Good couple of weeks

Well, the past two weeks have been ok. I’m still struggling trying to fit all of my training in during the week. It’s funny…if it’s not something at home (broken A/C, broken garage door) it’s something at work. I keep on having to make up time at work because of stuff at home and doctor’s visits…oh well. I had my last OrthoVisc shot on Tuesday. No lie, this one hurt. Bending my knee right after the shot hurt like hell too. Sophia was a little concerned b/c the pain is suppose to be less as you do the second and third shots. I laid off the high impact running this week. I did manage to get a nice long ride in on Saturday. I headed out to Anniston to ride on the Ladiga Trail. I rode a few miles past the state line and back for a total of 81 miles. I felt pretty good. I was ready to be done by the time I hit mile 60 though.
I did go test ride my (ok so one day it will by mine) new tri-bike. The setup was super aggressive when compared to my road bike, but it was comfortable. It was also crazy fast. You drop onto the aero bars start hammering away and you are gone! Fingers are crossed that everything will work out so I can get it sometime in August. I’m trying not to get my hopes up too much; taking it for a spin did not help one bit.
I’m looking at changing up my race schedule. I’ll have it posted sometime this week. I’m going to add a few more Olympic distance races maybe a century ride or two over July and August.
New Gear! Gonna be ordering a new tri-top and tri-shorts soon. Hopefully I’ll have them for Chattanooga. My black top isn’t very “stand out” in the field. I think that these will help MH and the fam spot me.


FYI…loving the World Cup. Big names getting beat and not advancing eehhmm..Italy. Dramatic finishes and controversies…refs are sucking. If the USA hosts the games in 2014, I told MH that I was going to take a month off to go watch the games. She didn’t respond…I think that means yes! It was a heartbreaker to lose on Saturday. Too many missed opportunities. It was a good tournament. They should hold their heads high.

Eric’s Clip of the Day: This is from a bar in Seattle. They are huge soccer fans/MLS supporters in that area. This was when Donovan struck the game winning shot against Algeria. USA! USA! USA!

Buster Britton Race Report

Well another race in the books. I didn’t meet my goal, but I still had an awesome time and I managed to shave some time off from last year (big plus is that last year’s swim course was shorter).

Pre-Race
Up at 415 to get the blood pumping. Drank some coffee, cooked some breakfast and ate (turkey sausage & watermelon). Got everything loaded up in the Acadia. Put on my race garb, kissed the wife and kid, and hit the road. I took an apple and a bottle of diluted gatorade with me to have between now and the race. I rolled into the park around 6:10 b/c there was a butt-ton of traffic heading into the park. I aired up my tires, and started on the walk to transition. One of my buddies from Masters was there helping out with body marking so we chatted it up as I got inked (#456). I headed back to my rack at the end of tranision. Since I lollygagged and didn’t register until the night before the race, I was stuck at the back of the pack. Up until the Wed before the race, your race number is assigned based on your estimated swim time. Turned out to be ok, several of my friends were procrastinators too so we were all in the last rack of transition. Everything was set up and all that was left was waiting. I hung out with some friends and then went to track down the fam. MH, Lucas, Mom, Mo, and Jackson had come out to cheer me on this morning. We talked for a bit and then I headed onto the beach to wait on my turn to start. The race started around 730, those of us at the back got to go about 30 minutes later.

The Swim (400yd)
The water was almost warm this morning. I ran until it was about mid thigh deep and then dove on in. It was way crowded in the water. I never was able to find any clean water for an extended amount of time. I was weaving in and out…getting kicked in the shoulder and leg by people doing the breast stroke and some sort of weird back/side stroke. I kept grabbing so much butt and leg it was crazy. I was pleased with this swim. It was one of my better open water swims. I sighted well and didn’t swim off course at all. I really tried to hug the inside and turn tight at the buoys. I made the last turn and tried to pull just a little harder. Once I could see the lake bottom clearly, I stood up and started on my jog to transition. 8:36 rank 5/16 (last year 7:04-shorter swim rank 11/14)

T1
It’s a good little jog into transition from the lake. Being on the last rack made it easy to find my bike. On with my helmet, shoes, & glasses, and off to the mount line to start the bike. I felt like this was a pretty decent transition time given the distance you have to cover. 3:09 (last year 4:17)

The Bike (13 miles)
The bike started out good. I was able to get in a big gear early and pass the about 7 people before we turned onto the main road. I kept on pedaling and keeping an eye on my cadence. I tried to take in fluids on any descents. I passed a few more people on the climbs. I only got passed by a couple of folks by the time we reached the turn around. The ride back in has only 1 bad climb so once you hit it, you can really hammer it out. I passed a guy that had been playing leap frog since the first turnaround and left him behind. I hit the second turnaround by the pro-shop and headed back towards the lake. Once I got to the paddle boat area, I slipped my feet out of my shoes and tried to spin the rest of the way to loosen up my legs. I hopped off and headed on into transition. 46:26 rank 8/16 (last year 51:00 8/14)

