Life Time Tri Dallas

Last race of the season I was eager to get it done. I did this race in 2009 when it was at the American Airlines Center and I haven't had a chance to come back until now.

Walking on the dock to get to the start, goggles pulled down, and my game face on I was ready to race. We started swimming and I got kicked and my goggles got knocked around and they were full of water and I couldn't see at all. I put my head back down to keep swimming but had put pull up and adjust my goggles even then they were still half-full of water and I could barely see in front of me. Now I'm in the back of the pack.  It took sometime to adjust as I was zig zagging to the first turn.  In the far stretch I found some feet to draft off, although I'm not sure what happened to him as we rounded the last turn and he was gone. At the end the swim the water was shallow and I dolphin dived a few times to the exit.

The start of the bike as up a steep hill out of the parking lot and then take a right and it continues to climb. It took a few minutes to get into my shoes and get rollin'. I found myself lacking some bike strength especially after my long-time friend Pedro flies by me like I was sitting still, I was like "What the heck was that?" I continued to push and found myself getting angrier but still to no avail Pedro kept pulling away.

Running into T2 I jumped off it felt like my feet had turned into bricks. I forgot to bring toe covers. The run was on a whole different level. On the other side of transition we had to run up a steep hill the same way we went out on the bike course. Take a right and it continues to climb and into more hills through this neighborhood.  I found myself having a decent run, at least I was feeling good. After the first mile or so I could see Pedro way ahead. I had my sights set on catching him, it took awhile because Pedro is a stud and one of the hardest Brazilians I know. The volunteers were doing a great job out there keeping everyone's spirits up. It wasn't long then we had a 1/2 mile to go and I could see Brandon Barnett just in front me. I was starting a wild chase but couldn't quite get him at the line.

With an up and down season this year.  I was mainly focused on improving my swim. It taking a lot of work but I a believe we are finally making some progress on the swim. I know I'm going to make even more starting next season, but I'll still have to get my bike strength back up too.

I owe a lot of thanks to my Jesus for keeping me injury free this whole season. Of course to Calley Borocz my amazing girlfriend who has been with every step this year. Lance Vernon who has supported helped me through the years and came out of the way to cheer and keep Calley company. My parents for always believing in me. Richard Burgunder from Extremus, Brent Poulsen Revolution Multisport, Karbon Speed, and Tri It Wear.

I'm already looking forward to next year but first I'm going to enjoy a complete week off and then I'll ease back into it. Calley and I have also been planning a vacation in November to Colorado for a few days in Estes Park. We are both looking forward to that as well as we escape into the mountains.

Thanks for reading and I'll see ya on the courses next year!

Galveston 5150

I was excited to race Galveston 5150 especially after the swim I had in TriFecta (2nd out of water in age group wave). I wanted to able to compare it to the guys in Galveston. But unfortunately, rain combined with the considerably high winds made the race officials cancel the swim. Which it really wasn't that bad, no worse than an ocean swim. WTC, harden up just a bit, ok.

This was also the first time Rylan would get to see me race too, I was pretty excited about that. We took him to Pleasure Pier before dinner to ride some fun rides and we had dinner at Bumba Gump's.

After TriFecta and suffering another painful bout of stomach cramps we are trying to go gluten-free to see if it helps. I guess I've had too many pasta dinners over the years.  I believe it is helping already, my running has gotten significantly better since. I feel significantly "lighter" but I'm not.

Since the swim was canceled, we started on the bike one at time in 5 second intervals. It was definitely a different format than I was used to and we had to start out with our shoes on. I had a very good mount as I was trying to get in a legal draft of the guy who took off before me. The bike is along the seawall coast. Flat and fast. We had a very generous tailwind on the way out sailing our carbon cost more than your car bikes 29-31 miles an hour (some people probably sailed more than that), only to be faced with a heckuva headwind on the way back.  This is the first time I've raced in Galveston where we didn't get the tailwind on the way back. The group I was competing in it was a yo-yo the entire ride going back and forth.

On the 2 loop  10k run course around Moody Gardens, I finally felt good on the run. Quick effortless turnover starting out as I ran in "control" the first couple of miles. I was passed early on by a pro Rodolfe Von Berg finishing up his last loop once he passed me I was able to keep him close as I found the motivation to stay with him, but I was caught by up-and-coming, young Daniel Vertiz, who also in the "Elite-Amateurs" and would go on to have the fastest run split of the day. It wasn't until the last two miles that I had some stomach cramps but they weren't as intense as they have been. So, we are staying on the gluten-free thing for further experimental testing.   I would ended up 20th overall and 6th out of the "Elite Amateurs".

