Snow!

Well it looks like my outdoor bike riding days are over for a few months. I took a 20 mile ride on Thursday in the nice sunshine and really can't wait for spring and to get back out there. I was planning a swim in Lake Couer D Alene tomorrow with my new wetsuit but with the new snow and chilly weather my motivation has drastically decreased! It might be a little bit before I can make my first open water swim. Just got to focus on being ready when the time comes to really attack my training. Started doing a weight training program to help build my strength and core stability. Just 203 days of training left till Ironman 70.3, can't wait!

My New XTERRA Vortex 3 Full Wetsuit

Mountain Man Triathlon

I competed in my first ever triathlon this afternoon. ASWWU put on the event; it was a 500 yd swim in the WEC Pool, 12K bike ride, and a 5K run at Bennington Lake. The swim portion required two heats and I swam the second. It was a good swim once I got into a rhythm, but the first 3-4 laps were a little rough and my pace was a little slow. I could have definitely done better and its nice to know I have one definite area that needs improvement. I finished the swim in 10min and 58 seconds and in 16th place.
We then headed out to Bennington Lake and began the bike. I was the 16th to head out and was almost a full minute behind the guy in front of me. I caught him and a fairly large group about the second hill. The trail was extremely muddy and made riding very difficult. Hills were impossible, but really helped me. I got off and ran up the hills. That is where I passed most of my competition. On the last hill, I was pretty tired and the bike was just caked. I tried to start pedaling once I got to the pavement section and snapped the derailleur on the bike. I then had to run for a good distance on the pavement till I hit the downhill to T2.
I ran the whole parking lot to the transition and then headed out on the run. The guy I started out the bike behind was just ahead of me when I started the run and I passed him within the first few minutes. The run was good, my heart rate was about 10bpm higher than I wanted it to be but I was carrying a couple pounds of mud and water on my shoes. There was one hill that was a little rough but overall it was a great run.
Final time was 1 hour and 11 minutes, not sure about the place but I am guessing I was in the top 10. Overall an awesome day! Can't wait till my next Triathlon, I love this sport!

Official Member of Team FCA Endurance

Received my letter in the mail today telling me I was an accepted member of the team. We are looking for financial support to help spread our message even more so if interested please let me know! It's a great ministry with an awesome statement of belief. They are doing some really good things already and I am excited about what the future holds. I already posted it once but here is the statement of beliefs.

I am a Christian first and last. I am created in the likeness of God Almighty to bring Him glory. I am a member of Team Jesus Christ. I wear the colors of the cross. I am a Competitor now and forever. I am made to strive, to strain, to stretch and to succeed in the arena of competition. I am a Christian Competitor and as such, I face my challenger with the face of Christ. I do not trust in myself. I do not boast in my abilities or believe in my own strength. I rely solely on the power of God. I compete for the pleasure of my Heavenly Father, the honor of Christ and the reputation of the Holy Spirit. My attitude on and off the field is above reproach - my conduct beyond criticism. Whether I am preparing, practicing or playing; I submit to God's authority and those He has put over me. I respect my coaches, officials, teammates and competitors out of respect for the Lord. My body is the temple of Jesus Christ. I protect it from within and without. Nothing enters my body that does not honor the Living God. My sweat is an offering to my Master. My soreness is a sacrifice to my Savior. I give my all - all of the time. I do not give up. I do not give in. I do not give out. I am the Lord’s warrior - a competitor by conviction and a disciple of determination. I am confident beyond reason because my confidence lies in Christ. The results of my efforts must result in His glory. LET THE COMPETITION BEGIN. LET THE GLORY BE GOD'S.

Our Vision: To Impact- to see the endurance world impacted for Jesus Christ through the influence of athletes and coaches

Our Mission: To Present- to present athletes and coaches, and all whom they influence, the challenge and adventure of receiving Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord, serving him in their relationships and in the fellowship of the church

Our Purpose: To Unite and Equip- we are uniting and equipping Christian endurance athletes to grow in their relationship with Jesus Christ and share that faith with others.

Our Plan: Teamwork- God is bringing together a National Team of Christian endurance athletes who love the Lord, love the sport, and feel called to impact those withing their sport for Jesus Christ. Through coming together, those on the Team are able to experience the countless blessings of Christian community with those whom they share endurance passion. More importantly, they are able to have a much bigger impact on the endurance world together than as individuals.

