Today, I pretty much studied math from 11am until about 7:30pm and I am still am not done with my lesson. It is taking a while for my brain to kick into gear.

I did a brick workout today for training. I biked about 12 miles in 35 minutes (HR avg: 175-180) and then ran a ghetto slow 5k in 28 minutes (HR avg 180 max 187). I ate a large dinner about 30 minutes before working out which was a very bad idea. I was about to chuck the whole time running so I shortened my run to just a 5k. I really wanted to get in 7 miles today but, oh well.

I need to kick it into a higher gear so I can be ready for the St. George Triathlon. I am starting to get nervous which is a good sign because It shows I still care about the race. I want to get under 3:00 hours this time which is definitely doable if I have a decent day.

If you read this please comment. I don’t care what you say just show me that you are reading it and I will forever love you. I always appreciate the little comments I do get.

Fast, medium distance run: 6.3 Miles on course 2. Time: 52:40 – Cal: 809 – HR avg: 183 HR max: 190 Rate: 9

Crazy wind today and it got the best of me. I am kind of mad I didn’t break 50 minutes but the wind was just too strong. I had some good split times but I cant remember them perfectly. Mile 1: 7:20 Mile 2: 15:10 Mile 3: 23:40 Mile4 : 32:10 Mile 5: 40:50 (all Wind) Mile 6+ (all wind)

*** Update *** After looking at the mileage again I realized I ran about 6.5 miles instead of 6.3 in 52:40. Which means my 10k time was about 50:20 for a new personal best! Woohoo. In no time I will be at 40 minutes . I still need to break the 50 minute barrier though.

It looks like I will at least have to wait another year to get into the Hawaii Ironman World Championships. I did not get in through the lottery … and I was almost positive I would get in with my 4% chance that I had.

In a way this is good because it 1) gets me more motivated to qualify for the race and 2) allows me to tie up some loose ends before having to compete in a full Ironman. It’s almost just like what 207 Ironman World Champion Chris McCormack said, “If I had won the race my first try I wouldn’t be the racer I am today.” This was in reference to 2002 after his 1st Ironman World Championship where he was in a position to win the race but bonked on the run and failed to finish, he finally won in 2007. Of course It is a little different with me because I am not even in the race and I will never win it but if I had gotten in this year I probably wouldn’t be training as hard to be a qualifier, I would just be training to finish the race.

Because of this minor setback I have made a couple new goals. These Goals all have a end Date by July 2009

1) Half-Marathon time at 1:25 or below (Current time 1:53:15)
2) Bike mph up to 22 average (Currently average 19-20 mph on a great day and 15 mph on a bad day)
3) Swim 1.2 miles below 30 minutes (Swam a 40 minute 1.2 miler in Cali for the 70.3)
4) 70.3 time under 4:40 hours ( Ran a 7:02:44 in the California 70.3)

What this means is that I need to get at least 30% better within the next year. This will be tough but I am definitely motivated enough. Wish me luck… ok, maybe it will be better to wish me some hard training.

Well almost 11 months after signing up for the Ironman 70.3 in Oceanside California I finally got to race day. And what a day it was! By far the hardest thing I have ever done yet one of the most fulfilling.

It started with a 1.2 mile swim in sub 60 degree water, moved to a 56 mile grueling rode bike through the mountains in Camp Pendleton and finished with a hilly 13.1 mile run along the beach and the Pacific Ocean. In the end I finished in 7 hours 2 minutes and 44 seconds… much longer than my 6 hour optimistic goal but I didn’t really know what to expect. Even though I was an hour off, 7:02:44 is just fine for me… now I have something to beat the next time.

My cousin Tyler (from Tammy’s side) tore it up and finished in 7:34:37. Rock on Tyler! I can’t wait to do another one with you.

Race Pace Run: 70.3 Miles Triathlon . Time: 7:02:44 – Cal: 5009 – HR avg: 156 – HR max: 198 – Rate: 10

Stay tuned for full coverage of the day…

With this triathlon bug I have come down with I signed up myself and my business partner Dave to do the Xterra Mountain Sport in Ogden. Holy hard is all I can say, what a day! Xterra is the off-rode triathlon. It’s a run, bike and a swim with a twist. Instead of: swim in the lake, bike usually a long flat road and then a run on the same road, the Xterra is a swim in the lake, mountain bike up, up, up a one lane mountain trail over rocks, branches (and other people) and run up yet another mountain. I would have to say this was probably one of the most challenging things physically and mentally I have ever done.

The weekend started out pretty frustrating from the start. I had to rent a mountain bike because mine is horrible. I was never able to find a good rental so I had to settle on a Diamondback full suspension rental that probably had the cheapest component set on the market. The drive up to Ogden/Snowbasin took 2 times as long as it should have because of the traffic and to top it off I forgot my wetsuit and clip in pedals. The pedals are what really got me nervous. The rental pedals were worn down plastic clunkers with no clips or straps. I kept imagining myself slipping off the pedals continuously during the race. The funny this is the exact opposite it what happened.

On Friday night before the race we went to the athlete check-in. The race venue was awesome. Tons of sponsors booths, a live band, fun stuff for the kids, food, the Xterra University tent with the top pros. One of a kind. We also got the cool stamp on numbers you see in the Ironman races instead of the usual Sharpied numbers. We had a fun time, Broc was able to climb the rock wall and rappel down, Bailey played on the playground for a while and me and Dave learned a bunch from the best Xterra athletes in the world at the “University tent”. We then went to a local Italian restaurant on the historic 25th street and had a good meal to prepare for the race ahead of us.

Saturday morning it was 7:00am and I was flustered even before the race had started. I am usually in a calm, focused mood before a triathlon but I couldn’t stop thinking of the plastic pedals I had to race with. We went the night before after dinner to Wal-mart to find some cheap cage pedals but with no luck. Dave sang some songs to me and turned on some upbeat music to get me into a better mood and it helped. I finally decided to ask one of the sponsors, Bikers Edge from Kaysville, and lo and behold they had the clip-ins I needed. What a relief they were, I can’t thank them enough. Go check them out if you need any cycling stuff http://www.bebikes.com/. I was feeling pretty good after finding the pedals, I had brought my clip in shoes so I was now ready for the race. We had to set up our bike and swim gear at the first transition and then drive up the mountain to set up our run gear at transition two. Dave and I got kind of nervous after driving up the mountain and realizing we would have to bike up that same rout with over 3,000 feet of rugged off-rode trails. We took a bus back down to T1 where the full-distance was just about to start. Some people on the bus were doing the full-distance and were stressed because they almost missed the start but congrats to whoever the lady behind me was for actually making it and finishing 2nd overall in her age group. We had about 20 minutes to wait for the sport distance to start and I started getting nervous again. It was getting pretty cold out and I forgot my wetsuit so I wasn’t looking forward to jumping in the water.

After testing the water in Pineview reservoir I was pleasantly surprised that the water felt perfect. The race was seconds from starting and I was ready to go. With the canon sounding I was off and the human blender started. More than any other race, this swim was crazy! I was getting kicked and grabbed and punched and it was nuts. I was still able to pull out a good swim, it wasn’t as fast as I wanted but what could I expect without my wetsuit. I exited the water at around 15 minutes. T1 went good and fast ( The timers didn’t actually get my time so it seems they made one up) and I was off on my bike.