Stonebridge Ranch

Praise God! For a super weekend of racing and good times w/ friends and so forth. I was at the Stonebridge Ranch tri hosted by Play Tri in McKinney this weekend. The 1500 m swim seemed a bit long to me or it could have been all the zig zagging I did. I couldn't swim straight that day to save my life. But I have a hard time swimming straight in the pool, so what did I expect anyways? The 4 loop bike course was eventful, the wind picked it seemed like on each loop and it got more crowded each time I went around. I had to slow it down more than usual because I felt my hamstring give a twinge and thought I better back off, but later as I moved more forward in the saddle it didn't bother me. I need to work on staying in that aggressive position. I also almost lost control going around the second turn, so after that I took some of the turns a little easier. I still had the fastest bike split of the day in 25.1 mph, if you exclude the relay teams. I got passed as if I was sitting still by a relay team they averaged over 27 mph on the bike, I tried to hang back with them, but I kept getting blocked off by people riding over on the left side of the road. Coming off the bike I thought I was the lead, but then found out I was 2.5 minutes down in T2 (This is where you come in Adam). So, surprised of how good my legs felt after that and no hamstring issues at all on the run. I worked on a quick cadence with my legs and that seemed to work well. I stayed consistent with my pace almost the entire way on a curvy path with several sharp inclines. I caught the guy leading, Adam, maybe after 2 miles in the run. I finished the 10k in 35:57 or 5:48 a mile, although, I know I started my watch late in the run, but I think that could be slight short, I do know though I picked it up a lot the last half mile. Overall it was a very fun day!!! I think my overall time was 2:02:34 and it was my first win at the olympic distance. As always it was great meeting new people too! Congratulations to all the racers out there, especially to Liz Raz for winning the womens side at the olympic distance and Korey Sessions and Ashley Johnson for winning the sprint.

This weekend was a big weekend for racing. Congrats to the other competitors that did the USAT Age Group National Championships in Alabama, Augusta 70.3, and The Houston Triathlon.

I owe a super thank you to Derek Bender for connecting me with some awesome hosts! Shane & Tracy Hernandez and their 4 young boys opened up their beautiful home to me and my buddy Lance. Tracy cooked the most awesomest dinner. Me and Lance watched her cook the whole time while I asked her simple of questions of why she was doing this and that. The food was way better than Olive Garden, we had spaghetti and home made sauce that included a hint of red wine, carrots, celery, and Italian beef. We also had a Caprice salad which I never had before and dessert was chocolate coated strawberries. Then after a couple of embarrassing matches, I beat the 14 year old Garret at a game of ping pong and showed him who was boss ;) If you need a dedicated physical therapist then Shane is your guy check out http://www.edgetherapy.net

Thanks also to my generous sponsors and supporters. As always thanks to Jesus Christ for blessing with me abilities, passion, determination, and health. Brent Poulsen for the hard core coaching and aways keeping me on my toes and sore after hard sessions. Blueseventy, Brooks, Monavie (Brandon Perry), and OnUrLeft Sports. I have also been working with someone else and will release some details on that soon!!!! But, next up in less than 3 weeks I'll be racing Ironman 70.3 Austin.

Here are some pictures before my swim today at the Shorrock's house on Cedar Creek Lake. The water nice and refreshing today, good for recovery.

Fight to the Finish Line

This is a story about my friend and hero Kami Nedbalek and her battle with lung cancer. She was one of the people there in the beginning when I first began my triathlon journey in the Tyler, Texas area.

http://www.kltv.com/Global/story.asp?S=13169891

Posted: Sep 16, 2010 8:51 PM CDTUpdated: Sep 16, 2010 10:44 PM CDT

Click image to enlarge

Sports Headlines

Grace football reaches out to at-risk children

NFL player Kenny McKinley found dead in home

Longview's Trent Williams injured in loss

Bears race past bumbling Cowboys

Two East Texans signed to Cowboys practice squad

By Ryan Peterson - bio | email

TYLER, TX (KLTV) - Kami Nedbalek prides herself on finishing the race. Competing in Lubbock two years ago, she couldn't reach the finish line.

"We started to swim and I'd take a few strokes and I couldn't breathe," said Nedbalek. "I did the whole swim that way stopping and stopping. And biking I had a tightness in my chest, like something was really wrong. I didn't know what it was."

