Sweet revenge....

As my Ironman St George preparations start to reveal the light at the proverbial end of the tunnel I am looking back from where I have come since "Running Hot" at my last 1/2 marathon....  After that slight hiccup in training, I have been feeling very well.  My workouts have been great and the numbers are saying I am on track.. now to just get to the line with the same energy levels and mojo I have now...

So to say it was sweet revenge on Sunday after I raced another 1/2 marathon about 5 weeks since my horrible race while getting sick would be an understatement... I went in last Sunday's race with significant volume leading up to the race the last 3 days including:

Thursday: 3hr ride at Base

Friday:  Swim 3000 meters, 6 mile tempo run w/6 trips up Tempe's A Mountain (400+ feet climb in less than 1/4 mile - ouch)

Saturday:  6 hour ride at South Mountain (10K of climbing)

So when Sunday came around I was not sure where my legs would be.  I tried to recover well on Saturday which always includes my First Endurance Ultragen.  I have been using FE products for over 6 years so I can attest to their greatness.. Ultragen enables me to recover well...  So Sunday morning wake up rolls around at 3:45am, drive to Tucson, and get ready to race.  So to warm up I brought out my bike on its ttrainer and rode for about 45 mins at the Racelab tent.  You can imagine how many looks I got riding my bike prior to the running race.   Listening to my tunes, joking with my teammates, and spinning helped get my legs nice and warm for the start and my spirits in a great mood...

Once the gun went off it was show time.. Like i said I was not sure what the legs had in them but I was going to see... I hit mile 1 in 5:50 and then subsequently hit mile 2 bit slower with a long steep uphill section (the out & back course all rolling hills)... I got my pace setteled in and before I knoew it my heart rate was my base zone and I was clipping off 5:50 - 6:10 miles... I hit the turn around at 39:50.. I could feel the workouts on my legs miles 8 -10 but kept plugging along.. Came across the line at 1:19.52 for a 9th Overall Finish and 1st in 35-39 Age Group.  

I felt great at the finish..legs felt strong, no aches.. walked through the food area.. grabbed some food for later, water to make my ulragen and then headed out to cheer everyone else on...

It was a great day and a great end of a hard training week!.. Revenge is sweet...

Do you know where your mojo is?

Many athletes train for many months and even years for that one "big event" - whether it is a 1/2 marathon, marathon or a iron distance triathlon - the mind set is the same.  We all have this single focused mindset with our goals in mind:  1. Finish  2. Have Fun  3.  Finish Fast.  So we train with our "eye on the prize" and leave everything else to the side.  We must get our training in so our new friends are Mr Pool, Mrs bike, and cannot forget the twins - Left Running Shoe and Right Running Shoe.  Our training buddies and coaches are on speed dial.. it is all systems go!

So the "big event" comes - you execute your plan, have fun, and maybe even race faster than you thought.  You bask in the glory that night and next few days or maybe weeks with your family,  friends,  training partners, coaches, etc.

So then what?  What is next?  You worked hard,  achieved your goals, and now your "big event" is over.  what do you do?

You do what is natural to you, the same thing you have done for the past months or maybe years - you hop back on bike and you roll towards the next adventure.  The ride is fun, seeing everyong is great but something does not seem the same.  You feel flat or at times not motivated... heck it may even seem more like a chore than the joy and fun it usually is. So you plan on doing another race but the training is off and results not what you wanted... you think to yourself.. this sucks. what is wrong...

Does this sound familiar?  If not you are lucky.  If so I have been there with you..

I have done the large events and raced well.. then hopped back in to the next training cycle... only to find my training being flat and at times going through the motion.. the fun seemed to be not there as much as the past.. so what do you do..

The first time this happened.. I was not prepared.. got through it but was not fun.. the second time though I was already planning my next fun adventure or race during my training.. so I had something to go towards afterwards.. A fun race.. It has helped a ton.. but like anything else goal related this works for some time and then it slowly dwindles..

I think I have finally figured out how to get back to the fun.. that is to go out and ride with friends for the pure joy and fun of riding.. is there a purpose sure.. but the purpose is to look at things in a different light.. turn off the powermeter, the speedometer, the garmin, etc.. and go ride.. enjoy nature.. stop to take pictures with friends, have a fun conversation, meet new people, say hello to the roadie riding by who is too busy to even say hello... basically go and have fun... get back to the reason you do train and race.. friends, good times, and post race fun (mm Margis).. that is what it is about.

I have been blessed with the opportunity to do this and let me tell you.. I have gotten my mojo back and it is stronger than it was before... and I am amazed what I can acheive with the new look on things..

so I want to thank all my family and great friends that helped make this happen.. without you I would still be plugging along but without that fire in the eyes and joy in my spirit..

Lets remember life is not about the desitiny but rather the journey to get there.

TriSwim, Running Hot, and Sharpie is gone...

