Photo by Mario Cantu
Welcome to my blog. Here you will find postings to keep you up to date on news regarding my training, racing, and life. You can also find my race reports posted at the link below.
Race Reports, Archived Blog Entries, & Past Training Camp Reports
| January 27th: Clermont Part 2 |
| I'm back in Austin after 2 1/2 weeks in Florida to kick off my training for 2012 and Sri Lanka Ironman 70.3. I really enjoyed my time in Clermont and will probably go train there in a future winter. I think the trip/camp was well worth the time and cost. First, I spent quite a bit of time working on my swim stroke. The coach and I changed several things about my stroke that I hope will pay off in the future. I have quite a bit of work to do still to instill the changes in my muscle memory and then properly train for fitness with the changes, so the work is far from done. I know there are no silver bullets that will instantly make me swim with the lead group, but I think over the last few weeks, I've planted the seed for future improvement. I enjoyed Clermont as a training locale. It was perfect for a January camp. The weather was beautiful, with most days from 70-80 degrees. The National Training Center located there was a perfect hub for training with it's amazing outdoor 50 meter pool, gym, and track all on sight. The cycling there was pretty good. I think I stopped at a total of 5 or 6 traffic lights in 2 1/2 weeks of cycling. Lots of back country roads through citrus orchards. The running wasn't bad either. I can see why athletes have been choosing Clermont as a training location for years. I was able to get in a few big weeks of training to jumpstart my fitness for the year. The first week I was there, I was feeling the fatigue of getting back into the all-day every-day training regime. By the second week, I could feel the fitness coming back. I actually suprised myself with a few running sessions, not thinking I would be able to hold the paces that I did. I spent a ton of time in the pool, though most of it was easy swimming focusing on form and muscle memory. Now as I get ready for Sri Lanka, I'll pick up my swim training to get the zip back. Now that I'm home, I'm taking a few day recovery block to absorb the work over the last few weeks. Then it's back at it for a couple weeks before it's race time. More to come..... Pat |
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| January 19th: Clermont Training Camp |
| I've been in Clermont, Florida for the last 10 days and will end up being here for 2 1/2 weeks for a winter training camp. I came down here for a few reasons. First and foremost, I came down here to work on my swimming. I'll get to that here in a moment. Second, I wanted a kickstart to my 2012 training in a warm climate. And finally, periodically, I need a little break from the cycling in Austin. Clermont is situated in central Florida, about 30 miles west of Orlando. It's inexpensive and easy to travel to. Clermont is also home to the National Training Center which is a facility with a gym, great 50 meter pool, track, and other training ammenities. Having that facility in a central location makes training very simple. Clermont is also far enough away from the big city that there are miles and miles of back-country rolling roads through orange plantations. There are also some pretty good running trails around town, making Clermont a nice place for a training camp, especially in the winter. The weather has been good with the temps in the 70s every day. So over all, I've found this a great place to kick off my training after the holidays and after my post-Cozumel down time. I was really out of shape coming out of the holidays, so I'm using my time here to get some miles under my belt to start working towards my 2012 goals. The other major reason I came here was to work on my swimming. I found a swim coach here in Clermont who is known as a very good swim coach. He was a former 1500M national champion swimmer of Russia, has his degree in swim coaching from a Russian Sports Institute, and was formerly a professional triathlete. So not only does he know swimming, but he also understands the specific differences in swimming style between the pool and open water. In my time here, we're working on my swim stroke. I'm not doing swim sessions for fitness right now, rather we are trying to change my swim stroke to hopefully bump me up to the next level in my swimming. I think we've identified some pretty important changes that have to happen, so now the challenge is to make those changes happen. Specifically, I was swimming behind my arms, meaning I was trying to start the propulsion phase of my stroke way too far in front of my body. I was swimming with too much arms and not enough lats. So we are really trying to soften my catch and get my arms under my body whee I can utilize my lats. Second, right away, he noticed that I have a 6-beat kick stroke, without the kick propulsion to really swim well in this style. So we are trying to change me to a 2-beat kick stroke which will use a higher turn-over and be much better in the open water. I know some good things are happening because my lats are sore everyday, even though I'm not swimming that hard or that much yardage. I'm really enjoying my time here and am working hard at getting in some winter bike/run miles as well as work on my stroke. It's hard to take a step back in my swimming to hopefully take two steps forward, but I can assure you that I'm going to keep working at it. Pat |
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| January 1st: New Sponsor Announcement, HED Cycling |
| I'm happy to announce that I'll be partnered with HED Cycling this year. I'm very excited to be working with such a great company and to be training and racing with HED's products. The research conducted by HED Cycling result in the most advanced and aerodynamic wheels and components in the cycling world. I will be riding the HED Ardennes for training. For racing, I'll be riding a HED Stinger 7 or 9 front wheel and Stinger Disc or Stinger 9 rear wheel depending on the race course and conditions. I will also be riding the HED Corsair aero bars on my Felt DA. I am really excited for this new relationship and know that HED's products will help me to lay down some blazing fast bike splits in 2012!