After a friend told her to see a doctor, Nedbalek Kami reluctantly agreed. The news wasn't good. Her lungs were filled with 12 cancerous tumors.

"It was such a shock," she said. "I was kind of like I want to do the Iron Man (Triathlon) and I want to see my grandchildren some day. I just thought I never thought about life, just having a few years left. I remember feeling so defeated when I didn't finish that race. That's the first one I hadn't finished. I had friends at home tracking me. It was a long drive home from Lubbock. But now I definitely know it was a blessing."

Nedbalek says the triathlon she couldn't finish saved her life. Despite cancer treatment, asthma and knee surgery, she keeps on competing.

"Why not do something that keeps you healthy and helps your body fight?," she said. "When you're out here training it takes your mind off of all those other things and lets you sort of get away from things."

Two years after finding out she had cancer, Nedbalek's prognosis looks good. The tumors are shrinking and her competitive fire keeps on growing. She'll be in the field for the Rose City Triathlon Saturday morning.

"One of the fun things for me is seeing newcomers complete something they didn't think they can do," said Nedbalek with a smile. "I just love being in the race, even if I'm behind everybody else."

Copyright 2010 KLTV. All rights reserved.

OnUrLeft Sports and Update

I am grateful to announce a sponsorship with OnUrLeft Sports a Houston, Texas based company. OnUrLeft Sports is the most comprehensive multi sport team, offering a variety of services which include monthly coaching and a variety of performance testing, and nutritional guidance. I'd like to thank the owner Aaron Palaian for this opportunity.

The sister company OnUrMark Productions puts on simply the best triathlons including the Gateway to the Bay and the Bridgeland sprint triathlon. This weekend is also the debut of The Houston Triathlon which is expected to sale out any day now. Currently on 27 spots left!!! Be sure and check them out!!!

This week I had to find a new place to swim on the lake since someone ran their barge into a bridge that crosses over from Gun Barrel City to Seven Points where I usually go swimming. The bridge is closed now and anyways I owe a huge thanks to Steve and Jane Shorrock for "opening" up their boat deck to me and allowing me to get that needed open water swimming in. They are super cool and allowed me and my friend Candice to ride on their jet skis all over the lake this weekend for a couple of hours. We are both super sore right now. I wish I had brought my camera on the jet ski, but I was kinda scared about dropping it in.

Some of you may know, I dropped out of Prairie Man half-irondue due to a slight pull in my hamstring at the end of the bike last weekend. It was my first time to drop out of a race due to physical (in)abilities. Well, praise God for some healing because all seems to be good now! I didn't do much this week as I was starting to go crazy mid-week. I did some icing, epsom salt baths, massage, ultra sound, and gentle stretching. The massage lady, Ginger, made me hurt really bad, every time she would go over my calves my feet would cramp up. It's hard being patient.

Well since all is good now, I'll be at the Stonebridge triathlon in McKinney this weekend. It's time to get my booty in shape. Not sure how well it's going to go but regardless can't wait to give it a shot.

Prairie Man Half Iron

Not much to write about tonight, so I'll do my best to keep it short and sweet.

In Grand Prairie, TX (DFW) at Joe Poole Lake.It was a very hot and humid day. The water was unusually calm. I had my best swim time for 1.2 miles, 33:01 with the 13th fastest swim time in the half iron. Many people say the race director Jack always have long swims. Coming into T1 my zipper on my speed suit got hung up. It took me awhile realize it was already over half way undone, so I was able to get out of it. I got off to a strong start on the 4 loop fast bike course, but every loop I saw that my average was gradually falling. On the last last loop of the bike course my hands were starting to cramp and I could feel as though I was almost getting shaky, then coming into the park I caught a big cramp under my left butt cheek (the hamstring insertion point). I was barely able to get off the bike. I finished the 56 mile bike in 2:17.08 for a 24.5 mph average. Starting to run didn't go so well as I was still feeling the cramp and it was getting worse the legs not wanting to go. After several attempts at giving it a go I made it to the 1 mile mark in 11 minutes and decided to call it day.

Afterwards I could barely lift my knee to my waste without some intense discomfort and a guy did some A.R.T. on me afterwards and after a couple of minutes I had full range of motion back. Now it's just sore. I hope that's it at least.

I owe a huge thanks to Lord from keeping from risking further damage. Bo, my buddy who let me stay at his house and to Lance Vernon who tuned up my bike to get all the gears working and for gluing some new tubular tires on my wheels. Next if I'm ready, I'll be doing the Stonebridge olympic in two weeks.

