Ok so I am on the final stretch of my triathlon season and it looks to be an interesting finish. Firstly, I am back from San Francisco after an 8 day vacation. I did get to do some running and a little surfing but unfortunately there was no cycling. On Wednesday I took my bike down to Buda and back for a quick 25 mile ride. It has been over two and a half weeks since I rode so my legs are feeling the soreness from that one. Maybe my vacation wasn't timed the best with respect to my training but I don't know how you say in french, "'c'est la vie," but that's how it goes.
Today Oskar and I got reacquainted with running on the trail together. My friend Tony was sick so Oskar and I picked up the slack for our usual 4 mile recovery run around Town Lake. I found myself doing the exact same things as if Tony were there. Funny how when I stop for water or climb the stairs to the bridge I will always start again at the (Tony)determined checkpoints. It's usually a particular column, lamppost, or where the sidewalk begins or ends. Oskar did great and the cooler weather gave both of us a lot more energy to run. As soon as we were finished I unhooked Oskars collar and he took off to run loops around me, the other dogs, and all of the people at Auditorium Shores.
Tomorrow is a long swim at Barton Springs and Saturday is the big day. I plan on riding the 56 mile bike course with my friend Tanner followed with a 10 mile run on the run course at the park. Woo Hoo!!
Thursday, September 30, 2010
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
Running in San Francisco
Time flies quickly when not training. I can’t seem to remember my last workout although I know it was last week. I was busy cleaning up Barton Springs for a few hours but that was hard labor shoveling gravel so I took the rest of that day off. Then one day turned into two, then three and I kept making up excuses. I am afraid I am nearing the burnout point of my training. It is September 22nd and my next and last race is October 17th. To be fair I did just help a friend move to California these last few days. I have been driving a Uhaul across the country with little to no sleep, and after loading and unloading the darned thing it was easy to tell myself that was my workout. All if that changed today.
Today I had one of those breakthrough workouts that changed my whole outlook. It started out innocuous enough. I am in San Francisco until Monday so all my workouts will either be running or surfing. I think surfing is close enough to swimming for it to count but there hasn’t been any cycling for quite a while now. So today I planned a 5 mile run through Golden Gate Park, which by the way ranks right up there with running in Central Park in New York or Forest Park in Portland. The weather was a fantastic 63 degrees and sunny. San Francisco is a little hilly in case you haven’t heard so you are either going uphill or down hill when you run here. Flat spots are a little hard to come by. I remembered something on my run today. I remembered I can run pretty well, and I am a lot faster than I have been led to believe based on my performances at my races and training this summer. I ran hard for 5 miles up and down the hills in Golden Gate Park and loved every second of it. I finished not drenched in sweat, out of breath and burnt to a crisp. Instead I felt like running 15 more miles, which I didn’t, and happy to be a runner again.
So look out Half-Ironman, if I can get this running thing back on track by the time race day starts then it’s a whole new race.
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
Run, running and more running
Since my bicycle has been out of commission for the past few days I have tried to focus more on my running. Which is good because that is what seems to need the most work anyways. My bike is fine I just couldn't ride it until I got the gears adjusted so the chain would stop slipping. Once again the good folks at Jack and Adams were able to get my bike in and fix it in about 5 minutes for a song. Not really a song actually because my mother is the one with the beautiful singing voice not me.
Monday was an off day for me. I didn't mean for it to be but I just got sidetracked with a everything else except for triathlon training. Wait a minute is there a life outside of all of this? I got a little down with all of the errands I was failing at so I decided to take in a movie at the Alamo Drafthouse. It changed my whole outlook instantly. I saw and totally recommend Scott Pilgrim vs. the World. The movie was hilarious. Loved it. Anyways my day brightened up after that.
Tuesday I took Oskar out for a 6 mile run on the Greenbelt to tackle the Hill of Life. We rocked it. There was hardly a soul out there at 10 am and with all of the rain we got recently the water level looked great. This time Oskar had no problem keeping up. We got done, headed home and I took my other bike to work for some sort of bike workout. Although it was only a ten mile round trip the ride home is almost all uphill so in the immortal words of Bill Murray, "Well, at least I've got that going for me, which is nice..."
