It's been a while..

Well let's see, since my last post school got out, summer break is almost over, peaches and corn are all gone, etc...etc...That pretty much explains where I've been in the blogging world the past couple of months...

This week I had some interesting things happen.  I found out that I qualified for the National Championship for the United States Triathlon Association for Age Groupers in part from my performance at White Lake back in May.  Age Groupers are considered the step below the elites and pros by the way.  This race is up in Burlington, Vermont.  At first I was like...ehh..that's a long way off...well at least I can say I qualified..blah blah blah.  Well I told some people about it...posted on Facebook and was immediately encouraged that I should do it.  Thanks for the encouragement by the way.

After thinking long and hard and getting Nicole's blessing permission, I decided to sign up for it.  It was one of those things that I would regret not doing.  The other deciding factor was how hard I've trained my body this spring and summer.  I'm in some of the best shape of my life right now.  Why not see where I stand against the nation's best? 

It's hard to believe where I am now compared to 3 years ago when I did my first triathlon.  I went from a non-swimmer/beginner road biker/decent runner to a decent swimmer/intermediate biker/advanced runner.  I was looking at pictures back from when Nicole and I first got married up till now....goodness tons of things have happened to me in the last 5 years.  Not to mention my body type..the extra weight I was carrying around is gone.

I am very excited/nervous about my upcoming challenge which is next weekend.  Around 2500 competitors will be there!!  By far the biggest race of my tri career.  I'm going to give it my all and see what happens...if I have a great swim I might have a shot to finish in the top of my Age Group.  It's supposed to be wetsuit legal since water temps will be in the low 70's.  That's an advantage for me! The bike doesn't look very hilly and the run looks flat and fast.  It should be a great trip..LONG drive, but I'm going to a part of the country I've never been to before.

There will be a way to track me live and see my progress..I'll post that link on Facebook so you can follow me next Saturday.  Until then...wish me safe travels and for a great race!

Yorktown

D-rod and I took a trip with the cub scouts to tour and visit Patriots Point which is home to the USS Yorktown and also Fort Sumter.

We had a great time exploring and learning about the history.  I really hope D-rod learned how important these things are/were.  There were some teenage groups that were here as well and I could tell that some of them could care less. 

Some of the highlights were exploring the submarine, walking on the flight deck and seeing jet fighters like the famous F-14Tomcat, and watching Dylan have fun with his buddies on the ship.  However, I have had my fill of young lads this weekend...the Kindergarten Cop in me is about to come out!

I will leave you with this quote from Abraham Lincoln that I saw in Medal of Honor Museum.  "Any nation that does not honor its heroes does not long endure."  I hope our young people will take this to heart.

White Lake Half II

When I tell people I'm going to do a half iron man race, I of course get the look of...are you stupid crazy!  4 years ago, I would have agreed with them.  I used to be the big football player in HS that lifted weights, pushed people around on the field, and never thought about running, biking. or swimming.  In fact, here's a picture of my the summer before my senior year in HS.  I assure you this is me!

Now I'm about 60lbs lighter and I'm running around 30 miles, cycling 100 miles, and swimming 3-4 miles in an average week.  Why the big change...I will get to that another day.

I used the same training plan that I did last year however I had also been training for the Shamrock Marathon at Virginia Beach.  I PRed there with a time of 3:24..and I think that played a big roll in my performance at White Lake.

To the race..this was the 2nd year in a row I've competed in this race.  Last year I finished in a time of 5:37.  Now most thought that was pretty good for the first 70.3 distance, but I knew I could do better.  I learned that nutrition during the race was key.  The swim was delayed due to a heavy fog. 

Thank goodness it was delayed because the first weekend swim portion was canceled.  The water was 70 degrees which made it wetsuit legal.  FYI anything over 78 degrees and wetsuits are not allowed. 

During the swim, I got in a comfortable rhythm with my stroke and made a great swim leg.  Climbing out of the water I looked down at my watch and realized that I cut off 13 minutes from my swim leg of last year.  I knew it was going to be a good day!

Heading into T1 (transition area) I finally got the wetsuit pulled off and grabbed my new chariot to head off to the longest portion of any triathlon...the bike leg.

During the bike, I made sure that I stayed hydrated, consumed my nutrition, and tried to conserve energy for the run.  I succeeded thanks to my new aero waterbottle and top tube box.  My new bike (thank you Queen) made conserving energy while still maintaining speed easy.  Shaved 14 minutes off last year's time.

On to the run, where after riding 56 miles, my quad and calf muscle in my right leg immediately starts to cramp.  I start to lose focus and worry that my record day might not happen.  I realize that I can either stop and stretch and lose a few minutes. or try to struggle through 13 miles with cramps in my leg.  I chose to stop and stretch and it payed off.  With the cramps gone, I began to get my run on.  I challenge you to try and run after riding a bike for several miles...your legs will feel like jello. 

The run went great, I stopped at every rest stop, downing water, oranges, and other supplements.  I passed several people and made great time.  At mile 11, I looked down at my watch and realized I had 20 minutes left to finish up 2 miles and achieve my goal of under 5 hours.  My confidence was building and my pace was growing.  When I came around the last turn I knew I had it.  There was some guy standing there encouraging all of the runners and he got me fired up.  I punched the gas on the home stretch and crossed the finish line in a time of 4:57:55.  I was fired up, because after all of those countless hours of training, I placed in my age group in one of the biggest tri races on the east coast and I knocked off 40 minutes from my previous time. 

My driving force the whole time was thinking about my wife and kids.  My kids think of me as their hero...and I didn't want to let them down.  They love their daddy and their daddy loves them.  Thank you to my queen for the great photos and allowing me to be an endurance athlete.

The adventure starts

I feel like I don't get to spend QT with folks that I'm close to or used to be close to.  When I mention to folks what I've gotten into, most of the time I get shocked looks.  You've got 3 kids..you do triathlons and run marathons..you wake up every day before 5am to train...what...

So I thought, why not share what's going on in my world and my head and the reason behind the madness.  I don't really know where this will go or who will follow, but I need to reflect on life and kind of have some thoughts to come back to..