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I wanted to take this opportunity to recognize a few friends of mine. Not everyone can race triathlons but sometimes little steps in the right direction can be just as meaningful and important.
The first person I would like to talk about is my best friend, Kristen, from New Orleans. Over the last few months she has been struggling with migraines to the point that she has gone to the emergency room. I can only sympathize with this being that I only get mild headaches when my neck is too tight. Kristen recently came to visit me for a weekend. She definitely wasn’t used to our nonstop training, climbing, and time at the river. I think it sparked a little something in her. Since she left she has been doing a great job of doing everything she can to fell better….. Drinking water, getting massages, and joining a gym where she wants to start swimming and doing yoga. I am so proud of her and happy to report that she is feeling better and the migraines are down to a minimum.

That’s not the only person I want to recognize. My friend Megan has also changed a couple of things in her life recently. First, she has started biking! She recently got her first road bike and is enjoying riding. After bringing her to a local coffee shop where they have free yoga sessions she has been going a few times a week and she is great at it! She has also gotten new running shoes, fit correctly, and started jogging. I can’t tell you how awesome it is to see someone find some activity they enjoy and start getting active.

The third person I want to talk about is my friend, Lauren. I met Lauren in high school where she and I raced Triathlons together. Now she lives in New Jersey with her husband Rodrigo and her daughter, my goddaughter, Bella. Not only is Lauren a wife but a mom, student, but she has a job too. On top of all of this she is making time to get into prebaby shape. She is planning on running a half marathon within the next year. She is one of the most determined people I know. I know she can do it. I am so proud of her and also looking forward to Bella’s baptism in June!

Everyone can find something they enjoy if they just take the time to find out what that is…. Swimming, biking (mountain or road), running, yoga, climbing or any mix.
Find what you love!!

About a month ago I went riding Mountain Bikes in the Green Belt by my house in Austin. I surged up this hill that hadn’t been ridden very much. It was definitely the road less traveled made obvious by the over grown limbs in the way. Well, I failed to notice a dead limb hanging off to my right. It stabed me right in the arm. When i got home I got all the wood out… or so I thought. Last night, a month and a half after the ride, I had to recut open the scar and pull the rest of the wood out!! Not pretty. This is the last of it…. I hope.

Wow what a weekend. It was a really fun time had by all. It all started with a trip to Dallas Thursday to stay at James’ parents house. This broke up the 10 hr drive a bit. We woke up and headed on our 7 hr drive to Memphis. We drove straight to the race site got my packet and set up camp. Thats right CAMPING! I have been dying to camp ever since REI had their big sale and I got a camping french press We put a piece of wood across the back of the truck bed and put an air mattress on top and all the stuff underneath. Of course we had the double stove top, chairs, lantern, etc.
Saturday morning we woke up, had breakfast and headed out to check out the course and pre ride. Good thing we got an early start b.c I got a flat in my tire which left a big gash so I had to switch and use one of James’ for the race. It was still a Maxxis:) The last time I did Memphis in May was like 4 or 5 years ago. It was my first pro race. I was in 4th I think and I got a flat 2 miles from the end of the bike. About 4 months later Katrina hit and I haven’t been back. I love the course so I was excited to do it again. Saturday night we went to my friends house for dinner. They where the same people that I stayed with for a home-stay 4 years ago. This year they where putting up Michellie Jones. So we all had dinner and we went back to our camp site.
Saturday night I found it very cold in the back of the truck plus we had to pump up the air mattress in the middle of the night b.c it went flat. Needless to say it wasn’t the best night of sleep but thats ok. Sunday morning we woke up ate some breakfast and headed out the the race. I got everything set up in transition and warmed up with a jog before slipping into my wet-suit before the race. The start was staggered so we all went 3 seconds apart. The swim went well, very uneventful. It is definitely a lot less stressful to start at a stagger but I wonder if that takes away some of the adrenaline. I went 20:30 for the mile.

T1 went very smoothly as well. I got in and out in about a minute and feet went into the shoes as planned.

I headed out onto the bike. It was very windy. At one point I thought I was going to get blown over! I felt like I was going pretty good pace. My Polar watch was right their to tell me cadence, speed, and time but I didn’t get a chance to press it! I know that is so ridiculous. Sometimes you just get caught up in what your doing and forget things. At least I hope that happens to other people too I had a 1:08 for the bike.

T2 was smooth as well and I headed out onto the run. I felt good for the first 3-4 miles and then the race started settling in a bit. I pulled a :45 for the run. Not breaking any records any time soon but at least I know what I need to work on.
I finished up and was pretty happy not because of the speed as much as my mental state throughout the race. Racing can be hard and I know a lot of athletes that have trouble with some physiological aspect. For me its been a long road from Katrina, changing coaches, breaking my leg, moving a million times, etc. I am now back to a state of happiness with this great sport and and feel that that is a huge step to physical improvement. If your heads not in the right place then the rest of you can’t be…

Hey everyone. I just wanted to show everyone the new EAS ads that are running in magazines right now. They can be seen in Self, Shape, Triathlete, Bicycling, etc.

I also got a picture from Colligate Triathlon Nationals. Even though the race didn’t turn out so well, the picture came out ok

PS- i just took my last exam for the semester today!!! yay!!!
Also, I am getting ready to head to Memphis on thursday for Memphis in May tri.
Keep training and stay hydrated… its hott!!

