Where did the Off-Season Go?

Off-Season has come and gone and now it's back to the grind, however I have been still trying to extend the off-season even though I know it's over. I am excited to get back to it, but I also had one of the best off-seasons ever. I think I did more traveling during December than I did the whole racing season and let me not forget to mention all the holiday treats, that I am still trying to ween myself off of. I am up about 4 pounds since the World Championships.

I had an amazing 2010 Holiday Season during Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year's! Thanksgiving was spent at my granparent's house in Timpson, Texas (tiny dot in East Texas) where we almost had a vegetarian meal, which the only meat included some chicken in the dressing. Somebody forgot to cook the turkey.

I had an amazing Christmas! People kept bringing naughty desserts to work. Christmas was had at my Aunt Carolyn and Uncle John's house for a traditional Christmas dinner. It was good time spending time with the family. 

New Year's Eve was spent with my OnUrLeft friends. Jenn and I went down to Houston to celebrate New Year's, meeting up with the Stephen Milford and the charismatic Michael Barney for some delicious Mexican food at Pappasito's. Then it was to a house party for a little bit at David Kahn and Ben Prok0's crib. To conclude the end of the year we went for a New Year's midnight 5k run. Jenn and I watched, but she still switched out to her from her high heels to Newton running shoes.

Now that the holiday's are over, I am excited to be back on the grind and looking forward to a competitive racing season. I pretty much have my racing schedule set for 2011 with all On Ur Mark triathlons, a few Play Tri events, and a few major 70.3's. I appreciate all the support you have shown me during 2o10 and I am looking forward to an even better 2011 season.

Here are a few pictures from the Holidays!

Christmas Dinner @ Aunt Carolyn and Uncle John's

Me and my brother drinking the Wassal cider.

Winter trainer spin, getting back into it. 

OnUrLeft Crew @ NYE Resolution 5k

Family Portrait

OnUrLeft Sports Christmas Party

This weekend I was in Houston celebrating the OnUrLeft Christmas party, it was great meeting all the club members and having all the sponsored athletes there. We have some amazing and determined and a lot of crazy people in our group. What a night it was! Lots of food to go around, the patties were huge. Ya know how we do it in Texas! It only took just one burger to fill me up and a hotdog, but only because I was pushing it with the hot dog. I am also excited that I won a free Cap Tex Tri entry in Austin next year on Memorial Day. Looks like I gotta harden up and get ready to race big boys in short course. I also got to take home a lot of HEED and KT Tape. I am stacked up with an electrolyte drink for the year and if I get injured I can use some KT Tape to put me back together. The night ended.....:) with a game of twister. It let me know I need to do more yoga and improve my flexibility. Next week I start getting back into it with the training and the diet, and finishing out the last week of the semester. For now though, here are a few pictures from the party in no particular order.

I didn't get a picture of Angie but she is an amazing lady in our group. She crashed in IMFL when she got clipped by a guy and broke her pelvis. She was determined to get back out there and finish before she knew it was broke, but OUL raised the "charity" amount (which is a lot) for her to compete in Ironman Texas next year in just under 4 hours when when it got announced.

Me and Stephen. This might be our first picture together without any lycra or spandex on.

Stephen and Michael w/ Ron who won "the mostly likely to run w/o a shirt." Michael is straight thuggin' dawg.

Aaron with the Rebecca, the wife that keeps everything together.

All I want 4 Christmas is U!

(note to self: when you want the Christmas tree in the picture stand beside it and not in front of it. )

So it got a little rowdy! Not sure what is going on here.

One of the most amazing ladies you will ever meet. Gabrielle Vasquez-Baumeyer. She just completed one of her dreams by completing Ironman Arizona and at the same fundraized for Team COCI, which stands for Cherish Our Children International.

Greg Johnson is another remarkable person. He was diagnosed with sarcoma cancer this summer and has a nasty scar on his back from it. Regardless, the man is determined and is signed up for Ironman Texas this May.

Here are the OUL Sponsored athletes minus Michael Barney, there is no telling where he is at.

Left to Right is the only woman sponsored athlete the amazing Wendy Hammerman, Stephen Milford, Ryan Lindsey, Grant Glauser and me with our boss Aaron Palaian.

Me and Barney! What a guy!

Me and Matthew....its onurleft dude!

Cheers!

William

New 2 Me Car: 2010 Chevy HHR LT

After over seven years with my 1999 Toyota Corolla that I got back in 2003 as a freshman in college, it was time to part ways after another expensive repair came up. So I got a 2010 candy red Chevy HHR LT and I like it a lot. It should work well for my lifestyle and still get some good gas mileage. With help of my parents I picked it up in my hometown at EXCEL Ford of Carthage.