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| December 14th: Opening race of 2012, Ironman 70.3 Sri Lanka |
| I'm happy to announce that I'll be opening up my 2012 season racing the new Ironman 70.3 Sri Lanka on February 19th in Colombo, Sri Lanka. I couldn't be more excited to be racing in the newest of Ironman's races for 2012 in such an amazing location as Sri Lanka. http://www.ironmansrilanka.com/ I'm looking to this race is a great way to springboard my winter training and 2012 season. I've never traveled to South Asia, so as soon as I saw this new race announced several months ago, it was on my wish-list. Stay tuned for more information about the race and the other races on my 2012 schedule. Pat |
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| Ironman Cozumel: 2nd place race report |
| Click here to see pictures and read my race report from my 2nd place finish at Ironman Cozumel Click here to see a youtbe video of the podium ceremony |
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| November 19th: Catching up, Pocono 70.3, Miami 70.3, and upcoming IM Cozumel |
| It's been far too long since I've updated my blog. For that I apologize. I want to give you an update on the last couple months including my DNF at Pocono Mountains 70.3, my 10th place finish at Miami 70.3, and my upcoming Ironman Cozumel next weekend. After Ironman Louisville, I took a week vacation with my family up in Michigan. It was really great to spend quality time with my whole family. My original plan was to drive back from Boulder to Austin around Labor day. The problem was that Austin was still hitting the triple digits in temperatures every day and I really wasn't ready for that. Besides, I was still loving the training in Boulder. I decided to stay an extra month longer in Boulder until my race at Pocono Mountains Ironman 70.3 on October 2nd, then head back to Austin. I picked the Pocono Mountains race because my aunt, uncle, and cousins live about 30 miles from the race site. My parents and sister came out to the race as well, so it bacame a fun family trip. In the days before the race, I really didn't feel ready to race. My body just kind of felt "off". I tried not to think anything of it because I've had plenty of good races after not feeling quite right in the days before. The weather really turned south on race day for us. The Delaware river had flooded, so the swim was canceled. A cold front moved in, so race morning it was 42 degrees and pouring rain. Because we had to take buses to the race start, we got there early and then had to sit out in the cold rain for about 2 hours. The pros had a time trial start on the bike every 30 seconds. When it was my turn, I headed out ready to give it my all. From the first pedal stroke, I felt like I had nothing! My legs felt totally dead. Maybe it was the cold, or maybe it was just poor timing for a race after Ironman Louisville. Regardless, I felt terrible. By mile 3, the guy who started 30 seconds behind me had already passed me. I knew I was in trouble. By mile 10, the guys who had started a few minutes back had already caught and passed me. By mile 15, I was just sitting up and easy pedaling. My family was standing at mile 17, so I pulled over and dropped out on the spot. It's never easy to drop out of a race. I was really disappointed, but after a couple days I had shook it off and was back at it. I flew back to Denver from the race and started the drive back to Austin. When I got home, I put in a few solid weeks of training and headed off to Miami Ironman 70.3. Last year, I used Miami as my Cozumel prep race, so this year I did the same. My race in Miami came with mixed feelings. I finished 10th place, so I was not happy with that. In 2010, I had finished 7th and was looking to improve on that finish. I also swam terribly so I wasn't pleased at all with my performance in the water. What I was happy with was my overall time, which was 13 minutes faster than last year. I was happy with my bike and run times, so that left me feeling positive about those for my Ironman Cozumel preparation. It's been three weeks since Miami and I've put in my final Cozumel preparation. I hit up a ton of swimming during that time, so I feel confident in my swimming. Reflecting back at this time last year, I feel much fitter and stronger this year than before Cozumel last year. I feel bad that I haven't been keeping up on my blog for the last couple months, but I assure you I've been racing and training hard and hope to get back on the blog updating bandwagon. I'm heading out to Mexico on Tuesday and am looking forward to a fun weekend of racing. Pat |
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| August 31: Ironman Louisville - 2nd place Race Report |
| Click here to see pictures and read my race report from my 2nd place finish at Ironman Louisville |
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| August 15: Why I didn't take my Kona Slot |
| Since the first round of professional Kona qualifications came out a couple weeks ago, friends and family have been asking if I took my slot. I was within the top-40 male pros on the Kona Points Ranking (KPR), but I didn't take my slot, and here's why: I raced Kona three times as an agegrouper and once as a pro back in 2008. Kona is an amazing race and I believe it's where the heart and soul of the sport lies. I will go back to Kona, but only when I'm ready make an impact. It is a goal for me in 2012, but when I set out planning this season, it just didn't make sense to make Kona a goal for 2011. As tempting as it is to take the slot when it's dangling in front of you, for me I needed to make a smart business decision. Being and fan, student, and long time competitor in the sport, we're programmed to have Kona myopia and anyone who would turn down a slot is just insane! For me it all comes down to a business decision. A couple years ago, my close buddy, training partner, and triathlon veteran, Richie Cunningham gave me really good advice. Richie is truly a professional, he knows better than anyone how to make a living at this sport. I was talking about certain races I thought it would be FUN to go and race. He said "Hey, amateur hour is over. You're a professional now. You don't go to races you think will be fun. You go to races where you can make money." He's right, and that perspective is critical to maintain for us trying to make a living at this sport. Our job is to represent our sponsors, race, and make a living at it. So last winter when I was thinking about my 2011 goals and plan, I approached it with that mindset. My goals for 2011 are to go to races where I can make the biggest impact and have chances at high placements. In doing so, I will better represent my sponsors and be better able to support myself racing full-time. My second goal was to continue my athletic development so next year, 2012, I will be in a position to go back to Kona and be "in the mix" there. From a business perspective, Kona is hard to justify. Unless your sponsors make it a top priority of theirs to have you on the start line, it's tough to make the ROI work. To go out to Kona a little early, acclimate, train, then race, you're looking at easily a $3000+ trip. Only the top-10 get paid in Kona, so if you're one of the 40 other pros out of the top-10, you're down a lot of money. You're also taken out of a couple months of racing in a time of the year with a lot of good races. Also, let's face it, no one in the industry cares about you if you finish outside the top-20 in Kona. On the other side of the equation, if I don't go to Kona, I can get a lot of late season racing in, including two Ironmans. These races are a fraction of the cost of Kona and I have the potential to have good placements and make some money. At the end of the day, unless you're a top-10 kona guy, it's a no brainer (and there are at least 25 guys who are potential top-10 depending on how their days go). In the last few years, if you know me well, you've heard me talk at length about my swimming. Each year, I've made improvements. As I close the gap little by little, my overall results have improved because I've been more in the race from the start. I still have a long way to go. Kona is a race that if you're too far back out of the swim, you're not going to be competitive in the the professional race. This fall and winter, I'm going to make another charge at making another breakthrough in my swimming. It's happening now, and it's going to continue. When I make that next jump in my swim, it will completely change my racing. If I can come out with the second chase group from the water, then I'll be in the mix. When I've made that jump on my swimming, I'll be the first to sign up for Kona because then the trip will be worth it. After Ironman Louisville in two weeks, the new year for Kona Points starts, so I will be choosing races where I have shots at solid placements, but can also start accruing points for next year. That's my reasoning for not taking my Kona slot. Many friends have a hard time understanding it, but as soon as I frame it in the context that this is a career with business decisions like we all make at other jobs, then it's easier to understand. I agree with many of the arguments for going to Kona, especially since I can never know what the future will bring or count on qualifying in a future year. But I have to make the pragmatic decision for my career. Until then, I'm sticking with my plan for the rest of 2011: Ironman Louisville - Aug 28 Ironman 70.3 Pocono Mountains - Oct 2 Ironman 70.3 Miami - Oct 31 Ironman Cozumel - Nov 28 Pat |
