Matty B's

Days 13, 14, 15

2011-05-25T20:11:00.006-07:00

Alright I am back. I have been busier than usual. Here are the last few days of this photo challenge.

Day 13: Food

I didn't take many shots of this. I really didn't like this particular topic. However, like a true professional I did my job. Here is the product:

Day 14: Architecture

The best buildings in town are the old ones. There is hardly anything special about new buildings. There is little character, no history and they are cheaply made, for the most part. I chose the old character of NAU for this shot.

Day 15: Vintage

I knew from the beginning that this bike would be my prop for the vintage shot. It is my most beloved bike due to its age and the fact that it has now been passed to me by a great aunt of mine. I love the rust spots and the incredible shape it is in.

Day 12: Motion

2011-05-22T07:08:00.005-07:00

I wasn't sure what to do for this one. It is pretty obvious to have something blurred with a long shutter to accentuate the motion in the picture. For a stagnant photo, it is hard to capture motion without the blur. So, I went out in the evening. First stopped at the Aquaplex, next to the tracks to get a shot. The lighting didn't turn out very great in my photos. So, I went downtown to wait for a train by the station. I must have waited for 20 minutes for a train to finally come. For anyone who knows Flagstaff at all, they know how many trains come through town each day. This must have been the longest break between trains EVER! I found out that I was waiting for the Amtrak, which I am sure was holding up all the trains behind it, hence the wait.
After finally getting some shots of the train, I walked downtown to get some shots of moving cars with all the neon and lights of the downtown area. I put a few photos up, some better than others. Check 'em out:

Day 11: Household Item

2011-05-21T08:44:00.002-07:00

I was busy and away from my house yesterday, so I actually took this one this morning, a day late. oops. But, I am going to take today's challenge today as well. So, it's a two-fer kind of day.

The rest of the challenge is going to be even more challenging as I now have a new/old job that is going to occupy more of my time. I am hoping that I can still take all the photos necessary to complete the challenge on time.

Anyway, check out today's/yesterday's photo:

Day 10: Technology

2011-05-19T20:09:00.003-07:00

What does everyone think of when I say, "Technology?" Iphones? Laptops? TVs? Cars? All good ideas. I first thought of bicycles. Maybe cause its something I am on so much. However, I have an idea for bicycles on a later day in this challenge. So, I chose my next biggest hobby, photography and cameras. Take a peek:

Day 9: Texture

2011-05-18T20:00:00.003-07:00

Once again, I didn't take many photos today, but I tried taking some good photos of texture. Here's the result:

Day 8: The Place I Live

2011-05-17T18:51:00.002-07:00

I didn't take very many photos today, however I took some while out on my mountain bike ride. I have been riding the trails around Flagstaff since I was 10 and to me, there is nothing better about the place I live then the forest surrounding it. The lumber fueled our early growth as a town in the 1880s, the people are intricately tied to the forest through spirituality, livelihood or because of the urban interface that we have built into the forest. I think it is Flagstaff's biggest asset and one that will always need protecting and managing.

Day 7: Macro

2011-05-16T20:14:00.005-07:00

This one isn't new. All of my below photos from the 'water' day are macro. But, here is an actual macro day and I don't like the photos much. I know, I know, I need to be more positive of my photos, but when you don't like 'em, you don't like 'em. Her it goes.

Days 3, 4, 5, and 6...

2011-05-15T21:35:00.011-07:00

My apologies for being so tardy with this post. I was sans internet this weekend, but not sans camera. Hence, the challenge rolls on.

Day 3 - Fire

I was not especially happy with any of the photos that I took for this, but this was my favorite. The aura being given off sends some warmth waves to the viewer.

Day 4 - Water

I put a couple photos up for this one because I liked a couple for different reasons. Comment on which you like the best.

Day 5 - Spring

This one is meant to be about spring. The blog that I originally took these challenge themes from had this challenge listed for April, which puts me a tad behind and trying to find photos for themes that may not necessarily go with what is actually happening right now. With that said, what is more "spring" than flowers?

Day 6 - Shadows

I was pretty busy today and didn't really take any photos of the theme, but managed to pop this one off. It isn't great, but will do.

Day 2: Flight

2011-05-11T20:02:00.000-07:00

Today was interesting. I finally felt like I had some creativity. I didn't want a cliche bird or airplane photo, however, you've seen the result. I wanted a paper airplane shot or maybe a kid swinging, but what parent really wants some dude taking photos of their kid swinging? So, I went down to Frances Short pond just to see what was happening and I found this blue heron just chillin. It took a while before he took off, but I got the shot. Its a tad blurry, but the lighting was good and the motion is great. I went with it.

Before I left, there were these two circling hawks. I probably took 50+ photos of these guys before I felt happy with a shot. Check it out:

And now for a different kind of flight:

Day One : Self-Portrait

2011-05-10T18:28:00.002-07:00

Alright, here it is. My Self-Portrait. This was tough. I could have just held the camera out and taken a photo and been done. But, I didn't want that. It took forever to get a good exposure, composition and set the focus density correctly. The sun popped out this afternoon/evening and I tried to use it to my advantage. I threw the flash on as well to get rid of the shadows, dropped the color, and added a tad of contrast.

I am just glad that this one is over. I realized I will never be a good model, nor do I like having pictures taken of myself by myself or anyone else.

See you tomorrow. What's it gonna be? You'll have to wait!

Long-term thinking...

2011-05-10T08:45:00.002-07:00

My spring training is over and I have officially begun my post-spring training recovery week(s).

My hamstrings were tight after the race this past weekend, reticent of the previous issues I have been having for the past 8-9 months. I don't honestly known what to do except continue to work on strengthening them and lossening them up. My foot felt fine, no worries.

Moving forward from here means at least 3 weeks out of the pool, not because I want or need it, but because I just won't have a pool to swim in til Memorial Day weekend. I plan to continue riding with an emphasis on mountain biking as the trails are real nice. And I plan to take at least another month off from running.

In the next month, I am going to hit the stretching and strengthening routines hard! I am going to outline a schedule and a workout plan and really try to build more overall strength and rehab my hamstrings so that when I get back to running I stay injury free and stronger than ever. I am finally thinking long-term and if that means taking a couple months off from running so that I am 100% better and running injury free, then so be it. I understand that I have tried to do too much too quickly. I am only 21 years old for goodness sakes! I probably have 5 years before I even start hitting my best years. Why do I need to try and be the best out there right now? The answer is, I don't. And I need to get that through my head. Either way, it is not beneficial to continue pushing through pain and tightness and injuries for short term success, when I truly want to be the best in 5 year and beyond. Long-term success is what I truly want.

With that in mind, I am happy with my result from this past weekend. It was a true Olympic Distance race and while I did not hit my goal time, it isn't something to be hard on myself for. A 2:12 is really great. My swim needs improving and I know that if I had been training for the running portion, I would have easily been a couple minutes faster. That was my best effort on the day, but not my best effort, which give me confidence moving forward that I can and will improve.

Now, onto something not related to triathlon at all. I am commencing on my 30-day photo challenge. I will begin posting photos on here everyday. Each day has a different goal product to shoot. I will post the photo and a little info about how I came to like the posted photo over the rest. Stay tuned, this blog is about to get more posts in a month than I had all of last year!

Rio Salado Tri recap...

2011-05-08T06:54:00.002-07:00

After the less than spectacular finish at the Marquee tri three weeks ago, and the more than spectacular bonk that occured along the way, yesterday was a small bit of redemption.

I slept well the night before, early to bed, early to rise and no unannounced wak-ups during the night. Easily the best sleep I have had before a race. I am really working on staying nervous-free before races by keeping my mind on other things. It seems to be working.

As always, the morning began with a shower and some oatmeal before heading down to the transition area just after 5am. It might have been the first time when I was not to transition as it opened. No need yesterday, I was not even close to being the first wave. Transition was set up, sun was up, time to race!

Despite the rule of "not trying anything new on race day," I had a new wetsuit and goggles. I tried not to think of another spectacular fail in a race. Good news is, it didn't happen. The gun went off and I flew out off the line. I couldn't count the individuals in front but I think I was in the top 6 or so people for the first third of the swim. Then, my quick early pace caught up with me and so did some others in my wave. I was trying to focus on my form and keeping the intensity up. I finished in about 25 minutes off the actual swim. Not quite what I wanted. But, it was the first open water swim since last July and the first in a race since June. Not bad, I will take it.

My transition felt a little slower than it actually came out. I am still hesitant about taking my wetsuit off, so I used the wetsuit strippers, which probably slowed me down a tad. Either way, it took me 1:12.

I had the hardest time trying to get my foot in my pedal! Probably wasted a minute or so cause my foot would not clip in! But, when I got there, the bike felt really great. Myself and a couple other guys, one from Tri Scottsdale and the other from a team i don't remember, were cruisin together for about the first quarter of the race. Switching leading duties, trying to stay legal however I knew the cat from Tri Scottsdale was blocking a little bit because he would have been drafting if he was in the right. So, no harm no foul. By the turn around on Rio Salado another dude flew past us and I knew that I was feeling too comfortable with the other two, so I made a move to catch up and push my pace a bit. He got away but I put some time between myself and the other two that I was racing with. I tried to keep the pace honest around the next lap and keep on the tail of anyone who passed me. The difference between this race and the Marquee is my consciousness level. I never got into a deficit state where I was just riding to finish. I was always conscious of my level of effort and comfort. I was able to match moves that were made and go with those that passed me. It felt much better. Time: 63:44. I was shooting for an hour, but with my shoe issue and all the turns, it may have been impossible at my riding strength right now.

My T2 was normal. 53.0 seconds. Not the fastest but far from the slowest.

I went out fast on the run. I kept telling myself on the bike that it was only a 5k, even though it was a 10k. I knew that if I went out fast, even if I slowed down, it would still be faster than if I held back my pace because of the longer distance. My first mile was under 7 minutes, maybe just under 6 minutes. I was fighting a cramp for the majority of the first lap. I think I drank too much on the bike which came back to hurt me in the run. Every aid station was walking a fine line between drinking to much and perpetuating the cramp and needing to drink because of the warm 80+ degree temps. I only got passed a couple times during the run. And passed far more. My goal was a sub-40 minute 10K. I didn't know if that was realistic. I hadn't run at all since the Marquee. My lack of fitness, the heat and my cramp slowed my goal time down to a 41:19. Not bad and could have been much worse.

Overall, the race went well. I missed my goal by a bit. I usually understand my fitness very well, in order to set a realistic goal time. I set a 2:10 as a respectable time and came in at 2:12 and change. It came down to a couple mistakes and the heat certainly effected my run time. Had the weather been better and my mistakes been managed, I would have been right there. I don't necessarily think my overshot of my goal was due to my lack of fitness. It was my first Oly distance triathlon and I think it went very well. I am pleased with the effort and I now know how much better I can be over this distance.

Taper and Race...

2011-05-04T09:23:00.004-07:00

I love working out. No doubt about it, but I think every athlete relishes the time when they can take a break. My break starts Monday. May 9th. Iron Gear Sports Rio Salado Triathlon (mouth full yet?) is on Sunday. My spring season will have wrapped up with a little less excitement than expected.

I have had hamstring issues since August of last year. They would get to a point and never get worse, so I would continue pushing through them. However, the running was never enjoyable because of the nagging discomfort. Rolling on my foam and stretching never quite let them totally heal. Even after a month off of running over Christmas, I came back with one leg fine and the other worse. Which led to a very weak spring of training (only 150+- miles so far this year!). My longest week of running has only been 23 miles. No speed training. And after the Marquee Triathlon , my foot was aching. I decided to give up running and take a whole new perspective on my training after this weekend. But, before I get to that, I want to let you in on my cycling and swimming too.

Swimming is going, well, swimmingly. I have put in more distance in the pool this spring then last spring and am already over half my total distance from last year (nearly 100,000 meters, which I will hit this week). While I am not making the leaps and bounds in my times that everyone shoots for, I am slowly making progress and hope for a PR at the Rio Salado this weekend. I have hit certain times that I have never hit before which is always great. Slow progress every year is all I can ask for. I have improved my 400m short course time by over a minute and a half in my four years in college. I can knock down intervals at 6:20 over 400m, when 4 years ago I couldn't break 8min all out over the same distance. I can drop under 8min for 5oom on long course without breaking a sweat. So, I am truly thankful for the progress I have made. However, I am not satisfied and will continually work, with God's help, to make my training and racing even better.

Now onto cycling. I am having a resurgence of love for this sport. As is the case every spring, I tend to fall in love with it as if I was a child. I think it has a lot to do with the wonderful memories I had as a kid in the city-run mountain biking camp that I was a part of for years. Wonderful weather + great trails + all day in the forest + nothing better to do = awesome childhod memories! All that is said to say that I want to get back into more bicycle racing. Not so much mountain bike racing because there is more of a spiritual connection to that side of riding for me. I love just being in the woods, taking my time, enjoying how beautiful the world is around me and getting some excerise in at the same time. But, road racing is totally different. I love the strategy of it all. The break aways, climbs, sprints, points, GC, all of it. I miss it. I don't know if I am in the kind of shape right now to be competitive with those guys. Plus, I need to get a new bike before I dive back into that scene, cause the one I have now is a little embarrassing. It gets the job done, but it does not hold up against other racers.
As for training, I am over halfway to my total mileage for all of last year, similar to swimming. Although, I don't necessarily feel any stronger or faster. My ride up snowbowl last week was a little slower than my PR, but for this time of year and my first time up the road, it wasn't bad. I know I can go a lot faster.

Since those are out of the way, lets get back to my running. I am writing this more as a training lesson for anyone who wants to read it. So, take this as a free long-term training session.
My Issue: Too many injuries from overuse.
Solution: Longer Base Mileage.
Background: I was hardly injured in high school save for a couple weeks of shin splints and a foot strain from running in flats for the first time. Nothing serious. Since I have been in college, I have had ITBS, Runner's Knee, Stress fractures, some odd Osgood-Schlatter's type knee pain that could never get a for sure diagnosis, and odd and end other ailments. In my mind, and I am usually correct in my assumptions, I did too much too soon. In high school, I never ran over 30 miles per week (that's a guess since I didn't actually count mileage). The intensity or training was less and I ran slower times in races. I would then take time off between cross season and outdoor track season and between the end of outdoor track season and the beginning of cross season. Low intensity, low mileage, lots of recovery. No real chance for injuries.
In college, I bumped up race distances, am running faster and take less recovery. I would run a couple to a few days a week between 8-12 week build-up for races. I am going from 15-25 miles/week to a build-up where I want to run PRs over distances as long as half marathon. I would jump in to these races with a small base, and bump intensities really quickly in order to run quickly.
I had little to no long-term base coming out of high school, as more committed runners do, because of my 3-4 month seasons with little in between. It was no foundation for the type of running I wanted to do in college. If you want to run well over a long period with a low chance for injuries, you need a long term (a year or more) base to build on.
My mistake: Too much, too quickly with no base. Lots of injuries.

Solution: I am taking the next couple of weeks off from running. I am going to make sure that I am 100% injury free. I am going to make sure that my hamstrings are no longer an issue. I am going to stretch like crazy, do some extra strength training and come out of the next couple weeks ready for a build-up. I am going to slowly build my base up until december and shoot for higher mileage, at a SLOW pace, than I have ever hit before. Take a week or two off in December to recover from the months' long base phase and then begin a 14-16 week marathon build for a mid to late spring marathon.

I want to race this marathon well, the first time and stay injury free. I am sick of being injured and having to take time off for it. I want to enjoy running well again and fast. I have decided I NEED to make these changes for my own well-being if I want to continue on running for any length of time in the future. I don't plan on racing hardly at all for the rest of the year to really focus on building some good mileage.

Sorry about making these things so long. I need to update more often, i guess. Hope the information in here can help someone. Blessings

Marquee Triathlon recap...

2011-04-11T07:51:00.002-07:00

My weekend truly started on friday evening. My youth group had a lock-in planned on Friday night as part of a fundraising campaign for World Vision and their 30-hour famine money drive. Everyone fasts for 30-hours in an attempt to learn a bit of what kids around the world go through each and everyday.

We met at 5pm at church, played games, did a bible study, talked about their experiences thus far with being hungry for a day, broke fast at midnight and went to bed. I never sleep well at church, even though I shoot for the couch in the youth room. I am not sure if its being in a weird place, temperature or what not, but I was up at 6am after a patchy night of rest. I immediately turned on NPR after looking out the window and watched as my car was continuously buried under the 6 inches of snow that was already on the ground. My biggest worry was getting out of town before they closed I-17 and I wouldn't be able to get to phoenix.

I made it on to the highway. Pushed 50mph over mostly good roads and was in phoenix by noon. First mission accomplished. Apparently when it is snowing in Flagstaff, it stays cold in phoenix too. I was just hoping that the weather was going to be nicer and warmer the next day, cause I hate cold weather races.

I make it to Tempe Town Lake and walk into the check-in tent. As I get my bib number, the volunteer informs me that the swim for tomorrow is cancelled. The recent rain tends to drain bacteria into the lake and there was not enough time between check-in and race morning to analyze samples for cleanliness. Go figure. Kind of a bummer as my swim was going fabulously this spring and I was really looking forward to setting a new PR over the distance. It is what it is. The triathlon just turned into a duathlon.

I wandered through the expo, bought a new pair of cycling gloves as they were on sale and I needed new ones. Took all my gear back to my car, unloaded my bike and began to make my way to transition for bike check-in. I got a nice spot in transition. Bike rack places were reserved by race number. I was number 22 and was on the second rack you see from the run-in and out. Put a trash bag over my frame for safety from the rain and went to check in at my hotel.

The hotel was nice, albeit odd. It seemed more like a short term housing unit as there were bikes chained to stair railings, people milling about and other odd features. But, this was not a $20/night place. Odd, very odd. The room was very large, small kitchenette, couch, two beds, desk. For one night, no problem. I got settled, watched some TV til dinner and went in search of food. Made it old town Scottsdale which I would love to go back to when its warmer. As a historian, I love the old town places that retain much of their original aestheitic. While Old Town does an ok job at this, and has become a snobby hangout for rich artists and those wannabe artists, I can still sense the atmosphere of the area from a hundred years ago. It was just a tad too late for most things to be open and was cold and drizzly which made me retreat back to my car and head back to the hotel after my stomach was full.

I found Good Morning Vietnam on TV (one of my favorites) and watched that til it was time for bed. I was not as nervous for this race and really tried to keep my mind off it. I never sleep well before races and wanted to change that. It mostly worked. I probably had my best night's rest before a competition. However, just like the night before at church, I was up before my alarm. I turned on the weather channel to check the temperature, made some oatmeal and coffee. Did my final touches. Loaded my car, checked out and headed to the race venue just after 5am. There wasn't the same buzz around transition as normal because the olympic distance and sprint distance went of an hour and two hours, respectively, after the half-iron. Most people didn't want to get up just to sit around, especially cause it was pretty chilly outside.

I set up my transition a little different because of the duathlon format. I didn't need to set down my running things because I would be wearing them for the first 5K leg of the race. That left just my helemt and bike shoes. Pumped up my tires, taped my Gu's to my top tube and left for a morning prayer service led by Ryan from FCA Endurance. The turn out was disappointingly small, but we take what we get and the guys who showed up were great.

I left my bag with Ryan, took my sweatshirt and sweatpants off and headed for the start line, which was now on the Mill Ave bridge, instead of at the water line, for our 5k run.

We close in on 7am, start time, when tehy inform us that their is a vehicle accident out on the bike course that is blocking all four lanes. Delay the start 15 minutes.
National Anthem sung, 5....4....3....2....1....GO!!
I have never done a duathlon and was not sure about how to pace myself. We started in waves (I was in the pros/20-39 age group) and I settled in comfortably in about 11th place. I used Bo Reed's advice of transitioning (not to be confused with triathlon transitions) and running with the course. Relaxing on up hills, pushing downhills. With a mile to go, I was in 4th place and feeling strong. By transition, I was in 2nd. I was blown away!! My longest week of mileage since Jan. 1st has been 16 miles and I have done little to no speed work. And none of the little speed work I have done has been faster than 6:45 pace. I finished the first 5k in 17:26. Good enough for the second fastest of the day overall.

I had a blazing fast transition for what I am used to. Despite taking it easy and slowing down. I am out on teh bike course in second place overall. By mile 5 I am passed by two brother who are working together. I stick with them for the next 5 miles but start to lose ground and need to regroup. By the first turn around, 14 miles in, I am in sixth place. I am riding hard and can't do anything about it, they are just superior riders. I hammer it downhill back toward transition to complete the first loop of the bike. I am starting to feel a little tired but keep checking my pace and it hasn't slowed. By the 40 mile mark I am hungry. Full blown hungry and realized I didn't eat enough. My couple bowl of oatmeal were eaten 6 hours ago and all I have had since is a few Gu's and some cytomax. Not enough. Its survival mode. To make matters worse, the wind has picked up and I am fighting it all the way home. I finish in 2:40. I know that I was inshape for a 2:25. Bummer.

My toes are frozen and running into transition is difficult. My second transition was slow for a couple reasons, frozen fingers and toes, and bonking. I know that there is an aid station just a couple hundred meters out on to the run course. I try to run but my legs have nothing in them. I grab a handful of pretzels and eat them as I walk. Thank you to everyone who asked if I was ok during this portion of the race. I do a run/walk for the next mile and grab some animal crackers and gatorade at the next aid station. I am beginning to feel just a bit better. But, it takes a good 4 miles before I have any kind of sustainable strength in my legs. I end up running between aid stations and walking the food line for the rest of the race. Eric, Nate, Gary, and Wendy, all of Team FCA, help encourage me and keep me moving forward. My race is already over, it is just a matter of finiahing now. I could tell that some individual that passed me earlier are coming back to me and I am making up ground. Which tells me that my late-race strength is there, but the first four miles of the run left me uncompetitive and making up a deficit the whole race both in nutrition and speed. Since there was no body marking because of no swim, I had no idea who was in my age group or what place I was in. The only person I know for sure was in my age group was a kid in an ASU singlet. I see him in the last mile and continue pushing until I was right behind him with 50 meters to go. Except, while he was hurting before, he finds an extra gear and beats me by 1.5 seconds.

I had no answer as was the case most of the day.

Good things to take away from this race:
1. My 5K speed is there. Where did it come from? no idea. But, it's there.
2. Despite starting the half marathon on a bad note, give it some time and it can turn around. I believe I was listening to Frank Shorter speak one time and he said this same thing. Everyone runs in to bad patches in a race, maybe for 10 seconds, maybe for 2 miles, but they will eventually turn around.
3.I have 4 more weeks to make my swimming even better before my next race.

Bad things to take away from this race:
1. Keep working on cycling strength. There is no reason I should have been dropped so easily.
2. Eat more before a race!! It was a lapse of judgement and I usually know better.
3. Take more food on the bike, just in case.

pre-race update...

