Nothing beats a Free Lunch....well, not QUITE free!

All, just wanted to let you know that for anyone wanting to break into a new race series and step outside the Ironman Race Series, the REV3 race series might just be something you want to check out.  Granted, as part of Team Trakkers, my motivation for racign in the REV3 series might be a little higher than others right now but I am anxiously looking forward to going to Ohio later in 2010 and experience what all the hype is about.  For anyone else wanting to come out to any REV3 race please let me know and I can pass along my $10 off discount to any REV3 race you choose!!  As we all know, triathlon can get quite expensive so anything helps.  Just shoot me a message and I will pass along the code, very exciting!  Hope to see some friends and potential new friends at a REV3 race soon!!!

Week 1 in the books.

So as the first real snowfall of the Iowa winter is underway outside I figure what better time than to update my thoughts upon completion of my first week of base training. I have now decided to call the time between my last race of 2009 (quad cities marathon)and now as my transitional time in training. The non-structure was tough to take and although last week was by no means easy I feel so much better being on a schedule and having some focus again. So last week was my first week of what I call "base" training, the time in which I prepare my body for the damage I will do to it later on in 2010. Beings it is extremely early in my base block I am committed to improving my weaknesses...SWIMMING! Anyone who knows me at all, knows that I am not an extremely big fan of the solid black line and everything that goes with it, nevertheless I have decided to spend at least 4-5 days a week in that awful place called the mercer aquatic center. I am pleased to report that things are getting better, slowly but surely. My good friend Ben "flipturn" Nicholson is helping me not give up on the power of the flipturn and I really believe it's helping even if I am confident one day those lifeguards are going to have to get wet and help me some morning as I take on far too much water!!! In addition to the water I am of course getting back on top of my good friend Foxy which finds me in my little hole down in the basement. I am attaching a picture of my humble abode within my humble abode. Lori told me i could have this space all to myself about a year ago and although i didn't really think it was a great gift at the time I have grown to love my little space!! The winter months in Iowa of course are not so conducive to outdoor riding so the next 3-4 months will find me spending plenty of time in my 10ft x 10ft box and I couldn't be more excited. For those of you who are new to my blog please come back often as Team Trakkers and REV3 are going to be offering up some special incentives to their race series; something i plan to reveal in the near future!!

making the team...TEAM TRAKKERS 2010

Ok folks, I've kept you in suspense long enough. For the past couple of posts I've dropped hints that I was working on something for the 2010 season. Well, a few weeks ago I received word that I can officially spill the beans and I am incredibly excited and honored to announce I will be a part of TEAM TRAKKERS 2010!!! So what's Trakkers you ask? Trakkers is, what i believe, to be the next coolest thing in the realm of endurance sport and racing. For some of you who followed me down to Louisville for Ironman this past year and for those of you who followed at home, you'll remember there was some severe timing issues with the online tracking devises on that day. Trakkers is working to eliminate such problems, providing racers, and more importantly, their support crew the opportunity to track "real time" with a device that actually uses GPS to report back to a customized athlete webpage. Pretty cool I do believe!! Trakkers is working very hard to get their product and has worked equally as hard to put together a race team for 2010, one of which I will be a part of. The roster is still being completed but initial projections were to have a team consisting of 30 amateurs and 10 professionals. So what does this mean for Tim in 2010? Cool sponsors, added support, awesome race uni's, and a whole pile of motivation as I now have other people besides myself willing to put some backing to my racing!!! Amazing. Trakkers is also a big sponser of the Revolution3 Triathlon Series. Rev3 caught my attention last year and it's only gaining steam as the months progress.

In 2010 there will be 3 events spread throughout the year and I fully plan to attend at least ONE which you can see on my schedule that I am posting below. So that's it for now folks. I have been in a slow base period over the past 4 weeks and I am so excited that tomorrow marks my official day 1 of some SERIOUS base training. I am done messing around for this off-season. I have gained my customary 5-10 offseason pounds and it's time to get this ass back into shape. This morning involved a nice and slow 10 mile run outside and I felt great. My mind is good and I am ready to get 2010 underway. I am soon to be finding out more and more details regarding "the Team" so check back as I'll be divulging details as soon as I receive them. Also, I stated earlier I am posting my first draft of the 2010 race schedule. Of course, it's subject to change with our little guy on the way but this pretty much lists out the priority races for me. Talk soon all!