T2
This was a pretty good transition. I racked my bike and dropped the helmet and glasses and grabbed my hat. I struggled getting socks and shoes on but still managed to get out onto the run in 1:43 (last year 2:42)

The Run
By this time, it was brutally hot out there. The first (and last) half mile are on this hot asphalt with not really any cover. Once you hit the treeline, the hills start coming. There is really only one “bad” hill, but the heat just really took it out of me today. I walked a little and then would run. My HR was a little out of control at this point. I could feel/hear it beating in my ears. I took a sip of water at the aid stations and poured the rest over my head. It was good idea at the time until I hit the turnaround and my shoes started squishing. Not sure if it was due to the water or the sweat. Probably a combo of the two. Once I hit the “bad” hill on the return trip, I picked up the pace a little bit. I hit the treeline and started pounding that asphalt with the sun beaming down. I made the turn into the finishers shoot and crossed the final timing mat. 35:34 15/16 (last year 39:08 13/14)

Final time of 1:35:26 was good enough for 11/16. I improved in all aspects of the race. I was happy with my swim and bike. If I could just get my run upto par, I would be happy. It’s pretty easy to see when you look at my ranking in each discipline which one limits me the most. I’ve got two more injections and a couple of weeks of PT left. Then I have got to start getting faster on the run. Florida is creeping up. It’s the run that will determine if I’m going to meet/beat my time goal. 26.2 miles is tough enough let alone when you put it after 112 miles on the bike and 2.4 miles in the gulf. I don’t need to make it any harder.

Quick shoutouts to a few of my friends that tore it up at Buster Britton…(as though they actually read this)
Julie for finishing 3rd female overall and 1st alabama female for best of the USA Amateurs
Laurie for finishing 2nd in her age group
Amanda for finishing 1st in her age group after taking off from triathlon for 2 years

Eric’s Quote of the Day: “I'm so hungry my stomach thinks my throat's been cut"~Dad

Race Week! (Buster Britton)

Race Weeks are awesome. Sometimes they drag. But as the weekend gets closer, I get so excited. Buster Britton is this weekend (400yd swim/13mi bike/3mi run) up at Oak Mountain. If today is any indication, it is going to be hot and muggy early on Saturday. This was a fun race last year. Here I am 365 days later, 35lbs lighter and a lot stronger in the water, on the bike and on the run. I haven’t ridden out at Oak Mountain yet this year. It isn’t the ideal place for triathletes to train (especially for IM FL) since it is so hilly. A flat course means you have to pedal the entire time…no coasting down hills to get a break. Not much has happened with training this week. Lucas is still having rough nights which keeps us up and that makes it hard to get up for a swim. The 1st round of shots went well. It definitely hurt and my knee was a little sore for the rest of the day, but it felt good on a short brick workout the next afternoon. I won’t drag on too long today. I’m pumped about this weekend. There is just something about racing that gets a fire burning. Who knows, maybe I can hit top 3 in my division again. If you’re bored, feel free to come out. The race starts at 7:30.

Eric’s Quote of the Day: ”If you’re not first, you’re last” ~Ricky Bobby

Last Week & Other Tidbits

I won’t bore anyone with the little bit of training I did last week. It’s funny…it’s so easy to find a reason to skip or cut training short, but I still get pissed at myself for skipping or cutting it short. I’ve got 152 days. Holy crap, I’ve only got 152 days to get in the best shape of my life. It’s pretty easy for me to get freaked out about that. It’s time to start buckling down and doing all my training and to stop hitting snooze in the AM. So, if anyone is looking to go for runs or rides with me let me know. It’s harder to skip when someone is there waiting on you.

Other news…
PT is going well. Knee is getting a little stronger. Some days they kick my butt. My D.O. has suggested I get a series of injections that will, in sense, lube up my knee. Apparently the cartilage is worn away in my knee joint. On the x-rays, the end of my tibia looks all pitted and the spacing between the bones in my knee joint is not consistent. I’ll go in the AM for the first of three injections. Good news is that I only have to take it easy for that day; bad news is that the needle is freakin huge and I’m pretty sure it isn’t going to feel nice.

Little dude is growing up so fast. I can’t believe that he is already 9 months old! He’s crawling around everywhere and loves to get into everything. When he was younger, we said he was curious…now he is just down right nosey! If you have a glass, plate, phone, remote, book, or anything in your hand, he wants it too. His laugh can brighten up my day no matter what. He cracks me up. I’ll get some good pics posted soon.