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| July 17th: Ironman 70.3 Racine, 3rd place! |
| Read my race report and see pictures from my 3rd place finish at Ironman 70.3 Racine this past weekend. Ironman 70.3 Racine Race Report |
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| July 12th: Update from Boulder |
I apologize for the lapse in blog updates, but thankfully the reason I haven't had a blog update in the last month is because I've had a great month of training in Boulder. I had a bit of an achilles problem for the first week or so I was here, but thankfully that is well past me, I'm fit, and ready to race Racine Ironman 70.3 this weekend. A view back at Boulder and the mountains from my favorite running trail, Teller Farms. I love the run up the plateau and the view. First off, I have to say I am really enjoying Boulder and my time here. The training is superb, great people, and great weather. Coming here for the summer was probably the best decision I've made in a long time. It's exactly what I needed.  Riding on the Peak to Peak Highway. I know what you're thinking, "what an ugly view while riding, you must get bored."  After good running sessions, we soak our legs in the Boulder Creek. Fresh snow melt down the mountain = ice bath. It's FREEEEEZING When I arrived here in Boulder, it was only 2.5 weeks after Ironman Texas. I was having the worst recovery from an Ironman in my experience. My body wasn't responding well and I didn't feel like myself. On top of that my achilles got really inflamed as I was leaving Austin. I took a week off of running right after the race, then right before I came to boulder, I took another week off of running. By my 2nd run here, I could feel it again. I was ready to pull the plug and take significant time off. Then my friends Brad Seng and Joe Gambles suggested physical therepists here in Boulder who helped them with their past achilles problems. I kid you now. After one session, I was back running. It was amazing; walking into the office, I was ready to take a month off, since that session, I haven't missed a single run workout in 4 weeks. It was the most painful treatment you can imagine, but it worked. Basically, they manually scraped the scar tissue from my achilles with their fingers. Then they did dry needling, which is like a form of accupuncture. They stick accupuncture needles into your achilles to cause micro trauma to the tissue and bleeding. This brings bloodflow to the tendon to promote healing where we have no natural blood flow. The pain of the manual manipulation of the tendon was insane, like make you gag and cry at the same time pain. But it worked. II was running after one treatment, after the second, I haven't had a problem. It also helped that I caught the problem before it was full-blown chronic tendonitis, making the treatment and recovery much faster.  Up on the Switzerland Trail. Great running trail up at about 8000ft, I get freaked out thinking about mountain lions though. That little episode only set me back about a week in my running, but on top of my poor Ironman recovery, I didn't feel ready to go to Muncie or to try to do back-to-back 70.3 weekends. I've been watching guys really starting to wear their bodies out trying back-to-back racing. So I decided to err on the side of caution, give myself an extra week of quality work, and just go race Racine this next weekend. It was tough, because as I've gotten my fitness back, I'm really wanting to race. I just wanted to be smart and not greedy with my racing.  After the climb up Big Thompson Canyon, come over the crest and Estes Park is below you. Long's Peak in the background. So I'm now fit, healthy, and ready to race. I've now been in Boulder nearly five weeks. My training has gone great and I'm fully adapted to the altitude. I really love Boulder. I'm nearly certain that I'll be making a full-time move here from Austin next spring. My lease is up on April 1 next year, so I'm thinking that I'll probably pack up the Uhaul and head back to Boulder for good at that time. The terrain and culture in Boulder are perfect for my needs. Austin has good running and the swimming is fine, but the cycing in Austin has gotten worse and worse to the point where it's really dangerous to train full-time on Austin's roads. As the city has grown, the traffic has gotten horrible. The drivers are increasingly aggressive to cyclists and there are so many traffic lights now, that it's hard to get good training sessions near town. I have to ride nearly 45 min each way to get to even okay training roads in Austin, so I waste nearly 1.5 hours of every session in traffic and stop lights. In Boulder, I ride through two stop lights (with a full bike line, and even then drivers going wide around me) and then I never stop pedaling.  Nice little church along the Peak to Peak Highway  Switzerland Trail Run #2 There are heaps of running trails and dirt roads for every type of run. There are lots of swimming pools and several good swimming groups. There are tons of guys to train with and I have to say that I haven't found Boulder at all elitist as I had heard. I've found everyone very welcoming and the training groups actually more relaxed in attitude than some in Austin. This place is perfect for my needs. I'll have to figure out how to handle the winters here, but as I see it, I have to leave Austin now for a couple months every summer, so what's the difference if I live in Boulder and have to leave for a couple months in the winter? The quality of the cycling here makes it hard to want to bike back in Austin (sorry Austin, I like you as a city, but you're just not the cycling place you were when I started biking). That's it for now. I'm really enjoying my summer here. I'm loving training here, I'm fit, and ready to race Racine then on to Louisville! Pat  A recovery ride into Eldorado Canyon on the south side of Boulder. |
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| June 7th: Adios Austin, at least for a while |
| It's time to go. Austin is a great place to live. I love the city itself, but in the summer, the heat becomes insane, and just plain dangerous for training properly. Rather than my month in Michigan, this year I'm moving to Boulder, CO until September. I'm packing up the car in two days and heading north. Austin is a great place to live. The places to swim and swimming groups are great. The running trail is great, but the cycling is really suffering from the city's overgrowth. Austin is no longer the same city where I started cycling years ago. It's changed. It's downright dangerous on most of my old biking routes for cycling. The traffic is bad and the drivers are getting more aggresive towards cyclists. Then when you compound this with the unbearable heat (today it's only 98 degrees, yesterday it was 103, the day before 101, tomorrow 101.....and it's only the first week in June!!!), Austin just isn't a good place to train seriously in the summer. For this reason, I've decided to take a longer leave from home than in past years. In the last few years, I did a 4-6 week block at my parents condo up in northern Michigan. My plan is to drive up to Boulder this week, then stay there until after Ironman Louisville at the end of August. I may go up to Michigan for a week of recovery after Ironman Louisville which will put me driving back to Austin around Labor Day. The last couple years, the heat has really cracked me a few times. I've even had a few bouts with some heat stress and I'm always battling severe dehydration training in 100 degree temps. So I'm really excited to get up to the mountains for some good cycling and running in some more reasonable temperatures. I know Boulder can get hot, but it's not the 60+ days over 100 degrees that Austin gets! So for now I say so long to Austin, I'll see you in September! Time to put on some John Denver in the car and head towards the mountains. Pat |
