Christmas Time

I know it's been a long time since I posted last, but there isn't a lot going on these days. My training is going and the weather has been extreme lately. I ran last Thursday when the high for the day was 23 degrees. I about froze to death. And then I ran yesterday when it got up to 60 degrees which was really, really nice.

I spent the weekend in Louisville at the Cardinal Christmas Classic where our swim team competed. All of the kids swam really well, and it was fun to watch them swim. And I also got to catch up with my aunt Francie and Carol who I hadn't seen in a few months. They were gracious enough to house me over the weekend.

The Cats are now ranked 3rd in the nation which is awesome. I was blessed enough to get a ticket to the UNC game thanks to my girlfriend. And a few days later we watched the UConn game which was another extremely exciting game. We defeated IU this past weekend which always makes UK fans happy. The football team is headed to the Music City Bowl (again!!!). And I'm headed down there with them. The game is the 27th of December and should be a lot of fun.

I'm really excited about the holidays. I get to travel home and spend time with the family which I love to do. And I just love to watch Christmas movies. Elf, Christmas Vacation, and The Christmas Story are 3 of my favorites. I think I watch The Christmas Story about 6 times a year, all of which are during the 24 hr. marathon on TBS on Christmas Eve and day. I also like to watch the Christmas Carol and Home Alone 1 & 2 (I refuse to watch the third and fourth).

In preparation for the holidays, Casey and I have been doing little things to decorate around the house. We helped Beth put up the Christmas tree and ornaments. The following night we made a bunch of homemade ornaments which was a lot of fun. I haven't made the applesauce and cinnamon ornaments since I was about 8 years old. I forgot how good they smell, and how horrible they taste, haha.

Tony

What a week

Another Thanksgiving Day has come and gone. And just like past years, I'm sure that I'm about 5 pounds heavier than I was about a week ago. I decided to take a few days off to let a little lingering injury heal, and I also ate an abnormally large amount of food since it was Thanksgiving. I went home Wednesday and had an amazing dinner in Corbin on Thursday. I traveled to Bowling Green on Friday and had another Thanksgiving meal on Saturday. I have not worked out in a week and I'm ready to get going. My off season officially starts tomorrow. I'm cutting my "sweets" intake down A LOT considering I ate enough in the last 4 days to feed a small family for a week.

And I don't have any exciting "CATS" info to post this week as we suffered yet another Heartbreaking loss to UT. I hate the Vols more and more every year because of these losses we keep suffering. I would almost rather lose by 20+ points than to lose in OT. However, the Cats bball team did bring home the big W from the "Cancun Challenge." The playing conditions weren't ideal considering we played in a ballroom with chandeliers hanging from the low ceiling. There were large cracks in the hardwood court, and a buffet was only feet from the baseline. But we still managed to play alright. A friend of mine made a joke saying "of course we were playing in the Cancun Challenge. Billy Gillespie scheduled that tourny because the bar was 5 feet from the court."

I thought that was funny. But the big game is next Saturday: UK vs. UNC here in Lexington. I can't wait.

Tony

C A T S... Cats, Cats, Cats

We have had a wonderful weekend in athletics here at UK and I couldn't be happier. Casey and the rest of the UK swim team traveled down to Knoxville to compete at the UT invitational. The team swam really well all weekend and the girls' team managed to bring home the victory. The defeated UT, and Virginia Tech (both who defeated them earlier in the year) along with Alabama. The guys weren't as fortunate. They were out scored by UT by only 4 points. But all in all, the team had their best meet of the year by far. Casey swam season best times in all of her events including the 200 IM, 200 free, 100 free, and 200 fly.

UK basketball defeated Rider yesterday here in Lexington by almost 30 points, and we looked the best we have all year. I get more and more excited about every game that we play. John Wall and company are really fun to watch. They are headed down to Cancun to finish up the tournament this coming Tuesday and Wednesday. And UK football defeated the Georgia bulldogs in Athens for the first time since 1977. We are now 7 - 4. This has been an up and down year for us in football. We should not have lost to MSU or USC, but we pulled out some big wins against UGA, and Auburn. I just really hope we can beat UT this coming weekend. I'm tired of losing to them.

I'm sure there were some other exciting things going on in other sports as well, but these were the top 3 in my book. And now its 1pm on a Sunday which can only mean 1 thing: it's Fantasy football time.

And on some sad news, I will be missing my first NCAA xc meet in over 6 years. Me, and several other buddies have traveled to watch the NCAA meet the past 6 years in a row. We all delayed in making plans this year, and now we aren't going. I guess I'll just watch the meet on tv tomorrow.


Tony

Pain

I read an article about pain in the new "Running Times" and it's a pretty good article. It discusses how the top runners in the sport deal with pain during a race and their different perspectives are pretty interesting. The Japanese runners use gaman which is the Japanese concept of enduring pain with dignity and grace. I know that most people don't like to deal with that amount of pain, but I guess the Japanese like to see how much they can endure. Other runners talk about breaking the race into segments so you just have to deal with the pain in shorter amounts of time thus making the race go by faster. The African runners talk about relying on their strength that they get from religion. Haile Gebrselassie (WR holder in the marathon) talks about accepting the pain rather than fighting it.

It's a pretty good article. Maybe I'll start thinking about Gaman instead of getting nervous and dreading a hard workout before I even start it. I have witnessed several swimmers on my team phych them selves out before a hard workout just because the set "looks hard." And I know that I've done this myself. I tell myself that it's going to hurt, and I give in to the pain and end up not having a good workout. If I could just not think about the workout, and do it, then I would be much better off, along with a few other people that I know.

Anyways, training has been going pretty good. My running feels really good as of lately. I have had a few faster paced runs which were unplanned. I would just feel good and pick up the pace for no reason, and finish the run feeling like I didn't try that hard. I did a 5 mile fartlek yesterday which was unplanned and I ended up running the 5 miles in 28:10 which I feel is pretty good for the time of year. My swimming has been hit and miss, but my bad days I'm still holding a decent pace that I couldn't have held in past years, so I know that I'm getting faster in the water, I just really dislike those slow days.

I hit just under 50 miles last week and will be around 55 miles for this week. My swimming yardage has been higher than usual, but it'll probably take a little hit over the next 2 weeks with a big swim meet at our pool this weekend, and Thanksgiving next weekend. But with these breaks in swimming, I'm going to start biking.

My first swim meet as a coach starts tomorrow. We are hosting our annual Autumn Classic this weekend and the kids are swimming Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. I'm looking forward to watching them swim. And several of them found my blog this week and wanted shout outs. Kelsey Mclaughlin, Caroline Jacobs, and Casey Ren are three of the girls that I'll be watching swim this weekend. Good luck girls.

T-Bird

Wednesday Update

After a great weekend with the family in Bowling Green, I'm back in Lexington for the usual stuff. I got to have dinner with the family at my grandparents Friday night, do a few workouts with my bro, see my sister as a cheerleader for WKU for the first time, and just have a great weekend in general. I am now enjoying all of the apples and apple cider that I can handle thanks to my grandparents who own "Jackson's Orchard" in Bowling Green, KY. And I know that Eric, Beth, and Casey have enjoyed them as well.

I have really been working hard in the water, and also been putting in the work on the road. I'm still 2 days behind on my running challenge, but that isn't bad for over 30 days of running. And I don't have a workout for today but I did get a suggestion of a video to post on here. This is just a little time trial for fun at the University of Texas. One guy does a 100 backstroke for time (with no 15 meter rule, so it's pretty much all under water) and another is a 150 breaststroke for time. The most impressive thing is the 100 underwater.


http://www.floswimming.org/videos/play/80787-friday-afternoon-texas

and here is another video that is just funning.

http://www.viddler.com/explore/failblog/videos/326/

Tony

November already?

Sorry for the lack of posting in the past few weeks but I haven't really had much to blog about now since the season is over but I'll give you a quick update.

Training has been going pretty good. I still have yet to touch my bike since my last race, but I have been slowly upping my mileage in running, and trying to hit some big numbers in swimming as well. I did swim a PR for yardage a few weeks ago by swimming over 37,000 yards, but I proceeded to catch a little cold the following Monday so I took 2 days off from the water, and then took a few days really easy so I was around 15,000 for that week. I managed to hit over 30,000 last week and I felt like I didn't swim a ton either, so that is a good sign. My last three weeks of running has been 40, 47, and 50 miles. This week is going to be a down week before I keep going up the ladder. My running challenge is going really good too. It is over 3 weeks into the challenge and I have run 22 times in 24 days. I have a 2-a-day planned later this week so I'll only be down by one run at the end of 4 weeks.

Coaching is going great. The kids had their first meet a few weeks ago and they all swam pretty well considering it was an early season meet. They have a pretty hard set planned for today with 6 x 200 FAST!!! And tomorrow they have a 5,000 straight swim. Good thing I'm not swimming with them right now, ha.

Fantasy Football is as exciting as ever and I'm in first place in my division. I am playing the guy that I'm tied with in my division this weekend so there is a lot on the line.

I may have a new favorite show that is called "White Collar" which comes on USA on Friday night. It's pretty good.

And having an American win the NYC marathon this past weekend was also awesome. Congrats to Meb for the big W.

Tony

Who likes IM?

As in Individual Medley, not Ironman. The workout of the week is going to be a main set that our swim team did almost a week ago. It is called the Ultimate IM set and I know the kids did not have fun doing it. The send off's can be changed around to fit any swimmer, but this is a long set so it shouldn't be performed by anyone who doesn't usually swim a large amount of yards. Or if you aren't really used to swimming a lot of IM. You don't want to mess up your shoulders because of the amount of Butterfly you must swim during this set.

