July is gone

What a month, this just flew by. Had great things and had bad. Had a good sprint triathlon and a great visit from my son. Have not see him since my first year of deployment, when I took leave and went to San Diego. Two weeks we did what ever her wanted and it did include a new tattoo. We planned that day for bout 4 years and finally got to do it. Although we wanted to get his first together, his mom got him his first for his 18th birthday. Guess he just couldnt wait on me. All good we had our day in the shop and as planned we got the same thing. He picked it and I went with it. Little different in placement and size. My dog Ticket got sick in one day and spent a few days at the Vet. Never did make it out of there and it was the hardest thing I had to do was tell them to take her. I went to see her one last time before leaving her for good. I thought about all the times that dog laid with me. When I was sick or after a hard workout when I could hardly move, she never left me sometimes for days at a time. I couldnt leave her! Told the Vet and laid with her petting her head as she left. Just glad it was after Kane left so he didnt have to deal with it, he just had to go through the same with his dog.

So now I'm 4 days off from another race and somewhere around 81 from Beach 2 Battleship 140.6. I was gonna take the B2B pretty easy, only had 2 goals at it. One was to better my swim and to finally run a sub 4hr marathon portion of it. As I was with Ticket, thinking how strong she is. I made up my mind I am gonna run the hell outta that race. Now training is going to a new level for the next 11 weeks and I am fine with it. Not that I wasnt training hard, now  I have new goal. New goal now is to go under a 10:30:00 for the B2B. I need to take off 12 minutes off my PR, where Im gonna take that time off is another mission. Figure it will have to come off the run and swim, not sure if I can take wuch more off the bike. Although Saturday the 11th will show a lot! Nadine and I are gonna do the "Big Ass Workout" I found in a article and planned 2 more of them till Oct. 20. Glad this month is over, not sure I could have handled much more of it and Hoping Aug. is much better. Starting the month off with the Siesta Beach Oly Triathlon, once again my first Oly in 4 years. Gonna be interesting.

Naples Sprint Triathlon RR

Being my first sprint triathlon in 3 years, gotta say I had a blast at this race. So much different the the long course, it was a little shock to the body. I had a good feeling about this race going into it and the day ended up just about where I thought it would. I could have been a little faster I think but in all was a good effort on my half. First off I have never raced with so many people that I know, made it kinda a weird day from the rip. Swim was straight across the lake at 1/4 mile, split my Garmin when I came out of water and it said 6:13. Timing mat was at T1 a ways off had me at 7:08. I was 4th outta water, that was cause I gave a spot to this guy over half way there. We was shoulder to shoulder and I wasnt gonna give but his splash from his arm kept messing with my right side breathing. Backed off a bit and tucked in on his feet for the rest of the way. Bike was odd, had a bunch of speed bumps on it. Not the steep ones but ones that roll easy over. Had a issue with the first one, my left aero pad for my elbow came loose soon as I hit it. Almost fell and elbow kept slipping out. What it cause was me not being able to pull back on areo bars, like I do so often when I need to ride hard. Bike was 10 miles and split was 28:25 , that was with the timing mat on the back side of T2 . The mats ( or mat) was only in 1 place so they kinda added in transition time along to either the swim or bike. Run was 2 laps around the lake. Came outta T2 chasing the same guy I was making time on , on the bike. We went through T2 together and I was chasing him for bout half of the 3 mile run but after the first mile split at a 6:42 I wasnt sure if I could hold that. I should have went harder longer on the run for sure, looking back at it now. Run split was 20:28 for the 3 miles. Total time was a 56:02 , Finished 5th overall and 1st in age group. 

 In off the Bike, love the new 360 Degree Athlete kits Natalia got for us. They fit way better then the one piece did.

 Mark came down from Tampa and got 2nd place in the 40+ Clyd. category , Nadine won 3rd place in her age group and me 1st in age group.

Next is the Siesta Beach Triathlon , its a OLY distance on Aug. 4th. Natalia , Laura and me will be racing, cause she got with Multirace and got us a few free spots to race. Nadine although she wants to is gonna sit this one out but will be there for sure. 

Next few events

Tomorrow we are going to the Freedom swim, its a 1.5 mile OWS across the Peace River. Should be interesting with all the rafts and parties that are going on. For sure will be back to update this with some pictures and a swim report. Sunday is the Naples Sprint Triathlon, gonna be a good day I got that feeling. Mark will be down from Tampa and a few friends will be joining us too. Just got word today that my sponsor got us into the Siesta Beach OLY Tri on Aug. 4th. Gonna be good for Nadine before we hit NC and the Beach 2 Battleship. Training is coming around pretty good, bike is doing ( or coming around) well. Did mile repeats this morning with a avg. pace of 6:38 followed by a 40 mile bike in 1:54. I really think adding these 4 new workouts to this IM training plan is gonna make the race for me. I have 2 goals for the B2B, 1 is to get as close to a hr swim as I can and 2 finally a sub 4 hr marathon on the course. I been flirting with the 4hr mark but keep missing it by just a few minutes. First things first and its the swim tomorrow, not worried about it just gonna have fun and use it as a training OWS ! 

