Ironman Coeur d'Alene 2008

What an amazing experience! It was my first Ironman and I had the perfect race for me. 2.48 mile swim, 112 mile bike ride, 26.2 mile run. 11 hours, 55 minutes. more...

4000m open water swim race at Hagg Lake

Raced in a sanctioned USMS Open Water Swim Sponsored by Blue Seventy and All Tri Sports and presented by Gecko Tri Club. It was the best way to simulate the swim 4000m (2.48 miles) part of the Ironman. Here are the results - a 1 hour 30 minute swim. more...

3x bike run bricks

This was the final big workout before beginning the taper down for Ironman, and the most memorable. It started out easy enough: 30-mile bike ride followed by a 6-mile run. 3 times. Piece of cake. At this point in the training, a 30-mile bike ride along with a 6-mile run just got me warmed up. more...

First Century Ride

I had my first century (100-mile) bike ride from Portland to the Oregon Coast. The plan was to take the Max with the bike to Hillsboro, then ride along the Banks-Vernonia trail, then Hwy 47 to Hwy 202 from Vernonia, to Mist, then Jewell, Olney, then up to Astoria and back down to Seaside where we were staying for the Memorial Day weekend.

Of course, things did not go according to plan. more...

Hawthorn Farms Triathlon - Life in the fast lane

Hawthorn Farms is the race that started it all for me three years ago. A 500 yard pool swim, followed by a 13.2 mile bike ride, and finish with a 5k (3.1 mile) run. Now, in my third year in the Hawthorn Farms Sprint Triathlon I got seeded in the final fast wave - wave #10. It was tough going out with the fast swimmers since that is my weakest link in the race. I think my inexperience in swimming played a role, since I think I went out too fast on the first 50 meters to try and draft off the lead swimmer, my heart rate spiked up and I needed to back off. Does anyone else notice this problem? You try to go fast, and in doing so, you're not efficient and burn up a bunch of energy without really going any faster. more...

Beautiful cold

So I did my first time trial bike race this morning at the Estacada Time Trial. A 20 mile time trial ride. There was a fresh blanket of snow on the ground, but the road looked only wet. I think I got hit with every combination of preciptiation - snow, rain, hail, sleet, freezing rain and rain - but never for more than a few minutes at a time. more...