2011-04-05T08:42:00.002-07:00

My original plan was to wait til after the Marquee Triathlon to write a recap of the race. However, I have been reading other blogs and was inspired to write early.

My training has been going well. I am swimming more consistently, more mileage and longer mileage than I ever have. I am ready for a great day come race morning in the water. I will be testing out a new wetsuit at this race and hoping that everything goes well with it. Last April, a wetsuit mishap cost me a podium spot at the XTERRA West Championships in Las Vegas (Read a race recap here)

I have not been quite as consistent on my bike, but feel like I have a good level of fitness, at least more than I did at this time last year. After a ride/time trial last friday of 28 miles (half the distance of the bike leg for this weekend), I had a few miles over 30mph and averaged closer to 22mph on a ride that had 600+ft of climbing over the distance. I was not even tired afterward, which give me tons of confidence for this weekend. It is supposed to be a fast ride and I plan on takign every mph from it as I can.

Compared to last year, my running fitness is far better. Which is not saying much. I was injured with an as of yet undiagnosed injury that was originally wrongly said to be a stress fracture. It ended up not being a stress fracture, but I took 4 weeks totally off running through april. I am once again fighting injury, but have been able to do short, slow miles this spring. I am far from PR shape, but am looking to just settle in comfortably for the half marathon and see what comes of it.

Stayed tuned for a full race recap next week after the inaugural Marquee triathlon half-iron this Sunday.

Time to unload...

2011-02-24T10:20:00.002-07:00

Have you ever had those times when your brain is thinking about so many things, the only way to get them out is to unload them in writing? Yeah, that's where i am at. So, I am going to try to, succinctly, write out all these thoughts without spending too much time on any one issue.

First off, this is a training blog, so here is my training. It took a while to get back in to training after the lethargic Christmas break. I ate healthier, however, so my weight was more close to where it needed to be at the beginning of the year. I had added up all my miles for swimming, biking and running in 2010...they were lame. I set new goals this year and broke it down to how many miles I would need each week for the year to reach those goals. So far, it's going OK. My nagging hamstring is still nagging. I am taking a new approach to my run training after finally becoming too frustrated with the past few years' injuries. Plus, I have almost fully decided on racing the Leadman Life Time Fitness EPIC 250 (did I get that right?) in May, in Vegas. Just about 140 miles of biking, which is twice as long as any single ride I have ever done. That's my focus for the first half of the year. The second half has my sights set on a Boston Qualifier. As long as my hamstring holds up, early September looks like a great time for a shot at qualifying. That time frame gives me a chance to get good summer (IE: weather) training done.

Secondly, I am graduating in May. That means an unsure future. I think I have the next year of my life planned, but that depends on certain things happening too. Meaning, it's not for sure either. What do I want to do with my life? That is a constant question that deserves some deep thought. At this point I am just ready for life to show me a path. I have the chance to do whatever I want. It is that kind of uncertainty and excitement that keeps me excited about where my life is headed. It is a type of optimism that I have never experienced before. For the first time in my life, I will have no reason to be tied down to anyone or anything or any place. That's exciting.

With that in mind, I am looking at beginning a bike camp/class/club here in Flagstaff. I grew up mountain biking 6-7 hours a day during the summer when I was young, thanks in part to the city recreation bike camp. It has since went the way of many similar programs across this country in this fallowed economy. I want to start it up again. It gives an opportunity to give kids the same kind of experience I had as a youngster. I can honestly say I would not be a triathlete and, in turn, not writing this blog without the memory of this program. Let alone the health benefits it affords an ever increasingly overweight youth population in America. We have a town that had a cycling club as early as 1893, and we don't have a program for a new generation of kids to experience the same freedom? Something needs to change and I want to lead that change. This idea has also given rise to thoughts of expanding. Counting my eggs before they hatch? Maybe. But, I don't think it takes any stretch of the imagination to expand this program into an after school program at local schools. And, in time, expand it into something similar to the High School mountain bike programs that are scattered around California. It has been tried in the past here in AZ. But, the organization of the programs were never coordinated enough to follow through. I am not in a position to take on that responsibility as of now, but the future holds a lot of optimism.

Finally, a less optimistic idea that needs writing down. As a college student in America, I am far from the only student, or at the only university, or living in the only state facing budget cuts. It seems largely worse in Arizona, but i can't speak for students from other states. I am specifically referring to the huge tuition increases and lack of financial oversight that NAU seems to be applying to the fiscal responsibility of running this institution. For instance, they recently built a $35million science building. What apparently was missed was the need for an extra stairwell that meets the strictest guidelines of fire safety. To add this stairwell now, it will cost the university $9million. How will they pay for it? Through student tuition. I, for one, do not appreciate being charged for someone elses oversight. Are they going to fire the planners of the building for not constructing the stairwell initially? probably not. That's outrageous. Read about the issue here.
In the same vein of anger, the Liberal Arts building on campus is getting a much needed face lift. I can accept that facilities need upgrading. However, just 4 or 5 years ago, the third floor of the building was fully renovated due to, what was rumored to be a mold issue. Ideally this floor should not need to be renovated again, just a handful of years after its previous upgrade. But, less than acceptable work was done on the space and millions of more dollars are now being spent to re-renovate the space. How can this happen? This is now two, of who knows how many, oversights on construction on this campus. In turn, they are charging students more to make up for their lack of insight.
I have also heard that a yearly "fitness fee" is proposed to go up to $400 per student next year. I don't specifically know how much it was last year, but I know it was no where close to $400. They draw students in by advertising a "locked-in" tuition rate for 4 years, but forget to mention that fees can be increased to astronomical levels to make up for a traditional tuition increase.
We pay more for tuition, we pay more fees, we still walk out of here with a degree. Fine. But, paying more for less services because of faculty reductions, less class space which turns into a four-year degree into a five-year puts more pressure on students to accept loans. The increase in loans, leads to more student debt and more stress on the economy as a whole.
For one, I am sick of paying higher fees and tuition for less service. I hate that America doesn't put more emphasis on education, because it is a vital institution. Education needs to be careful or they will have an Egypt type event on their hands. There are more parallels to these situations than one might first suspect.
Something to think about.

Beginning of Christ's month...

2010-12-05T20:01:00.002-07:00

The month of December and the whole end of the year in general is a great time to reflect on the blessings I have. This past semester in school has been one of the most stressful of my life. Classes that I didn't like and loads of work that I eventually waded through. With just a week and a little left on the academic calendar for the year, I am feeling the end coming. There will be some speed bumps for sure, but I will make it. I am looking forward to next semester because I will be out on an internship and away from the classroom, potentially forever. I have to count that as a blessing.
I am working on my marathon for January. The long runs are really mentally taxing me at this moment. I took this last week off because I just needed a recharge. The constant 10+ mile days is rough. I like going fast and doing 10x1 mile is easier than 10 miles straight. Easy. So, I am looking to revamp my training and hopefully get through my long runs without any more hitches. My swim speed is still hanging around and I have no idea where my cycling is. But, I have a triathlon on Saturday and am really looking forward to a change of pace. I think I have begun to figure out my running off the bike and am confident with this upcoming race. My swim and run will most likely be faster than the last time i did this race. The bike is the dark horse.
Christmas is coming. The blessings in my life are more evident each day and I hope to just continue to appreciate everything that I am given, even the horribly rough long runs that continue to dot my training every week. I just need to hit that special 20 miles before the race.

November...

2010-11-11T07:26:00.003-07:00

Not much new to say. The weekend beofre halloween, I was invited to backpack the Grand Canyon with a number of friends. We did the "tonto loop," down Bright Angel, Across West Tonto and up Hermits. 27 miles in three day. It was a blast. My legs were feeling the effort for at least a week afterward. It was a rough hike, but worth every drop of sweat.

I have been consistently in the pool three times per week. I was building up lengths everyday. But, I have since backed off to 1500m per day for a couple reasons. I know 1500m is kind of wimpy for some of you athletes, but I am mostly swimming just to maintain fitness. So, going more than that runs the risk of burnout and unneccessary fatique. Plus, I am usually on a time crunch and 1500m is easily fit into 30min. Finally, I have decided to race the Anthem Holiday Classic sprint which only involves a 400m pool swim. So, staying at 1500m allows me to focus more on speed than long efforts. So there.

I am gradually bumping up my run distances. So, far right around 10 miles is feeling good. I am doing an 11 mile long run today, followed by a much needed massage by Bo Reed. I am going to make sure that his massages are added to my schedule because my hamstrings are giving me some issues. I am hoping he can begin to work them out.

I am also trying to fit in some bike rides. I am little worried about my bike riding for the upcoming triathlon. It is only 12 miles on a flat, low elevation course. But, despite being a "fun" triathlon, I still want to have a good go at it. Bricks here I come!!

Quick Update...

2010-10-17T07:31:00.003-07:00

It's been a while since I have updated this thing. I have been super busy and stressed with my school load this semester. I am a procrastinator and when you have a number of things due each week, they tend to add up. I have been able to finish them all and get everything in, but it still stresses me out to no end.

Anyway, I have been getting in the pool three days per week. I have really noticed the aerobic base that I have built over the past few years of swimming. When I started out swimming in 2007, it was always a struggle in the water, my fitness wasn't great, I didn't have the muscle tone and my fluidity in the water was lacking. But now, even after taking a break from swimming throughout the whole summer, I came back and after a rough couple weeks finding my stroke again, I am hitting times in my workouts that I have never touched before. My fitness levels stay more consistent even after breaks in my training. I wish my running could do the same thing. Running has always been the hardest to get back into after long breaks.

Speaking of long running breaks...I will finally get back to training next week. After the Disneyland Half Marathon I took a much needed two weeks off to let myself recover before starting training for the PF Changs Rock and Roll Marathon. When I went out, an old injury resurfaced with vengeance and I had to go down for another week. I tried it out again and still no luck. So, I decided to just not rush and take another few weeks off, leaving me with 12 full weeks of training for PF Changs. Twelve weeks out from the race is next week and that's when I will begin a re-build of training.

Before that though, I will be hiking the Grand Canyon with a group of five others. We are doing 27 miles in 3 days next weekend. Down Bright Angel, across Tonto and up Hermit's. Should be a blast, I have never backpacked in the Grand Canyon, so stay tuned for a recap of that adventure next week.

I guess that's it, hopefully I don't take so much time between now and the next post.

Rest, recover, rebuild...

2010-09-23T07:10:00.002-07:00

It has been almost three weeks since the end of the DIsneyland Half Marathon. I have run once. I knew I was going to take at least a full two weeks off after the race to recover and after 15 days I went out for an easy 5 miler. I have had some pain in the Tibial Tuberosity on both my legs since late last year. The pain is similar to Osgodd Schlatter's disease, but as a 21 year old who isn't growing anymore, it is very unlikely that that is the case. The pain seemingly dumbfounded the doctor's that I saw. And while not understanding what was happening, a PT suggested getting patella tendon straps. They work for Osgood Schlatter's pain, so why not here? I bought them and besides being annoying, they worked very well. Kept the pain WAY down and I was able to do all the training neccessary for the half marathon.

Well, after two weeks of not running, I totally spaced putting on my straps. I thought, "whatever, I ran the race without them and had no issue, I should be fine." Well, I wasn't fine. I had some really sharp pain in my high shin, right below the tibial tubercle which made me stop. I decided to run home (cause how else was I going to get there). I ran on tuesday and have had pain in my knees since. Albeit, it is getting better. The pain was as worse as it ever was before I got the straps.

My training for the PF Changs Rock N' Roll Marathon (yes, a full marathon!!) is supposed to begin on Monday. I am contemplating putting it off another week so that I can test my knees with the straps on again and make sure it isn't something new and more serious.

Otherwise, despite not swimming at all this summer, my fitness levels in the pool are similar to where they were last spring, praise God! But, I feel like I am struggling more and don't feel as fluid in the water either. It will take time before I can get back to the same fluidity I enjoyed in the pool last semester.

Anyway, stay tuned for updates in the coming weeks and months of my training for the marathon. Myself and two other friends are making a run at a Boston qualifying time which is set at 3:10. 7:15 mile pace for 26.2 miles. Oh boy.

Disneyland Half Marathon recap...

2010-09-08T14:00:00.002-07:00

For the most part Disney did a great job with their half marathon weekend. There were definitely a few things that could be improved, but that all gets looked over when you have such a stellar time in the parks following a, personal, sub par race situation.

My travelling mates and I left Friday afternoon for the California desert. No issues driving and a quick over nighter in Barstow before heading into the LA area gave us a much relaxed start to the weekend. Nothing against Barstow, but I am not sure I would stay another night there anytime soon. If you've been there, you know.

We left mid morning on Saturday to head over the pass and hoped that we would be able to get an early check in at the hotel. Luckily, they had one room left. We dropped our bags and hoofed it the few blocks to the expo to grab our numbers and goody bags. Kudos to Disney and their organization with the race number pick-up. Maybe there were busier times but we went right about noon and it was super smooth and painless. No lines whatsoever. We mosied around the expo for an hour or so and picked up some free hand outs before grabbing a shuttle back to the hotel. Maybe we missed the sign, but it was definitely confusing figuring out which bus was the one we should take to our specific hotel. A quick lunch, grocery store shopping and back to the hotel until dinner. We were definitely wiped and ready for a nap mid afternoon. We found good grub at Buca di beppo and were satisfyingly filled with our share of carbs.

Sunday became an early morning. 3:30am early. I relish early mornings. They become tough as long days wear on, but nothing makes you feel more refreshed than waking up early, seeing the sunrise and knowing that your day is already productive. We joined the diaspora of athletes winding their ways through Downtown Disney to the staging area. Here is another one of those little things that could be fixed. I wear my warm-ups and trainers for a reason before races. When Disney makes you check your clothes bag at 5am for a 6am start, what is the purpose of wearing them at all? I am cold and wearing my racing flats, jersey and shorts for an hour before the race start. Not good Disney, not good. They led us like cattle to the start corrals. I made my way into the A corral, figuring the "elite" members would be in the front of the A corral. In fact, we had our own little section blocked off right behind the wheel chair athletes. Speaking of wheel chair athletes, wow! If my situation ever necessitates needing a wheel chair, I hope to be as burly as some of those athletes. Anyway, I warmed up, hit the port-o-johns one last time and made my way back through the crowd to the elite section. Believe me, I say elite, but the awesomeness isn't lost on me. Never have I run a race that is this big. Never have I run a race that had my name on the bib. And never have I EVER been called an elite. So, that is something to be thankful for. It was a check of humility all weekend when people would see my number (9) and comment on seeing someone with such a low number. Disney placed people by their anticipated finish times and lower numbers were faster. Believe me, it was definitely an experience.

I made it my goal to go out with the leaders and try my best to hold on. I knew that to do well, I needed to set myself up for success from the go and this was my strategy. Well, I didn't expect to have a 1:07 runner in the race. He went out so fast, everyone was pulled along by him and the leaders all got split up from the outset. Not much of a race. In return, I went out a little fast and knew by the first mile that it wasn't going to be my day. In retrospect, more tempo running and more mentally tough runs are needed during training next time. I realized how much of the race course was a blur for me when I spoke to my running mates about the course and they kept saying, "did you see this?" "Did you see that?" And I had not seen, or at least not remembered, any of it. I was flying through, focused on the race and my opponents most of the time. It is the one time I have felt bad about being in the front of the pack. I love being competitive and racing, but I miss out on a lot of the experience of the whole course by going so fast. Next time, I will have to take it more leisurly.

I have read from a lot of people that they didn't enjoy the course outside of Disneyland. I personally loved it. How many times do you get to run down roads 4 or 5or 7 lanes across with no traffic? You get to run the middle of the road and not worry about cars. I think that is great. Lots of people hated the scenery, but from what I said, I didn't remember much and in all likelihood didn't notice most of it anyway. I loved the cheerleaders and the bands and especially the boy scouts! (Eagle Scout!!) They definitely helped me keep my pace honest. I would get a great adrenaline rush when running through all the screaming individuals. And to top it all off the weather could not have been better. We had a deep marine layer fog over the course the whole time and it absolutely kept the temps down to a more enjoyable race. I only once dropped my shades down off my head onto my eyes. And that only lasted a few minutes as the fog rolled in thick once again. Incredible.

All in all, I wasn't pleased with my performance. I didn't care as much about place as I did about my time and I was far from where I wanted to be. To be honest, I have never trained for a race harder than here, but it obviously didn't pay off and I will have to go back and see what needs to be changed for next time. It was a really tough year at the Disneyland Half Marathon. Course records were set in both the men's and women's races and it was overall the fastest race on record for the top runners.

Thanks to all the volunteers. I have done that job many times and it never gets easier. They were awesome.

One more change that Disney should consider is allowing more mobility around the finish line. In other words, making it easier to cross from one side of the finish line to the other (for example, from the fantasia hat to downtown disney)and moving the awards ceremony sooner. It is a long wait for the first finishers to sit around for the awards 3 1/2 hours later.

The rest of the weekend was fabulous. How can you not have a good time in Disneyland? Except for a couple trips to the East coast Disney, I haven't been to this park in quite a number of years and I absolutely love it still!

Who Dat...

2010-08-28T20:37:00.002-07:00

I'll admit it. I didn't think about New Orleans unless it was Fat Tuesday. I am 1500 miles away, in a high altitude city, in the desert southwest, where water is so scarce it's like gold. I had no interest or inkling of thought about New Orleans. My background has nothing in common with that city. I had no friends there, no family, I had never traveled there, nor had any intention to travel there anytime soon. Nothing.
Five years later, my life and the lives of every American has been changed. Whether you have been there or not, you have seen the photos, heard the stories, listened to the news, saw the headlines, maybe even met someone who had to escape from that city. You know about New Orleans now. There is no escaping it. Just like the feeling you get from hearing "September 11th" spoken aloud, you know something is important about August 29th. There is no need to explain "Katrina" to anyone. I am sure if you did a study of names given to children, Katrina has dropped far from its previous spot. Katrina has become synonymous with not only the hurricane of all hurricanes, but a general lack of infrastructure and communication in our government. It has become a loaded word for slow response in government. "They don't want to make this Obama's Katrina." It has that kind of power.

But I still see Katrina from an outsiders perspective. I haven't rebuilt homes, no one has moved in next door who had to leave everything behind, I didn't see the devastation first hand. My dad served in San Antonio, in a shelter for displaced individuals after Katrina and the lesser remembered, Rita. He was there for weeks and he has the cliche shirt to show for it.

I was in New Orleans a month ago. The LCMS National Youth Gathering descended on the city for a week of uplifting worship. About 12,000 youth went to help in the ninth ward to make the endless work still left a little easier for someone else. But I wasn't there as I was assigned a different task. What I can say is that I am interested in the people of that city more than ever. While our youth were living the dream at the Convention Center and the Superdome, there are thousands who may never look at those places the same way. Those are the people who had to endure hot, humid temperatures with little water and not a clue as to when the nightmare will end. They left a flooded home behind, narrowly escaping with the shirts on their backs to be dropped off by boat or helicopter or bus and had to wait for what? Because as far as they knew, no one was coming to save them. I walked in the paths that they walked in. I sat in the seats of the Superdome that they slept in. We were excited to go into the home of the Superbowl winning Saints (Who Dat!?), but those individuals, their families, their children and grandmothers and grandfathers, brothers, sisters and friends will never see the Superdome as just the home of the Saints. I can understand that now.

A month ago, I left New Orleans and it was a city with a dark past. I see New Orleans now, after seeing all the photos and hearing the stories this week, as a city with a bright future. I was annoyed with the obnoxious and vain pride that the city had in the football team. It was annoying to see "Who Dat" emblazoned everywhere. It seemed like they were rubbing it in everyone's face. But I understand now that that is the bright spot in so much gloom. After four and a half years, they found something to rally around. When these people enter heaven, God is going to judge them for the heart and character they had through so much adversity. When humans let them down, God never gave up and you can find that in the alleys and walkways of the emerging New Orleans.

40 miles...

2010-08-12T08:02:00.002-07:00

Well, where to start? My training is going well. I have bumped my weekly mileage to around 40 miles. My legs are definitely feeling it. I am adding an extra day off at the end of this week. And then going to follow it up with the longest week planned for this training block, 45 miles before a taper into the Disneyland Half Marathon!

Speaking of the Disneyland Half Marathon, I printed off my waiver for the race and they let you know what bib number you were assigned. Mine is #9! I know that I wasn't the 9th person registered, so it must mean I have the 9th fastest registered time. I hope I can live up to it!

Other than that, I am job searching for the fall semester. Pray that something pops its head out. I am picky when it comes to jobs which makes it even more difficult to pinpoint a potential job.

I pray that all of you are doign well! Peace.

Last Post NYG 2010...

