Blog

Yesterday I had an epic bike ride in the rain forests of Cairns. I had been referred to Dan's Mountain Bike Adventures by the Australian couple who I rode the day before my race...

When the gun sounded we hit the water for the 1.5 K swim. I stuck to my plan of using the swim as the warm up for the rest of my day.

I was planning on doing the Team USA training bike ride today, but ended up riding with an Australian couple. When I went to get onto the elevator this morning there was a young wife and husband from Sydney...

Tonight was the parade of nations and opening ceremonies. It was a truly amazing event. There were 6000 athletes from 62 countries. The evening started out with the parade of nations. The USA was the last country to enter so we were able to watch all of the other countries enter.

The Aquathlon was a very humbling experience today. I wanted to use the race as a warm-up to the ITU Olympic distance World Triathlon Championship on Saturday. However it is hard to hold back in a race environment.

The weather on the Gold Coast is amazing. It is usually in the 70s by 9 AM. This morning I ran on the beach at Surfers Paradise. It was such a beautiful run. The beach is miles and miles of golden sand...

Big day is here. On a plane filled with triathletes flying from LA to Brisbane. I tried to tire myself out this morning with a good workout. I did back to back Rev It Up programs on the Lemond g-force trainer at level 12...

Last Race Before Gold Coast Australia Event.

Yesterday I raced in the Lake Sammamish Sprint Triathlon.  My mom wanted to see me race before heading off to the World Championships so I signed up for this local race close to home.  The race sold out and drew 700 participants.  As I drove to the race the rain started falling. I arrived an hour before the start of the race.  Generally I advise my triathlon team to get there at least 90 minutes prior to the start of the race so they do not feel rushed.  As I walked to the swim start I saw my mother and friends who had come to cheer me on.

I include strength training throughout the triathlon training season.  However, during race season I cut back to two days a week.  Before lifting any weights I take time to turn on my core and go through some movement prep exercises.  I will change the sets, repetitions, tempo, recovery, resistance to keep my body from adapting to the workout.  Every two weeks I will add and delete exercises.

This is a list of my top nine favorite races.  It is not in a specific order because I highly recommend all of these races.  It’s not a top ten list because I’m leaving a spot open for the world championships.

1. Escape from Alcatraz Triathlon – 1.5 mile swim, 18 mile bike, 8 mile run www.escapefromalcatraztriathlon.com
2. Pacific Crest ½ Ironman – 1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike, 13.1 mile run www.racecenter.com/pacificcrest
3. Hagg Lake Olympic Triathlon – 1.5 k swim, 40 k bike, 10 k run www.racecenter.com/hagglake
4. Whisky Dick Triathlon – 1 mile swim, 28 mile bike, 8.8 mile run www.whiskydick.com
5. Boston Marathon – 26.2 miles  www.bostonmarathon.org
6. Wild Sky Adventure Race – 30 mile mountain bike, 15 mile trail run, 10 mile white water raft www.trioba.com/triobahome.html
7. Ironman Canada – 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike, 26.2 mile run   www.ironman.ca
8. Mountain to Sound Multi Sport Race – 22 mile mountain bike, 45 mile road bike, 12 mile kayak, 13.2 mile road run, 6 mile road run. www.mountainstosound.com
9. Ironman UK – 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike, 26.2 mile run www.ironmanuk.com