The Second Wind Group - CLOSED (Page 11)

Gomes, that sounds like an awesome event!  Do you know if there is a way to contribute to a fund even if you can't race in the events?

I'll have to check out NeedtoBreathe.  I pretty much work out exclusively to gospel rap, but I really like Kutless and many other Christian artists. 

Good Morning!  I hope everyone had a great 4th.  I rode in a 100K event.  It was a tough route with hills and then add in the heat, but great over.  Took me 3 hrs 44 min to complete the 62 miles. There were probably 800-900 riders in the event.  This was the good news for the day.

Not long after I got home from the event, I found out some devastating news that a friend of mine was killed while riding his bike yesterday afternoon.  He was hit from behind by a tractor trailor.  His name is Steve Jordan.  Steve is the one who went with me to help me pick out a bike when I started cycling.  He taught me everything I know about cycling and even gave me some gear to get started (helmet and pedals).  Recently he gave me aero bars to use for my triathlons.  We would ride together all the time.

I am really struggling with this right now and ask for your prayers.  Also pray for his family as he leaves behind his wife and 3 boys (ages range from 12-17).  Steve was extremely active in our church and needless to say, it is hitting the church family hard.

I know he is rejoicing now in heaven!

That's awful news.  I will pray for you and for Steve's Family.  How does something like that happen? 

Tractor Trailer driver's field of vision is not good, so that could be a big part of it. 

There was a Postal Service TT pulling into the post office one morning and he stopped and waited until I rode past the entrance before he turned.  I think that comes from training.  Then again it was also 5:30 am and I have lots of flashing lights on my bike so I stood-out pretty well.  Riding in the daylight with all the other cars and other activity on the road probably makes it tougher to see that one guy riding in the bike lane in your blind spot.

So sad to hear this.  I'll also pray that we all stay safe out there.  Especially down here in FL where we lead the nation in hit cyclists.

Ran 5K yesterday, Hot and Humid

But it was exercise, so it was all good. And always remember to smile for the camera, no matter how much it hurts.

(fire 5k-2.jpg)

Good morning everyone.  I just wanted to share about the amazing turnout at Steve's funeral yesterday.  It was standing room only at the church.  If I had to guess, somewhere between 600-700 people were there.  It was a great celebration for the life of Steve.  Our pastor said in his 14 years at our church, he has never seen this many people for a funeral.

I wrote a blog post on The Second Wind about the impact Steve had on my life.  You can read that here (http://thesecondwind.net/2012/reflections-friend/).

Also, ABC 11 was on hand for the funeral.  They had a nice piece on the news about it that you can watch here (http://abclocal.go.com/wtvd/video?id=8728576).

Morning everyone!

Chick, 600-700 people is amazing. I'm sure the family would rather have 2 people at his funeral 30 years from now, but I'm also sure there is so much comfort in seeing that many people paying respects. 

I had a good brick this morning and wanted to share that Track work and Hill work do in-fact make you faster, but you also need a rest day to recover from those to reap the benefits.  If only I could also find time for squats to really get the speed back.  It's like not eating junk food.  You know you shouldn't (or should) do something to make you faster, leaner, etc. but it's just so easy to take the easy way and eat the junk food (or not do squats). 

I've got a sprint on August 4th and then nothing on the calendar for the rest of the year.  I'm still waiting on news about a possible move and job change, so I'm not ready to sign up for something yet.  I'm thinking about doing an Oly or HIM in November.  I guess we'll see what the Lord sends.

I'm right smack in the middle of my training for my next races.  My weekends have been extremely busy and since I prefer to find races on Saturdays I've not signed up for anything.  My next race is September 9 in DC.  I'm also tenatively planning a race in Waterloo, IA on August 19.  That is about a 7 hours drive for us, but we have some family there and it will be a good test run for packing up the family and driving to DC in September.  Also, that race in IA has a kids tri on Saturday followed by the Oly on Sunday.  My son has been very pumped up about my tri training and he's been very excited to sign up for one.

Training wise, I've been mainly focused on HR training on my run.  I've been focused on keeping my HR at 145 or below.  This makes me VERY slow.  But I feel like this is a good strategy for "building the engine".  I have a group 6 mile run this Saturday and I know that I won't be disciplined enough to keep my HR that low...I'll be fighting the urge to increase my speed.

I've been going on close to a month now with no new injuries.  My calves and Achilles are feeling pretty good.  My right Achilles is still swollen and has a funny sensation when I rub it (nerve damage?) but seems to be holding up well and is getting better, not worse.  

I'd been hearing about Craft cool shirts for a while so I decided to give one a try. I ordered the long sleeve and sleeveless versions.  I'll be trying the LS one tomorrow after I drop my wife and kids at the airport (they're going to the in-laws house) and I'll wear the sleeveless mesh under my cycling jersey on a long run Sunday.  I'll report back if I think they're good. 