2010-07-22T20:36:00.000-07:00

So, again, I apologize for not getting this done earlier and because of my tardiness my days have run together and I am not sure I can give you the same detail that I wish I could because it isn't fresh. But, I am going to give you some think that I was thinking about during Tuesday bible study. The turning of pages in the bible by thousands of kids sitting in a silent auditorium sounds like a soft rain falling on the grass. It was incredible. You could honestly close your eyes and imagine the rain falling. It was similar to an activity we did during our training. As all YAVs were sitting together in training room, the young adult ministry coordinator for the LCMS came in to talk to us about ongoing ministries. She had us clap as she panned her hand over the group and as she moved her hand over your section you would begin clapping, snapping or rubbing your hands together. It made a very realistic noise to that of raining.
Secondly during bible study, the reverend mentioned that the old testament and all its history, genealogies and boring descriptions of places was meant to prove that these places, people and events were real, not made up. That Jesus truly did exist and that it is not just a story but to testify for Jesus' name. Which brings me to our Gathering theme verse, John 20:31 "but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name." But what is written? It says in the previous verse, John 20:30 "Jesus did many other miraculous signs in the presence of his disciples..." He did miraculous signs!!! If the rest of the bible is full of truths, why do we take the miracles as falsities? Because they're not!! Good stuff!!
As odd as this may sound, this is the first time that this idea has donned on me. I never thought to question why the boring genealogies or histories were in the bible. They weren't there because they weren't important, because they are!
Lastly, he also mentioned a quote that was originally stated the night before by our mass event speaker. She said that you "don't need to have all the answers to have all of God's grace." God still loves you as he loves his own son and he doesn't mind if you have questions because through questions come deeper study in the word and an overall better understanding of how and why Christ works.
Tuesday night was our worship event. The most striking thing about the whole night was that the service can be seen every Sunday in our very own church. (except for the 25000 others and the huge stage and band, but other than that it was the same. Haha) What I meant to say was the order of worship was similar. We sang te deum, the agnus dei, there was a sermon, benediction, bible lessons and even communion! It was exactly like here at home. That was powerful to me. I don’t have to explain myself and my beliefs or rituals to anyone else because they all do the exact same thing. They all know these things by heart, the hymns, Lord’s prayer, and Nicene creed were all said by, I assume, a majority of participants by heart. Like me, they all grew up with it. I can’t get enough. If you are a youth who feels alone, this is the place you are meant to be. There was such a kinship emanating from that dome. It was also the first night that I saw and heard the dome staff (non-affiliated with the gathering) singing and dancing to the songs and really feeling the love flowing throughout the building.
We decided to stay up all night. After the worship service we didn’t leave the dome til 1130 and we had to be back there for our final mass event at 630am. It was our last night in New Orleans. When were we going to be coming back? We didn’t know. We did know that we won’t get this experience for another 3 years. We decided to make the most of it. We got hyped up and walked over to Café du Monde, the famous beignet place. It was pretty empty at 1am and we decided staying up all night wasn’t worth it. Haha we headed back to the hotel, got two hours of sleep and went to the dome about 5am. But first, we had some unfinished business with the International House of Pancakes. I will never talk down IHOP’s coffee ever again. I was drained going into the mass event and right as the kids started lining up, my energy was revitalized. I blamed the coffee and am right in doing so. But, God knew we needed energy to be the people he wanted us to be, the energetic faces of the gathering staff. He opened the opportunity for this attitude through the coffee served to us at breakfast. Praise God for his love for us, because every time I thought “there is no way I can give the same energy today,” God seemed to find it in me and pull it to the surface so I could be the person these kids needed.
Morning Mass event was great. Once again, the planners did a bang up job. The highlight was the boom whackers. Boom whackers are plastic tubes, different colors and different lengths depending on the color. As ushers, we had to pass out the 25000 boom whackers to all the participants in a timely manner (4 minutes) and make sure no one begins hitting each other. We instilled the help of some of the participants and knocked it out in about 2.5 minutes. A drum troupe led everyone in different beats and patterns with the boom whackers. Feel free to check out the boom whackers, soon to be posted in the youth room at church. It was a great souvenir for everyone and made for an incredible end to the gathering.
I met up with the Peace youth, saw my buddy who lives there for dinner and flew home today. It is a bittersweet ending. I love my town and know that if these gatherings continued every day, month or year, they wouldn’t have the same appeal or energy. I am already counting the days til San Antonio in 2013 and have memories of new friends, new experiences to hold me over until then. I can’t wait to hear other stories, see photos and videos from gathering participants and keep in touch with all the new friends that I met. (oh, and get some good sleep!)

(cont.) NYG Days 3&4...and 5...

2010-07-20T05:20:00.002-07:00

I am going to try to get through this all, so I can be caught up, but I am not sure that is possible. My time is limited again this morning, but here goes...
Day 4 (Sunday) mass event was once again, great. For us ushers it became a night of injuries, but for the crowd it left many tear filled. We had a youth (or DCE, my facts aren't totally straight yet) hop a railing on the first floor in order to beat the crowds. The seats in certain sections on the first level are only accessible over catwalks from the hall to the seating. There is open space around the rest of it that drops down 20 to 30 feet to the ground floor. He jumped the railing and was surprised that there was nothing to stand on. He fell that 30 feet. Luckily, he was conscious and coherent. Taken to the hospital and after an update from last night, he only suffered a mild concussion and was released yesterday. Praise God. But, we also had, throw-up, an epileptic boy have a seizure (same boy for the second night in a row)and our very own team captain getting his ear piece of his radio stuck too deep in his ear and having to go to the ER to get it removed. Despite all of that, which, in retrospect, turned out to be hardly serious, the event was great. The Skit Guys came out and had us laughing so hard tears were falling. We had an illusionist recreate the story gails of fishing boats in biblical times. He was totally decked out with a sail, wind and he reappeared, seemingly out of thin air behind the sail that was flailing in the wind. And our speaker for the night brought the emotion. She told the story of her daughter, a promising ballet dancer who was tragically killed in a car accident when on the way home from a photo shoot. Many individuals left the stadium with tears in their eyes. These events bring every emotion to the surface with one common theme, praising God!!
Monday morning started just as the first morning started, with bible study. We are in the same auditorium every morning ushering. The groups that enter our auditorium are different as well as the speakers. But, the theme is the same. The Gathering is broken up into 'Tracks." The track themes are LOOK, LISTEN, and LIVE. Every gathering participant has one day with each theme and the activities, speakers, concerts and events for each relate to the different themes. Since we are in the LIVE auditorium for bible study, we heard the same verses about life from the book of John once again yesterday.
But, once again, I have to get off to our third and final full day of Gathering excellence. Catch up with ya'll later. to be continued...

NYG Days 3&4...

2010-07-19T05:21:00.002-07:00

My apologies for not updating yesterday. We had our first bible study yesterday morning, which meant a 7am call time. I, of course, had to get my run in and breakfast and that didn't leave much time for anything else. But I will do my best to remember all the good things that have happened over the past 2 days.
Saturday (Day 3) started getting crazy. The majority of groups finally arrived this day and the New Orleans area started looking a little more lutheran. I met up with my home youth group and made sure they were having fun before all the huge festivities kicked off that night at the Superdome. Otherwise, most of the day was spent hanging around, meeting other groups from around the nation and preparing for our first mass event.
We arrived at the superdome at 3pm because we, as usher captains, had to train the other usher teams before the event started. I say, in retrospect, that nothing could have prepared us for what was going to happen when 26,000 kids begin entering the stadium en masse! It was incredible!
If you missed watching the mass events the last couple of nights online at lcmsgathering.com, do it tonight, because it is truly an incredible experience. The house band played, they had a creation story skit with pyrotechnics (YEAH!! Fireworks IN the Superdome!!!), and a great speaker who is 96% blind because of a degenerative, genetic disease. He related his testimony to that of the blind man in the book of John being healed by Jesus. Powerful stuff!!
Despite the sore feet from all the walking and the standing on concrete floors for ushering, I have zero complaints about the job I do. I could not have been more blessed with my roommates, schedule, job, youth group, etc. Nothing has been able to take the smile from my face since we started our training. And until last night, the lack of sleep had little impact on me. But, even I am human (scary, I know) and I started to feel the effects of less than advisable sleep patterns. Regardless, the kick-off to the NYG was incredible!!
Sunday was the first full day of the Gathering for participants. It started off with an incredible bible study led by Rev. Dien Taylor, who turned out to be a highly charasmatic and intriguing speaker. He spoke on us being alive, but not truly living. He said that Jesus is the LIFE and RESURRECTION and without life and belief in him, we aren't truly alive! Nothing could me more true. I am learning that the stories of John (and the other gospels, but since John is our focus book for the gathering, I am highlighting this one) and the miracles of Jesus weren't just placed in the bible for entertaining reading, but are there so that we may "believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name" (John 20:31). Jesus knew that without him we were lifeless. He wasn't arrogant and he invites all of us into his name. He is the Gate, Resurrection, Life, Truth, Way, Living Bread, Good Shepherd, and Light. He is everything we need to sustain this life and the next and without him we would never truly be living, just existing. Its awe inspiring to think someone cares so much for us that he isn't just there for our benefit but for the benefit of all regardless of who you are. He wants us to give ourselves to him as he did for us, because without him we would be lost souls floating until our demise. it's unbelievable!
After bible study we had a number of hours before having to report for usher duty at the dome again for Sunday's mass event. I stopped by some of the Concordia booths, I found a scouting organization that is totally connected to the Lutheran church, and I went by some of the district booths to find some free giveaways! It was a relaxing time and (I say the word again) impressive to see all teh smiling, milling about faces of these Lutheran youth. As one of the speakers said last night, this religion isn't just your parents anymore. It is not your, brothers, sisters, grandparents, or teachers, uncles, or aunts, it is OURS!! We are the future here and it looks bright.
I will fill in Sunday's mass event happenings later, I am off again to report for usher duty for bible study. To be continued....

The Gathering begins today (DAY 2)....

2010-07-17T05:05:00.002-07:00

I never realize how yesterday is going to be classified until my morning run. I realized yesterday (while out on my morning run today) that yesterday was full of realizations (How funny, I realized realizations). These realizations are both serious and not-so-serious. But first, a run down of how our day went.
Breakfast at the hotel yesterday was like herding cattle. When our leaders tell us to be at breakfast when it opens at 6:30am to have a "peaceful and quiet" breakfast, everyone decides that's a good idea. Add to that the fact that we all (360 YAV's) had to be at the convention center by 8am and it becomes a mad house. Either way, I got my b-fast and was filled. Breakfast is definitely my favorite meal of the day.
We all met for morning bible study, but we first got our backpacks and bibles. Can you guess what color they are? (Jeopardy theme song) Da da da dada da da da...LIME GREEN!!! It is actually a pretty incredible color. I like it already. Instead of orange (2004 Gathering) or tan (2007 Gathering) we will be a sea of green in New Orleans. We also got our shirts. But as they tell us to be FUN-FRIENDLY-FLEXIBLE, we had to be flexible with the shirts. They ended up not getting all the shirts they wanted which means we only get one shirt instead of the two they promised. And, there were no small size shirts. Everyone had to size up. Thankfully, more shirts are on their way for Monday afternoon and we won't have to wear the same shirt all four days.
After our morning meeting, it was pretty much time for lunch. We met up with the CLBs (Community Life Builders for those who are uninformed. They are pretty much the older generation YAVs. So, if you think you are too old to enjoy the gathering, think again) and had a great sit down lunch. They served some New Orleans favorites, rice and beans, jumbalaya, salad, and of course, brownies. Funny side note, the air conditioning in our lunch room was on WAY too high and it would blow in spurts. It wasn't a constant gust from the vents but it would ebb and flow. Anyway, everytime it would blow I was picturing pterodactyls flying around and the gusts coming from their wings. Lack of sleep? who knows. Kind of pointless.
We finally jumped into our specific job duties after lunch. My group, Team Oscar (all YAV teams are named after military designations for letters, IE: Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, Delta, etc.), are the usher captains. Why are we captains? Because we are awesome! That's why. But seriously, I have no idea. But I couldn't be happier about it. We traveled the long trek to the other side of the convention center and the auditorium where one of the bible studies is going to take place. They went over our duties and we had some time in between our second training of the day: Mass Event ushering at the Superdome.
After getting lost trying to find our way into the dome, we met up with Linda and her husband Randy who are leading the charge on ushering at the mass events. Can you say incredible! I feel so blessed to experience these huge spaces (convention center and Superdome) when hardly anyone is in there. It is both humbling and exciting knowing that the LCMS needs such large arenas to hold all their incredible youth. I cannot honestly say that any other church organizations do it bigger or better. As captains, we are to train the other ushering teams for mass events. Which means we get radios!! Importance at the gathering is shown through how many radios you have on your hip (or something like that). And we get radios.
We booked it back to the convention center (a mile away) for 7pm worship with all the staff of the gathering. We wanted to grab some dinner first, which we did at a place called Red Eye Grill just behind our hotel. We didn't anticipate how long it would take and walked in a tad late to worship, but the chicken fingers and fries were top notch. Plus Worshipping with all the other workers of the Gathering was AWESOME!!! I love being surrounded by so many other Lutherans. I am very proud to be who I am here.
After worship we walked down to the famous Cafe du Monde for Beignets (pronounced ben-yays, which are small, holeless donut type desserts, buried [and I truly mean buried] by powdered sugar). And since we were already in the area, we took a quick jaunt down bourbon street. I don't know what to say about that, except that I will probably never go back. It is just all about alcohol and debauchery. But, it was something that needed to be experienced while in New Orleans.
Now to the realizations of the day and the importance of this blog. Number one, I don't remember the last time I had this much fun. Honestly, probably not since the last gathering. I had some reservations coming into the week. I didn't know what to expect, didn't know anyone and wasn't sure I was going to like being a worker instead of a participant. But, I don't remember being so happy. And the Gathering hasn't even started yet!! All of that leads me to my second realization. I am seriously thinking about youth ministry again as a possible career course. I would love to work within the LCMS church in a young adult or youth ministry capacity. Next realization, God creates the most beautiful sunrises (I already knew this, but I am reaffirmed every time I see one). Last (serious) realization, this gathering is going to be incredible. My home church youth flew in last night. One of them had never flown before and survived that. She was pretty excited, I have no doubt. I hope I can meet up with them today and get their first experiences and impressions.
Now to teh not-so-serious realizations. One, Flagstaff doesn't even let homeless individuals sleep in our forests and New Orleans lets them sleep practically anywhere there is flat ground. Saw no less than 3 or 4 dudes this morning on anything from door stoops, to benches, to stairs of the Harrah's casino. Saturday morning in New Orleans is a far cry from Friday morning. No one was out yesterday at 530am. Today, tons were still out after a long night of partying. It was hardly the same city. Third, water doesn't get cold here. When I get back from my run, I am hot. I can't even take a cold shower to cool off. The water was luke warm at best. And lastly, I have never sweat more in my life. I always tend to say in my head, "check out that guy, his shirt [or shorts] are soaked! Goober). I was the goober today. You can't even tell how much you are sweating until you enter the air conditioning of the hotel. The air, with humidity is almost the same temp as your sweat and it does nothing to cool you off. I made the mistake of running with a shirt on yesterday, and needless to say, it is still largely damp after a day lying on our hotel room floor. And my shorts this morning are half soaked. Gross.
Anyway, another day down and one closer to the end of the gathering. Gathering kicks off this evening with our first Mass Event. There are going to be huge surprises in store for these youth. Some of which I know about and others of which I am still in the dark. Either way, nothing can compare and I am already planning to come back in 3 years. And as I have already said, the gathering hasn't even officially began yet.
If you have read this far, first off, thanks!! And secondly, the mass events are going to be streamed live at lcmsgathering.com. They begin at 7:30pm CST. That's 5:30pm AZ time or 8:30pm EST. Experience it with us!! Til tomorrow!

NYG YAV Day 1...

2010-07-16T04:53:00.002-07:00

Well, yesterday started off as any day starts off...the sun came up. Who would have thought? The difference was that I was up before it...WAY before it. I had to catch a flight to the 2010 LCMS National Youth Gathering in New Orleans and my ticket said the plane would leave with or without me at 6:40am. That meant a 2:15am wake up call (or alarm) and a drive to the low Arizona desert. I am not going to bog this blog down with useless details about my flights because, to be honest, it all went incredibly smooth. I had a lay over in Nashville, TN. Which is a place I had never been before. I was amazed, as always, at how green everything is in the South/Midwest/East...pretty much anywhere but the West.
My connector flight from Nashville to New Orleans was packed with youth groups from all over making their way, albeit a day early, to New Orleans. I can only imagine (no allusion intended to the 2003 Gathering "Beyond Imagination" theme) how overloaded the airlines are going to be today and tomorrow as the rest of the approximately 20,000+ youth travel down here. I sat next to a friendly gentleman named John from Kansas. They were bringing a handful of youth and he and his wife were chaperoning the event for the first time. He sounded incredibly excited and I don't think he will be disappointed.
We lucked out on our room accommodations as we only have 3 in our room (meaning no sharing of beds or sleeping on the floor for anyone). We all have the same job (which was purposely done to avoid schedule conflicts if everyone had different jobs) and are from all over the US.
We finally met "Orange Nation" (named due to the fact that our YAV shirts are orange) last night at our first training. Truthfully, though, it wasn't much training, just some bible study, ice breakers and games. For instance, the leader, Brandon "B-Wayne" Heath split the 350 or so of us into 4 groups within the conference room we were stationed at. He had us put our chairs in a circle and we played a game called "pile-up." Which goes a little something like this...Brandon would call out a characteristic or an event that happened to people and a direction to move, such as "If you flew here today, move 3 chairs to the right" or "If you are wearing flippie-floppies move 4 chairs to the left." If those instructions pertained to you, you would move down some chairs. Simple enough right? Then why do they call it "pile-up?" Well, if the person who is 3 chairs to the right, or 4 chairs to the left doesn't fit the characteristics that were called out, they were in the spot you needed to take. Which meant that you needed to sit on their lap. Didn't know anyone? You do now!!! The other part of the game makes it even harder and more awkward. If you sat on the lap of a person and the next characteristic called out pertains to the and not you, you still had to move with them because you were on their lap. So, for instance, if I was sitting on someone's lap and they had blond hair (I have brown) and Brandon called out "Blond hair, move 2 chairs to the right," I would have to move with them anyway because I was on their lap. We got to a point where there were stacks of 5,6, and 7 people all piled on top of each other's laps. It made for an interesting way of getting to know each other to say the least.
Anyway, awkward games and ice breakers aside, we heard a good opening lesson from Seth "the Rev" Moorman about Service while at the Gathering. We are here to serve and we should always strive to take the extra step, to think outside-of-the-box, to make the day and create memories for everyone we come into contact with while here at the Gathering just as Jesus was an "out-of-the-box" thinker. Taking fisherman, tax collectors and not the trained, educated Pharisees and Sadducees to be his disciples. He has created lasting memories. He has given us great service. We need to strive to be like him and serve in his name and not arrogantly.
This morning, I was up before the sun...again. I needed to get a run in. Never do I feel more blessed to live where I do than when I was running. It is humid, hot, stinky (literally) and paved everywhere. I miss the open spaces, fresh air, dry climate, bird calls, deer, pine trees. I miss my home town. I try never to take it for granted. New Orleans has already been quite an experience. I hope to learn more about, explore it and live it...for a week. And return home more grateful for everything I have and everything I am going to witness.
I will try and write every day about what I have experienced and what I am learning. Stay tuned...

Epic week cont....

2010-07-09T07:18:00.002-07:00

I took the last month (June)to focus completely on running. I did zero swimming, save for the first week before the XTERRA Deuces Wild and very little riding except for some commuting to and from work. I feel like my running legs are returning and will continue to progress as my mileage and speed continue to increase. But, with that said, it is now 12 weeks out from the Halfmax National Championships in South Carolina on October 2nd. I haven't registered, I am still in limbo of whether I want to attend or not because of the price. But, I think it will be an incredible experience and I have an almost 100% chance (unless I can't finish) of qualifying for the Long Course World Championships in Las Vegas in 2011. The benefit of that is it is in my backyard. Only a 4 hour drive from homebase. I think consciously beginning to train for a race that I haven't registered for gives me my answer already.
That is all besides the point of this post. I wanted to talk about my week. The above information is all written to say that I have begun my intensive training again. And it has been an epic week. My goal was to climb Humphreys Peak on Sunday. I wasn't feeling so hot all day. Not sick, but not 100%. So, I decided to go for a run instead. But, Monday was a different day. On Monday, Humphreys was conquered once again, and it gained a new conquerer in my friend Lauren Cheema, who dominated the mountain. 9.6 miles roundtrip, 3000+ plus feet of elevation gain to the highest point in Arizona at 12,633ft. My legs were kind of sore the next day but I decided to go for a mountain bike ride. I headed for the other dominant feature of the Flagstaff landscape, Mt. Elden. Many of the trails on the mountain are still closed because of the Schultz Fire that is continuing to put a hamper on recreationists. But, I cruised up Brookbank trail to the upper portion of Sunset and reached the summit of the second highest peak in the region by bike. A couple hours later I was back on level ground and headed home with new views currently burned in my mind. Yesterday topped another climb of sorts. I had told Lauren on our way up to Snowbowl, after seeing so many cyclists climbing the road, that I needed to do that soon. Yesterday proved to be soo enough. I rode from my home, up Snowbowl road and back down. Even without much training, I completed the 7 mile climb with 220ft of elevation gain in a new PR (I think, can't remember ever going faster) of 34:49. Not bad for not riding in practically a month. Can't wait to do it again a few more times this summer. See how low I can go.
The week isn't quite over. I hope to continue this epic week. I have covered close to 10,000ft of elevation in the three treks. Plus swims and other runs and bikes that are not listed here. This new training block is starting excellently.

My beloved forest....

2010-07-01T09:25:00.001-07:00

A letter sent to the Center for Biological Diversity.

To whom it may concern,
My name is Matt Boness. I appreciate the work you do to save our environment, and just like you, I agree to the final line of your mission statement, "We want those who come after us to inherit a world where the wild is still alive." As an avid mountain biker, hiker, trail runner and all around outdoor enthusiast, I can appreciate the outdoors for their pure beauty. But, I write this letter to let you know that you screwed up. I am sure you have gotten plenty of emails from other concerned Flagstaff, AZ residents after the local Daily Sun newspaper ran an article on why the Schultz Pass area was not thinned. My father is a 30 year forester and was called in to help battle the 15,000 acre blaze. It closed trails, torched thousands of acres of trees and currently has left the forest uninhabitable for animals. It also says within your misson statement that you use "science, law, and creative media" to protect "the lands, waters, and climate that species need to survive." I don't know what kind of science you were using to halt the projected thinning of this forest in 2007, as the Daily Sun has made their readers aware. Having researched the slow decline of the health of our forests in the West, I can tell you that thinning is only recreating the natural, traditional forest landscape that was abundant 100 years ago. By removing certain trees and reintroducing cool, ground fires to the area, as was the traditional role of fire, the habitat becomes healthier and more nutrient rich, which allows for more diverse growth and a more overall healthy forest.
I was also impacted by the Hardy fire that plagued my great town the day before the Schultz fire started. My household was put on standby for evacuation as smoke billowed over our house. Two weeks have passed since containment of the blaze and I have taken my morning jogs through the burned areas. With no formal training, but with years of experience gained from a father who is one of the great foresters in Arizona, I can tell you that without thinning in the Hardy burn area, houses would have been lost. The fire burned hot through the canopies of the trees and it does not take a trained eye to see that, where there was no thinning, the trees have become blackened matchsticks. But, where the thinning projects had occured, the fire still killed plenty of trees, but the canopies are still intact. When a fire burns that hot, on a windy day much like the one when it started, embers can fly up to a mile ahead of the fire and create new spot fires. I say, with little doubt, that had the forest not been thinned in that area, the fire would have continued trudging through the forest and could have potentially burned the houses of those who had been evacuated. This scenario is all hypothetical of course, but any educated person can see the difference in the fire behavior between a thinned and non-thinned forest.
With proper forest management, the devastation of the Schultz fire could have been largely mitigated. As your mission statement makes clear, you want to "protect the lands, waters and climate that species need to survive." But, I think it is obvious that you did nothing to protect the lands that are now torched and burned. The beauty of the area is lost for decades, perhaps longer. The once abundant shade of our poderosa pines is now gone. The grasses, shrubs and soil grabbing vegetation that stopped devastating erosion from wiping away our mountainside is now gone. Monsoons are lurking and the people of the evacuated neighborhoods are now facing landslides and mud flows instead of flame. This fire was incredibly close to burning through the Flagstaff watershed on the San Francisco Peaks. Which could have largely ruined the water resources that our town desperately needs to survive. All the sediment washed away from the looming rains will now wash into the streams that once flowed clear and filled resevoirs for animals to drink. The sediment, boulders, and downed debris has potential to clog normal flows and flood areas that are not used to the large increase of water. You are batting "oh for two" right now on maintaing your mission statement. Climate. I think it is no surprise that with trees, grass, and vegetation gone, the animals cannot inhabit the forest. The large amounts of CO2 that the smoke released is clearly not helpful in battling climate change. The trees lost cannot produce life saving oxygen anymore. The whole climate is different now. Not to mention, those who responsibly access the forest, the bikers, hikers, bird watchers, campers and sight seers, are banned from the forest they love. Many may not return to face the devastation that took the beauty out of their respite in the woods.
The choice was to cut a small percentage of trees. We lost almost all of them. By stopping the thinning of our forests, we face catastrophe that your center doesn't have to face. We have to look at the scarred and charred forest every day. We have to rehab the forest. And in a worse case scenario, homes could have been lost. Thankfully none were, because you would be facing an even larger backlash. Please, use science, law and creative media to make the right decisions.
Sincerely,
Matt Boness

10k education....