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| June 3rd: Bad Recovery |
| These last couple weeks have been the worst Ironman recovery I've experienced to date. On top of it all, I've now developed an injury and will have to take a step back. Since the race, my achilles had been a little sore. As I started back again, I thought it would heal up, assuming I took it really easy as I came back. Now two weeks after the race, I've taken my easiest two weeks after an Ironman and the achilies is getting worse. I cannot tell you how frustrated I am. So I sit here Friday morning, after almost no training for the last two weeks, mentally ready to start getting back at it, now going to have to take more time completely off of my legs. Usually the bike won't irritate the achilies, but this time, it seems to be aggravating it. So I'll take a few more days completely off to see if I can get the healing process further along. I've really struggled during this recovery. That race in Texas really took it out of me. I felt like it really hurt me deep down, more than others. I think some of that could have been due to the China debacle. I had to cut my recovery times way down in my training. I came out of St.Croix and approached my recovery and training based on having 4 weeks. Losing my last week of recovery/taper due to my schedule change put me going into the race with more load on my body than I like for a full Ironman. I think that set me up for this injury and the way I've been really drained the last two weeks. I took my usual first week after an Ironman for recovery. Usually the soreness goes away, energy comes back, and then I am ready for slow, short, and easy sessions for a week. By week three, I'm ready to start adding some intensity and volume. Week 4, I'm usually ready to start crackin' again. This time, 10 days after the race, I could still barely get out of bed. I took more days off and did fewer rides, runs, and swims than ever in the past. I felt totally drained. As everyone else who raced started getting back at it, I could barely get out of my apartment. I think I may have had some lingering heat stress from the race. Then coming back to Austin where it's 97-101 degrees every day now, really stressed my body even going out for a short jog. The good news is that now two weeks after the race, my energy is back and am feeling like the normal me, but now my achilies is jacked up. So now it's time to get more aggressive with addressing it, which means time off. Normally, all of the Ironman aches and pains go away, but this one is now a problem. So now my focus is no biking and running for a few days to see if I can get back on track. Pat |
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| May 16th: Ironman China debacle, time for Ironman Texas |
| What a strange last few days! I learned Thursday night that Ironman China was cancelled. This was one week before I was slotted to leave for China. The following few days were very frustrating as I scrambled to salvage what I could about this situation. I am now on the start list for Ironman Texas next Saturday. I wanted to write here about the events of the last few days. I'm not here to complain about the China cancelation, there are plenty of frustrated athletes out there who I'll leave that to, but rather I'm updating you with my racing and the events of the last few days. I do want to thank Ken Glah at Endurance Sports Travel for doing his best to help me out and navigate all of the problems in the last few days. Also Heather at Ironman has done her best to help me. Ashley at Champion System also went out of her way to make sure I'll get my new race clothing in time for Ironman Texas due to these last-minute schedule changes. I learned Thursday night that the entire Ironman China race had been canceled. Mind you, my flight for China was supposed to leave 8 days later. I was only two weeks out from the race. I have yet to learn how much money my parents and I are out from having to cancel the trip, flights, lodging, post-race trip (flights and lodging), visa fees, etc. It's safe to say the number is well into the thousands of dollars lost. Then my parents had to cancel their vacations plans as well. I couldn't have been more disapointed in the whole thing! Ironman China had announced several days earlier that the swim portion of the race was canceled due to the Chinese governement conducting work on the resevoir's dam where the swim would take place. After a couple days, I re-framed the race in my head that it would be fun to only do an Ironman bike-run and it would be an advantage for me. A few days later, I'd have a much bigger challenge in terms of my mental race preparation. My immediate reaction to the China announcement was anger and frustration. I was angry for all of the athletes and their families with travel plans. The athletes had spent months preparing for this race only to have it taken away. I was angry for my parents who had their China vacation taken away. I was angry for myself, as this career has me on the financial edge most of the time and I was losing much more money than to could afford. I was frustrated because every day of the last 4 months was designed and executed around being my fittest, fastest, and strongest on May 29th, and all of that had to change. I was angry because this is more than a race and vacation, it's my career. I was just plain angry and frustrated. I didn't sleep Thursday night because I had this whole problem and situation swimming around in my head. How do I approach this; how do I get past the frustration; how do I reframe this in my head; how can I afford this; how do I accept this and put in place a plan that doesn't change the rest of my season? Friday morning I got up and went to morning swim practice. I got out of the water about 2/3 of the way through practice because I was too frazzled and tired from no sleep that I couldn't push myself. I came home and went to work on the computer. I didn't move for the next 8 or 9 hours from the couch. My goal was to get everything worked out so I could get past this blow to my season. The next best option was Ironman Brazil. The race is the same day as Ironman China, so there would be no changes to my body's plan in terms of taper, rest, recovery, and travel. I spent most of the day working through Brazil travel options, flights, lodging, and visa. I had everything lined up and ready to set in motion, but the race director wouldn't let me into Ironman Brazil. This was very frustrating. Every other Ironman and Ironman 70.3 race I've ever done, there are professional athletes who are added to the start list in the final hour. Every race someone shows up who wasn't on the start list. I was very frustrated that 17 days out from the race, the one time I needed that courtesy extended to me, the answer was "no". That whole Ironman Brazil project took the entire day on Friday. Ken and Heather did their best to help me line everything up, but there was nothing any of us could do with the final "no" from the race director. The only other option I had, that wouldn't change every race for the whole season for me, was Ironman Texas coming this Saturday. The positive about Texas is that it's only a 3 hour drive away for me, so the trip is easy and cost effective. With the race next weekend, I wouldn't have to change every race for the rest of my season. The hot/humid temperatures in Texas shouldn't be a problem because I've been training in Austin. The biggest drawback is that by racing Texas this Saturday, I lost 8 days of rest/recovery from my planned taper. The last bit of the taper is when your body absorbs all of the work and training from the previous months. So I'm now faced with a "crash" 1-week taper. I've gotten my head around this taper and put in place a plan that I think will get me to the starting line as rested as possible in one week without making me too sluggish and lethargic. I've got two messages this week and I've been putting many hours in my RecoveryPump. The second mental hurdle for me was that by switching from Ironman China to Ironman Texas, I was also drastically changing the depth of the competition at the race. Ironman China was a normal Ironman with a smaller professional field; with that comes a set of mental preperations and expectations for the race. Ironman Texas is the Ironman North American Professional Championships. That means it has one of the deepest and most talented professional fields outside of Kona. So, I've had to completely change my plans and expectations going into this race as it pertains to my competition. I've now gotten past the short taper, travel changes, and mental preparation changes. With each day that passes, I'm getting over the frustration with the China-Brazil events. My parents were able to get flights to Houston, so they can still come to the race. We were able to find a hotel close to the race. So now it's just a matter of getting my race gear together, resting, and getting in my short training sessions to be ready to go on Saturday. My mental focus with all of theses changes and upheaval is "I have nothing to lose" so I'll go into the race, race my heart out, and see what I can do. Pat |
