. I guess I need to push it a little more, but I had no idea who my compeitors were. I was just racing against the clock. This was my best race of the year and felt faster today even though I had to wait so long on before the start of the swim. After talking with the announcer I found out that I had placed 3rd overall, but the winner was 16 mins faster. I thought that had to be a mistake, and come to find out later that he was disqualified for a wrong turn. That moved me up to 2nd place. They gave out special awards for the overall top three in each race, which was really cool. Based on my times I do know that it was not as competitive as HFP races, but I'll take the 2nd anyway i could get it. The next race is the outer limits here in Columbus, this coming Saturday.

Day 52 Trip to Miami, FL. and back

I just returned from my consultanting trip from Miami, Fl. I've had this trip scheduled for 6 weeks. An organization that I consult for (National Association for Sport and Physical Education, NASPE) asked in May if I was interested in conducting a workshop for two physical educators from the country of Bolivia taking place in Miami, FL at the end of June. I first wanted to make sure that the person from NASPE knew that I was from Ohio. She confirmed that she did and thought that my skills would best fit what they were looking for in the 2-day training on two different subjects. She needed a certified instructor for a certifying workshop for one day and then a best practices workshop for the other. I took the early flight out of Columbus at 6am and arrived in Miami by 11am with a one hour layover in Atlanta. The weather was really muggy throughout my stay which was in the high 80s and low 90s.

The first order of business after getting my rent-a-car was visit the facility that I would be training in for the two days. I was able to plug-in the address and get to the site with very little issues. The site was located in Little Havana, which is in the area of the city known to have a large population of Cuban Americans and not so safe. It was kind of odd, seeing row after row of outdoor businesses selling clothes hanging outside their store like you would see in 3rd world countries. Once I arrived at the facility and parked on the street. I was very paranoid about getting out of my car. I was just waiting for someone to run up to me demanding my money and/or taking my car. However, once inside the facility (local community YMCA) I felt safer. I was able to recon my rooms that I was going to use for training and find out all the details to the facility. This made me more comfortable knowing that I was in the right place and they were expecting me for the 2-day training.

Once I left the facility the next order of business was to find my hotel. I reserved the hotel somewhat close to the YMCA but far enough away from the bad area that it was located in. Within 10 minutes I was at my hotel, only to find out that they would only allow Vallet parking that cost $29 a day. Oh well, I guess I had to park somewhere safe. My room was in the Double Tree Hilton in a balcony room overlooking the harbor. It was a great room and view for sure.

After unpacking, I contacted my old marine corps buddy Tony. We have only see each other once over the past 30 years since our discharge from the USMC. Me met up at local seafood restaurant and had a great conversation talking about old times, current times, and things we plan to do when we retire. The 2-hour dinner flew by and we were on our way out the door. We both stated to try and not wait so long in between seeing each other in the future. That was the highlight of my trip for sure with seeing my old buddy.

My next day started really early with an early morning run from my hotel to the Atlantic Ocean on Miami Beach. It was a muggy and raining run the entire 7 mile run, but it felt so good to run in the rain without a shirt on. What a great way to wake up to the Ocean in Miami.

I was able to get to the training site and start my session by 7:00am, only to find out that my training didn't start until 9:00am. As we say in the military, it's always better to be early than to be late. The two Bolivian participants, Carolina and Milton arrived right at 9:00 excited and ready for the day's training. Carolina was fluent in speaking English and Milton struggled at times understanding and speaking English. I was thinking, if I was only fluent in Spanish it would be a lot better, but Carolina was able to interpret for Milton throughout the two days without any issues. The first day of training covered K-12 grade level of instructional practices in physical education. Carolina teaches K-5 and Milton teaches 6-12 at an American International school in Bolivia. Their students were transient students from parents that work at the American embassy, governmental employees, and US military personnel. So all their lessons are in English. This made my job a lot easier to understand where they were coming from.

Lunch was a unique experience for the three of us. I got information from one of the YMCA workers that was originally from the Dominican Republic that he had a great place for us to eat. He gave us directions to a close Dominican Restaurant near the YMCA where he said had excellent food. When we arrived we realized that it was a bar and grill with a live band for entertainment. However, being short on time, we all three just went ahead and sat down wanting to get a quick meal and get back to the Y. Knowing that my Bolivian participants speaks Spanish, I allowed them to do all the talking to the server and realized that she was not a very nice person, almost like we were interrupting her lunch hour to order our food. How dare us! I ordered the rice and stew that was recommended, and when it finally arrived the meat was in big chunks, in a bowl, with a plate of rice beside of it. That was way to much meat for me, since I rarely eat meat these days. However, it was pretty tasty and filling for sure.

