So, in case you missed me or forgot what I looked like

I’m not even gonna pretend like I will start updating this regularly again, but thought I would perhaps start posting here and there. I wonder if anyone still has this blog in their readers or are receiving an RSS feed considering it has been so long since I posted last. I mean for eff’s sake we were still living in Mpls. BTW – I really miss that place and had a blast when we visited over the 4th of July.

Another thing going by super fast, this summer. Krikey, it is already August. I just posted on FB that I am busting out the CX bike this weekend. This summer and race season has really flown by. My life has been pretty hectic with the move and various other bumps in the road, but in terms of my racing performance I have been pretty happy. I finished my first half ironman, scored multiple podiums in my age group and even posted my first bike split over 23 mph. I am really hoping my fitness carries over to CX. The season in OH has been moved back a bit and now the last race is December 19th.

Anyway, I have lots of stuff up in this little noggin of mine, perhaps I will continue to spew it out to anyone who may be reading. Borrowing some of the wise words of Interpol, Pace is the Trick. This weekend hold road riding, dirt riding on private property with a pond (I am sure lots of Natty Light will be consumed post rides) and a long run on Sunday. Of course mixed in with all of this will be visiting with friends. I hope you all get out there and enjoy the time away from work. Life is short, make sure to enjoy it.

FYI

If you have been trying to reach me on my cell, leave a message. I'll get back to you.....AS SOON AS I FIND IT!

Sometimes it really sucks to be inside my head.

You Dig?

So I may have mentioned this before but I really don’t like Sunday races. Being that it is the summer I like to have one day where I can get things done around the house and generally chill out. Weekend with Saturday races we get back from the race, eat, sleep and then have a night where we can stay up late (11:30) and then sleep in on Sunday (watch VS. coverage of the tour in July). Sunday usually consists of yard work, some sort of home improvement and then dinner and beers with friends. Sunday races throw a wrench into the whole thing. Saturday I usually don’t want to work to hard so that I have energy for the race on Sunday, which means a lot of laying around thinking about the race.

This Sunday was the Heart of Lake Triathlon in Annandale. It serves as the MN State Championship Race. My plan was to get up at 4:30, leave by 5:00, and get there by 6:15. That would have given me an hour and forty five minutes to get my packet, warm up and make a few visits to the john. I must have turned off the alarm when it first went off cause I finally woke up at 5:15. My first thought was, well I’ll never make it there on time to get a good warm up in, plus I will be really rushed and not in the right mindset, so I might as well go back to sleep. After lying there for fifteen minutes or so I got up, dressed and rushed out the door. I totally flew up there, total drive time less than an hour. The only real warm up that I got in was riding the bike enough to make sure the shifting was on, a SHORT jog, and then it was off to the beach.

Overall the race went pretty well. There are a lot of fast people out there. I ended up like 90th overall and 11th in my age group. The one thing that really had an impact on my overall standing was the transition set up. The bike ad and run out were at the same place and my wave had to run about 250 meters to our racks, and then turn around to run it again to start the run. Just to give you an idea of time impacts, elites who were positioned at the other end from me, their times were like 19-30 seconds. My T2 was 1:45. For those of you unfamiliar with transitions, T2 is the quickest. Overall I felt strong the entire race and had a blast. The whole time I was racing I told myself 2 things: 1) No matter what my time is, it would be better than if I had stayed in bed, 2) When I saw someone that I wanted to run down I would say that John had me more prepared than them, so all I need to do was dig deep to get the extra push I needed. I really, really like my coach. If you are looking to go faster you should check him out.

Heart of Lakes Times
½ mile Swim – 15:44 (1:47 per 100)
T1 – 2:05
21 mile Bike – 54:42 (23.0 mph)
T2 – 1:45
5.3 mile Run – 36:12 (6:50 per mile)
Total Time – 1:50:27

Edit

The last post read like I would rather have a good race result than to have had the weekend I did in Ohio. It was meant to read the exact opposite. There not much I would give up for great times with family and friends.

Oh yeah, I got the job. Just waiting to hear how much $$ they are gonna offer me. I variable defined, several to go.

