Doing "IT" for a cause

Well ironman training is underway. I finally got the go ahead from my wife to do a full ironman. Problem is i don't know which one i'm going to do. You see it all depends if i can knock up my wife and get a bun in the oven.

The deal is this. I need to get it done before the next baby arrives. If she falls pregnant now then i have to do St George Utah. If we can put it off a few months then i can put it off a bit and do Louisville. The benefit of doing the latter is that the run is flat. As some of you might know i have some knee issues and would much prefer a flat run.

It was probably my success at austin this year that finally made the decision to do this as it made me believe i have the ability to do it. with an awesome time of 5:06:35.

I have also decided to raise money for the research and awareness  of Alzheimer's.  Jennifer's mother recently passed away after a long struggle with the disease. After seeing first hand what this disease does im not sure there is anything more heart wrenching than Alzheimer's.

Wish me luck, this is going to be a long winter.

ironman 70.3 austin

5:06:35 bitches. thats all i have to say.........

No , No just kidding. but yes. Knocked out a 5:06:35 at ironman 70.3 texas on sunday.  I even surprised myself.

The weekend started with us heading down to Austin by car on saturday morning with Kiera in the back and jennifer next to me. Kiera was pretty well behaved until about 2 hours into the drive, when she lost it in the back seat and we knew it was time to pull over and let her walk around a bit. After a short pitstop and a new diaper we were on the road again.

We made it to the expo centre at about 12 oclock that day and got checked in and put my bike back together. After riding it down to the lake ( T1 ) i got the bike checked in and we headed out to the hotel which was in downtown austin.

When we got to the hotel the room wasnt ready for us yet so we headed to TGIF for a quick snack ( boneless buffalo wings ) and a quick beer.

After that we got up to our room and relaxed for a while, wresting with kiera on the bed and just hanging out with the family. Austin is a cool little city and is home to Mellow Johnny's so before dinner we walked down there to have a look and buy some extra gels and stuff for the race.

After the bike shop we headed to meet some friends at a local italian restaurant and had a good time meeting family members we dont normally get to see on our early morning bike rides and stuff.

Thats Lars on the right ( my main competition and motivation ). and shannon to the left that was doing his first 70.3.
After supper we went back to the hotel room and started winding down for the evening. If you are a triathlete you know that means packing and re-packing your gear bag 3 or 4 times before tossing and turning for the rest of the night.

I made it to bed at about 10pm and tossed around till midnight when Kiera decided to get sick and threw up all her dinner. we were pretty worried about her as she wasnt a happy little camper and kept waking up and getting sick. At about 3am she calmed down a bit and i managed to get about 2 hours sleep. No , not the best nights sleep before a half ironman.

5 oclock came and i jumped out of bed, got my things together and headed downstairs to catch my taxi. We decided it would be best if we dont wake up kiera and let her sleep and only come through if she felt better. Lucky for us she did wake up feeling better and my girls came through at about 10am in time to see me at T2 and support me on the run.

The Race

I got to the race site and headed straight for my bike to start setting up and lucky for me i found it with a flat front tire. Two little bastard thorns sticking out of the tire like they were taunting me. I got a bit worried as i only had 2 spairs and knew it was a long race and anything could happen. ( shout out to lynn that had about 4 flat tired on the bike portion and almost bailed) So i fixed the flat and prayed that my 1 spair tube would be enough. Met up with buddie Jamie and we hung out till we met up with Lars, lene, Lynn and shannon.

The swim started and i was confident that i would do well as it was wetsuit legal and we all know what sort of advantage that is to your time. I got out in the front of the pack and stayed there for most of the way, passing people from the 3 groups in front of us. Finishing the swim in 34:20 i knew i had a shot at beating my PB which i set in florida in may this year which was a 5:39:47 and on that day i had a 38 minute swim without a wetsuit.

Transition went well and i was out in about 3:30. i got out on the road and was happy my elastic bands snapped pretty easily and i was off. I was planning on keeping my HR low but the first 10 miles were pretty hilly so my HR was constantly up in the 150's so just decided to keep my HR where i felt comfortable

this is a pic of me coming out of T1

The bike was great. I was comfortable the entire time. My HR was a bit higher than i wanted it to be but it was still very comfortable. The roads were awful . very bumpy and rough. There were sections that were nice and smooth but if the website says nice country roads what they actually mean is farm roads that haven't been resurfaced in a while.

I completed the bike portion in 2:36 ( florida 2:47 ) and have to give props to the sufferfest. if you havent seen these indoor training videos yet you should head over now and check them out. I also have to thank Rocktape for keeping me going through some injuries earlier in the year.

I will post some pics of me all " rocktaped " and you will see what i mean.

So i felt great coming off the bike and headed out on the run doing a couple 7:30's for the first 2 or 3 miles and ran the first 6.55 miles in 53 minutes. QuadZilla wasnt to bad on the first loop but was pretty tough on the second loop as i did a 55 for the second half of the run. Finishing the run in 1:49 ( florida 2:04 ) i was over the moon with my overall effort and surprised myself with my great time. i was pretty surprised on the run when some guy came by me and said if i keep up this sub 8min pace i could do a sub 5 hour race. i was however only 3 miles into the run and whilst i entertained the idea for a while i knew that would take some special running.

In the end however, i am super stoked with my race. I have to firstly thanks my wife Jennifer who without her, i really wouldnt be doing any of this. My saturday morning bike ride buddies for pushing me to the limit ( of regurgitation ). All my frisco triathlon club mates who keep me motivated.

overall result
swim : 34:20
Bike : 2:36:40
Run : 1:49:21

for a total time of 5:06:35.

i have a lot more to write but its pretty long already.....

13 days to austin 70.3

well yes its 13 days to go till austin. Im as prepared as i've ever been for a triathlon and i'm expecting great things from myself. Best part is i have a bunch of friends doing the same race as i am. Some are faster and some are slower. Allen ( speedy ) Helton is going for 5 hours flat. holy cow. what i wouldn't give to be 19 again.

Im not sure what Jamie is going for but i know it will be quick as he is strong all round. Shannon is aiming for under 6 hours and Lars and i are going for 1 minute faster than the other person. Yes, we are pretty much racing each other. He is my training partner and it looks like i should have him on the swim and the run, but he will have me on the bike, for sure. Lars is in his 40's now but that no excuse right? his bike is worth about $8000 more than mine and he has a speed suit. Not to mention any other gadgets he gets from Kona this week. Yip he is on vacation in Kona to watch the race and to get a last bit of serious training in.

Training went really well today, i knocked out 1.3 miles in the pool and then 18 miles on the bike. After a spot of lunch i went for a two hour massage as well. I probably shouldn't of done that as i didn't get much work done but my legs are starting to get pretty tender. I've scheduled another one for friday morning ( my off day ). Im feeling really comfortable in the water at the moment and think i should pull in another 38 minute swim in austin. My bike and run is much much stronger than they were in florida and i'm sure i am going to probably be 5 to 10 minutes quicker than i was there. Even though austin has a few hills i'm sure i will still be quicker.

So my training mileage for september was :

Swim Distance: 6.58 miles		Swim Time: 3:30		Swim Calories: 2632		Swim Pace: 32:00
Bike Distance: 453.01 miles		Bike Time: 23:42		Bike Calories: 18120.4		Bike Pace: 19.1 mph
Run Distance: 74 miles		Run Time: 10:25		Run Calories: 7400		Run Pace: 08:30
Total Miles: 533.59 miles		Total Time: 37:38		Total Calories: 28152.4

My biggest month by far. here to being fast in austin.