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| May 8th: St.Croix Ironman 70.3, 4th place! Race Report |
| Click here to see pictures, video, and read about my 4th place finish at St.Croix Ironman 70.3 Click here to watch the youtube video of Richie Cunningham and I battling it out for 3rd place in the last 1/2 mile of the run. |
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| April 26th: Austin Fit Magazine April Feature |
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didn't get a chance to pick up a copy of April's Austin FIt Magazine triathlon issue, then check it out here. I've posted the portion of the feature article on Austin's professional triathletes about me here. |
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| April 22nd: My new 2011 Felt DA |
Back in Black for 2011. There really isn't a whole lot to say. The bike speaks for itself. It is the badest, fastest, and meanest bike I have ever ridden, period. I don't think I really ever need to ride another bike. I've only been on it about a week, but it feels amazing.  I only have about 400 miles on it so far, so I'm still getting the fit dialed in, the feel, and personality of the bike. After that, as I always do, I'll give it a name. I'm accepting suggestions. Pat |
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| April 4th: Catching up on last 2 months |
| I've been really bad about updating my blog over the last couple months. Excuses aside, it's time to give you a complete update on my last couple months. How is my 2011 preparation going? Why didn't I race San Juan 70.3? Am I still on track for my 2011 race schedule? First and foremost, I am getting myself caught up on my admin work (once my taxes are done!) so I should get myself back on my weekly blog updates now. The season is now here, so I'm going to be back on top of my game on this website. So how have the last couple months been? January started off great. We had really good winter training weather in Austin to begin the year. I was healthy and starting my winter build. I decided that as part of my winter training, I would race the Austin 1/2 marathon in February. The plan was to focus on training to run a blazing fast 1/2 marathon and springboard my run training forward for San Juan 70.3 in March. At the same time, my plan was to just maintain cycling through January and the first half of February, then pick up the cycling after the 1/2 marathon for San Juan. At the same time, because my running would be more quality/less volume, and my cycling would be lower volume, I could dedicate more time to try to put in another swim specific block. This was actually going really well for the first 3 weeks of the year. Then we started getting the cold and nasty weather. I started moving some of my running intensity sessions indoors to the treadmill. I was doing tempo runs and longer speed sets in the gym. This was going great, but in the last week in January, I was starting a 3x3 mile tempo set on the treadmill and about 1/2 mile in I strained the heck out of my hamstring. It was like when you see the sprinters pull their hammies. It locked up and I had to hoist myself up on the treadmill because my leg gave out. After looking at the days before and day of the injury, I've learned that I made a couple mistakes. First, I was dehydrated. Too much coffee and not enough water, it's easy to fall out of the hydration routine in the winter when you're not sweating and forcing the fluids like in the summer. Second, I fell into the treadmill trap of dialing up the speed too much. It's tempting to always push the button to go one more faster and see if you can hang on. Lastly, when running on the treadmill fast, it's easy to try to cheat by over-striding. The long, bounding strides let more of the belt pass underneath you for each stride. So the combination of pushing too hard, over-striding, and dehydration set me up for a nasty hamstring pull. Lesson learned! Initially, I thought it would set me back maybe a week, tops, then I would be back on track. How wrong I was. I couldn't walk properly for a couple days and couldn't even attempt a jog for about 8 days. After getting some massage work done and treatment by Dr. Z at Advanced Rehabilitation, I was able to start jogging easy again. I thought I'd be back kicking it in a week...WRONG. For the next 3 weeks, I could run an easy recovery pace, but as soon as I tried to run anything faster than a 7:30 min/mile, my whole hamstring would lock up and threaten to re-pull. It wasn't until 5 weeks after the initial strain, that I could start pushing the pace and start doing the work to get back to where I had been. I also had to really back off on the cycling for the first couple weeks after the injury. I found myself going into March very far behind where I had hoped to be in terms of fitness. Just as I was getting some momentum back, I caught the normal winter flu. It wasn't horrible, but it just prevented me from getting back on track for San Juan for another week when I had already been behind. I found myself about 2 weeks before San Juan in panic mode trying to cram to get whatever fitness I could before the race. In my tempo runs, I couldn't hold paces that I normally do for an average long run. I was in no place to go race. I didn't need to go and have my ass handed to me to prove what I already knew; I wasn't fit enough to race yet. So about 2 weeks before San Juan 70.3, I pulled the plug. I decided it wasn't smart or healthy to try to cram fitness this early in the year. The upside of the hamstring pull was that I really had a chance to execute on my winter swim plan. I put in the biggest 4-5 week swim block of my life. I was doing between 8-9 swim sessions each week with several swim 2-a-days each week. I made the biggest swim gains I've ever seen. So the silver lining in my Jan-March was that. Some of that swimming speed, unfortunately, I've given back since I started my Ironman bike-run training. It's just impossible to hold that kind of swimming fitness when you're putting in the bike and run miles. The good thing is that I have made a jump up on my swimming and I know I'll have some swim times this year that will suprise my competition. As soon as I cancelled my San Juan trip, I didn't feel pressure to cram on my training and I started a proper Ironman build. Mother nature was kind through the month of March. We had one of the warmest and driest Marches on record. I heard that it was the driest since 1912. I was able to put in the miles needed to get my fitness back. So now it's the first week in April and I'm well back on track. I'm racing St. Croix Ironman 70.3 in 4 weeks and then Ironman China another 4 weeks after that. My fitness is far far ahead of where it was at this time last year. I would say that I'm a good month or two ahead of where I was at this time last year. My one setback this winter is past and it may have really helped me take another huge step forward on my swimming. I'm excited to race again, excited to travel, and looking forward to putting in the work over the next couple months. You are now officially caught up on my last couple months and know why there were no times next to my name in San Juan. The small setbacks lead to long-term gains. Pat |
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| March 7th: New Sponsor Announcement, RecoveryPump |
| I am very excited to announce a new relationship with RecoveryPump for 2011. I have been using RecoveryPump's product over the last year even before this sponsorship, so I am very excited to partner with this new company. |
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| Feb 11th: Pro Talk at Texas State University |
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A week ago, I went down to San Marcos, Texas for a pro talk with the Texas State University triathlon club. It was a good chance to meet a great group of people and to get back to the place where I studied for my Masters degree. The triathlon club was very welcoming. The group ranged from Ironman experienced to first time triathletes, so they had a lot of good questions. I had a really fun time and would love to go back again some time.