Where has time gone

Just got back to town a couple days ago, been about 6 weeks since I been around. After Nebraska I ended up at Warrior Leader Course at Camp Blanding. Got home to find out orders had me being back up there in two days for another 3 weeks. I unpacked what I didnt need, packed what I did and headed back north. Not the funnest lifestyle at times but its what I do. Did not run for almost a month, till the last 3 weeks, just no time during training. Hills became my friend the last 3 weeks, even ran the Camp Blanding Family Day 5K while there. Placed 3rd overall with a 20:01 time, couple young Air Force guys beat me with a strong finishing kick. Back home for 4 days now, while gone all I could think about was Nadine and training. WELL this storm sitting out in the Gulf of Mexico has other plans, been some windy / rainy runs the last 3 days, missed rides and one day in the pool that it. Bad part it July 8th the new Naples  Sprint Triathlon from Elite Events and we are in to run it. I really had a good feeling of pulling off a win at it, now have moved it to trying to place. Nadine and I yesterday go into the Beach 2 Battleship 140.6 in Wilmington NC on October 20th. Gonna be her first Ironman distance triathlon !! Cant wait got some wotk to do with her but looking forward to it. 

Lincoln National Guard Marathon

Well at the last minute, my orders came in. Got Nadine's ticket and room set up and we was on our way. Two different flights and two different ways across the country but had the same destination.Lincoln was a lot more calm then I thought it would be, seeings it is a collage town. Although they did have one hell of a farmers market! Got there Friday late afternoon and really didnt do to much besides catch up on some sleep. Saturday I had a few meetings and a class to go to, along with race packet pickup and the expo. It was a good set up for a race of 10,000, the National Guard had a bunch of stuff there with people working the expo. Which was good cause usually each state takes turns working it, so we didnt have to this year. 
Race day I got up early to check the weather, Rain with hail that had just passed. Rain was coming and going, according to the news the worst had passed. Walked up to the start and did the normal pre race stuff. It was getting humid from the rain but nothing I aint seen before. The word was it was gonna be hot and I looked forward to it. Gun goes off and things get moving, not real packed on the roads had plenty of room to move around. Pace was right where I wanted it for least half of the race, Garmin was splitting right ahead of time every 5th mile. Nadine catches me at mile 9.7 and says I am not tracking? Splits was never coming across her phone and after I walked and talked to her a minute; told her I was just gonna keep running and see what happens. Half way I guess she started getting my splits but I never knew any was. After all the 1/2 runners cut off the course got even more open. Course got into the rolling hills on a bike path along the river ( by far the worst part of the race) and I knew with the turn around at mile 20; I was gonna have to repeat this part of the course. More hills out there then I thought. Everyone I talked to seemed to think it was gonna be flat but never worked out that way. Temps. was over 80 by this time and people was dropping out fast, the first guy I passed on his back was at mile 8 ! Later would find out that they ( medical) had run out of IV's on the course. 16 to almost 20 seemed to be up hill into a head wind, could not wait to hit 20 and turn around. Had to lose the shirt at 15, got lucky it was there as I passed on my way back through. In all it was and felt all of 26.2 miles, just glad my time chip started working. Fun race and I look forward to running with the guard again.

After I got back to FL, I got a email from the marathon people. They asked about my time and that I only ran the 2nd half of the course. After sending what I had from Garmin ( because my final time was clock time of 3:44:38) to them and telling them when I started, they was nice enough to take me off the DNF / DQ list !! Also corrected my time after doing some research about it. Thank you Lincoln Track Club ! the DQ bothered me more then the 3:44 for sure. Final official time is now 3:36:37 - Overall I was 221/ 1169, Males 179 / 684, and Age group 38 / 125. Not sure if I will ever make it back to Nebraska but I sure had a heck of a time there. If you ever have done any of the military races, such as the Marine Corps Marathon, Air Force or Army 10 Miler; I suggest looking into this one too ! Hurry though they only take 10 grand entries and it sells out in about 20 days. Opens early Dec. 

Lincoln Marathon

So its Monday and no orders yet, when am I gonna see them. I have been in contact with the FL Marathon Team and have everything I need to go to Nebraska but the orders to fly. There is three of us going from the state, to race against all the other states teams. Things have been set for us, for weeks now and really looking forward to racing for them. I just wish I would see some news. I got a in touch with the people looking for my orders Friday, said I should have them today but as the military works, no news yet! No big shocker really but it does stop the rest of my plans. Nadine is going with me but we cant get her room or ticket till I see if I am even going. So the price keeps going up for her each day. My tickets , room, and registration is done, hers is the issue right now. Im good if the team captain gets them but till someone does , limbo is how I sit. The taper is driving me crazy and I either wanna workout or get ready to race. The race is now 6 days away, guess I will see later this week 

306 Degree Athlete

I had been offered earlier this year to be a part of the 360 Degree Athlete team. Never been asked for anything like this but it has been so much fun racing for them. Natalia takes good care of me, hands down. Although I couldnt race in my suit I did get to take a few photos for her and these a a few. I like the suit, its just the body is a bit short and pulls on me from bottom and top. A 2 piece is in the works and cant wait for it.