Natural Running, with tape

Natural Running Contributed by Diaz Human Performance Labs, Camarillo CA 805-484-1347

www.diazhumanperformance.com

With the recent attention that “Natural Running” has received lately, much consideration has been given to the biomechanics of efficient movement.

Evidence in the scientific community has borne out some compelling evidence that heel strikers (runners who lead with their heels) set themselves up for a great deal of stress to the joints from what is coined the “impact transient effect”. In essence, what this term relates to is the amount of impact shock that is created upon impacting the heel with each foot contact with the ground.

Daniel E. Lieberman, professor of human evolutionary biology at Harvard University, released research early this year (2010) where they compared the impact of heel striking in typical running shoes and mid-to-forefoot contact running barefoot. This study revealed that heel striking generates from 1.5 to 3 times a runners total body weight through the heel and up the kinetic chain upon impact.

On the “heels” of this research we’ve taken a hard look at methods of mitigating these gravitational forces for runners. What is obvious to us is that regardless of where initial contact is made, be it forefoot, midfoot or heel, it is important to soften the landing and minimize the potential impact forces through the kinetic chain.

As we work to soften our landing, we also hope to return energy into our stride and avoid losing the propreoceptive response created through elastic recoil generated from the muscles responsible for deceleration.

The short story here relates to the importance of engagement of our core musculature which serves to stiffen our spine. If our posture is out of alignment while running, we risk shear forces that can potentiate injuries to our lower back, generally to the L4, L5 region of the lumbar spine. Over the past decade, “core” training has become the buzz word in most training circles. Teaching people to find neutral spine while weight lifting and a host of other athletic endeavors is common among athletic trainers. We’ve found that verbal cueing while under the close scrutiny of a trained eye is helpful, but it is generally not effective enough to create a chronic adaptation to improve a functional posture.

We have employed what we like to refer to as “passive engagement techniques” using Rocktape to encourage Kinesthetic awareness. By positioning our client into a functional posture, we simply tape the area we hope to train in such a way that it is not overly restrictive but allows a constant awareness. The tape should only seem taunt if the client begins falling out of the desired postural alignment. Aside from the teaching effect the tape provides, a host of other benefits are gained, such as the reduction potential of inflammation and muscular facilitation, which too are clearly beneficial.

Postural taping technique of the thoracic region: We employ this technique for a host of our clients who develop muscular imbalances between the pectoral and antagonist muscles of the upper back.

PowerTaping 51ROCKTAPE

Technique: Have the client stand comfortably. Instruct them to draw the scapula towards the spine and gently release the contracting muscles until the spine and shoulders are neutral. Instruct them to hold this posture while applying the Rocktape. We prefer the Big Daddy Tape for this application. Begin by measuring the client from shoulder to shoulder across the upper back. Because of the elasticity of the tape be careful not to cut too long. We recommend measuring and subtracting about 4-6 inches depending on how much stretch you apply to the treatment. Fold the tape in half lengthwise and then again widthwise to create a crease that will guide your cut. Round the edges of the tape to avoid fraying. Cut the tape lengthwise down the center crease of each end, leaving about 4-6 inches intact at the center. Tear the paper backing of the tape down the vertical center crease and peel the tape back to the beginning of the horizontal cuts. Apply the tape to the center of the spine while the client holds the desired posture. Remove the backing from one side at a time and apply the lateral tails of the tape by anchoring at the posterior deltoid and again about 6-8 inches lower in alignment with mid triceps. Repeat at the other shoulder. After the tape has been well seated ask your client to relax. Your client should have an awareness that the tape is being stretched. The response to this tightening will be to again rest into the desired posture, thus creating the kinesthetic signal to correct and hold the desired functional posture.

!

Treatment time: We advise our clients to wear the treatment for a few days unless they experience any irritation from the tape. We recommend application prior to participation in sport. Realize that this treatment is essentially training,

!

which may require several applications over time. We also encourage our clients to implement exercises that help to promote the postural corrections as needed.

Postural taping technique for the lumbar region: We employ this technique for clients who present with hyper-lordosis, chronic low back pain or display instability at the hip while running.

Technique: Have the client stand comfortably. Instruct them to rock their pelvis forward and back a few times to assist in identifying a neutral spine. Have the client brace themselves against a wall during the application while maintaining the

neutral posture. Instruct them to hold this posture while applying the Rocktape. We prefer the Big Daddy Tape for this application. Begin by measuring the client’s hip width. Because of

the elasticity of the tape, be careful not to cut too long. We recommend measuring and subtracting about 4-6 inches

PowerTaping 52

ROCKTAPE

depending on how much stretch you apply to the treatment. Fold the tape in half lengthwise and then again widthwise to create a crease that will guide your cut. Round the edges of the tape to avoid fraying. Cut the tape lengthwise down the

!

center crease of each end leaving about 4-6 inches in tact at the center. Tear the paper backing of the tape down the vertical center crease and peel the tape back to the beginning of the horizontal cuts. Apply the tape to the center of the spine while the client holds the desired posture. Remove the backing from one side at a time and apply the lateral tails of the tape by anchoring the anterior oblique and again about 6-8 inches below the iliac crest. Then repeat at the other hip. After the tape has been well seated ask your client to relax. Your client should have an awareness that the tape is being stretched. The response to this tightening will be to again rest into the desired posture, thus creating the kinesthetic signal to correct and hold the desired functional posture.

In Summary: Our experience with these techniques has shown

that our clients begin to develop a neural cognition which elicits a stable foundation for dynamic athletic movement.

Because the tape does not restrict motion it is far more comfortable to wear while competing or training. We recommend these techniques to anyone who struggles with core instability or low back pain.

Contributed by Richard Diaz, founder of DHP elite training in Camarillo, CA www.diazhumanperformance.com

im tired this afternoon

Pretty good day today. Saturday is long ride day for me and today was no different. The only difference was my regular long ride partners are both out of town. Jamie is in austin riding the 70.3 longhorn route and Lars is already in Kona. No he is not racing but gone over there on vacation. He has taken his bike with him because he needs to beat me in austin in 2 weeks so he will be training hard while he is there. And of course to watch the ironman.

So i decided to ride with the other regular saturday morning A ride and that wasnt to bad as we normally do it anyway before our long ride or should i say as part of our long ride. The difference this week was i went to the local bike shop after the ride and joined the bike shop group for their A group ride as well.

So basically did 2 A group rides with a lot of hills at full speed, oh and finished with 60 miles under my belt. I must say going up our famous Windhaven hill at 48 miles was pretty tough ( that was the 3rd time i had been up it in the same day ).

My legs certainly are feeling good and i am ready for my race in 2 weeks. Ive got another week of hard training until i start tapering. Im sure 7 days will be enough time to recover.

After that i came home and had a shower, i tend to get my stink on during workouts. Jennifer, my wife went out for a little 3 miles run and then we went and did some baby shopping. Right now jen has gone out to finish the shopping and Kiera is in La-La land.

This afternoon we are going for an open water swim and a triathlon club social out at the lake. Should be fun.

Jason

trail running by jasonmellet at Garmin Connect - Details

trail running by jasonmellet at Garmin Connect - Details

Here are the details from my run today. I really have impressed myself with my running ability in the last few months. If you remember over christmas of last year i was suffering from an ACL sprain and was using Rocktape Kinesiology tape to help me get over the injury. I also had the crazy idea that i was going to run 100 days in a row. Well, the 100 runs never went so well as i only got to 54, however by the end of the 54 runs my knee was feeling really strong and i basically ran myself to health.

