Climbing...my new favorite hobby

Recently with the better weather I have been able to bike outside more. I have been doing a lot of hill work on my bike. For some odd reason doing hill repeats has become my latest obsesssion. The deep burn in my quads, and calves accompanied by the views from the top make me keep coming back for more. There is a hill that takes between 5-10 minutes to bike up then pedal down and repeat. I just put it in my biggest gear slowly pedal and try not to fall over. I feel that bike strength is my biggest limiter in triathlons, so this year I have focused on it. People have always known me as being a weak biker and quite frankly it has been true. This year its different and hopefully all the work I have put in on the bike will surprise some people. Although this will probably always follow me in my career. Heck look at Craig Alexander, known as a weak biker in his early career and people still describe him in this manner. Well hopefully I follow in the same footsteps and my career ends up like Craig's...a weak biker and WORLD CHAMPION!

Up the hill building those calves

Now back down...repeat!

Starting to get tired...only two more left!

Happy to be done with those intervals..they hurt so good.

Its about the journey not the destination.

Until next time....

Spring Training

Lately the weather has been anywhere between 30 and snowy to 60 and sunny. Spring has been crazy and so getting out on the trails has been few and far between. Neil and I had a couple of runs to do so we headed on hulls gulch trail. As for my training it been going well and with my first major race in 5 weeks I am just training to stay healthy and get the training done. I am getting anxious and excited for the season. It has been so long since I have been able to race, and I forgot how much I missed competing. I participated in a sprint race last weekend and when I get some photos I will post a report. Until then enjoy the pics!

Me running trying to catch up to kiah (my cattle dog)

Following Neil in the foothills

Kiah loves the spring time because she gets infinite water breaks


Until next time....

Routine business

Now that I am back in Boise it's back to the daily routines. On Sundays Meg and I walk down to the newspaper stand and get the Sunday paper. Meg clips the coupons and tries to save at least $2.00 or the cost of the newspaper. It's a fun routine we do, and is just another reason I am glad to be back home! Although as you can see from the photo it was freezing outside, so no more shorts and t-shirts.

Meg Grabbing the newspaper

Hopefully we get our moneys worth!

Training for the next few days will be easy. Make sure I absorb all the hard work and then build to the beginning of the season. Until tomorrow...

Day 7: The end of camp

Training Camp: Las Vegas

Biking-19 hours (280 miles) biking around boulder city was fantastic. Hills, wind, sunshine, perfect roads, all these things made for some of the best riding I have experienced.

Running-2.5 (25miles)Little focus was placed on running because of the high biking volume so most of the runs were 30min off the bike. We were able to get on the track once for some speed, but mostly just cruising along the old railroad trail.

Swimming- 8.5 (28,000yds)Swimming was awesome! Three of the days were spent in the outdoor pool. While the other two days were in great indoor facilities. Total time over 30 hours training!

Enjoying the last of the sunshine

We decided to make the drive all the way back in one trip. It takes about 11 hours to get to Boise so we had our work cut out for us. When we left it was 92 deg. and in Boise it was 32 deg when we woke up the next morning. A major shock to the system! So its back to the treadmill and computrainer for awhile. Lets pray for some warm weather our way...soon!

Until tomorrow....