I'm excited to announce my first corporate sponsorship to run through the end of September 2012 with Trigger Point Performance Therapy based out of Austin, Tx. After a random encounter with one of their employees, Colleen, at the yearly DallasMania fitness convention I went about applying for a sponsorship with their company. As most of us athletes know, recovery is a must and big part of being an athlete. Without proper recovery we set ourselves up for injury as well as hamper our potential training and racing results. Tigger Point was created by Owner/CEO Cassidy Phillips in order to self-treat his fibromyalgia pain. Not everyone is able to get massage therapist or chiropractic help on a regular basis and TP allows us, for the most part, to do the necessary work of these professionals at home with a few pieces of seemingly simple tools. As some of you may know the last couple of years I was annoyed with some slight elbow and knee pains due to lack of recovering, stretching, and overuse. With the tools and knowledge that I receive from Trigger Point I hope to overcome these issues and maximize my workouts by properly recovering for the 2012 race season. After the Half-Ironman World Championship this year I'm super stoked to get the off-season training that I have lacked up to this point and have plans for a very successful season next year. As I use the products mentioned above I will do some product reviews posted on here for others to see. Please check out their website, facebook page, and let me know if you have any questions.
http://www.tptherapy.com/
Saturday, October 15, 2011
Half-Ironman World Championship & Rose City Triathlon
September was a busy and exciting month for me. After having picked up a spot in the Buffalo Springs Lake Half-Ironman in Lubbock to the Marines Half-Ironman World Championship lots of preparation went into planning the trip out there with my father and good friend, William Ritter. For financial purposes we drove alllll the way from Longview, Tx through Dallas to get Will and then headed to Las Vegas, NV. At nearly every pit stop along the way we'd have to stop for Ritter with his small bladder, but it gave us the opportunity to stretch the legs and get some pictures along the way. When I say take pictures, I don't mean just a couple. I think from start to end of that trip we both snapped about 500+ photos, a majority of which came during our 30 minute turned 1.5 hour run at the Grand Canyon the second nights stay. I was very thankful that we were able to take William both due to his keeping my father from talking my ears off the whole way as well as getting to catch up with him and talk racing. For those of you that may not know William, I've known of him since his high school cross-country days in Carthage, Tx and later got to know him closer when he was running CC for East Texas Baptist University. We've kept in touch every since and moreso once I entered into the triathlon world a little over a year after he did. On the trip out there I think we ate the September Special at a Subway every day or two. It'll be a while before I eat at Subway again needless to say. Cutting to the main event, I had heard other athletes such as Seth Ozasa and Travis Thomason stating how hilly the course was, but nothing prepared me for what was to come.
Being in the last wave to start the race gave me the opportunity to watch the pro men and women finish the swim and run past before jumping on the bikes. My swim was a bit slower than I had hoped for and I was hoping to make up ground from there. The total climbing for the day on the bike and run was 5200 feet worth with many a long, gradual hill on the bike and run course. In retrospect I would have changed out the gearing on the bike from an 11-23 cassette to 11-28 since I would bomb the downhills passing people just to have them repass me at the top of the long hills when I was bogged down. I was pushing a pretty hard pace around 21 mph for the first 35 miles and then had a younger kid passed me and then we worked together to legally draft for about 10 minutes. This pace was staying between 22-24 mph without having any major uphills right then, but my legs just couldn't sustain that pace and I let him go. After that is when I bonked. After pushing hard the first part of the race I was only able to muster enough energy to get to the run transition with an average 18.7 mph for the 56 mile leg. The long gradual downhill entering the town of Henderson, just 30 minutes from Vegas, had a headwind and that was messing with my head a bit with me starting to worry if I had energy enough to get a decent run in. One of the cool parts of the race that made me feel kind of like a pro was that after doing my flying dismount at the line one of the volunteers was there to grab my bike and put it away on the racks so I could head straight to the changing tent with them handing me the bag with my number on it and my running gear inside. I took a little longer