Today I met Tony and Mandy down at Town Lake for our weekly recovery run. You can tell that a variety of Austin Marathon training groups have started because the parking situation at the trail was dicey to say the least. Oskar was happy to run with us as well. Two runs in a row for the little dog wonder. He's a little tired now. After that I came home, ate breakfast, took my bike for repairs and then headed over to Barton Springs for some volunteer work. The Friends of Barton Springs held an emergency cleanup because of all of the flooding recently. I figured with all of the free swimming I get over there, a couple hours of my day was a fair trade. I checked in for my noon shift, was handed a shovel and I worked a pile of gravel and silt until it was no more. I was thinking about a swim afterward but alas I had absolutely no energy left for that.
That's all for now. Thanks for reading and feel free to share this Blog with anybody you want to.
Monday was an off day for me. I didn't mean for it to be but I just got sidetracked with a everything else except for triathlon training. Wait a minute is there a life outside of all of this? I got a little down with all of the errands I was failing at so I decided to take in a movie at the Alamo Drafthouse. It changed my whole outlook instantly. I saw and totally recommend Scott Pilgrim vs. the World. The movie was hilarious. Loved it. Anyways my day brightened up after that.
Tuesday I took Oskar out for a 6 mile run on the Greenbelt to tackle the Hill of Life. We rocked it. There was hardly a soul out there at 10 am and with all of the rain we got recently the water level looked great. This time Oskar had no problem keeping up. We got done, headed home and I took my other bike to work for some sort of bike workout. Although it was only a ten mile round trip the ride home is almost all uphill so in the immortal words of Bill Murray, "Well, at least I've got that going for me, which is nice..."
Today I met Tony and Mandy down at Town Lake for our weekly recovery run. You can tell that a variety of Austin Marathon training groups have started because the parking situation at the trail was dicey to say the least. Oskar was happy to run with us as well. Two runs in a row for the little dog wonder. He's a little tired now. After that I came home, ate breakfast, took my bike for repairs and then headed over to Barton Springs for some volunteer work. The Friends of Barton Springs held an emergency cleanup because of all of the flooding recently. I figured with all of the free swimming I get over there, a couple hours of my day was a fair trade. I checked in for my noon shift, was handed a shovel and I worked a pile of gravel and silt until it was no more. I was thinking about a swim afterward but alas I had absolutely no energy left for that.
That's all for now. Thanks for reading and feel free to share this Blog with anybody you want to.
Monday, September 13, 2010
Making my last Macro
So my last race of the season is October 17th. That gives me 3 solid weeks of training and lets me come down from the peak of my Macro schedule for two weeks and then race. That's the plan. During second week of my build phase I will be on the road to California so I will probably do all running that week. If I am lucky I will be able to get some surfing in as well that week. I am fully recovered and rested from my race last week but probably not recovered from my BBQ last night.
After my race I did an easy 4 mile run with Oskar down on Town Lake. It was the day after Tropical Storm Hermine so the trail was disgusting. You could see where it had flooded and the trail itself was a mudpit. Luckily Oskar has 4 wheel drive so he was fine but I was slipping and sliding all over the place. Next was some laps down at Deep Eddy. I got in close to a mile before the hamstrings cramped badly while using my zommer fins. On Friday morning I got up and did a 50 mile ride with Karen Smith. She is one of Rogues coaches who trains some pretty elite runners in North Austin. We rode out Parmer Lane and back. I took Saturday off and on Sunday I got in a 10 mile run down on Town Lake. It was hot and muggy but I finished fine.
Today is Monday and although this is the first day of the last Macro cycle I am getting off to a slow start. Uggh.