Triple Iron 422 Promotional Video from FCA on Vimeo.

Frigid

The weather outside is turning towards winter and much sooner than I would like. I got up at 6:30 on saturday for the Hailstone group ride and there was ice on the ground and even with multiple layers of cool weather cycling gear I was still finding it very difficult to stay warm. I ended up riding about 4 blocks to a friends apartment that I was going to ride with before deciding there was no way that I was going to rough 35 miles in that cold. I ended up riding later that day at 3pm and it was still extremely cold. I had to stop several times just to warm up a little bit.

Swimming has been going really well! I really enjoy it and am even starting to enjoy the early morning wakeup, its a great way to start the day. My breathing technique really needs to improve, I tend to get off rhythm often and it spikes my heart rate and slows me down.

Running is still painful, my left knee is especially giving me trouble. My heart rate and feet turnover rate is very good right now just need to keep it up.

Ironman World Championships was on sunday, would love to do that someday! Craig Alexander won back to back becoming only the 4th Male athlete ever. That victory was overshadowed though by Chrissie Whelingtons extraordinary day. She won her third straight Ironman title by almost 20 minutes and broke the course record. Legitamately laying claim to being one of the greatest female triathletes ever.

I Love Ironman!

Keep On Keeping On

So its been almost a full week since my last update. But I have continued to work out even though the blogging is a little lacking. I have been getting up at 6am Monday Tuesday and Thursday's and swimming. I have been doing a lot of drill work for about 20 minutes or so and then swimming laps after that. It's getting better, I feel myself moving through the water much better and using less energy to do it. I got a heart rate monitor and have been monitoring that pretty closely. I am trying to stay above 130 and below 160 most of the time. I rode 20 miles yesterday and it was my first ride with the monitor. I really struggled to keep my heart rate down, whenever there was an uphill or I pushed hard my heart rate spiked up to 180 or 190 and I really had to relax to get it back down. So in the next few rides I am going to really work on improving my heart rate control. Running is awful, I really don't like it. It kills my knees and feet! But I will continue to work at it and keep on keeping on.

Tri Jerret Swim Drills Part 1

Requiem for an Ironam Dream

First Day

College classes begin today. My morning swimming and weight lifting program also began this morning. I swam about 20 lengths of the pool this morning, 15 of those were mainly drill work. I did thumb to thigh, closed fist, kick board drill, and one hand pull drills. I am not a great swimmer and have a lot of work to do, but I will keep at it. 20 mile bike ride planned for this afternoon going to work on aerobar position.

Shabat!

It's sabbath YAY! That means early morning group ride with Hailstone. We left the University at 7am and rode 36 miles. We went to Pioneer park, joined the group and then headed to Milton-Freewater, Umapine and back to the University. Average pace was 18.1 mph. On the last mile I decided it would be fun to sprint past my cycling teacher and be first one in. I went to early and he caught and passed me with just 20 feet to go. Disapointing : ) It was good fun though and a beautiful ride. Gave me a chance to try out my new areobars, love them! A little scary but definitely helpful. Looking forward to some rest and relaxation this afternoon. Happy Sabbath

Great Day

Its Sabbath! I got my aero bars, bib shorts, and Nike Structure Triax 12's in the mail today. Love them all! I also purchased and fuel belt for longer runs, and some chamois butter. Went for a 3.5 mile to test the belt and shoes. It went well! My feet are a little sore but thats expected I guess with new shoes hopefully the feel will improve. Headed for Hailstone group ride at 7am in the morning again, hopefully I can stay with the pack : )

Experience Ironman

"You can quit and they won't care, but you will always know"

Stress, is not awesome! Basketball season started on Sunday and I am already exhausted, its tough work to get up at 5am and go to bed after 11pm back to back days while dealing with the stress of coaching a team. I really didnt want to not go on a run yesterday and I am not super pumped about riding my bike this afternoon. But I know its what I got to do. I have a goal and I am committed to completing that goal. So I ran, and so I will bike.
I ran 4.2 miles at a 7:24 mile pace. Experienced some pain in my knee and should be more careful about increasing my pace and distance. Bike ride planned for this afternoon of 20 or so miles.