Clearlake International

What a trip this past weekend was for the Clearlake triathlon just south of Houston. I made it to packet pickup just in time. I had a flat (in my car) on I-45. I am driving along and I'm thinking to myself this road sure is bumpy (similar to that of what my friend Tracy though the night before the McKinney tri). I thought it might be the road, but then looked at other cars and none were rattling as bad as mine was, so I decided I better exit and I pull over in a run down looking motel parking lot to change it. I looked around the area and decided this wasn't the "good" part of H-town. I debated whether or not I should call someone (since I don't have the coolest phone) to help me find the nearest tire shop or just change it myself. Since this was the first time I actually had to change a tire myself without supervision. I've been fortunate to have been able to locate a place before it got too bad in previous times. I proceeded to empty my trunk out which was a job itself and get the jack out...it took me a few minutes to get it all together but once I figured it out, I was good to go. I need to ask Brent about doing more strength training, because my arms about gave out taking them lug nuts on and off. But the guys, at Wal-Mart the following day when I went to get a new tire, said I put a 180 pounds of pressure on those nuts, enough to hold a tire on a duele. I called my dad after I changed the tire and told him I was a mechanic now.

Oh yeah, so the triathlon went alright. I got off to a great start on the swim. I positioned myself behind the eventual winner Bradley Pigage (won his 4th consecutive race) and got off to a smokin' fast start. However, that only lasted so long before I found myself in the back of the invitational wave. I was drafting off this one guy and it must have been his first race in the elite group. I'll admit I was tapping his feet a bit too much, because the pace wasn't challenging enough and at the same time, it would have been too much for me to go around him so I sat right there and Ryan Lindsay was drafting off me. The guy was kicking hard and I knew he wanted me off of him, but its a race and you can draft in the swim, so I'm going to do that. Then starts to zig zag all over the place, then suddenly stops in front of me. In my head, I'm like, "Whoa, dude that is not a nice way to race." Ryan then gets around me and I miss his feet, I tried to keep him in sight hoping I could pull him back in but was unsuccessful. I enter T1 past my spot right back up, I had visually remembered how I placed my helmet so I could see it coming into transition. I found my helmet on the ground and not on my bike where I had put it and my new oakleys were missing, I spent several seconds looking around then got my game back together and took off on my bike. My swim was nothing impressive 26.47, some say it was about 2 minutes long though.

I had a real good bike and my fastest average bike split of 26.2 mph, a total time on the 25 mile route in 57:14. The course was flat and wind on are side for much of the beginning portions until we turned into a headwind and had some chip seal rode. Although I heard traffic was controlled better this year and nobody was a hit by car (Brad). There was a couple of intersections that were quite dangerous. One I never saw a police officer, but fortunately I had the green light. Then the next one probably could have been coned off better, had us making a left turn and traffic was on our left. How the heck am I supposed to get over when there is this big truck on my left blocking me? I surged just in time and showed that (blank spot here) that I can ride and cut in front of him and made the left turn, as a cop is running out into the intersection.

I some how had the fastest T2 of 30seconds! And my mom always complains about how slow and clumsy I am. The following picture is me running towards transition. I think the guy behind me is mad at me because, he stopped suddenly in front me as I am still rolling in and I slightly clipped his bike I think.

After a hard bike I found myself in the fight for the top 3 spots with the exception of Brad we were right there together. Ryan L. and Stephen Milford were just up the road in front of me. I caught Stephen first but unfortunately he had to pull out due to a strained muscle in the back. I caught Ryan soon after, before the halfway point of the run, I was feeling it was getting slower, we made the turn around I could Ryan not far behind, so that was motivation to me that I needed to suck it up a bit. I finished the 10k (6.2 mi) course in 36:50. Not bad considering how bad I felt, I used to do that on a day feeling good.

Picture of me and my house mates for the weekend Bradley Pigage and Stephen Milford.
Here is me and Aaron Palaian, owner of OnUrLeft Sports. He talked to me after the race. OnUrLeft and OnUrMark Productions puts on the some of the best put on triathlons I have been to including this year which include Gateway to the Bay and Bridgeland. I'll mention more about OnUrLeft Sports soon!

