2013 A Life Changing Year–Happy Holiday’s (Late)

Well it’s been a life changing year for me and a lot of changes both physically and mentally.  I know I’m a couple days late on getting this out but better late than never.  I’m down almost 70lbs from the same time last year and I’ve actually achieved my goal weight that I set out to when I first started back in 2009.  I’m back down to my 36 inch weight but it doesn’t stop there.  This year I set out with no real direction in terms of my fitness and as the year progressed I embraced my passion for competition, specifically triathlon.  In doing so I am in without question in the best shape of my life.  I am achieving what I thought was once impossible..  Next year holds more challenges that normal people do and call me crazy for even trying, but that’s part of living life.  When I first started back in 2009 and I looked into gastric bypass it was the easy way out and I didn’t really think anything of changing my lifestyle, and I still would not be where I am at today.  In all honesty I probably would have been thinner sure, but I would not have made the strides that I have and I certainly would not have inspired the amount of people that I have.  I take great pride in watching others achieve their goals and their dreams.  I love hearing from people that I have inspired them, albeit it’s still new to me and I am still accepting the fact that I have inspired them.  None the less helping people accomplish what they thought was impossible is such a rewarding experience.

Physical Changes this year alone have not been too much.  I started the year in 40/38” pants and currently in a 38/36”.  My shirt size was 3/2 XL and now I’m pushing a L.  I’ve had several people tell me that I don’t look 37 at all and that I look years younger.  The extra skin has been a struggle but I have to constantly tell myself that my body will do what it needs to and that I’m not going to resort to seeing a doctor about having it removed.  I started this journey out without help from the medical field and I’m going to stick to it.  I could barely run a half marathon in 3 hours without cramping.  In June I was able to run a half marathon in 2 hours and 28 minutes.  By the end of the year I was able to run a half marathon in 2 hours and 24 minutes without really training for it.  I love it.

Mental changes on the other hand have been very hard and have been the most profound.  So what’s been so hard mentally about all the changes?  When you view yourself as fat for so long and you view yourself every day you don’t feel thin.  So it really impacts your confidence.  I’ve got a lot of my confidence back and it’s getting easier to view myself as athletic.  I’m still learning to deal with all the positive change that I’ve had on people.  From being so down on myself about so many things it’s been a challenge to believe in myself that I’ve inspired people to go out and change their lives for the positive.  You always here that the body follows the mind but in my case with the weight loss my mind has followed the body.

So with the new year about to begin I can’t wait for what changes this year will bring in.  When I write this next year I should be an Ironman.

San Diego Triathlon Challenge–The Best Day in Triathlon

Donate here to help me raise money for the Challenged Athlete’s Foundation San Diego Triathlon Challenge!  The Best Day in Triathlon!

It was the day of the Mission Bay Triathlon and my relay mate Jeff had told me about this race.   At the time I had no clue what this was about I thought it was but it sounded challenging.  So as he spoke more about it and mentioned the Challenged Athlete Foundation is the one that puts it on and that it goes to support challenged athletes to assist them in accomplishing their dreams.  As this race moved closer to race day I hear more and more people talking about it and I wanted to get involved.   I checked on their website and it was on the same day as my Oceanside Life Time Tri race that I had committed to.  I told myself that in 2014 I will be doing this race.  I wanted to race for a cause and I always found challenged athletes inspirational.

About the San Diego Triathlon Challenge
What began 20 years ago as a fundraiser to help one athlete, Jim MacLaren, to regain his independence after a tragic second accident has grown to become one of the most highly-regarded and motivational events in the triathlon world. Since that first event 20 years ago, the Aspen Medical Products San Diego Triathlon Challenge has been instrumental in raising the funds that have allowed more than 8,200 challenged athletes around the world to make it to the starting line and inspired a new generation to realize they have no limits.

“The San Diego Triathlon Challenge is the greatest day in our sport. To be a part of what this amazing Foundation does and how they change lives for people was so motivating, it gave me a purpose. I was inspired, and wanted to do more.” — Chris “Macca” McCormack

So as 2014 progresses and I become more and more active in my racing and triathlon I’ve found it important to race to support a cause and the Challenged Athlete’s Foundation falls right in line with what I believe.  So help me support CAF and making other athlete’s dreams possible.   You can click on the picture to donate for a good cause or the line under the title.  I’m starting small with just a $600.00 goal but the more the merrier!