I have been running ever since and actually signed up for another 70.3 ironman race in austin on the 17th of october. My training has gone extremely well and have done 453 miles on the bike this month alone. I have run 74 miles and swam 6.6 miles as well.

In the last 2 months my figures are :

swim : 7.7 miles, i know thats lame

bike : 670 miles

run : 113 miles.

My figures for the year are : ( holy crap )

swim : 41 miles ( 65 km )

bike : 2331 miles ( 3729 km )

run : 509 miles ( 814 km )

Holy cow thats some serious mileage. I would like to see bryan payne's figures. im sure those are huge.

Oh big news, ive got the go ahead to sign up for a full ironman. whats the catch you might ask. well i have to give my wife some of my sperm...........

Yes she wants to have another child. Apparently our first one turned out so great she wants another one. Kiera is truly beautiful and she is my little angel.

Here is a video of her for you guys to enjoy.

recovery ride by jasonmellet at Garmin Connect - Details

recovery ride by jasonmellet at Garmin Connect - Details

So today was easy ride day. Monday i did hill reapeats. 13 times up and down windhaven hill whick climbs about 100 feet in about 2/10th of a mile. Oh i also swam 1.3 miles just before that. Tuesday was bike / run brick. That consisted of an hour on the bike ( 20 miles ) and then a 7 mile run which i did in 55 minutes or so. Wednesdays is traditionally our short little lunch time shootout.

Its a short, hilly 13 miles that we normally do in about 40 minutes depending on the wind and traffic lights. As im only 18 days from my 70.3 ironman in austin i figured i should probably get some more miles in so i rode my bike the 11 miles up to the meeting spot. Did the 13 mile ride with brian and william and then rode my bike back again. Luckily for me i had the wind behind me for the ride back home again.

For those of you that dont know this will be my second half ironman. The first one was 70.3 florida at disney world back on may 16th which was moderately successful as i suffered from cramps on the bike ride but still managed a 20mph average and finished in a time of 5:39:37. I have to be honest, im going for a sub 5:30 this time even though austin is hillier than florida was. Ive done a lot of training for this race and i am having no issues ( touch wood ) with my knees this time around.

One of my best investments has been my garmin 310xt that wifey bought me for fathersday. totally kept me on track.

Training this month has been awesome, with 460 miles on the bike, 6 miles in the pool and 67 miles running i am feeling very strong and confident. Problem is im racing against my friend Lars who has completed 6 full iron man races and is training for silver man in Nevada.

Some of you might know as well that i used to play cricket, well not much anymore, since the wife has now also started doing triathlons, cricket has pretty much taken a back seat.

The only Ace i have up my sleeve ( or bike shorts ) is that he is 10 years older than me. If that's any advantage at all.

countdown : 18 days till 70.3 iron man longhorn.

almost there

So we are almost there. about 19 days to ironman 70.3 longhorn in austin texas. The course doesn't look to tough. The weather should be warm and i am as prepared for a triathlon as i have ever been.

So far this month i have done over 400 miles on the bike. Over 60 miles running and nearly 10 miles in the pool. My friend Lars that motivates me will be racing as well. He is an ironman veteran with 6 full IM's under his belt already and he is using longhorn as a training event for Silverman in nevada coming up in November.

Brybrarobry is just about to head to Kona and we wish him luck for that as well. Hopefully we will see him on the NBC special in december when it airs.

My wife just completed her first triathlon this last weekend with a very respectable time as she finished about middle of the pack.

In other news my daughter Kiera is 11 months old already and we are planning her 1st birthday party, isnt that crazy.

I have started a new business and should be launching it pretty soon.

www.globalsportsstore.com

My other cricket site is doing ok, but with winter on the way i have been forced to look elsewhere for an income. Remember, if you want to get your rocktape, then my store is the place to get it. Just go to www.cricketstoreonline.com

Good luck to everyone else that has races coming up. Im sure if you put in the time you will do great.

signing out

Jason

new blog location

follow my 100 runs in 100 days at http://agegrouper.wordpress.com/ . im on day 16 and have just hit the 50 mile mark.

Jason

moved my blog

hey guys

ive moved my blog over to:

http://agegrouper.wordpress.com/

is there a way that you can automatically update it on blogspot or do you have to do it manually?

jason

Jason Shortis interview at Ironman South Africa

before triathlon & now

Yes thats fat me on the right

Yes and thats me after my 70.3 on sunday. 

I was reading someone elses blog and how they had motivated people just by there before and after pics, so if this motivates one person to try and lose weight, then i guess my job is done.

ironman 70.3 florida race review

awesome, awesome, awesome is all i have to say. what and incredible experience. was it easy? no. was it FUN? no. was it hard? yes. was it a living hell? yes. was there controversy? yes. will i ever put myself through that hell again? you betcha.

What an awesome awesome day. From about 3 minutes into the swim, i was questioning my decision to do a half ironman. I had a great swim, tough, tough bike leg and the toughest run i have ever done in my life. Did i love every minute of it, YES.

So the swim was pretty awesome. It was a lake swim and the water was 84 degrees. yip thats right, 84 degrees. no wetsuits. i started in the LAST group of the day, which was pretty shitty, 2400 athletes in front of me made the race filled with traffic but it was ok in the water. it was a bit crazy in the beginning but after about 5 minutes found some clean water and just paced myself and made sure i made it to the end of the swim.

I came out of the water after 38 minutes which was exactly where i wanted to be and ran up the beach to transition which was about 300 yards away. my T1 time was just over 4 minutes which i felt was a great time. My bike ride didn't start great, i lost a water bottle at the mount point. and you know you get into the mindset where you cant slow down to go back for it, so i didn't. i was off with just 3 bottles but i knew there would be more available on the route.

The bike route was fast, before i knew it i was averaging 22 mph and was heading for  probably a 2:30 bike time. the big trains of bikes was also helpful as people were getting bunched up and there was a bit of drafting going on. i think this is pretty common now days in triathlon. i know they have to tell you you cant do it but there just isn't enough marshals to police it. then all hell broke loose, about 90 minutes into my ride i got the worst cramps in my ass. yeah, thats right , my ass, it was so painful i could sit on my seat in the aero position. i either had to stand or i had to sit up straight on my seat with no hands on my handle bars.

Can you imagine all these people flying past me on the flats in the aero position and here i am having a sunday cruise on my bike. it didnt seem very funny at the time and eventually someone came up to me and asked me if they could get some water from me so that they could take a salt tablet. the guy was nice enough to give me one as well and about 10 miles from the end my ass muscles relaxed and i could use my glutes again. i got my average back up to 19.9 mph by the end but the damage had already been done. I finished the bike in 2:48 and i thought the worst was behind me.

T2 went fast, a little over 3 minutes including a pee break. and i headed out on the run in my new brooks ravenna racing shoes. i loved my shoes so much i bought a second pair for races. if you haven't done a 70.3 before, your legs feel like you have run 13 miles about 1 mile into your run. the run was a 3 loop course, great for spectators but not so great for us. about 3 of the 4 miles was on a grass road on the side of a canal with huge tees on both sides. you might say, well that seems nice. on the contrary, it was hell on earth. it was hot, humid , miserable and no shade. not to mention the sand, bumps and ditches. it was a tough tough run, and after the first loop, i knew i had to do it all over again another two times.

