Off-Road YMCA Sprint- Race report

Two weeks ago...before broken arm!

Well this was my first race back after a long hiatus of injury. Although it was a seemingly small race I still wanted to race well. My typical racing schedule does not include Xterra racing, but since the infamous Adam Wirth helped put the race on I wanted to support his efforts. Adam was nice enough to let me borrow his cross bike for the race (or I was dumb enough to borrow it) since I only mountain bike about once or twice a year, although I enjoy it, fitting it into my road roading just doesnt work. Anyhow Neil and I did a pre ride of the grueling 8.5 mile (lol) course the day before. I felt like the cross bike would be fine as long as I took the downhills carefully. The next morning I was nervous and unprepared for the race preperations. Out of practice and excited to race again, my wife had to make sure I was ready like a little kid on first day of school. "Got your race belt, shoes, number, etc," she said. What would I do without her! Off to the race...

I start first with the fastest swim split. I know its only a small sprint race but still pretty excited..calm down...off on my bike I go. My plan bike as fast as possible for the first loop! One min into the race Pro Adam Wirth passes me like I am on bike with training wheels.

I thought well he a pro, then 3 more people pass me! Darn it! Ok time to really focus and ride hard. I sit in 5th place for the rest of the loops. Gaining respect from my fellow racers for racing on borrowed cross bike and keeping the gap small on top guys. Into transition I am in 5th place.

Neil right on my heels. My goal run as fast as possible for as long as possible. I know great racing strategies for the the bike and run! I pass John Shilt at about 1.5 miles in, then the next racer, now I am in 3rd. With only 3.5 miles on the run I could not make up the gap on Tom or Adam. Finishing strong and fastest run of the day, I was happy! Tom and Adam are fantastic athletes and my hat goes off to those guys. After the race we hung out for some great food and raffle prizes. I even won a free entry to Xterra Canada...which later Adam informed me that its the most difficult course on the circuit. Well I guess I am going to need to borrow a bike, and maybe I should ride a few times beforehand? Great race overall and fun being back in the mix with the boys.

Me and Dr. J

Adam 1st, Tom 2nd, Me 3rd

Until next time....

The day it happened

The title sounds super cheesy, but since my mom is one of two who reads my blog daily she will think its funny! You see when I was in second grade I wrote a short story about my friend getting stabbed in the face with scissors, and it was famously titled, "The day it happened." I even drew scissors with blood dripping down them for the cover...sick..but hey my teacher said she wanted a catchy cover page! Anyways my friend was OK and now I can get to the point of this blog which ends with me getting a fractured arm...So lets take a journey and see what happened.
Once upon a Sunday, I decided to meet up with Neil for a 2.5 hour ride. Although the sun was shining the wind had an icy bite to it. For much of the ride I was tired, sore, and cold so the entire experience was far from enjoyable. I came home to see Meg was baking (as usual) so I relaxed for the afternoon, and planned on setting out for an hour run that evening. The winds were calm, sun was starting to set, and I felt as though my days work was going to end well. So right before I suit up and head out to run I tell meg a foreshadowing thought, "all I have to do is stay healthy for 4 weeks and its off to Texas for my big race!" She gives me a kiss goodbye and I drove off. I decided to run a new trail out by by the canal near Bowen Crossing. The run started off great and kiah (my dog) was out running in front of me. The plan was to run steady for 30 min and then tempo back to the car. After 45 min of running I was feeling good. Then we started to approach a couple with a golden retriever....(input slow scary music) and kiah bolted towards the dog, and within a blink of an eye I was hitting the dirt.

She looks harmless, but don't let her fool you!

She had scared the other dog and therefore making her run right in front of me tripping me awkwardly landing on my elbow first. Right away I knew something bad had happened. I jogged slowly back to the car and drove home. When I got home Meg was gone running in the park, I ran over and told her we needed to go to the hospital. She then told me hesitantly we needed to wait for her bread to bake so after a 15 minute wait (no big deal the damage was done)...we went to the ER.

ER bracelet...

A splint, x-rays, and some pain medication I was sent home with a note saying undetermined diagnoses, and we needed to see an orthopedist. Luckily I coach masters swimming, and Dr. Jeff Shilt swims in my class. He is a great person, and superb doc so I went to him first thing the next morning. He said that my radius was fractured near the elbow. Good thing it wasn't displaced so no surgery needed.

I look so rugged...

So with about 3 weeks of no swimming, competing in Texas is out of the question. I can however bike indoors and start running as the pain goes down. I plan on laying out a new season plan soon. So just when you think you have it all figured out life throws me the ole curve ball. My mom told me the story of how Abe Lincoln failed and tried so many times at being president and yet no one remembers him for that, they only remember him for what he achieved. Like the old proverb says," smooth seas doesn't make skillful sailors."

