Ironman 70.3 Buffalo Springs

It was a tough weekend of racing. It didn’t go as planned, but I had great company with my buddy and mentor Todd Hamilton who made the trip waaay more fun. I can’t forget his wife who made some awesome food and kept our bellies full. Todd did good there. I met Todd Friday night for a big dinner then we hung out with his 11 year-old son Luke who’s an aspiring triathlete himself and we played this guessing game “What am I?”Then we hung out in the pool a little bit before my 8pm bed time.

Relaxing in the pool Friday night before sleep time.

Saturday morning came early as we had to get ready and hit the road. I had an easy 30 minute run to do and it was pitch black around his neighborhood, but I was going super slow anyways, it didn’t matter. Then his wife again, did an excellent job and made us another excellent meal. On our way to Lubbock we stopped by the Lake Mineral Wells State Park and I did a very short swim out and back. The water very calm....continue reading here. 

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Dallas 555 Series - June

Swim Exit @ 555 Series in Las Colinas

As some of you know just under 2 months ago, I broke the radial head in my forearm when I veered off the Trinity Trail and I didn't quite make it back on when my tires clipped the side of the pavement. I had minor road rash but my arm hurt!!! I got back on my bike and was able to ride to the house. It wasn't long later my arm was swollen up my elbow and down into my fingers. It was worse than I originally thought it was I went to the orthopedic the next day and it was confirmed that I had fractured it and had just missed surgery!  This was just a week before the Kemah Tri that I was forced to miss. The main concern was if I was going to be able to gain full range of motion back with full extension and external rotation. With Dr. Steven Meyers diagnosis and his advice,  my Coach Brent Poulsen from rEvolution Multisport, and lots of Faith we were able to come up with an aggressive game plan to get me back in the game. It wasn't long before I was attempting to swim and back in the weight room with a broken arm and slowly gaining range of motion. I appreciate everyone who reached out to me with concern during this time.

June 5th I was just able to race in the 555 Series and to start knocking off the rust. This is a series that started in April and goes through October on the 5th of every month consisting of a 500m swim and 5k run with Dallas, San Antonio, and Austin.  I lined up on the far right side to keep everyone else on my left side away from my Arm. I was  next to David Balis who had won the last two. He is a way better swimmer than I gave him credit far initially, he was gone as soon as we took off. He managed to come out of the water in just over 8 minutes and I had just come out of the water in 10 minutes. We had all assumed the swim was quite long. I came out of the water in 10th of the men. With the fastest transition I passed 5 people going out onto the run. It took me a while to find my legs, which means I still got a lot of work to do. I opened the 5k a slow pedestrian 6 minute mile, when I was going for 5:30's. My legs felt so wobbly, I thought I they were going to give in and I would fall. By the first mile I wanted to drop out, I couldn't even seen anybody else in front, but somehow I kept digging and it wasn't long until the turn around and I was in 3rd and chasing down the top swimmers Adam Wilk and Balis. Within 2.2 miles I caught Balis and finished the 2nd mile in 5:42. I was getting faster on the last mile holding just under 5:30, but with a half-mile to go I put my effort on cruise control to start working on recovery for the next day finishing the 5k in 18:02.

Next week - ready or not I'll be racing in my fourth go around at Buffalo Springs 70.3 in Lubbock. It's one of the hardest 70.3's on the circuit due to the heat, wind, and hills. Last year was a death march as it reached 114 degrees.