And unfortunately, there isn't a video to post with this workout, but here is how the set is broken up (and I'll post the "B" intervals for the set):

4 x 400 IM alternating 5:45 and 5:30 send off's
8 x 200 IM all on a 2:55 send off
16 x 100 IM alternating 1:25 and 1:15 send off's

We had the 400's and 100's on alternating intervals. They would swim one at moderate pace and then one fast. The 200's were all on the same interval.

Out of the 20+ swimmers that started the set, only 3 finished the entire workout as planned without missing an interval. Most of the swimmers were forced to swim freestyle on the faster interval during the 100's. This only happened after they missed an interval.

And an update on the 100/100 challenge, I'm 9 for 9 right now. I have actually not missed a day of running so far and its going good. Most days I'm keeping it pretty easy with a shorter run of 30 - 45 minutes. I did do a longer run on Saturday and plan on doing another this weekend. I put in 40 miles last week and plan to be around 45 this week.

T-Bird

The Pushup Challenge and the 100 in 100

This is a little bit different from some of the past workouts that I've posted but its a good little off season challenge to try out. The main goal is to see how fast you can do 100 push ups. This challenge originated from this guy's friend (who is a girl) who said that she did 100 pushups in 2 minutes and 47 seconds. So, being the man that he is, he felt he should be able to do this easily if she could do it. And, he fails miserably almost doubling her time.

You can break it up however you want, you just have to finish 100 pushups as fast as possible.

http://www.flotrack.org/videos/coverage/view_video/235353-flotrack-2009-xc-season/201816-the-pushup-challenge

Here is the link to the guy who explains the challenge and shows his attempt at the challenge. I have never tried it because I'm too scared of how horribly sore I would be for the following days.

Monday I also started a running challenge that I have heard some people do over the winter to help them with motivation. Dave K wanted to do 100 runs in 100 days and for me to do it with him. So far, I have ran twice in 2 days so I am on pace, haha.

The rules:
a.) each run must be over 30 minutes to count.
b.) there can be multiple runs in a day as long as there is at least 2 hours between runs

That is pretty much it. Nothing too complicated. And I have started up my winter of swimming as well. I'm going to act more like a swimmer when I'm in the water and focus on some more distance swimming which I have never really done much of. Yesterday I did 3 x 1000 on a faster send off. This was extremely hard, and I died miserably on the last one, but it gives me some room for improvement if I decide to do this set again, ha.

That's about it for now.

Tony

WOW

Last week might have been the least exciting week of the year. I was taking some time off, and I filled that time I usually spend training by just sitting around. I was bored out of my mind. This week, my coaching schedule is in full swing. The kids are swimming 2-a-days, 3 days a week and have started swimming a workout on the weekend. So I went from working just around 15 hours a week to around 23 hours a week. So I don't feel too much like a bum anymore, haha. I have ran the past three days and have swam a little, but no serious training has begun yet. This past Saturday was a lot of fun with Ben and his girlfriend coming up for the game on Saturday. Those two and Casey and myself all went to the UK/Bama game, then to Mellow Mushroom, and then to the movies for a pretty exciting Saturday. Sunday, Casey and I were able to enjoy a little tennis, which neither of us had played in forever.

Now, the workout of the week is going to be from the Hansons-Brooks project. Brian Sell is running the Chicago Marathon this weekend (I think, ha) so I figured I could show a video of his training. He has been known to run 150+ miles weeks. He did not break 10 minutes for 2 miles in high school, but has since become an Olympian by making the 2008 US marathon team. They are doing 8 x 1k at just faster than marathon race pace. The coach talks about throwing the marathon guys on the track a few times just to keep a little speed in their legs. They did this workout 5 weeks before the Boston marathon. Enjoy

http://www.flotrack.org/videos/speaker/129-brian-sell/170131-hansons-brooks-workout-2009-boston-marathon-episode-12

Tony

The Workout of the Week

I have another running workout to show you guys. This workout is performed by a HS team that I believe is in Illinios. They have several national championships in XC and numerous state titles in their recent history. The coach is a bit of a legend and he has his boys doing 5 x 1 mile today with 3 minutes recovery. It's always cool to see a HS team this large when compared to a team like I was on in HS that barely had a full team of 7 guys running XC. And this workout is a couple of years old. This video was recorded during the fall of 2007.

And I have reason to believe that is Al Pacino that is coaching or at least it is his voice twin. They sound identical.

Here's the link. Hope you enjoy.

http://www.flotrack.org/videos/speaker/475-joe-newton/5083-york-hs-workout

Tony

Augusta 70.3 Race Report

Well the season is done. I am sitting in Corbin right now and am headed back to Lexington today. Beth, Eric, Jeff, Neely, Casey Gilvin, Ben, Dave K, and myself all raced in Augusta, GA yesterday and we had a blast. Ben and I drove down Friday morning from Corbin and arrived just before 5 pm. We hung out at the hotel before going to get some steak with Jeff and Neely. Everyone else arrived a little bit later in the evening. Saturday we did our usual pre race activities. We ate a big breakfast, went for a short bike ride and a short run, got all of our racing gear ready, and went to the pre race meetings. Saturday evening we watched UK get destroyed by UF while we enjoyed our pizza from Mellow Mushroom.

My alarm went off at 4:30 am Sunday morning so I could eat my usual breakfast before the race. We were mostly packed and were headed towards the transition area by 5:30. My wave was the first wave to go off at 7:30. This was my first ever 70.3 race without swimming in a wetsuit, but I wasn't too worried about that. It was a point to point swim, with the current of the river, and with a strong wind at our back.

The gun went off at 7:30 and we dove right in. I had a different mind set about this race. I told myself I would race my own race, as opposed to focusing on what everyone else was doing like I had been doing for the past few races. The swim is where I have been getting a little nervous about and really trying to swim with the fast guys. Once we were in the water, I focused on a strong, efficient stroke, as opposed to worrying about swimming fast. Well, this worked out great. I was in the front of the lead pack for about 5 minutes until everyone picked up the pace a little. I ended up at the back of the 1st pack and I stayed there for the rest of the swim. I was very controlled and comfortable the whole swim and never felt overwhelmed like I did at Tuscaloosa or Steelhead. I came out of the water side-by-side with Victor Zyemtsev (who won Ironman Louisville) and we went ran into T1. I could see the leaders heading out of T1 as I was heading in so I knew there wasn't a big gap at all.

Once on the bike, I passed 2 guys early, then just put my head down and kept rolling. Chris Legh passed me about 5 miles into the bike and made me look like I was standing still. He is really strong. We had a tail wind for the first hour so it was fast. I covered almost 13.5 miles in the first 30 minutes and just under 26 miles for the first hour. Nick Waninger caught me around mile 12 - 14 and kind of gave me a little boost. We have raced many times this year and are very equal in ability. Once he caught me, I put my head down to stay close to him. We ended up riding the rest of the bike course together (not drafting, just using each other's energy to keep moving fast). We caught several guys over the next 20 - 30 miles. 2 - 3 guys actually rolled us up pretty good too. There were some strong guys there. This bike course was a lot tougher than I expected and the strong winds did not make it a fun day. I really suffered the last 10 - 15 miles because of the strong head winds that we were fighting to get back to transition. I really slowed down a lot over the last hour of the bike ride. I came into T2 behind Nick and 2 guys that had just passed us on the bike. We headed out on the run, and I knew it was going to be tough. I did not feel good at all, but I sure hoped it would get better.

Nick started to pull away, but I ran the other two guys down (they had about a 30 - 45 second lead off of the bike) within the first 3 miles. I was still chasing Nick, but he had a great run and he only distanced me even further throughout the run course. The rest of the run was a battle with myself. I never passed another guy and no one passed me. I managed to run 1:19 and change on a 13 mile course ( 1/10 of a mile short). I crossed the finish line in 11th place overall and just under 4 hours for my finishing time (3:59:35).

This was my worst result in a 70.3 race this year, but my best race. Those were the toughest conditions that I've had to race in this year, and the strongest field that I've raced against. They pushed me to my fastest 70.3 of the year and a good finishing note for the 2009 season. I've had a long season and am glad to be finished. But the thing about these races is they really motivate me for other races. A little fire inside of me wants to race at Clearwater. This will most likely not happen since I'm not qualified but ....

It would probably be the best decision to figure out my bike position (I could barely walk after the race because my knee hurt so bad from the bike ride), work on my swim stroke, and build up my running miles so that I'm able to run 5:40 pace for 13.1 miles after a hard swim/bike. Guys like Greg Bennett just make it look so easy.

And our Lexington crew really did well. Ben finished 5th in his AG and this was also his first ever attempt at this distance. Beth finished 3rd in her AG, Jeff finished 3rd in his AG, Eric finished 6th in his AG and got a spot for Clearwater. Neely finished her first ever 70.3 race.
Overall we had a great time and I would love to race there again next year.

Preliminary results can be found here:

http://ironman.com/events/ironman70.3/augusta70.3/?show=tracker&rid=260&year=2009

Until next time.

T-Bird

WOW

Today’s workout video is of an aquatics team (that I’ve never heard of) and they are working on pace. The coach talks about the emphasis of good stroke technique and keeping good form throughout the workout as opposed to cranking out a bunch of hard intervals where everyone is barely making the send offs.

The distance group is doing 36 x 100 which is broken up into 2 sets, and then into 3 parts within the set. The first four 100’s are performed at 200 race pace plus 6 seconds per hundred. So if your 200 race pace is 2:00, then you are to perform the first four 100’s on 1:06. The send off for the entire set is 1:35.

The next six 100’s are 200 race pace plus 5 seconds and the last eight 100’s are 200 race pace plus 4 seconds. Going back to the original example, the swimmer would perform four 100’s on 1:06, six on 1:05, and eight on 1:04; all with a send off of 1:35. So they are getting about 30 seconds of rest after every interval.

