2008 NEWS
May 7 - What can I say, I've been working a ton, and after my last 3rd place finish at Nationals, I'm ready to retire...not quite yet. I still have some ass kicking to do on the Xterra National Series.
Anyway, the last couple weeks have been good. My minimalist style training is acuatlly going quite well. I'm getting in the key workouts, and getting plenty of recovery between them, leaving me feeling pretty good. My race at Duathlon Nationals was a great testomony to that style of training, as it was my longest and hardest effort of the last couple years, but I was still able to do it. It was also my first 10k that was not off of a bike. Much harder to do than I thought.
Now I'm focused for Xterra Temecula, the West Coast Championships. I'm sorting out some new bike gear with BMC and Zack at Sports Garage to hopefully roll up to the start line with a 20-21lb 4" travel full suspension bike. Sweet! I'll put some picks up hopefully soon.
Check back soon to see how it goes.
April 25 - Well, I'm sitting in the airport, watching it lightning and thunder. The delays and cancelations keep building up. What a way to start off the race season, as I try to make it to Richmond for Duathlon Nationals.With the exception of the weather, I am very interested in getting the first race underway. I may not be super fit, but I have a descent base and plan on having a good time. It will probably be the hardest race of the season, butstill fun to do something a little different. You'll have to check back this next week to see how things go.
April 17 - The season is quickly approaching, and I'm trying to get everything together for the first race of the season. I'm aslo trying to keep everyone more up to date on my life this year. So I'm heading to Duathlon National Championships in Richmond, VA next week. I'm not in very fast shape, but I'm looking forward to doing my first race, along with my first drafting race in a long time. A drafting race that I will hopefully be able to do more drafting in than some of the ITU races I've competed in.
I'm also trying to sort out all my equipment for the race. New tri shoes, draft leagal aerobars, race wheels, race suit, and of course fast legs. It will be tight to get it all done before I ship my bike out, but I'll manage. I've had a couple easy track sessions to get my legs ready to start the hard training for the season, so I think I should do just fine. At least I'll be able to work out some of the kinks before the big races come. I'll keep you all posted with pics and race report soon. Wish me luck.
April 10 - So I'm trying to get my site up to date. I've been working a lot at Colorado Multisport to make it the premier Multisport Destination in the Country. So far so good. I've still had time to get some solid training in and feel like the season is shaping up great. I'm not too fit too early, but I have a great base going. My shoulder has still been a bit of a nagging injury from my bike crash last year, but my massage therapist, Josh Shaddle of Tri Massage, has been doing wonders to keep me swimming through it. Check him out if you're local.
Other than that, I'm looking at racing Duathlon Nationals in Richmond, VA toward the end of the month. I'll try to keep you posted on how things go.
2007 NEWS
THE YEAR - 2007 was a super busy year for me. I was injured through most of the early season with a pulled groin muscle. My new responsibilies at Colorado Multisport become much larger and required lots of my time. As I got the season going, I had a mountain bike accident and messed up my shoulder and was sidelined a little while. I mananged to just finish out the season with no swimming and a bit more biking and running. I squeeked out a couple good results on the National series, but failed to have a good day at Worlds even with great fitness going into it. I will look forward to a new year of staying healthy and having more success. A big THANK YOU goes out to all my sponsors who still stuck with me through the hard times. I look forward to promoting you better next season.
2006 NEWS
October 26 - I'm wasting a bit of time right now on the plane as I head to Maui for the XTERRA World Championships. I thought I'd add a journal entry on my thoughts toward the race. As an up-and-comming Xterra athlete, I've learned you can never prepare for much. All you can do is try to stay positive and race your own race. For my race, I plan to leave nothing left in the tank when I'm done. I'm going to try racing each leg of the race like there is nothing after it. I feel that my fitness is great (even though I had a bit of a disturbance with a wound on my shin from a rock) and I should be able to crush the bike. My swim with a wetsuit was great a Nationals, since I felt conservative, but came out way ahead of my normal place. For a change, I feel like my non-wetsuit swim is going to go great this time. Getting out of the water higher up will help keep my motivation high through the bike. My goal on the bike is to stay hydrated and fueled up and I feel my fitness will actually keep me from falling apart near the end like previous years. My run off the bike is about the best it's ever been, so bring on the hills and the sand this year. So in the end, I really just want to feel solid through the race and secondly, I would like my solid effort to put me in the top ten. I'd also like to stay up there as one of the top 3 Americans. So there you have it, my thoughts on Worlds. Check back to see how it all turned out.
October 18 - So it's been forever since I've had time to update my site. Sorry to keep you all waiting. Tons of stuff has happened since my last update. Lets just start with Xterra National Championships. The day was awesome for me and finally all three sports came together. 