than I should have trying to collect myself and get prepared for the half marathon to end the race. I told myself that I wasn't here to quit and would at least walk if need be. I started off jogging right after a volunteer slathered sunscreen on my shoulders and the legs didn't feel so bad at this pace. After leaving the tent I had maybe a quarter of a mile on what was surely the only flat spot on the bike/run course. I immediately went down a long, easy downhill which aided me in opening my stride up a bit quicker than normal off the bike and then started focusing on trying to catch as many people as I could. I walked soley at each aid station I drank at and sometimes just grabbed a sponge or water to pour over my head or stuff under my straps to keep cool and block the sun on my shoulders/neck. I was fairly happy with how I was running considering a slight lack of training going in to ensure that my knee and elbow did not hinder me or take me out of the race. Similar to the Galveston course earlier in the year that had 4 loops to run this Vegas course had 3. I was not going to go into the finish early this time. The last 1.5 miles was a tad steep and I welcome it. That last part of the run I went from a 6:30/mile pace down to sprinting in the last 1/8th mile at roughly 4:20 pace to finish my first 70.3 World Championship. I'm so thankful for the opportunity to compete in this event and was so inspired and motivated after this race to pursue my professional 70.3 athlete status. I've never really trained hard in the off-season, but look forward to working with my friend Eric Deller from the local bike shop and swim coach to push each other to become super fast for next season. On the return trip we took some time to walk around and snap pictures at a couple of other National Parks to break up the long trip back. I learned a lot of invaluable lessons about training for this race next year and knowing what to expect on raceday to ensure a better performance next year. It will happen! On a side note relating to the race I recently received a K-Swiss/Trek team jersey signed by 6 of the pros! I never win anything, but it looks like my luck is changing. ;)
6 days later I competed in the Rose City Triathlon in Tyler that held the distinction as being the South Midwest Region Sprint Championship. This meant that there were quite a few more people than normal and that the race would be worth more points. Knowing that I was still fatigued from the Vegas 70.3 WC I just wanted to push hard and minimize the time between myself and the overall winner, even if I didn't place in my age group. I felt surprisingly good on the swim and bike, but on the bike I looked down thinking I was pushing in the 24 mph neighborhood and only seeing 21.5 on the computer. I hoped to have one of my usual good runs at the sprint tris and coming into the last turn on the bike I turned it slightly too sharp on the smooth road with thin tires and the bike slid out from under me. I was sliding on the ground telling myself not to cuss because of the people around and that this better not slow my run down. I got up and made sure no bones were sticking out then, grabbed the shoe that came off the bike, and then slowly pedaled the 50 meters to the transition. My little toe, ankle, knee, and shoulder on my right side were cut up and bleeding a little, but I was not quitting. I counted to 3, shoved my right foot into the tight-fitting Adidas, and then took off as fast as I could at a limping pace. The limp nearly went away after about half a mile and then I started trying to push hard, especially seeing that my friend Seth Ozasa was behind me and started in the swim wave a few minutes back. I couldn't let him pass and he didn't. I managed to pull off the 13th fastest run out of the 400ish competitors for the day somehow which put me 8 minutes behind the leader in 30th place overall. Other than laying the bike over I can't say I'm very disappointed with the results considering the brutal half-Ironman 6 days before. I always like this race due to the fact that I get to see a lot of friends and had more show up from the Louisiana and Dallas area because of the Championship status. Now we're into October and I'm doing a lot of run races (15K and 3 5K's) leading up to the super sprint Monster Tri in Dallas the last weekend.
I would like to say a huge thanks to all of my supporters, sponsors and fans out there!!! Partically I want to thank my parents Richard and Mary, my Grandma, Paul Reynolds of ETSC, J.L. Byassee of State Farm Insurance out of Marshall, Dr. Sabrina Benefield, Joe Nobles, Eric Deller and Carl Owens, owner, of Woolley G's Bike & Fitness for their helping make this year and the World Championship possible. I want to throw a shout-out to my first corporate sponsor Trigger Point Performance Therapy residing out of Austin, TX that I recently signed a one year contract with. I'll have another Note with more about them soon. Thanks for reading!!!