After my race I did an easy 4 mile run with Oskar down on Town Lake. It was the day after Tropical Storm Hermine so the trail was disgusting. You could see where it had flooded and the trail itself was a mudpit. Luckily Oskar has 4 wheel drive so he was fine but I was slipping and sliding all over the place. Next was some laps down at Deep Eddy. I got in close to a mile before the hamstrings cramped badly while using my zommer fins. On Friday morning I got up and did a 50 mile ride with Karen Smith. She is one of Rogues coaches who trains some pretty elite runners in North Austin. We rode out Parmer Lane and back. I took Saturday off and on Sunday I got in a 10 mile run down on Town Lake. It was hot and muggy but I finished fine.
Today is Monday and although this is the first day of the last Macro cycle I am getting off to a slow start. Uggh.
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
Austin Triathlon Race Report
It was a great day to be a triathlete on Labor Day in Austin, Texas. I just completed my first Olympic distance triathlon and it was awesome. I swam 1500 M, biked 40K and ran 10K. Here's how it all went down.
The day before the race I drove down the the Hyatt to pick up my race packet and pick up some extra things for my race. I needed new sunglasses and a race belt to hang my bib number on. There is a booth at the expo that sells pretty good sunglasses for under 20 bucks so I wanted a pair of those. In the expo I ran into Jack from Jack and Adams and thanked him again for the great deal he gave me on my wetsuit. I also extended my compliments to his store for all of the great service I have gotten from them during this whole racing season.
They really have a good store and are always very helpful. I even saw Jack, the morning of one of the other triathlons, directing traffic into a parking lot to get everybody into the race on time. Thanks again Jack.
On the morning of the race I woke up at about 4 a.m. to start my race day preparations. I had a cup of coffee and a smoothie. I get anxious on race day so no solid food for me. I packed and repacked all of my gear. This race I was bringing along a wetsuit as well as all of my other junk. My bicycle was already parked in the transition area the night before so I didn't need to worry about bringing that. I kissed my dog Oskar on the nose for luck and I was out the door.
I parked my car on the west side of Lamar and walked over to transition to get my body marked and set up. I needed a bike pump to top off my tires. As I was looking around I saw a friendly face down the rack from my bike. His name is Matt and we met after the couples tri a few months back. If you had read that race report he was the cyclist that I almost ran over as I was starting the bike section of the race that day. He saw my blog and while reading it he realized who I was and as it turns out he runs with Rogue as well. He directed me to the bike maintenance tent where they let you use their air pumps. Thanks again Matt.
I finished setting up my transition area, laying out my helmet, sunglasses, shoes, race bib and GU's. With just a few minutes to spare I realize that I had not familiarized myself with where all of the entrances and exits for the different portions of the race were. So I asked one of the volunteers and he quickly pointed them all out to me. Ooops.
I left transition and found my good friends Paula and Barton before my wave started. Barton is my swim coach/message therapist/kineseo tape specialist. He was undertaking the swim portion of the race as part of a relay and he was stoked to be there. We chatted for a bit and he helped me zip up the back of my wetsuit. I wished him luck and headed for the starting dock. On the way I saw my friend Tanner who is competing in the age group younger than mine. He is 5th overall in his group and he run's with Rogue as well. Check out his blog at http://thewavingrunner.blogspot.com/. He is real fast too.
They called my wave to start and I walked out onto the dock. I joked again about a cannonball entry. This time the guys around me thought that it was funny. Either that or they were as nervous as I was and needed an attention breaker. We all jumped in the water and the guy next to me came up without any goggles on his head. They were just on top of his swim cap when he jumped in and they popped off immediately. I tried helping him find his goggles by diving under water where he jumped in. Every time I came up for air the announcer was counting down closer and closer to the start. Finally a race volunteer on the dock spotted them right as the starting horn went off. What a way to start a race?
I started out ridiculously slow as per the last minute text message advice I got from Amy. I eased into the swim allowing my arms and shoulders to warm up. It wasn't too crowded and I slowly started passing other swimmers along the way. I eventually started to catch the wave in front of ours. Well I caught the guys doing backstroke. I got to hand it to the guys that will do a triathlon and can't even swim. They've got guts that's for sure. Before I rounded the first buoy I started to notice that there were some shallow parts to Town Lake. The first thing my hand hit was soft and malleable. I thought it was a body and then almost choked from laughing so hard at myself. A body in Town Lake? Haha!!