It was really great to have the support from Calley and Rylan especially seeing them on the run course.  Rylan, actually took most of the athletic photos from this weekend. Praise God that my running is coming back around and I know where I need to work on the bike to get stronger.

After the race my Aunt Veronica met up with us, who I haven't seen since I was a young boy. I also played in the beach with Rylan we stopped to visit my grandparents on my dad's side. What a great trip!

Next,  Lifetime Dallas October 6.

Cheers! 

TriFecta Triathlon

Hell's Gate at Possum Kingdom Lake

I've been reading, reading a lot actually. Mostly business/leadership type books, but these books also can be put into translation for triathlon or any other athletic event. I'm currently reading two books right now that I would recommend Orrin Woodward's book "Resolved" and " The Magic of Thinking Big" by Daniel J. Schwartz. Reading these books built my confidence up coming into the week of TriFecta.

Pre- swim warmup Business face is on.

I've been swimming a lot this year, but have been seeing very little return but keeping at the grind. Finally, though I saw something that came out of nowhere this weekend as I led the age group swim wave well past the first turn. I could feel people on my feet throughout I wasn't too worried about it. I was pretty excited because I never lead anything that was in the water regardless of what level of competition it was. I am used to getting run over soon as we start.  On the back stretch I ended up losing position but not my much, I caught him through transition. 

Coming out 2nd of the water in the age group wave.

Through transition I mounted my bike like a rookie, I never saw the mount sign. I just kept running down the street finally I said I must have passed it but mistimed my jump on the bike and had to stop and get it on. The bike was harder than we expected with false flats, rollers, and one steep climb just before halfway through. At the halfway point I knew I wasn't too far behind the pros that started just 4 minutes ahead of me. On the way back in, I didn't think the signs were marked correctly, there was sign that said right up ahead and I ended up turning into this boat dock thinking that's where I shoes were after making the turn I realize that wasn't correct so had to spin out of there get back on the road. Once I saw T2 and came in set my bike on the rack and the pole popped out, volunteers had to come hold my bike so I could put my shoes on.

On the run course, I started out feeling great but didn't think the course was marked too well and the volunteers may have needed more coffee. Arrows were pointing to the right when I should have went straight and where I was supposed to make a turn to get on the trail I didn't know I was supposed to turn until the last second. I ended up knocking down a few chairs and nearly taking out the volunteers. The first 3 miles of the run was more challenging then anybody thought it was there was a asphalt hill steeper than the hills on the Buffalo Springs course and the trails had some steep inclines and full of rocks to watch out for. It felt like I as Xterra trail running. Through the trails I knew Jose wasn't too far behind in there but I was confident I could still hold him off. But after two miles through I was having to manage stomach cramps, actually I had them on the bike but got them to go away for awhile. Once we exited the trail I knew he was there, I held him off for almost another mile, but couldn't respond to him once he caught me.

Finishing as the 2nd amateur and 2nd 25-29 male. 

Top 3 25-29 males (Jose on the right)

I thank God for a great race! The biggest weakest for me is of course the swim, this maybe the first sign of progress I've made in awhile, if ever. It's probably the first race where my swim has ranked higher than the bike or run. Next week will be a better test of that though.  I'm actually working to eat gluten-free to hopefully eliminate these stomach issues I've been having in every race so far this year. Calley has was super supportive, she made the weekend a lot more fun! This weekend we are going race Galveston 5150.

Cheers!

Thanks to the SO PRO Stacy McKinney for taking the picture. 

Houston Towne Lake Triathlon

Coming into the Houston Triathlon I had a couple of solid blocks of training over the last two months. I was ready. Here is a picture of me at dinner the night before at Chili's. Calley had used the beans that I didn't eat for decoration. 

Pre Race dinner art. 

Swim Start

Going into the swim, I thought I was having my best swim yet and maybe I was. I got off too a good start. Nothing too significant to write about here but this was a first for me when the water got really shallow in the last straight away and I had to run and dive back in.

Coming out of the Towne Lake swim. 