On a parting note with my Corolla I had some great memories in that car from road trips to a variety of track, roadracing and triathlon racing all over the southern region from Texas to Florida and a small handful of steamy make out sessions.

Here are a few of pics of the new ride! I also need a name for her so drop a line with your suggestion. Thanks!

Ironman 70.3 World Championships

This past weekend I competed in the 70.3 World Championships in Clearwater, Florida this weekend. I traveled by car with my Timo from Tyler, Tx, but who is from Finland. Going into the race I had a few goals in my mind with my first goal is to always go out have a good time. I had a few sub goals under that though which included coming into the top 100 overall and top 10 in my age group. My time goal was to break 4:10.

Me and Timo Sunday afternoon somewhere on a Florida beach near Shalimar, FL!

The swim was the most competitive swim I had ever been. The 18-24 and 25-29 age group males were combined at the start, therefore there was an abundance of testosterone floating around out there in the choppy ocean waters. I was thinking I should have went out for 8th grade football when I was asked too, I think itwould have helped as I was getting kicked, wacked in the head, and people grabbing my feet and trying to swim over me. I came out of the water in 32:18, which is very close to my swim time at Austin and this was heckuva a lot rougher swim. Coming out of the water a yellow and black Brian Loncar jersey and though heck naaaw!!! I wasn't going to let Travis start the bike ahead of me so I was so fast in T1 Travis didn't even see me go by him.

On the bike there was lots of drafting and honestly there was no way to avoid it...well you could avoid it but then you would be out of the hunt because everyone else is also drafting. I felt like I did more than my fair share of work in the pack I was in. I averaged 25.47 for the whole ride but it should have been easily over 26. I saw lots of people that had wrecks out there. Timo was one of them who crashed hard around mile 35 when two riders in front of him went down he went over on top of them slicing his thumb open on probably a bladed spoke. He ended up having 12 stitches on this thumb. He is one of tough dude! He didn't complain very much though, but the nurse said he passed out when she stuck a needle in him.

Off the bike, I made sure I started out quite conservatively as compared to Austin. I stayed calm. I liked the two loop run course as we had to run this big bridge. Going up the bridge I took my coaches advice and counted the light post inside of the median to help me keep my mind off running uphill and it helped me get up there faster. I am sure people thought I was crazy as I was counting out loud and talking to myself during the run. "Alright baby that's 10, onto the next 11. You got this." "Harden up baby, don't let up now." I finished the last 3 miles of run faster than I started the first 3 miles which surprised me. I ran the last 3 miles as if I was originally from Gun Barrel City, on meth. I finished the run in 1:21.57. When I crossed the finish line I heard the announcer say "William Ritter, from Gun Barrel City, Texas. You gotta watch out for them guys from Gun Barrel City."

In the end the final results of the day concluded with a place of 89th overall, 17 th in my age group, with a total time of 4:10.29. My fitness got better as the season went along as this was the first 70.3 in quite sometime where I did not puke or need an IV.

Here I am playing around on Pensacola Beach Monday morning. Timo talked me into putting on my wetsuit and playing in these huge waves. I tried to get out for enough to ask these surfers if I could borrow their board, but the waves were hitting me so hard, I decide I better come back closer to shore.

Here is a sunset over the beach near Shalimar, Florida near a restaurant we ate at that night.

The Clearwater beach on pre race day.

Wow what such a fun trip. I thank the Lord for letting me travel safely with no car problems and glad I didn't lose Timo anywhere and that his injury wasn't any worse than it was. I owe a big thank you to our great homestays for this trip. My friends Kelly Caton in Shalimar, Florida and Tammie Wonning in Tampa, Florida were nice enough to put up with us stinky athletes for a few days. Also to Shirley Green and Courtney Hill and ETMC Olympic Center CCL members who put together a huge card together with money in it :) to help the expense of travel. It took me by a complete surprise (see facebook for pics of this). A big thanks to my sponsors this year! ONURLEFT, BLUESEVENTY, BROOKS, MONAVIE w/ Rep. Brandon Perry, and RETIBOL VRIL. A huge thank you to my coach BRENT POULSEN for coaching me to a successful season and more to come. I can't say thank you enough for the encouraging messages and comments I've received from many people. I am enjoying the off season right now taking a break from the training, staying up 10pm some nights when I have the energy, and eating all the wrong things.