What a Week! Lot’s of Changes.–Long Blog

2013 Races Below.  Next year will have an Ironman Medal.

As I put my first week of Half Ironman training in the books (15 more to go) I have finally begun to notice a lot of changes with the way my body actually looks.  I can see my quads attaching up to my hips and I can even see where my oblique’s lay.  The downside is the extra skin.  I knew at some point it would rear its evil head, but thankfully I don’t let that slow me down.  People around me have noticed I’ve slimmed down more, and I was able to fit into a pair of 36” pants.  I have not been able to fit into a 36” waist since high school.  Oddly enough though my numbers on the scale and my body fat % has stayed roughly the same.  The biggest hurdle though is coming up and that’s holidays with the family and saying no to the food that won’t mix with my diet!   Sigh… no toffee chocolates, no cookies, and no eggnog (okay maybe a little bit of all those).

I was also selected to be a brand ambassador for a sports apparel company that is trying to broaden it’s US base.  So I get free workout clothes to wear and promote the brand, I can’t wait.  I’ve finalized my out of state races for 2014 and booked my hotels and my bike transport to most events.  I plan to do as many local races as possible so I’ll be close to racing every weekend.   But my Tour De Holley starts with Oceanside 70.3 (not really travel but it’s not San Diego)  March 29th, then ITU Chicago June 29th, Life Time Tri Minneapolis July 12th, New York City Triathlon August 3rd, Life Time Tri Oceanside October 26th, then Ironman Arizona November 16th.  Let’s just say after all the travel is done 2014 travel will have been over $4000 including race entry fee’s..  I do have the Rock N Roll Arizona Half Marathon January 19th and I’m hoping to have a 2 hour time.  I must say that the number one question I get is… Why?  Well I’ve thought about why on several occasions and each time I come up with a different answer but it’s along the same lines as this.  I’ve been an athlete since I can remember.  I wasn’t the best at any sport and some sports I was good, but 1 thing was for sure I was always there either supporting my teammates or giving it what I got.  Now as I’m older and that I’ve lost the weight that I set out to lose I needed more goals and I have found the triathlete community to be nothing short than amazing.  People travel to see the sights of the town, experience local food and local culture.   Why not travel and race at the same time?   That is why.

The Triathlete Community
Whether you’re in the pool, on a bike going up a 5.9% grade, or on the last 3 miles of a 13 mile training run there is 1 thing that every triathlete has in common.  We don’t care what your career is, we don’t care that you’re older or younger than we are, and we don’t care if you’re a democrat or a republican.  We are all the same out there on race day.  We are out doing what we enjoy doing.  We are out there accomplishing what other people have said is not possible.  We are achieving our goals, and making our dreams happen.  Everyone that I have met through the Triathlon Club of San Diego (TCSD) has been absolutely amazing.  Old, young, fat, skinny, big, small, new to triathlon, or the veteran Ironmen of the club, we all look at each other as equals. 

Training
With my first weeks in the book and looking back it was a good challenge and it’s nice to be training again.  I had to send my Garmin 910XT back because it showed I was training at 30K feet (San Diego won’t ever be 30K feet).  But I’ve been hitting the mileage on the run and I’ve been swimming extra because of USAT’s National Club Challenge and we’re on our swim session right now.  Currently I’m 18th out of 2731 athletes in overall mileage for Swim/Bike/Run, and I’m 8th out of 2731 athletes in swim mileage.  I’ve joined our club swim masters program to improve my swim which I probably won’t see much improvement for Oceanside but come IMAZ my swim should be pretty darn solid.  I am hoping that by November I can have my full marathon to around 4 hours.