After the meal, we were able to find our way back to the Y and finish the first day of training. I think that all three of us were burned out from a long day of learning new things. Even when I train teachers I feel that I learn so much from them as well. Especially the 2 new Bolivian teachers. The more we talked, the more we realized that we faced the same physical education obstacles.

I got back to the hotel and quickly changed into my swim gear and headed to the beach by 5pm. This was another learning experience to say the least. While sitting on the beach I saw so many fake breast and thongs to last me a life time. There were so many weird people that I just wasn't use to seeing in Ohio. It seemed that everyone looked, I overheard people speaking a different language. People that I thought were American had really thick accents or couldn't speak English at all. That was the most shocking part of my entire trip. After leaving the beach by 7pm I was able to get back to my hotel and asleep by 9pm.

After a good morning indoor cycle ride and interval run on the treadmill I quickly packed up and checked out of the hotel. I got to the Y at 8:30 and was able to be ready for training by 8:45. Today's training was the certification workshop and I felt that the day just flew by. Both Carolina and Milton seemed to really enjoy the training and wrote tons of notes and asked tons of questions throughout the sessions.

This time we ordered lunch to save time and feel a little safer while in little Havana. We ordered from a Cuban restaurant that delivered our food. I ordered Chicken Fajitas, but when the food arrived it came with no tortilla shells. We asked the lady that ordered it for us and she said that you had to request the shells, because they didn't come with the fajitas. I thought that was part of what a fajita is? I guess not in little Havana. Wow!

At the end of the 2nd training day, we all took pictures exchanged gifts and agreed to stay in touch during the school year. I agreed to assist them in writing their curriculum.  In addition, we all agreed to establish a learning community between our schools. We plan to share pictures and videos between our students on what our countries do for physical education and activity. This should be a great learning process for our students and for us teachers as well.

My journey was coming to an end when I returned my car only to find out that they had charged me for insurance that I had denied at the time of my pickup. They informed me that I would have to talk with the manager on the 4th floor in the airport to dispute the charge. How lucky I was to attempt to find the manager at the Miami airport on the 4th floor somewhere. However, I did and they were able to take off one of the charges from my bill. That helped reduce most of the charges on my bill. I was now a happy camper and now get me home American Airlines.

My flight was delayed until 9:45pm and I didn't arrive back in Columbus until midnight. I was just happy to be back home after a 3 day trip. I finally got to sleep around 2am and was up at 6am for a great swim, bike, and run in hot muggy Columbus, Ohio. Where am I, Columbus or Miami I thought. Oh well, it was great to be back with Barb and in my home after a long trip.