So, every second of my 2:04 run was brutal. every second my body was telling me to walk a little and then i could run again when i cool down. but i kept telling myself that i could walk after i crossed the finish line. it was tough, as probably 70% of people were walking, but i kept telling myself, this is a race, walking is not an option. and i didn't, i finished the race in 5:39:15. just 2 minutes slower that my real goal.

it was awesome, awesome , awesome. if you have the balls, do it.

Multimedia message

It been a long day, bags are packed , mommy and baby are sleeping. I'm winding down for the evening, haven't been on my bike for a week, hope it still works, hope the legs are nice and fresh tomorrow for my race, if u want to check in on mr my race number is 2384 and u can check my spilt times on ironman.com

5 days to go

so just hanging out at home. need to go for a little run still today. i'm busy packing at the moment. always wondering if you've got everything. bike is already on the way with tri bike transport. that certainly wasn't a cheap option ( $300 ) but it sure is convenient especially because we are traveling for the first time with little 6 month old Kiera. thats gonna be fun.

So its off to Tampa bay tomorrow and then off to orlando on saturday for bike check in. Im getting nervous.

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So dropped my bike off today, it's on the way to florida. Feels weird not having my bike around. Check out tri bike transport next time you have to travel to a race. Wasn't cheap bit it's pretty convenient. I haven't worked out today yet, hopefully I can get to the gym later today and get on one of the spin bikes. Tonights plans, baby sitter for Kiera and it's date night for mommy ad me to celebrate moms first ever mothers day.

9 days to go

this was me getting some TLC on my knees on wednesday

so just 9 days to go until ironman 70.3 florida. i'm starting to get a bit antsy even though i haven't started my taper. i just need 1 more good ride and hopefully that will come tomorrow. thursday i had a great 8 mile off road trail run. today i had an awesome 1.4 mile swim in 41 minutes. If i can just get one more good ride in i think i will feel confident.

I will be dropping my bike off at the local bike shop tomorrow and i think that is making me nervous. i will be without "her" for an entire week and will only see her again on race day. thats crazy. and on top of that this is my first 70.3 race. of and not to mention i've only done sprint races. who knows how this is going to turn out. its all very nerve-wracking.

Im sure all will be ok, i've put in all the training and hard work. as my training buddy always says, train hard, race easy. lets hope so anyway.

12 days to go

so today was rough. work had me really busy. if you don't know i've started my own sporting goods company online. it keeps me really busy.

I didn't make it to the pool today but i did get out to my hill loop and do 3 laps ( 23 miles ). I just had one of those days that your legs feel like mush. TP will know what i'm talking about. i ran my practice 13.1 miles on sunday and i guess 2 days later your legs are not up to full strength yet. im going to be taking the day off tomorrow so my legs can recover a bit. ive learnt in the past that a day or two off can be a valuable time as your body feels great when you come back from it.

keeping it short and sweet tonight, i still have rocktape on my knees as they suffered a bit after my long run. they are feeling much better now. remember, if you email me i will send you a free sample. jason@rocktape.com

13 days to go

So its 13 days to go. 3 days left till i start tapering. Saturday was a bit of a waste as the weather was dodgy here in dallas so i just went out for an easy 15 mile ride that included some little hills as i knew sunday would be a big day for me.

I had a bike run brick planned for sunday. Sunday morning came and i tried something new for breakfast. i wanted something that was high in calories including carbs and protein and i remembered an advert when i was a kid that said " eggs give you the edge "so it was a egg, ham, cheese and ketchup sandwich for breakfast. And yes it was over and hour before my brick started so it had plenty of time to digest.

My brick that i had planned was a 9.7 mile bike ride followed by a 13. 1 mile run both on a fairly flat course to try and simulate my race that will be at disney world on may 16th.

The bike ride went great and i averaged 21.5 mph and kept my heart rate down below 150 so that was all according to plan. Then my friend derek came down and joined me for the first 8 miles of my run and also lent me his garmin 305 gps so that i could keep track of my run.

We started out at a very comfortable 8:15 pace and kept that going through most of the run. My legs felt great coming off the bike, even though it was only a 27 minute ride and not a 2.5 hour ride. At about mile 10 my feet really started to complain but it was ok and ran through the pain and eventually they fely better.

all in all i did the bike ride in 27 minutes and finished the run in 1:50 at a 8:24 pace. this was the first time i had ever run this distance and i was very happy with my effort. my goal is to beat my friends 70.3 time of 5:37 and if all keeps going well i think i can do it.

I had some pretty sore knees last night, which i guess is to be expected so i wrapped them up in rocktape and they feel pretty good this morning.

16 days to go

so had an awesome day off yesterday. hung out at the rocktape booth at the health source conference in dallas. had a great 56 mile bike ride on wednesday ( 2:50 ) nice little 4.2 mile trail run on thursday. this morning it was scheduled that i would hit the 28 mile hill intervals that i normally do but the weather was a bit dodgy and i had a flat tire so i fixed the flat and just headed out the door nd did a quick 15 miles from my house. big day tomorrow i will be doing a 9 mile bike ride followed by a 13 mile run. probably my last big run before race day. im doing the short bike ride before just to see how my legs will react.

sitting here now watching ironman st george on universal sports.com

17 days and counting

yip, thats it , 17 days to ironman 70.3 florida. That gives me about 7 days to push as hard as possible and then about 10 days of taper.

So my training buddies have all done their first 70.3 of the year, laid down their sweat and their times and now its up to me to beat their asses into the ground.

Jim did a 5:46 at New orleans, Thomas did a 5:40 at galveston, Daryl did a 5:50 at galveston and Lars did a 5:37 at galveston as well. SO its the 5:37 i need to beat to get bragging rights. I think its all going to come down to the wind and the heat on the day, all three courses are flat so its pretty even as far as that is concerned.

So 17 days and all the months of training have come down to these last few days. in the last 8 months i've had a combined total of 2298 miles. (3676km )

swim : 53.4 miles ( 85km )
bike : 1946 miles ( 3113km )
run : 235 miles ( 376km )

i have been averaging about 250/300 miles a month on the bike which i think is my strong part now. the run, i am getting stronger at, i've added a 4.4 mile off road trail run to my weekly running which i've done the last 2 weeks, beats hitting the treadmill and running sideways. i've been told its a great way to strengthen muscles that aren't normally used in triathlon and that way i might avoid injury in the future as my muscles will develop more evenly.

So the race last weekend went great, for those of you that didn't hear, i did my first sprint race of the season. It was called the caveman triathlon, not sure why. Their slogan was "ME SWIM, ME BIKE, ME RUN, ME CAVEMAN " which i thought was noteworthy and made me giggle.

And the race was a success as i got onto the podium in my age group, 3rd in the 30-34 AG. which is traditionally along with the 35-39 a pretty tough group. something else that was good news was the fact that i PR'd the run section. As you all know the run is the toughest part and normally the only part of races that are the same distance so you can gauge yourself against other race times. i knocked the run out in 22:59 which is 9 seconds faster than my PB which i set at the US open last year just before i got my knee injury. i felt this course was a lot hillier so i am sure i am a stringer runner now.

thats all for now, i will keep you updated as we get closer to the race

Oh yeah, thanks rocktape for helping me get onto the podium, that stuff is awesome.