After the first set, they got a few minutes of recovery before starting the set all over again. I have swum a modified version of this set, but never the entire set. I feel like every time I want to attempt the whole set, I’m close to a race and I don’t want to mess up my taper by swimming 36 100’s at close to race pace.

Hope you enjoy the video.

http://www.floswimming.org/videos/speaker/522-sean-hutchison/182349-pace-work-with-king-aquatic-club


Tony

Check up

I know I haven't blogged about anything lately, but there really isn't anything too exciting in my life right now. I have been putting in the work, while getting a lot of rest for the past week or so. I'll be racing in Augusta this Sunday which is most likely going to be my last race of the year. I had plans on going to Clearwater, but I feel like I would benefit more by focusing on next year instead of squeezing in another race this year. After Augusta, my plan is to take a couple of weeks off (not completely) and then start putting in a large aerobic base while working on some of my swimming mechanics so I'll be better prepared for the 2010 season. If I race at Clearwater, I would train hard for another month or so, and then taper for about 2 weeks, then take the 2 weeks of recovery, and not start my build up for next year until the first of December. But the only problem with that is I don't know if there is enough internal motivation left in my system to get me to train hard for another month or so. The bike rides are becoming more dreadful (for no particular reason), I delay workouts more and more with every passing day, and I am just ready for a break. Now don't get me wrong, I have still worked hard up to this point and am ready to roll this weekend in Augusta. I know this is something that a lot of people struggle with, but even professional athletes struggle to get out the door for every single workout.

I'm thinking that next year may have to be broken into 2 seasons. Maybe an early season where I race 4 - 5 times in April, May and June. Then I'll start all over and have another build up to a later season where I'll race maybe once in August, and then have a few big races in September and October. That way, I'll still get in about the same number of races within the year, but I'll be fresher and more prepared for the races as opposed to getting burnt out half way through the season, and having some rough races during that period to deal with.

Check back tomorrow for the workout of the week.

Tony

Ryan Hall's WO

Today I'm posting another workout from before the Olympic Trials marathon which was in NYC in late 2007. Ryan is one of the greatest American distance runners of all time. He is running in Philly this weekend in the "Distance Classic" which I believe is a half marathon. And then he is running in the New York Marathon this fall which will be his "A" race of the fall.

In this workout, he's doing a marathon race paced run of 15 miles. He does it on a road that he does a lot of his training and he discusses during the video of how his faith in God affects him as a runner. It's a great video.

http://www.tangle.com/view_video?viewkey=5c60b9016f85cc43196f

Enjoy.

Tony

SBCTFS RR

Does the title make sense? It's short for "Susan Bradley-Cox Tri for Sight Race Report" and I guess I didn't really save much time now that I had to type what that acronym was short for, ha.

Anyways, yesterday was the annual Triathlon here in Lexington which is always a great race. Beth and Eric both spend a lot of time making sure that it is a great race. They receive numerous compliments every year about how well ran the event is and how safe everyone feels on the course. This year they even changed the bike course a little to make it safer.

I woke up yesterday morning and decided I would try something new for breakfast before a race. I had some oatmeal with a cup of coffee and my morning serving of FRS. I got the car packed up and I headed down to the transition area. It always nice to eat breakfast at home and sleep in your own bed the night before a race. After setting up my transition area and a little run warmup, I was ready to roll. I was fourth in the water since it was a swim seaded start in a pool swim. We had to snake our way down the pool to get in our 800 meters of swimming. I took off and just didn't feel like I was catching much water. I haven't felt good in the water for about a month now. I don't know what the problem is, but hopefully it will get better before Augusta here in 2 weeks. Anyways, I passed the guy who started immediately in front of me pretty fast, and then had the pool almost to myself for the rest of the swim. I was too far behind Dave K and Kevin R. to catch them and I had a big gap on the guys behind me. I came out of the water in third position and sprinted to the transition area. Kevin is injured right now so I knew he was only doing the swim, so I just needed to chase down Dave. Had a good transition and took off on my first race on my Mercury Trident bike. I got rolling early and was really making up some ground quick. I caught Dave about 5 - 6 miles into the race and then opened up a gap on my way back on the bike. I felt great and got some good encouragement around the 14 mile mark from some of my kids on the swim team, which was nice. And apparently they were making fun of Dave because he used to coach them. Dave told me they yelled, "Dave, Tony is killing you." to Dave when he went by on the bike, haha. Anyways, I went into T2 with a pretty big gap and took off on the run looking to run pretty fast. I kept a pretty good tempo the whole run and I came across the finish line in first place. I ended up running just under 22 minutes for the 4 mile course. Unfortunately, it was the slowest I've ever ran on that course (which I didn't realize until I checked old results last night). I did feel good on the run and I had the fastest bike split in the race so that is always great news. I'm hoping to keep this fitness going into Augusta 70.3 and that I can feel a little better on the swim.

Results can be found at:

http://www.besttimescct.com/results/Sight09.txt

Til next time.

Tony

The Showdown

Round #13????

So, in 2006, Dave Kuendig and I were racing head-to-head for the first time since we were both considered "fast." at the Tri for Sight here in Lexington. We had raced before but it was my first Olympic distance race ever and it was at the beginning of 2005. Anyways, our friends really hyped up this head to head race and couldn't decide who would win. Dave was obviously the better swimmer (and still is) and everyone told me I was stronger on the bike and a better runner. I was convinced that I could run him down if I made up most of the deficit on the bike. Well, needless to say, he was a MUCH better swimmer than I on that day. I only made up about 30 seconds of that 1:40 that I lost on the swim. So he won our first "showdown" by about a minute.

Over the next couple of years, we have raced in many different races with both of us coming out on top on different occasions. But the only real "showdown" is always at Tri for Sight since it is a time trial start and we always start very close to the front. In 2007, neither of us raced and Eric Bell came up from Knoxville to take home the big W. Last year, was another head-to-head battle between the two of us. All of our friends made a big deal about it again, but not as big of a deal as they made it out to be in 2006. I had improved my swim a lot since 2006, and Dave only managed to put about 30 seconds on my last year in the water. I managed to catch him close to the half way point on the bike and then lead the way into the second transition. Unfortunately, he was cut off by a car about 200 yards from the transition area and he had a little spill. He was forced to run his bike into transition and he lost a significant amount of time due to the accident. Once he got onto the run, he felt that he did not have a chance of catching me, so he kind of ran at a tempo pace. So last year's race was a tainted victory for me. But I did manage to break Dave's course record by about 15 seconds.

Tomorrow, September 13th of 2009, is the SHOWDOWN at the Susan Bradley-Cox Tri for Sight. But nobody has really talked about it this year, so I just thought this would make a funny blog.

And Congrats to Susan Bradley-Cox who won her AG at the World Championships in Australia.

T-Bird

Today's Workout

First off, training is going pretty good. I had a great weekend of training in Corbin while I also attended one of my best friends' wedding on Saturday. And I want to say Congrats to Daniel and Lindsay Lowe. It was a great wedding and I had a blast. That is why Casey and I were all dressed up for in that picture from the last post. We decided that we should take a picture since we really don't get dressed up all that often, ha. I have a race this weekend here in Lexington and I'm really looking forward to it.

Well, it is Wednesday so I have another workout. Since Dathan Ritzenhein broke the American Record in the 5k about a week ago, I'll post one of my favorite workouts of his. This was a workout he did leading into the Olympic Trials marathon in 2007. He did this "marathon paced run" about a month before the race. He practiced everything including nutrition and hydration just as if he were running the race itself. It's kind of a long video, but they explain everything that is included during the workout and the reason for doing those things. Here's the link:

http://www.flotrack.org/videos/speaker/85-dathan-ritzenhein/5468-part-4-the-workout

Hope you enjoy.

T-Bird

Big Pimpin'

I may look good in spandex, but I think that I look even better in this picture. It's probably because of the good company.

Workout Wed./Thurs.

Sorry for the lack of posting in the last week. But here is the workout of the week that I love. The video isn't the most exciting thing to watch ever, but I love this swim set. It is a very challenging set and really gets difficult if you went too hard in the beginning. The video explains the set, but basically, the first send off is at :20 seconds and you build up to 2:00 minutes, adding :5 seconds every interval. You swim as far as you can while still getting a little rest within the given time. So, when I do this set, I will do 25y on the :20, 25y on the :25, 50y on the :30, 50y on the :35 .............. 150y on 1:55, and the last one doing a 175y on 2:00. The person that is swimming decides when to jump up the distance on the next send off. You never go back down in distance. The first time I attempted this set, I tried to do a 150y on 1:40, which came back to haunt me. I ended up swimming the last 5 send off's (1:40, 1:45, 1:50, 1:55, & 2:00) with no rest. I swam 750y straight because I blew up and I couldn't recover, haha. My PR for the set is swimming a total of 1975 yards. I have yet to make the 2000y distance for the set. I hope this wasn't too confusing.


http://www.floswimming.org/videos/play/74330-the-nitro-whistle-set

And for reference, here are the intervals that I hit the last time I did this set.

25y on :20
25y on :25
50y on :30
50y on :35
50y on :40
50y on :45
75y on :50
75y on :55
75y on :60
75y on :65
100y on 1:10
100y on 1:15
100y on 1:20
125y on 1:25
125y on 1:30
125y on 1:35
125y on 1:40
150y on 1:45
150y on 1:50
150y on 1:55
175y on 2:00
Total distance: 1975y

Update

Everything is great here in Lexington. I have started my new coaching job which has been a blast so far. The pool is reopening today so it will be the kids first day in the water today. Ben Davis (the head coach) and I have just been making them run a little while giving them all kinds of core work and leg exercises.

