GEC Sweep!

Today, Tucson's Davis-Monthan Air Force Base held an aquathlon today as a memorial to a lifeguard who was killed in a flash flood a couple of years ago. Angela was a sweet girl a fun lifeguard and was missed by the entire base and Tucson community.

The aquathlon is a cool way to remember her--her friends and coworkers put it on and did a great job. The 800yd swim and 5k run were on the base; in te outdoor pool and along the flat empty roads.

I'm glad to report that GEC atheltes took the top three finishing spots overall! (OK, there were only a handful of people there, but that's not important!) I had a decent swim and exited first, about 100yds ahead of second. Caryn was out in third I think, and Brian (GEC webmaster) soon after. When I saw them on the run, Caryn was in 2nd, Brian in 4th. At the finish line, I had won, Caryn was 2nd, and Brian was slightly back in third! GEC on all steps of the podium! This isn't the Olympics, but we'll take it! (Note: I think this makes Caryn undefeated in the season's aquathlons for women, as well!)

It was a fun day and a great time for a little race to get the blood moving.

-Brian

Ahhh, Vacation!

I’m up in Glacier National Park this week on a family vacation. My folks live up near here and once a year we get the family together (two older sisters, one younger brother and their families) for a shin-dig in Glacier.

We decided to try our hand at fishing today. I used to fly fish quite a lot but it’s been a while. The wind was picking up and the water was too cold to wade out too far, so we took the rubber rafts across the lake to a calmer spot. My brother, relatively new to fly fishing but an amazing athlete in every sense, pulled in a little 10” Rainbow on his first cast—I’m not kidding. Not to be outdone, I spent the next 2 hours casting while the rest of the crew sat on the shore. Nothing. On the way back across the lake I tied on a spinner and trolled. I pulled in a little 12” Cutthroat! Ha! (No camera on the boat, dang it!) Since the mountains are still patched with snow, the water was too cold for swimming. Besides that, I’m on vacation!

Also a few GEC athletes did some fishing this weekend—fishing for podiums and PRs! Bec and Scott P. both qualified for the Ironman 70.3 World Championships at Vineman—HUGE CONGRATS—and Brian and Caryn both PR’d (Brian by 36 minutes!!!) in Olympic Distance at the Camp Pendleton Int’l Triathlon. Congrats!

For me, it’s more fishing tomorrow and I’ll try to bring the camera!

Brian

First Race Back

This past weekend I was lucky enough to be in San Diego for work—July is a good time to be away from Tucson. It just so happened that Sunday was a day off—and the Carlsbad sprint triathlon was that day. This is one of the oldest continuously run triathlons in the country, and is held on beautiful beach-front roads with nice pavement and a lot of spectators. Not a bad place to make my comeback into racing after 15 months off.

[Note: For you who may be reading for the first time I decided to see how much force it would take to rip one’s foot off their leg in a mountain bike crash 15 months ago. It took 6 months on crutches, 5 surgeries, countless medications and antibiotics, several setbacks, and a few thousand prayers, and only last month was I able to fly again. I’ve been able to swim and cycle regularly since March, and am only now running. This was my first time putting the swim, bike and run together since then.]

The race started in waves, and I was in the first wave with the pros and all the guys in my age group. This is a good place to start! The swim went OK—as good as I expected for not swimming much in the last few weeks--it's been a busy few weeks and the swim lost out. (I guess the once-a-week aquathlon exclusively isn’t the best swim training...who knew?!) I was out of the water feeling good, but was a ways down in my wave. The water was a bit cold, but the Zoot Zenith wetsuit was great!

My ankle was tight in T1, but once I got on the bike I felt great. There was a longish, steep climb right out of T1 and a good descent at the top. I didn’t understand those who put their shoes in the pedals in T1—I passed 5 of them on the climb out before we got up to speed! I immediately passed more people and held a good pace on the ride and pushed for 280 watts on the flats and descents, and going to 300-310 on the climbs and accels. I love the Slice paired with the Reynolds SDV66 wheels—it’s solid and fast. Average power = 274 watts.