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Awesome first race of the season completed. Sprint race of 275 swim, 12.8 mile bike and 3.1 run. I finished 22nd overall, 4th in my age group (30-34) , time of 1:06, PB in the run for sprint triathlons of 22:29. More to follow later

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Awesome 50 mile bike ride tonight on a super hilly course and 15/20 mph winds completed with my buddie Lars in 2:40. Followed by a nice little 1.8 mile run just to see how it feels to run after such a long bike ride. It was the longest brick i have done, the previous longest being a 40/4 a month or so ago. My legs were really heavy during the run especially going up the mighty windhaven hill. I felt a bit worried after it as the run was pretty tough but after a chat with buddie Lars I felt better as it was just two days ago that I ran 10.2 miles and the legs are still a bit tired from that. So 70.3 is about 35 days away, Disney world awaits fo me and the family. Watch out Tampa bay and Orlando, the Mellets are coming.

I don't know, I'm still hoping for a sub 5 hour race, I mean, slap me silly an call me crazy but thats still me goal. I know it's not going to be easy, but hey thyself why goals are for right, it's so you can push your limits.

Seattle???

So how bad is seattle really. there is a remote chance that we might be moving to seattle in the next few months. my wife and i love dallas, love the weather and everything else it offers. as temps here in dallas are getting into the 80's seattle is still messing around in the 50's. whats up with that. i have a friend that says is beautiful and loves it there. we should note that said friend lives in dallas as well.

my wife goes there on business every now and then and it seems like every time she goes there its raining.

what do you guys think?

Rocktape

so it been an up and down last 10 days. i took a couple days of to try and break some allergies. that worked then over trained the next few days and the allergies came back. so i took the last 2 days off. I will be running my longest distance ever on sunday morning, 10 miles around white rock lake. then tuesday im doing a 56 mile bike ride in the afternoon with a short run after that.

ive gotta get in the pool big time this week, last month i only swam 1.2 miles and my 70.3 is only 40 days away. im not to worries as 40 days is a lot of time. i am what i would call a natural swimmer and the 1.2 miles isnt going to be too much of a big deal. my biggest concern at the moment is im probably going to go too hard on the bike which will compromise my already weak run.

anyway, tomorrows run and tuesday brick will tell me a lot about my chances in the race. weve found an awesome new loop that weve been doing here in dallas, lots of hills and lots of wind. lately on average the wind has been blowing about 25mph and training in it has been great. as my buddie Lars ( from denmark ) always says " train hard, race easy " . So thats what weve been doing, training hard. the windier the better.

Today was great, i had my rocktape tent up at the frisco triathlon club haiti run for relief fun run. i had a bunch of runners come up and talk to me about it and also a few physiotherapists come and show some interest in it.

I will post some pics of it as soon as i get them. the race was a big success and we had about 300 people turn up for the event. Story of the day was a friend of mine that had some lower back pain and some knee pain. we taped her up and she took 1 full minute off her best 5k time. well done shannon. she was super impressed and bought a roll off me afterwards. pink of course.

SIU baby ( thats for training payne )

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I know there is a billion athletes out there that know the feeling of running, swimming or cycling their personal longest distance ever. That's where I am right now. Every Sunday I run further tha the week before. This past Sunday I ran 9 miles in 1:12:58. This coming Sunday I'm running around a big landmark in Dallas, white rock lake, at 9.67 miles it has some challenging hills and I will be running it in the heat of midday, perfect training for my 70.3 on may 16. Thanks again to rocktape kinesiology tape for holding me together.

update

So cricket went well, i scored a 50. And we won our match. good day overall.

I was very sore this morning as cricket uses a lot of different muscle to triathlon. a lot of sideways movement and a lot of quick acceleration. Probably similar muscles to soccer. So the muscles are screaming today and im still not over a bit of a cold ive had for about 3 weeks so ive given myself 3 days to get over it. No training and plenty of rest till wednesday.

Go to www.crickettube.com to see some cricket highlights from around the world.

First game of cricket this weekend

So, cricket season has finally started. Now, i have to try and juggle, family, triathlon training, new business and cricket season all into a 7 day week.

Sunday is my first game as i have been unable to make the last 2 games due to family commitments and triathlon training. Ive decided to only play games that fall on sundays and to skip saturday games so that i limit my time spent on the cricket field. The last thing i need a month and a half before my 70.3 is another injury.

For those of you that dont know what cricket is, head over to my facebook fan page for some videos and things, just search for cricket store online. You can also look at my online store at www.cricketstoreonline.com.

Other than that, triathlon training has been going well, all except for my swimming. Im only swimming about once a week at the moment and i know thats bad but i figured if anything was going to be missed, it was going to have to be the swim.

running in the snow, in dallas, in march

So the run in the snow went really well. i take my hat off to you guys up north that have to train in it during the winter. the problem i had though was having the right amount of clothing on. as i didnt want to get cold i had thermal undies on, beanie, 2 pairs of wool socks and my wifes ski gloves. the beanie only lasted about 25 minutes. i got pretty hot  and sweaty.

besides that all went well, i did my 8.2 miles in 1:08:55. my longest run ever by a long way. my knee held up pretty well, felt it a bit in my IT Band so i guess i will be working on that a bit.

Weather Conditions from The Weather Channel

So this is for all my blogger buddie up north, SIU baby, I wanted to
know what it was like to train in the winter, so here it is, first day
of spring and 4 inches of snow in Dallas. I'm going for an 8 mile run
outside to see how it is, I will update you when I get back, gonna try
do it in 60 minutes.

Now for Dallas, TX (75287)

Temp: 33F
Feels like: 20F
Cloudy and Windy
Humidity: 69%
Wind: NW at 23 mph
Last Updated: 3/21/10 9:25 AM CDT

For more weather information, visit www.weather.com from your PC or
mobile device.

Jason Mellet
972-533-1669

so how is it coming along

well, after yesterdays brick, its coming along rather nicely. I joined 2 of my friends for a nice little 40/4 bike run brick yesterday. This was the longest brick i have done before and whilst my quads hurt a little after i was done, i think it all went pretty well. we did the 41 mile bike in 2:12 and then surprised myself with a 32 minute 4.25 mile run.

Like i said, my quads were done after the run but it all went really well. i'm particularly happy as the last 3 weeks my training has dropped off a bit due to LIFE. i just haven't had much time but i think my base training during the winter paid off big time.

Shout out to Training Payne who had a rough ironman china as he got food poisoning a few days before. Apparently the same thing happened to Chris McCormick also forcing him out of the race.

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I am absolutely done, just did 52 miles on the bike in 2:50:30. You might say, well that's a pretty good pace, and you would be right, that between 18 & 19 mph, with 10mph wind , hills and traffic lights. The tough part? In the middle of that ride was my regular Saturday morning interval ride with my Frisco triathlon club buddies. And today there was a special treat for me, some guy by the name of David who competes in the 40/45 year age group and just happen to be regional champion or something crazy like that. Oh well, so my legs are dead, my ass is still on th road somewhere. I know Brian, SIU

Pantar Faciitis & Rocktape update

So just thought i would put in a quick update on a previous post :

http://jasonmellet.blogspot.com/2010/02/plantar-fasciitis.html

I wrote a little about some foot pain that i have been experiencing. I wrapped my foot up with some Rocktape during a run last week. Well the result is no pain in my foot after sundays run. Rocktape has really impressed me, i also put it on my knee, IT band and calves. I applied the tape on friday and took it off on tuesday. thats 5 days of swimming, running, biking, sleeping and showering, oh and an ice bath after my 50 miles bike ride on saturday.