A Look Forward to 2014–An Iron Year

This week has been nothing short but amazing.  I ran my fasted half marathon in 2:24:50 but I wasn’t really excited about it.  I was more excited for Monday and hope that I had got into Ironman Arizona.  So much that I had called my mom and asked her to help with the sign up process (ultimately she is the one who got in.)  I figured at least one of us would get in, and I did.  Thanks mom!  Earlier in November I figured I’d enter the NYC Tri lottery to see if I’d get a spot.  I figured it was only 10 bucks so why not?  I didn’t think I’d really get in, well I did!  It’s taken me a few days to realize the importance of getting into the NYC Tri.  I thought it was more of a certain spots for sale and then a few lottery spots.  I had no clue the entire race was lottery only because of so many people wanting to get in.  So that just made me even happier to get in and have the privilege to race in New York.

March 29th, 2014 – Oceanside 70.3 Half Ironman Distance.
This race was support to be my warm up towards a full Ironman in 2015.  It was going to test my ability to go where I didn’t think I could go.  It has since changed into a stepping stone to my full Ironman in Arizona on November 16th.  It’s a local race and I couldn’t pass it up.  I knew I had to get a coach cause I didn’t know what I was doing in a long course and I needed some help.  My goal still currently is just to finish but I want to finish around 6 hours which I think is doable.  My run is my weakest and will most likely be a 2:15-2:30 half marathon at the end.   This race is starting the building blocks for the rest of the year.

June 29th, 2014 – ITU Chicago Olympic Distance
I signed up for this race cause it was in downtown Chicago and I love Chicago.  I chose the Olympic Distance cause I felt I needed to focus more on longer courses to build towards another 70.3 in the fall.  Plus Chicago is in the mid-west where I have a lot of family and friends that I can’t always get out to go see all the time.  It’s also the inaugural ITU race in Chicago which is bound to be a blast.  I’ll also get to watch the pro’s race and put my times to shame.  I am not looking forward to the cost of the trip which will most likely be 1200 bucks.

August 3rd, 2014 – New York City Triathlon
I didn’t know this race even existed and I certainly didn’t know it was a lottery entry only because of it’s popularity.  But after watching the race video they had on their site I can see why.  You get to race along the skyline of the Big Apple and around Central Park.  I entered the lottery not expecting to win.  Well I did, and I am in so you know what that means… I’m racing the Big Apple.  This is also an Olympic Distance which will be good for my training for IMAZ and the heat and humidity will also play a role in things.  This race will be fun I can’t wait and I’ve already notified the people I know in NYC that Holley Racing is coming to town.

Flashback to the 80’s and I remember watching the Ironman in Hawaii and thinking how cool it would to do that race but it seemed impossible and something only professional athletes can do.  That was the mentality I had about Ironman’s up until 2013.  I didn’t think I could ever complete one, that I wasn’t good enough.  After being overweight for so long it seemed like it was just another dream.  But as 2013 progressed something happened inside me.  I started to believe that maybe I could complete a full Ironman.  My friends Scott and Chris both completed full Ironman’s.  Then I read a race report by a fell SD Tri Clubber Steve Smart found here.  Then I read more and more race reports from cities that I’d like to race.  The change happened inside my heart I felt the impossible become possible every time I read more race reports from every day people.  I watched the Ironman World Championships in Kona and I followed Hines Ward in his Become One series and decided I needed to do one in 2014 but which one?   I read race reports from Wisconsin, Arizona, and Cour D’Alene but I was leaning towards Wisconsin.  This would be perfect cause I have family in Wisconsin!   But there was also a large Tri Club presence going to IMAZ in 2014 so it would be great to train with fellow crazies.  Ultimately I waited too long and Wisconsin sold out so that left the stalking of the IMAZ registration page.  Thanks Mom (I really should start calling it Team Chris?)  After watching the Kona telecast and the stories and the age groupers finishing under all the odds that say they can’t.  I wanted to hear those 4 words.  “You are an Ironman”.  Stay tuned for lots of training stories as 2014 will be an exciting/boring year as I work towards achieving a long buried childhood dream.