In T2 I again had to deal with the tight ankle, and running barefoot isn’t my favorite thing anymore. As I started on the run I twisted my ankle on a timing mat and thought I was finished. It began to loosen up slowly, and by the time mile 1 rolled around I was feeling good and was able to pick up the pace and run well. I left T2 with the top woman and lost quite a bit in the first mile, but held my position after that. I don’t have time splits on the run, but it felt like a 9 minute first mile and 6-flats after that. Surprisingly I was only passed by one guy—a pro. Pace = 6:25. (Oh, if you don't have Zoot Ultra shoes, get them!)

At the finish line I really felt good. This is a good feeling—to be “back into it.” The excitement of the race I hadn’t felt in a while was refreshing and exhilarating. I finished 2nd in my age group with a mediocre swim, a top-10 overall bike split, and a descent run. To have my first sub-20 minute 5k on a rolling course after a hard bike ride was a victory to me. To see old friends on the race course and spectating was sweet. To have Jill yelling and having a good time was wonderful.

I’m back!

Way of the Master

A few months ago, I was flipping channels on the television and came across a familiar face. It was Kirk Cameron, the young actor from the 1980s, who was on the hit sit-com Growing Pains. Remember him? I was in my teens and totally had a crush on him as did all of my friends. Ha! He was on a Christian Network and was talking about the Lord. It was so awesome, his boldness and sincere concern for the unsaved.

Since then I've been doing a lot of research into evolution, and proof that supports a creator, and Jesus as God's son, who was risen from the dead. There's a ton of evidence, and not only given by Christians, either, but by scientists. It's pretty cool.

I just now visited Kirk Cameron's website, The Way of the Master, and listened to Kirk's testimony, about how he became a follower of God and Jesus. I've listened to it before, and it's pretty funny the way he describes it, but smart. Basically, he said that he owed it to himself to at least investigate.

Brian and I have noticed these days, that most Americans are actually Agnostics. It's easy to be one, Brian and I once were Agnostics. Agnostics are people who simply don't care, don't want to be bothered by Jesus, don't want to put forth any effort into discovering truth or making an educated decision, don't want to take time out their busy schedule to think about and dwell on the idea that maybe what the Bible says is true, simply put, just don't really care one way or the other. If the Bible is true, which Brian and I believe is the case, then this life on earth is extremely short. What happens next? Eternity is a loooong time.

Breakthroughs

Another week of breakthroughs… It seems like it can be a while between improvements with the leg, but then will come a big jump. This week was that jump.

I flew solo again. Usually not a big deal as that’s the way we fly typically, but this was the first time in over a year. Everything came back and I felt very comfortable with the jet, the procedures, and the radios. Then today I had my check ride, and as of today I am again a fully-qualified F-16 pilot!

Cycling has been going well, but last weekend I tried my hand at a 40k TT. It was 100 degrees when we started and around 105 at the finish, but even through that I was able to push a big gear. I averaged over 250 watts and, although not a record, I was very happy with it for being on the bike for only a few months.

(The new Cannondale Carbon Slice was amazing as well. This bike is F-A-S-T fast! There is no flex in the bottom bracket or in the Si SL cranks. I picked up a set of Easton Attack TT bars and Fizik gel pads from Trisports.com; with my PowerTap rear nothing-fancy wheel and my Reynolds DV46 front it weighs in at under 17lbs! Next race I should have my Reynolds SDV66 with PowerTap hub and a Wheelbuilder.com disk cover. I also tried out my new Diadora Infinity Carbon tri shoes and Rudy Project Syton Supercomp helmet and Sportmasks. Ohh, very nice.)

Then last night I went to the local aquathlon. There’s a series here in Tucson that’s very fun and brings out a lot of the local triathletes and my friends. Last time, my 5k time was slower than my best overall time there… This time, three weeks later, I took over 2 minutes off the run…PER MILE!! I ran a 20:20 5k for an average of 6:35 miles. It was a complete surprise, and I felt great!

So, based on this, I have updated my racing plan. Look for me to race in the Snow Valley XTERRA in Snow Valley, CA, in August and to follow that up with the XTERRA Mountain Championships in Ogden, UT. Then, if things continue to go well, I’ll be going to Tahoe for the XTERRA USA championship in October, then the Soma Triathlon in Tempe. Ideally, I’d like to do the 70.3 distance, but I think I’ll settle for the Quarterman.