You can check out the rest of my pictures on facebook. www.facebook.com/williamtritter

Thanks for reading!

William

Halloween Super Saturday and Suffer Sunday

With it being two weeks out from the Ironman 70.3 World Championships we had organized an unorganized super training weekend in Fort Worth with some of the fastest local triathletes in the DFW Metroplex. These athletes included my coach Brent Poulsen, Korey Sessions, Travis Thomason, Pedro Trinidade, Austin Saylor, Eric Trelz and Cam Mencio (Lubbock). The ages ranged from 23-37 years old.

We started Super Saturday morning with 3 hours in the saddle and I could tell my legs were fatigued from earlier this week as it was one of my hardest weeks. I knew during the warm up it would be a rough day. I got dropped from the group on the first interval. Then I saw Cam on the side of the road looking at his bike, found out he has too much power in those legs and broke a spoke. Then on the way back, I asked Cam if he was alright and he sounded positive, like he had it figured out, but what he said was "I need to borrow your phone" I was like "ok, great" and kept riding. Pedro then caught up to me and asked about Cam. I was like I think he is ok, he said something but I couldn't understand him. After we got off the bike me and Pedro did our sets long run intervals off the bike which was tough. Cam eventually was able to get a ride back in.

After biking and running, next it was swimming for me since I missed a swim this weekend. I did 4,000 meters and the main set was something like 22x100's. I told Brent I had trouble counting that high. Anyways, he laughed and I got close to puking in the pool. But I got the work done. As Philly says, "Get that fitness".

Our festivities for the afternoon included drinking lots of diet coke, watching the movie "Red" which was incredible. I think I like Bruce Willis because he is bald. We then ate at Genghi's Grill again and Carley (Brent's wife) made us some delicious gluten free cupcakes and gluten free pumpkin-pecan pie. We tore that up. We watched the Texas Rangers went Game 3!!! Then me and Eric went to one of his friends house gathering for a short period. I was debating on just going as myself as my face looked like I had smashed up against the wall as I was sooo tired. The picture below is our costume. He is the Karate Kid and I am a Rock Star.

Suffer Sunday was starting with a 90 min progression run. Let me tell you Austin, who is 36 years old can throw it down. Then it was followed quickly by a 2 hour ride around the Trinity Trails and the Benbrook area. I couldn't wait to get this ride done as my legs were beat. We met this girl Becca who caught the end of our ride and she was chatting away, mainly with Austin and his mad skills. Turns out she is a smart girl applying to med schools for internal medicine.

That's pretty much how Super Saturday and Suffer Sunday goes. If you interested in coming out next time and think you can hang, let me know. In two weeks is Ironman 70.3 World Championships. I'll competing in my age group 25-29. I can't wait to get there and have a good time. Thanks to Eric for letting me and Cam crash at his place and eat all his food again and Carley for making the awesome cupcakes and Pumpkin pie

Ironman 70.3 Austin

Friday night Timo and I, were about 3 miles from our hostess house in Leander, Tx. It was 12:30am and I was starting get tired after a couple of swerves of trying to stay in the lane, after the second time, I saw the blue and red lights in my rear view. I knew what I was getting pulled over for. The officer asked questions like if I had been drinking or texting. I wanted to tell him I was so far behind the 21st century that I don't even have texting on my phone. Then he asked if we had meth, then I wanted to say no, but I am from Cedar Creek Lake, then he proceeded with asking if we had steroids. I almost laughed. He also asked what we were up to and what we were doing. I told him we were 3 miles from the house. Fortunately, I kept the conversation straight and got off with a verbal warning.

Pre-Race morning me, Timo, and Jenn we were staring at a tri-spoke wheel that Timo was borrowing from Cam. Where does the air go? I called Cam "Hey buddy, where does the air go on this thing." "Oh just peel back the white sticker". Apparently, a white sticker on a black surface was too much for all three of us to figure out. Timo, had to get some work done on his bike and me and Jenn proceeded to "soft pedal" down the high way. Then I did a pre race swim putting on my wetsuit my arm sleeve just rips. I was pissed!!!! But, there is a positive, my buddy Eric Trelz just happened to be getting out of the water the same time I was about to go in and I told him what had happened he actually had another wetsuit with him, so I got to borrow his. Later that night we hung out with Cam and his family and had a wonderfully cooked spaghetti dinner with beef and we saw the Rangers whoop up on the Yankees.

Race morning started with the National Anthem while a parachute guy held up the huge American flag and landed at the end of the song.