Training has been really good the past few days or so. It may be the cooler temperatures or maybe, I have just been feeling better. I have had some really good run workouts. I had a good long run on Sunday and a nice, easy run on Monday. That run on Monday was one of those runs that is so relaxed and easy that I was just excited to be out running. There was almost no exertion and the weather was great. Tuesday was a hard run workout which went really well. I haven't ran that well in a workout since June. Yesterday I just had a normal bike ride and a swim. On the bike ride I decided I would ride to the hill where we do hill repeats and just do one repeat easy then head home. On the ride to the hill, I decided since it was an easier ride, I would throw in one hard effort on the hill and go after the hill record. The fastest I have ever climbed that hill in was 6:42 which I did at some point last season. I decided that I was in good enough shape to give it a run. Just a few weeks ago I climbed the hill in 6:50 with a few other guys so I knew I could climb fast. I got to the bottom of the hill and just decided to really attack it. I sprinted the bottom section and then settled into pace. I got to my checkpoint on the hill in under 5 minutes which I had never done before so I knew I was going hard. I just tried to keep my tempo all the way to the top and I ended up finishing the climb in 6:32, a new PR. I was really excited. Then I just rode easy back to the house. Then I swam with Casey in the afternoon, who was supposed to do a 1000y TT as her workout. I, for some reason, told her I would do it with her. I took it out really hard and then settled into pace. I almost even split this TT because I went through the 500 just over 5:30. I finished in 11:07 which is only 1.2 seconds off of my PR from a dive (recorded as a split during a 1650y race at the Wildcat Master's Swim Meet). So I was pretty happy with this. I know I need to be a lot faster but its a good step in the right direction. Today I have a long run which I'm about to take off on. And this weekend I'm headed home to Corbin to watch one of my best friends get married.

Tony

Workout Wednesday

I'm going to steal an idea from several websites and start posting some of my favorite workouts every Wednesday. Whether it is a workout that I like to do during a certain training phase, or it is a workout video that I have borrowed from other websites, there will be some kind of workout posted.

I'm going to start today with one of my favorite workout videos from www.flotrack.org. I love this website and they always have great coverage of whatever big meet is going on. The link says the video was posted April 11th, but I believe it was originally posted last fall when this workout was recorded. The OSU Cowboys (the better of the 3 OSU's) ran this workout as a tune up workout before going into the National XC meet in November. It is 6 x 1 mile repeats on the xc course. The goal was to decend every repeat. If an athlete ran any single repeat slower than the previous, they were done with the workout, no matter what number they were on. The ultimate goal was to run all 6 repeats. Enjoy

http://www.flotrack.org/videos/speaker/635-german-fernandez/78340-oklahoma-state-workout-with-the-cowboys-episode-7



Tony

Elite Nationals Aquathlon

So... I did my 2nd ever ITU race and it just so happened to be the US National Championships. And needless to say, it didn't go well. A lot of my training this summer has been more focused on longer racing, and this race was a shock to the system. And the month of August is never a great month to expect to have good swimming fitness because the LAC is closed for its annual cleaning.

Anyways, myself, my brother, and many others from Lexington all headed down to Tuscaloosa, AL on Thursday. I ate at Olive Garden Thursday night, and then called it a night early. Friday, we woke up and went down to the race site to workout a little. I got in a great warmup swim in the river. The water was a little warm, but there was almost no current at all thanks to the dams. We rode the amateur bike course, then jogged a little before we grabbed lunch and headed back to the hotel to chill out. We ended up eating Mellow Mushroom that evening and went to bed. Saturday was a early day for Eric, Beth, Ben, Jeff, Sean, George, Sam, Allison and Kevin (and I believe there were still some more from Lexington). I woke up around 7 am and grabbed some breakfast considering my race didn't start until 2:15. I drove down to the race site to watch everybody on the run and everybody did amazing. My bro finished 25th in the extremely competitive 20 - 24 AG while Kevin finished 17th. Eric finished 5th and Jeff finished 8th in the 30 - 34 AG while Beth finished 4th on the women's side of the 30 - 34 AG. George also got 8th in his AG, Allison got 10th in her AG, and Sam got 24th in his AG. Overall, I think Lexington had a great showing at the National Championship.

I got down to the race site around 12:30 and started getting everything ready for my race. Word got around that the dam was opened up because of flooding so the current was extremely strong today. The fastest AG swimmer swam in the mid - 22 minutes, which is extremely slow. Hayley Piersol swam over 20 minutes in the elite women's race when she has been swimming in the low 17's for that same distance in many of her races previous to this one. So I knew it was going to be a swimmer's race, which did not play into my favor. I just stayed positive, got in a great swim warmup, and hoped to find some fast feet for me to sit on.

The horn went off and we dove in. I was stuck in the middle of the pontoon and ended up between the 2 swim groups. The faster swimmers either got on the far left or the far right side of the pontoon, and thanks to my draw, I was one of the last ones to pick my spot. I felt great for the first 200 or so. It was pretty open, and I didn't get beat up like I did in Austin. I tried to come over on some feet and ended up battling with someone for those feet. I backed off and tried to get on his feet and ending up fighting with someone else. This is where it all went wrong. I need to work on my swimming tactics. I lost a lot of time in the next 100 - 200 yards because I spent too much energy looking for some feet instead of just putting my head down and focusing on going fast. I eventually found feet, but it was too late. I was the last person in the pack and I soon realized that our pack was only made up of about 5 guys and we were pretty far back from everyone else. I still had to work extremely hard to stay in that pack and I came out of the water in 22:40 (ugh!!!!) and was 3rd from last (embarassing). My HR felt like it was above 200 and I was breathing extremely hard. I had a dismal T1 and made it almost impossible to catch the few guys I came out of the water with. On the first hill on the bike, I caught 2 of the 4 guys just in front of me, but the other 2 guys pulled away and really worked hard. Unfortunately, myself and the other 2 guys didn't have the organization to get together and work to catch the people up the road. I ended up riding away from those guys and I rode 5 of the 6 laps all by myself. I was lapped by the leaders on that 5th lap so I was pulled from the course and thus embarassed once more.

I know that I hit both my max HR and my max VO2 during that race. That style of racing is so much different than anything that I've ever done. I am usually breathing really hard right after the swim and I use the first few miles on the bike to get going. You can't do that in this race. It is 100% all out, all of the time. I made the mistake of assuming I could use my bike as a strength later in the bike. I needed to recover from the swim in the first 2 - 3 miles of the bike and this is where I should have bridged up to the 2 guys who really worked well together to catch the big pack up the road. They only had about 10 seconds on me out of T1 and I just didn't "man" up to close the gap.

But I know I need to really work on my swim and my open water swimming tactics. I'm sorry to everyone who really supports me and roots for me. I wish I did better and I'm going to do everything in my power this off season to become a better triathlete. I have the Susan Bradley Cox Tri for Sight in a few weeks here in Lexington, KY which is going to be a great race. This is always a great event and they are giving away better awards than they ever have thanks to Kiwami, John's Run/Walk Shop, and a few other sponsors who have made generous donations. Then I'm racing in Augusta 70.3 towards the end of September.

Tony

Cycling Safety

Just a quick note. I have had several people ask me about where to ride, how to ride, how I fight with traffic, etc. The more you ride, the more comfortable you will become on the road. But here are just a few quick tips for cycling safety.

I always try to stay over on my side of the road, and I always obey the rules of the road, like stopping at all stop signs and red lights. If you are riding with a group, ride single file when cars are around. Do not react to a car that honks or does something to you first. They will always have the upper hand since they are in a motorized vehicle and you are on a bike. Just wave with a smile on your face (as hard is that is) and hopefully it will make them feel like an a@$. In extreme situations, you can always call the police and report the driver (which my buddy has done several times since he is a policeman). And I usually try to find roads that tend to have lower amounts of traffic. What happened at the Tom Sawyer triathlon is something that cannot be prepared for. It was an anamoly that rarely happens. The few deaths that occured during the year of 2008 in triathlons in the USA all happened during the swim portion of the race. When someone gets behind the wheel after drinking, it is dangerous for everyone on the road around them. And this time this driver just so happened to be intoxicated at 8 am and was driving in the wrong place at the wrong time, while also making some absolutely horrible decisions after hitting the cyclist.

Being aware of your surroundings and riding defensively will help you stay out of harms way.

Hope that helped.

Tony

Monday

I know it's been over a week since my last post but I have been at the beach having a great time. I went to Destin, Fl for my annual family vacation. My brother and I got in some great training in Florida. I know that vacation is usually a rest week, but we both have a big race this coming weekend in Alabama. We are both competing at Nationals, which will be Ben's first National Championship race. Almost everyday, we would wake up and get a workout over with early, then later in the day head to the pool to swim. It was so hot there, so we had to run or bike in the morning when it wasn't as hot. We always swam in the afternoon. We got to hang out on the beach in between workouts, eat some really good seafood every evening, and hang out with the entire family which doesn't happen that often.

Some of the workouts we did while in Florida felt epic, even though they were not that hard (in normal conditions). The first full day I did my second longest run of the year, and in the heat there, it was an epic run. I managed to hold under 7:10 pace (which is about my normal long run pace), but I just felt like I melted on the run. I laid out 4 bottles of Gatorade endurance to make sure that I stayed hydrated, which did help. We did a harder bike ride on Tuesday, and then a harder run on Wednesday which was equally as hard as that long run.

With my second ITU race in my life coming up this weekend, I have been on my new Mercury road bike more than ever, and I have missed having a road bike. I have had so much fun on it. Sure, I have loved my tri bike, but this road bike is just a little different and it is fantastic.