2010-06-28T19:37:00.002-07:00

well....not sure what to write, but figured I should update, regardless. Ran the Northland Hospice Run for your Life 10K on saturday. Wanted to PR the course....missed it by 18 seconds. Which isn't bad considering I was about 30 seconds back at the halfway point. Got caught in no man's land after the second mile. Tried to hold on through the third but kept slipping on pace. Heard a crowd behind me (about 4-5 guys) and decided to relax and let them overtake me since it was going to be inevitable. I relaxed, recovered a bit and grabbed their pace. I learned a lot about my running that day. Running alone is not my style. Running with people keeps my mind off how my own body is doing and continuing to play through strategy, and focusing on others breathing and how I can break their spirits. It bumped my own running. I went fro a 6:38 thrid mile, to a 6:23 4th, 6:14 5th and 6:02 final mile. We were able to work off each other and keep the pace honest. I knew I was able to stave off self doubt when my pace is quicker than expected after I ran the Tucson Half Marathon in 2008. My pace was much faster than I had ever run, but running with people helped to keep my mind off how my body felt. I ran into trouble the last few miles when I was in no man's land again. I had too much time to think about my own feelings. I just finally realized how much of an impact it had this last Saturday when the transition happened in the middle of the race. It was like a switch was flipped.

Anyway, nothing planned for a while. I am still training for the Disneyland half marathon. I have quite a ways to go before I get to my goal. But I figure if I keep training toward my goal time and the race happens before my training blocks are up, then I will just run with the fitness I have at the time. Does that make sense?

XTERRA Deuces Wild recap...

2010-06-07T18:46:00.002-07:00

Oh wow. So much good stuff this weekend. I had signed up for the Deuces Wildacouple months back and have since (if you read the rest of my blog, you totally know) been injured a couple times. But, the weekend was full of tons of good things (and a few that could have been better).

My mom and I left Flagstaff at 3:30 friday afternoon. I was given the priviledge of sharing my sports testimony at the FCA Endurance Prayer/Worship Service that evening before the races kicked off on Saturday. We had a small turnout but I couldn't have been happier with who did show up. So blessed. We grabbed dinner at Sonic (I know, terrible) before heading back to the hotel. It is unusual that we spend a night in a hotel and it isn't race morning the next AM. But, my dad got a run in in the morning, I got to enjoy a hotel buffet breakfast (easily my favorite meal of the day) and we had a nice day visiting old friends in Pinetop. I was very glad that we were able to miss the large crowds of the Saturday races which consisted of an Olympic, a Half-Iron, an Aquabike and kids Duathlon. However, we did have to fight people at the raffle dinner. My one complaint of the weekend is that trisports.com really needs to organize that better. More seating, better sound system, more fluidity with serving dinner and handing out prizes. Honestly, I could have done better in my sleep. But, overall it wasn't as bad as it could have been.

Saturday night rolled around and I got a better night's sleep than usual before a race. A good night sleep on race night is not close to what a normal good night would look like, don't mistake that. 4am was our wake-up call. I hopped in the shower, downed some water and oatmeal for breakfast and we were in the car by 5:10 heading to the race site. I knew it was going to be hot that day and was extra cautious of my fluids intake which accounted for the 6 trips to the toilet between 4 and 7am. The water was nice, I was still confused about the bike and run course but figured I would go along with whatever happened.

I came into this race expecting little. I had been injured, the pool had been closed for three weeks in May, my fitness wasn't at all where I wanted it to be. It took all day Saturday to finally prepare myself for a race that wasn't going to be my best. I just wanted to have fun and, as the saying goes, whatever happens, happens.

I personally thoughtthe swim course looked long, but I haven't done a swim that short (800m) in a couple of years. So, what did I know. Gun goes off. The usual flailing of body parts in front of me and the cliche washing machine routine commences as the Men's wave headed out to sea. The first of three bouys came up fast. I was stoked to know that we were flying through this course and as far as I could see, I was towards the front. Then the lack of training hits me and my arms feel dead with 500meters left to go. I gut it out and pump with the little left that I have for the dock. My wetsuit comes off mucch easier than in Vegas a month prior (check out that race recap for more detail into wetsuit conundrums). I utilized the wetsuit strippers for the first time in any race. I figured with all the issues I had in Vegas I might as well let someone else do the work for me. They were fabulous. My mom said I was the 20th out of the water and sure enough, the results say I had the 20th fastest swim. 15:20 for 800m, slower than I wanted.

My transition felt pretty ok. I wasn't really rushing because I was maxing already, I could feel it in my breathing and stomach. I was still out in 1:50 which I attribute to the long run out and up the incline to the road.The fastest T1 was 1:27 which isn't horribly fast either.

Out on the bike, I felt like I went out with a large crew. At least 3 or 4 other guys that I can remember. I was assuming because of the clumping of individuals that I was back in 20th or 30th place. Not the case. I started trucking and found my rythmn after a good 2-3 miles and locked onto one guy. I t was super rolly and mostly doubletrack trails which made it easy for passing and still interesting with sandy and rocky sections thrown in for good measure. Plus, we had about 5 logs that needed to be climbed over and a wooden fence. About 5 miles or so into the course comes the long, lung-busting climb. I passed 4(?) people on that climb because they were walking and I decided to granny gear (not quite, but almost) the whole way. One guy absolutely flew past me and I knew I would not see him again. I finally reached the top in time for some bombing downhills and more trees to climb over. The rest of the race favored the fast and smooth riders. I had latched on to the guy who I had earlier locked on to and one other guy riding a single speed. Everyone else had been dropped and we paced eachother most of teh rest of the way. We came to a fast fireroad and the single speed guy didn't have the gearing to keep up with myself and the other guy who had gears. I wanted to keep the pressure on because I knew that the guys behind me were trying to catch up and I was riding scared. We rolled into T2 in 9th and 10th place!!! Yeah I didn't know what place until after the big hill and I got a bit of renewed energy for the rest of the race knowing I could get that top-10 spot. I finished the bike with the 13th fastest split overall in 1:08.48

T2 was fast. I have always had some sort of innate ability at transition, especially T2. I hardly ever practice them but they always seem to go fast and this was no different. I rolled in and out in 54 seconds which ended up as the fastest T2 overall by 4 seconds!!!

The run was just survival as it always is. I rolled out of T2 in 9th place, 10th place was right behind me and 11th place was probably a minute down. The run course was less than spectacular but it did the job. It was super rolly and hot. The aid stations were life savers (Thanks volunteers!!) and I could see my competition as it was generally an out and back course with a 180degree turn around. 10th place guy overcame me at the 1st mile marker. He was gone and I wouldn't catch him. I was just focusing on giving everyone I saw some encouragement and hoping for the best. The best I could give was the 20th fastest run split overall in 39:57.

I finished the race in 10th place and second in my age group. I was shooting for 2:10 overall and ended up with 2:06.51. I was so blessed by God's work that day. My fitness levels did not have me finishing that fast. Good competition and favorable conditions gave me a boost and I could not be happier!

Looking up...

2010-06-04T06:46:00.002-07:00

Alright, only a quick update. It is finally June and it is finally warm. If you follow this blog, you know that I complain about the weather more than anything. The wind has, generally, died off and the temps have risen. I have gotten a couple good rides in within the last week or so and the pools are finally back open, so my swim has recommenced. I am racing the XTERRA Deuces Wild on Sunday. I am already throwing this race away and hoping that maybe I can squeak a good performance out of it.
I know my training is no where close to where it should be and thats ok, because after this race I am not doing anymore triathlons til maybe august or later.
My knees are still giving me a hard time. I ordered patella tendon straps and boy are they awkward to run in. And I don't think they are doing much to begin with. We will have to wait and see after I get some good time on the roads with them on to decide if they really are making a difference.
Off to Show Low this afternoon. Wish me luck!

Quick update...

2010-05-11T08:42:00.002-07:00

May has arrived and the wind hasn't stopped. I have been slowly getting my legs and lungs back into the running game after being gone from the venue for 4 weeks. I am slowly (and I mean slowly) rebuilding my run base, so that I don't run into any more issues and can be healthy for the Disneyland half marathon training that will commence in June.
The pool at NAU is closed for the next three weeks and I am still trying to figure out an alternative.
My IT band (of course, another issue) has been bugging me when I ride my bike. I am waiting on the local running store Run Flagstaff (runflagstaff.com) to get their new shipment of foam rollers before I do anymore biking. It doesn't seem as though I have been able to have a steady workout block with all three sports consecutively. But, what I can be thankful for is the fact that I am a three sport athlete and where one sport falls short I have two others to help me back up. It is continual cross training.

XTERRA West recap....

2010-04-26T07:56:00.001-07:00

I want to start off by thanking everyone for their support this weekend. I know you didn't have to comment on my continuous barrage of status updates about my weekend, but I am going to take them all as genuine interest. I figured I would write this note in a "pro" and "con" form. In my mind, the positives and negatives are highlighted in my mind. But, before I start into this, I want to say that the whole weekend overall was a positive. I don't want to sound cynical for listing cons in this post (which I will try and even out with pro points).We'll start off with an obvious one:

Pro and Con:
Location- I think the Lake Las Vegas area is as close to as gorgeous as one can artificially make a desert. The palm lined streets, green space, expansive lake and mediterranean architecture all take away from the dirty, barren hills that encircle the whole area. As beautiful as it is, it all comes at a cost that I can't morally justify. After learning so much about water issues in the west (which is incredibly complex and interesting if you ever have the urge to read up on it), the whole of the area is counter intuitive to the natural desert landscape. It is a huge waste of water in a place where people should have been wiser never to live in in the first place. People were not meant to live on the desert. Our bodies are just not made for it and yet here is this virtual oasis. As far as the location is concerned as a race venue. Can't we pick better sites XTERRA?! I mean, come on! You hold the race in Temecula, CA before moving it to Las Vegas.Temecula, as far as I know, is just another hot, barren landscape. I understand that the West Championship race is early in the season and when you have only a few states to pick from, many of which are still waiting on trails to open from all the winter snow, your choices are limited. But, how about something on the coast of southern california? Not in the desert, not blazing hot, and generally prettier than the desert.

Con:
Weather- As stated above, it is a desert. And for anyone who has lived in or near the desert southwest, it gets pretty toasty early in the year. 85 degrees to many people is not an alarm for hiding inside with the A/C blasting in order to retain your sanity. But, from a person coming from a wildly prolonged winter and not a day peaking above the 67(?) degree mark and dealing with mountain bike races in his own home town being cancelled because of too much snow still, 85 degrees feels like the surface of the sun. That becomes even more apparent when there is no vegetation to shade the athlete, nor any vegetation at all except a few reeds anb bushes along the water's edge.

Pro:
Swim and Bike- I prerode the bike course yesterday and couldn't believe how difficult it was. There were three sections that I had to get off and walk my bike because it was truly, at my experience level, unrideable. Even the pros had to get off on probably two of the places and walk. I got back to the hotel after the preride and subsequently freaked out about that course for the rest of the night. I hadn't taken my watch along to time how long it took and that was another mistake. If I had timed the preride and said, "ok, it took me one hour going easy and stopping, I could easily do a lap in 45 minutes if I was really hammering." But I didn't take the watch. So I freaked out about how fast I really could go on that course. Turns out, I should not have been freaking out. I had an overall goal on the course of finishing in 2:45. Broken down, it would look like this 25 min swim, 1:30 bike, under 50minute run, 2:45 finish time. That was a very"best case scenario" time. I finished in 1:30.44 for the bike. Not a bad estimate!It still ended up only being the 5th fastest bike in my age groups, which is kind of a disappointment. Now to the swim. When I started swimming for triathlon, it was easily my weakest link. My first triathlon swim was comparable to the titanic sinking…yeah, that bad. I have worked tirelessly on my swim since. I have refined my stroke, worked on strength, drills, and speed, and it is finally paying off. Before I go any further I must vindicate myself from the official results that were posted from the race (a link to which will be posted at the end of this recap). The official race results say 26:32 for the swim portion. Those times include a 300m run to transition from the lake and the full Transition (T1). Times are going to look bloated for everyone. Mine look incredibly bloated because I could not, for the life of me, get my wetsuit off. I had some bunching in my elbow and it would not roll down passed it. I literally probably wasted 2 minutes trying to get the dang thing off! My whole transition at SOMA last year, including wetsuit, was 1:37 I think. With the run to the transition, this race, it cost me about 4 minutes. I know this because I thankfully timed myself during the swim. Previous to this race my best time for 1500m was 24:06, timed in the Natatorium on campus. When I ran out of the lake yesterday and took a look at my watch about 15m up the beach, I saw 22:04!!! I had swam 1500m under 22 min!!! It’s just too bad the results aren’t going to show it. And I fully blame my wetsuit for my loss of 3rd place.

Con:
Equipment- Generally everything worked great. My new bike was smooth and fast, my shoes did their job. My sunglasses kept the glare off and goggles kept the water out (except they fogged up which is to be expected, I guess). I had issue with two things that I fully blame for my loss of third place. I already mentioned my wetsuit. I won’t go into any greater detail. After looking at results I still had the 4th fastest swim in my age group and without the wetsuit mishap, easily the second best swim. Thumbs up for actual swim, thumbs down for wetsuit. Second equipment failure came about with my bike pump. I know all the cool people have CO2 cartridges and after yesterday, that is the way I am going. I didn’t really have a great place to put my pump on my bike. I couldn’t carry it on my person and my bike was ill equipped to handle it anywhere. In retrospect I should have taped it to my frame. Instead, I stuck it out of my under-seat tool bag. I figured it would be secure. I was wrong. The bumpy, rocky course kept shaking the tube out of the bag and almost dropping it on the ground. I had no other option and needed that to work. After fiddling with it for a short time and continuing to fiddle with it as it kept trying to escape from the bag, I deciding to take a gamble (this is Las Vegas) and tossed it to the side. I couldn’t risk losing 1st place (which was my overall goal and held a qualifying spot to Hawaii and the World Championships attached to it) over my stupid pump. Luckily I did not get a flat on the course and didn’t need it. Two equipment failures that would have easily made up for the 4 seconds that separated myself and 3rd place.

Pro:
My run. During the race, I would never have said that my run was a positive on the day. I was already slightly dehydrated from my bike effort and the sun was only hotter, the course was drier, and the hills on the course (1400+ ft of elevation gain over 6.2 miles) never gave up. Literally, the whole of the first mile and a half save for a quick short downhill section, was all uphill, and it was steep uphill! I have learned over the years to just keep moving forward. There is no sense in stopping, as long as you keep moving forward. That’s what I did. Albeit in a shuffle. My run was slow! I felt slow, I felt tired, I felt like the course was never going to end. I walked one steep hill on the first lap of the run course that most of the other competitors walked as well. Then you came downhill to a water station and did it all over again. I told myself that I needed to run every section that I ran on the previous lap. I couldn’t walk unless I had walked there on the first lap. In actuality, I ran more on my second lap than I did on my first. That big hill that everyone walk…I jogged it on my second lap. I began to feel good after that last ascent and it was downhill to the finish. I think I could sense the end was near, I had already conceded moving up any positions in my age group and was just going to finish as strong as possible. About 1200m from the finish I can feel a surge in my stride. Do I know why this surge didn’t happen earlier? Absolutely not. But, it was coming. I passed a gentleman who was walking and gave him some words of encouragement. He mentioned that the guy ahead of me in the gray shirt was in my age group. I looked up and saw the guy who had passed me early on the bike. We had traded positions a few times before he passed me for good. I had expected not to see him anymore. But, here is was. I decided to go for it. This last bit was going to be the deciding factor for a podium spot. We were about 800-1000m from the finish, he had about a 75-100m lead on me. I kicked it in, hoping that I would have enough energy to hold this kick until the finish. I was slowly making up ground on him and could feel the gap closing. He walked on the last short uphill sections of the course before glancing backward and seeing me closing in. He kicked it in for the last 200m, we round a corner onto the final street towards the finish line and I run out of real estate. He beat me by 4 seconds and collapsed on the ground. Another 100-200m and I would have caught him. I felt tired on the run, but not as bad as I thought after 4 weeks of no running. I don’t encourage anyone to run a race after coming off injury and with a total lack of training. But, I was pleasantly surprised with my result. Again, after looking at official results, I had the 3rd fastest run in my age group! It wasn’t fast at all! 53:30 for 10K and I was shooting for a 50min 10K, but I can’t believe it.

Despite all the issues and problems, my only weaknesses are things that can be easily fixed. I usually come out of these races disappointed because I set my fitness goals too high, and fail to reach them. I overestimate myself and underestimate my opponents. It leaves me highly disappointed for being undertrained and underprepared. That was not the case in this instance. I was shooting for a 2:45 finishing time, which, according to last year’s results would have won my age group. I finished in 2:50.46. I knew it was a long shot but I don’t race to fail to do my best. I was going to accomplish it by swimming 25 minutes, I swam 22min, and unfortunately my wetsuit negated that effort. I was going to ride 1:30, which I hit dead on and I wanted to run 50 minutes and I ran 53 which I am highly pleased with considering the difficulty of the course and my lack of any run training for 4 weeks. The depth of my age group was much higher this year over last as well and that has to factor into the overall standings. Overall it was a great weekend. My parents have become my biggest supporters and my cousin and her family came out to visit with us after the race as well. It couldn’t have been a better end to the weekend.

Official race results: http://www.jtltiming.com/results/x-veg.html

Pre XTERRA West...Lake Las Vegas...

2010-04-24T13:52:00.003-07:00

I am currently sitting in the hotel room at the Loews Lake Las Vegas and have just pre-ridden the mountain bike course. Wow! It is going to be rough. The first 3 miles have an incredible amount of climbing and the downhills are quick, but loose. It is going to be about staying on my wheels and continuing forward movement. I just have to think that its only about 17 miles and climbing is a strength of mine. I only have one shot this year at a title and qualifying for the world championships in Hawaii in October. It has to start with a solid swim. I need to stay within my limits and keep the pressure on the whole time and not become stuck in cruise control. Then the bike is going to be about continuing the pressure, but at a reasonable pace. It is going to be really easy to burn out on the first lap and lose a lot of ground on the second. Everything I have left is going to be wasted on the run. The run is very hilly as well and the key is to hang tough the first lap and give it your all on the second. I am going to try not to push the uphills and hammer the down. We will have to see how my run fitness is because of being out for 4 weeks rehabing my stress fractures. Plus, I have never ran off a mountain bike before. It will be interesting to see how my legs handle the different bike position into a run.
Stay tuned for a race recap early this week...

Ups and Downs....

2010-04-14T20:05:00.003-07:00

Lets start with a few ups of the past few weeks. The weather is peaking around the spring corner. Only peaking though. And spring in Flagstaff means wind anyway. So, I have been off my bike for the a few weeks. I got absolutely sick and tired of riding my trainer. I couldn't handle it anymore. Second, the wind and chilly temps most days have kept me off the road. I am kind of a pansy when it comes to weather. I am a self described good weather rider. The wind doesn't bother me if I can get out on the trails, but they are still covered in snow as far as I know. So, with one positive, the weather, comes a few hiccups.

Also, I don't remember if I posted that I was diagnosed with a couple stress fractures in my tibias. Yes, both tibias. So, I have been in the pool at least 3 days, trying for 5 days a week in the pool doing some aqua jogging. I have never done it before and I am not sure I like it, but its all I have right now. We shall see in a few weeks if the jogging has translated into running power.

Positives include increased fitness in the pool. The majority of days that I am in the pool are positive. I am hitting times in my workouts that I have never hit before. It is a hugely positive experience for me. Plus, I have been more consistent in the pool the last month and a half, averaging 8000-10000 meters in the pool each week. I am topping my build up in the pool this week at 10000m. I will taper a little next week before my race. But, I am mostly going to hold this fitness and work on some increased speed through May and into the Deuces Wild XTERRA on June 6th.

In other news, I had my first race of the season last Saturday and it ended in a less than positive way. I raced the Prescott Punisher Mountain Bike race in Prescott. It was a 15 mile, 3 loop course. I decided to ride my single speed because I truly love it and I finally built it into a reasonable racing bike. The most recent change was switching my SID World Cup fork from my old hardtail onto this bike. It makes an incredible difference on the viability of my hands. The course went downhill (no pun intended) when I accidently took the wrong loop. I followed the green arrow loop instead of the blue arrow which cut my loop by probably less than a mile (?). I couldn't really tell you how much was cut short by my shortcut but it was enough to put me into third place at the finish which was above my actual ability by maybe 3 places. I DQed myself. And to add injury to my insult, I crashed on my final lap. Totally not expecting a patch of loose dirt, my wheel was grabbed and thrown to the side and I went down. I hadn't raced in a short mountain bike race in probably 4 or 5 years and hadn't been on the trails since last fall. I was out of shape and out of the race. The next race comes home to Flagstaff in May and I hope to finish respectably and bring some praise on my hometown turf. Stay tuned for that update in a few weeks.

Turn around again...

2010-03-30T08:25:00.002-07:00

I have had yet another turn around in my training. No running for 4 weeks. But, until I continue there, lets back it up. beep, beep, beep.

I began having some pain in my tibia last fall. It was pretty localized to my left leg and in a certain area, which I later found out was called the Tibial Tuberosity. I ran through it, no big problem. Took my couple weeks of easy training in December before I began spring training and I was doing fine. I ran on the treadmill for a couple months due to horrible weather here and no issue. And I got back out on the roads occasionally to break the monotony. The roads began to fight back. My first time out on the roads I felt the same pain, albeit less. I would run the roads once, maybe twice per week and the rest was on the treadmill where I had no issue. Then came better weather and a general lack of motivation to straddle the treadmill anymore. The pain got worse and popped up in both legs. I finally ran a quicker paced run (about 6:45 min miles for 6.5 miles) and the pain became an issue. It got to the point where I didn't want to run for a couple days after that particular run because it hurt to walk stairs, bend my knees with weight above them and generally do anything except walk around (Funny thing is, I had no issue hiking 19 miles in the Grand Canyon three days after the aforementioned run). But everytime I ran the pain in my knees would hang around for a couple days and then subside only to rear its head again once I got back out on the roads.