For those of you not from the Austin area, the town of San Marcos is only about 35 miles south of Austin, so the trip down there to speak with the club is an easy one, except this time. The weather this time of year in Austin is pretty manic. It can be 75 degrees one day and 25 degrees a couple days later. The weather had called for a chance of snow that night, but not starting until midnight. I thought, since my meeting with the tri club was at 7:30, I should be fine to drive home safe around 9pm, getting home at 9:30. When I walked out of the unibuilding after 9pm, the ground was a solid sheet of ice, my car had about 1/4 solid ice on it and the rain was coming down and freezing on contact. I knew this was not good and as dangerous as jumping into the zoo's polar bear exhibit wearing Lady Ga Ga's meat outfit. After skidding out several times just trying to drive through town I thought the expressway may be better because traffic usually keeps the road more heated. WRONG! I got on I-35 and thought I was going to die. I was driving 15mph and cars were sliding off the road. All the semi-trucks had pulled off the road for the night because it was too dangerous. The horizon was nothing but emergency vehicle flashers and lights. I have never driven in such horrible conditions. After a couple miles my knuckles were white and I knew there was no possible way I could make the next 30 miles. Luckily,my girlfriend's parents live in Kyle, only about seven miles from San Marcos. I was almost to their house, so I skidded and slid my way to their place and spent the night. I was iced in there until the roads thawed out about 1pm the next day. I was so thankful Hillary's parents house was there and her Mom took great of me. She made sure I was fed well and had a warm bed to sleep in. By 9am the next morning, there had already been over 99 car accidents reported in Austin. It was a nightmare. So, thank you to Hillary's family for taking care of me and keeping me safe. It was quite an adventure.
A big thanks to the Texas State Univerisity Triathlon Club for hosting me and welcoming me to come speak! Pat |
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| Feb 3rd: Announcing a new relationship with Felt Bikes |
| I am happy to announce a new sponsorship relationship with Felt bicycles for 2011. I have been a huge fan of Felt's products and the company for years. Felt is dedicated to making the best and fastest bikes in the business. I will be riding the 2011 Felt DA Time Trial bike for racing and training. I will also be training on the Felt AR road bike. I am very excited about this relationship and to be working with such a great company. Look for me on my new Felt bikes soon!
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| Feb 1st: Off-Season Training Myths |
| Pick up a copy or check out on-line this month's issue of Austin Fit magazine to read the article I wrote dispelling off-season training myths. Learn from watching what the pros do: http://www.austinfitmagazine.com/Fitness/FIT3/2011/February/learn-from-the-pros.html |
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| Jan 19th: 2011 Race Schedule |
| I've posted my 2011 tentative race schedule. There are a few details I'm still working out, but this is my best shot at how my 2011 race season's going to go. Race Schedule |
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| Jan 12th: Austin Fit Article, Your Best Year Yet |
| If you haven't already read my article in the January issue of Austin Fit Magazine, check it out. Tips on the process of setting your goals for 2011 to make it your best athletic year yet! http://www.austinfitmagazine.com/Fitness/FIT3/2011/January/6-steps-to-successful-athletic-year.html Happy new year and here's to the best year yet!! Pat |
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| Dec 26th: Home for the Holidays |
| I'm back home in Detroit for five days for Christmas. It's always a great trip to see family and friends. I've been eating like a horse, so I'll need a food detox period when I get back to Austin. It's been a whirlwind of holiday parties, always fun. I really enjoy this time at home. Since it's been in the 20s every day here, I've been running on my parents treadmill everyday. I'm officially a wimp about running in the cold. I didn't even bring outdoor cold-weather running clothes. When the mercury is below 30, I'm running inside. Only another day and a half before I head back to Austin. My buddy is getting married on New Years Eve, so we'll have a great time that night. After New Years, it's back into full-on training mode. The last couple weeks, I've actually gotten in quite a bit, but it's been all pretty unstructured training. I'll need that first week in January to sweat out the cookies and wine from this week. Tonight is the annual father-son bowling tournament that my high-school/college buddies have put on for the last 11 years. This is one of my favorite nights of the year. Team Evoe is looking to score some big points tonight. "Plan A", bowl strikes. I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday. Pat |
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| Dec 11th: Doughnut |
| So what does "off-season" mean to me? It means that I can eat 10,000 calories of this deliciousness for dessert. It's a fresh custom made doughnut from a little place run out of an airstream trailer. Check out what I ate for dessert last night:
It was both amazing and a weeks worth of calories. This is why I love the off-season. I can eat stuff like this and not care. Ed. Note: I actually couldn't finish this whole thing, I got through about 2/3 of it. The rest went down after my bike ride today. |
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| Dec 8th - Feature Slowtwitch.com Interview |
| Yesterday, Slowtwitch.com published a feature interview with me. Click the link below to read the article. http://www.slowtwitch.com/Interview/Patrick_Evoe_-_hot_and_ready_1829.html |
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| Ironman Cozumel - 6th Place!! |
| Click here to read my race report and see pictures from my 6th place finish and new personal best Ironman time of 8:35 at Ironman Cozumel. |
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| December 4th - Website Cleanup and Wisdom Teeth Round #2 |
| Whilst I lay here on the couch recovering from my second round of wisdom teeth surgery, I thought I would spend some time and do a bit of end-of-year website clean-up. I archived some old blog entries and race reports, updated my schedule and results, updated photos, and made a few more house cleaning modifications. I'll get my Ironman Cozumel race report up today as well. Just like cleaning my appartement, it feels good to clean up my websited a bit. As for the surgery, it went pretty well. I'm doing okay now. I only needed the heavy pain killers yesterday right after the surgery. I can tolerate the pain with ibuprofen only now. I had one tooth removed back after Louisville and scheduled the rest for after my last race (because they were going to be more complicated). I was supposed to get the two bottoms out and then my upper left wisdom tooth out. When the doc got digging in the upper left side, I had a second wisdom tooth behind the first. Then when he removed the 2nd, I had a 3rd wisdom tooth behind that one. I had 3 teeth where most people have one. The doc said it was like I was a shark with rows and rows of teeth. He also had to take a saw to my skull to get some of the teeth out because my bones are so hard. I don't know if that's good or bad, but I'm thinking that means I have good bone mineral density. Maybe that's why I've never had a stress fracture despite all the running miles. So I'm taking several days on the couch to recover from surgery. It's not a bad way to start the off-season. I've made an uber-to-do list of admin items I've been neglecting during the last couple months. I have plenty to do, so I shouldn't get bored. I am getting hungry. After 2 days of liquids and soft foods, I'm not getting that satisfied full feeling. The best item I've had so far was my morning smoothy: Frozen strawberries Frozen bananas 2 TBS milled flax seed 1 TBS wheat germ 1 Scoop PowerBar Protein Plus Powder, Chocolate (20 gms of protein) 16 oz skim milk. That filled me up at least for a while this morning and felt like it had mor sustinance than the bowls of jello yesterday. |
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| Nov 29th - Ironman Cozumel 6th, great day! |
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I couldn't be happier with my race yesterday here at Ironman Cozumel. 6th place overall and a huge personal best time of 8:35. What a great way to finish off the 2010 season. I'll work on getting my race report up here in the next couple days. Check back soon. For now, it's time for some cookies, margaritas, snorkeling, and the beach.