2010 Race Schedule:

April 25th: River Run (iowa city, ia)

May 16th: Florida 70.3 (orlando, fl) *awaiting an ok from "the boss"

June 6th: Pigman Sprint (palo, ia)

July 4th: Fifth Season 8k (cedar rapids, ia)

July 18th: Racine 70.3 (racine, wi) *either this or steelhead

July 31st: Steelhead 70.3 (benton harbor, mi) *either this or racine

Aug 1st: Big Creek (des moines, ia)

Aug 22nd: Pigman Half Iron (palo, ia)

Sept 12th: Rev3Tri Cedar Point half or full (sandusky, oh)

Change

Yesterday Lori had her second of what I am told is three baby showers. Baby Showers; a gathering of normally females, family and friends, gather and "shower" gifts upon the expectant mother. The concept of a shower, either wedding or baby, is kind of an interesting thing. Really we've been paying into the concept for several years now and we finally get to make a withdrawal from the bank account that is baby shower's. Anyway, that's kind of besides the point. We have received a plethora of great gifts and i am very appreciative of everyone's generosity. However, out of all of the great gifts we have received, one sticks out inparticular. It's called a high chair. Yep, a simple high chair; the slightly higher fully safe chair that we will teach our new little guy how to eat in. The high chair came in a big box so it naturally drew my attention upon unloading the vehicle when Lori arrived back at home. I was like a kid at Christmas, I opened the box and was anxious to get it all put together; assuming of course that an item such as this would require my expert assembly ability. Nonsense. The chair was fully assembled and only required us to figure out what fancy buttons to push in order to get the damn legs spread out and the tray fully upright. We registered for this particular high chair so we of course really like the look and style it carries. After getting the the arms fully extended and the red buttons pushed multiple times it was ready to go. We rolled it into it's place prominently next to the kitchen table in the corner-ish area of the "dining room". And so there it sits. Why such the long story about a high chair you may ask? Because in the last 24 hours I've walked past the predescribed high chair sitting in its place a couple of dozen times and although the feeling has not nomalized at all yet it really makes me feel as though we are almost there. In the home stretch so to speak. Lori and I enjoyed a nice evening out on Friday in Des Moines. Lori had gotten us tickets to see "Rent" and we took in dinner before the show started as well. Lori looked wonderfully pregnant in the dress that is my most favorite pregnant dress of hers. However, midway through dinner we weren't exactly on the "same page" if you will. The last few weeks have been filled with moments such as this dinner conversation, i've been told by many friends and family who have been pregnant or are currently pregnant that this is normal. Why doesn't anyone talk about this stuff?!?! Anyway, we made it through dinner and truthfully our minor disagreement was just that, minor. We continued on to the show and had a great time soaking in Rent. We are both fans of the film version and agreed that the stage version was far more awesomer than the film version. It was a great time and our unborn little guy was apparently enjoying his first broadway musical as well as he was apparently rocking to the beat along with mom and dad! I am a big fan of the Rent soundtrack and considering the entire production is music based I would guess that's why most people enjoy it. My favorite song? "No day but today." It has a fantastic message and I am always a big fan of anything that gives a person goosebumps and makes you think. One of the lines from the song; "Forget regret, or life is yours to miss." Regardless of regret, I believe life is yours to miss in general. Meaning, this is it. This is life. We can choose to embrace it or let it pass us by. Much like childbirth and parenting, there is no dress rehearsal for life. Are there certain things that I miss about my non-pregnant wife? Yes. Does that mean that I wish she were not pregnant? Hell no. We are about to embark on one of the best things in our life, I know it and believe it fully. This little guy that is about to come into our life is going to be the best of both of us. Considering Lori has far more goodness in her than I do, I am guessing he will be made up of mostly Lori parts. Blue eyes, blonde hair, and hopefully smaller ears than I!!! Lori and I have been together for a LONG time now, 15 years, 7 of which have been in marriage. We've been through a LOT together and I am happy to say that we've survived it all and I am confident we'll survive this as well. So long story short, I know I've not been perfect, us guys seldom are, but I hope Lori knows it isn't for lack of trying and I hope I can be better the next time we are expecting a child!!! Only a few more weeks and we'll be on to figuring out how to handle our little guy and eventually putting that high chair in the corner to good use. I hope I can be the dad that she wants for me to be, the dad i know I can be, and the spouse i always try to be. And although it sounds so simple, living for today is all we can really hope to do. So that being said, I just want to say thank you and I love you to my incredibly amazing wife. I know I am not always perfect but I hope I can at least be the unperfect man that makes you smile! I love you. -me

Not TOO bad!