Buster Britton is this weekend. This was my first official sprint distance race last year. I came in with a time of 1:44. My goal this year is to come in under 1:22. I’ll give it my all. I’d love to place again. It was awesome being in the top 3. I’ll have to be sure to remember that feeling when I take off on the bike up over the mountain or start the run up towards Pevine Falls.

MH’s mom is still doing well with her chemo. Of course, some days are better than others. Her CA125 count is within the normal range. Please keep her in your thoughts and prayers.

Uncle Rusty’s cancer is gone. He has been doing great! He got his cancer survivor tattoo (pair of angel wings coming from a cross). It’s some awesome ink. Continue to keep him in your prayers as well.

We are slowly but surely getting our house ready to put on the market. Little dude makes it difficult sometimes. I’m hoping we can get the majority of things done and get a sign in the yard by the end of June.

If you know of anyone in the market for a 3 bedroom / 2.5 bath house in McCalla, send them my way. Same goes for anyone in the market for a 2008 GMC Acadia.

I’ll try and get one more post in before the race to update my training and let the 4 of you know how the injections went. Have a great week!

Eric’s Quote of the Day: “Come on ladies…dozens of people are here to watch us play” ~Jimmy Dugan (Tom Hanks) in A League of Their Own

LJCC Super Sprint

Very fun race. Started the morning out calm and collected. I wasn’t too stressed out about this race. I’m usually pretty wound up the morning of a race, but this one was different. I had my HR monitor on at the start, but it started sliding down during the swim and when I tried to adjust it on the bike, the sensor popped off so I don’t have any HR info. These splits are by my watch so they might be off a couple seconds here and there to the official times.

Pre-Race
Up at 5 to eat (turkey smoked sausage) and drink some coffee to get everything going. I loaded up the car, showered, and headed to the LJCC at 6. Ate an apple and sipped on water during the drive. I went and took everything to transition and then got inked. I aired up my tires and set up my gear and just walked around and talked to John and some folks from masters & vulcantri. MH, Lucas, & my parents came up around 740. We headed on back to the pool and waited for the swim start. Only warm-up was some light stretching in the parking lot and 1 lap in the pool.

The Swim
Being #53 it was nice not having to wait long to get in the water. I pushed off the wall and quickly found a comfortable pace. I closed in on the girl in front of me after the first length and passed her at the end of the second. I pulled on through the next couple of lengths and passed another guy. I made my last push off the wall and headed towards the buoy and turned towards the steps. I sprinted a little faster to the end and climbed out of the water in 3:27. Not too bad of a swim time. Off to T1…

T1
I was very pleased with my transition time. I jogged from the pool, thru the building, and into transition. On with my helmet, cleats, glasses, and race belt before I jogged my bike to the mount line and then I was off in 1:39

The Bike
The bike was a good time. I started passing people right off the bat. I decided to just hammer it out since it was only 8 miles. I hit the first turn around and made my way down Montclair. We were riding in the inside lanes so auto traffic could use the outside lanes. As I passed Bruno’s a car pulled up next to me and yelled, “you’re going 25, keep it up.” I kept on hammering and hit the final turnaround. As I made my turn and hit the uphill, I tried to drop into my small chain ring and then my chain popped off. I stopped put it on and then had to try and repass several people I had already whizzed by. I felt strong on the bike today. I turned into the parking lot and hit the dismount line in 24:40 (avg 19.5 mph)

T2
Got to my rack and struggled getting socks and running shoes on. I might forgo socks on anything shorter than Olympic distance. I still managed to get out in under 2 minutes, but this should be closer to 1 minute (1:48)

The Run
My coach wanted me to pull a negative split on the run (faster on the second half). I started out nice and easy for the first mile (12:06 min/mile). When I hit the mile marker on the running trail, I kicked it up a notch. I passed a few people on Montclair. I kicked a little harder for the last 100yds and finished the last mile in 10:30. I felt good on the run, but I know it is my biggest limiter. (22:36)

My final time was 54:10 (54:08 by my watch). This put me 55/176 overall & 3rd in my division, I was pretty psyched about it. I know it wasn’t a huge race and there were lots of beginners, but a similar race last year took me 1:20. That’s a pretty good amount of time to shave off. Plus it was fun to “have to” hang around for the awards ceremony. As cheesy as it was, I loved getting to step up on that podium.

Next up is Buster Britton in two weeks. There is a lot of stuff going on that weekend out at Oak Mountain so come on out if you want. The forecast doesn’t look too promising for training this week. Hopefully the rain will hold off so that I can get my rides in.

Eric’s Quote of the Day: ”Accept that some days you are the pigeon, and some days you are the statue"~Dilbert