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| Nov 25th - Quintana Roo in Quintana Roo |
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I made it into Cozumel safe and sound after a long day of trains, planes, and automobiles on Tuesday. I'm settled in now and really happy to be here. I took this picture this morning on my ride. I call this picture "A Quintana Roo in Quintana Roo" (for those who don't know, Cozumel is in the state of Quintana Roo)
I've stayed the last two nights at the race hotel where I stayed last year, but today, my parents arrive and we move over to the nice El Presidente. I'm excited about that hotel and will be sure to post some pictures. |
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| Nov 22nd - Pizza Slice Aero Helmet Sticker Update |
| Last week, Jack, from Jack and Adams Bicycles presented me with another round of pizza slice stickers for my aerohelmet, earned in Miami Ironman 70.3. Here is the update on my season totals for helmet stickers......Pizza Slice Stickers Update |
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| Nov 11th - Sometimes it's good to sit on your feet |
| I'm far from perfect. I get behind on dirty dishes, laundry, and I don't always stretch as much as I know I should, but when I learned that I can get some free swimming speed with some simple stretching, I said "where do I sign up?!" Two of my friends, Amanda Lovato and Richie Cunningham, had noticed and pointed out to me at swim practice that I have horrible ankle flexibility while swimming. It's not an issue while biking and running (that's what causes tight ankles), but when I'm swimming, because I can't point my toes easily, I have these size 9.5 water breaks dragging behind me in the water. If my feet were pointed and in line with my body in the direction of movement, there's little drag, but feet sticking straight down are like dragging dredges through the water. I can't quantify exactly the time difference between pointed and dragging toes, but I think it's one-two seconds per 100 yards. Multiply that out over an Ironman and that's a minute to a minute and a half time savings. So how do I correct this? Over the last few weeks, I decided to try to fix this. I need to first increase my ankle flexibility. So almost every day, I've been spending time sitting on my feet. I get down on my knees like I'm about to bow, then just sit there on my feet with them pointed. As that's gotten easier, I now put a small book under my toes to increase the stretch. It's an easy stretch that takes no effort. I get so lazy sometimes that the active stretches that take effort are just too much when I'm tired. But I can sit there on my feet! A few times, I've even eaten at my coffee table sitting like that. After a couple weeks of this, I've started to notice flexibility improvements. The second part of the foot dragging equation has to do with the angles of my legs in the water. Talking to some great swimmers at UT, they told me that rather than keeping my toes straight, turn my knees in a little while swimming and the resulting angle change on your feet, really reduces the drag in the water and increases the surface area of your foot during your kick cycle. I still have a ways to go on this, but I'm working on it. When I'm conscious of my feet, I notice the difference in the water. The challenge is that when I'm not focusing on these things, it's easy to go back to my foot dragging. The more I practice though, the more it becomes habit. A second per hundred is better than no gain! So going forward, I'll be sitting on my feet more. Pat |
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| Miami Ironman 70.3 - 7th place! |
| Click here to read my race report from this last weekend in Miami. |
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| October 26th: Bike wreck, but still ready for Miami 70.3 |
| I went down on my bike last Friday, the first time I've hit the pavement in about 4 years. Luckily it wasn't too bad and I'm still ready to go for Miami Ironman 70.3 this weekend. Friday, my training buddy, Richie and I were riding one of our last long rides before this next weekend's race. With about 30 miles to go in our 100 miles, we were coming down a hill to a low water crossing. This is where water runs over the road. Since we've had a ton of rain this year, the river has gone over the road for about the last 6-8 months. Normally, it only happens when we have a flood, but most of the year, the crossing is dry. The crossing is very slick, so we are really careful and slow when crossing (sometimes walking our bikes). The problem is that every car that drives through the river drags water up the hill from its wet tires. So the first section of road before and after the river has been wet since about March, so it's very slick for a good 50 yards up the hill. I was coming down the hill and realized that I had a little too much speed. But by the time I tapped the brake, I was already on the perma-wet section of road and BAM, my wheels just slid out like on ice. I came down on my side pretty hard. Luckily I didn't come down hard enough to break anything. It was more of a skid across wet pavement. So my injuries were more bruising and lots of good ol' road rash. My hip has been really sore, but I was able to run at tempo the next day. Since Friday, it's been constant ibuprofen, neosporine, and ice. Everything is healing up pretty well, though I still have some nasty big scabs in different areas. I should be fine for the race this weekend. Other than a sore hip and lots of scabs, the rest of my body is fine. I feel like the four or five weeks since August have been great training. My all around fitness is the best it's been all year. My swimming has really come around, my running is back to where it was before Coeur d'Alene and I'm biking stronger than I have since last October. So I'm very happy on several fronts. Yes, I'm frustrated with my fall, but I'm thankful it wasn't worse. It could have easily ended my year on a very bad note and I'm happy that my fitness is at a great place where I'm excited to race this weekend and really excited for Cozumel next month. I fly out tomorrow to Miami for the Ironman 70.3 race there. It's the first year for the race and so far it's boasting a huge and talented pro field. It should be fun and challenging. I'm happy that my parents are coming again, but also that my sister is coming to watch as well. She always watches my races via the web from home, but she hasn't gotten to see a race in person since my first Kona in 2003. So it'll be a really fun family weekend in Miami. Check back the rest f the week and I'll post updates from Miami and the race. Pat |
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| October 22nd: Good article on pain and racing |