Morgantown Tri Race Report June 26

I'm writing this on the plane down to Miami, so hopefully I don't have very many mistakes with this IPad thumb writing. I decided to drive down the morning of the race, so I had to get up at 1:30am and leave my house by 2:00am. I wanted to give myself 4 hours to get to the packet pick-up by 6am. I arrived at 5:30 and had plenty of time picking up my packet and setting up my transition area. After reviewing the entrances and exits of T1 and T2 my rack was right next to the entrance. A great position for a quick transition. After talking with all my buddies while getting everything ready I wondered down to the swim start line to be one of the first in the time trial start off a dock. Being in the elite division we always start with the 29 and under males. I was second in line behind Shannon Kureck and Todd Ricketts. As the gun went off I jumping feet first into the monongahela river and hit bottom because it was chest deep. Looking up there were now 6 people in front of me and I only traveled 10 feet. This was a typical rectangle course. After setting into a good pace I just started drafting off of a couple of swimmers, but I had no idea who they were. I was able to see a young kid swim past us that was really kicking hard and stroking fast. Half way down I noticed that something like a wire/line had caught my arm as we were near the banks. Looking up I noticed a big belly hillbilly messing with his fishing pole and line. I had swam right into his line. He was probably laughing at us the whole time, looking like some freaks with our wet suits splashing around in his fishing hole. I continued to draft off of someone not knowing who it was and finally passed this guy feeling strong. I then set off trying to catch the next swimmer along the back stretch. By the time I got to the last turn I was on his heels and followed him to the dock to get out. It was kind of hard to get out, like a seal on the beach. When I got out I noticed that it was Shannon in front of me and I had passed Todd and the rest of the people that were in front of me at the start. We had about a 100 meter run up the path to our bikes and by the time I got up there Shannon was almost taking off and I was right behind him with a :49 sec transition running with my bike out the exit. My swim time was :45 seconds faster than last year with a 14:26. On the bike there were a series of small climbs and I could still see Shannon about 1/4 a mile in front of me and slowing moving farther ahead. I glanced back on the first turn and noticed that Todd was right behind me. On the first big climb, I dropped my chain and had to get off my bike to put it back on. That took about 30 seconds and Todd went climbing past me at that point. I just thought to try and stay with Todd knowing that he is such a great biker. On the fast descents I was able to pass Todd traveling around 45 mph, but Todd was able to out climb me on each climb like i was setting still. Near the turn around I saw Shannon and he was now had a 1 mile lead and was still leaving us in his dust. Todd was finally able to shake me on the last mile heading back to transition. I had another good transition of :37 seconds and I was :30 seconds faster than last year with a 39:10 bike split. Heading out to the run course it was nice, shady and flat bike path. I couldn't see Shannon or Todd due to all the twist and turns, but my first mile split was a 6:55. I didn't want to push the pace due to the previous 3 races that were filled with cramps during the run. This was an out and back course so at the turn around I was abled to see that Shannon had a mile lead on me, and Todd had a 1/3 mile lead. On my turnaround I noticed that Curt Haywood was right behind me around :45 seconds back. This is when I decided to pick up the pace, not wanting to get passed by Curt. My second mile was 6:53 and my 3rd was 6:45 feeling strong. Heading down the path at the finish line I was now running a 5:30 pace. The 1/2 IM swimmers we're still coming out of the water and we had to share the path running in opposite directions. I heard a volunteer shout out to watch for the swimmers, which I was because I was all the way next to the cones on the right. I noticed one swimmer looking down coming toward my way but I was running downhill at full speed and couldn't get over anymore. He ran right into me with a huge hit like in the movie Waterboy, my left pec hit his shoulder and I heard him make a grunting sound like he was just hit hard by a linebacker. After the race I had a 2 inch mark on my pec from the hit. I continued to the finish line with a 1:17:10, 30 seconds faster than last year. On my GPS it said that I ran 3:55 miles. My run time was a 22:07 but due to the length of the course according to my GPS I had a very decent run with no cramps. After, the finish we found out that Shannon was first, Todd was second, Curt was third, and I was 4th overall. We then had our picture taken together and went out for a cool down run. Morgantown is a great venue and it was a perfect day to race. My lessons learned for the day: Watch out for Hillbillies fishing on the swim course, be extra careful on steep climbs when shifting, and continue to work on my run pace. Next race is the MiltonMan Tri up near Akron this Sunday, July 1.