I'd like to give a few shot outs to few people. First is Jesus Christ for protected me in some of the worst traffic in the United States and a good race!!! Stephen and Brad for the homestay. Aaron Palaian from OnUrLeft Sports. A big congrats to all the competitors out there. It got quite hot as the day went along. I'd like to mention and ask for prayers for my riding buddy, Jim McCan, a 64 year old and one of the toughest road racers I know. He had a bad crash at the Hotter and Hell 100K road race in Wichita Falls, Tx, where a dude decided to swerve in front of him and take him out.

Next up in less than two weeks I'll be competing in Jack Weiss' race of Ironhead Race Productions, the Prairie Man half Ironman. I have heard despite how flat the race is, it can be one of the hardest half ironmans, so cheers to that, it should be a good one to do.

Take on the Heat

I took part in the 3rd of 4 races of Play Tri's North Texas Tri Series this weekend. Take on Heat which benefited The Colony Fire Fighters it started as a 350 meter pool swim. I was #61, but people were nice enough to let me move up and I started in front of my buddy and home stay Bender. The plan was to let him pass me then I draft the rest of the way. It took him about 2 laps to catch me but when he did I had to really work to stay on his feet and I was almost getting a bit sick to my stomach by the end of the swim, my swim wasn't impressive but it was 18th fastest. The bike was 2 loops and more technical with lots of turn at the beginning of each loop. I've never rode well technically before, but today I did thanks to Austin Saylor who I had to work hard to stay legally behind him. We went back and forth, but he did most of the work because I never could pull up close enough to him to go around him until the very end where I just smashed it as hard as I could and passed going into transition. I finished the bike with a 25.3 mph bike split. Finally, on the run my legs felt good like at Bridgeland and I could see Ahmed way up ahead so that was giving me motivation to keep pushing. My garmin is messed up again and I think possibly for good this time so I would "manually" count out loud how many seconds he was up on me, it was like 45, 29, and eventually I caught him near the 2 mile mark, but Ron Tribendis was still up ahead and I finally caught him, I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to by the end of the run or not. In these pool swims you never know who is where really on the course. It felt like I was running faster but I still finished with the top run time of 17.34, about 5:39 average mile. Overall it was a good race with NO mechanical issues (besides the Garmin).

As you can see there were only two guys in the race. Me and Austin.

Some of guys were lucky enough to be with some of the beautiful ladies of the Frisco Triathlon Club.

Thank God for a good race and for remaining alive with DFW traffic! and Thanks to Bender for letting me stay with him again and Lance for gluing on a tubular tire on for me this week. Up next I am doing my 4th race this month in the Houston area again, the Clearlake international distance triathlon. It should be more good times with some of my homies Stephen and Brad.

Bridgeland Triathlon: Overcoming Murphy's Law

What could go wrong did go wrong, known as Murphy's Law. I stayed with my buddy Anthony, which was close to the race site. When we were about the load up the bikes, we put air in our tires and a malfunction to my disc wheel where the stem broke on the tubular...uggh trying to remain calm, I happened to carry my training set with me and put that rear wheel on which isn't as aero at all and I have a heavy set tube in their too. I had actually had a dream about this happening earlier in the week, but I didn't carry my training set with me, so in the dream I wasn't able to compete. Then also my garmin malfunctioned, it wouldn't come on. It has been forever (if ever) since I've raced without a watch.

The swim was 500 meters, and for me, I had another good swim. I had a guy I found to draft off but he may have cost me more time than he saved me. He was zig zagging all over and then started to go off course, I didn't follow him then. I ended up swimming most of it without and help and still managed to come out of the water and gaining, just behind Stephen Milford for the second week in a row.

Trying to mount my bike and get caught up to Stephen my chain popped off,I felt like Andy Schleck and this other fast cyclist guy goes past me and Stephen is already way up the rode. I avoided saying any kind of 4 letter word in front of a bunch of people, at least out loud. I would spend the whole 14 mile failing to chase them down. At the first turn around I see Stephen way in front and he looks at me and I just shake my head. I got out biked big time, but still managed to avg 25.0 mph without the disk, the course was fast!!!

Needless to say, I was looking forward to getting off the bike and getting to the run. I was 7th off the bike. Not knowing what to expect, I was surprised how good my legs actually felt running. I enjoyed the run course especially the gravel trail sections, reminding me of the Trinity trails. I got to work on the run and finished in 3rd place, by catching Stephen by mile 3. He tried to hang with me and I was hoping he wouldn't, so I had to increase the pace a little more and held him off. If things went right and I had gotten off the bike with Stephen where I should have been makes me wonder how close to 2nd I could have been. Oh well what's done is done.