I rounded the buoys and I noticed about halfway through that I wasn't tired at all. So I started to pick up my pace ever so slightly and began passing all of the guys that I was drafting off of and all of the guys that went out too fast at the beginning. I got out of the water and said HI to my friend Chris who was again volunteering at the race by pulling people out. This was my first wetsuit race so I was a little shocked when hands started grabbing my wetsuit. They were unzipping it and helping me out of it as I was running towards transition. I wish I would have know in advance that this would be happening because I think I tried to give them the slip instead of using their help.
I got to my bike and sat down to take off my wetsuit. The timing chip they gave us for the race was pretty bulky and getting the wetsuit over it was a little annoying. Other than that little complaint the race itself was awesome. I slipped on my pointy helmet (Thank You Mark), strapped on my shoes, clipped on my race belt and put on the new sunglasses. I was off for my favorite portion of the race, the bike!!!
I loved the bike course. It was 3 loops through downtown Austin for a total of 40K. The first section of the ride takes you up Congress to Mary which is a little bit of a climb compared to the rest of the course. When I started there was only about 4 waves ahead of me so it wasn't crowded yet. Going down Congress was fun because you get to really fly down that hill. I'm not afraid to go fast so I use the downhills as much as possible. I averaged close to 21 mph which isn't slow. But about 2/3's through my first loop the guy that got 2nd place overall passes me like I was standing still. It was amazing. His name is Richie Cunningham. No seriously, his name is Richie Cunningham.
When I got into my second loop is when all of the fun started happening and at that point a lot of triathletes changed their game plans. It started to RAIN!! I was just at the top of the Congress hill at Mary when it started to dump. I turned the corner and had to make a decision. I could either ride the brakes and play it safe or I could go all out and if I could hang on I might cut into the lead of one or two of the guys that were ahead of me in the standings. I went for broke. I blazed past everyone on the downhill section and I figured that all of that riding in the rain as a bike messenger in Manhattan last summer is finally paying off. Thank You Breakaway Couriers. I noticed that a bunch of other riders were starting to slow down. Good for them but that's not my style.
On my third lap another rider and me kept leap frogging each other. She would pass me going uphill and I would pass her downhill and on the flats. We kept this up for most of my third loop when all of a sudden she turned too sharp on the wet pavement at Mopac and slid out about 10 yards in front of me. I saw her skid about 15 yards grabbing her arm in pain just knowing her race was over. At the top of the hill another guy came unclipped from his pedals and just stops his bike right in front of two other guys who go around him on both sides. All three of them are yelling, "Look Out, On your left, and On your Right!!" It was starting to look like pandemonium. It was fantastic.
While on the bike course I could hear all of my friends who showed up to cheer me on. Thank you Amy, Heidi, Jenn, Scooby, Joe, Carolyn, Tony, Mandy, Oscar, and everybody else that was there screaming my name while I was going by. It really does help.
I finished the bike very happy and almost got stuck again being clipped in right at the dismount line. I trotted through transition to park the bike, drop the helmet (albeit gently Mark), toss on the shoes and head out for the 10K run. I was tired, out of breath and had over 6 miles of running ahead of me.
The run was two 3 mile loops through the park, Riverside, S. First bridge and back. I averaged about 8:24 minute miles which was faster than I thought I was going and faster than I thought I could go. I was expecting 9 minute miles so I am happy with my pace. If I am just running I am a much better runner. But with adding in swimming and especially cycling my running pace definitely takes a nose dive. About halfway through my first loop my friend Tanner was finishing his run. He passed me and we both shouted encouragements to each other. I need to train with that guy. He's fast. All my friends were out on the run course so it was a real mental and emotional boost to hear a bunch of people scream your name out as you passed. I felt like the popular kid for sure.