Maumee Bay Tri Race Report, June 17, 2012

Maumee Bay is located 10 miles east of Toledo, Ohio where the winds come whipping off of the edge of Lake Erie. Each of the past 8 years racing up there has always been high winds on the course. I believe as an athlete, you just have to ignore the conditions and suck it up. This morning was no different with the weather conditions and winds. At least it wasn't raining. I got to the transition area around 6:30am and began to set up my transition area. The first thing I did was change my rear disc wheel and front tri spoke in exchange for my profile deep dish 80m wheels. The wind was blowing around 10-15mphs so I thought that the deep dish would be more appropriate than my disc wheel. However, after a brief warm-up I realized that my disc would be fine in the slight wind and changed both wheels again for the second time. It's a good thing that I got here early as usual. I was able to greet my fellow competitors while getting my gear ready in the transition area, Mark Lemmon, Brian Barker, Tom Lebuhn, Randy Lehrer. Others near my rack was Kurt Haywood and Shannon Kurek. The swim is located in a small lake 100 meters from Lake Erie, and the small lake is always a calm body of water great for an open water swim. I was able to get to the start line with Shannon, Randy, and Tom up front. They are 3 of the fastest swimmers in the elite group. I figure that I could go out fast and just stay slightly behind all three. After the initial fast pace, I was able to settle into a good pace and cruise to a PR on that particular 750m swim course of 11:35. I couldn't see the three swimmers in front of me but I knew that they were fairly close. Tom had a fast swim time of 10:28, Randy 10:37, Shannon 10:46, Brian 12:26, and Mark with a 13:29. I know that I always have to get enough distance from Brian as possible due to his fast transitions, bike, and run splits. The wind on the course wasn't really a factor and with it to my back I was just gliding around 27-28 mph; with the wind in my face I stayed above 22mph. I attempted to push it as hard as I could, but only came in at 35:07, but was still 30 seconds faster than my previous PR. That time provided me with the 10th fastest bike split of the day. Brian had the exact same bike split of 35:07 as I did and Mark had 36:07. However, Tom had the second fastest split with 33:24 but went off course and came back on. Shannon on the other had the fastest of the day with a 32:35. Randy had a time of 34:56 and was still out in front of both Brian, Mark and I. I had no idea where Tom was due to how far he was in front of us all. After a somewhat slow transition of :56 I was able to get out onto the run course and try to set a good pace. At that point, I was the 4th or 5th runner out of the course after hearing this come from the announcer, Mr. Rich Fowler. Within the 1st mile, Brian came up on my side running a good pace that I couldn't sustain. He just blew by me like I was jogging down the beach. At this point, I thought that I still would be able to catch Randy where he only had about a 1:30 lead on me. If I could only maintain the same pace I had during my workouts I would be fine, but it wasn't going to be today. At the 1 mile marker, I saw Tom heading back to the finish line in first place, I thought. He had at least a 1/2 mile lead on Shannon at that point, but I didn't think that Tom was that much faster than Shannon. This course is an out and back course so that you can see and time how far you are behind or ahead of your fellow competitors. At the turn-around Randy was still 1:25 seconds ahead of me and Brian was now 1 minute ahead and still pushing away from me. Finally around mile 2, I started to get stomach cramps again. I briefly stopped and put my arms above my head and then started to run again. Once again, I had difficulty breathing. However, after 100m I was running a good pace again. I estimated that this cost me 30 seconds at least for that stop, and finished with a 22:17. I still can't figure why I'm cramping in my upper stomach. My only guess is that I'm pushing so hard on the bike that my body is telling me to slow down on the run, due to a lack of speed fitness on the run. So my plan is to do more bricks during the week to get ready for the high intensity efforts on the run portion. My final time was 1:10:52. Almost 40 seconds faster than last year and a PR for that course, but my run was one minute slower than last year. If I could have only maintained my run I would have been close to Brian and Randy at the finish line. Randy did beat Brian by 7 seconds and I was 1:45 back of both of them. According to the final results, Tom was 1:45 ahead of Randy and Brian. When I asked Tom how he got so far ahead of Shannon, he stated that he went off course. However, he was still ahead of Shannon at the finish but the final results reflected that Tom was 3 minutes slower than Shannon. Overall, I had a great swim, average bike split, and a horrible run. 17th overall and 4th in the elite grandmasters. My next race is Morgantown, WV., the next stop for the HFP series on June 24. I plan to get up at 2:30am and make the 3.5 hr drive down there to race. Hopefully, I can correct my run faults for this next race and put in 3 good legs for a Tri.