Hailstone Group Ride

I got up at 6:45 on a Saturday morning and rode 31.6 miles with my good friend Jonathon Schreven. We went to the rose garden at Pioneer Park to go on a group ride with the Hailstone group. But unfortunately a mile or so in the guy ahaed of Jonathon got a flat and he stopped to help. So both of us got dropped from the pack and the guy with the flat had no desire to catch the pack and we didn't know exactly what direction to head. Nonetheless we pushed on and completed a 31 mile out and back. Our pace on the chase was 19 mph, we were really flying hard. But when we never caught the pack we were beat and gradually made our way back against a very strong headwind averaging 15.5 mph for the whole trip. It was a great way to start my Saturday and hopefully in the next few weeks we can stay with the pack better. Happy Sabbath!

First Flat Tire

I went on a 21 mile ride today from the dorm out to milton-freewater and back down winesap rd. I then turned off on Beet rd and crossed the bridge just before Mojourner hill and got a puncture. In cyclying class last spring I learned how to change a flat and thankfully had a pack on my bike with all the equipment to do it. But I had never really changed a tire hands on. To make matters worse the tire that went flat was the back one. So I had to take it out off the chain ring and then put it back on. It took me little while to find the puncture and figure out what best to do. I decided to patch it and save my new tubes. The patch worked, on one of the holes but turns out there were two punctures. So I patched the second one and put the tire all back together and reinflated it. Success! My first tire repair job was painfully slow but I got it done. I am just praying that I dont have to deal with that during a race.
The ride was really good though minus that setback. Average speed was 18 mph.

Inside Ironman

Why I Race?

I have been confronted with a challenge. Last years Ironman 70.3 was on a Sunday morning, this years event a Saturday afternoon. So what do I do? For me I have to look at the reason I want to compete. Why I Race? One of the big reasons I want to do an Ironman is because it is something extremely hard that I can't do on my own. I am going to have to rely on God to do it. Most other endurance athletes are going to have to rely on some power bigger themselves at some point during the race and training as well. What an incredible opportunity to share God to people who may be searching for something bigger to rely on. That is the reason I want to race Ironman. Scott Rigsby a double amputee who became a famous triathlete said this "The purpose of one's life and each day that you live should be to Know God and to Make Him Know." I feel Ironman gives me an incredible opportunity to fulfill that purpose. I am going to team up with Team FCA (Fellowship of Christian Athletes)-Endurance to better increase my chances of showing God through this journey. Here is a statement of their competitors creed.

I am a Christian first and last.
I am created in the likeness of
God Almighty to bring Him glory.
I am a member of Team Jesus Christ.
I wear the colors of the cross

I am a Competitor now and forever.
I am made to strive, to strain,
to stretch and to succeed
in the arena of competition.
I am a Christian Competitor
and as such, I face my challenger
with the face of Christ.

I do not trust in myself.
I do not boast in my abilities
or believe in my own strength.
I rely solely on the power of God.
I compete for the pleasure of
my Heavenly Father, the honor of Christ
and the reputation of the Holy Spirit.

My attitude on and off
the field is above reproach-
my conduct beyond criticism.
Whether I am preparing,
practicing or playing;
I submit to God’s authority
and those He has put over me.
I respect my coaches, officials,
teammates and competitors
out of respect for the Lord.

My body is the temple of Jesus Christ.
I protect it from within and without.
Nothing enters my body that
does not honor the Living God.
My sweat is an offering to my Master.
My soreness is a sacrifice to my Savior.

I give my all – all of the time.
I do not give up. I do not give in.
I do not give out. I am the Lord’s warrior –
a competitor by conviction
and a disciple of determination.
I am confident beyond reason
because my confidence lies in Christ.
The results of my efforts
must result in His glory.

LET THE COMPETITION BEGIN.
LET THE GLORY BE GOD’S.

This is tough for me to choose to compete on the Sabbath, but I feel I am doing it for the right reasons and God will honor my decision. I hope you can honor and support my decision as well. The event is Saturday June 12, 2010 at 2pm in Boise, come chear me on or support me in my training.

