Monday, August 8, 2011

Bridgeland Triathlon

This past weekend I spent a few days in Houston getting ready for the Bridgeland triathlon/ After a month of training I was able to finally let it out this weekend. That night was a fun filled night at the Union Kitchen with some of the athlets in the OnUrLeft crew. I scarfed down a big cheezy pizza.

Kids tri - pre swim

I did some volunteer work at the kid's tri bright and early Saturday morning. It was a lot of fun the kids were excited. I got to help get these kids in order which was not easy! It's probably harder than herding cattle. But it was all godo. I got to high five a few kids and talk to them about their goals for the day. They simply just wanted to have fun and finish! Some of the parents were taking it super serious with their words of wisdom and arguing with official as you see below. "That Parent". They goodness my parents were half as bad as this guy, ha! when I played sports.

"That Dad". His kid probably got caught drafting, illegal blocking, or something ;)


I'm super excited and ready to race!

In the elite/invitation field field with top amatuerus and professionals. We're off. I came out of the water with a good pack in the 500 meter swim. A little faster than last year at 7:44.

Unfortunatley, I probably shouldn't have worn the speed suit and raced shirtless to save on drag as it cost me some change getting it off. I missed a good pack on the bike including Trent Stephens and Ryan Lindsay. Which meant I did a lot of biking solo, I was able to come back on some people. The end of the bike my race belt came off and I held onto it and it got tangled up as I was dismounting. Thankfully, I landed succesfully on my feet without face planting like I did in Galveston. Either way finished the bike in 27.8 miles per hour on the flat course. But nothing compared to my OUL teammate Grant Glauser a new pro who went over 30 mph. Wow!

Out onto the run, I came out swinging. Reeled in a few others including the overall woman who was still out there in front of me. Finished the 3.63 miles according to Garmin in 20:58 equating to a 5:40 pace on the run. Which is nothing compared to the overall winner Derek Yorek who went 5:02 per mile to take over in the last half mile of the run to win it.

I had an awesome time in Houston and the Bridgeland triathlon. I am thankful for my super awesome home stay Angie Henderson, who is one of the coaches on the OUL team. She let me crash hard on her couch every night while she was hard at work, working countless hours to make this race possible. Thanks again to OnUrLeft/OnUrMark Productions for putting on another 5 star race. Patrick at Bicycles Plus fixed my seat and made sure I was ready to go. Blueseventy for keeping faster than I would be in their jammers, wetsuits, and speed suits. My newsest sponsor Tri It Wear keeping me looking fly in casual triathlete apparel. Also many of the individuals that have helped me out in one way or another. Most certainly, my protector, Savior Jesus Christ for letting have a great time and keeping the wheels down on my bike and car in the Houston traffic.

Thanks for reading and for all the comments and messages I got all weekend in long on facebook. I'll be heading to Vegas next month to race my age group in the 70.3 World Championships!

Tuesday, August 2, 2011

Ready...to Roll!

Training is going well. We have been having some strong group rides up here, usually leaving Ron's house in Frisco with some of the baddest triathlete-cyclist in the metroplex. I am lucky they even let me show up to the start.  Here is a shot at a pit stop in Gunter, Texas on a group ride North of the DFW Metroplex. Apparently half our group had some misscommunication where we turning around at. I was one of the smart ones and turned around with the early group. 




This weekend I am looking forward...actually I am super pumped for a variety of reasons, but either way I am excited to be representing OnUrLeft Sports and ready to roll this weekend in one of their own events the Bridgeland Triathlon in Cypress, Texas. 1500 plus people have signed up for this. It's probably going to be the biggest and best sprint triathlon in the South!