Day 64

Barb and I had a great weekend camping at Maumee Bay State Park on the shores of Lake Erie. After arriving Friday afternoon we took our time setting up the campsite and decided to head out to get some early dinner out in Toledo before the Friday crowd showed up. We went to Tony Packos out in east Toledo, the famous coney hot dog restaurant that was made famous from the MASH series and Clinger. It was my second time there and Barb's first. The restaurant is celebrating it's 80th anniversary this year. The restaurant hasn't changed much inside since it first opened it's doors back in 1932. On all the sounding walls are displays of hot dog buns encased in plastic with signatures on them from famous celebrities. I ordered the bunker buster meal which included a foot log Hungarian sausage with coney sauce, cheese, and onions. Along with a bowl of chili and french fries. Barb got the world famous Tony Packo chili dog and a cherry danish. I was so stuffed I though Barb was going to have to carry me to the car. What a great prerace meal. I didn't know then, but that food was going to set in my gut the whole weekend! When we got back to the campsite, Barb and I set out under the trees just relaxing and enjoying the cool summer air. We then finally made it into the camper and were both asleep by 8:45 with the sun still up. We heard some near by neighbors pull up around 8:15pm to set up but we just put the air conditioner fan on to drown out any noice they were making. Around 1am in the morning, Sadie awaken me and was growling at something that was outside our trailer. Here to find out later we left her plastic container of food out and a animal had opened it up and was attempting to eat her food half way into the woods. But when I let Sadie out she chased it away and was growling at it like in an attack mode. I called her back and picked up the container and took it into the camper with me. The animal was definitely a raccoon. I was able to see the outline of its hunched back speeding away as Sadie was chasing it. We are lucky that Sadie wasn't bit by that nasty thing. The next morning Barb and I woke up at our usual 4am time and decided to build a fire. It was a nice cool morning watching the sun rise with my best friend. Once we ate breakfast we headed out for a bike ride to the beach. We did this a couple of times in the morning on the bike path all before 10am. Barb commented a few times on how much she enjoyed the bike ride throughout the actual ride. Once we got back to the camper the final time we took a nap after lunch. Waking up around 12:30 we then went back outside and just relaxed under the awning and talked for a couple of hours. By 2:30 it was then time to pick up my race packet up. I got to the HFP racing tent and I was able to chit chat with some fellow competitors while picking up my packet. That night, once again I was awaken by Sadie's growling. I left her out again and she was running around the back of the trailer. This time she was trying to get something from under the trailer. I called her back to the inside only to noticed a bad smell. She had been sprayed by a skunk. It was so gross! Now the entire camper was stinking with skunk smell. The next morning while I was at the race site, Barb was able to wash and blow dry Sadie to get all the smell off of her, but the camper was still stinking for sure. After the race we were able to pack up and beat the rain before it got to the campsite. However, a 2 1/2 hour drive home took us all most 5 hours due to the heavy thunderstorms all the way home. Hopefully the camper was thoroughly cleaned with the rain showers that the skunk smell was removed before our camping trip to West Virginia this coming Friday.

Day 69

My swim workout was tough, 20x50 below race pace with 30 sec recovery. Then I came back and volunteered to distribute metro park bike maps to 3 different bike shops. One shop on parsons ave told me that they didn't want any maps because they were no longer a bike shop and only a lawn mower shop. Oh well! After coming back I went out for an easy bike ride of 60 minutes. My next task was to put on a gate latch and plant hangers on our patio. There were Barb's tasks to make our patio more livable which is looking very nice outside.

Day 70

Today I ran intervals on the track, 12 x 400 meters at 1:30 each with 1:30 recovery between each 400. They were all pretty tough for sure, but I think these will help me with my race pace for this weekend. After getting back home and a short recovery I biked 10 x 1:30 with 3:30 for recovery spins for 60 mins. This again was tough but I had a good pace for each interval. Between both workouts, I had a meeting with Columbus City Schools PE coordinator (Diane Barnes) on finishing the credit flex assessment for high school students. I have until the end of July to complete both PE 1 and PE 2. Also, I worked on the training session in Miami to find out more details on the point of contact and facility issues.

Day 71

Counting down backwards to the start of the school year is a great way to appreciate every day of my summer break. Today I had a great swim with 100s at time trial pace and then 15 minutes of core work. After a short break back home I went out on a 6.5 mile run in my new K-Swiss tri shoes. They felt a little heavy and a lot of cushion. I wasn't use to that feel, but they are weighing in at 9.7 ounces. Not too bad, but heavier than I would like for a sprint tri. I think they would be great for a 1/2 ironman or a full. After reflecting on my last 2 races, I think I need to do a little more running during the week prior to the race to ensure that I have run speed for the races. Today I went out for a tempo run and stayed under 7:30 pace for most of the run. My heart rate was under 150 which was zone 4-5. We will see how I feel tomorrow when I do 12x400meters on the track at under race pace and jogging for my recovery between each 400. Today I have been working on getting my 2-day presentations ready for the end of the month in Miami. I have presented these workshops before, but I have to go through and specifically design both days to fit the participants needs coming in from Bolivia. One teacher teaches elementary and the other MS and HS. This makes it a little more challenging to ensure that I address all levels of physical education during the workshops. The highlight of my day is heading to the dentist today for a cleaning. My gums and teeth feel like they are in great shape with my daily flossing and brushing at least 2 times a day. Oh well, until tomorrow, day 70.