I got a big surprise on my second loop when the girl who had fallen on the bike right in front of me passed me by. I yell out, "Hey, didn't you fall?" Without missing a beat she turns her head and nonchalantly states, "I got up." Wow. I love triathlons. By this time in the race all of my work leading up to that point was adding up. My legs and lungs were spent. Whatever stung me on my chest on the first bike loop is really starting to bug me (pardon the pun). I am ready to finish. My strong point in my running is that I have a pretty strong kick at the end of races. Not this time. I had a little bit of a kick that let me distance myself from the people behind me but that's all. I crossed the finish line with absolutely nothing left in the tank. It was over, and I couldn't have been happier. A few minutes after I crossed the finish line I heard the announcer call out the name of the guy that is third overall in my age group. I am fifth and after the race I did the math and realized I took 8 minutes off his lead. Woohoo!!!
The biggest lesson I learned about myself that day was this. Whenever things are tough, hard or miserable you sometimes try to escape to that Happy Place in your head. I couldn't escape to the Happy Place because in the middle of the race when I was swimming in Town Lake, hauling ass in the rain, or struggling to finish the run I am already in my Happy Place. It doesn't get much better than that. So even though I may look like:
I really am Happy!!!! Thank you everyone for reading this, cheering us all on and supporting me and all of my fellow triathletes.
The day before the race I drove down the the Hyatt to pick up my race packet and pick up some extra things for my race. I needed new sunglasses and a race belt to hang my bib number on. There is a booth at the expo that sells pretty good sunglasses for under 20 bucks so I wanted a pair of those. In the expo I ran into Jack from Jack and Adams and thanked him again for the great deal he gave me on my wetsuit. I also extended my compliments to his store for all of the great service I have gotten from them during this whole racing season.
 |
| Me and Jack at the Expo |
On the morning of the race I woke up at about 4 a.m. to start my race day preparations. I had a cup of coffee and a smoothie. I get anxious on race day so no solid food for me. I packed and repacked all of my gear. This race I was bringing along a wetsuit as well as all of my other junk. My bicycle was already parked in the transition area the night before so I didn't need to worry about bringing that. I kissed my dog Oskar on the nose for luck and I was out the door.
 |
| Oskar of Course |
I finished setting up my transition area, laying out my helmet, sunglasses, shoes, race bib and GU's. With just a few minutes to spare I realize that I had not familiarized myself with where all of the entrances and exits for the different portions of the race were. So I asked one of the volunteers and he quickly pointed them all out to me. Ooops.
 |
| Baton & Me in my superhero costume |
They called my wave to start and I walked out onto the dock. I joked again about a cannonball entry. This time the guys around me thought that it was funny. Either that or they were as nervous as I was and needed an attention breaker. We all jumped in the water and the guy next to me came up without any goggles on his head. They were just on top of his swim cap when he jumped in and they popped off immediately. I tried helping him find his goggles by diving under water where he jumped in. Every time I came up for air the announcer was counting down closer and closer to the start. Finally a race volunteer on the dock spotted them right as the starting horn went off. What a way to start a race?
I started out ridiculously slow as per the last minute text message advice I got from Amy. I eased into the swim allowing my arms and shoulders to warm up. It wasn't too crowded and I slowly started passing other swimmers along the way. I eventually started to catch the wave in front of ours. Well I caught the guys doing backstroke. I got to hand it to the guys that will do a triathlon and can't even swim. They've got guts that's for sure. Before I rounded the first buoy I started to notice that there were some shallow parts to Town Lake. The first thing my hand hit was soft and malleable. I thought it was a body and then almost choked from laughing so hard at myself. A body in Town Lake? Haha!!
I rounded the buoys and I noticed about halfway through that I wasn't tired at all. So I started to pick up my pace ever so slightly and began passing all of the guys that I was drafting off of and all of the guys that went out too fast at the beginning. I got out of the water and said HI to my friend Chris who was again volunteering at the race by pulling people out. This was my first wetsuit race so I was a little shocked when hands started grabbing my wetsuit. They were unzipping it and helping me out of it as I was running towards transition. I wish I would have know in advance that this would be happening because I think I tried to give them the slip instead of using their help.