So now that I have signed my life away for 2014 I apologize if I miss something through the year.  It takes sacrifice and priority to accomplish your goals which are always changing.  Don’t let society or your friends tell you that you can’t do something because it’s not “normal”.  This journey is going to be amazing and I’m so excited to start it come Dec. 1st with training for the Oceanside 70.3

4 Days Till Race Day, Still NOT 100%

Sorry for the late post but the past 2 weeks I’ve been battling a respiratory infection of some type and training has been kept to a minimum.  Between the antibiotics and the other lovely drugs I’ve been off in la la land for the most of the past 2 weeks but coming on up on race day here and trying to get back to 100%.  I’ve put in the training time and some days I didn’t put in the intensity but I got the workouts done.  I initially signed up to do the sprint distance back in January but decided after I did the ITU that it was time to bump up to the intermediate.  It’s double the distance of the sprint I got this.  So what’s this intermediate distance I speak of, it’s 1500M Swim, 21 Mile Bike, and a 6 Mile run to round it out.  I’m expecting a 2:25:00 and a podium finish, but after these past 2 weeks I’ll be happy with a 2:30 finish in the top 5.  The course is super flat so I should be able to make quick work of it all.  I haven’t competed in a tri since the SDIT back in June but I’m feeling pretty good about it and my decision to bump up to the intermediate distance.

The TriRock was my first triathlon back in 2010 and I did it just say that I did it.  It was just the sprint distance and the 3 mile run seemed like it was an eternity.  I didn’t think that I’d ever say that I’m going to attempt to make a podium finish especially in the intermediate distance.  The TriRock will also hold that special place in my heart and will most likely be an annual race for me.  Last year I did the relay with 2 of my friends Josh and Jojo (FloJo) and we had a blast.  Sadly I missed the 2011 one but my Vikings where in town playing the Chargers and at that point in time Football > Triathlon.  Go Vikings!  Sadly they lost and McNabb really did suck.  But 4 more days so bring it on!

3 Weeks Till Tri-Rock & Then Some!

I have 2 more weeks of hard training till my taper then I go into an almost solid 2 months of different races.  Here is the breakdown starting with the Tri-Rock.  Tri-Rock Sept 22nd, Tiki Swim Sept 29th, Swim Leg Mission Bay Tri Oct 6th, Lifetime Triathlon Oct 20th, Bike the Coast Nov 2nd, Las Vegas Half Marathon Nov 17th, Father Joe’s Turkey Trot Thanksgiving.  I’m feeling really good about all of them.   I’m going for a podium finish in everything but the Bike the Coast, Las Vegas, and the Turkey trot.  I think I can get top 3 overall with the Tikiswim based on my training times.  I feel like it’s a late start for me in the race season though but I’ll take it.

With my last 2 weeks of training before my taper I can really feel things coming together and I can really see some solid improvements and confidence in my abilities.  My swim has got faster with less effort, my cycling has improved to where on the flat tri-rock course I’m pretty sure I can put in an average of 22-24 MPH but realistically as long as I can push out 22 MPH I should be in good shape.  My run has steadily been improving to where my 5K time started at 11 min. miles are now down to 9 min. miles.  I’m still pretty confident that I’ll make a top 5 finish for the Tri Rock’s intermediate distance.

Friday night I decided that I wanted to swim 2 miles round trip and gauge my time for the Tikiswim where I think I can place in the top 3 overall in the 1.2 mile.  I swam it casually from La Jolla Cove to La Jolla Shores and did 1.8 miles in 48 minutes (it helps when I start my Garmin 910 when I actually start instead of 1/4 mile in)!  But I got into a rhythm and I was off to the races.  It also sparked my interest for doing more swim type races next summer!

Saturday was a whole new challenge, a 50 mile inland bicycling ride with the Tri Club of San Diego.  I’ll admit I was a little apprehensive at first, I had never in my life rode that far.  I figured it would take me 4 hours to do so.  I figured it would be a good test ride for the Oceanside 70.3 not so much the hills (which I grossly underestimated) but to be on the road for 50 miles and how I could handle it mentally and how the bike would hold up.  Halfway through the ride I made a wrong turn and completely lost the group and couldn’t seem to catch up to them.  But that was ok I was out of water and electrolytes so I made a stop at Jamba Juice for some water and a pick me up.  Rested for 10 minutes before going back out on the road back.  For the most part being alone for the last 30 miles was truly a mental test for me, cause my Bluetooth headset shut off to I guess it can’t hold a charge past 2.5 hours of straight play.  Every time I saw another hill in the distance to climb all I could do was sigh in disbelief that it didn’t get any easier.  Finally after I finished the 51 total miles I realized with all my quad cramping that there was no way I could finish a 13.1 mile run in the amount of time needed.  So I know where I need to improve.  But overall I’m glad I didn’t need to call anyone to come get me.  It was a huge personal hurdle that I jumped over.