Day 72

I most have missed a day somewhere. Recovering from my 3 hour workout with eating black beans, brown rice, and soy burger.

Day 73

Barb and I both were sleeping by 8:30 last night and got up at 4:00am fully rested. The results were posted from the race yesterday and I had a decent swim time with a 14:37, but the transition was included in that time. I had the 3rd fastest bike split with a 29:57, but my run was horrible with a 23:23. I don't think I ever ran that slow in a tri before. They had my overall time as 1:08:30 but my watch time was 1:07:41. So I think there was a minute added on the run somehow making it a 22:30 and with it being 400meters longer it comes out with around a 21:30 which makes more since for sure. I had a great 50 mile ride out on the bike path from West Jeff to Xenia and back this afternoon in the heat. Then I had a 2 mile run in my new shoes. I think I might have got a blister from the new shoes, that's not good at all. I'll try them again and if the same thing happens I'll have to take them back for a 2nd time. Today is my 4th year of sobriety, June 10, 2008. I posted that on facebook and had over 30 people like the post and a whole lot more make comments on congrats and a few stating when their Sobriety date is. Getting ready for the next race, Maumee Bay next weekend. This is a fast course just like Flag City. It should be fun:)

Day 74 Flag City Race Report

My day started off early getting up at 3:30am in order to make it to the race site in Findlay, Ohio by 6:00am. John Sachs met me at my house at 4:30 on the dot to make our 80 mile trek up Rt. 23 to Findlay. It was much more pleasant heading up that early with a fellow triathlete than heading up alone for sure. John and I arrived at 6:05 and was able to register and pick up our packet and timing chip with no problems. This race course is unique like few others with two separate transition areas. We were able to park at T2 and place our run items near a rack with a first come first serve placing. I placed my shoes, visor, and sun glasses near the entrance of the transition area. Once we staged our running gear we headed to the start which was one mile away at the swim start/T1 with our bike and swim gear. This was a great warm-up prior to the start of the race. Once we staged our bikes it was time for some chit chat with Rich Fowler, Shannon Kurek, Sandy Donald, Molly Fowler, Andy Wilson,  Deanna Kiesel, Josh Dwire, and many other great athletes out there racing and working the race for us. While chatting I was able to see Randy Lehrer and Brian Barker arrive who are my main competitors in the Grand Masters Elite for the day. After a good swim warm-up in my new Marlin full sleeve, I was able to make my way to the front of the dock with Randy. We were right up in the front of the entire wave of approximately 20 racers in the first wave. At the start we had to jump in feet first due to shallow water off the dock and came up with a nose full of water. The swim felt nice and fast for me coming out of the water in 4th or 5th place at around 12:30. Since we had to pack our wet suits into our transition bags this took 10-15 seconds longer to make sure that my swim gear was bought back to me at the T2 after the race is over. Unlike last week, I was able to get my helmet on without it falling apart. I did some minor tape repairs during the week to make sure that my ear pieces did not fall off again. The Flag City course was super fast with just a little bit of wind that didn't make much of a difference in my time. In addition, to repairing my ear pads, I mounted a torpedo mount on my aero bars during the week. This was a nice feature of not getting out of the aero position and still having a fast profile. While riding, I knew that Randy was ahead of me out of transition with a 30-45 second lead. I was able to catch up with Randy at about the 4 mile mark with good pacing and just trying to hammer the course as hard as possible knowing that flat courses are suited for my strengths. After the turn-around, I was able to see Brian coming up but still had a 4 minute lead on him overall. I was thinking that he had a bad swim or was at the back of the pack in our wave. Once I got back to T2, my shoes and visor was ready to be thrown on and out of there pretty fast. The run was an out and back course on top of the reservoir where we ran on a gravel path. Heading out, the wind was a minor factor and heard later that the run was around 400 meters longer than the 5K distance. After the turn around on the run I timed that I was 1 min and 20 seconds ahead of Randy and I thought 5 minutes ahead of Brian. At this point, I thought I had a good lead on both competitors, but I would be wrong later and was letting up off the gas a little and cruised in for a time of 1:07. This was my fastest time sprint distance race yet after being a heavyweight for years. After hanging out at the finish line, I thought I came in 5th overall, but Randy informed me that Brian didn't go out with us in the first wave, and started 3 minutes behind us in the second wave. However, I thought that he was pretty far back there and might have been having a bad day. After they made some adjustments, we found out that Brian had beat both myself and Randy. Brian was 3rd overall, I was 6th overall, and Randy was 7th overall. Not bad for 3 guys over 50. I just now need to find some run speed coming off the bike for my run. It's not there yet for sure, but maybe a little bit better with Maumee next weekend!