I am a stubborn individual. I don't like to claim an issue even when I have pain. Most pain will come and go with a little self-massage or extra stretching. Not this time. It was a bone issue. So, I googled the heck out of it to find a solution. Nothing. The closest diagnosis I came to was Osgood-Schlatter, but it affects adolescent children and their growth plates. I am 20 years old and haven't grown in 4 years. It couldn't be this. So, I gave in and went to see a doctor.

The doctor mentioned Osgood-Sclatter as a possibility but, as stated above, knew I was too old to be affected by this disease. X-rays were ordered to rule out a stress fracture. Although nothing showed up on the X-ray (many stress fractures are too small to be seen on x-rays. More detailed scans are necessary), the doctor said it is probably a "stress reaction." Which, if not taken care of, can turn into a larger stress fracture and cause major issues.

Back to the first statement. I am shut down with running for 4 weeks. Surprisingly, it isn't that big of an issue mentally for me. Because, one, I want to get back to a state of feeling good when I run and two, I want to be 100% healthy when the summer comes around and my training turns into half-marathon training for the Disneyland Half Marathon. If it means taking a few weeks off here to be healthy there, that is a setback I am willing to accept. I am also trying out aqua jogging for the first time. I have read in many articles that state, if training is done right, aqua jogging can hold and potentially improve fitness (ie: VO2, lactate threshhold, etc.) without the normal pounding of running. I am giving it a try and mentally I am set to come back from this injury stronger than I went in.

Mental Games...

2010-03-22T19:26:00.000-07:00

Since graduating high school, I have always claimed to be a mental runner. It is common running knowledge that a strong mental outlook on your training and racing will translate into better results. That couldn't prove more true than with me. And it doesn't just have to do with my running.

As a triathlete, I participate in three different disciplines. Swimming, Biking, Running. My mental confidence carries over throughout the three sports. If I have a good workout in the pool, chances are I will feel much better about my ride or run later in the day. In the same vein, if I have a bad workout, the "Debbie Downer" syndrome may carry over as well.

I am writing this because I am worried about my training. I say "training" because I mean all my training, even though most of my lack of confidence comes from my running. As a high school runner, I was injured three times, mildly. I had shin splits during my first track season, I had a freak foot issue after running in flats for the first time, and a bruised heel after running steeplechase my senior year. In all three cases a little rest, ice and ibuprofen took care of the issue. Training hardly ceased and my seasons continued on. Since I have graduated I have been plagued by injury.

I didn't run much the fall after graduation and began running again the next spring. My injuries began with a stress fracture in my foot after a trail run in tucson over spring break. It knocked me out for 6 weeks to heal. I was healthy over the summer, although I didn't train much. That fall I decided to run a couple half marathons that would lead up to the Arizona Rock N' Roll Marathon. I built my training too fast and after having a breakout half marathon in Tucson in december i ran into runner's knee, and IT band issues throughout the whole spring. I bounced back once again and had an ok summer. My mental was weak now. Two springs in a row and no training.

I have read articles about great runners who were injury prone and they eventually had to revamp there training to continue their careers and stay off the couch due to their injuries.

I am writing this now because as I look forward through this year and this season and into my future in athletics I am worried. Once again, I have some pain creeping up in my legs that (after plenty of googling) is a mystery. I have a couple more months of training for spring/summer triathlons and I have committed to the Disneyland Half Marathon in September. I am just dreading the training because I am afriad, once again, of becoming injured as my training kicks into high gear. I know I can win the race with the right training and I HATE feeling crappy on my runs. I am just mentally shot and its only March. Its going to be a long year.

The Grand Canyon, Take II...

2010-03-18T09:02:00.000-07:00

This is the first spring break that I can remember where I have stayed in town for the majority of the week. There has always been family vacations, camping trips with friends or excursions to warmer climates. That's what spring break is about isn't it? The family trip came in January this year, the friends were uncoordianted and the money wasn't around to take a few days somewhere else. So, here I stay.

Monday began with a bang in the big hole in the ground, the Grand Canyon. Last August I decided to hike from the South Rim to Phantom Ranch, 9 miles down the Bright Angel Trail. This time, my brother wanted to do the same thing. The weather was cooler, the first mile had packed snow/ice covering it and the hordes of people were far from the same as was in August. Did the trip become easier? Hardly.

We started out at 5:40am from Flagstaff. Got to the Canyon at 7:00 and were on the trail by 7:30. I don't own yaktrax, and I didn't even think about using them. I have never hiked in the canyon when there was snow on the trail and wasn't thinking about the repercussions of doing so. Needless to say, the first mile or so was pretty sketchy. It was hard packed with ice. It was small steps and hoping we didn't fall down into the mule dookie. We made it and kept truckin. We stopped shortly at Indian Gardens, 4.5 miles from the top and took a break. But, we were in a rhythm and kept huffing down the trail. My brother and I hike pretty fast and we were passing people all the way down. Made it to the river (which was my brother's first time) and over the Silver Bridge and up to Phantom by 11am, in time for lunch.

The weather, compared to Flagstaff was gorgeous down there although my brother and I both agreed 5 degrees more would have been even more enjoyable. But, you can't always have perfection. We relaxed on the benches in front of the cantina and were off, back up the trail at noon. We still had 9 miles and roughly a mile of vertical gain before we were done.

The sun was great. It kept us warmer than when we were coming down and not until mile-and-a-half house did I need to put my sweatshirt back on. Then it was just one foot in front of another until we reached the top. I could tell my brother was hurting a little, but he kept truckin and I am so proud of him for doing it. Altogether we hiked for roughly 8 hours with an hour break at the bottom. Not bad for a day.

It is now the third day since completion and my legs are just feeling better. I never understand why I do things that cripple me for so long.

A break in winter...

2010-03-12T19:34:00.001-07:00

Today marks the official start of spring break 2010. And, as a bonus, spring actually starts this week as well. And as an even bigger bonus, it is actually going to feel like spring this week!

After mind blowing snow totals since the beginning of January, Flagstaff is finally going to hit 60 degrees! At least that's what they predict. I cannot wait. I am planning on getting outside (without bundeling up) and doing some of my favorite activities, Mountain biking and trail running. But there is a catch, the trails are still covered in feet of snow and i still have to travel to go ride open trails. But, what better time then spring break. Also, my favorite part of this week, as already anticipated, will be hiking the canyon with my brother down to Phantom Ranch and back up. Can't wait. Stay tuned for an update about that adventure. Till next time.
Oh, I started a website for my photos. check it out at: wix.com/mattyboness/Matty-B

Lenten temptation...

2010-02-18T19:39:00.000-07:00

Ash Wednesday was yesterday. The start of the Lenten Season. I don't usually give anything up for lent, but I think I will this year. I am giving up...Drum roll please... Sweets. Yeah, I know, kind of lame. But, I have a serious sweet tooth. And I really mean SERIOUS. Sugar may be my favorite food group. It's that bad.

I figure that giving up sweets, while kind of a personal want, will give me a stronger edge with God. I have always learned that you shouldn't just give something up just because but because it brings you closer to God. The reason for giving something up that means a lot to you is so that everytime you have an urge to use it, eat it, whatever, you ask God for the strength to overcome the temptation.

It says in 1 Corinthians 10:13 "No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it."

I take this to heart. I know that all my temptations, while not all bad, are all beatable with God on my side.

My reason for using this lenten season to give up a true temptation for me is two fold. I can become closer to God by speaking with him for every temptation I have with my sweet tooth and watch my weight to race better, which was a gift God gave me in the first place.

Ups and Downs...

2010-02-08T18:32:00.000-07:00

Man this weather is getting me down! I have been on the treadmill or trainer for a month now. I am getting sick of it! I keep telling myself that it will all pay dividends in the end. But, boy oh boy it is rough.

The trails are going to be snow covered til (a conservative guess) March. I have races to do! Doesn't God know that!? Through adversity comes strength, i guess. No, I am just kidding I know it does.

On a brighter note, my swim is starting to feel really good! I did 6600m in the pool last week and felt really good. My form is coming back and I am approaching this season with a lot mreo speed training. My thinking goes like this: If my fastest 100m is 1:25 and I am hoping to swim 1:30-1:35/100m during a triathlon, it is going to be rough. Now, If I can get my 100m time down to 1:15-1:20, holding 1:30 is not as much of a push. So, I am working on some good speed with some longer swims mixed in to keep up my endurance. At least my new found enjoyment of the pool isn't getting me down like the rest of my training.

Oh Boy...

2010-01-23T10:24:00.000-07:00

The beginning of the week began with talks of a large storm system charging up and going to swing over Arizona. You really can't get the feel for a large storm just from words. You have to experience it and we sure did. At the end of the storm (or close to it) Flagstaffians are already looking back on what became the second snowiest storm system in history.

Just to put it into perspective. Last year, the Flagstaff area had about 10" or so of measurable precipitation. From this storm alone, we got close to 4" of precipitation. Most of that coming in the form of snow. FEET of Snow!! In fact, over 45" of snow in 5 days. My dad and I tried to keep up on shoveling and here on some photos to prove this.Check out the snow pile compared to the height of the truck!

Cruisin' to the new year...

2010-01-11T06:44:00.000-07:00

I guess I am kind of behind the ball. I am going to write about my expectations for 2010, but we are already almost two weeks into 2010 and I am just now getting around to it. Although, I do have a fairly good excuse...I was out of the country and inaccessible for the past 9 days. My family and I all went on a cruise with my aunt and uncle to the eastern Caribbean. We escaped the cold temperatures (until the bahamas) that had plagued the whole of the US it seems. 90 degrees in Antigua and St. Thomas. Pretty great.

Anyway, on to my expectations. Since we only got back into town late last night, I am going to use today to get settled in. Meaning, I am going to go get my new running shoes, swim bag (for all my new swim toys I got for Christmas), swim jammers and get back into the pool tomorrow for the first time since October! My official training begins tomorrow and I am not stopping until I qualify for the XTERRA World Championships (hopefully). I also need to buy a new bike here pretty soon, but seeing as though the trails will be snowpacked for a while, it might have to wait.

It feels good to be into 2010. I feel like this year is going to be a good one as far as training goes and a hard one for school. But, with God's help, I should make it out unscathed and better than ever!

2010 schedule...

2009-12-02T09:07:00.000-07:00

I have been thinking on it for the last month as to what my race schedule is going to look like next year. I had two options that I wanted to pursue. One, focus on on-road tris and ultimately try and lower my time to a more respectable half iron. This would entail a few sprints and oly distances with an end of season Soma triathlon just like this year. Option two, change things up, go for XTERRA and do my best to qualify for the world championships. This would mean more money invested because I need a new mountain bike, and the races would cost more because of travel and hotel and the like. But, the rewards could be intensely greater.

After much personal deliberation. I have decided on XTERRA. I need a new mountain bike anyway and I think this is a great time for it. It is going to be a totally different beast than the on-road tris that I have gotten accustomed to. But, I still feel like I am new to triathlon and am testing the waters (no pun intended) of what distances will suit me best.

With that said, I have a tentative race schedule mapped out for next year. And it goes a little something like this:
Throughout the Spring - 2-3 MBAA races - Single Speed
May - XTERRA West Region Championships - Lake Las Vegas
June - XTERRA Deuces Wild - Show Low
July - Mountain Man (Oly?) - Lake Mary
September - XTERRA US Championships (qualification pending) - Ogden/Snowbasin UT
October - XTERRA World Championships (qualification pending) - Maui, Hawaii

Off season...

2009-11-18T08:40:00.000-07:00

I am finally in my off season. After a somewhat disappointing performance at the half-iron I am setting myself anew. I took a week and half completely off from exercise. I have slowly gotten back into easy running with the XC team and am hitting the weights more. Three times per week more. I am hiking and riding my trainer intermittently. I have yet to get back in the pool, which I probably should. I know I will have little to no access during Christmas break when the Natatorium closes. But then again, why get in now when i will be out again for four weeks in December? I think I might just stick with the weights and ease my way back into the water after break.

I am feeling pretty good right now. I have to start thinking about my race schedule for next year. I am contemplating a run at the XTERRA series or focus more on doing better at the half iron distance. I think I could make the world championships for XTERRA, but I really want to put down a better time for the half...I will definitely have to think on this one.

Soma triathlon re-cap...

2009-10-26T06:34:00.000-07:00

The whole day, in retrospect, seemed so surreal. Sure it was 5 hours of racing, but it seemed to go by so fast. So I will start from the beginning and, guess what, finish at the end.

Saturday was mandatory bike check-in. Meaning, for those of you who don't know, that you pick up your packet with your race numbers, timing chip, schwag bag, and walk through the expo of retailers. You also have to leave your bike in transition over night. From what I can deduce, its only because it creates less chaos the morning of.

At this race, everyone had a specific place in transition that was reserved for them by their race
number. This made the whole process less congestive and more fluid. Nice.

My parents and I browsed the booths, didn't buy anything and went to listen to the athlete meeting. In athlete meetings they go over everything you need to know for race day, course maps, starting times, aid station placements, cut-off times, even who is going to be supplying food after the race. It is totally comprehensive. We sit and listen until the end and since I have already checked in, we leave so my parents can go grab some lunch (I had my daily PB&J). We also check into the hotel.

From 1-3pm on saturday, they were allowing athletes to enter the water and test it out. Make
sure your wetsuit was fitting right and you could sight the bouys that lined the course. After lunch, we went back to the race site to try this out. I had yet to swim in open water with my wetsuit since I bought it. The race this summer had its swim cancelled due to high surf. So, it would be a true test of its abilities. I swam about 500 meters and got out. Good test. Worked great.

We went back to the hotel, rested and went out to dinner at PF Changs. I ordered the Crispy Honey Chicken. Bedtime.

When I consciously know I have to get up early, I always tend to wake up every hour thinking its almost time to get up. My first wake-up was 11pm, then 11:10pm, then 12:20, 1, 3, and finally I get up at 3:45 for my morning. As many of you know, I like to be one of the first people to transition on race day.Transition opened at 4:45, i was there.

Pre-dawn is an understatement. It was still night at 4:45am. Thank Red Rock (the race promoter) for lights and music that early on. And speaking of music, I have never heard Black Eyed Peas more in my life than I did yesterday. Was that song on repeat? Anyway, I get my transition area set-up, its now 5:15. FCA Endurance had a small church service at 5:50. I go for a short jog, stretch, drills before the service. Make sure everything is set. "What else do I need?" "Sunglasses!" I almost forget them on my head. Could have been a horrible mistake. What was I doing with sunglasses on my head at 5 in the morning?

Church Service ends at 6:08 and transition closes at 6:15. I have to get my wetsuit out before it closes. One mroe mental check over my stuff adn I am good to go. Waiting for my parents to show up, riding their bikes from the hotel. National Anthem plays. Still not here. First wave begins and they just show up. Freaking me out. I was about to run to the car and put my backpack away and hope I make it back. They showed up in time.

I squeeze myself into my wetsuit as we watch the first waves of racers start their swim. Swim cap on. I get so interested in watching, that I am apparently not listening to the announcer, who I have hard time hearing anyway over the background music and through a swim cap.

My mom says. "Hey, Oranges are getting in the water!" Sure enough, my wave was headed into the water. I didn't think we were that far along yet. I run over, get in and then wait the 4 minutes between waves. I set myself up on the left side of the pack about midway through.

The horn goes off. It takes probably a good 10-15 seconds to get going because I am waiting for those in front of me to start moving and not kick me in the dome. I get into a rythmn, swim over a couple people, and bump out into some open water. The main pack is in a line to the left of me and I couldn't be happier staying where I was. I didn't want to get into that mess. So far so good, I am cruising, feeling good albeit some tightness in my shoulders.

I was nervous and hesitant after the previous days swim in the lake. The bouys were way down there. And open water swimming always makes me a little uneasy. It is a TOTALLY different experience from swimming in a pool. No walls, no bottom, can't see your hand in front of your face, you have to sight your line where you are going, tons of people around you, kicking, hitting, waves, etc. But, my goal was to cruise down to the turn around. I wasn't going to stop, I wasn't going to let anyone stop my momentum. I wanted to have a good first half and then turn on the after burners for the way home. We were swimming east and the sun was right in our faces. I could only see the bouys once they were right next to me. As long as that line of people was still there to the left of me, I was going to keep swimming with them. I hti the turn around and felt great. I had begun to pass people from two and three waves ahead of me by this point. That means I had made up 4-8 minutes on some people. I was hauling. I felt great. I didn't know my pace or time, but knew I was doing something I had never done before, having a strong swim.

About 150-200m from the end, I was swimming next to another guy. He splashed me and I got some water in teh mouth and with it came air. I got this tight spot in my chest from teh air that I needed to burp. But, couldn't because of my quickened breathing and horizontal position. I didn't want to stop to get it out because I was almost done. It was kind of uncomfortable for the last section. But I made it. Swim time: 34:11.5 97th fastest swim out of 615.

I ran out and into transition as I was taking my wetsuit off. Never done this before. First race with a wetsuit. Not any huge problems. Kind of a struggle to get it off over my timing chip. Sunglasses on, helmet on, shoes on, on my bike and off I go.

Bike course was 3 laps of 18.5 miles roughly. My goal was to finish in under 2hrs 30min. That would mean averaging under 50 minutes per lap. I was on the bike about 7:32am. I finish my first lap. approx. 48minutes. Perfect thats right where I wanted to be. I plan on hammering the second lap and then spinning more and letting my legs recover for my third lap. Well, I start to feel it on the small hills that dot the course. My legs are getting more tired. I have taken in a couple PowerGels, water and Xood power drink. Only a dozen or two people have passed me and stayed out front. Second lap: approx. 50min. Still right there, but if I did what I had wanted this lap was going to be faster than my first.

I didn't want to try and make up for lost time and hammer the third lap, only to sacrifice good legs for the run. So I kept steady and made sure my pedaling cadence was higher to keep lactic acid from building up. About halfway through the third lap, I knew I needed some food that was solid. There was an aid station about two miles from the finish of the lap that had powerbar products. I grabbed a chocolate power bar from the wonderful volunteers. Thanks volunteers! And ate that, definately helped. Almost done. Slower. Third lap: approx 57 min. Total bike time: 2:35:20.3. 134th fastest bike split. It was about 10 minutes slower than I thought I was capable of. Had I kept the pace of my first lap, I would have had the 21st fastest lap. Onto the run.

When I got to transition and hopped off my bike, i could tell my legs were going to give me a problem. They felt heavy and tired. More so than I had expected. The run was 2 long loops around the lake. About 6.5miles each loop. Mostly flat and almost all on concrete. 6 aid stations each loop. I had my GPS watch with me to make sure I was sticking to the pace I wanted. I started out at just over 7min/mile pace. A little slower but I thought it would take a couple miles to run the tiredness out of my legs and then I could get going faster. Instead my miles kept getting slower. From 7:04 at the begining to 8:20s at the end of the first loop. By the second loop I was just running between aid stations. Jog to the aid station. Walk through it, make sure I was getting all the fluids and nutrition I needed. Gatorade, water, coke, oranges, pretzels. And then start off jogging again. About 3 miles into the second lap I saw a kid (25yrs old) who had passed me on the first lap. Talked as he passed and then must have blown up on the second lap. I patted him on the back and said let's keep going. He caught up to me and for the next 2.5 miles we ran together, talking and walking through aid stations. By the last mile and a half, he had more in his legs than I did and took off, which was totally fine. I was just glad to be 1.5 miles from finishing my first half-ironman. Total run time: 1:49:15.2. Which averages over 8min/mile.

I finish. Finishers medal draped across my neck. Food table calling my name. John Foster, the leader of the FCA Endurance team in phoenix was helping take off timing chips. He congratulated me and told me they were cheering for me throughout the race. Which I heard and wanted to say thank you to them for that. It was nice to hear your name called out in the middle of the crowd. Food table. Animal crackers, oranges. Water.

The kid who I ran with says congratulations. (number 461 below)

It was hot. I didn't do as good as hoped. I know I could have gone at least 20 minutes faster. It was a lack of training and knowledge about this race distance. But, if you know anything about me, I will be back and will hammer the next race.

Thanks to the volunteers, FCA Endurance and Tyler for keeping my pace up. Thanks to my parents and friends who always show enthusiasm for my crazy sporting ventures.

Check out this video. I don't know who is in it or who shot it, but I think it is a good representation of the race.

Taper...

2009-10-20T14:53:00.001-07:00

I am only 4 days from my race! It is going to be a half ironman distance: 1.2mile swim, 56mile bike, 13.1 mile run. 70.3 miles total.

My training hasn't gone exactly how I imagined it. I had my ups and downs. When you are as busy as I am and work or school call, they become priorities and training takes a back seat. But, I think I totally have it in me to have a great race. I had a great brick workout the other week and it gave me huge confidence in my ability to finish well. My swimming has been good, although, again not exactly how I planned. I could have spent more time on the bike, and longer runs would have been nice too. But, I can't look back at what I didn't do and can only look forward to what is to come.

I am so glad that my taper is here. It has been a long season of training and racing and I am looking forward to taking some time off before beginning my base for next year.

Depending on how this race pans out will decide how and where and how far I race next year. After the good brick workout last week, I feel like my calling might be to the longer distances. Especially with more consistent training, I think I could do really well. The Olympics might not be my ultimate goal. And now that I think about it, I am not sure they were ever my ultimate goal. I just want to become a professional triathlete. If I never win a world championship, or make it to the olympics, I will still be doing something that I absolutely love. Qualifying for a big race is not as important if I am doing what I love to do.

Stay tuned for a race re-cap early next week. Be ready for a novel.

Rejuvenation...

2009-10-04T19:50:00.001-07:00

I have had a rejuvenation this past week. And it begins with Rio. The spanish word for river. Maybe the river of life and wisdom. Maybe the river of creativity and perseverance. Maybe the river of January. Literally the "river of January" is the meaning for Rio de Janeiro. I have fully re-devoted my training to the 2016 Olympics. They will be held in Rio. It has rejuvenated my push for professional status. It has also rejuvenated my push for God's will through my training, because without his grace I would not be able to do this athletic endeavor. So, as I reach for higher athletic fame, I must also redouble my efforts for God to grant me what he has the power to take away from me. It is becoming clearer to me that training and racing triathlons is a priviledge granted to me by God. Many people can and will race the same triathlons I do, but they will feel no more than personal, earthly satisfaction out of them without God riding tandem with them. I fully commit to riding tandem with God through all my training and racing in the next 7 years.