As with most triathletes, we are either kicking off the training season or are in full training mode already as we get ready for those key early season races like Rev3 Knoxville.  We are all swimming in public pools unless you are luck enough to have your own 25 meter lap pool in your backyard (if so can you be my neighbor?) which means some annoying lane hogs (doing thier 2 minute 25m quasi breast stroke), old school speedo violations (breaking the laws of physics) and high levels of chlorine blessing us with that wonderful aromatic chlorine smell.   So when I started using my new SBR Sports TriSwim I was very excited on how well it worked.  The products eliminated the smell that says "Yes I swam at lunch today!" which is a wonderfull thing.  Check these products out if you have not done so already.. now if they could only come up with something to get rid of the old school speedo violations! Please?! 

So my training has been going well until I hit small bump in the road - named sickness.. caught whatever was being passed around here for a couple days.. which as nomral I refused to let my mind think I was sick.. it was not until mile 2 of Sunday's 1/2 marathon did I realize that holy crap I am sick, I can't respond to the recent pack surge, and this is going to hurt more than I was planning.  I mentally made the decision to push what I can and see where the chips fell but with low mental and physical energy it was tough.. I had to revise my goal from being top 5 to finishing under 1:29 and boy was that a struggle to hit that.. I made it across the line in 1:28, dehydrate, coughing, and not very energentic.  So I tried to eat some food, down some caffiene, and headed home for a nap... Little did I know the next morning I would feel like I had been ran over by a truck.. legs hurt, back hurt, arms hurt.. but dragged myself out of bed to ride a reduced time of 2.5 hours and climbed a little over 4000 feet.. afterwards the legs felt ok and I could atleast touch my toes.. but the energy was hit or miss.. time I felt the killer instinct and times I felt the can I fall back to sleep..   I feel better now and almost back to normal energy.  I am happy that I mentally stayed with it even though the body was saying no.. I tempered the stratagies and plans but it would have been so easy to say "I am done!"

So the last note is that my training partner, Sharpie, decided to head back north to remember what it was like to see snow, freezing temps, and ride the trainer.  Carole will be missed  y the Racelab group as we ride in ths beautiful weather but we were fortunate to have her around and look for her to return like the wind..
Happy training,

Andy

February training, my new Saucony shoes, and some new partners...

February training is going well out here in the nice Arizona weather... the Racelab team I train with has been very fortunate to have Trakkers' infamous Carole Sharpless out here for a while.. she is our new honorary Racelab member.. the team has been training well and pushing me hard as I work to get ready for an upcoming race in St George.. then time to focus on the Rev3 races..

My new saucony shoes came in the mail - the Saucony Tangent 4 and have done some great runs in them including a hard fast track workout last night as I get ready for my 4 hour mountainous ride saturday and my 1/2 marathon race sunday (crazy I know).. The shoes are awesome - they are comfortable and needed no break in time. If you need a good pair of light training shoes these are definitely ones to try out...

Also I wanted to send some notes out about some new sponsors/partners of racelab .. Michelob Ultra, Bareskin, Towels, Max Muscle Scottsdale, and the Ron Pina Agency of Farmers Insurance -.. check these guys out.. I will be sending more info on them later about the great products & services they offer...

Now it is time to go swim and work on getting those gills...

Andy

The Training Season begins

I hope all is well out there. The training season officially kicked off with a good week of training followed by racing the PF Chang's 1/2 Marathon in Phoenix. The race went well and I am happy with it.. especially after a 3hr+ bike ride the day before. right at 6:20 mile pace for a 1:23.01... The race also served as a good beta test for Trakkers as we had many athletes out there testing the devices. The testing went great and I look forward to the official launch of it.. keep checking www.trakkersgps.com..

I also have been training with my Friend from Boulder - Carole Sharpless. She is a hoot and holler as normal.. I am looking forward to my lunch she owes me after losing a bet on the PF Chang's race... can we say "Ruth Chris Steakhouse" .. just kidding I am sure it will be more like taco bell value menu.. but the company is all that matters..

So only about 15 weeks to St George Ironman and then time to think about the Rev2Tri races (www.rev3tri.com).. so the training is in full mode... looking forward to running in my new Saucony shoes..

BTW if you have not tried the new formula for First Endurance's Optygen HP - you should.. it is awesome... Thanks Robert and tema for making great products..

Finally a quick shout to my Coach Bettina a Racelab (www.racelab.com) who is continuing to find new ways to push me and work to get me stronger and faster... to deal with me she should get paid a lot more.. really she is great.. thanks Bettina and thanks everyone who was cheering on Sunday..

Happy Training.

Mirror blogging with Facebook

I am trying out this mirror blogging application on facebook to see how it works... will let everyone know if it is worth it.. this should allow me to log in to facebook only and then add to my blog here and it gets copied to my blogspot address.. nice feature if it works correctly... now off to do some Christmas shopping..

The blogging begins...

I am hoping this new blog will help me combine the other few that I have into 1 so I can go to one spot only... that will make things much easier on me...

I am looking forward to another great year in 2010 that could not be done with out my family, friends, and of course all my awesom sponsors.... some exciting events this year in the Revolution 3 triathlon series as well as the red rock races... looking forward to those as well as Ironman St George in May and Arizona in November... strating to work with my head coach Bettina from racelab on my upcoming season... some other exciting things are the new First Endurance Products as well as the long awaited public debut of the Trakkers device...

I heop everyone has a great holidays and I will work to keep this regularly updated with some stories, race reports, as well as some cool upcoming things..

Andy