Day 75

Barb and I went on a early morning hike to High Banks Metro Park. We first attempted to stay in the sun for the first mile and then went on and hiked 3 more miles. As we were walking I glanced over and saw a young buck deer just looking at us. It had small antlers about 6 inches high. We just stopped and looked at it less than 10 feet from the bike path. After coming  back to the house I started working on cleaning my race bike chain and getting my bike ready for Saturday's race. I also was able to correct my helmet issue and tape the ear pads in place and ensure that was adjusted properly. After all the gear was done I went for a test ride and a quick run. Feeling strong I just did some accelerations on the bike and run. While working on the bike, I was able to organize all my bike maintenance supplies and pack my gear for the race. I now feel that I'm prepared for a fast bike split on Saturday with my improved set-up and gear. In addition, I was able to mount a torpedo water bottle mount on my aero bars. In a recent wind tunnel study, the authors discovered that having the torpedo water bottle mount was more areo that not having one. Also, it was the most aero than any other water bottle mounts on the aero bars. So my bike is set, all aero to go!

Day 76

I slept in until 5:00am this morning after going to bed at 7:30pm the previous night. Barb and I decided to go ahead and go to the gym after we took our time getting ready. We got there around 7:00am to a mostly empty parking lot. In the pool there was another girl swimming with a coach standing on the side of the pool shouting instructions. After my warm-up, I completed 4x50 meters at a fast pace with 30 seconds rest. I did this 4 times with an easy 50 meter kick in between each set. Each 50 was done at 38-40 seconds each. When I got back home I tuned up Barb's bike and we went out for a couple of miles on a test ride. She was commenting on how fun it was, since she is down at a healthy weight since the last time she rode, (2 years ago). After getting back from our ride I went for my pacing rep ride of 45 minutes, where I rode at race pace for 90 seconds and 3 minutes of easy spinning x 4. This was a quick ride of 15 miles and came back for lunch and a quick nap. I could do this all summer long; eat, workout, eat, workout, nap, eat and sleep. I did communicate through email with one of my trainees that I'm training with in Miami about their background. The lady that I'm communicating with is Carolina, she teaches elementary and her co-worker teaches middle and high school. This means that I have to plan on teaching activities to both of them spreading out from K-12. I've done this several times with others, but with much larger groups. This will be a great session for sure. I just need to get started on developing it now.

Day 77

I'm still getting up at 4:30am each morning eventhough I don't have anywhere to go. This morning I got up at 4:30 after going to bed at 7:30pm. That's right, the sun was still up when I went to sleep, which was 9 hours of sleep. I was able to get to the pool by 6:30am and do a quick 30 minute swim and 10 minutes of core work on the side of the pool. Barb was able to join me at the gym where she lifted weights while I got wet. After getting back home, I decided to do a quick 30 minute taper reps and race effor runt. This was done by warming up for about a mile and then race pace 4 x 90 seconds with 3.5 mins of rest inbetween each rep. My pace was under 6:30 mile pace which is what I had been training with, but didnot happened during the race on Sunday. After eating lunch I recovered and did a similar workout on the bike. 4 x 90 seconds at race pace with the same recovery time. I'm still feeling fresh and I have another similar workout scheduled for tomorrow.

In addition, I finally was able to locate a new doctor in my network. I received a letter in December stating that my current doctor was leaving the network. I finally was able to find a new one and I have an appointment for new patients on June 21.