And this week is great for tv viewing. The Track and Field World Championships started on Saturday and will continue until this coming Sunday. Versus and NBC has live and replay coverage everyday. It is really exciting to watch the best in the World, do what it is that they are good at. For example, the 100 m dash was last night, and Tyson Gay and Usain Bolt went head-to-head for the first time in a while. Bolt ran a WR by over a tenth of a second and Gay ran a new AR of 9.71. It was crazy to watch. www.letsrun.com has complete coverage and tv viewing schedules for the Championships.

That's about it for now.

T-Bird

Confidence

So I usually will pass some extra time by watching tv, reading a book, or surfing the world wide web (which I do most of the time). Well I love the website www.flotrack.org. I am a track nerd (not as bad as I used to be) and they have some great videos and blogs on this site. I came across an article about Lindsay Allen and a blogpost that she wrote back in April. She discusses how she used to battle with self confidence going into races and how it always hurt her performance. Here is her complete blog post:

"I've always lacked a certain confidence when I toe the line of a race. But it wasn’t until this year that I fully understand how this negative thinking hurt my performance.While in college, I failed to live up to my own expectations which propelled me to pursue post-collegiate running. I knew my body was capable of much more. While I'm often found to be my own worst enemy, those insecurities stemmed from many factors- doubts about my training, incompatible coaching styles, and the craziness of college life, just to name a few. And until now, I never had anyone telling me I could be great.Reflecting on my recent personal bests since joining McMillan, I think the most significant contributing factor has been my new outlook on the sport. This positive outlook has been driven by the mindset of my teammates, the unparalleled coaching support, knowing adidas has taken a chance on me, and most importantly, the fact that I have removed any limitations I once set on myself.

In pursuing post-collegiate running I vowed that I'd stop making excuses, doubting myself, or accepting mediocrity. I am a professional runner and I will act like it. I will keep my expectations high and put healthy pressure on myself to perform. I enter each race with this refreshing mentality and enjoy the rewards.I have since toed the line of a race knowing anything less than a win would be a disappointment. I have also stuck with a rabbit running a pace equivalent to a 30 second PR in the 5k…why not? It all paid off.

For all of you out there who find themselves in similar states of doubt, just know that if you love something, remove any self-set limitations. Do it whole-heartedly. There's no time like the present."

Here is a link to her blog: http://www.mcmillanelite.com/lindsayallen.htm

I love what she says about acting like a professional. I need to keep my expectations high when I enter races because I am a professional triathlete and I need to act like it. I need to remove the self-set limitations that I have put upon myself this year because there is no time like the present. Why wait to get better next year when I can do it now.

Just a thought.

Tony

Vacation Time

After returning from Michigan on Sunday, I went straight to Corbin to enjoy a birthday dinner for my dad. I returned to Lexington on Monday and have had a great week of training. We had some nasty storms on Tuesday which flooded Louisville, so I was stuck on the trainer for an easy ride. I was fortunate enough to head out the door for an easy run that evening after the storms passed. I woke up yesterday morning to swim with a couple of friends at an outdoor pool. It was 62 degrees outside and raining. It had rained for several hours so the water temperature was really cold. I was freezing. This is probably the coldest I've ever been during a swim workout. I came home, took a hot shower, put on sweatpants and a sweatshirt, then made a big cup of coffee. Yesterday evening, me and 7 others, yes I said 7 others, took off for a bike ride. It was nice to ride with a bigger group. We rode to the hill up from the Ferry on Tates Creek hill and did three repeats, one of which was insanely hard. And by some miracle, I woke up this morning to run with the early morning run group at 5:30 am. We did 8 miles this morning at a nice little clip.

So, training is going really well and I feel pretty good considering I did a 70.3 just last Saturday. I guess I didn't go hard enough, ha. But I'm excited about Saturday because it is time for our annual family vacation. This year we are headed to Destin, Fl. We will be there for a week and it will be nice to hang out on the beach and have nothing to worry about (not that I really have much to worry about here in Lexington). Next on the schedule is Elite Nationals ITU in Tuscaloosa, AL on the 22nd.

I have just been so blessed with my friends and family that have given me the opportunities that I have and I'm looking forward to everything in the near future. Whether it is my training partners who help get me out the door, my family who always give me encouraging words no matter what the situation, or somebody who has never met me but keeps up with me through my blog/twitter; I thank you all for this and giving me this opportunity. I love doing what I'm doing.

Tony

Steelhead 70.3 RR

So I raced in Benton Harbor, MI yesterday and it was one of my most disappointing races this year. It was just one of those days that I didn't have anything in the tank. I got on the wrong feet in the swim and didn't make the first swim pack. I came into T1 a little behind, and took off on the bike really not feeling well. It took me about 20 miles to loosen the legs up, and to get going. I hammered the bike from 20 to about 40 miles and then we made the turn home into the head wind. That really took a lot of energy fighting that wind for the last 16 miles. I backed off a little, hoping to save some energy for the run, but that didn't work out well. I ran 6 min. miles for the first 4 miles, 6:25 min. miles for the next 4 miles, and then about 6:50 pace for the last 5 miles. I just didn't have anything for the run. I started the run in 7th place. I passed 2 people in the first 2 miles, putting me into 5th place. I stayed there for about 5 seconds before one guy passed me. I ended up getting passed by 3 guys on the run and finishing 8th. This race was my slowest 70.3 ever, but it was a tough day. Nobody in the field really had a super fast run split (excluding Potts who raced really strong), and the wind made the bike splits a little slow as well. I expected to be several minutes faster than Kansas 70.3 and it was actually several minutes slower.

But I finished in the top 10 and am glad to have the race behind me. Thank you so much to my homestay Ann and her father for opening up their home for me. It was a beautiful home that was really close to the race sight. And thanks to my fans who drove up to support me; my coach Beth, Gram, and Gramps.

More details to follow soon...

And I want to wish my Dad a HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!

Tony

Motto

I saw this commercial during the Tour de France coverage on Versus which really got me going. It is an amazing commercial which is really inspiring and I believe everyone should see this commercial. It is my new motto when I race, and I believe it should be everyone's. No one should go into a race expecting nothing but the best.

Here is the speech:

Here is the thing that makes life so interesting. The theory of evolution claims that “Only strong shall survive.” Maybe so, maybe so. But the theory of competition says, “Just because they are the strong, doesn’t mean they can’t get their asses kicked.” That’s right! See, what every long shot, come-from-behind, underdog will tell you is this; the other guy may in fact be the favorite, the odds may be stacked against you. Fair enough. But what the odds don’t know, this isn’t a math test. This is a completely different kind of test, one where passion has a funny way of trumping logic. So before you step up to the starting line, before the whistle blows and the clock starts ticking. Just remember, out here, the results don’t always add up. No matter what the stats may say and the experts may think, and the commentators may have predicted. When the race is on, all bets are off. Don’t be surprised if somebody decides to flip the script and take a pass on yelling uncle.

And then suddenly, as the old saying goes, “We got ourselves a game!”


Here is a link to the video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_LMEa0TVY_4&feature=related

Peace,

T-Bird

Short and Sweet

So everything is still amazing here in Lexington. I have had an amazing summer. Training this past week was hard as usual. I did both my longest run of the year and the longest bike of the year in the same week. The run was almost 16 miles which was on Tuesday, and the bike was almost 85 miles on Saturday. Both of those workouts really beat me up for the next day's workouts, but I managed. I hit about 20.5 hours for the week last week and will be around 18 - 19 hours this week. Next week should be a little lighter thanks to Steelhead on Saturday, Aug. 1st.

I have had a great time keeping up with the Tour de France and every other sporting event over the past week. I love to watch Golf on tv, especially a major. The British Open was exciting to watch and I know I speak for everyone when I say that I feel sorry for Tom Watson. Stewart Cink is a great guy, and it was awesome to see him win his first major, but it was just heart wrenching to watch Tom Watson during the 4 hole playoff.

Anyways, off to the pool. I said I would keep it short and sweet.

Tony

Waterfront Chattanooga Tri RR

I traveled down to Chattanooga, TN on Saturday with Ben, Eric, and Beth to race in the Chatty Tri yesterday. Beth booked a room at the Chattanoogan which is an extremely nice hotel in downtown Chattanooga and extremely affordable. We almost didn't want to race Sunday morning so we could sleep in and take advantage of the room service breakfast that we could order. I mean what sounds better? A Tennessee Omelet or 2 hours of pain during a triathlon?

Anyways, we had a great weekend trip. We came on Corbin on Friday to stay with my mom before we headed on down to Chattanooga on Saturday. She fixed an amazing dinner Friday evening for us and I got to enjoy my grandparents peaches for the first time this peach season. Those peaches are better than any other fruit in the world. Saturday, we woke up and got our workouts over with, then went on down to TN. Once we got there, we checked into the hotel, picked up our race packets, then went to dinner at Big River. We had a great dinner then went back to the hotel. Sunday morning, we rode our bikes to the race since it was less than a mile from our hotel. I was racer #4 so I would be the 4th person to start in the time trial layout of the race. Two guys that I knew were better swimmers than I started in front of me, so I wanted to sprint and get on their feet from the start. At 7:30 AM, the first swimmer was off (who was racer #2. Racer #1 wasn't there). I sprinted but wasn't able to get close enough to their feet to hang on. I kept them fairly close considering they both swam in college, and they both only put about 30 - 45 seconds on me in the water. In the past, they both usually will put 1 - 1.5 minutes on me, if I had a good swim. I got out of the water in 17:58 (without a wetsuit) and this is my fastest mile swim ever (even if its a little short). I sprinted through T1 with only racers #2 and #3 in front of me.