Me and my buddy Travis from Dallas were hanging out before start. I find it good to be loose and joke around with your buddies. I also met some guys from Connecticut and California, they were crackin' me up.

I had my fastest (legit) swim time of 32:24, the swim continues to make improvement. I have knocked off around 3-4 minutes since the beginning of the year. I didn't draft off anybody very long. I found this one guy speeding along by me, I got on his feet but he was zig zagging really bad. Then I found another guy in the middle of the swim but lost him towards the end. I felt sluggish but midway through started feeling better. I got out of the water and felt like a chain smoker trying to run up the hill into transition. I was literally worried about my legs there.

Starting the bike.

The bike course I thought was so much fun minus the bumps. It had lots of rolling hills, turns, and a few steep climbs. I built into the bike, unlike I did at Prairie Man where I basically hammered from the start. I did average near 25 mph the the first hour, the last hour got hard as I tried to maintain some speed. It was more crowded than it should have been because people don't stay to the right of the road. I found out of you say On ur left then their name, it gets there attention better. I finished the bike course in just under 2:16. for a 24.7 mph.

The run was hard!!!! It was 2 loops and it was hilly. I came out of T2 not looking at my watch but running with what felt comfortable, it would later turn out to be 5:45-6min pace. That slowed quick later, especially once we hit the grass. Half of the run was cross country, which was fun and offered a good challenge. There was a huge hill on the back side that slowed me way down. However, I was running my best ever off the bike on the road. I did the first half of the run averaging a 6:21 pace but blew up the last half and only averaged 7:01 pace. I managed to find a sprint at the end of the run and sneak under the 4:20 barrier and finished in 4:19.49.

Half way through the run taking in a gel.

At the finish I was hanging on Jenn trying to catch my breath the official photographer wanted one of those finishing photos. I told Jenn I gotta get out of here. I knew I was about to puke. However, I realize my fitness has been getting better as the year goes along. It took a lot longer for me to puke and I don't think it was as much either, although that is arguable. Instead of needing 2 or 3 IV bags, I only had one.

It was fun weekend. My traveling buddy Timo finished 1st in the college division with a time of 4:16. My coach Brent Poulsen finished 6th among the pro's and Eric Trelz set a PR of 5:35. The day before they got rear ended by lady going 50 mph and then again when she hit the gas instead of the brake. Brent spent most of his pre race day in the hospital with as stiff neck. Thank you to Cam and his family for hosting us and letting us eat all their food. Thank you to Jenn and Tiffany for coming out and supporting and also to the many other volunteers. All those sponges I stuffed in my shorts and top saved my run. Thanks to my generous sponsors OnUrLeft Sports, Retibol Vril, Blueseventy, MonaVie (Brandon Perry) and Brooks I.D. and Brent Poulsen for the excellent coaching. Most important.y thanks to Jesus for keeping my friends safe and letting us have good races!

So, In a few weeks me and Timo are doing this little race in Clearwater, Florida.

Rock on!

William

Ritter wins triathlon

This was in the small town local paper that came out over the weekend. A big thanks to Eston Williams for getting the information out of me to get to the press. Eston "Send me an email about your win." Me, "Ok you got it!" Later in the day I check my email. "William don't forget to send me the information." I think in my head, "Oh yeah, I just forgot". The picture that was run was actually from the Clear Lake tri a few weeks back, since I didn't have any from Stonebridge and the newspaper wanted a picture. Also is mentioned the Stonebridge women's champion. Every competitive woman triathlete needs to be on the look out for up and coming Elizabeth Meraz, better known as Liz Raz!!!

This weekend, I'll spend in Fort Worth training with my coach and pro triathlete Brent Poulsen and we both are gearing up for Austin 70.3 and the World Champs 70.3 in Clearwater.

Ritter wins triathlon
Monitor Staff Reports
McKINNEY–Olympic Center trainer William Ritter won the Stonebridge Ranch Triathlon race in McKinney this past weekend.
Ritter, who works at the East Texas Medical Center-Cedar Creek Lake facility in Gun Barrel City, finished first among 194 male runners, clocking 2:02:43, about two minutes ahead of Dallas resident Shawn Bonsell (2:04:34), who led the Masters age group.
Ritter competed in the Open age group. There were 261 competitors entered in the triathlon, including 66 women.
Plano resident Elizabeth Meraz (competing in the 30-34 group) was the first-place female runner, clocking 2:26:03, about three minutes ahead of Dallas resident Nikki Bertrand, running in the 25-29 age group.

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.