So, I am 95% certain I'm going to Austin.  I had an interview on Monday with the Senior VP of that group that went great and I got an email about having lunch with the President of the company out in Austin and the lady who'll report to me on August 1.  I saw the General Counsel in the Cafeteria yesterday and she said "I've heard good things.  Let me know if you have any questions about Austin..."

I've been pretty lacking in motivation in my current job.  If I was going to be here, there are lots of things I would do to get projects going, but because I'm leaving and because the ideas I have aren't normal, I just don't feel like doing anything at all. 

Anyone have any experience with a situation like this? 

I hope everyone has a great weekend.  Anyone doing something interesting?

I'm officially signed up for the Nation's Triathlon in Washington D.C.  I'm very excited and I'm trying to plan the rest of my racing season prior to that.  I did hear that the free t-shirt will be Craft shirts, so I'm interested to hear your thoughts, Gomes.

I didn't get much of a workout on Sunday.  I took my tri bike into the bike shop for a tune so didn't do any riding this weekend.....except...I ride my old mountain bike about 7 miles round trip to church last night.  No big deal...except I pulled two of my kids in the trailer.  My son is almost 7 and is way to big to be in a trailer.  But he and my daughter loved it.  It was quite a workout doing some hills with that weight behind me.  My son is off of training wheels but he's not quite comfortable riding on the streets yet.  My older son (8), on the other hand, is all over the place and loves to ride with me. 

Gomes, I've never been in a situation like yours as I've never relocated.  In my professional career, I've only had 2 jobs and they've both been in small companies where I have been pretty self-directed.  

Congrats on getting signed up for the Nation's Tri dprocket!  I bet that is a great event.  I would like to race in that event one year.  Need to plan for that.

I hope everyone is doing well.  I am getting ready for the Mission Man Triathlon on Saturday.  This is a sprint distance (750m lake swim, 15 mi bike, 3.1 mi run).  I raced in this one last year and it is a great event.  My goal this year is to improve on my finish time from last year of 1:36:39. 

Had a good short ride before work this morning with my buddy Jon. Soon into our ride I could hear something coming up behind us. I turned to look and here comes a dog in a full sprint chasing after us. I told Jon that we need to pick up the pace to out run this dog. He was not happy that we were riding by, but I am glad to report we left him in the dust!  Always interesting when riding the bike what you come across.  I had my water bottle in hand in case he came closer to squirt it at him, but he stopped just before I did that.

Well, everyone have a great week of training.

I too am looking forward to a sprint on saturday.  Its a 500m lake swim, 12.5 mile bike, and 5k run.  My goal splits are 10 min swim, 2 min T1, 40 min bike, 1 min T2, 27 min run, for a total time of 1:20.  I'm gonna have to push myself to hit that goal, so we'll see what happens. 

This last weekend, I put in another 45 mile bike ride on friday afternoon.  It was 95+ degrees outside when I started, and this was my first real encounter with dehydration.  Over the course of my 3 hour ride, I ended up drinking 2 bottles of gatorade and 2 bottles of water, but half of that liquid consumption was on the last of my 3 laps.  I figure that at that point, it was too late.  I needed to be consuming my liquid earlier rather than later, not trying to play catch-up.  I also noticed my speed was significantly slower on that last lap as well.  I went from averaging around 17mph on lap 1, to 16 on lap 2 to about 14 on lap 3.  Part of that was my stomach hurting enough to where aero position wasn't comfortable anymore so I sat up the whole time.  Anyway, this was a good learning experience and now I know more for the future.

On sunday morning, I completed an 8.3 mile run, the longest i've done since my half marathon back in march.  For whatever reason, I am OCD when I run and count my steps, so I set a goal to run 500 steps then walk 100 steps (approx. 6.5 minutes run to 1.5 minutes walk).  I kept up this pace the whole time and felt great when I finished.  I have a 9 mile run scheduled for this weekend and hope to increase my run/walk ratio.  I'm less than 8 weeks away from my HIM, and right where I want to be. 

Happy training everyone.

Ooohhh.  I'll have to remember that. 

That was a tip my friend Steve who died in that accident told me when we rode this same route last year and this same dog came after us.  A good tip!

What do you guys think of wetsuits?  I don't like them personally, but am wondering if I should get one for my Nations race in August.  From the reading I am doing, it sounds like its usually wetsuit legal.  When I did my first tri, I was shocked that my buddy who was wearing a wetsuit beat me in the water.  Alot of it had to do with nerves on my part (he is experienced) but I normally am faster than him by a good 20 seconds (per 100).  

What do you guys think?  

Sungirl...I'm curious as to your thoughts on sleeveless?  I've read that if you're going to go with a wetsuit, that sleeves is the way to go due to the extra boyancy it gives you and because the sleeveless doesn't always seal well.  I've also read that "stronger swimmers" prefer sleeveless because you can feel the water and it's more natural....does that sound right?  If that is the case, I'd probably go sleeveless because I think I'd like the extra range of motion.

My only experience with wetsuits is for scuba diving and that's a different animal.