P.S I didn't take kiah to the pound!

Until next time.....

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....

Day 6: A long day in the saddle

First things first...as I promised the details of our kitchen! Although I think a picture is worth a 1000 words in this case.

Neil prepares oatmeal I am making some french press coffee

As you can see our kitchen looks a lot like a bathroom, but dont let the shower and sink fool you. This dual purpose room has worked for both occasions all week, and like I said before this hotel is upscale.

Our luxurious room packed full of triathlon gear.. (we did get the upgrade to a handicap room which allowed for storage room for our bikes!)

So now on to today's task- Bike between 4-5 hours with some time trial efforts. We started about 10:30 am and the temperature was already 75 deg, so it was going to be a toasty one today.

Neil apparently thinks this pace is too slow

Only an hour into our ride...

1st water stop then 15min time trial next

My best game face

Neil looking super-cruisy!

After 3 hours in the 90 plus degree heat we needed to get some water, and there just happened to be some gelato in the near future. After hours of not seeing water, greenery, trees, buildings we simply stumble upon Lake Las Vegas. It looks as someone just took a piece of europe and placed it in the desert.

View of the Lake with bridge in the background from gelato shop

Enjoying some gelato...Neil added a chopped up cliff bar to his and later decided that was a bad idea! Now only 1.5 hours home...

After almost 4.5 hours on the bike we were tired, thirsty, hot, hot, hot, sunburned some more, and ready to relax. I went for a 30 min run off the bike when we got home and Neil got an early start on the ice bath. Then we decided it was time for dinner and Whole Foods was our best option.

Salmon and rice topped off with some coconut water

After eating dinner a guy came up to us and started telling us his life story. The cliff note version was been to prison (San Quentin), has 3 kids 2 different girls, became rich went broke, and hates Las Vegas. Basically we got the major creeper vibe when he told us he shanked someone in prison, so it was time to leave. It made for a great end to the evening and matter of fact I got to thinking Las Vegas isnt such a bad place, at least we had a good time. Although something tells me our Vegas experiences were two very different scenarios.

Until tomorrow....

Day 5: 85 degrees and sunburned

To much of a good thing can be a bad thing, and in our case its the sun. Temps have really started to heat up and our bodies have soaked in as much sun as they can handle. Oh well in two days its back to Boise so back out on the roads we go. Our plan for the day was to take things a little easier doing all three sports. We both didn't wake up till 9am so that's definitely a good start to taking it easy. Around 11am we hit the track for 30 min easy running followed by 4x200 fast.

Finishing a quick 200

Neil BangsWorkout #1 done now

Around noon we drove to the outdoor pool that we swam in yesterday. We had such a good time swimming outside that we wanted to take the opportunity to do it again. The swim set would be 500 swim, 20x50 band only, 30x100 pull for 5k total. I like doing this set because you can just relax and get into the "zone" for the 100's.

Me finishing up with paddles

Neil cooling down

Workout #2 done and some lunch I am spent..oh wait still have to bike!

Finishing up the evening with 2 hour bike

Racing the sun back to the hotel

That concludes day 5 here in the desert. We finished off the evening making a gourmet dinner in the room, sardines and potatoes. Tomorrow I will include some pictures of our kitchen!

P.S Tonight's sleep on this sunburn is going to be brutal, I think tomorrow we will skip the outdoor pool swim!

Until tomorrow.....

Day 4: Groundhog day

This morning I woke up and was pretty wore out from the long, hilly, windy bike ride, and last three days of training. Waking up each morning with one thought, what are we going to do today? A week of pro triathletes life...I think? Like they say when in Rome...or in our case sunny Las Vegas we tend to do a lot of volume on the bike. Getting a sweet tan to go back and make our friends in Idaho jealous is also a top priority! Neil started off the day with a 30 min run, while I decided to enjoy sleeping in. After breakfast it was just like Sunday, bike to the pool and swim then bike home, hence the groundhog day title.

Biking to the pool with Las Vegas in the background

Neil finishing up 6500 yard set

Neil all smiles after finishing 2x1000pull cooldown

2 hours in the pool its time for some food!

Soaking up some Vitamin D

Henderson Mulit-generational pool (20 lanes) 78 deg...Perfect swimming!

A quick stop for some shots at starbucks and we hit the road. Neil pushed the pace hammering out a big gear for the last 30min. I just tried to hang on his wheel! Then back to the hotel to get running clothes and go for a 4omin transition run to seal the deal. Me running along the old railroad

Neil with Lake Mead in the background

Running out of one of the tunnels...I am in the lead on the right!! (No we are not wearing the same shorts and we did not plan on wearing the same color)

Until tomorrow.....