Alright, so week one didn't exactly go as planned; however, that being said, I am sitting here at 6:10 pm on Sunday evening after a very satisfying weekend and an enthusiasm for the week to come! I JUST downloaded the song "Times Like These", by the Foo Fighters. Not so much a new song but it's a song that was on the highlight reel of Ironman Coeur d'Alene 2008 and it always gets me excited. Truthfully I don't know why it has taken me so long to own it! This last week was one of easy transition; transition into 2010. After a few weeks off and a few weeks of mediocrity, this week was a full blown entry into next year. A few structured swims, a few structured weight sessions and a few small, "easy", runs. Nothing TOO difficult on the schedule but just enough to remember what a structured week can feel like. I have to admit, I was feeling a bit tired throughout the week but I couldn't tell if this was a function of my workouts or the time change ("fall back"). I was pleasantly surprised with my swimming though. My stroke seems to have survived the downtime and that is something that I think everyone can agree on is sometimes a scary prospect. I met my good friend Ben at the pool a few times for a little lesson on flip turning as well! Yep, I decided it was time to stop messing around. Almost 6 full years in this sport and I've never bothered with flip turning. After I figured out it is possible to flip AND keep your eyes open, I was golden! I do believe however that this could be the missing link in my inability to achieve better swim times. The feeling I got from doing just 200 yards of swimming while flip turning was the exact same feeling I get during a race. Could it really be that the 5 seconds or so that it takes to hit the wall and push off without a flip turn is what is causing me problems??? If so I am going to be thoroughly disappointed I wasn't spoken to about this sooner. I am guessing that most swimmers/coaches probably don't think it's a HUGE deal because they haven't NOT flip turned since they were probably 2. We'll see, I am definitely excited to see what this is going to do for me. Unfortunately, reaping the benefits won't be for a while. Damn it!

So, I was able to put the finishing touches on my backyard shed. Lori's vision became my reality and it is now complete. Last year's off-season consisted of building an office, this years off-season involved building a shed. I gotta admit, I miss this kind of stuff from time to time. Again, it of course comes down to balance. We'll see, I am hoping to mix in a little more constructing from time to time next year as well. ????

Anyway, next week is almost here. Plan on getting on the bike a bit, hitting the pool a LOT, and running just a titch. Oh, and my new Cycleops Trainer should be coming this week which definitely makes my bikes feel better about the prospect of being couped up indoors for the winter!! Oh, one more thing, I am very close to figuring out my race schedule for next year. I've even got a Plan A and a Plan B which kind of hinge on a few things and a sign off from the boss! Enjoy the week everyone, I KNOW I will!!!