Once I was on the bike, I caught racer #3 before the 2 mile mark. I started to climb one of the many hills on this course and looked down to find my water bottle; it wasn't there. So, I had no hydration for the entire bike ride. I thought about this for a second, and figured it wasn't too big of a deal, so I just hammered on. I caught racer #2 around mile 10 and I just flew by him. He stayed close to me for a mile and re passed me before the turnaround. After the turnaround, I went right back by him and I never saw him again. At mile 14, there happened to be a cycling shop van on the side of the road for race support. I asked him if he had any water and he said yes. He drove a mile up the road, got out of his car, and gave me the water bottle. I was so happy to have some hydration. I drank this entire bottle before the end of the bike, and was able to consume my GU also. Without any water, your mouth gets all sticky and it feels like cottonmouth when you eat a GU. So I want to thank River City Cycles for being out on the course for bike support. You guys really helped me a lot.

I came into T2 with no one in sight of me. I had a great transition and took off on the run. I heard them announce that racer #2 was in T2 once I was a few hundred meters into the run. I ran scared the whole run. I knew Eric Bell was behind me, and how fast of a runner he was. I wasn't sure how much time I had on him in T2 (he wasn't racer #2, he started behind me) but I knew I couldn't run slow and still beat him. I started the run slower than normal, but started to pick up the pace once I was out there. Every aid station I came to, had volunteers who were excited to see the first person, but unprepared for me. I didn't get any hydration at two of these aid stations because of this. They just sat there and clapped for me while I was trying to get water or gatorade from them. I got to the turnaround and saw Eric about 1 minute or so back from me. I just put my head down and continued to run scared. I was able to hold him off and win the race. I finished the race almost exactly 4 minutes faster than last year. I swam 2 minutes faster and biked 2 minutes faster, and ran the exact same time. I was really happy with the race and glad to take home my biggest paycheck to date.

However, before the awards and after the official results had been posted, the race officials came and talked to me. Another racer had accused me of taking outside assistance (the water bottle from the cycling shop van) and also of drafting. The official told me this was a 2 minute penalty and it would cost me the victory. No officials saw me break any rules, so therefore no officials recorded that I broke any rules. It is illegal for an official to assess a penalty without any official record of the broken penalty during the race (I didn't know this at the time). I argued that the van was out there for race support and that I didn't do anything wrong. He eventually told me that I need to work on my integrity and gave me a warning for doing something that was borderline illegal. I was unaware of any such rule, and I asked the official why he didn't cover that rule in the pre race meeting. I was more offended by the questioning of my integrity and just the fact that another racer accused me of cheating.

Other than that, I had a great trip to Chatty and enjoyed the weekend.

Next race: Steelhead 70.3

Tony

The Dog Whisperer

So I'm on my usual longerish bike ride on the weekend, only I'm in my home town of Corbin and I'm riding with my brother. I usually do a longer ride on Saturday, but it was the 4th of July so I ran the annual Bluegrass 10k on Saturday (more on that later). So anyways, I did my longer ride on Sunday with my brother. Well, he is in Corbin for the summer and he knows where the dogs are on the route that are going to bother us. He told me a few stories while we were riding about several encounters with these dogs but I didn't think anything about it. Well, we are riding by a house that has a few dogs, and we were rolling pretty good so I figured that we wouldn't have any trouble with them. Well, Ben slows down, gets out his bottle of water, swerves towards the dog, and sprays it in the face. It was hilarious.

So anyways, Saturday was the 4th of July and I ran the Bluegrass 10k for the 7th straight year. I was looking to run under 34 minutes considering this is a pretty difficult race. I ran just over 34 minutes last year, and the temperature was about the same as last year. I started the race pretty comfortable and just ran within myself for the first mile or so. I went through the mile in about 5:14 and I figured that was a great pace. I had a few guys to run with from about 1.5 miles until about 4.5 miles in the race. I just tucked in behind two guys from the 2nd to 3rd mile mark and then jumped in front of those guys trying to pick up the pace a little. That didn't really help much so I just tucked back in about a half mile later. I stayed there until about the 4.5 mile mark when another guy caught us and went by us like we were walking. Dave K and I sped up to go with this guy and we just latched on with him. I managed to pick up the pace pretty easily but Dave fell off pace a little after that move. Once we hit the 5th mile mark, it was me and this guy fighting for the 6th place spot. I put an acceleration on him but didn't manage to drop him. He passed me and put about 2 - 3 meters on me and he held that lead until about the 6th mile. With 1/4 mile to go I decided to fight like I used to, and to not just give in. I started to pick up the pace but I wasn't really catching him. I switched gears and was still not catching him fast enough to get him before the line. I switched into my top end gear and just managed to get him right at the line. I finished 6th place in a time of 33:23 with a NEW 10k PR. I haven't ran a 10k PR since the spring of 2006. I'm really excited about this considering the difficulty of the race and considering I haven't ran that fast in about 3.5 years.

Training is going great still. I'm headed down to Chattanooga this weekend for the Waterfront Triathlon with Beth, Eric, and Ben. I have put in about 41 hours of training over the past 2 weeks. This week may be kind of a down week with the race this weekend. I'm just enjoying my recovery day today by watching the Tour de France rerun right now and I'm about to go eat some pizza at Pazzo's.

T-Bird

The month of July

I can't believe it is already the 2nd of July. Everything is going great here in Lexington. My training is going really well, and so is everything else. I hit over 21 hours of training last week which is the most I've probably hit since March or so. I just finished my second run workout of the week and I'm watching Serena Williams in the semi final match of Wimbledon. I love watching Wimbledon. I feel like I follow it very closely every year. This was actually the first year that our family vacation hasn't been the same week as Wimbledon in a long time.

The last week and a half or so, I have been swimming a lot. My workouts have been a little more intense and my yardage has been a little higher than usual. I don't normally swim long course, but I really feel like swimming long course is making me a better swimmer. I just feel stronger and more relaxed in the water (with an exception of those "off" days).

My no sweets challenge is going great. I almost had a piece of candy yesterday without even thinking about it, but I happened to remember the challenge as I reached for the candy. I have been eating some yogurt with fresh fruit instead of pigging out on some cookies or ice cream after dinner. I never really set any rules for the "no eating out" challenge which officially started yesterday. So here they are:

1. I will not eat out for dinner when I'm in Lexington other than Monday nights at Pazzo's.
2. I will try and cook dinner at least 4 nights a week.
3. If I eat out for breakfast or lunch it must be at either Firehouse, Subway, Panera or Chipotle.
4. I am also allowed to eat at one of these places for dinner once a week.

So pretty much I am cutting out dinner like restaurants that I would eat at usually 1 - 2 times per week when Casey and I didn't feel like cooking. So hopefully this challenge will help cut back on the amount of money I'm spending on food and maybe make my food intake a little healthier. I am also cutting out deep fried foods from my diet.

So... No sweets, no eating out at dinner, and no deep fried foods. These restrictions are a little more general than last year's food challenge, but will hopefully help me improve my diet habits.

And my running challenge is going ok. I have already skipped 2 days of running in the first 10 days of the 40 days, but that isn't too big of a deal. I have ran more in the past 11 days than I have in a while and I feel like I'm getting my running legs back. I'm running the annual Bluegrass 10k Saturday morning and hopefully I'll run faster than last year. Then, I'm headed to Corbin for the evening of the 4th to watch my dad's annual fireworks show. AND, the Tour de France starts on the 4th. What an exciting day!!!

Tony

40 days and 40 nights

So, I didn't announce this "double" challenge this past Sunday/Monday but I have already started several challenges. I am not eating sweets right now. I haven't had any since Saturday, so that is 6 full days as of midnight tonight. Even when Panera gave me a free cookie today for messing up my order, I decided to just bring it home for the roomies. The term sweets includes all of the following: cookies, candy, ice cream, chocolate, and anything else that may be a dessert. I plan on doing this until August 1st which will be the day after the 40th day. So technically, the challenge started on Monday, June 22nd. And I have Nationals on the 22nd of August so I'll keep some restrictions on my sweet intake until after Nationals. Casey and I had also discussed making a challenge of some sort related to "eating out" to help encourage us to cook more. I'll still eat at lunch type places such as Subway, Firehouse, Panera, and Chipotle, but we would be cutting out the dinner type places such as Cheddar's, Olive Garden, Pazzo's, etc. This may be challenging, but that's the fun part, right? And of course I would have to throw in the exclusion of when I'm traveling to race. It might be kind of hard to cook in a hotel. More details to follow July 1.

The second challenge is to run 40 times in 40 days. This may be a stretch, but I need to improve my running, so this is a little extra motivation to get me out the door. I have already skipped a day of running, but it's nothing a little 2-a-day can't fix. Any run over 3 miles counts as a run. That is about the only rule that I'm making for this challenge. And if I do a two-a-day then there has to be at least 1 hour between runs.

Training has been going great this week. I got to try out my new road bike thanks to Mercury. Mercury is a new bike company that offers some really nice bikes for a great price. I'm riding the Apollo road frame and the Trident tri bike frame. They both are amazing and I can't wait to race them. Check them out at: www.mercurybikes.com. I've been swimming a lot this week, and I feel pretty good in the water. I swam with the UK team this morning, and have been in the water with the Wildcat Aquatics team a few other times this week. On Wednesday, I did my first track workout in a while and it really hurt, ha. I'm not used to doing fast stuff, but I better get some turnover in my legs before some the the big races I have coming up over the next 2 months.