These last few weeks I’ve been training on the treadmill cause the streets here in Pacific Beach are crawling with tourist and people not paying attention so I can’t really focus on meeting the training needs when I’m concerned with my own safety.  My legs have been sort for the last few weeks so it makes me think that if I had just done this at the start of my 16 week program I would have had more gains.  But it’s too late to worry about that now.  I just need to focus on what’s ahead.  I’m hoping by next years triathlon season is here I’ll have my run down to a 7 minute to 8 minute mile.

Ok, so why so many races so close to each through the end of November?  Well, I’m a short distance racer and I love it, but I decided to branch out and do some single sport races like the Tikiswim and the Bike the Coast.  So many people do running events but I needed to branch out, so it just happened that the race days for those 2 fell with plenty of time in between the others.  Then the relay race Oct. 6th is with some TCSD members and a 500M swim is a walk in the park for me so it will replace a training day.  The lifetime triathlon at a signup cost of 70 bucks I couldn’t pass up for a preview of what Oceanside will dish out to me come March so it will be my last triathlon this season.  The Las Vegas Half was fun last year and the course is super flat so it’s a good way to close up the year in Vegas!

6 Weeks To Tri-Rock San Diego!

6 weeks till the San Diego Tri-Rock and I’m starting to feel nervous.  Training has been progressing and I’m very confident that I’m going to finish that was never an issue.  But my goal is to be a podium finisher in the Clydesdale division.  Now some people hear Clydesdale and discard the division as the fat guy division and assume it’s not competitive just because the guys are 220lbs and up.   While it might not qualify you for the USAT World Championships it is a great confident builder for heavier guys who have never done triathlon and know they can’t come close to competing with guys in their normal age groups who might weight like 160-170lbs.  Now I race Clydesdale and it will probably be my last year doing so as I’m slimming down and next year I might not make the weight limit, but I’ve also made it a goal of mine to try and qualify for the USAT World Championships by 2016.

Okay, so 6 weeks go to!  Since I don’t know who is entered in this race I have to race against the times from last years top 3 and my current training times.  I’m feeling confident in my swim in that I should finish the 1500M around 20 minutes with a bike time of 50-60 minutes, however the run I’m staring at a 60-70 run.  The run has always been my weak link.  I’ve been working on my run and increasing my cadence (Steps Per Minute).  It used to be around 70 SPM and it’s up to about 80SPM and I need to get it to at least 90 and keep my HR low into the 130 BPM’s.  I had an interesting thing happen to me on the last training run and I started to believe in the high SPM.  I noticed when my SPM dropped to around 70-74 my HR jumped up to 150-160BPM and when my SPM increased to 80-85 my HR dropped to 140BPM.  I was in disbelief at what just happened.  I’ll be damned coach was right and I need to really work on my running drills.  I don’t have enough time between now and Tri-Rock to get down to a 6:30-7 minute mile but that’s okay it’s all about improvement right now and I have a feeling that I will be able to gain a big enough lead in the swim and bike to where I can still finish on the podium.

Bike training has gone good but I need to get out on the road more.  I’ve done the vast majority of my training on my indoor trainer and while it has the upside of no traffic and no stop signs it has some serious drawbacks like no wind resistance and no ground resistance.  I’m going to be hitting the bike paths a bit more for my distance rides so that I can really get used to sitting in the saddle for long periods of time.  This will also help prepare the junk for the suspected 3 hours of biking for the Oceanside 70.3 in March.  Anyways, if I can keep my RPM’s high in the 90’s while I keep my HR in the 140 range while cranking an average speed of 21-22 MPH I think I’ll be doing great.  I will need to test this on my trainer and keep that average up since I can’t get that on the road thanks to traffic.  I’m really starting to grasp this more power less energy.  I’m feeling really good that after pushing it for 21 miles and being able to run 6 more miles to finish it off.  My nutrition will be the key.

