Finally!

With nothing to lose, Kompetitive Edge was able to pull some strings to get me into the Denver Triathlon on short notice. I was praying for some redemption from my past few races. This summer I had one solid race and two subpar races. This was not making sense to me as my training had been going fantastic. After a terrible race in Boulder, I headed to Longmont for some time with my coach Jim Hallberg. He told me that I was capable of racing a lot faster than my races had shown, that I just needed to hammer the swim and the bike as hard as possible, and then just see what would happen. Today, I started with a very simple strategy. Simply swim, bike, and run faster than I ever had before. This may seem as an unrealistic expectation, but knowing what I had done to train, I knew it was not.
The race kicked off in Sloan’s Lake, a very dirty and terrible tasting lake. Due to the warm temperature, wet suits were not allowed. Luckily, I was equipped with the TYR Torque speed suit. Knowing that I wouldn’t have a wet suit for buoyancy I figured I would be very lucky to be anywhere near my PR in the swim. I took out in a crowded wave and hammered it just as I was told. As I exited the water, I knew I had just swum a great split, 27:12, nearly a two minute PR. Off on the bike I was cruising, finding my way into the biggest gear, and pushing it. This strategy was working well but not without some help from the Big Guy upstairs. With my two favorite Bible verses written on my aerobars and a certain tune stuck in my head, I knew I had God with me. In case you are wondering what the song was, it was the Arky Arky Song from church camp. With His help, I had just biked 63:10, averaging right under 24 mph. Now that my arms were tired and my legs trashed, it was time to run. The out and back course was not a flat fast course as I had hoped, but a rolling one that pushed me to my limits in the heat. I knew that if I could hang in there I could break 2:10. My run split was a 37:46 that put me at 2:09.50, leaving 10 seconds to spare!

All in all, I am ecstatic! I had needed a sub 2:15 race time to assure me a spot in the elite category in several races, and today took care of that. At this time I am unsure if I will be racing any more triathlons this year, as the summer comes to a close. I want to say thank you to the Olson family for allowing me to stay in their very nice town home on the 20th floor! It was great to have such a nice place located close to the race to relax and sleep. Also, thank you so much to Byron Thomas who is a gifted massage therapist. He took great care of me before and after the race, putting some life back into my legs. Finally, a thank you goes to my family, friends, and sponsors who have been there with me on good races and bad. May the Glory go to God now and forever!

Stagnant

Today was the 4th time I have raced Boulder Peak,that is if you can call what I did "racing" today. The summer started off with a terrible race in Kansas, but I followed it up with a fantastic race at the Loveland Lake 2Lake. Riding high and with training well ahead of last year, I felt today would have been a day for a great race. However, a great race was not in the cards today. Throughout the swim I felt very relaxed and comfortable but unable to shift into a faster stroke. I actually swam nearly 30 seconds faster than last year, but I did not do justice to my swim training. As I headed away from the Boulder Reservoir and up to Old Stage Road, I felt very tight and stagnant, just as in the swim. I managed to throw up a fair amount of water as I approached the summit of Old Stage, disappointed that I had climbed a little over 1300 ft to the top with a belly full of lake water it would appear. Over the summit and feeling a lot better, I started to roll. I was able to fight back and was only 20seconds slower than my bike split of last year. The run was finally here, and I couldn’t have been happier. It only took me half a mile to realize this out and back course was going to be more like a fartlek workout than a race. I started in the second to last wave, over an hour and 1200 athletes behind starters. Running well through the first couple miles, I began to run into strong traffic, bumping shoulder after shoulder, weaving my way in and out, trying to find a rhythm. I was stagnant once again and beginning to become frustrated. I ended up running a 37:59 for the 10K and felt disgusted to see such a horrific time. All in all, I finished :67 seconds behind where I was last year and not happy at all.

Now what? Back to the drawing board! I am hoping Kompetitive Edge can find a way to take care of me by getting me into the Denver Triathlon in two weeks. With another race, I hope to redeem myself and better use this gift of being a triathlete that God has given me to better glorify him. After the race I was able to talk with my coach Jim Halberg and teammate Brandon Jessop which helped to calm me down and get my mind right to race again. I am so blessed to have a great coach and to be part of the Kompetitive Edge family. Hangingout with Jared, Ryan, and Brandon was truly the highlight of my weekend.

Special thanks to Jim Halberg for putting me up and to my parents for coming to watch and cheer me on.

Written in Pike's Perk with great friends, Adam, Lars and Andrew!