Now I'm looking forward to the big tv schedule for the weekend with the big Hy-Vee ITU race tomorrow, the Team Champs Tri on Sunday, and the US National track meet going on all weekend. The men's 10k last night was a pretty fun race to watch. You can find it at www.flotrack.org. And the men's 5k should be pretty exciting tonight. I haven't watched the women's 10k yet, but it looked exciting just by looking at the results (or at least the last few laps).

Tony

Happy Father's Day

Happy Father's Day to my dad who has been super supportive of every decision that I've ever made. He has never doubted me in my chosen path, he has only provided support and encouragement and I owe a lot of my success to him for this.

I am back in Lexington after spending a wonderful few days at Lake Barkley for our annual family reunion. I arrived at the Lodge there on the lake Wednesday afternoon and my step dad and I went straight to the golf course to get in a quick 18 holes. I shot an 84 which is the best I've played all year. It was about 95 degrees with 90% humidity so we were extremely hot during this round of golf. The entire weekend was almost miserably hot. The coolest day was 91 degrees with only about 80% humidity. I played golf Thursday and Friday mornings and then spent the rest of the day on the boat or by the pool. I squeezed in a few runs on a trail that is there close to the lodge. My brother and I ran 8 miles after our round of golf on Thursday and we had to have lost about 10 pounds in water weight. I haven't sweated that much in a long time on a single run. Friday and Saturday's runs weren't much better, but they were shorter in distance so they weren't as bad. Friday night was our annual "wallyball" game. I happened to have a better record than last year. My team won about the same number of games that we lost, compared to last year when my team lost every game, ha. Saturday, I got the run over with early, then I went on the boat for a few hours, then sat by the pool for the rest of the day. We ended up playing wallyball again Saturday evening as well. I ate all kinds of amazing food while I was there, and I worked on my tan lines a little bit since I still have lines from my Kiwami suits from that last 3 races I've done.

I'm looking forward to hitting training hard this week. I feel rested and rejuvenated and ready to go. Nothing like a recovery week at the lake.

Tony

Kansas 70.3 road trip (and race report)

Friday morning, Beth, Eric, Jeff, and I all left Lexington in route to Lawrence, Kansas. Beth had the amazing idea of borrowing her mother's full size van so we could all squeeze our bikes and gear into one vehicle. This turned out to be an amazing idea. All 4 bikes fit perfectly with the wheels still on the bikes, along with all of our other race gear and luggage. We left about 7:30 am Friday morning and were prepared for the worst. Casey made some homemade granola bars for the trip, Jeff put together his usual pre-race travel trail mix, Jeff's g/f made some muffins and cookies that we all got to share, while Beth, Eric, and Jeff all packed enough Gatorade to hydrate a football team. We made it to Lawrence faster than we expected to, and with all 4 of us taking turns driving, it made the trip to by faster. I didn't drive on the way there, but I drove from Kansas City back to St. Louis after the race on Sunday, so I did do my part. Eric drove the most. Thanks Eric.

Anyways, we had dinner at "Old Chicago" Friday night close to the campus of KU (I got some weird stares wearing my UK t-shirts around). We went back to the hotel and called it a night around 10 pm. We woke up and decided we wanted Panera for breakfast which is what we all eat pretty regularly. This Panera in Lawrence was a "serve yourself" Panera. They handed us bagels in which we had to do whatever we wanted to do with them, as opposed to having them slized and toasted for us like they are at every other Panera I've been to. After breakfast, we drove the bike course, went for an easy bike ride, run, and swim, got lunch, and went back to the hotel. After dinner that evening, we went back to the hotel and were all in bed by 8 which is extremely unusual for me, but we watched "The Dark Knight" until about 9:30 so that was fine with me. I don't like to go to bed super early.

Race morning we woke up and headed down to the race site. This was a 2 transition triathlon which is the first that I've ever done. We had to drop our running stuff in T2 and then head down to T1 to put everything we would need for the bike portion. It was a little hectic and I do not prefer this type of transition, but it wasn't bad. The water temperature was 71.6 degrees that morning (warmer than the Austin race) but because it was a longer race, the wetsuit "cut-off" temperature was 72 degrees as opposed to the new rule of 68 which will be in full effect next year at all swim distances under 3k. I proceeded to get everything ready, and then head down to the water. There were only about 30 Pro guys starting and they blew the starting gun promptly at 6:30 am.

I sprinted out like I usually do, but this swim start wasn't as crowded as some of the other pro races I've done this year. I didn't get out with the lead pack, but I found some feet that were almost the same speed as me, and I just stayed on those feet in the second pack. I came out of the water somewhere around 16th place or so in a group of about 6 guys. I had an average T1 and headed out onto the bike course where I was hoping I would make up some ground. Luckily, I was right and I passed my first 2 victims in the first 2 miles of the bike. I caught a few other guys in the next ten miles, and we all went about the same speed for about 20 - 25 miles. We weren't drafting, but we were working together to catch some of the lead guys. I got some momentum throughout the ride and ended getting away from the group I was riding with. I ended up about 1 mile behind the second group of guys. I was only about 5 minutes down from the lead group and only 2 - 3 minutes back from the second group. I ended up into T2 in 9th place and about a minute in front of the group I was riding with for a while. I had one of the fastest T2's in the race (only slower than the top 2 finishers) and headed out onto the run, not feeling very good at all. I was tight for the first 2 miles, then I felt great until about the 5th mile. I caught one guy before the mile marker, then I did not see another guy until I got passed by Simon Thompson around mile 4. Once he passed me, Andrew Hodges didn't wait too long until he came flying by me around mile 6. Once I made it to the second lap of the run, I was all by myself. I haven't experienced pain like that since the last few miles of Clearwater last year. I was on the verge of blowing up, but was somehow managing to hold just over 6-minute mile pace. I held this pace until the 11th mile when the wheels came off. I got passed by one more guy at about the 12.5 mile mark of the run and there was nothing I could do. I was in survival mode and was just hoping the finish line would come soon. I managed to pass Tim Deboom about 600 yards from the finish line and crack into the top 10.

I heard the mile splits were not accurate, but if they were, I ran the last 2.1 miles in 14:40 pace which is about 7 minute mile pace, which is slow compared to the 5:55 pace I was holding through 11 miles. But a lot of my mile splits were around 6:05 and my avg. pace for the 13.1 miles was 6:06, so I'm assuming those last 2 miles were a bit long even though I know I slowed down significantly. I finished in 4:02:57 and in tenth place.

After the race, we drove to the nearest Wendy's to get a "Toffee Coffee Swirly Frostie." We then drove to St. Louis to spend the night at the Miller residence. Thank you Miller family for hosting us after the race. Monday morning we woke up glad to only have a 6 hr drive ahead of us instead of the 10 hours it took us to get to Lawrence from Lexington.

I'm extremely pleased with my effort on Sunday. I had a decent swim, a good bike, and an average run. I need to really work on my run in the next few months, but I'm really looking forward to some of my upcoming races. But most importantly, I'm looking forward to going to the lake tomorrow and playing golf all weekend. And congrats to Eric, Beth, and Jeff who all PR's for that distance and to Jeff for qualifying for the World Championships in Clearwater. Congrats to my brother for placing third overall at a local race in Shelbyville, KY and qualifying for Nationals in Alabama in August.

Thanks for Reading. Up next: Waterfront Chattanooga Triathlon - July 12th

Tony

Teriyaki Steak on a Sunday Evening

I'm sitting at Casey's right now after an amazing dinner of Teriyaki steak. It was a strips of steak in a bed of rice and snow peas with a teriyaki sauce over top. It was really good. Nothing better after an eazy evening run.

Just like my update on Tuesday, there really isn't much going on here in Lexington. I have been lifeguarding during the late morning/early afternoon, and working out afterwards everyday. I have had some great workouts this week which really makes me feel good going into this weekend. We're traveling to Lawrence, Kansas on Friday and returning the day after the race on Monday. I was really worn out after a long track workout on Wednesday which consisted of a 5k at threshold, then some fast stuff, and some tempo stuff. The 5k at threshold was in 16:59 which was a PR (for that workout, still over a minute slower than my actual 5k PR). Last year for the same workout, I was running around 17:15. I ended up running almost 7.5 miles fast that day. The following day, I decided to do a hard swim that one of the swim coaches at the pool suggested that I attempt. I was supposed to do 3 x ( 3 x 400) with a 200 ez between sets. The first set of 400's were at base pace (2,000 time trial pace) plus 3 seconds per 100, the 2nd set of 400's at base pace per 100, and the last set of 400's at base pace subtract 2 seconds per 100. It was one of the hardest sets I've done in the water. I am used to doing main sets of only about 1,500 - 2,500 with the occasional 3,000 yard main set on a really hard day. This main set was 4,000 yards and I was really tired for the remainder of the day. I had a great brick workout on Saturday with Jeff and Eric and then some normal workouts today.

Anyways, I have been on a reading "kick" for the past week or so and I'm loving it. If anyone has some good suggestions then you should comment on this post. I just finished reading the classic, "Brave New World" which was pretty interesting. I'm reading "I, Robot" right now. I decided that I would read some of the books that my favorite movies have been based on. Next on the list is "I am Legend." And I found a book in my girlfriend's basement that includes four of Ernest Hemingway's novels into the one book. I'm thinking that I may break that open after "I am Legend."

Who knows???

T-Bird

Summer!!!

Since the summer is in full swing, I have had a great summer so far. This past week was a little more laid back since I didn't have to travel anywhere for a race. My training has been going great. I had a big bike ride on Saturday and a longer run on Sunday. My swimming is going pretty good too. I have been swimming with Wildcat Aquatics during the mornings, and they have been kicking my butt. It's never fun to swim with 15 - 18 yr olds and have some of them really work me really hard just to keep up, especially some of the girls. The long bike felt great on Saturday, and I had another medium distance ride today which again was good. The weather has been pretty warm, but I love it. Running in hot weather isn't the best, but I love to bike in hot weather. I have a big track workout tomorrow.