With that said, here is the training that has been happening since I last posted.
I have had some niggles in my foot that has sidelined any increase in intensity of my training for the last week or two. I am still running 20-30 miles per week. But, not as many morning runs or workouts with the team I coach in the PM. I have gotten in some good rides, but got run over with school work this last week and hardly got on the bike at all. I am refocusing some energy into weight training and injury prevention, so that the small things stay small and no new pains pop up. My swimming has also taken a hit because of my busy schedule and I have only been in the pool two, maybe three, times in the last couple weeks. I don't think I am losing any fitness in the pool, but I am not improving thats for sure.
I ran a 5K race on friday and did ok. It wasn't as great as I wanted, but it was pretty close to where it should be considering where I am at in my training. I think I am in about 1:25 half marathon shape right now, which will translate, hopefully, to about a 1:30 half at the end of the triathlon. I am shooting for 1:30.
I did 130min bike ride last weekend and averaged (at 7,000ft elev.) 22mph (approx.) which is exactly where I want to be for the bike in the tri.
I also swam a 1000m time trial last week and finished in 16:50, which puts me right around 32min for 1900m, which would solidly place me in the swim as well.
Overall, my times are doing ok, with the lack of training I am experiencing. I have about a week and a half of solid training time left before a taper and the race. Pretty stoked to see how I do and where I am able to finish!

Newspaper Article...

2009-09-13T07:48:00.001-07:00

The local AZ Daily Sun newspaper did an article about my recent accomplishments in triathlon. The story ran on Labor, September 1st. Here is a link to the article:
http://www.azdailysun.com/articles/2009/09/07/news/sports/20090907_sport_203295.txt

Here's a quickie...

2009-08-26T19:24:00.000-07:00

Just signed up for Soma this morning. First Half-Ironman. In fact, its the first triathlon over a sprint that I will do. 8 1/2 weeks out. Swimming feels good. Need to get back on the bike and running will be ramping up next week. Til next time.

The Epic Grand Canyon...

2009-08-17T09:19:00.000-07:00

Epic: 1: of, relating to, or having the characteristics of an epic 2 a : extending beyond the usual or ordinary especially in size or scope

I am not sure a better word can describe the Grand Canyon, although many words have tried. An immense hole in the groud, cut through solid rock over millions of years. A plethora of various animals habitate there. Water seeps from the most solid of these rocks where the porous nature of these said rocks is questioned. Plants, trees, grass, and cactus all live here in an otherwise inhospitable environment.

The vista from the rim is the view that 95 % of visitors to the park see when they gaze upon its, almost, infinite quality. But, diving deeper provides a surrealistic envoronment that is hidden from the guardrails and ice cream parlours at the top.

I began my hike on August 15th at about 7am. It was a free fee weekend at certain national parks around the US, in order to encourage getting outside. Something our nation tends to take for granted too often. The wind at the top was pretty intense. A nice respite from the wind was welcomed after dipping just below the surface.

I chose the Bright Angel trail for a couple of reasons. For one, it has pretty reliable, consistent water sources located at various points along the trail. And two, because I was hiking alone, it was more populated and if, God forbid, anything happened, someone would be along shortly.

As is the case in most hiking stories of the Bright Angel, the tourists take the cake at the top. Hi-top Nikes and Converse are more common than hiking boots for the first mile and a half. The further you descend, the less crowds you have to fight to pass. And after Indian Gardens, the numbers dwindle even more greatly.

I was feeling great heading down. The air was cool, the sun was rising, and I just happened to be smack dab in the middle of one of God's greatest creations.

I had hiked in the Canyon once before this. The far western section of the South Rim, by Dripping Springs. But I had yet to see the river. That was my goal.

I couldn't have prepared myself for what I would encounter. I have hiked a lot in my young life. I have been to the tops of mountains and through valleys. When you descend into the Grandest of Canyons you leave the preconcieved notions of what you thought the canyon was behind. You can look down from the scopes from in front of the Bright Angel Lodge and see hikers far below, maybe a mule train. But, hiking in, ironically, makes you feel like you are out of the canyon, even though you trudge deeper in. By this I mean that once you leave an overhanging or a ridge and the trail flattens out, you forget that you are in a canyon. You are no longer looking at the Big Picture from the top, you are getting the intimate welcome from the Canyon itself.

It holds another ironic notion. The desert, the dry, the inhospitable becomes the friendlist place on earth as you encounter other hikers enjoying the same thing you are enjoying. Short conversations with individuals in passing brought smiles to my face. A runner (passed once each way) on the longest, hardest running leg of his life, has time for some friendly conversation. No names need to be exchanged, maybe a place of origin, but the enjoyment of being deep in where few people, relatively speaking, have ever gone is just remarkable.

Overall, it was an incredible place. I have fallen in love with the canyon again. I told my mom yesterday that although I have never had that 'WOW' moment when first seeing the Canyon. I love it just the same, if not more than most. My parents tell me that I was only 7 months when I first went to the Canyon. We would go up every new years day. I think I need to bring back that tradition. I can think of no better way than celebrating the new year.

I hiked out, not quite feeling as good as I did going down, but I made it. 19 miles. Rim-Ranch-Rim. I have already vowed to go back. I had forgotten how amazing hiking is. As a runner, you tend to think, "How do I get to the finish as fast as possible?" The destination, in hiking, is only as important as the journey there. And I have missed that.

My parents and I went back again on Sunday. One, because it was another free fee day and my parents wanted to go again. But, also because our one and only President, Barack Obama, was going to be there too.

My sore legs weren't going to allow for too much hiking on Sunday. But, we took it leisurly, did the tourist thing. Waited with the masses for 50 minutes for the 30 second passing of Obama as he left in his bullet proof outfitted vehicle and 17 car entourage. (No kidding, probably 17 cars) Went to the Imax. Ate Navajo Tacos. It was an incredible day. God really does bless those who love him. And...It was my parents 23rd wedding anniversary.

I sometimes forget that my parents aren't true natives of this great region. Dad being from all over, mom from california. But, this region is as much a part of their lives as it is mine. I can't tell you how much of a priviledge it is for me to have grown up in the family I live in now. They afforded me the opportuinities to get outside. To enjoy what God has provided and really appreciate the place I live. Too many kids don't get that same invitation anymore. It is a huge shame.

I will leave you with a few more photos from my hike on Saturday.

Pacific Coast Triathlon re-cap...

2009-07-27T18:14:00.001-07:00

Where to start? The week leading up? The drive to Southern California? Waking up at 2:45 on race morning? The starting horn? Are your nerves running as high as mine were? Enjoy this...

Last week was long. Not in the sense that 5 days magically stretched into more. But, I worked 8 straight days and they were hard days. That made getting to my weekend California trip all the more painful. Especially when I was anticipating a national championship triathlon.

Thursday and Friday were by far the longest of those days. I did no exercise...none. I was recovering from the previous weeks' training efforts, in order to be race ready on Sunday. I began slowly packing on Friday morning. I was getting ready for a late night/early morning departure.. I also had work from noon til 6pm. Off work, finish packing, dinner, sleep. I set my alarm for 11:00, which incidentally means 11am because my clock is on 24-hour time or military time. I forgot. I get woken up by my phone buzzing because it's already 10 past midnight and my travelling partner, Lauren is wondering where I am for her 12am pick-up. Oops. Not starting good. Hoping it gets better. All my things just need to get loaded and I am out of my house 10-15 minutes later after hurriedly getting up. Pick up lauren, see friends selling themselves on the corner at 12:45 downtown, get gas, leave town.

The Journey officially begins... with a seven hour drive.

I still hold my opinion that the only worthwhile drive out of Flagstaff is south toward phoenix. Going west toward California is not really pleasant (deserts) or scenic (deserts). But, it wasn't that bad of a drive, I think only driving half the time to tucson is worse than seven hours to LA.

Anyway, Lauren slept 5 of the seven hours, leaving me to ponder my nervousness. And my anxiety of big cities as we weaved in and out of the mass movement of vehicles entering LA. Surprisingly, didn't have any problems and got us right to the hotel. Go figure. It is now about 8am. Breakfast, and packet pick-up.

We go to the race site after a nice detour along balboa peninsula which, despite the gorgeous weather and beautiful homes, was not on the schedule. A huge line awaits us for registration. No glitches, grab my timing chip, numbers, and goody bag. We walk to the ocean to check the swim arena. Waves are pretty tall and ominous. I have never swam in the ocean before. I say a little prayer.

Back to the hotel, check in, shower, sleep. We head back to the site of our detour and decide its a good place for dinner. Albertson's seems like a nice place to grab a quick dinner and take it to the beach to eat. Ceasar Salad and apple slices w/ caramel. Sunset over Newport Beach and Lifeguard harpin' on the swimmers with no fins. I have a lot of respect for what lifeguards do. They Guard Life! Got to have respect for that. But, not when you are sitting in your truck, speaking through a PA system, turned to 11, parked right behind me. Chill out Bro. Early to bed. Britni makes it to the hotel at 1:30am from San Diego. Alarm set for 2:45.

Lauren and Britni didn't understand why i needed to be there so early. Race wasn't til 7:00am, why are we leaving at 4:00am? For one, there was a parking lot, right next to the transistion area, that only had 150 spots in it and the race packet said it would fill by 5:30. I tend to go back to my car 5, 6, maybe 15 times after I set up my transition area. If we didn't get a spot in that lot, its at least a 1/2 mile walk one way. We NEED to leave at 4:00am. This was despite the fact that transition officially opened at 5:00am and I am a huge believer in the 'hurry-up-and-wait' philosophy. At last year's Mountain Man Triathlon, transition opened at 4:30, I was the second car there at 4:20. Hurry-up-and-wait. And wait I did.

Transition was set up by 5:00am. Bathroom run, shake out run, shoe tests, water and granola bar ingestion. Good to go.

More people started filtering in. The excitement began to grow as the start approached. The excitement balloon grew and then was subsequently popped with the information, at 6:30am, that the swim had been cancelled due to high surf. You could hear disappointing growns as I waited in the bathroom line for a second time. You could inmistakably hear some shouts of joy as well. I think I saw one woman jump up and down shooting her fingers like pistols in the air. Cancelled swim made everyone feel different. Pacific Coast Triathlon just became Pacific Coast Duathlon. Run-Bike-Run instead of Swim-Bike-Run.

The change definately played into my strengths. I was not a great swimmer, but have put more training time into that poriton of the race than any of the others. My run, after my continued injuries this spring wasn't eactly where I wanted it. I would have to rely on a good bike split.

The swim was supposed to start at the far end of Crystal Cove State Park, a 1/3 mile walk down the beach would have gotten you there. Since the swim was cancelled, the same walk down the beach, in the other direction, was now going to be our opening run. 1/2 mile run instead of a 1/2 mile swim.

7:00am. After a delayed start, 4 waves spaced 3 minutes apart and a 20 min break, I started at 7:40am. I was started with all the men aged 24 and under. I was racing with some post collegiates and some 12 year olds. Good times. I thought I could keep up with all the guys. It was only a 1/2 mile and I am from 7000 feet running on a beach. I was wrong. These kids kill it. Running on the beach is not my strong suit as well as doing zero speed work since last fall. I finished the first 1/2 mile 23 seconds behind the first kid. I was just glad he was in the younger age group. 3:14 for the first half mile.

Transition 1. Threw the shoes off, put the bike shoes on, swig of the water bottle, helmet, bike off the rack, I am off! 55 seconds. They time your transitions from entering the transition to leaving the transition. So all the running in and out of the transition area is also counted. I am heading out with a large group of guys.

Bike. We head out of the parking area and onto the Pacific Coast Highway. Also commonly known as Highway 1. The bike course is 12 miles. Two, 6 mile loops up and down a coned off portion of the highway. Each way had about a lane and a half of space to ride in. As you enter onto the highway and take a right out of the state park, it is immediately downhill. You merge with other cyclists who started in that initial 4 waves, as they have already done one lap during the time you where taking that 20 minute break. As we were merging with other cyclists and being the large gaggle we were creating, it was hard to not to break the rules that were being strongly enforced. These rules including: Drafting, the act of following closely behind another rider in order to save energy by the leading rider breaking the wind. And Blocking, the act of staying to the left of the bike lanes after passing another rider. When there are 20 riders surrounding you and only a lane and a half of width to share it gets difficult to follow these rules. As was said earlier, the bike course started out downhill from the transition area. But, as most educated individuals can deduce, if you go downhill on a looped course, you have to come back up. And come back up we did. The whole course was rolling. Out of the saddle, aero, out of the saddle, drive, aero, you could never get in a good rythm. As we went the first mile to the first turn around and back the length of the course (3 miles), 5 or 6 riders in my wave were cruising about the same speed. Some were intentionally drafting each other. I didn't want to get penalized for their actions and tried to stay to the left of them, but then I was blocking, also illegal. Predicament. By the end of 4 miles and the second turn around, I decided I needed to distance myself from them. I was doing much better on the climbs then they were and used it to my advantage. I earned a little lead. In all fairness, this course, despite the difficulty, was really fun! I caught a lot of my wave and kept cruising. I should have brought a water bottle onto the bike course, but consciously decided against it. I am now consciously kicking myself for that decision. By the end of the bike portion i knew I was dehydrated. I still had 3 miles to run. 31:47 for 12 miles.

Transition 2. Finished the bike feeling pretty far ahead. I slip my feet out of my shoes before I get to the transition so that when the dismount line approaches, I can hit the ground running. Rack my bike, slip the runner's back on, helmet off, swig some water, off again. 58 seconds.

Run. I started the run feeling pretty good. I was right behind a 17 year old. I kept trying to pace off of him, but by the first 1/2 mile I knew this was going to be a battle. My legs felt OK. But, my breathing was off, I was a tad dehydrated and was on the verge of a cramp that formed later. I am suspecting my lack of run training and going so hard on the bike on a hard bike course may have done me in. The sport of triathlon is interesting for many reasons, one of them being the body marking. In a sport that lacks plentiful clothing, creative ways to identify you need to be used. Hence Body Marking. You get your race number on your arm, thigh and your age on your calf. The latter of which, as far as I can deduce, is only for other athletes to know if you are in their age group. I used this bit of info plentifully. For every one who passed me on the run, I would check there calf first. 17, 16, 16, 18, 19...No one in my age group. But, that young group were studs. We are running along a paved path that parallels the PCH. After the first mile or so, we turn left and down a pathway to the beach. Another sand run. And again, use the noggin, you go down...you must do what? That's right, go back up. After 1/2 mile on the beach and being passed by two in my age group, we head up a very steep, very uncomfortable, very slow going kind of hill. Even for my 7000ft lungs, I was huffing. But, the brightside was a water station at the top and a gradual descent to the finish. No more people passed me. 19:10, 3 mile run.

Total time was 56:04. No penalties. Thank God. I was sure those other kids had gotten me caught. 7th in my age group. 59th overall. 4 min and 11 seconds behind the winner.

Its a bummer that the swim didn't go, but God had other plans. I did my duty and accomplished the goal set for me. Now...Do i go to Australia or not?

Almost here...

2009-07-16T14:53:00.000-07:00

The weather has been gorgeous lately. Can't ask for a better climate to liv ein during the summer.

I am only a handful of days away from the Pacific Coast Triathlon. If you are just joining me, it is the sprint national championship and the sole world championship qualifier. Since my last post, i have bought a new wetsuit, which is interesting to say the least, and kept up my training. My swim is getting better and my run is coming along. Still not where i want but i think it will be good enough for the race. I am unsure where my cycling is. I know I have the strength, but i am not sure where my speed is at.

I ran the "Four on the Fourth" race on July 4th. It was the Flagstaff inaugural installment of the race. 4 miles on the wonderful urban trails we have in Flagstaff. It is an interesting race because everyone starts in waves according to their age and gender. For instance the oldest women start before everyone else. In this particular case, the first wave went off 12 minutes ahead of the last wave, which happened to be mine. There were something like 65 or 70 runners in the race. Meaning, being the last to start, that I had to pass every single person if i wanted to win. It makes it nice for me, because i am a back of the pack kind of runner. Meaning, I go faster when I have people to catch and pass.

I wasn't expecting much from the race due to the lack of any speed training yet this summer, but, as usual, I surprised myself. My first mile split was 5:53. I have not run under 6 minutes since december because of my constant injuries and build-up training. So, it was good. I finished the race in 10th place. Although, I think I had the 3rd or 4th fastest overall time. As I said earlier, someone who started, let's say, 6 minutes ahead of me could run five minutes slower in total time, but cross the finish a minute ahead because of the handicap. Kind of a bummer. But, the top-10 won certificates, so I can't complain. And knowing that I was faster than most in the top-10 anyway makes it easier to digest anyway.

To more recent news. I did my first 'brick' workout today. A bike-transition-run workout. I know, it is probably too late to get any benefit from the workout before next weekends race. I felt alright, although my legs had nothing for the hills towards the end of my run. Otherwise, it wasn't too bad. And my transition felt pretty 'ok' too.

I am still really nervous for the race. It is the biggest one of my triathlon racing career so far and I am just praying that everything goes good. It is going to be quite exciting, no matter the outcome.

104 mile debacle...

2009-06-20T20:25:00.000-07:00

A recap of the Flagstaff Barn burner.

The beginning of the day seemed to be foreshadowing the conclusion. By that i mean, rain.

Alarm goes off at 4:00am. Yeah, that's the morning. Most of my gear and food and water was set out the day before. It was just a matter of double and triple checking everything i had, eating, showering and loading up for the hour drive to the race venue. At about 4:30, I realize it is raining outside, not really hard, but constant and wet. Great. I say that with some sarcasm, when in all truth, it wasn't really bothering me. Even on the drive up 180 and across the miles of slick, muddy, pot-holed roads, i didn't really care. Which is odd.

I left the house about 5:15 after not being able to find the socks i had pulled out of my dresser (they were in the dryer, nicely folded, where i left them as i was looking for something else). I also couldn't find my hand pump. Probably should have looked for it yesterday. Thanks for bringing an extra Mr. Pfannenstiel.

I fell in line with a caravan of cars heading in the general direction of the temporary city set up for the race. This inaugural event had over 400 riders in all teams! it was an impressive site as we drove closer. I have experienced this same shanty race living once before when i raced on a 4-man team at the 24hours in the Old Pueblo. Still blows my mind.

I arrive just after 6am at the race. Final instructions are being belted out by the announcer from the safety of the barn (hence the name "Barn Burner"). A final racer meeting is set to start at 6:15. They are surprisingly right on time. Mumbles circulate through the crowd about the mud. Shoes are inches higher from the build-up of the sticky stuff. Race start is Le-Mans style...200meter run to the bikes. Should be a great time trying to clip in with mud-clogged shoes.

Final inspection of the bike and off to the rack. Andy shows up just in time to go over some last minute instructions. He is going to be my feed man for the first couple laps.

We pilgrimage to the start. Count down. GO! and then the gun goes off. Late. As we run passed. Whatever. I am running on the grass, trying to stay out of the mud as much as possible. Give andy a last minute hoot and holler and a pat on the shoulder as i run passed. I miss my bike in the rack. Have to go back for it. I am off. Surprisingly, i have little problem getting my shoes into the pedals. Mud is flying everywhere off tires. I can feel clumps hitting every part of my body.

To the course. 4 laps, 26 miles each, 1700ft of elevation gain per lap. I have one gear on my bike, no suspension and no food on the first lap. Didn't think i needed it. Bad choice on all three of the previous descriptions. The first lap is fast. I am at a disadvantage with only one gear on my bike. While everyone else can shift down to go faster down hills. I have a limit. I hate that. I know i can physically go faster but my bike won't allow it. I kill it on the uphill. Some say this is also a disadvantge. On a bike with gears, you can shift up and make the hill easier. I can't, obviously. Most of everyone who passes me on the downhills gets passed back and their pride a little hurt as i cruise passed with one gear. This first lap seems to go on forever. I don't know where we are. By the time i ask someone how far we have gone he says 22 miles. Nice. I am about 1.5 hours into the first lap. Starting to feel hungry and wishing i had brought some food with me.

There are two large ascents per lap. One about halfway through the course and the second right before the end of the lap.They just keep going! You will get little breaks as the hill levels out for 100m, but then start back up again. Killed my legs. As i said earlier, with only one gear, you can't shift up to make the pedaling easier. I had to crank up every hill. No easy way out.

Lap one is done. I come through the barn. They record my time, and I am out the other side. Andy is waiting with my food. Trevor was also there to help with support. I have to say that he was sick the night before and still got up to come cheer me on. Thanks trevor. I should have put more food in. I asked for a powerbar gel and an apple. I also got filled waterbottles. I down the gel, take a bite of the apple, stick it in my mouth and i am off for a second lap. My chain starts acting up and coming off. Its an easy fix, but when it happens every 2 minutes, it gets frustrating. I had no problem the first lap, now i do. About a mile in and at the conclusion of my apple eating, i realize i am going to need more food. This lap, now that i know the course, is mentally clicking by. It is going by quick. A few other single speeders pass me. I think i was the first single speed to finish the first lap. I am now in fourth. Just after one of these single speeders passes me and says, "Nice, rigid" (commenting in my lack of suspension) we come up on a self-serve feed table. They have gatorade, water, power bars and powerbar gels. This guy gets a flat. I fill up, grab my goodies and am out again. I down a powerbar, another gel and and some gatorade. I start to feel much better. Before the energy, I was thinking of throwing in the towel, its no fun being hungry, bonking and just pounding out the miles.

Its also no fun having zero suspension. I heard this was a fast course and it sure was, but the lack of any reprieve from rocks sucks. I thought it shouldn't be any problem, i was wrong, once again. After every climb usually came a descent. Most likely a rocky descent. Holding onto the handlebars for dear life, makes your hands feel like they are on fire. I would literally let go to shake them out from time to time and my fingers would hurt to straighten because they were so cramped. Let alone just getting pounded by the vibrations. My biceps began to hurt. Never again.

Second lap is over. I feel pretty good. It was a tad slower lap, but it went by a lot quicker in my mind because i wasn't blind to the. course anymore. I switched, my sweaty, muddy jersey for a new one, picked up more gel, almonds, and some kiwi chips. Another water bottle as well. Third lap. Andy had to go to work after this feed. Lauren and Mick were taking his place. My parents were also coming out.

About a mile into this lap, after feeling good while picking up my food. My legs began to weaken. I ate some more, but wasn't really hungry. I drank but that wasn't it either. My legs were tired and they were letting me know it. I still had 25 miles til the end of this lap. I could tell i was a lot slower. My chain came off a couple more times. More frustration. I thought if i could make it to the self-serve energy bar, i could take a short break and get some gatorade. it helped me last time, maybe this time too. The difference on this lap was the constant counting of miles. It made the energy bar come mush slower. I hadn't even hit the climbs yet. I was dreading it already.

The whole lap was a constant internal battle whether to give up or not. Numerous times i came to the conclusion of quitting only to tell myself that i was way ahead of my goal time and i could take a 15 minute break when i got back to camp and then pound out the last lap. This happened a dozen times over the third lap.

