A Few Updates

Marky V is kicking up his run, he went 3:59 at Longhorn 70.3. Look out for him next season!
It’s been a while since I updated this blog. I just haven’t had much idle time since the training has picked back up again. I am back running again and it feels good.

I have added another contributor to “Robsworld”, Dana, my wife. She, of course, is a large part of my world and adds a touchy feely component to the writing. Our coach, Dave LaTourette, describes us as “ying and yang“. I am all numbers, heart rates, paces, power numbers and I don’t have a bit of trouble taking my training indoors if I have to. In other words, I’m a geek. I also have a dry sarcastic scene of humor. Dana, on the other hand, could care less about paces and power numbers and just loves getting out with her friends to socialize on a ride. She is positive, bubbly and fun.

Dana has posted under my name before on previous posts. Now folks won’t think I am a cross dresser racing as a 39-year-old blonde woman. Now that’s a sick thought.

Last week we raced the first annual Tall Chief open water challenge. It was a small race put on by the Tulsa Masters Swim organization and Denise Smart at the Zink Ranch. 36 swimmers attended it and it should grow with each year. I placed second overall in the 2 mile and Dana was 4th in the female division. The guy that won was Christian Ballard from Oklahoma City. I was able to hang with him for around 500 yards then he juked left and dropped me from his draft. I thought,” who is this guy?” After the race, he told me he grew up in California and swam for UC Berkeley as a distance specialist in the mid 90’s. I just wish he had let this old man drag behind him a little longer. When all was said and done, he blew me away by 2 minutes. He was so strong. I have work to do!

Doug Leib raced the Duathlon world championships in Rimini, Italy last weekend. The weather there was horrible and he crashed on the bike. Check out his blog here for details.

This past weekend Dana and I traveled to Austin, TX with the Chance crew (our kids) for the Longhorn 70.3. Dana raced and I was the sherpa, gear runner, master kid herder, and long road driver. I did some running down at the Town Lake trail Saturday morning. What a spectacle, it seemed like everyone who was a runner in Austin was down there. It was congested just like Austin's highways

The Longhorn 70.3 race had 2000 people in it. Big race! We spent a lot of time in lines. There was a line to pick up the race packet. It took two hours to wait in a line of traffic and drop the bike off at the transition and on race morning there was a line at 5 am to get into the park. While we were waiting in traffic jam the morning of the race, the song “Lunatic Fringe” by Red Rider popped into my head. When you are racing, you are so into it you don’t realize how silly it really is. All these were people lining up at 5 am on a Sunday morning to pummel themselves. They paid to do it, too!

While I was dropping Dana off at the race, the kids were back at the hotel asleep. I was back in the room before they even knew I was gone. Our three kids don’t have the patience to hang out at a sprint race, let alone a half ironman so I chose to give them a few more hours in the room before we headed out to the 50 mile marker of the bike to watch the final section of the bike and the run. It was still a long day for them.

Dana at 50 miles and looking strong
Dana on the run with the kids in the background cheering her on.
Dana did great and she finished under 5 hours, which was her goal. She finished 3rd in the 35-39AG. After her finish, I sent her to grab food, then her bike out of transition, and we got out of there. We were back in Tulsa by 9:15 that night. It probably took less time to drive than it would have if we had flown. If you have read my past blogs, you know my past experiences with air travel.

Jessica Myers-Jones, a pro triathlete Dana and I train with sometimes here in Tulsa, did great in her debut at the 70.3 distance. She was 8th overall amongst the pros.

Jessica looking strong on the run.

I did some analysis of my 2007 and 2008 seasons using the Performance Manager on Cycling peaks. I will highlight that a bit during my next post. Some interesting (if you are a geek) but obvious findings.