The swim, well swimming has always been my strong leg and training has shifted me from the deep catch to a high elbow catch.  It’s been a change and it was hard to grasp at first but I think it’s starting to kick in and I have to be able to push it out and lead into a 16-17 min 1500M Swim.  I’m no longer concerned about being able to finish the swim portion of a half ironman, in fact I can finish the swim portion of a full ironman without an issue.  I surprised myself there and I can’t wait for the Tiki swim the weekend after the Tri-Rock.  1.2 mile swim and I’m gunning for 30 minutes in the open water.

So to wrap things up 6 weeks out I’ve definitely approved in every sport that makes up the Triathlon but I still have so much more to grow.  I still need to shed off close to 9% body fat as well and I’m sure probably 1-2% of that is extra skin from my almost 100lbs weight loss.  No surgery here, I’m going all natural.  I am out to prove to all those who say that big people can’t do it, WRONG.

Training Progress!

The goal of training is to make yourself better, but more importantly proper training.  I decided it was time to get some professional training advice to help me along in my journey on becoming a competitive age group triathlete.  I went with Tridot since I found them by an accidental click on Facebook and it’s panned out very good.  I’m feeling a lot more comfortable in the saddle and I’m starting to see all around improvements although I need to get some solid time trials this coming week before my coach yells at me.  I also joined the Tri Club of San Diego which was without a doubt the smartest move I made and I should have joined years ago but I can’t look back I have to look forward.

The Swim!  I used to swim back in high school so I have a small background in swimming.  I wasn’t the best but I wasn’t the worst either.  I was one of the few guys who could do butterfly with the proper form so I was always stuck doing the butterfly in all the IM’s and individual events.  But I also was never really focused back then I just went through the motions.  I can still recall the coach yelling all the laps we had to do which helps me to this day to keep on track a bit.  Enough of the past on with the future.  I’ve always been a deep catch swimmer with a lot of core twist and I generated a lot of power with a smooth glide.  It’s all I knew and didn’t know there where different types of freestyle catches.  Well once I got into Tridot I learned about the High Elbow Catch and how you go faster with using less power.   This was completely foreign to me and I struggled at first with how awkward it felt (It still feels awkward).  But I’m paying more attention to it and low and behold my 100M times are improving slowly at an easy pay I sit around 1:28 to 1:30 compared to my 1:39 with the deep catch.  I have 8 weeks till the Tri-Rock so lots of room to get my 1:30 average down to 1:15 (Goal).

The Bike!  I was never an efficient cyclist but I had fun and I used a lot of power in the top gear so I just assumed I was good at it, I was wrong.  I learned really fast that I was awful at the bike I used way too much energy with very little return and that in fact hurt my run since my legs were toast after the bike.  Tridot immediately bumped my cadence up to 90-100 average which means that I had to use lower gears to keep my HR down so I wasn’t using so much energy.  I was skeptical of this at first cause I wasn’t going very fast according to the bike computer but I pressed on.  Low and behold keeping a cadence has become easier and I’m in higher gears to where going slower than a 90 cadence feels awkward.  Because I’m on the indoor trainer I’m in a little protected area from cars, tourist, and external factors so I’m not able to readily hit my weaker spot of hills but thankfully there aren’t any in the Tri-Rock course so I won’t have to really worry about it till I train for Oceanside 70.3.  I should also note that my quads don’t hurt as much anymore which means I’m using less power to go faster.  Of course my junk is still getting used to the saddle for so long.