Less people seemed to be out this time around, i knew that some would be finishing soon. I knew that after 52 miles, everyone would get spread out. It was nice to know that i wasn't getting passed all the time. I walked up the first climb, for the first time. Someone passed me on the climb for the first time. I was losing the battle. I kept hashing out the miles. First climb over. First large descent, over. Long stretch of gradual uphill, over. Here comes the final, huge, steep climb. I need a break. I drop my bike on the side of the road. Eat a little. Two minutes might have passed. Here we go. I decide on that climb, that i don't, can't put myself through another lap. My body was telling me to stop. I wasn't ready to go 104 miles. I did 78 and DNFed.

I have never, not finished a race. I don't sign-up for races with out the intent to finish and do well. I can only imagine what would have happened if i went out for that final lap. I would have walked, i would have gone slow, i probably would have finished and earned the coveted belt buckle that was my main motivation for signing up in the first place. But, it would have been huge pain. It wouldn't have been fun and I very well might have raced myself into some form of weakened health. The lack of fun and physical and mental break down was enough for me to call it quits. I am still second guessing my decision. I feel like a quitter. I had already completed 3 of 4 laps. What was one more? I can't tell people that it was a struggle, but i finished. I have to tell them that i dropped out. Doing 78 miles, while a huge accomplishment, isn't 104 miles. I will eventually forgive myself. But, this race is going to be that black mark on my racing career.

miles...

2009-06-16T07:39:00.000-07:00

Back again for another installment of the blog. Summer seems to be in full swing. The temperatures have been cool as of late. Cooler than a normal June would allow to believe. But, I have been reassured by the 'trusty' weatherman that we are supposed to warm up this week and finally peak over the 80 degree mark.

It was my birthday yesterday and I am no longer a teenager under law. A new decade has arisen in my life.

I am racing in a 104 mile mountain bike race on saturday. Do I think I am ready for it? probably not, but i am going to give the ol' fighting try and keep pedalin' til the finish line. Its only 12 hours of riding right? Stay tuned for a re-cap of that race early next week.

I am still trying to fight off a minor cold i have been dealing with since early last week. It comes on as a stuffy nose and doesn't seem to be shaken.

My running is coming along. I am up to about 3 miles at a time. Once i feel comfortable doing that distance i will increase it a little more and sooner or later i will be getting in a good amount of miles every week. I am doing no speed work until July. Not even strides at the end of a run. I want to make sure my legs have enough miles under them before I add any speed.

I believe that is it. Work is still rocking my socks. And I can't believe that one of my literally 3 days of vacation this year is going to be mountain biking 104 miles. Whatever.

Oh Boy....

2009-06-04T07:08:00.001-07:00

June has finally arrived. The rain has finally left and the summer is kicking into high gear.
Work is still kicking my butt. I have worked overtime the last three weeks. Which are incidentally the first three full weeks of my summer vacation.

I have been trying to get at least two workouts in everyday with one rest day a week. So far its been going pretty good. There are some days when i can only get one or none in because of work. But, i shake that off and continue on the next day.

I am up to about 2.5-3 miles per run now. Still really easy running. I don't want to push myself at all at this point. I am going to gradually work up a base and continue the gradual increase of mileage. I am expecting not to do any speed work before my triathlon in July. Then, hit the track and the trails for some faster work for the World Championships in September (hopefully, if i qualify).

I also have a 104 mile mountain bike race coming up at the end of june. I think its only in like two weeks. I can't believe how fast it is arriving. I might not be ready for it at all, but i think my mental drive and determination not to quit will keep me rolling over the long miles. Plus, they are awarding SWEET custom belt buckles to the individuals who break 12 hours. I think i can do that and the belt buckle is my one and only motivation.

Anyway, I am about to go swimming this morning for my second pool session this week. A short run after that and probably a mountain bike ride later on. Today is one of my coveted days off this week and i intend to use it fully. Later.

slowly but surely...

2009-05-19T20:34:00.000-07:00

One week of running down, 6 miles total. Still a little pain in the IT band. I am planning on setting up a massage for it next week through the hospital. They would know better about what specifically to do for it.

Swam again today. the pool at the Aquaplex kind of suck for lap swimming and is awesome for everything else. They say its a 20m pool, i am thinking 20yds. Its also like 87-89 degrees! That comparable to running in 95-100 degree heat. I get out of the pool and sweat! But, its the only pool open. two more days of that this week and then more pools will open.

Been riding a little as well. Not as much as i would like, but i still don't think i am up to my regular fitness. I am getting about 75-100 miles/week.

Work is kicking my butt. Last week was my first full week off of school and i was already into overtime! I am actually liking it a little though. I feel very accomplished at the end of the week.

Swim and two miles running tomorrow. Mountain bike on thursday. yes.

Summertime...

2009-05-08T08:47:00.000-07:00

Two more days! I get to run again! The IT Band is feeling better, not 100% by any means, but better.

I have to figure out a new place to swim for the next month. The country club pool doesn't open til memorial day weekend and the Natatorium on cmapus (where i usually swim) is closed to rec swimming for the month of May. Who does that? I can't believe they close for a whole month. I can't believe flagstaff doesn't have more public pools.

The weather is Nice! I have been able to commute on my bike again. Get some miles in. I am feeling really good for this part of the season as far as my cycling is concerned. Let's hope that carries through til July.

Next race: Flagstaff Barnburner. A 104 mile looping mountain bike course. June 20th. Single Speed. Break 12 hours and you get a sweet belt buckle. That is my one and only motivation.

Not much changing as far as training is concerned. School is over. Summer has officially started. And what better way to start than two days of Grand Canyon Region track and field!

Training gets serious next week. Check you later.

Ups and downs...

2009-04-23T11:37:00.000-07:00

I had a good day and a bad day yesterday. We'll start with the good. I got in the pool for a 1000m time trial. I dropped my 750m time (en route) to 12:44 and my 1000m to 17:13. Those times are still a lot slower than i would like them, but i am seeing successes in small triumphs. I mark my progress by dropping under certain minutes blocks. For example, My next goal is to drop my 1000m under 17 minutes. I am hoping that with more time in the pool this summer i can drop those times exponentially and get to a point where i feel comfortable as a threat in races.

Bad news. I hopped on the bike later in the day and i felt absolutely horrible. My legs were heavy. I think a lot of it came from the strong headwinds. It also could have been from being the first good day on the bike outside since last year. Riding inside on a trainer only does so much. But, I don't like making excuses.

One success and one needing improvement. My IT band is feeling better and i am counting the days til i get back to running full time.

Mental blocks...

2009-04-19T11:11:00.000-07:00

I am having mental blocks. Not the kind that ail you when you are trying to write an essay or a song. But the kind of mental blocks that make everything you do seem bad. For example, I want to get back to running. But, today especially, I am feeling horrible. I am sick of feeling bad. Well, not bad necessarily, just not 100%.

I had my knee diagnosed last thursday. I have Illiotibial Band Syndrome A.K.A. ITBS or IT Band Syndrome. It is a swelling of the It Band which runs from your hip to just below your knee. I have started home therapy on it.

I look back at this year and am thinking, "Man, here i am in April and i have yet to put in any good run training." I think never being seriously injured before is really a blessing and a hindrance at the same time. I am not dealing with this well. On the other hand, even if i start my base back up come may and the end of the semester, i will still have a good 8-10 weeks of training time before the race the matters, The Pacific Coast Triathlon.

The whole situation is mighty frustrating.

2009-03-30T14:20:00.000-07:00

Time is just seeming to fly by these days. One minute it was spring break and now its two weeks after and I am counting down the days til the end of the semester.

I felt really good in the pool today. The pool trolls moved the lanes back to short course which was a nice change. The Japanese team must have left again. I have been running a couple miles per day or every other day. No pain back in my knee but i am still being super cautious about everything. Every little ache and pain is registered on the mental radar. I think its good to be cautious, so you catch injuries before they get too bad, but i might be over doing it.

The weather is still a nuisance. Its either warm and super windy or cold or cold and windy. There is no good weather in flagstaff in the spring.

I need to get back on the bike more, i think i am ahead of where i was last year as far as fitness goes but i won't know until this summer.

I guess that is about it. The Rock and Worship Roadshow was awesome! Good job to the few track athletes that competed this weekend at chandler. I'm out!

Back to it...

2009-03-19T08:23:00.000-07:00

I finally went running again. After just about 4 weeks off, i went on an easy 30 minute jog with a co-coach of mine last saturday. Except for the usual aches and pains from getting back into running, i felt ok. I went running an easy 20 min on tuesday and that felt pretty ok too. My knee doesn't seem to be bothering me yet, but we'll see what happens when my pavement pounding becomes more routine. I hope to get out again today for an easy 20-25 min.

I am being very cautious this time around. My base mileage last fall was obviously low and i didn't have the strength to keep up training at the intensity that i was going. I am really focusing on getting myself healthy and staying healthy through the year.

This week, in general, is pretty laid back. It is spring break and the pool is closed. No swimming. I haven't yet, but i want to get on my bike maybe once or twice this week too. It is generally a recovery week and i will be back to normal training, plus running, next week once school recommences.

base training...

2009-03-03T11:46:00.000-07:00

I am still off of running which i am mentally feeling better about. I still have two weeks of self prescribed rest before i try another few easy miles. Track season is in full swing. The high school team that i assitant coach had their first meet last night. Most of them did a good job, although we have a lot of work left to do.

Personally, my own cycling and swim training is going well. I had an opportunity to get out a few times last week on the bike. It was breezy at times but felt a lot better than so much time on the trainer. I am also getting in a consistent 3 days in the pool every week. I am working up my base in both cases. I want to drop my 1500m swim time down to 25min by May. I feel like right now i am at about 27-28min.

Not much else happening really. The weather is supposed to get bad again this weekend and into next week. I will hibernating on my trainer once again.

motivation...

2009-02-20T20:11:00.000-07:00

As i am in a transition period of my training. Meaning, i am trying to get over the little niggles i am feeling in my legs by not running (again). As well as beginning my base phase for the cycling and swimming. I have been comtemplating my reasons for doing what i do and this is what i have come up with:

1. I like being in shape both by looking fit (six pack and the like)and by being able to ride 40+miles, swim daily and run half marathons without much second thought.

2. I think about going fast and i like the feeling, so training helps me get faster and therefore live the 'fast' dreams.

3. I like competition. Training helps me be competitive where most people could never be and i feel truly blessed for that ability.

The problem i am facing is the fact that i have no long term goals. Sure the olympics would be great, Ironman too. But, i am not sure i could stay motivated for 4 years to, perhaps, be disappointed. I am the kind of person who waits til a week or two before a race to sign up so i know i really want to do it. Until this last fall, I hadn't specifically trained for a race for more than a month. Its usually a spur of the moment decision whether to race or not.

The bottom line of this problem is: how am i going to keep myself motivated to swim everyday, run everyday or bike everyday, let alone do all of them multiple times every week? So far i have had mediocre success with local races and a general natural ability pull me to the finish line, usually in a high placing. But a top-5 finish in a local race is nothing campared to be top-5 in a high class field of racers. I can see myself being a great athlete, but how do keep myself motivated to reach that goal? And what exactly is that goal? Olympian? Ironman? Until i figure that out, i feel like it is an endless struggle to keep myself motivated.

Time flies...

2009-02-11T21:51:00.000-07:00

What happened to these days?

More snow...

2009-02-11T21:38:00.000-07:00

Last wednesday, one week ago from today, I was running in short sleeves and shorts. I believe the temperature that day was close to 60 degrees, 57 i think. Absolutely gorgeous. Most of the snow from the previous christmas holiday storms was gone and sunny portions of the trails were mostly dry and firm again. And then...

28inches of snow, hours of shoveling and a rare snowday at NAU later, i am wiped. Mentally and Physically. I literally shoveled hundreds, if not thousands of pounds of snow the last couple of days from our driveway. My shoulders, back, abs, and forearms are all sore. I took a day off from swimming today because even if i wanted to swim it would be a wasted workout because of my aching muscles. I was asleep last night at 8pm. Lame. I know.

Mentally, i was stoked for the trails to be back open. I am not really a fan of running on the streets (although i will do it out of necessity). And the streets aren't all that safe anyway. Ice and cars tend to keep me off the asphalt.

Good news is, my dad will probably not be gone fighting fires this summer as much. And, we desperately need the moisture.

Nothing much...

2009-02-03T19:31:00.000-07:00

Not much happening here.

A couple days late, but the Cardinals lost and the whole of Arizona sighed at being so close to a championship winning state again. The weather is nice, pending a horrible snow storm predicted for this weekend. I, after a few weeks, have finally found a routine around my school schedule to train. And i missed out on signing up for the Desert Classic Duathlon this last weekend because of being sold out. I tend to wait until the last minute to sign up, just to make sure I am really going to be ready. It doesn't bode well for these kinds of races that sell out early.

Its a bummer that I am not racing in February, but there are some upsides. One of the silver linings means i don't have to spend money to race or travel. Without having a job for the next couple of months, its nice not spending so much money. Secondly, I am not feeling pressured to be physically ready for it.

Next race is the Tempe International Triathlon in May. It will be my first olympic distance triathlon and if training goes well, it could be a break-out triathlon for me. And i will make sure i sign up early for it. ;)

Feelin' better...

2009-01-21T16:17:00.000-07:00

After a slow start back into running and a quick examination by a physical therapist of my calves, i am feeling better after my break. I have started to take stretching more seriously (something i took for granted) and have slowed down my easy runs. I am usually a 'give it all you got' kind of runner, even on easy days and I have begun to change. My muscle soreness is becoming a deterrant to running and i don't want it to be, hence the change of mentality.

I ran about 20 miles last week along with a few hours on the indoor bike trainer as i prepare for the Desert Classic Duathlon at the end of February. I hope to work my way back up to 35-40 miles/week by the first week of Feb. I am not looking to run any PR's, although a good time would be appreciated and a Worlds Qualifying wouldn't be too shabby either.

I got back in the pool again today too after 5 weeks out and, although not as fast, I felt good and bad at the same time. I felt exactly where I should be. My endurance suffered, my muscles were a little tight. I hope to be back to full strength in the next few weeks in the water as well.

As far as i am concerned I am feeling good about where I am physically, albeit still a tad tight in the legs, and I should be ready for the Desert Classic when it rolls around.

Changes...

2009-01-06T21:12:00.000-07:00

The first big change is it is now 2009! It has been 2009 for a few days and so far, not so special. But, who knows, i don't tend to judge the outcome of things by the beginning. If everyone judged things that way, Michael Phelps wouldn't have won 8 gold medals, The two wars we are in would be over and the snow would just keep coming down. Fortunately Michael Phelps did win 8 golds, and it has stopped snowing everyday.

Now, on to running. Big news: I am not running the marathon, nor the half marathon anymore. I really had to re-evaluate my goals for 2009. I originally signed up for the RNR Marathon in phoenix with the intent to leap frog into the AZ Ironman in November. Well, plans changed there too and I don't think thats the way i want to go just yet. I want to focus on the shorter distance triathlons and work my way up.

Physically i wasn't feeling it either. The recovery from the Tucson half took a lot more out of me than i expected and i wasn't feeling good on my long runs after that. I thought, "Man, if it takes me this long to recover from the half marathon, its going to take me twice as long to recover from the full!" And i can't take that much time off. I have a Duathlon at the end of February and it is a world championship qualifier. I don't have the intent to race at the World championship if i make it, but i want to give myself the best shot at qualifying. Secondly, i just felt like a I needed a break. I haven't run since christmas eve and i think this is good for my legs. Once school starts back up in a little less than a week. I will get back in the pool, back on the trainer and back out on the roads to train for the new exciting year ahead!

Snow feelings...

2008-12-22T18:52:00.000-07:00

I think i am finally recovered enough to start running again. I went out on saturday for an easy 5 miles and felt alright, just trying to shake out the cobwebs in my muscles. My calves still get tight when i run and i am a little worried about it. I can't really take any more time off from running. My marathon is in less than 4 weeks.

I went out again today and did a moderate 8 miles. Felt a lot better than saturday but my calves still got tight at about 4 miles. Now, its snowing and the roads and sidewalks haven't melted from the last storm. This is my least favorite part of running during the winter. I absolutely cannot do treadmills, which means, i just have to make do with the conditions i live in. I have to work back up to my endurance level and i should be set for the full in january. I am thinking that one way or another i am going to finish that full marathon. I have too many friends giving me encouragement to wimp out on it. The next few weeks will be key.

Recover, recover...

2008-12-13T18:59:00.000-07:00

Recovery has been my mantra this week. I knew it was going to be a stretch running a half marathon only 6 weeks before my marathon. And a stretch it has become. A stretch of quads, hamstrings, and calves.

My week started with a few days off, seeing as though it was a struggle to walk. I think the combination of a bad warm-up before the half and a mostly down-hill race with a little speed mixed in made for a long recovery. I went on a 5 mile, easy day today and felt absolutely horrible. My legs were tight in the first half mile and living in flagstaff means no flat ground...anywhere. I am obviously a little worried about my preparedness for the full marathon in january. If it was a struggle today to run 5 miles, its going to be a struggle to finish my long runs.

I did swim on thursday and rode my bike yesterday. I have not been totally dormant. I am thinking i need to add some more cross training to my schedule next week and resume full running by next weekend. Ultimately, i am regretting my decision to run the half, but seeing as though it was a friend's first race of any kind, i wanted to be there to support him and get a feel for my fitness at the same time. Its going to be all on time's shoulders to tell if i am going to be prepared for the full in 5 weeks, but the race organizers have an easy transfer of races: Just start in the half marathon. It might be a race week decision on which race i do.

Tucson Half Marathon...

2008-12-08T20:34:00.000-07:00

Thank you to everyone who came and watched, offered words of encouragement, and most of all prayed for myself and all the runners yesterday. Here is my race recap.I was up at 4:30 yesterday morning because we had to park in a lot behind Ventana Medical in Oro Valley by 6am. I ate a bowl of instant oatmeal and threw my jersey on. I put on all my sweats cause i knew it was going to be cold.I rolled up to the Medical center at about 5:15 and there was a line of cars, literally, two miles long. Obviously, the parking of cars was difficult and taking a long time. I finally got parked at 5:45. Took my "drop bag" and water bottle and headed to the buses that were going to take us to the start line. They didn't have space at the start line for all the cars to park, hence the bus ride. The ride was about 15 minutes long up to the entrance of Biosphere 2. Again, the organization was horrible. We sat on the bus for almost 40min. They didn't have space for all the buses at the start line. They had them wait at the entrance until a bus left and then the next one would go and unload its humans. Took forever, people decided to just walk the mile to the start line because it was only 20 min til start and we hadn't warmed up. I was one of the people in the mass exodus form the buses. Warmed up, gave up my 'drop bag' on the bus that was going to take it to the finish line and did my normal stretching and warm up. We started about 15min late. Everyone was lining up. I got in the front and people were filling in around me. I ended up being about 3 rows back from the start line. I looked around and I was thinking "no way are these peolpe faster than me." Some were older, some women, some overweight, no way were they faster than me. I took my self out of the line and went right to the front where the 'fast' looking guys were. Annoucer says, "ready, set, go!" We're off.I start out a little faster than expected but want to roll with it and see how my body reacts. There are about 7 or 8 of us at the front by the first mile. 5:27. We drop 2 or 3 people between miles one and two. mile 2 split-11:09. By mile 2 there are five of us. The first aid station comes up, i come up empty handed because the volunteers don't necessarily understand how to hand out water. A runner moving at an increased rate of speed stretches out a hand to a resting cup. Every action has an equal or lesser reaction. In this case, the reaction was a smashing of the pepsi cup and water going everywhere when one hand comes in contact with a resting hand. See if you can't visualize my frustration. Mile 3 split-16:41 By mile three, there are only 4 of us and a large gap back to the rest of the pack, with one runner in no man's land between the two groups. My shins are starting to feel tight already, but i keep pushing despite thoughts of slowing down. Mile 4 split-22:22 Two of the four in our group have started pulling away from myself and the other runner next to me. I start feeling a cramp in my side which affects my breathing. I haven't slowed down but i can't go any faster. Mile 5 split-27:53(?) By this time, i am looking forward to seeing what my 10K split is going to be, because i know regardless of the time, it is going to be a personal best. 10K split- 35:23 I PRed my 10K by over 2 minutes! my previous 10K was 37:47. During the last mile the runner i was with starts pulling away from me and i am not able to keep up. I am now safely, for the time, in fourth place. Right about the 7mile mark, a runner comes blazing passed me. He looks really strong. He ends up winning the race. Mile 7 has our first gradual up hill of the whole race. I am also starting to fade a little. One of the front runners from the beginning of the race is fading quick and i feel like i can catch him. Close to mile 8 he stops and takes his shoe off, i figure he has a blister. After the race i find out his toe was bleeding for one reason or another and bled through his shoe. He dropped out. I am back into fourth position. But there is a huge gap. I shake my cramp at mile 9. But my legs just don't have anything left to give. It is just a battle to finish now. I come through mile 10 at about 57 or 58 min. I don't remember my splits as well because my mind is just set on finishing. But i wanted to be under an hour at 10miles and i was safely under that. Now, my goal was to finish under 1:18. Another runner passed my at 10.5 miles. I tried to stick with him, but like i said earlier my legs just didn't have anything left. The last few miles, i was just cruising. They were the hardest miles of the course as far as elevation goes and i just didn't want to get passed again. My last 5k ended up being about 20min give or take a few. I finished in 1:17.36. Better than expected and i ran personal best times at every distance from 3 miles and up. And i was only off my 2mile PR by 5 seconds. So, it was a good day. I am too sore to even walk straight and now its time to recover so that i will be back in running form by January for my full marathon!

More to come...

2008-11-30T19:44:00.001-07:00

It is the last day of november, and i am counting the days til the end of the semester. Review, finals and a few papers for good measure are all i have left. The end of this week could not come soon enough. The academic aspect of my life is coming to another 4 week halt, but the training is just heating up.
The Tucson half marathon is next sunday, a week from today. I am slightly resting this week. My legs have felt pretty tired the last few days from the longer miles i am not used to. After that, it is the final 6 weeks til marathon day. Oh goodness, do i hope i don't just fall apart during the marathon. I could have a fabulous day, or i could just blow up and not be even close to my goal time. The next few weeks are going to be imperative to the success of January 18th.
I have also caught a small duathlon bug. The Desert Classic Duathlon looks to be the next big race after the marathon. Its in Phoenix and its a US world duathlon qualifier. I have an outside chance of qualifying and i hope to put on a good show. I definately need to work on speed after the long monotonous miles of the marathon. I don;t have any zip in my legs during workouts, which could be a side effect to the longer miles i am doing as well. Either way, i need more speed and some good rest after the long weeks of training.
I am pretty excited about the Tucson Half because i haven't raced since the end of september. The racing keeps me motivated to train, so a couple months of training is ready to be released on the roads of oracle.

Yo, Yo....