2010 Begins...I'm back!

It is with great excitement, a bit of nervousness, and a bunch of unknowns that I can say the 2010 season has begun for me. Yesterday, Monday, was my first day of "base" training as I begin the long road towards next years race season. It has been about 2 months since Ironman Louisville and approximately 1 month since the Quad Cities Marathon that I did on a whim. The last month has been very loose and mostly relaxed. With our first baby on the way in a little under 2 months it was time for me to get busy catching up on all of the things I had been putting off all year. Fixed up the baby room, built a shed in our backyard, celebrated our 7th wedding anniversary and even drank fairly heavily one Friday afternoon! All of these things have made me realize that as good as my life balance was in 2009, I want it to be even better in 2010. I don't want to be that guy who is so one dimensional that everyone just expects will be training or racing on every given weekend. That's not the person I want to be. I have too many interests in life to turn myself into a boring one-dimensional individual. That being said, I would be lying if I said I wasn't nervous about the journey that is about to begin when our first child is born in December! This is totally unknown waters for us and of course it's not something you can practice or train for! Lori of course is a teacher and has an amazing ability to be extraordinary with children which makes me a little more relaxed as I will have an excellent teacher but that doesn't mean she is going to do everything for me through the process. We'll see, everyone keeps telling me not to worry, that parenthood is something that comes naturally and you will just know what to do when the time comes. Well, I certainly hope so!!!
Unknowns. This season has a lot of factors building upon it to make planning it a lot more difficult than in years past. Of course, the child is number 1 uncertainty. I want to be there for my kids just like my dad was there for me growing up. Spending quality time with the family is priority #1 for me and I don't want to let me down. Figuring out compromises along the way is going to be necessary to balance all of our sanity. #2 uncertainty is also a new one for me in that Lori has decided that she really wants to give this triathlon thing a shot next year. She is so sick of people telling her "wait until the baby gets here, you won't be able to stay in as good of shape", that she is determined to find her amazing body again and get out there and attempt her first triathlon. Not only this but she says she not only wants to compete, but she wants to do well!! I am very excited of course. We have attempted this venture in the past but I have never heard her so determined and excited so I believe this will be good. However, balancing two peoples hectic and busy workout plans AND making sure SOMEONE is watching our boy will be tough. Lastly, I am on the verge of being given my first sponsorship opportunity. I don't want to let the cat out of the bag just yet but it's something that has been in the works for a couple of months now and final decisions are to be made yet this month. Very excited for this but of course it comes with commitments and those are yet to be totally defined. Hopefully I will be able to share this soon!
Ahhh, all that being said I have some fairly lofty goals again for the upcoming season. Most of my efforts are planned to be in the 70.3 distance but we'll just have to see what the year brings. I am determined to prove to myself that I am a podium type amateur athlete and hopefully this will be realized next year. Stay tuned as I look to post some more definitive goals soon and if you need me in the mean time, you can probably find me in the pool! Later!

$70 Therapy

I apologize for the delay in getting this post out there, however, Coach and I have been having some internet problems at home over the past couple of days so I am just getting to it now. Sunday was an interesting day. I knew it was either going to be a very good day or a very bad day and I am fairly happy to say it was nicely in between. I had made up my mind on Friday that if I was going to run the marathon I was going to shoot for something big. A sub 3 hour time sounded big enough to me! Sunday morning I woke up at 4am in order to get the body moving and a cup of coffee in me prior to the one hour drive and the race start at 7:30. When i woke up and was sipping my coffee it dawned on me for the first time that, "wow, this is going to hurt today." I really didn't know what to expect. I was going to take it out hard and see what happened. I am very pleased to report that I was 2 minutes ahead of my goal pace at the half-way point! And was still on pace by mile 15, unfortunately, it was all down hill from there. Miles 16,17, and 18 were tough. Miles 19 and 20 were even tougher. And miles 21 and 22 were a complete nightmare. I walked miles 23 and 24, this time with a smile on my face as I wouldn't allow myself to be disappointed. At mile marker 25 I managed to "run" again and brought it home in a decent time of 3:39. My slowest marathon by just over 10 minutes and about 30 minutes slower than my effort previously this year in Madison. Oh well. This was different. I actually enjoyed myself on this particular Sunday. The course was nice, the day was beautiful and although I questioned whether it was so smart to do this, it was just plain fun. Prior to starting this race I felt I was able to take the last 3 weeks to get over my disappointment from Louisville. And although I still believe I had, I realized this race was therapy for me in a much bigger way than just sitting here thinking about things. I came up with a lot of things through the course of 26.2 miles one of which is to take a little time off. Interestingly enough I found out this week that my definition of "time off" is quite different than others definitions. Time off to me does not mean I am going to sit around all night, every night. No, it simply means a break. A break from the schedules, a break from the constant scrutiny of tempo pace, a break from structured training more or less. I need some time to have some fun and I guess since it's been one full year since I started the last training cycle I am kind of due for a little break in the action. I might still race a little yet this year, after all, run for the schools is coming up but i don't know that I will be doing the half-marathon as originally once thought. We'll see, I don't mind NOT knowing for now! Anyway all, that's it for now. Enjoy this beautiful fall weather we've been having and try not to get wet today! With any luck, the internet will be working soon and I can post some fun pictures from this past weekends adventure. Until then, see you next time! Thanks all!