The Run!  My weakest more dreaded part of the triathlon.  Yeah I’ve done several 5K’s and 13.1’s and recently had a new PR of 2:27:53.  I thought I was doing really good and working my way to a good time for my half marathons.  Then came Tridot and the workouts had a high cadence of approximate 90 SPM.  Now I still have issues hitting that count while keeping my HR in the 130 range.  In fact my average cadence was 70 if I was lucky and my HR was at 160BPM, now I can keep an 80 cadence with my HR around 140-150.  But there is a sacrifice here, my time per mile at that pace is back to 12 minute miles.  Sure before at the 70 cadence at 160 BPM I was averaging 11 minute miles at a half marathon pace.  So what does that mean in English?   What it means is that my foot is spending less time on the ground and I’m using less energy.  So that is an improvement and I need to focus on my mechanics to where I can really get my 10K pace down to 8-9 minute miles.

So over all I am seeing vast improvements on my energy use and my output.  My weight has gone down to around 250lbs and will be dropping even more as I keep training.  The mental aspect is the biggest hurdle for me throughout the entire process.  I seem to be holding back and second guessing my ability to do it during training, maybe it’s in fear of getting hurt or not being able to do it.  When the reality is that I can do it and the numbers prove I can do it.  I just need to believe in myself that I can do it.

3rd Place Finisher in SDIT Clydesdale Division

June has been a huge month of personal achievement for me.  I first broke my 13.1 personal record with a 2:38 minute run and I was able to run the entire thing.  Then 6 days later I broke my old record with a 2:27 minute run in Utah Valley.  Then to close out the month I took 3rd in the Clydesdale Division in the San Diego International Triathlon, that I didn’t even train for at all.   SO it really is possible to achieve something “iF” you make it your priority you really need to believe in yourself.  Because you really can do it!  Now for my race report.

So as I said I didn’t train for this race.  It was more of a break in for my new wetsuit and my tri-bike that I got.  I really wanted to see how each felt and how my transitions would be.  I am actually a bit disgusted with my transition times they could have been better, but that’s coming later.  I know you’re not supposed to break in new gear on race days but I did it anyways.

The X-terra Vortex 4 full suit I got a while ago is just awesome.  Coming from not using one I was really amazed at how I was able to move easily through the water with very minimum effort.  The buoyancy alone with the coating on the outside really makes it fly through the water.  The choice to join the Tri Club of San Diego was worth it for the member discount alone just for that suit.  I’m very happy with it and can’t wait to use it more.

I bought a Quintana Roo Lucero Tri-Bike to replace my craigslist road bike.  Now I will say after spending the entire bike ride in the aero position I was finally starting to get comfortable with it but I really felt like I need more gears for downhill.  I think my GPS clocked me at almost 40 MPH as my fastest.  Climbing, the bike did most of the work as my quads screamed at me for not training ANY uphill but that’s not the bikes fault it’s my fault for not training legs and hills.

My transitions where really time consuming after looking at the rest of the field and I thought what could possibly make them go faster.  Well in T1 I had a hard time getting the wetsuit off and my transition was in the dirt so I had rocks everywhere on my feet and then I realized I was going out the wrong way and I forgot my sun glasses.  T2 I had to rinse off the dirt again and get on my socks and running shoes because if I run barefoot in these shoes they cut into the backs of my ankles.  I also forgot to put on my race bib heading out of T2 so I had a lot of mental mistakes.  I was actually a mental midget in the transition zones.  I really need to practice more and get tri shoes that don’t cut into my ankles.

The swim was a bit chaotic at first with all the people and I really climbed on some people as I have such a long stroke but and I accidently swam over a poor woman in a silver cap in 1 stroke.  I am really sorry by the way I didn’t even see you.  By the time I got out of the water I wasn’t really dizzy like at Tri Rock and ITU but I also kicked harder towards the end and stayed low which really helped.  The bike went a little slow at the start as I missed a shoe and hit a cone… YIKES!!!  I started out strong trying to get my HR and breathing back on track but my Timex kept saying 160BMP for most of every time I looked so it couldn’t have been right.  Finally got into my groove of breathing and feeling comfortable when the hill up to Cabrillo Monument which basically fried my quads for most of the ride but I still came out with a 41 minute ride the 2nd place guy had a 41 minute ride as well but the 1st place guy had a 35 minute ride.  So he really killed the climbs which I lacked.  Coming into T2 I dismounted the bike in true Tri form with my body standing on the left with my right leg ready to dismount.  I think I got off too early but the guy said good job.  Going into the run my legs burned and my socks and shoes were socked.  That first mile off the bike is always hard for me as the muscle use changes from quads to hamstrings but once I got warmed up I started to pick up the pace.  But at about 500-700 feet I went to take some Gatorade and my stomach wanted no part of it, so I had to ditch it.  I kept a steady pace at least it felt like that but I’ll take a 38 minute 6K.  That’s 3.7 miles for those of you who didn’t know.  I didn’t really push it during my run either like I could have.  Looking back I wish I should have but I didn’t want to push it too hard since it was only a C type race.  I actually spent more time looking around at things cause running in wet socks and shoes SUCKS!