Being in the last wave to start the race gave me the opportunity to watch the pro men and women finish the swim and run past before jumping on the bikes. My swim was a bit slower than I had hoped for and I was hoping to make up ground from there. The total climbing for the day on the bike and run was 5200 feet worth with many a long, gradual hill on the bike and run course. In retrospect I would have changed out the gearing on the bike from an 11-23 cassette to 11-28 since I would bomb the downhills passing people just to have them repass me at the top of the long hills when I was bogged down. I was pushing a pretty hard pace around 21 mph for the first 35 miles and then had a younger kid passed me and then we worked together to legally draft for about 10 minutes. This pace was staying between 22-24 mph without having any major uphills right then, but my legs just couldn't sustain that pace and I let him go. After that is when I bonked. After pushing hard the first part of the race I was only able to muster enough energy to get to the run transition with an average 18.7 mph for the 56 mile leg. The long gradual downhill entering the town of Henderson, just 30 minutes from Vegas, had a headwind and that was messing with my head a bit with me starting to worry if I had energy enough to get a decent run in. One of the cool parts of the race that made me feel kind of like a pro was that after doing my flying dismount at the line one of the volunteers was there to grab my bike and put it away on the racks so I could head straight to the changing tent with them handing me the bag with my number on it and my running gear inside. I took a little longer than I should have trying to collect myself and get prepared for the half marathon to end the race. I told myself that I wasn't here to quit and would at least walk if need be. I started off jogging right after a volunteer slathered sunscreen on my shoulders and the legs didn't feel so bad at this pace. After leaving the tent I had maybe a quarter of a mile on what was surely the only flat spot on the bike/run course. I immediately went down a long, easy downhill which aided me in opening my stride up a bit quicker than normal off the bike and then started focusing on trying to catch as many people as I could. I walked soley at each aid station I drank at and sometimes just grabbed a sponge or water to pour over my head or stuff under my straps to keep cool and block the sun on my shoulders/neck. I was fairly happy with how I was running considering a slight lack of training going in to ensure that my knee and elbow did not hinder me or take me out of the race. Similar to the Galveston course earlier in the year that had 4 loops to run this Vegas course had 3. I was not going to go into the finish early this time. The last 1.5 miles was a tad steep and I welcome it. That last part of the run I went from a 6:30/mile pace down to sprinting in the last 1/8th mile at roughly 4:20 pace to finish my first 70.3 World Championship. I'm so thankful for the opportunity to compete in this event and was so inspired and motivated after this race to pursue my professional 70.3 athlete status. I've never really trained hard in the off-season, but look forward to working with my friend Eric Deller from the local bike shop and swim coach to push each other to become super fast for next season. On the return trip we took some time to walk around and snap pictures at a couple of other National Parks to break up the long trip back. I learned a lot of invaluable lessons about training for this race next year and knowing what to expect on raceday to ensure a better performance next year. It will happen! On a side note relating to the race I recently received a K-Swiss/Trek team jersey signed by 6 of the pros! I never win anything, but it looks like my luck is changing. ;)
6 days later I competed in the Rose City Triathlon in Tyler that held the distinction as being the South Midwest Region Sprint Championship. This meant that there were quite a few more people than normal and that the race would be worth more points. Knowing that I was still fatigued from the Vegas 70.3 WC I just wanted to push hard and minimize the time between myself and the overall winner, even if I didn't place in my age group. I felt surprisingly good on the swim and bike, but on the bike I looked down thinking I was pushing in the 24 mph neighborhood and only seeing 21.5 on the computer. I hoped to have one of my usual good runs at the sprint tris and coming into the last turn on the bike I turned it slightly too sharp on the smooth road with thin tires and the bike slid out from under me. I was sliding on the ground telling myself not to cuss because of the people around and that this better not slow my run down. I got up and made sure no bones were sticking out then, grabbed the shoe that came off the bike, and then slowly pedaled the 50 meters to the transition. My little toe, ankle, knee, and shoulder on my right side were cut up and bleeding a little, but I was not quitting. I counted to 3, shoved my right foot into the tight-fitting Adidas, and then took off as fast as I could at a limping pace. The limp nearly went away after about half a mile and then I started trying to push hard, especially seeing that my friend Seth Ozasa was behind me and started in the swim wave a few minutes back. I couldn't let him pass and he didn't. I managed to pull off the 13th fastest run out of the 400ish competitors for the day somehow which put me 8 minutes behind the leader in 30th place overall. Other than laying the bike over I can't say I'm very disappointed with the results considering the brutal half-Ironman 6 days before. I always like this race due to the fact that I get to see a lot of friends and had more show up from the Louisiana and Dallas area because of the Championship status. Now we're into October and I'm doing a lot of run races (15K and 3 5K's) leading up to the super sprint Monster Tri in Dallas the last weekend.
I would like to say a huge thanks to all of my supporters, sponsors and fans out there!!! Partically I want to thank my parents Richard and Mary, my Grandma, Paul Reynolds of ETSC, J.L. Byassee of State Farm Insurance out of Marshall, Dr. Sabrina Benefield, Joe Nobles, Eric Deller and Carl Owens, owner, of Woolley G's Bike & Fitness for their helping make this year and the World Championship possible. I want to throw a shout-out to my first corporate sponsor Trigger Point Performance Therapy residing out of Austin, TX that I recently signed a one year contract with. I'll have another Note with more about them soon. Thanks for reading!!!
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