Running into transition I could see the new rookie pro Scott Wilkinson just heading out. I knew then I wasn't as far back I though and was still in the mix. The bike was mostly flat since it is in Houston at sea level. I took me awhile to get my legs moving but once I did I thought I was moving pretty good. I lost my water bottle early in the ride when I hit a bump when I was looking down. So, I was doing mostly without fluids over half the ride. Which this was short race so I wasn't worried about it. I was pretty excited to get in on the bike. I knew I was well under sub 1 hour for 40K. I thought at the time was pretty well until I saw results with some guys out splitting me by 2 or 3 minutes.

Houston Towne Lake bike

I haven't had a solid run off the bike all year this season, which is quite unusual except I've been swimming a lot more than usual too. As the saying goes regardless how well your training is going it doesn't matter until it happens on race day. I started out with good turn over but the speed of the legs weren't there. I struggled through the run but I was still thinking positive thoughts. With a couple of miles to go a couple of guys were starting to run up on me, they must have been in the sprint tri, but I reacted is if they in my division and was able to run a little faster based off that.

I finished 7th overall and 6th male. Former Pro Michelle Leblanc dominated the race on the women's side. OnUrLeft Austin Parker crushed the men's race. I think Scott Wilkinson must have had some technical difficulties, I never heard what happened.

Houston Towne Lake Finish

I thank God for a good race, even though it wasn't the end result I was shooting for there were still some positive that came out of it. Also, I had this amazinggirl Calley here shown below who was out cheering for me the whole time. Also, I have great team of people behind me Team Extremus, Revolution Multisport, CR Massage, Karbon Speed, and Tri It Wear. TriFecta is next at Possum King Lake a gem of a location out in the middle of no where 90 minutes west of Fort Worth.

Calley and I just before the start. 

Benbrook Lake Sprint Triathlon

This past weekend I squared off again with Dallas' Matt Inch. Since he was coming I was pretty pumped but work still must get done so I trained right through this race and hard. I actually took a recovery week the week before. They playing fields were even though as he attended a cross country camp in Michigan and put in 55 miles of running in 5 days.

Benbrook Lake

I've been working my swim/bike over the last couple of months. The swim didn't show up, my start didn't go so well. I thought I had jumped on Matt's feet when I realized it wasn't him I could see

a pack of 3 up ahead and knew that wasn't him. In a short 500m swim I was a min and some cents off Matt. I worked the bike pretty nice and was surprised how good I felt.  I could see Matt along with Jason Soria, making the round about that was at the beginning of the bike and knew I could be in the mix on the two loop bike course. I chased them both down and finally caught Matt before the last turn around. I put in a surge past him and switched sides of the road to hopefully to put some distance on him that he wouldn't be able to come back on. However once I reached the turn around I could see him close. I shut it down and decided to soft-pedal in if I wasn't going to be able to break him, which I don't think was the best decision but you never know. We both switched to our run shoes as fast as possible were on the run course together bumping elbows and exchanging sweat. We were side by side for most of the 5k. Like last month it still came down to the last mile, he has another gear that I was  unable to match again. The "Special 4" was also doing a training ride on the course - Will, Myrna, Kelly, and Angela were cheering me on for a little bit as as Matt and I were starting to put surges on each other near the end out in the middle of the 5k. Matt ended up slipping by and getting the overall win by 8 seconds. I'll live to fight another day.

Here are some pics Calley got during the awards presentation. 

Top 3 Male

Calley and I

Texas Shootout Series Cowboy hat

My friend Monty from Tyler, Tx. 

Matt Inch and I after the awards. 

Team Extremus Press Release

http://www.pr.com/press-release/509384


Thanks for reading. I'm always blessed with my amazing people who help support me. It was fun racing. God kept us all safe and Calley was great at supporting me and keeping me informed how far back I was. Matt was a class act a great guy to race with. I'm looking forward to ramping up the racing this fall and to start is The Houston Triathlon Sept 2.  Thank you to my amazing sponsors Extremus, Revolution Multisport, Tri It Wear, Karbon Speed!!!