This stuff really works.

Starbucks

So its wednesday morning, halfway through my big 9.5 hours training week. Its been a good week so far, knocked out my long run (6miles) on sunday in a time of 47:47. I guess that would be a PR or PB for me as ive never run that far before & the last time i attempted the distance is when i injured my knee last season.

Monday morning 5am i was on my trainer in my garage and knocked out a 60 minutes session recovery ride. Tuesday morning i did a race simulation 1.2 mile swim at my gym pool to see what my probable time would be in ironman 70.23 florida in may. I did the swim in 36 minutes. Is that any good? i dont know, guess i need to look it up. I didn't eat before my O dark hundred swim. i think that was the right thing to do as some mornings after a gel or whatever my stomach doesn't always agree with me.

After the swim, i had a Lara bar and jumped on the treadmill for my 30 minute recovery run, it probably should of been a bit more but i'm still taking it easy on the knee and only want to run the bare minimum. so i did 3 miles in 30 minutes and then went and did some core work and some ankle and knee stabilizing exercises.

So im sitting here in my bed, watching the ToDEH ! show and drinking my starbucks, Thanks to my wife for brining it home for me after she went to the gym this morning. Chances are ToDEH will be my off day as i probably wont get a workout in. i could be working out now, but its tough with the baby around. she is sleeping now, hence the time to get some work done and write in my blog.  I have a business / training meeting tonight so i will have to move my workout for wednesday to friday.

You guys have heard of google right, and yahoo & bing. well there is a new one out called filesbay.net.

Todays blog is sponsored by them. This link is a paid advertisement.

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swim : 1.2 miles @ 30.36 in 36:35
bike : 16 miles in 60 minutes recovery ride
run : 9 miles @ 8:30 in 1:17

Got the big triathlon 101 camp this weekend, photos and videos to come.

Into sunday and monday

So just a wrap up of the last two days. Yesterday ( sunday ) was my long run day. So it was 6 miles. I've been running and extra 0.5 mile every week to gain strength in my legs and not re-injure my knee.  Problem was woke up sunday morning and it was coming down in buckets. It really was raining hard and i know i'm hardcore, but running in the rain with my brand new brooks running shoes wasn't going to happen. And i really didn't feel like running on the treadmill again.

A friend of mine had invited me to run with his little group later in the day, after the rain had stopped. So that was what i did. As i got there i noticed that Jim was there. I haven't spoken about Jim before but he is basically my motivation. The day i had my first real brick training session was before the US Open race last year and Jim and i showed up to the same training session. Brent a mutual friend of ours gets these groups together for training every now and then. So anyway, back to the brick. It was a bike / run brick that was 36 mile bike / 3 mile run and Jim beat me by about 1.5 minutes on the bike, he was still in transition when i got there and we left out on the run around the neighborhood together. I felt really strong on my run and felt that i could take him on the the run if i wanted to.

From that day, its been a mission to beat Jim. Plain and simple, be faster than Jim. I probably need to mention at this point that as of now we have never raced against each other and as i got my knee injury last year Jim took a break from triathlon and focussed on his running as he ran the dallas rock & roll half mary. This was a perfect opportunity for me over the winter to concentrate on my cycling portion and from what i've seen now, it has paid off.

So the winter has come and almost gone, Jim and i have had 2 bike training sessions together and i certainly have the upper hand, especially on the hills. yesterdays long run was also interesting as we set off. Jim was doing 10 and i was doing 6. I was definitely a little quicker as i ran my first 3 miles in 23 minutes and my 2nd 3 miles in 24 minutes. finishing in 47:47 for the 6 miles i felt strong and think i can certainly continue my running at that pace. My plan is to run my 70.3 run portion at the same pace. apparently florida 70.3 is super flat and think i can definitely carry that speed through the race. I know i'm going to have to work hard but i'm sure i can do it.

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P.S. Had my rocktape on for 4 days so far, friday off day, saturday 50 miles on bike, sunday 6 miles run, today 60 minutes on trainer. its still on and still going strong.


Weekly totals :

swim : swim tomorrow, race sim, 1.2 miles non stop
bike : 16 miles in 60 minutes recovery ride
run : 6 miles in 47:47

saturday wrap up

so i left my ass out on the road this morning. did the usual saturday morning interval training ride with my triathlon club. 30 miles on rolling hills, traffic and traffic lights at an average of 19mph in 1:32:05.

I was kinda bummed because i really wanted to get there early and get in a few extra miles. just doing 30 miles is not going to cut it as far as my 70.3 training is concerned. So after i took my wife jennifer up the road to the nature preserve for her first official outside ride on her new bike i jumped on the trainer and did another 20 miles taking my total for the day up to 50, which made me feel a little better.

Ice baths, man do they suck, i might of mentioned it before. this was my second one that i have had. i dont even put that much ice in it, just cold tap water and the ice bucket from or freezer, which is probably the size of a small bag you might get from a gas station. My wife tells me it doesn't really work. today ( sunday ) i feel great, i can feel i did a big workout yesterday but i actually feel pretty fresh. we will see later on today when i do my long ( 6 mile ) run. All the sportsman in the world cant be wrong right. this is where someone writes me back and give me the science behind ice baths.

Daily workout :

bike ride 50.08 miles in 2:42 @ 18.5 mph

Weekly totals :

swim : 2.55 miles in 1:14
bike : 108 miles in 6:29
run : 5.1 miles in 40 mins

i will be running a bit more this week starting with my long run 6 miles today ( sunday ) i have this week planned as a pretty intense workout week, i will see if life lets me do it.

plan for this week :

swim : 1 hr 35 mins including 1.2 mile race sim on tuesday
bike : 5 hr 30 minutes
run : 2 hrs 10 mins

total, 9:15, wow.

thursday update

so found out this morning that doing a 5 mile run at 8:30pm and then waking up at 4:30am to do a swim and weights is not a good idea. i was really drained this morning and just couldnt motivate myself to get going.

The reason i was squeezed into this schedule was because my wife worked late last night and that was the only time i could work out ( after she got home ). and then thursday morning is my morning to go to the gym. I probably wont do that again, it was rough.

weekly update :

bike : 57.92 miles in 3:47
swim : 2.55 miles in 1:14
run : 5.1 in 40 mins

other : 3.1 in 22 mins ( rowing machine )

Rowing Machine

So got up this A.M. at 4:30 to go and get my tuesday morning gym workout in. You see, i get to go to the gym, tuesday's and thursday morning while mommy takes care of Kiera. I then take care of her the other mornings and mommy goes to the gym. Jennifer currently brings home the bacon so she gets more days at the gym. ( help me out, click on the rocktape link and get yours, Maybe one day i will afford to put Kiera in day care. )

So anyway it was off to the gym to get in my swim and anything else i could squeeze in.  3000 yards in the pool was all i could do this morning. even with the h2o audio it is tough to motivate yourself for longer than an hour. After that i hit a machine i have a lot of respect for, and if you are not on it at least once a week, you are probably missing a trick. Its the rowing machine. done correctly it is one of the best machines in the gym. and you will always find one open as i think people are scared of it.

After that i did some abs work and some sideways movement stuff. not sure what thats called but triathletes never move sideways so some muscles are neglected and can lead to injuries.

So now, im home, jen has gone to work and i get to look after Kiera, run my business and clean the house a little.