| My good friend, Kelly Williamson, posted a link to an aritcle the other day from twitter. After reading it, I thought it'd be a great one to pass along and on which to comment. The article is from the New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/19/health/nutrition/19best.html?pagewanted=2&_r=4 (you may need to get a log-in to read the article, sorry) A common comment I get from time to time is one about how the races must get easier for me over time, or that any distance shorter than a full-Ironman must be a breeze for me know. As this article points out, nothing could be further from the truth. If anything, they are now more painful than ever. This is because that the more training and more racing I do, the more I learn to cope with pain. I think this is true for all pro triathletes and other top endurance athletes. My first couple full and half Ironmans hurt, without a doubt, but at that time, I hadn't learned to accept and hold myself beyond the pain threshold for any period of time. Over time, with racing and more intensity training, I've learned to hurt better each year. You get accustomed to suffering. It doesn't mean it becomes any easier. For me, I learn to accept the pain for what it is and exist in it. We were doing a hard swim set the other morning and as it got into the "stupid-hard" range, I turned to my friend and said, "time to let the eyes roll back in the head". She thought that meant I was rolling my eyes and was going to give up. Rather what I was referencing was the great white shark. When it goes to strike, nature takes over, and it's eyes roll back in its head. It's a process the shark goes into when it's time to strike. When it's time to hurt, I try not to think about it, I just let it happen, and go through the process of suffering. The more I learn to suffer, the longer I can hold hard paces in training and racing. No matter how much we progress, 85%, 95%, 100% efforts always feel the same. The only thing that changes is how fast you're moving! If you have a chance, that article is a good, short read. If you want to get faster, you have to learn to really suffer. Pat |
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| October 6th: I'm on Twitter!! |
| Follow me on twitter, @patrickevoe. I finally cracked and against all my anti-narcissistic feelings, I've joined on. As I get more tech-inclined, I'll figure out how to link my twitter updates to my site automatically, but until then just go and follow me. And into the rabbit hole he fell! |
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| September 28th: Augusta 70.3 Race Report |
| Click here to read my race report from Augusta Ironman 70.3 |
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| September 24th: In Augusta, GA for Ironman 70.3 |
| I arrived in Augusta, Georgia yesterday afternoon. Today has been a pretty low key rest day. My parents traveled from Detroit to this race and I came here also with my good buddy and training partner Richie Cunningham. We took time to drive the bike course today. I really like this course. The swim is a point-to-point all down stream in the Savannah River. Then the bike winds through the back roads in adjacent South Carolina. Very pretty bike course. I'd say it's one of the prettier bike courses I've seen on the 70.3 circuit. The run is a really fun zig-zaging course through the downtown streets. It looks to be very fun to race. The only down side is that there are major thunderstorms in the forecast for Sunday morning. So we'll see how the weather gods treat us on race day. I'm really excited to race. I love the 70.3 distance. It's just a really fun type of race. You can go really hard, but it's long enough that it still rewards those who have been honest in their training. I haven't raced a 70.3 since St.Croix in early May, so I can't wait to get out there and test my season's fitness at this distance. Barring a super rainy day, it should be a fast course...and it's always fun to go fast. Tomorrow is the normal prerace day of getting the equipment ready. Doing a few short workouts, pro meeting, rest, hydration, and get ready to go. Pat |
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| September 17th: Big racing block |
| My 2010 season-long plan has been coming together perfectly. I've spent most of the year building into my last few major races. Now that I have the fitness and speed, it's time to capitalize on it and really put in some solid races. If you've taken a look at my race schedule throughout the last 8 or 9 months, you would have noticed that I've changed it around a few times. This final version, I think fits my year and fitness. Now that I have great form, it's time to race several Ironman 70.3s and finish off the year racing Ironman Cozumel. So my final racing block is: - Augusta Ironman 70.3 - Sept 25th - Austin Ironman 70.3 - Oct 17th - Miami Ironman 70.3 - Oct 30th - Ford Ironman Cozumel - Nov 28th I'm looking forward to racing this block. I'm feeling good and have been recovering well from both Louisville and the oral surgery. I actually think the several extra days I had to take off because of the surgery helped my Ironman recovery. Looking back at my training log from 3 weeks after Ironman Coeur d'Alene, I'm feeling much, much better now than I did at that time. Another week of training/recovery should put me in a good position heading into Augusta next weekend. Pat |
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| Ironman Louisville Race Report |
| Click here to read my race report and see pictures from my 4th place finish at Ironman Louisville this last weekend! |
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| September 2nd: Wisdom Teeth Removed = Forced Recovery |
| I had two teeth removed today so I've got a bit of forced recovery after Louisville, which is a good thing. Since I have some couch time over the next couple days, I will have my race report and photos up soon. I found out about 2 months ago that I needed to have my wisdom teeth out soon as well as one more molar. Then at the oral surgeons, I learned that I actually have 5 wisdom teeth instead of 4, so in all, I needed to have 6 teeth extracted. Two of those were mor immediate while the other four could wait, so I scheduled the first two as soon as I could after Louisville so I could use the surgery recovery as part of my post-Ironman rest. The other four are going to come out after Cozumel at the end of the season. They're a bit trickier and have higher risk of complications so I wanted to mimize the risk of any impact on the rest of my season. The extraction went well today. Much better than I ever thought. Dr. K is amazing and really made me feel at ease. I must say that I'm a fan of nitrous now! So no workouts for a few days. I can start easy bikes and runs on Saturday or Sunday. No swimming for a week because the wisdom tooth's root was too close to my sinus so I can't do anything that my build pressure in the sinus. So now that I have couch time I have now no excuse to not put up my race report in the next day or so! Pat |
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| August 20th: Austin Fit Magazine Training Articles |
| I took the time today to scan in several training article that I wrote for and were published in Austin Fit magazine. I wanted to share the knowledge beyond just the Austin readers. I've also posted them for the long term on my News Room page. Nov-09: 5 Ways to a Faster Bike Split Page 1 Page 2 Dec-09: Learning to Race the Day you are Given: The Mental Approach to Different Environmental Conditions Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Mar-10: Sick and Training Page 1 Page 2 Jun-10: Mental Preparation for your Event Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Aug-10: 5 Ways to Survive Summer Training in the Heat Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 |
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