What a crazy few days

So last weekend we went to Ohio for the job interview and quality time with friends and family. The interview went well and I am waiting to hear from HR. I think I should get an answer sometime early next week. We looked at several houses in two areas of town. We only really saw two that we liked, and we didn’t totally love them. Its also pretty hard to consider making an offer when you are unsure of your job situation, when our house will sell, if G’s company is going to give her any relocation money, and if so how much. Our life these days is all about a big pile of uncertainty.

Spending time with family and friends was great. The weather was sub-par, but hey at least we were all in the storms together. I did zero training while we were there so that should help out for this weekend’s race. I wanted to really kill this race but know it seems like I’m just gonna have to go out and give it what I have and see where things end up. I would easily trade the weekend fun that I had with the crew in OH for one race result. Like I have said in the past this year I am not putting pressure on myself to get great results. Instead I am going out to races to have fun, give it my best and see where the cards fall.

This week has been about making for lost ground with the training and getting the house ready for listing. Our realtor cam over last night and we signed all the paperwork and it should be on MLS by the end of the day. As soon as the link is up and running I will post it. If you know people looking for a house in SW Mpls. send them our way. Getting a place ready for showings is really time consuming. I never knew our house was a “messy” as it was. It was clean, but had a lot of clutter. Again, selling our house is more important than my racing so you can imagine how my “catch up” training is going. Saturday morning should be a real suffer-fest.

Good News

We were already planning on being in Columbus this weekend to look at houses and spend some time at Comfest. Well, earlier in the week I had a preliminary phone interview at Battelle. It went well, so now I am going in for a 5 hour interview, and giving a presentation, on Friday. Hopefully the interview goes well and we will be able to do some celebratory drinking over the rest of the weekend. Now I just need to put a great presentation together.

The race at Minnetonka was pretty good. I took time off my results from two years ago and had a decent run. I made the age old mistake of following the feet in front of me on the swim instead of sighting for myself and ended swimming WAY off course. The weather was perfect.

Work and life are busy this week so I’m really looking forward to the weekend with family and friends.

Holy Shit

Its been a LONG time since I posted on here. I was thinking of letting it fade out, but I remembered the wise words “Its better to burn out than to fade away”. So here’s a brief run down of what’s been going on since the last post.

Race season is in full swing. Overall I have seen improvements over last year, though nothing earth shattering. The one thing that I have changed this year is my attitude. My goal each race is to relax and have fun, man I am having a blast. I feel pretty lucky to have the life that I do. I feel like I’m going really good on the bike right now. I’m racing tomorrow at Lake Minnetonka. We’ll see how the bike goes and how hard I can push the run. My training focus the past few weeks has been to push through the mental barriers of pain and get to that next level. The swim took a bit of a hit this past week or so. Here’s why (following race photos)……

Gearwest Du (Yndecam.com)

We hosted the TIME Pro Cycling team for the NVGP. We had six pro racers staying with us for 5 nights. It was fun to hang out with then and talk about their races, hear them discuss strategy, talk smack about other racers. I tried to get them to the State Fair Affair for a NVGP warm up but we missed registration. It was a good ride through Mpls. to the fair grounds. As we rode past Lake Harriet on the way home there was a summer concert going on at the band shell and lots of sailboats out. We stopped a few times so they could snap some photos. Everyone was really impressed with Mpls. Which leads me to….

We are moving back to Ohio. G’s only client is in Columbus and flying back and forth every week is hard on her and us. So I am looking for jobs and have some leads, though the timeline has been pushed up considerably. We had out home inspection and plan to put it on the market soon. If it sells she will go without me till I find a job. We have our fingers crossed on the leads. If you have connections in the Environmental Field in Columbus direct people to my LinkedIn page here…..

Buffalo Tri (Severe GI issues = Not Fun)

Also since my last post G, Scott and I rode the MS 150. It was what I expected in terms of cycling, long days in the saddle and a really slow comfortable pace. My main role was to be support for G. I was really proud of here pounding out the miles. With travelling and her work schedule she doesn’t get much time on the bike. The halfway point had speakers, some of which had been diagnosed with MS, which made you realize why you were out there doing the ride and raising money. For those of you who contributed to the cause, thanks. I’ll be sending out thank you notes soon.

MS 150 (Scott, Me, G)

Whatever you do this weekend, be sure to take a second and enjoy it!

Peace

Solid

Even I can be an ordained preist. Check it out.