This race I learned no matter what obstacles are thrown at you it's best to remain positive and deal with it and do what you can do. My buddy Brad Pigage in the middle of the picture just won his 3rd race for the 3rd week in a row. He is going to seek his pro card at the Age Group National Championships in September. I like to give a shout out to my good friends Rachel and Brooke for waking up super early and making it out to cheer us on and my new friend Tammy for coming out! Thanks to my buddy Anthony Limon for letting me stay at his place and play with his little greyhound dogs. I thank God for teaching me a good lesson today about determination and not giving up physically, but, most importantly not giving up mentally.

This month is a busy month of racing. I have next weekend off from racing, but in 2 weeks I'll be at the Take on the Heat sprint triathlon for races 3 of 4 of Play Tri's North Texas Tri Series. I am looking forward to it as it was my first triathlon in 2007, when I had no clue what I was doing.

Thanks for reading this, I realize I got more wordy than I intended.

30th Annual River Cities Triathlon

I raced in Bossier City this weekend in the 30th annual River Cities triathlon. RCT is the largest and one of the most competitive sprint triathlons in the south! It was a lot of fun and fast competition, including legend Dave Scott. I had a good swim for me, came out of the water right behind my buddy Stephen Milford. He wasn't expecting me that close. I was ready beat down on the guy that kept pulling me under, by my leg early on in the swim. The bike was fast, but got off to a slow start, managed to average 25.2 mph, I got to experience what it was like racing semi ITU style. Me and Stephen set the pace of our pack and everyone else pretty much latched on, we did most of the work going back and forth. Our pack had built up to what looked like 10 guys by the end of it. T2 definitely was crazy and rushed with guys trying to take an advantage with a lead out on the run. LSU cross country runner Mark Primeaux dominated the run by going under 17 min off the bike. I had some awful stomach cramps on the run, but managed to come back some on the last mile to take over 4th place with just over a quarter mile to go, for an 18:04 5k run. There was no way I was going to let that Aggie beat me.

Stephen Milford (7th), Brad Pigage (1st), Me, and our awesome host Ms. Roeten!

I'd like to thank Debbie and Rachael Roeten for hosting me and my buddies (Brad Pigage and Stephen Milford) and their smelly shoes, who they have never met before and to Scott and Terry Harkey for cooking an awesome pre race dinner for us. I stopped by my mom's house the afternoon before the race, and she must think I am skinny or something, she kept trying to feed me. I ate good food at her house too!! Thanks to the good Lord for keeping us all safe out there in a weather advisory heat wave. Big shout to Brad for winning!!! Me and Stephen are were so nice to Brad, before we confirmed all the travel arrangements to make sure Brad was even in the race to start with.

This weekend I get to to do it all over again with another sprint triathlon in Cypress, Texas, the Bridgeland tri. It is managed by OnUrLeft Sports.

Legend Dave Scott was there handing out the awards.

Peach Pedal Crash!

This past weekend was a training weekend in the Fort Worth area. Me and Brent did a 4.5 hour brick with a 4 hour ride in the Pedal Pedal tour. We got off to a very fast start with the front group and hitting around 30 mph about the time a dog ran out onto the road and caused us to slam our brakes my rear slid out and Brent hit it and we both went down. Fortunately, the crash wasn't as bad as it could have been. I have mostly superficial wounds while Brent is more sore and hopefully just bruised up. The other good news is the bikes are o.k. I know you were wanting to know. We still got back on our bikes and finishes strong.

The back of Brent's arm is banged up

I love it when Norma rubs my legs

Brent is pissed, broke his custom made Oakley jawbones

Moments before the start.

Some of my battle wounds on my leg.

Derek Bender Photography

Last month at the Play Tri Festival, Derek Bender chose to use me as a sample for his new photography business. Instead of being disappointed by a few random photos from an event, Derek Bender offers a unique service where he will follow a single athlete or a small group around and photographing them on their day! Not just a couple of photos either, but a large amount (he shot over 400 of me). He can also do slideshows, books, or anything you want. If you like the work you see of the sample slideshow he did for me then send him an email to discuss your next event. derekdbender@gmail.com. Derek is a super cool dude and fun to work with and easy to get long with. Check out www.bendershoot.com for other work.