Wow, what a weekend. It all started when I picked up my race partner, Brian Mayer, from the airport Thursday night. I met Brian through some mutual friends at Colligate Mountain Bike Nationals where he was racing for Virginia Tech and he convinced me to do this race with him. I was skeptical at first… I mean rowing!?! I’ve done some play boating but nothing major.
Friday we headed to Burnet, Texas to check out the course. The race was at a private camp that had all sorts of fun stuff like climbing wall, blob, zip line, lazy river, and of course mountain bike trails. We checked out the mountain bike course and tested out the boats and how we where going to be situated in them for the paddling portion. We didn’t see the run because it was on the other side of the lake. We have to paddle over there for the race. When we got home we realized that Brian didn’t put sunscreen on his back and the result was….

hahahahaha Its really not funny and I felt bad:)
Anyway, Saturday morning we headed to the race course. The race started at 9 am and we got there around 7:45. When we arrived we heard that our main competition, a team from Miami, had pre-ridden the course and the girl broke her arm!! I felt really bad for her and wish her a speedy recovery. I could really empathize since I had broken my leg mountain biking 2 years ago…. not fun. We started the race with a .5 mile run, to break everyone up before the bike. We jumped on the bike and road 6 miles to the lake where we got in the boats and paddled for about 20-25min across where we ran for 3.5 miles. The run was super rocky and more like climbing in parts then running. We where with the two other top teams for most of the run. We got back in the boats paddled back. We where out of the boats first with the two other teams right behind us. Over the 6 miles back to the camp they got ahead of us and we took third over all and first colligate making us Colligate Adventure Race National Champions!!!!! The two teams that won where national champions in 24hr adventure racing so I didn’t feel so bad. The race had tons of great giveaways and prizes and a wonderful venue. I am definitely looking forward to doing other USARA races. I put up a ton of pics that you can check out on the Gallery page.

I don’t know about you guys but I ALWAYS have issues with my iPod and/or mp3 players. I am not one to be by myself for multiple house so on long rides and runs I like to bring it along. Sometimes it also helps on interval stuff if you have the right music! Anyway, like most other people in the south I sweat a lot during workouts. I mean dripping wet. I thought that the iPod shuffle would be a good match for someone like me who likes to work out. Well, three iPod shuffles and one other type of mp3 later I was completely fed up and frustrated. I had broken all of them by sweating all over them! I went a few months without any sort of music device. After a long long ride by myself I decided to reinvest. This time though I would do it right…. iPod nano with an Otter box waterproof cover! I mean if it’s waterproof its got to be sweat proof. It’s a lot bigger and bulkier then a shuffle but its unfazed by sweat or water. You can actually put it up to 3 feet underwater… pretty cool. I have never actually tried it though. Now that I run with this bigger contraption it wasn’t as easy just to clip it on my shorts. So that’s when i came up with the perfect place for it…..

This weekend was jam packed with suff. One of my best friends, Kristen, came to visit me in Austin this weekend. She is from NOLA too and we went to school together from 2nd grade through 12th. I tried to get her into tri’s in high school but it just wasn’t her thing. I got up early Saturday and Sunday and got my workouts done so that I could spend time with her. We had a blast and I got to show her my new home, Austin, and San Marcos. We hung out at the river and took our dogs almost everywhere with us. Saturday afternoon there was a climbing competition at the Texas State rec center that I did for fun. James was working it and some other friends signed up so it made for a good time.

This week is exams so it will be packed with studying! After this week though I will be done till summer session in July. I am really excited to get through this week though because I am doing an Adventure race with a friend from Virginia Tech, Brian. Its going to be tons of fun and I can’t wait to fill everyone in!

I went to the Student Health Center today because of my allergies and made the mistake of telling them that I had a cough while I was scheduling an appointment over the phone. When I got there they made me sit in the “Yellow” waiting area where everyone had masks on! You would think I had SARS the way everyone was looking at us. Turns out it was ALLERGIES just like I had thought. Note to self = be vague when making appointments.

I hope everyone is safe. Be careful and wash your hands!

Thursday night James and I flew to NOLA. One of my good friends, Clay, was driving back down to Texas from his winter job in Vail and decided to stop into New Orleans. It was great to see my parents and my brother, Preston, and sister, Peyton. Friday James and I went on a run through City Park. It was great to be running on my old turf. Unfortunately, James couldn’t run because he had a hurt foot from mountain biking so he road my sisters’ razor scooter hahaha It was definitely a site to see.

The run was followed by a snowball! Saturday we all went to Jazz Fest, one of the biggest music festivals in the country! We had a blast but James and I started not feeling well. We kept it low key the rest of the weekend. We spent time walking around the quarter and eating with friends. While walking in the French Quarter I noticed that BMC seemed to have expanded into the entertainment business!…

So I’m about to get on the bike to do a trainer workout. Its a beautiful day but the workout is very specific heart rate zone based and I wanna do it right. I have got sooo much going on today because I am leaving for NOLA tom afternoon after school and I am trying to get everything done! One thing that I have gotten done that I have been meaning to is to get all of my bike sensors hooked up for my RS800cx Polar heart rate monitor. I now have all my bikes: TT, Road, and Mountain hooked up for speed, distance, heart rate, and rpm! I am really excited. Its so easy just to wear the watch and switch between bike 1, 2 and 3. No more computers or wires!