Every new beginning comes from some other beginnings end

And so ends my summer. It is hard to believe that it is already time to go back to school. Ive got to say, the entire summer I feel like Ive spent a good deal of time complaining about how Ive missed school and such, but now that the school year approaches, I have to admit I am a tad nostalgic for the area of which i am from. Even harder to believe is that this is my last year at the College of William and Mary (assuming I pass haha).
Haven't written for a while. I guess I missed the Page County race report big time. It was fun though, nothing like racing through some good ol' hills for 3 hours, it definitely plays to my aerobic advantage. I won't bother writing the details of the race, however I feel it is somewhat noteworthy that before the start of the last 11 mile lap some dudes spokes sliced the top and major buckle on my shoes, making the last lap a tad more difficult. Kind of sucks that my 300 dollar Mavics are probably ruined now, but thats bike racing I guess...better than my bike or my wheels. So ended my 2010 cycling season. Id like to pronounce it a success. I got my Cat 3 upgrade, and proved to MABRA that the guy riding more or less unattached can indeed hammer out some decent finishes in Cat 3 races. Im definitely excited next year to race with Team Bike Doctor though, it will be fun to have some teamates.
The reason i didnt write a report for Page County was because the following week the family and i took our yearly vacation to Lake Anna. It was fun times. Found a good 40 mile loop to ride that encircled the lake, and got in one open water swim in water that nearly cooked me (this stuff was 96 degrees and getting out of the water I promptly hammered 3 bottles) thanks to my mom for kayaking along side me so that I did not end up in some boats engine. The hardest workout of all however was probably going fishing out on the boat with my two cousins, Collin and Stephanie, ages 10 and 7. Unfortunately the stupid fish would not stop biting, which meant constant unhooking, worming, untangling and so on. Largest catch of the day ME.
Got an email today from Team USA about DuWorlds. Im not going to lie, although Im looking forward to the race and being over there, i am undoubtedly more nervous about this race than i have ever been about any. I know that I have been putting in the hours of training, but the whole concept kinda gets me a little worked up. Oh well, I do what I can I guess right? Special thanks to Mark, my moms bf, for sitting at Burke Lake the other day to act as a transition area for my bike and my shoes as i did a mini Du. The legs felt great, got a loop around the 4.7ish mile lake in 2720, then hammered out an hour on the bike and did another 2.2ish mile run in 12 minutes. The money is in the bank, now to play the waiting game for September 4th. Anyway, Saturday I leave for the Burg. Definitely excited, as SemiSonic says "every new beginning comes from some other beginnings end."

Culpeper Sprint Tri

This weekend was my second time racing the Culpeper Sprint Triathlon. That officially means that I have been racing triathlon/multisport for over a year! The weeks leading up to the race I really focused on my swimming. I mentioned briefly last week that I was now training under Debi Bernardes, owner of Ucandoit multisport coaching out of Fredericksburg. Debi has been great thus far, she has got me doing things that I wasn't doing on my own, such as speed work and things to work my anaerobic system in addition to getting me in the water 3-4x a week. The water part made a huge difference. Last year I swam a high 13, this year I swam 3 minutes faster! First 1/3 of the race, monster success.

T1 went alright, the insole in my shoe came up and clumped under my foot, which sucked, but in the first mile of the bike I passed probably about 10+ other cyclists. I love swimmers, especially when they cant ride bikes. It brings me great joy to go by these fish as they are weirded out by the fact that they can breath whenever they want while exercising. Unfortunately for them, I am now joining their breed by trying to grow a pair of my own gills, 2 points for me!

The bike portion went well, the course was hilly. I passed the 15 mile mark at 37 minutes, somehow the next mile took me 7 minutes? Im not really sure about the distance. I did have the 6th fastest bike there, which pleased me. I want a TT bike, I also want about $20k of other bike stuff, a big house in Colorado, and a beautiful wife, I guess lifes just rough sometimes. That said, I love my Zipps, they are fantastic, its also fantastic to fly by people while they have to listen to the beatiful noise of my carbon wheels, poor bastards =)

T2 went about as well as T1. I didnt wear socks and could barely get my left shoe around my heal. Some fish that I gained time on in the bike beat me out of the transition. Unfortunately he could run pretty fast and gained even more time on me in the run. Luckily he caught 2 other people in the run and I caught them too.

I finished the race in 4th. My goal was top 3, but its hard to set goals like that before you know the competion. Props to the dude who won by beating Robbies time last year by 3 minutes. Not to mention hes only 19, I cant wait to see where he is in 4 years, and hopefully Im not up against him. Also props to my buddy Ben for a great race finishing in second, and Nate Martins for finishing his first tri, 2nd in our age group and 28th overall!

After the race Nate and I went to Skyline for some camping and relaxing. We enjoyed some delicious beverages while relaxing in the wilderness. We feasted and zonked out pretty early. Monday morning we woke up early for a beatiful foggy and cool run on the Appalachian trail. Nate was able to show off his Army ranger skills by avoiding the slippery rocks and warning me to be careful every time Id nearly roll an ankle or slip on a rock. After we came back to the campsite where we ate some delicious smores oatmeal and packed up the campsite. All in all a great weekend with some great people. Thanks for reading!