I Just received an email today informing me that I can now arrange my flights to DC for my Physical Best National Committee meeting. I'll be there for 2 nights in August. They informed me that since they are paying for everything that I have to share a room with another person, unless I want to pay half for each night. I plan on paying half since I get up at 4:30am and go to bed by 8 each night. It's hard to change my internal clock and function well the next day. As for NASPE, I'm working everyday for my next training session that is scheduled at the end of June in Miami, Fl. I'm training 2 teachers from Bolivia for 2 days in the Physical Best program and instructional practices. It should be fun training 2 people for a workshop. Usually I train up to 50 participants when I consult, but I'll take 2 people for sure. It's getting close to dinner time with 1300 calories left for the day. I've eaten 1300 already and I have earned and extra 1000 calories from exercise. I have to watch all food intake to ensure that I don't over eat and continue to get down to a good racing weight before the national championships. I made brown rice and a black bean mixture that is so tasty that I make a huge pot for left overs all week long. Low fat and high carbs and protein.

Day 78

Found out today that I placed 12th overall and 3rd in the Grand Masters Elite at the Deer Creek Tri. I confirmed what I thought yesterday of my splits. I lost at least 30 seconds in T1 due to equipment problems and went out way to fast on the start of my run. The result was a slower than usual run because I had to stop and couldn't breath...lol. My workout this morning was a short intervals in the pool after a warmup I just did 5 x 100s at 1:25 for each 100 with 10 seconds rest followed by a cool down. It was a nice easy swim just to get a little loose from yesterdays race. After doing a few things with Barb I went out and road a recovery ride for one hour, keeping a low heart rate to get the legs loose as well. After my ride I weighed in at 178.4. I still feel that I can go down 5-7  more pounds.  Just going to read today and relax on the first official day of summer break. 77 days to go...lol

Day 79 Deer Creek Race Report

Got to the race site and pulled right behind Mark Lemmon one of my Grand Master Elite friends and competitors. We shook hands and got working toward prepping our gear in the transition area. Since the elites swim in the first wave of the swim start we are able to rack our bikes on the first 2 racks of the transition area. This is a great benefit to be able find your bike easily after the swim transitioning T1. After chatting with all my racing buddies and competitors we made our way down to the beach start line. I just purchased a new full wet suit (marlin, profile desigh)and was eager to try it out in a race. After the first 200 meters the lead pack took off and I settled in right behind them. Feeling strong I got into a good pace and continued to pass swimmers all the way to the end. I feeling steong and exited the water at 12:30 for 750 meters. I felt the swim was a little long, but still a decent time. T1: I was all set to take off after a quick transition and noticed my ear pad of my helment hanging off. After attempting to fix it, both sides came off and I had to take my helment off as seconds were ticking away. I thought "sh_t horrible transition time". I believe I lost at least 30 seconds and could not even fix it and just took off with both pads hanging off. While on the bike the wind wasn't a factor and actually felt very averaging 27mph during some parts of the course. I ended up with a 33 min bike leg, PR on this course for sure. Coming into transition, I noticed Brian Barker (another HFP racing friend and fellow Grand Masters Elite) right on my tire. We came in shoulder to shoulder into T2. After a very fast transition I attempted to stay with Brian but I didn't have that next gear yet. Within 1 mile of the 5k I had to try and stop to bend over because of a bad cramp near my rib cage and I couldn't breath (I knew this was caused by going to fast...lol) after slowing down I was able to get into a nice pace and back on track. However, by this time Brian was 400 meters in front of me. I knew that I couldn't catch him now. Finishing strong the last mile I crossed the line in a new course PR for myself at 1:10:30s. I felt that I could improve on a few things for a first race of the season for sure. 1. Better T1 transition with no equipment problems. 2. Better pacing for the beginning of the run. Next race up, Fit for Tri in Sindey, Ohio this Saturday. After leaving the race site I got back to our camper to find Barb all done packing up and ready for me to help finishing the tear down of the camper and head home. It was great that she was back there having some alone time reading and writing all morning long while I was out having fun racing and talking with my racing buddies. By the way, I'm pecking on my IPad so I apologize for the random pecks and thoughts. Tomorrow 78 days left of summer...lol

Day 80

80 days until back to school. I plan to count down from the first day of summer vacation until we head back to school. I will blog about racing and training over the next 80 days leading up to the National Sprint Championships in Vermont on August 19, 2012. This weekend Barb and I are camping at Deer Creek State Park in Ohio and I'm racing the first race of the year a sprint race of the year. The race time temps will be in the low 50s, which means a chilly bike leg for sure. Have to pick up the race packet today at the beach and prep the bike and gear for the race tomorrow. 9th year in a row for the Deer Creek Tri.