Its strange, now that ive signed up for the 70.3, i look at training very differently than i did just a few days ago.....

todays training : 3000 yard swim at 29 min / mile pace
                           3000 meters on the rowing machine

weekly totals :
bike : 57.92 miles / 3:47
swim : 1.7 miles / 0:50
run : n/a

rowing machine : 1.86 miles / 0:13

florida or bust

so ive signed up for ironman 70.3 florida on May 16th, bringing my 70.3 forward more than a month. The wife said, no ways is she spending the week in lubbock texas. as many of you know, this is very much a family event so i chose florida as it in orlando and we have a bunch of friends there.

so, not sure why its upsaide down but here is my new frisco triathlon club racing kit and my new pair of brooks running shoes. im sure both are going to be getting lots of miles in the next 90 days, thats the countdown to ironman florida 70.3.

so training started today, offially. its different now that ive signed up. i cant miss any more training sessions.

todays training : indoor trainer 24 miles at 16mph. 90 mins

weekly totals : sunday to saturday

bike 57 miles in 3:47
run 0
swim 0

plantar fasciitis

so that is my latest kinesiology tape area. i am going to get new shoes today. this current pair of mizunos has been nothing but trouble for me. knee injury, sore calves and sore feet afetr long runs.

im sure the rocktape is going to help me with my foot pain and im also interested to see how long it sticks on an area that is getting constant friction like under your feet. i think the pain condition is called plantar fasciitis. i will let you all know how its going. i will be doing my long run tomorrow. 5.5 miles. hopefully i can get a long bike ride in today, even though there is still 4 inches of snow on the ground.

went to sleep in dallas and woke up in colorado

So went to sleep last night with it been snowing all day, just to make up and see that apparently it kept on snowing for some time.

yip.12.5" of snow. the worst snow fall dallas has had in the 111 years of data collection. I know for sure, i have been here for 5 years and the worst / best ive seen here is like 2 inches before today.

Other than that, its been a slow training week. Ive been pretty busy with work and baby. Kiera has kinda wanted more attention this week. we are looking into a mommy's day out that some of the churches offer in the area. They take them from 9-2 two days a week which would give me some much needed work time.

I am thinking about changing my 70.3 race date from june 27 to may 16th. ( lubbock, buffalo springs lake ) to IM 70.3 florida which is at disney world. My wife has no interest in going to lubbock texas for a weekend and we have a few friends in orlando and surrounding areas so we could turn that into a week long family trip.

I am pretty comfortable with the swim and bike distance, i just need to get my run going. I am up to 5 miles and am pushing it up slowly, going to 5.5 this sunday. i know i can run further than that but need to look after the knee, you know.

REALLY TOUGH WEEKEND

super tough weekend. friday was my rest day, that was pretty easy as it was also my birthday. But saturday was showtime as i had been telling people i was doing my b fit birthday challenge. if you don't know as i was turning 33 and i was brave, i was doing the gold challenge. That meant i would be doing a 3000 yard swim, 30 mile bike ride and then a 3 mile run. As my longest race distance prior to this weekend was a sprint triathlon ( 800m swim, 25 mile bike & 3.1 mile run ) i was well aware that this challenge was going to push me to my limits. But as i am training for a 70.3 i felt that it would be a good benchmark as to where i was currently in my fitness.

I had also managed to rope in a few friends who are also training for their own 70.3 events this year.  One of the major problems for the day was that it was only 40 degrees outside ( Training Payne is saying in his head, what 40 degrees, thats a day at the beach for us canadians ) with a wind chill that was brining it closer to freezing. This was always meant to be a casual event but when you get a few guys together there is a lot of testosterone flying around and we had a great time.

So anyway, 9:30 came around and we met at the local gym and started swimming. we were swimming in a 25 yard pool so i decided to do 6x500's as it would be easier to keep count of the laps. Daryl decided to do 3x1000's as he is an ironman canada finisher and a seasoned swimmer. ( he was doing flip turns and everything in his swim ) jim, who is pretty new to triathlons, just like me just tried to keep up with me, but as he doesnt have a history of swimming like me, fell behind and i would overtake him once or twice in every 500 yards. i averaged about 7:50 for every 500 i did.

we were in the water for about 55 minutes including breaks. jumped out, got dressed and headed to our cars to get changed again and head out on our freezing cold ride. It took us 1hr:42mins to get the bike ride done, which i felt on a hilly course and with traffic lights was a pretty good effort. We also waited at the top of a few hills for Daryl as he is 203 lbs and it takes him a while to get up hills. I drafted him down the hills as he could go faster than i could.

Daryl bailed on us for the run but a tired jim and i soldiered on and did the 3 miles at a pace of 8 mins to finish in 25 mins.

It was a really tough run and with a combined time of a little over 3 hours was by far the longest combined event i had ever attempted and i think it was a good eye opener into my 70.3 in june. One thing i did realize is that the 7 hours a week i am currently training might not be enough and i might have to bump it up a bit.

so with that in mind sunday came a long and i went out for my long run. i did 5 miles in 38:52 which is a bout a 7:45 pace and i was really happy with that as well.

My knee was taking a bit of strain this morning as i might of overdone it a little so i decided to take the day off today as well just as a precaution and i will make it up over the rest of the week.

Oh, i almost forgot, so i tried an ice bath for the first time on saturday afternoon after my 3 hours challenge and it was freeeeeeeezing. i am very sad to say though, that i think it worked as my legs felt pretty good on sunday during my long run which means i will probably have to keep on jumping in the cold bath in the future. for those who are planning on doing it, i have one line of advice, cup your balls. its the only way man.

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Takes his hat off to all the woman of the world that have been taking care of the kids at home for centuries, on top of that trying to run a business, tough stuff

World cup soccer 2010, i miss my hometown

Got my first sale

So some of you might know ive become a big fan of Rocktape Kinesiology tape. So big a fan in fact i have started selling the stuff to make some extra money so that one day i can maybe send my daughter to daycare.

The big news is that i have already signed my first customer and yesterday they put in an order for 30 rolls. The customer just happens to be a little bike store called Bike Mart, or also known as Richardson bike mart. I have added a history of events of RBM and you might notice a name or two in their list of achievements like someone called LANCE, yip lance armstrong started his career at Bike Mart. its a pretty big deal.

Richardson Bike Mart History

• 1962 Founder Mike Hall starts Bike Mart while in school.
• 1962-1974 Ray Burkett manages the Bike Mart in Dal-Rich Shopping Center.
  
  
• 1966 Richardson Bicycle Touring club started, later to become Greater Dallas Bicyclists.
  
• 1974 Bike sales boom in the United States; 15 million bicycles sold across country.
  