I got to my bike and sat down to take off my wetsuit. The timing chip they gave us for the race was pretty bulky and getting the wetsuit over it was a little annoying. Other than that little complaint the race itself was awesome. I slipped on my pointy helmet (Thank You Mark), strapped on my shoes, clipped on my race belt and put on the new sunglasses. I was off for my favorite portion of the race, the bike!!!
I loved the bike course. It was 3 loops through downtown Austin for a total of 40K. The first section of the ride takes you up Congress to Mary which is a little bit of a climb compared to the rest of the course. When I started there was only about 4 waves ahead of me so it wasn't crowded yet. Going down Congress was fun because you get to really fly down that hill. I'm not afraid to go fast so I use the downhills as much as possible. I averaged close to 21 mph which isn't slow. But about 2/3's through my first loop the guy that got 2nd place overall passes me like I was standing still. It was amazing. His name is Richie Cunningham. No seriously, his name is Richie Cunningham.
When I got into my second loop is when all of the fun started happening and at that point a lot of triathletes changed their game plans. It started to RAIN!! I was just at the top of the Congress hill at Mary when it started to dump. I turned the corner and had to make a decision. I could either ride the brakes and play it safe or I could go all out and if I could hang on I might cut into the lead of one or two of the guys that were ahead of me in the standings. I went for broke. I blazed past everyone on the downhill section and I figured that all of that riding in the rain as a bike messenger in Manhattan last summer is finally paying off. Thank You Breakaway Couriers. I noticed that a bunch of other riders were starting to slow down. Good for them but that's not my style.
On my third lap another rider and me kept leap frogging each other. She would pass me going uphill and I would pass her downhill and on the flats. We kept this up for most of my third loop when all of a sudden she turned too sharp on the wet pavement at Mopac and slid out about 10 yards in front of me. I saw her skid about 15 yards grabbing her arm in pain just knowing her race was over. At the top of the hill another guy came unclipped from his pedals and just stops his bike right in front of two other guys who go around him on both sides. All three of them are yelling, "Look Out, On your left, and On your Right!!" It was starting to look like pandemonium. It was fantastic.
While on the bike course I could hear all of my friends who showed up to cheer me on. Thank you Amy, Heidi, Jenn, Scooby, Joe, Carolyn, Tony, Mandy, Oscar, and everybody else that was there screaming my name while I was going by. It really does help.
I finished the bike very happy and almost got stuck again being clipped in right at the dismount line. I trotted through transition to park the bike, drop the helmet (albeit gently Mark), toss on the shoes and head out for the 10K run. I was tired, out of breath and had over 6 miles of running ahead of me.
I got a big surprise on my second loop when the girl who had fallen on the bike right in front of me passed me by. I yell out, "Hey, didn't you fall?" Without missing a beat she turns her head and nonchalantly states, "I got up." Wow. I love triathlons. By this time in the race all of my work leading up to that point was adding up. My legs and lungs were spent. Whatever stung me on my chest on the first bike loop is really starting to bug me (pardon the pun). I am ready to finish. My strong point in my running is that I have a pretty strong kick at the end of races. Not this time. I had a little bit of a kick that let me distance myself from the people behind me but that's all. I crossed the finish line with absolutely nothing left in the tank. It was over, and I couldn't have been happier. A few minutes after I crossed the finish line I heard the announcer call out the name of the guy that is third overall in my age group. I am fifth and after the race I did the math and realized I took 8 minutes off his lead. Woohoo!!!
The biggest lesson I learned about myself that day was this. Whenever things are tough, hard or miserable you sometimes try to escape to that Happy Place in your head. I couldn't escape to the Happy Place because in the middle of the race when I was swimming in Town Lake, hauling ass in the rain, or struggling to finish the run I am already in my Happy Place. It doesn't get much better than that. So even though I may look like:
Thursday, September 2, 2010
Next Race is Around the Corner
This week is a short recovery week before Monday's big race. This past week I discovered that my next race will be wetsuit legal. The water temperatures need to be 78 degrees or under before they allow you to wear wetsuits. The added buoyancy of the suit allows you to swim a lot faster with a lot less effort. You can race without one but you would be giving yourself an instant disadvantage. Time was running out for me and I needed one soon.