You Will Do This

Officially Registered

I am now officially signed up to do Ironman 70.3 Boise. The race is June 12, 2010 at 2 pm. The swim begins in Lucky Peak Reservoir, 1.2 mile single loop. The bike route takes off from the main dock parking lot and goes over the dam and south on Highway 21. It's a 56 mile course that runs south of Boise to Kuna and back to downtown. The run leg starts on capital boulevard and does a double loop through downtown Boise on the Greenbelt ending on 8th St after 13.1 miles.

Now that I am all registered I am committed, there are no full refunds if I back out. I am super excited to now have an actual date to strive for. But also nervous that I won't be ready or suffer some injury that keeps me from competing. I am going to trust in God and his plan, all I can do is give my very best and know that God will work it out.

Hot Run

The temperature was 90 degrees when I made my run around 4pm today. I wanted to get in a little bit longer distance and figured I better do it earlier while I had the time, then later and end up running in the dark. It turned out okay and I am glad I got out there but hopefully I can plan a little bit better for future runs. Run distance was 4.75 miles. Basically went from the palouse highway to hatch rd and back on side streets making a very nice loop. Pretty flat run and not many cars so it was good.
I decided to carry water with me this time. I am figuring that the more I increase my distance the more beneficial it will be to stay hydrated. I don't have a fuel/water belt or pack so I just carried a biking bottle in my hand. That was a little awkward and messed with my normal jogging motion a bit. But It was nice to have some water halfway through the run.
Pace was alright, I ended up averaging an 8 minute mile pace. That's a little higher than I would like it to be but I am still building distance, I can start worrying about shaving time later. Overall it was a wonderful afternoon run.

The Crawl

Afternoon Ride

Took a nice 23.2 mile ride this afternoon. I Went from my house out to the Palouse highway making about a mile and a half ascent of a fairly steep hill then had fun descending 3+ miles down to the bottom of Regal. Top speed was 40.6 mph : ) Then climbed the backway up to Willow Springs and climbed some more up Willow, a nice challenge. Descended to the Palouse and rode back to 57th, took 57th to High Drive and rode the rim of the South Hill. Very cool ride, you can see all of South Spokane and the mountains in the distance. I then turned off at 29th and cut all the way across south hill to Glenrose and rode that the rest of the way home. The ride along 29th was a little stressful because there was quite a bit of traffic but it provided a nice challenge to stay somewhat close to the pace of the cars. The average pace for the whole ride ended up being just under 17 mph, so just slightly under what I would've liked it to be but there were some good hill climbs to drop the average a bit. Overall a nice afternoon ride.

My Gear

My New Nike Zoom Structure Triax +12 Running Shoes. Found a great deal on Road Runner Sports. (http://s7ondemand1.scene7.com/is/image/roadrunnersports/NIK1262?wid=438&hei=432&fmt=jpeg&qlt=75,0&op_sharpen=0&resMode=bicub&op_usm=1.1,1.0,5,0&iccEmbed=0)

My Road Bike, A 2008 Giant OCR3 (http://www.giant-bicycles.com/en-US/bikes/road/1243/29271/zoom/). I have about 800 miles on it so far and not a problem. Just bought an aero bar (http://www.performancebike.com/bikes//Product2_10052_10551_1033652_-1) to aid the triathlon quest. I also have added a computer to the mix, a Cateye Strada Cadence (http://www.cateye.com/en/product_detail/407). I purchased clipless pedals and road shoes earlier this summer. I got the 2008 Specialized Sport Road Shoe (http://www.specialized.com/us/en/bc/SBCEqProduct.jsp?spid=40324) and the Crank Brothers Candy Pedals. (http://www.crankbrothers.com/candy.php)
Always on the lookout for cheap bibs or bike shorts and jerseys. Just bought the Performance Ultra II bib (http://www.performancebike.com/bikes//Product2_10052_10551_1071114_-1)

The swim leg is a little lacking right now, but it's not a big priority. I can get by with my cheap Nike Goggles and Dolphin Swim Trunks for now. I am on the lookout for sweet wetsuit deals though, so if you see one hook me up!