Everything else has been going great as well. I'm officially moved into my new residence at the Atnip household. I'm currently doing some laundry while I watch a show about the history of distilleries on the History channel. I have been eating a lot of food in between workouts, and just enjoying the summer. We cooked out Saturday night after our long ride. We ate at "Saul Good" after watching the new Terminator movie on Sunday evening. Yesterday I ate six meals (no exaggeration, I promise). I guess I was a little deprived of calories after my weekend workouts, and I just couldn't stop eating yesterday. I had Panera for breakfast, a sandwich around noon, a Firehouse sub at 2:30, a bowl of cereal at 5:00, veggies and a beef rollover thanks to Beth at 7:00, and some Hamburger Helper thanks to Casey around 9:00. I thought about having some ice cream, but my stomach really hurt around 10 pm so I decided I better not, haha.

And on a side note, I guess I go to Panera for breakfast too much considering that I walked in yesterday morning and the lady looked at me and said, "two cinnamon crunch bagels, sliced and toasted with butter?" which is what I order everytime I go to Panera for breakfast.

That's about it for now. Looking forward to racing again in 1 week and 5 days at the Kansas 70.3 event. My first 70.3 of the year.

Tony

CapTex ITU race report

Well, I have experienced the most pain that I have ever experienced during a race today during my first ITU race. There have been some bad races where I didn't feel good, but today was just blazing. I didn't feel bad, it was just sssooooooo hot that I had trouble with the heat. There were 52 guys on the start list, so I was excited about my opportunity to race some ITU guys that I don't race very often. I tend to run my mouth to my buddy Kuendig about how awesome I could do against some of these middle of the pack Pro triathletes. Well today I had my chance, and most of them put me in my place, haha. Actually, a few surprised me, but I held my own against most of them. There were some fast guys here that I knew I would almost have to have a perfect race to beat so I didn't expect a victory or anything going into the race.

The swim was very brutal. We started off sprinting and I was lucky to hold on. I didn't get a great position for the in-water start to begin with. I was really working hard and was sprinting for the first 400 or so. I tried to pick some feet to swim on, but I was really getting beat up. Once we made the first turn, I was in a pack that was right about my speed. I found some feet, settled down a little, and got into a rhythm. Unfortunately, our speed wasn't quite as fast as the top guys out of the water. The group I was with came out in around 18:25 and we were almost 2 minutes back from the top guys. The main group of guys were almost a minute in front of us.

I had a great transition and was out on the bike with about 5 other guys. We formed into a pack quickly and caught about 5 - 7 more guys in the first lap of five. Our pack was about 12 guys and only about 4 of us really worked hard. We were almost 30 - 40 seconds down from the "main" pack of guys and we were losing about 5 - 10 seconds per lap. We just couldn't get organized enough to really do any damage.

We came into the second transition almost 1:30 down from the main pack. I had a great second transition and was off onto the run. I felt like I had eaten a burrito on the bike because of all of the gatorade I was drinking. It was extremely hot and I wanted to stay hydrated, but I guess I should have taken a bottle of water and a bottle of gatorade instead of two bottles of gatorade. The first half mile on the run, my stomach was upset and I felt like I was going to throw up, but I felt like I was running kind of fast. But the heat hit me about a mile into the run, and it was ugly from there. I was only passing the guys who were almost walking. I did not handle the heat well. I ran 34:59 according to the results, but I know the run course was short because I was not running that fast, haha. I finished 26th out of 48 starters. Only 38 guys finished.

I had a great time in my first ITU race, and it was great experience, but I know what I need to work on. My swim needs to improve A LOT!!! I guess I'll just start swimming with UK and doing lots of harder sets in the water. I felt pretty good today in the water and was still towards the back of the pack today. But it was my first race, so I'm excited to have finished the race (which was my goal when I was running, I felt so bad, I thought about stopping and walking, but I kept it going today unlike St. A's) and to have gained the experience.

Until next time.

Tony

Results can be found here:

http://results.active.com/pages/searchform.jsp?posted_p=t&numPerPage=50&rsID=78761&eventClass=ITU+Pan+American+Cup&queryType=division&orgID=216392

Update from Austin

It is the day before my first ITU race here in Austin, TX, and I'm having a great time so far. Fellow pro triathletes, Brandon and Amy Marsh, were kind enough to open up their home for Kuendig and I for the weekend. We have thoroughly enjoyed our time with the Marshes.

We arrived around noonish Saturday afternoon, and have had a great stay so far. There were no travel problems on the way down, so that was a great way to start the trip. We ate at Thundercloud Subs for lunch yesterday (and again today) and ate their special, Roast beef and Avocado which was amazing. After taking a nap, not running due to a severe Thunderstorm, and building up our bikes, we ate dinner at Chuy's which is a local TexMex place here in Austin, which again was amazing. But, I don't think I'll eat that the night before the race, ha. We went home to watch the NBA game and Gladiator before calling it a night. We woke up this morning and did a little easy bike ride followed by an easy run. We went to Einstein brothers Bagels for brunch and off to the pro briefing at 11 am. After the meeting, we ended up swimming in the lake and then eating another roast beef and avocado sub. Now, I'm sitting here before we take off to downtown Austin for dinner with one of Kuendig's old swimming buddies.

Tomorrow is a first for me: sleeping in on race morning. Our race doesn't begin until 12:20 in the afternoon so it should be nice and warm here in Austin. But I'm excited to be racing against some of the best in the nation. The race has about 50 guys, mostly from the USA. If there is a pro triathlete that you have never heard of, then they are probably racing in this race, including myself, haha.

Thats about it. I should have a race report up tomorrow evening or so. If not, then I'll try to have one up by Tuesday night. We fly out Tuesday afternoon, to arrive home late Tuesday night. Happy Memorial Day.

T-Bird

MIM race report

So it has been almost a week and a half since my last post and I apologize for that. Last week was my official first week of summer. I'm working at the Lancaster Aquatic Center for the summer while I race. I will be looking for a job over the course of the summer since I am no longer a student.

This past weekend I traveled down to Memphis for the annual Memphis in May triathlon. This will be my 5th yr racing here, and I was excited to race there for the first time as a professional. Casey, Beth, Ben, David Kuendig, and myself all drove down in two cars. We met up with several other Lexingtonians once we got there. Lexington, KY had quite a showing at that race. We drove down Friday morning after a little easy swim at the LAC. I managed to talk Casey into swimming with me once we got to the race site on Friday. She doesn't like to swim in the open water very much. And you could tell she hasn't done it much because of the zig-zags she was swimming through the water, haha. After a very short swim, we went and found a place to eat. We ended up eating at Olive Garden which is always a wonderful choice. Then we went and saw the movie "Angels and Demons" which was a lot better than I expected it to be. Saturday we ate some breakfast, did our usual pre-race workout routine, and then hung out for a while. Dave and I had to attend the pro meeting that afternoon, then we all went to "Amerigo's" which is the place we've eaten at the night before the race for 5 straight years now.

Race morning, Dave and I got to sleep in while Ben and Beth had to leave the hotel at 5 am to prepare for the race. Dave and I didn't start until 10:30 am. We left the hotel around 8 and got there with plenty of time to warmup and get everything ready for the race. Luckily, my race number was "4" so I got to be the first male professional in the water for the time trial start.

Myself, Dave, and George Van Meter (who had already finished his race)

The guy who started right behind me is an amazing swimmer, so I knew that he was going to pass me early in the swim.

At the start, I dove into the water, and sprinted past the one girl that started in front of me. Cameron Dye, flew by me about 200 yards into the swim and never looked back. I got out of the water quite a ways behind him, but was still the second pro out of the water. My swim time was 18:46. This was a little slower than last year, but I used a wetsuit last year so I was ok with this time.

I sprinted through T1 and was headed out onto the bike. It was a very windy day, and the first few miles had a strong cross wind. Around the 5 mile mark, another pro came flying by me. Andrew Starykowicz went by me like I was standing still. He passed me right as we turned with the wind. I put my head down and tried to keep him close. I was riding 32 - 34 mph with the wind and he was dropping me like a bad habit. I kept him within sight for about 5 miles, then he was gone. I rode by myself for the last 15 miles of the course, and the last 8ish were miserable. The wind had picked up, and was now a head wind for the remaining 8 or so miles. I rode as smart as I could by not killing myself but by trying to maintain a good tempo into the wind. I rode into T2 and was the 3rd pro off of the bike.

I had a great T2 and took off on the run. My first mile was 5:45 and I did not feel good at all. I managed to pick up the pace, and I negative split the run. I ran the second half of the run 50 seconds faster. I guess I should have gone out faster. Since it was an out and back run, I saw all of my competition, but Starykowicz had a good .25 of a mile on me, and I had about the same distance on the next guy behind me. I ran the whole run by myself. I crossed the finish line and was glad to be done. I was pleased with my race, knowing it was a slow day to race in Memphis.

My bike split was almost 2 minutes slower than I went 2 yrs ago on that same course. My run split was my fastest ever at Memphis, but it still wasn't "fast" by any means. I ended up in 4th place. The two guys that passed me both beat me, and the guy that finished behind me beat me. He started almost 5 minutes behind me, and only finished about 1 - 2 minutes behind me.

So I officially got my first professional paycheck for that 4th place performance, and I'm looking forward to my first draft legal race this coming Memorial Day in Austin, Texas.

Congrats to Beth Atnip for a huge PR on that windy day in Memphis and to Ben for a huge PR on the same course. They both fought through the conditions and ran their butts off to finish well.

Thanks for reading.

Tony