There is where Jack @ Jack and Adams comes in. The man is a saint. I walked in and told him my problem. He first suggested renting one online. Imagine that, a business owner sending away business because it would be cheaper for the customer. I thought about it but decided I would rather just buy one now and be done with it. I went in for a sleeveless one because they are cheaper. He didn't have the size I needed so he discounted a fullsuit to make up for the difference. He gave me 50% off!!!! I was amazed. This guy ROCKS! So now I am the proud owner of a full triathlon suit. It is the TYR Hurricane.
I am very excited now.
I took it for a quick swim on Tuesday morning and other than having some zipper difficulties the suit is great. I shaved another 4 minutes off of my mile time just by putting it on. This stuff is fun.
Wednesday morning was an early 4 mile run with my friends Tony and Mandy. It got very muggy by the end of the run. Humidity came back. Yuck. I invited them to come watch my next race on Monday. I just realized it is the perfect race for my friends to come watch. It is in downtown Austin, so it's closer than the other races. It is on Labor Day so everybody is off work. It is early enough in the morning so you can still BBQ it up after it's over. My wave starts between 7:15 and 7:20 am. So come on downtown on Monday morning and hoot and holler!
Today I got up and jumped on my bike for a quick 20 miler. Nothing too crazy to tire me out or anything. I just needed a ride to get the blood pumping through the muscles for an hour or so. I finished with enough time to get Oskar to Barking Springs for a bit. He did his rock diving trick much to the amazement of some swimmers who were walking by. One guy asked, "Dude, do you make your dog fetch rocks?" I answered, "I just throw them and he goes goes after them." It was my Zen moment. Oskar prefers the rocks to tennis balls for some reason. Not like that other crazy dog, Lucy. She is very ball fixated and will let you know when she starts to get impatient if you haven't thrown it fast enough for her. Oh that Lucy.
A couple of more nice and easy workouts and then I am racing on Monday. Remember, the race is this Monday on September 6th in downtown Austin at Auditorium Shores if you want to come.
There is where Jack @ Jack and Adams comes in. The man is a saint. I walked in and told him my problem. He first suggested renting one online. Imagine that, a business owner sending away business because it would be cheaper for the customer. I thought about it but decided I would rather just buy one now and be done with it. I went in for a sleeveless one because they are cheaper. He didn't have the size I needed so he discounted a fullsuit to make up for the difference. He gave me 50% off!!!! I was amazed. This guy ROCKS! So now I am the proud owner of a full triathlon suit. It is the TYR Hurricane. I am very excited now.I took it for a quick swim on Tuesday morning and other than having some zipper difficulties the suit is great. I shaved another 4 minutes off of my mile time just by putting it on. This stuff is fun.
Wednesday morning was an early 4 mile run with my friends Tony and Mandy. It got very muggy by the end of the run. Humidity came back. Yuck. I invited them to come watch my next race on Monday. I just realized it is the perfect race for my friends to come watch. It is in downtown Austin, so it's closer than the other races. It is on Labor Day so everybody is off work. It is early enough in the morning so you can still BBQ it up after it's over. My wave starts between 7:15 and 7:20 am. So come on downtown on Monday morning and hoot and holler!
Today I got up and jumped on my bike for a quick 20 miler. Nothing too crazy to tire me out or anything. I just needed a ride to get the blood pumping through the muscles for an hour or so. I finished with enough time to get Oskar to Barking Springs for a bit. He did his rock diving trick much to the amazement of some swimmers who were walking by. One guy asked, "Dude, do you make your dog fetch rocks?" I answered, "I just throw them and he goes goes after them." It was my Zen moment. Oskar prefers the rocks to tennis balls for some reason. Not like that other crazy dog, Lucy. She is very ball fixated and will let you know when she starts to get impatient if you haven't thrown it fast enough for her. Oh that Lucy.
A couple of more nice and easy workouts and then I am racing on Monday. Remember, the race is this Monday on September 6th in downtown Austin at Auditorium Shores if you want to come.
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