Increasing Distances to 70.3 California

I signed up for my first ever Half Ironman also known as a 70.3 this month.  I have been wanting to and the best way was to sign up when registration opened.  I’ve found that when you don’t register for something it really doesn’t become a priority and then you back out of it.  I remember growing up I saw Kona televised 1 time and thought man those guys are absolutely nuts and to a degree I’m sure they are. In the back of my head though I wondered what it would be like to finish.  So why a Half Ironman (70.3), am I crazy?

I did my first triathlon back in September 2010 as a sprint triathlon.  The first ever Tri-Rock San Diego.  The excitement, the nervousness of not knowing if I could finish it since I couldn’t run 3 miles back then.  I had a LOT of fun and enjoyed it and said I wanted to do one every year there on out.  I didn’t think of doing anything but a sprint distance, it was short and fast.  I had to skip the 2011 Tri-Rock because the Minnesota Vikings played the Chargers in San Diego and I chose football.  I kind of regret it a little bit now but I ‘m not dwelling on it.  I made the choice to watch my favorite team get spanked by the Chargers.   The Tri-Rock 2012 came around and I thought it would be fun to do a relay.  I did the swim, Josh did the bike, and Jojo did the run.  I knew I could do the bike and the swim but I still dreaded that run.  I was 310lbs and running just was not fun (it still isn’t).  So I swam the 500 (No wetsuit) in around 10 minutes and I felt really good like I could have gone more.  It set the seed of a possible Olympic distance triathlon in the future, I didn’t know when.

ITU – International Triathlon Union happened in April.  That race changed me, and I didn’t plan on even signing up.  My friend Diane sent me a message about the race in mid March cause of a buddy signup package she wanted.  Once I found out that we didn’t have to do the same distance I was in.  She was doing the Olympic distance with her husband Dave who signed up before she did (Diane is an animal she puts me to shame when it comes to races).  So I decided to do the sprint distance.  750M swim, 12.5 mile bike, and what seemed like a 4-5 mile run instead of the a 5K.  It was late April, I didn’t have a wetsuit, my bike was not tuned up, and I wasn’t sure I could run the whole thing.  I prepped everything the night before but forgot my 1 thing that no athlete should ever forget… the timing chip.  So come race time I just had my arm watch going.  I completed it in 1:32 minutes.  I did have to walk some of the run because I wasn’t really confident in my running as I am now.  I felt really confident on the bike as I was passing people the entire way.  But overall for no training I felt that I could really do an Olympic distance with the right training.  That is when I finally felt confident that if I trained for an Olympic distance and got the right gear i.e. Tri-bike, actual wetsuit, and such I can do it.  So I changed my Tri-Rock distance from the Sprint to the Olympic distance.  I am actually more nervous for that race than I was for the Rock N Roll 13.1 and the Utah Valley 13.1.  I’m hoping to place in the Top 5 at the Tri-Rock.

So now comes the 70.3, I set my goal high and still attainable.  My swimming has improved and my running has improved by beating my PR’s on back to back 13.1’s in June.  I just need to keep it up, and shed some more chub!  The bike though is going to be the roughest for me now so I really need to focus on that a bit more.  56 miles is a long way and there is killer hill starting at mile 31 and going through mile 36 that lots of athletes have had to walk up.  Maybe this might be a stepping stone to attempting a full Ironman 140.6 before I turn 40.  Only time will tell.