Texas Stampede Triathlon

Sunset over Lake Benbrook 

This past weekend I was wapping a 3 week training block that ended with the Texas Stampede triathlon since it was local and I didn't have to travel for it which made packing for this a breeze. After of over 4 years of cycling in the same shoes, I finally got around to getting a brand spankin' new Shimano shoes thanks from a generous bonus through work. The had arrived a couple of days before and I stopped at the new shop at Benbrook Bicycle that just opened a few weeks ago and Ron set me up with the cleats for my new Shimano's. Ron is a former Lockheed Martin engineer, so be sure to visit there.

 The open wave started with just 5 of us. I had gotten off to a good start until I veered left which was almost immediately. Two guys Matt and Trent pulled ahead and I couldn't quite get close enough to get in the draft. I've been working one on one with Brent Poulsen on my swim technique that's coming around, but when trying to go faster that has been a challenge as I still swam the race some with my straight arm out of the water.  I came out of the water 3rd.

Getting ready to make the U-Turn for the second loops. This is where I got cussed out by a competitor for getting  in front of them on the U Turn. It was either run into them or get around them. Someone forgot there was a race going on behind them. 

The bike was a fun, hilly,and windy route I spent my time chasing Matt and Trent. I didn't gain any time on Trent. He ended up putting some time on me though.

Heading out for one more loop on the hilly course. 

Coming off the bike I was about 30 seconds off Matt and Trent I was informed. They came off together. I started gaining ground on Trent but Matt was pulling away from Trent. I finally caught up to Trent and kept talking myself up to keep chasing Matt. I finally got Matt with a mile to go but I had some serious side stitches that I wasn't able to suffer through for another mile. 

A few of my Co-workers & friends came out to watch too and met me at the finish. 

L to R: Me, Baby Camden, Wade, Jackie, & Mack.

My #1 Cheerleader also came out too.


 I am looking forward to another big block training to gear up towards a few events this fall. Thanks to my generous sponsors and my Lord who help keep me racing and training:  Revolution Multisport,Extremus, Karbon Speed, and CR Massage who I need to go back too very soon. 

I went out to ride again post triathlon (after Pancakes) and got the double flat. Going down the huge hill by the Fort Worth Zoo sounded like glass was breaking as I heard my tube pop then my spare tube had a whole in it.

Bummed out that no air is going in. 

Yes, I still keep my race number on. 

 Thanks for reading. See you on the course.

Cap Tex Triathlon

After Memphis, Calley and I headed to Austin for the Cap Tex Tri. I was seeking redemption after the previous week's 10k run off the bike. 

We were there early for a little mini-vacation and were welcomed by rain showers Saturday morning. We both did a little run outside of the hotel

Friday afternoon we were out and about exploring off Lady Bird Lake trail and we were about to hop onto this dam to feel the cool water until we saw this snake waiting here, shown below.

We also found these pair of swan's swimming along too. They both came right up next to us gawking for our camera phones.

Saturday morning we started the day off with a nice huge breakfast at place called Abel's on the Lake. This nice place with an outdoor seating deck off Lake Austin. The water looked much cleaner then the water we would be swimming in the following morning.

Race morning came along and I was pretty excited I had some good rest the last couple of days. I love waking up without an alarm clock, that is something I could get used to. I was mentally prepared to rock this out. I came out of the water with an average swim for me, minutes down from where I need to be and should be. 

The Cap Tex bike course is through downtown Austin requires the abilities to make sharp turns and high power output to get rolling again, neither which I have but I felt like I was doing pretty well on the bike. There is also a short steep hill or two in the loop we did x 4. As technical as the Cap Tex course that you have to repeat 4 times with 2,000 other cyclists on the road, it's still a beauty, especially biking in front of the Texas Capital.

I was feeling good on and once I got off the bike, however it didn't take long at all before my legs felt like logs and could never get them moving again (same story in Memphis, part 2). Brad Williams a RWB Triathlete caught me walking within 2 miles and said "We're from Texas, we don't walk" he was right about that, endurance athletes from Texas are some of the toughest athletes I know. I didn't walk the rest of the way, I at least kept one foot off the ground. 

After this race I was pretty mentally beat up and ready to retire. I did almost for a whole week but Calley encouraged me to keep "tri-ing". My goal is to get back to having fun with it then the W's will come. I thank God for my God-given talent and plan to use it also the amazing people who support me: Calley, my parents, Revolution Multi-Sport, Extremus and all my mentors and friends.

Always scoop up yo dawg's poop!! Ain't nobody got  time to be steppin' in all of dat!