Nutrition wise I am pretty lost right now but I am doing some research. I am going to attempt in the next few months to really cut down on my sugar. I seem to notice spikes in energy followed by a lull after sugar so if I can gain some consistency and control my energy levels a little better that would be nice. Dairies and meats seem to have been giving me a little trouble as well, so a cut back/off might be in order.

Julie Moss Story

Recovery Day

After my 30+ mile ride of the day before I decided to take it a little easy on the exercise. But I did manage to get in a 2.6 mile run. Took off from my house just around sunset. It's my favorite time of day to run, its almost always the perfect temperature, not a lot of cars on the road (at least now), and there are usually a lot of other people out exercising. Tonight's run wasn't very strenuous, ended up averaging just over a 7 minute mile pace.

Check out some of the links I posted on the side of this blog. Some great sites you should check out if your into triathlons or exercising!

Scott Rigsby Ironman Story

"I can, I will, I shall, Be Great"

I have always been into fitness and working out but something happened when I got on a bike this last spring. I suddenly wanted to go farther and harder, it's no longer enough to just casually ride and run for excercise. I must have something to push myself with, a goal, a plan.

I went Salmon Fishing for 6 weeks and pretty much had no excercise besides the strenous work of fishing. I missed it so much! When I got back, one of the first things I wanted to do was jump on my bike and go for a ride. I worked 3 weeks of camp and every weekend I came home and jumped on the bike. I started planning longer and more challenging rides. I somehow got the brilliant idea to go climb mt. constitution in the san juan islands. I had been there before and remembered the extreme steepness of the road and thought it would be a nice challenge. I had never talked to anyone about riding it, and I had never rode anything like it. I went into it with no idea whatsoever. All I did know was that I had to prepare. My earlier attempts at ignorant bike trips had not ended so well. I tried to ride 100 miles of trail of Couer d' Alenes just a few weeks after starting riding for the spring, and bonked around mile 85. I got lucky and found some nice people to give me a ride but it was still embarrassing to not be prepared and have to ask for help. So I began riding hills and riding longer and harder. I wanted to push myself hard enough so that when I got to the mountain I wouldn't have a problem.

When it came time to ride, I felt nervous in that I could fail and not make it to the summit like I had planned. I tentatively took off down the road. The climb gradually got steeper and steeper and my effort got harder and harder. The grade at its peak was 15% and the average was around 8% this lasted for just over 5 miles. I just battled through it, it wasn't pretty and it wasn't fast but I made the summit in just under 40 minutes. As I was climbing a phrase, one of the coaches at NBC inspired the kids with, ran through my head, "I can, I will, I shall, Be Great" It drove me, that desire to not give up and put forth my best effort possible. A car came up behind me about a mile from the summit and cheered me on for a few hundred yards. The guy in the front seat had an accordion and attempted to play chariots of fire complete with sound effects to motivate me. It was pretty funny and took my mind of the difficulty of the ride.

Climbing Mt. Constitution gave me more of a desire to find bigger and tougher challenges to conqueor. Triathlons and Ironman are the next step I believe; hopefully by next spring. I am not an amazing swimmer, and I am not a dedicated runner but "I can, I will, I shall, Be Great" is pushing me to become those things.

Spokefest

I rode Spokefest 2009 today with my dad. Its a 21 mile bike ride through the streets of Spokane and along the Spokane river. It was kind of a last minute thing, we just had decided to do it the week before and only put in two training rides. It was more of a family event and not really a race or hard group ride but it still got me excited. All of those people were striving towards a common goal of completing a distance, of increasing their fitness, or of having fun with friends or family. I love that!

I ended up riding about 3o miles overall as I rode back up the south hill and home after the ride. It was a casual ride and our average pace was only around 14, but it was just great to be out on the bike getting stronger. The Spokane Triathlon happened just up the road from where we were riding just a few hours earlier. Riding in Spokefest and seeing signs for the triathlon really got me pumped and excited about doing a triathlon soon. I can't wait!

On the ride their was a dad riding with his disabled son on the front of the bike. I thought that was pretty awesome! The dad was having to work really hard to get his kid up the hills but you could tell the kid loved it. I am sure the joy of his son was worth all the pain and fatigue the dad experienced. Kind of makes you think of another father being willing to suffer the pain and agony of the cross to give us his children, disabled and not deserving, a chance at joy and happiness.