• 1974-1980 Ray Burkett manages the Bike Mart location on LBJ Freeway.
• 1975 RBM has five stores in the Metroplex. 
• 1979 Bad year for the bike industry, but Bike Mart survives. 
• 1980 Jim Hoyt purchases Bike Mart and changes name to Richardson Bike Mart. 
• 1981 "A few good men and a can-do spirit" is adopted as the new slogan; all that has changed is that we now have a few good women as well. 
• 1981 RBM starts sponsoring bicycle rallies and continues to do so year after year
• 1982 RBM puts 50 percent of marketing budget into the bicycle community and continues to do so. 
• 1983 Matrix race team is started. 
• 1983 RBM supports BMX with its first team. 
• 1984 Matrix Team is turned into a club. 
• 1985 SABAR Triathlon club is started.
• 1986 RBM sponsors Mirage Cycling Club. 
• 1987 RBM sponsors Dallas' Triple Crown series. 
• 1987 Lance Armstrong starts bike racing career with RBM.
• 1987 RBM expands and opens a 2nd location in Dallas on July 4.
• 1989 Double Dates tandem club is started. 
• 1990 RBM sponsors the Texas Bicycle Coalition in Austin. 
• 1994 RBM sponsors "Dirt Project" mountain team. 
• 1997 RBM sponsors MH Factory National BMX Team. 
• 1997 United States bicycle sales drop to only 3.5 million annually. 
• 1997 Sponsorship of RBM BMX Team begins. 
• 1998 Move into new location takes place after 36 years. 
• 1999 Former Matrix team member, Lance Armstrong wins his first Tour de France. 
• 2000 Lance Armstrong wins 2nd Tour de France. Team Dirt Project dominates Texas Mountain bike racing.
• 2001 Lance Armstrong wins 3rd consecutive Tour de France.
• 2002 Lance Armstrong wins 4th consecutive Tour de France. Team RBM/Trek/VW Regional Elite Road Team dominates Texas-area racing.
• 2003 Team BikeMart.com was the top fund raiser for the MS 150 Red River Challenge. RBM has been participating in the MS 150 since 1982.
• 2003 Lance Armstrong wins 5th consecutive Tour de France.
• 2004 January 28, RBM opens its third location in Frisco, TX.
• 2004 Lance Armstrong wins a record 6th consecutive Tour de France.
• 2005 Lance Armstrong's U. S. Postal Team becomes Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team.
• 2005 The owners of RBM, Jim and Rhonda Hoyt, will attend the Tour de France for the 7th consecutive year and ride portions of every stage of the tour route.
• 2005 Lance Armstrong wins a record 7 Tours and announces his retirement.
• 2005 The Richardson store adds 8,500 square feet for clothing, shoes and accessories.
• 2005 Lance Armstrong set a record. So did we. RBM had record sales in 2005.
• 2005 Another local rider comes through RBM and gets on a professional cycling team. 23 year old Patrick McCartey is on Team Phonak (Switzerland) for the 2006 season.
• 2006 A record sales year for RBM.
• 2007 With support from RBM, McKinney Velo Club (MVC) is started.
• 2008 Although many parts of the country are in a recession, business at the Bike Mart remains strong.
• 2008 A record year for Team Bike Mart(TBM) at the MS 150. TBM is now known as "The Million Team."

Check out my website at http://www.cricketstoreonline.com/categories/ROCKTAPE/ and see if Rocktape could help you out in your triathlon, cycling and running endeavours. If you have 70.3 , marathon or 140.6 coming up this year, i would really have a look.

January totals

Swim Distance: 9.62 miles Swim Time: 4:39 Swim Calories: 3848 Swim Pace: 29:00
Bike Distance: 303.16 miles Bike Time: 17:08 Bike Calories: 12126.4 Bike Pace: 17.7 mph
Run Distance: 30.28 miles Run Time: 4:51 Run Calories: 3028 Run Pace: 09:35
Total Miles: 343.06 miles Total Time: 26:39 Total Calories: 19002.4 -

So these are my totals for january. This was a pretty tough month with quite a few indoor workouts, naturally due to the weather. Luckily for me i have purchased a copy of the sufferfest which really helped me on my last trainer session.

My goals for Feb will probably be something like, 12 miles swimming, 350 miles bike and about 40 or so miles running. once i gain full confidence in my knee i'm sure i will do a  lot more than that.

I had a pretty tough weekend as the last few months have involved very little running. i noticed today that when i got home from my bike ride my quads were just done. i mean i walked upstairs with my 14 lbs baby and my legs were seriously tired. so what did i do this weekend, well friday i spent an hour on the trainer doing sufferfest, that was a killer, then yesterday was long run day, so i did 4.5 miles on the treadmill and then today was intervals with my speed freak cycling partners. at the end of the ride which was 30 miles, i remembered that i only needed 6 more miles to get to 300 for the month so i kept riding a bit longer and was smashed by the end of it. it was a really tough 6 miles as we normally finish at 30 miles.

On another note, next saturday ( 6th feb ) is my b-fi birthday challenge which will be 3000 yards in the pool, 30 miles on the bike ( with my speed freak buddies ) and then a 3 mile run after that. the closest thing i have done to that as far as all 3 things together at the same time is a sprint tri that was a 800m swim, 25 mile bike ride and a 3 mile run. so this should be interesting to see how much fitter i have become since the beginning of October last year.

Lucky for me i have some friends doing it with me as i have told them, i will join them on their birthdays when they do theirs. Lucky for me, george amundson isn't joining us a doing his birthday challenge would kill me, he is a multiple ironman finisher and is turning 70 this year.

anyway, hope everybody has a good week in training. shout out to the guys that have been reading my blog, its really great to hear the encouragement and is good to know there are people going through the same stuff as you are. Training Pain did something like 900 miles in january for his ironman china training, thats just crazy dude. i'm sure you are going to rock the race.

Left over salad smoothie?????

So i just watched an interesting little video of Brett over at ZEN & THE ART OF TRIATHLON of him making a Nice healthy smoothie out of some left over salad. I must say it was pretty interesting and im sure it is a great way to lose weight.

I must confess though, im not rushing into the kitchen to try this one out. Maybe you guys could try it and let me know how it is.

http://www.zentriathlon.com/

happy eating

My personal torture chamber

thought i would show you guys what my personal torture chamber looks like. i just set up my sufferfest chamber.

i hit the trainer yesterday after i took this video. did 18.2 miles on the hardest setting on my trainer. burnt 1060 cals and my average heart rate was 150, topped out at 168. it was a lot of fun. really worthwhile looking into it.

The Real Secret To My Success

So thought i would talk about something i haven't touched on yet before on any of my other blog posts.

My weight and the fact that i always thought i was in good shape.

So to give you a little background. I am 32, turning 33 in a week or so. I am 6'1'' tall and at my heaviest was 212 lbs. the funny thing is that when i was 212lbs i was under the impression i was in good shape. somehow i was blinded or just the fact that the average person on the planet, or should i say "in america " is overweight so i guess i was the average.

Anyway, so i met this girl, who has since become my wife who started cooking for me. above is one of her meals. Its grilled chicken breast ( done on the grill) ( yes here in dallas we can grill in the middle of winter)baked sweet potato( baked in the oven) and the best spinach, feta & raspberry salad with light raspberry vinaigrette,YUM, and little by little she was cooking for me more and more. the more she cooked for me the less junk food i ate. once we moved in together she was cooking every night and the more weight i lost. So the pounds kept coming off and i got down to about 185 where it stayed for a while.

I then got comfortable there and somehow before i knew it i was back up to 197. 197 got my attention for some reason. maybe because it was so close to 200 again. this is about the time that i got into triathlons as well. so the weight kept coming off again and then flattened out at 187.

at 187 after 2 triathlons i hooked up with my new cycling buddies who are all quicker than me and i knew if i was to keep up with them on the hills i needed to drop a few more pounds. i knew the lighter i got, the easier it would be to get up the hills. so i worked hard at dropping the extra pounds and now i'm glad to report, yesterday morning after a good solid dump, i clocked the scale at 179.5lbs. woohoo

going up the hills has certainly be easier and i cant thank my wife jennifer more for all the hard work she puts in, in the kitchen. she is the best cook i know and is single hand-idly responsible for getting me back in shape. thanks baby.