For me, the swim was fairly average, but I came out of the water ahead of many competitors I am usually a ways behind. I contribute most of that to my blueseventy wetsuit which I didn't get to wear much this year. For the bike portion, I went out a bit conservative, but slowly built the pace and rode up into the top ten. I have to give a shout out to BMC bikes and Nick at Sports Garage for all they did to help get me outfitted on a the new Fourstroke 01. What a sweet ride. After coming off the bike, I thought my legs might be a bit shattered for the run, but after about 100meters, I knew I was going to run fairly solid. Unfortunately, I didn't really move up much into a podium position (20sec behind 5th), I still had a solid race. I ended up 6th on the day and that put me in a points battle for a podium spot in the series. However, I was a couple points behind Conrad Stoltz (4th) and good friend Brian Smith (5th) to finish 6th. Talk about being consistent. Race Results : Point Series Results
So now its time to have my best race of the year at Worlds and hopefully be the top American and a solid top 10 finish. The course is great for me since the bike portion is technical and hard, but good friend Seth Wealing (top American and winner of Nationals) will put up a great fight and definitely be the guy to beat for the top American spot. We'll see how it all goes. Worlds will take place on Oct 29th, so keep checking back here and the Xterra website for the outcome.
June 12 - Race 2 of the National Series in Birmingham, Alabama went pretty well with a 6th place finish. Some minor bike issues through the first part of the course and some tired legs on the steep climbs at the end of the run were the only thing hindering me this weekend. Otherwise, I'm moving on up in the series. My favorite part of the course would have to be the narly downhill section of the bike properly named "blood rock ", while my least favorite part would have to be the longer steep hill at about mile 4 of the run...which I am calling "death-march hill" since Dominic Gillam and I were giving it everything we had up the hill, but at a death-march pace. Race Report Results
May 23 - The XTERRA racing season has finally kicked off after this last weekends Western Championship race in Temecula, CA. My swim was a bit weak in the chop and my transitions were less than graceful. The bike saw a bit of improvement through the first 3/4, but I quickly fell victim to the increase in heat and lack of bike training. With a stomach cramp and some quads waivering on locking up, I tried to conserve a bit through the first steep climb and descent out of transition. Overall, I ended up doing my famous power walk sessions through the hills and shuffled across the rest to hold my 9th place spot. What wasn't a perfect race day for my body still looked good with a top 10 finish among the star-studded feild XTERRA Championship Races bring. I'm looking forward to my next block of XTERRA's through June. So check back to see how they go. Results
April 23 - For my first XTERRA race of the season I headed to Pheonix for the Desert Xtreme Offroad Triathlon with some friends. The weather was a definite change from being back home in Boulder, but well recieved. The race was a great way to see how my fitness is coming. I had a descent swim and bike, and felt awesome on the run (what a change from previous seasons). However, coming off the bike in second and finding good friend Brian Smith on the run, where we both went off-course. While running around in circles and jumping over a rattlesnake, fellow friend and pro Jimmy Archer, came from behind to pass us both and take the win. I'm happy to settle for the second and just know my run fitness is coming along. Results Archer Race Report
March 20 - So my first Half Ironman (Ford California 70.3 half) is finally under my belt and now all my other races will certainly feel short. The conditions were not quite perfect for racing and everything about this race was new. My bike (Orbea Alletta fro
m Colorado Multisport - courtisey of Fast Forward Sports) was just put together that week and my new riding position from Tim Troha of Colorado Multisport made me aero. I was riding on some borrowed Zipps (thanks Jared)...did I mention there were aero bars (thanks to Profile-Design). SCARY. I picked up my new Blue Seventy Helix wetsuit (thanks Blue Seventy) the afternoon before the race and tried it on as I made my way to the start line just in time for the start (good thing it fit great). My new uniform was also new and made me look the part (thanks Bellwether). I had plenty of opportunity to watch the women rush through transition since I took my time. I froze my butt off by trying to be tough and not wearing anything warm on the bike. I had a few wheel problems early right out of the start and had a stop a little to check things out. I flatted about 10 miles in and then couldn't feel my hands as I tried to shiver my tire off. I then preceeded to blow myself up to make up the lost time and kept slowing down through the last ten miles. The run went ok. The pit stop at mile 2 was long...man I had to pee. Other than falling apart over the last couple miles, the whole experience was good. I finally had my taste of accomplishment many get with the Ironman stuff and am kind of excitecd for the next one. I know where I can shave some time and actually be able to compete a bit next time. Maybe Wildflower will be in my near future. Other than racing my first half, work has been a bit demanding on my training, but I'm hoping it will all come around and with better weather, I will be ready for a great Xterra season. Until next time.
March 1 - Now that my website is pretty much functional, I can finally start to let you know what is going on. I have been really busy lately trying to get ready for the season, both physically and logistically. I have been trying to get my season planned out, order and silk-screen a new uniform, plan some trips, keep up with my training, lots of places to be on a day-to-day basis, and most importantly get all these things done so I can make it home to spend time with my girl. Needless to say, it all cought up to me last week when I was feeling miserable with a fever of 103 degrees. However, I'm pretty much over my cold and am back at it all again this week. Ralphs Half is coming soon, and I'll try to update my feelings going into the race. I'm sure they won't be great, but I'm ready to have fun completing my first half IM with my good buddy Blake, and hopefully get stomped by my other friend Jimmy. Keep checking back for updates, and email me if you have anything you would like me to elaborate on.