2008-11-19T07:53:00.000-07:00

I think i speak for a lot of college aged adults when i say that i can finally feel the end to the semester. It is still 3 1/2 weeks away, but the general feeling is gaining momentum. Along with the end of the school semester, means the holidays, as well as more races to look forward to.
I am officially registered for the Tucson Half Marathon. I am pleased to say that my friend Cody Elzey is running it with me. I couldn't ask for a better partner in crime.
I am also rejuvenated in the prospect of running for the glory of God. It is easier for me because I race for a team of christian athletes. But, i still do not feel like i give enough to God, who gives me the talent and strength to compete in the first place. After watching Ryan Hall's (olympic marathoner) video testimony, i am excited to be running for God and can not wait to share in his glory with non-believers. Or for that fact to help strengthen the faith of believers.
I am starting to feel better about running. I am starting to see improvements and am glad that the weather is holding up for a little bit longer this fall. My long runs still bring me some apprehension. I don't tend to feel very good about them and i think it is mostly mental. The prospect of having to run 16 or more miles at once seems very far. Which is odd because i just went out for an 8 mile run on monday at a fairly quick pace and that was nothing. Long runs are not fast and i shouldn't feel so bad about them. But, i am a very mental runner and i need to get over that aspect of my training.

Check up...

2008-10-29T11:50:00.000-07:00

It has been over a month since i worte last. Been a change of life, as far as school and work and all that is concerned and the blog kind of dropped off the radar. I am going to try and fill in the holes of the last month and the new goals i have for the next few months.
At the end of september i ran in the 3rd annual Flagstaff half Marathon. It is an off road race at the local cross country skiing venue outside of flagstaff. It is located at 8000ft of elevation and the course itself had over 1100ft of elevation gain. It started off good. I am not really great on hills but i was in 5th place after the first two miles and stuck there for the rest of the race. I was splitting under 7min miles until mile 9. Miles 9 and 10 were clocked in at 17min, because they were all uphill. I couldn't believe how long that hill was and when it was going to come back down. I finished in 5th place with a personal best time of 1:30.08. I wanted to break 1:30 but i was pleased to have gone under 7min mile pace on such a hard course. That has been the only race i have done since my last post.
I have been nursing some knee pain the last few weeks. I took the two weeks after the half marathon easy to try and rehab my knee. I am still feeling pain, but it isn't getting any worse, so i have resumed training on it.
As of this week, i have about 11 1/2 weeks til the PF Changs Rock n Roll Marathon in Phoenix in January. As stated above, i have resumed training and it is going good so far. Yesterday i ran 1000m repeats on the new track at my old high school. They were in 3.55, 3.50, 3.40 3.31, 3.24. I purposely started my first 1000m in 6:15 mile pace (since that is my goal pace for the marathon) and increased them each time. I meant to go 5 seconds faster every 1000 but after my third one, i was feeling really good and went a little faster on the last two. I have an 11mile long run on thursday and am increasing my long runs by 1mile every week until i get to 20miles which will be two weeks from the marathon and then a two week taper.
I am also planning on running the tucson half marathon on december 7th as a tune up run for the marathon. I want to see that i can hold the 6:15 pace and get more accustomed to a road race in the desert.
I do not have any plans passed that. Tentatively i am looking at racing the Desert Classic Duathlon in February and perhaps the Tempe International Triathlon in May. That is it.

Future Endeavors...

2008-09-13T00:06:00.000-07:00

I do triathlon because i am selfish. I like looking good when my shirt is off, i like competing and having others bring out the best in me, i like crossing the finish line and accomplishing something and most of all i like trying to inspire others to make their life better as well. I know that friends of mine have taken a liking to triathlon since my first one in july of 2007. Whether it was because of me or not, i might never know. Its one of those cliche sports that 75% of people do, just to say they've done it. And thats ok. Because they still had to train and accomplish something that 95% of the world has never done.

I have always said, when someone asked what i want for my birthday or christmas, that i just want a call or to hang out, maybe some homemade cookies. Something that means more than just a store bought object that has no real meaning. That is kind of why i am writing this note. I have races coming up in the next 12-14 months that are really going to mean a lot to me.

Everyone knows i race, probably too much. And, to ask friends to come to every one of those races would be more selfish than my justifications for doing triathlon. But, i want to put the power in your hands and give you every opportunity on my part to share in my mile stones.

When a group of friends showed up at the butt crack of dawn to come watch me race in this year's mountain man triathlon, i was so over joyed that they felt the want, whether begrudgingly or not, to come and watch. Eventhough, i know how boring watching my races can be. Everyone could see how much that race meant to me when i started crying because my mom was so proud of me for winning my age group (finally). I put a lot of effort into what i do and i don't race without the intent to accomplish something great.

The bottom line is: if you feel the need or want to come and watch me race this year, i am giving you all the information you need to get the wheels turning.

September 27th: Flagstaff Half-Marathon
Flagstaff Nordic Center 8am

November 22-23: Ironman Arizona sign-up
Tempe, (this isn't an actual race, just a sign-up for one, but feel free to come keep me company in line as this is the first step to completing Ironman next year.)

December 7 (tentative): Tucson Half Marathon
Tucson 7:00am

January 18: Rock n Roll Marathon
Tempe 7:40am

November 24(?) 2009: Ironman Arizona
Tempe 7:00am

Goals...

2008-08-12T14:05:00.000-07:00

I was thinking about how much my plans have changed, for the better, in the last few weeks. Some of the plans maybe far fetched and unreachable but without goals, nothing gets accomplished.
I wanted to study in Greece in the fall of 2009, but i also want to race Ironman Arizona in November of that same year. Doing Ironman is much more important to me. That is the first change. In order to do reach that goal i want to run a marathon, the Rock N Roll marathon in phoenix in January. Doing that requires that i not race a couple triathlons in September and December. There is the second change.
The third goal i have is probably the most far fetched idea. I have caught the olympic bug and want to try and qualify for the 2016 olympics. The problem with this idea, is the time it is going to take to train for the olympics. It is a full time job and i need a coach to help me train. Coaches are explensive things. And i have to stay i don't have the best motivation. Everyone i have talked to think that i have a chance of qualifying and i think that i do if i can put the effort in.
The only thing that i can do know is see how things unfold along the next few years.

Oh the crazy things i do...

2008-07-31T19:01:00.001-07:00

Today sounded like a good day to hike humphreys. Except hiking might be an understatement. I have always wanted to run it. Yes, run it. It was more like going as fast as i could without dying or feeling bad, but i guess we could call it jogging.
I once warmed up with an olympian who said that he had made it to the summit in 30 minutes. I was blown away because the fastest i have ever done it was 2hr 15min to the saddle and back down which is over an hour up to the saddle, let alone all the way to the summit. Since then, and this was junior year in high school, i have wanted to try it myself. Today was the day.
I started out at about 10am and didn't stop at all until i got to the top. I passed a few people. Mostly the ones who were more ambitious than me and got up a lot earlier then i did. Never the less i still made it up in 1hr 17min 42sec. I felt unbelieveably good surprisingly. I haven't run that far for months let alone up a mountain.
So, i was glad i made it.I was very flattered when a woman i passed going up stopped me as i was going down and asked if i was an olympian or something. I said, "no, just crazy" and thats exactly how i feel. By the time i got down i was so done with that mountain. It was a bad choice overall. I rushed back home, ate a popsicle, a cold glass of ice water and took an ice bath. I ate lunch and took a nap. The morning pretty much drained my whole day. I made it from trailhead to summit and back down in 2hr 21min 51sec. Not bad.

Mountain man triathlon 2008...

2008-07-22T12:09:00.001-07:00

I have felt really blessed over the last 24 hours. I have gotten numerous texts and calls asking how i did yesterday at the triathlon. I wanted to update everyone and thank everyone for their support of myself and the one and only Dave Tessmer, who also completed this triathlon with outstanding results!Sorry its long! Please read all of it. This is my biggest accomplishment so far in triathlon and i am very proud of it and Tessmer for doing it with me.

Let me tell you about Dave. This was tessmer's first real triathlon. He had done the FAC sprint tri last year, but it was nothing compared to this. He has been training so hard for this race and he ended up 77th out of 302! He swam 700m in 19:24, Transition 1 in 2:56, 18K bike in 37:00, T2 in 1:07 and finished it out with a 5K run in 26:20 for an overall time of 1:26.44! And, he might not want me to say this, but, he had to pee the whole time. In fact, he crossed the finish and we were looking for him. I mean, come on, how do you miss tessmer? He ended up being in the bathroom. Fantastic job by him!

My race was also just as great. I felt very calm the morning of. The transition area opened at 4:30am i was the second person there at 4:20. I checked my bike and gear and headed to the transition to set up my area. Once that was done, sitting around ensued as i still had over an hour and a half to wait before my race started. I found tessmer about 5:45 and we went over last minute questions that he had about the race and watched the other races before us start. We walked to the start boat ramp and said a little prayer. A gentleman next to us listened in and told us that he was going to be a campus crusade leader next year. I thought that was really great that other christian's were doing the same thing i was. It really strengthened my faith. The race started. Last year, i struggled immensely with the swim portion. I was not prepared for the open water swim and i lost my head. I honestly have never been more scared in my life. I hyperventilated out in the water and thought a couple times about quitting. I don't quit. I ended up finishing it and had a terrific bike split last year. God picked me up from a struggle and gave me strength to accomplish much more than i expected after faultering. I vowed to change that this year. I prepared myself better by swimming in lake mary a few times before race day. This helped a ton. I swam freestyle the whole way, i only stopped once to check if i was going towards the bouy. I finished the swim in 15:51. Transition 1 was a little slower than i wanted but i was in and out of transition in 1:27. An improvement of 36 seconds from last year.The bike was the only portion of the race i went slower on than last year. I know, I know, it shouldn't have been. I think i got caught up in my excitement and went to fast at the beginning. The whole way back on the out-and-back course felt slower. But, no one passed me. In fact, no one passed me at all after i was out of the water. About three minutes ahead of me was the kid i wanted to beat. Transition 2 is coming. My bike split was 31:05, 32 seconds slower than last year.Transition 2 was fast! Had some struggles with my shoes but still only took me 1:03 to get out on the run course.Remember the kid i wanted to beat? He was only 20 seconds ahead of me out of T2. I passed him and 4 others in the first mile of the run. One of those four, was a teammate of mine on FCA Endurance. Again, it gave me strength that others are out there racing for God. It gave me an extra push to do well. The run course was also an out-and-back course, which gave me an opportunity to see who was beating me. I was the sixth man. A couple times on the run i wanted to start crying because i knew all my hard work and training were paying off. I couldn't believe that i was going to be top ten and win my age group. It was way more than i ever imagined. I ran the last 2miles through a cramp in my right side. I still finished the 5k run in 21:40, which ended up being 1:41 better than last year and the fourth fastest 5k split out of everyone yesterday. The closest person behind me was over a minute back. I had done it! After the race my mom came up to me crying and congratulating me because she knew how much this meant to me and how much time i have put into training for this race. It made me cry too.I finished the race 8th overall (two women beat me, they started 5min after the men, which meant they didn't physically cross the finish line before me but had faster times) 1st in my age group, in a personal best sprint triathlon time of 1:11.04

My new 10K PR

2008-06-16T21:31:00.001-07:00

I ran my first 10K in about two years on June 7th. It was probably the most difficult course i have ever run for a 10K. It was all on trails and up and down hills. The race started and you went right up a very long hill. No time to leg your pace set in or anything like that, just straight into the hill. I looked at my watch at the top and we were already 7:30 into the race, meaning the first hill was more than a mile long! The rest of the race were rocky rollers through the forest and the last bit was back down the hill we first came up, which was a nice reprieve. My goal was to break 40 min. I had never done it before and i just barely made it in 39:58. I got 9th overall and first in my age group, which was a nice bonus to a hard day of running. I have super bad allergies right now and i am kind of drained because of it.
The Summit Center Classic is in a couple weeks. It is a two-day, two-stage road bike race and i am looking forward to it, but i might have to work and that would kill my plans to race it. We will wait and see. Until then i have to get over the pollen attack and hopfully feel good enough to get back out and keep training. Only 5 more weeks til the Mountain Man Triathlon!

my representation...

2008-06-03T21:00:00.000-07:00

My brother asked me tonight about what tattoo would represent me. He, i assume wants to get something to represent his family tattooed on somewhere. It took me a little bit to think about what represents me and this is what i came up with:

this sounds kind of gay but here it is...a sunrise, because you don't know what the potential of the day has to offer, just like me, no one knows the potential of me yet, it brings light and warmth, and everyone can enjoy it, it is understated and people don't necessarily embrace it but they know that every time they see it, god has blessed them with a new day. I think that would be the best description of me

As i think more i have to add this too. A sunrise can be hard to deal with as well, for those going through cancer or another illness, another sunrise means another day of pain but also another day to fight back the demons. The sun could be clouded and a cold wind could blow. No one said every sunrise was going to be gorgeous and i think that explains every human as well.

Not every person has good days, they are not always going to be exactly like you want, but there is always the reassurance that the sun is going to rise and things will get better. God has made a promise to us that the sun will always rise and every day will be filled with new challenges. I think that is a pretty good representation of my life.

Back to swimming

2008-05-28T14:17:00.000-07:00

I got back in the pool after a 3 week hiatus. It was nice to get a break to heal and recover, let the muscles become stronger and take a break. I have started running again consistently as well. In fact, i did 4x1mile repeats the other day. I didn't do them on a track because it has always been harder to keep pace on a track, so i did them on the streets around my house. Keeps the pace more realistic too. I ran 6:21, 6:08, 5:51, and 6:12. I figured the last one was slower and it was time to stop. But, i thought about it and it was only 4 seconds slower than my second mile and it was the same direction on the streets. So, anyway it was a good workout and felt good to run (relatively) fast again.
Back to swimming. I got back in the pool. Swam 1300m yesterday and the last 700m was in 13min 30sec. Which is very motivating. I have a triathlon planned for July 20th. And it has a 700m swim and i want to get my swim down to around or under 13 minutes at the very slowest. Ideally a low 12min swim would be great. My bike and run splits are going to be my strong points and if i could drop my swim down, i am looking at, maybe, a podium finish. At least maybe an age group podium finish. That would be the highlight of my triathlon career thus far.

Runners Suck!

2008-05-17T14:13:00.000-07:00

Don't get your knickers in a tiffy, i really do not hate runners. I am one myself and i could not imagine a world without running. I have spoken on this very blog about the wonderful environment i live in. The one with all the professional runners meandering through flagstaff. This is a true blessing to have these talented men and women using my home as training for their many worldly exploits. Many of them find great success due to their training at high altitude. I take for granted the absolutely wonderful conditions i get to live in and amongst throughout the year.
I am writing this blog because of those very runners i speak so highly about. Let me preface this story a little: Last year, i was ending my senior campaign on the track. It was two weeks after my last race and there was a 5K, the "Run for the Mountain" to be exact. I decided to run it and ran well, and won the race. I ran last week in Denver and won my age group, and got 8th overall in a 5K. Today was the same 5k that i won 365 days ago. I think i could win it again. I sign up, the gun goes off and as we are running the first mile of the race, i am in the top 10 individuals. The 10K and 5K races start together. The differentiation between the racers is the color of their race number, 5K is red, 10K is black. I am glancing over at all the fit gentlemen around me and find that there are some familiar faces. A lot of the local pro runners are running right next to me and they have red numbers! These professionals are running the 5K! There goes my hope for a repeat title. But i end up running my best, i am 28 seconds slower than last year and am the first non-professional runner to finish. Makes me feel good, seeing as though, including the race, i have only run maybe 9 times since mid march.
Overall, i am bitter that the pros were there but it makes me more excited to train to try and beat them next time. It also makes me excited that they are even there even though my repeat title was stripped from me and went to someone who run professionally. It is also a great show and tell of my fitness right now, and i am excited for the rest of the summer to see just how fast i can go.

SNOW IN MAY

2008-05-13T08:25:00.000-07:00

I hate the cold! I can't say it enough, I hate the cold. I like the snow, hate the cold that comes with it. It is May here in arizona and the rest of the world. May is when the weather starts getting nice, the bikes come out and the sun is always shining. Phoenix starts inching toward 100 degrees and here in flagstaff the temps become perfect in the mid to high 70s. The spring winds that flagstaffians are so used to finally stop and the weather becomes down right awesome.
Not today. No. Not today. The wind came back yesterday with avengence. 45 mph gusts and a horrible start to Bike to Work Week. I rode. Don't count me out, i toughed out the wind with fury. 24 miles, half of which were right into the darn stuff. But, not in recent memory can i remember a day during bike to work week when we had snow. thats right, snow! i wake up to maybe a consistent 3 inches on the groud and huge, ominous flakes floating to the ground, heavily. We had a forest fire just yesterday! And now it is snowing! Unbelieveable. I am going to try and tough out the snow and hop on my bike for at least a couple miles today. Its bike to work week and i can't leave snow as an excuse for saving the planet and my wallet from the ravages of gas.

Denver

2008-05-13T07:55:00.000-07:00

I have never been to denver realistically. I had driven through it on a family trip through the states once, but never stopped and looked around. As far as cities go, it is pretty clean and their downtown is really nice and busy. But, i get claustrophobic in cities and would never like to do more than visit them.
I took a trip to denver last week and it was a blast. I visited a friend of mine who goes to the University or Denver or DU. That campus is absolutely gorgeous! The whole campus was thought out and built with a lot of open space and grass and the architecture is fabulous. It is a really great compus.
Anyway, i went to denver, saw the sites, went to a rockies game, got my ears pierced. It was a blast. I went to denver and the first day i was there, there was a flyer for a 5K race happening on Saturday the 10th, the day i fly out. Well, being a competitive person my self, i decided to run it. I looked up results and figured in my horrible shape right now, i could get top 20 or 25. Which is good enough for me. I went running the next day, ran about 5 miles and averaged just over 7min miles. this is maybe only the 5th or 6th time i have run since the middle of march because i have been trying to heal a stress fracture in my foot. It has only since started feeling good enough to run on. I thought about the race a little more and i didn't know if spending $30 on registration for the race was worth it if i wasn't going to get a medal. Remember, i am a really competitive person. Just running a 5K isn't enough for me. So, i decide against the race. The day before, a couple friends of the friend i am visiting are running and they end up talking me into it after much persuasion. I hope for under a 20 min 5K maybe top 20. Which i decided i would be happy with.
The gun goes off and i am feeling pretty good, the weather is perfect for running, high 40s to low 50s and a slight breeze that ends up turning to a brisk wind by the awards ceremony. I start ou tin about 20th place and slowly work my way up. The pack is starting to spread out and by the 2 mile mark i am in 8th place. i move into the 7th, my highest overall place throughout the race and end up getting passed once more. I finish in 8th place overall, 1st in my age group with a time of 19:17. Totally blew my expectations out of the water. God was looking down on me. I am so blessed to have the fitness i do. I don't take it for granted any day of my life.
I have not ran a low 19 min 5k since i was in high school. I need to run a little more and try to drop it under 19min now.
This was a great end to a great trip to dnever, i couldn't have expected or imagined any better of a trip.

2008-05-04T20:52:00.000-07:00

The pain felt in your hands as you try and speed down rocky trails on a fully rigid single speed is horrible. It goes away and you feel so much better when you finish your ride and look back on everything you accomplished that most people do with gears. It feels pretty great. Only through hardships do you grow stronger. And i think that holds true even on a bicycle. I am stronger because of it, i learned and i think i need to buy suspension for my bike.

Bucket List...

2008-05-02T21:46:00.001-07:00

I need to write things down in order to keep them straight in this dome i call a head. Here is a bucket list of things i want to do before i die...which, hopefully, is far off. But, who knows what God has planned.

Learn to play banjo
Blow a glass bowl and/or learn glass blowing
Learn to speak Arabic
Learn how to sail
Finish in top 10% at Ironman Worlds Hawaii
Help a poor village become sustainable
Speak at a National Youth Gathering

That's all i have right now, i hope to update this list as time progresses. Just copy and paste the thing, so that i know the date i updated it. The downside is that i don't think i can start crossing them off until i am out of college. Bummer.

Luck of some

2008-05-02T21:44:00.000-07:00

I am a broken record in repeating how lucky i am to live in flagstaff. Especially when the luck is due to running. Running in Flagstaff is like snowboarding in Aspen. Everyone has done it at some point and the top pros come to train. Case in point: Lumberjack Stadium.On any given day during the afternoon, you might see the (literal) top runners in the world. And, if not the top in the world, the top in the US. Here is my story.I had a class cancelled today. It afforded me some time to either swim or run and i chose run, because i haven't done it in 5 weeks or so. I cruised on down to lumberjack and found it full with people. Not in the stands but out running. You could tell from the skinny, yet fit physique of these athletes that they were pros in their respective distances. I always feel intimidated by the presence of someone who i, although without motivation, aspire to be. As i jaunt across the field i can see one man of african descent is striding down the front stretch of the track. another couple are jogging the grass just inside the edge of the track and even more doing 200m repeats, in what i overheard, were about 23 seconds. The final few were stretching or giving assitance to other running comrades with starting instructions or stretching advice.You can get the friendly assumption that these guys were all friends. All there for one similar purpose. In flagstaff for the legal "doping" that occurs when at high altitude. Although an air of competition can be felt and the knowledge of these men racing each other for those few coveted spots amongst the rest of America at the Olympics.I couldn't tell you who 90% of them were, but i recognized a few. Chris Gomez, a local, who, and i say lightly, isn't as fast as some others on that field with a low 4:00 min mile and a solid 1:49 800m. The man of african descent who was alluded to earlier, was no one but the unique Abdi Abdirahman. A marathoner and 10,000m specialist, who has Arizona roots as well, attending high school, community college and ultimately university in Arizona after his transfer from Somalia. He is one of the top marathoners in the country with a PR of under 2:10 in the 26.2 mile slog. Unfortunately, he suffered a small injury at the marathon trials and eliminated his chance of making the team in new york.The last and final familiar face i saw whilst spending time at the stadium might be the most acclaimed and tenured runner of all. Another African transfer, but fully american in his ambitions. Bernard Lagat. Where to start with this gentlemen may lead to a wrongful view of his accomplishments, as there are so many. His recent trophies came at the World Championships in Osaka last July where Lagat became the first american to get gold in the 1500m.. He was also the first to pull down the gold in the 5000 in american history, and it happened to be the only medal of any kind at that distance for America. An Olympic veteran of the last two games, and a medal winner at both, lagat might be the top hopeful for a medal at the games in august.i could go on and on about the accolades of these runners filling the elite niche in flagstaff this year, but i will leave you with this. Be aware of your surroundings because you might be passing someone who might be on TV starting August 8th.

Reasoning for this

2008-05-02T21:35:00.000-07:00

I decided, after many internal arguments, to create a blog. I think there is a lot I can say and this gives me an outlet to do so. We will see how long this thing lasts. But, for now, i want to explain that i picked the cliche black backgroud template because the energy used on a black background is much less than that of a white one. A little earth saving everytime someone reads or views my blog. Excellent. Now for new blogs...