Metro Plus Ride with The Ride Group

Monday-Friday Work. No travel this week, which was nice. Gave me a chance to catch up on office work and connect with some folks around campus.
Took my kids to the pool three evenings during the week. Karlie is taking swimming lessons and has been eager to show us what she's learning each day. Just this week alone she learned to put her head under water and can now doggie paddle the width of our community pool. Really proud of her and she's so proud herself. You can see a video of her putting her head under water here.
On Thursday, Tristan participated in a UT research study on the cognitive benefits of exercise. He did his preliminary workup which included a blood draw; a relaxation session where they took his baseline numbers in heart rate, blood pressure, and more; and a VO2 Max test. Here is a photo of him preparing for the test:

Yesterday, I joined The Ride Group, a local cycling group made up of cyclists, triathletes, and endurance athletics enthusiasts, for their Metro Plus Ride.
We called a couple of audibles to what you see on this map, but 99% of it is correct. We had at least one Cat 5 climb and several Cat 4/Cat 3 climbs. It was a challenging ride. I lost my chain on one of the biggest climbs and had to dismount (almost fell over) and run in my cycling cleats to the top. I was not planning a bike/run brick session, but I got one in.
They say riding with good riders will make you better and I definitely did that yesterday. I was bringing up the rear of the pack most of the way back. While humbling, it was a great time and I look forward to riding with The Ride Group again.
Sunday Relaxing today. May take the kids to the pool or perhaps catch a movie at the discount cinema. May get the kids out for an easy spin ride around the neighborhood to shake the legs out a bit. The possibilities are endless.
The heat has set in and afternoons are not an ideal time for workouts. We've had 18 days of 100 + degrees so far and we are expected to break the record of 68 100+ plus days which we set last summer. With the humidity, it makes for some miserable afternoons.
The next few weeks continue to be busy ones at work and we have several plans over the next few weekends. Tomorrow I travel to San Antonio for work and the rest of the week includes meetings and preparing for the last two months of our fiscal year. Karlie's 8th birthday is Thursday. Next weekend, our family is taking a train ride to Bertram and Jennifer and I are going downtown Saturday night for the Tito Puente, Jr. show. The development associate in my office at work has been invited to play the piano with Tito's band. Should be a fun night.
More to come on our other weekend and July events when we talk next week. Hope you are enjoying a wonderful summer so far.
Make it a great week! Kia Kaha!

Week In Review- Karl

Monday Off
Tuesday-Wednesday El Paso work trip
Thursday-Friday Off
Saturday 40 mile Bee Caves/360 ride; over 1200 ft of CAT 5 climbs. Had a good day. Rode the small ring for most of the first half and took the big ring home. Felt strong and could have gone longer despite the heat and 30+ mph winds.
Sunday Father's Day; family got me a new pair of Sugoi bike shorts. Add those to the new Specialized gel gloves and Halo sweatband I bought myself yesterday, and I'm ready for some cycling. The sweat band is a must in this heat. We are having the third worst drought in Texas history, have had 15 days of temperatures of 100 and above (106 yesterday), and we have broken the all-time high temperature on 9 days already this year. You get some of my salty sweat in your eyes and it burns something awful. I couldn't see for a few seconds on my last two rides. Definitely not safe!
We watched the movie Super 8 this afternoon and I just finished watching Rory McIlroy smash the all-time US Open Golf record book. Watching the final stage of the Tour de Suisse on Versus as I write this. It's the time trial finishing stage and Levi Leipheimer is taking these boys to school.
No travel this week for the first time in a month. Looking forward to having a week in the home office and at home.
Hope you dads had a great Father's Day and that those of you lucky enough to spend the day with your own fathers were able to do that.
Make it a great week! Kia Kaha!

Lakewood Valley Triathlon

Simply a spectacular weekend at the Lakewood Valley Triathlon in every sense of the word. Perfect weather, perfect racing, and perfect fellowship! My TTT brother Claude hosted my entire family as Rebecca, Cole and I headed down to Owensborro on Friday for the Tri. We were treated to a nights stay at the new Courtyard Marriott. After checking in Claude shuttled us over to pic up our race packages at the YMCA, and then we headed of to the Bacon ranch for a wonderful pasta meal prepared by Samantha. We were greeted by Claude's mom Libby, and of course Hadley and Maggie Beth. It was a wonderful night of great food, laughter, telling old stories, and all around great fellowship. The highlight of the evening was Hadley singing an entire Juster Bieber song for all of us. For the rest of the weekend all I could sing was...... "Baby, baby, baby......".

Claude met us early Saturday morning and we headed to the event site. The Tri thing is new for me so I had to adjust to the body markings, timing chips and the pre race set up for transitions. No offense but Tri folks are different then road racing folks. Different vibe. My leg was still giving me some problems in the morning but I kept stretching and massaging it. At race time Rebecca, Claude and I headed down to the water for the start. Claude and I were in the second wave and Rebecca in the third. I must admit I had the butterfly stomach thing going on since this was my first experience at this kind of racing. For the half mile swim I just paced myself and I felt really relaxed and comfortable in the water. I never tried to push it, I just wanted to be relaxed. Somewhere in the middle of the lake I was trying to think happy thoughts and started singing "baby, baby, baby", so thank you to Hadley for that lasting memory.

I completed the swim in 22:44 and transitioned to the bike. My pre race plan was to absolutely empty the tank on the bike and see if I had anything left for the run. It was a challenging technical and hilly course. I just kept my head down and powered up and down the hills for the duration of the 15 miles. When I got done I stopped the bike clock at 41:58.4. I transitioned over to the run and mentally planned on taking it slow to keep my left leg from having the terrible pains I have been suffering with. Thankfully all was well and I completed the run in 31:35. My total time was 1:41:31. I was very satisfied.

I finished 10th in my age division, and 60/126 finishers. The coolest part is that I posted the 6th fastest bike time overall, averaging 21.4 mph over the course. I was happy to be pain free for the race and to finish with a smile. I will definitely be back for some more. What made it most enjoyable was sharing it with our cheering families, and competing with my wife and best friend. Claude and Becca were terrific! Becca has been a stud for back to back weekends of racing. Cole, Hadley, Maggie Beth, Libby, and Samantha were cheering so loud it was just wonderful. It was nothing but smiles at the end of the race for everyone.

Next up is a road race in Waddy, KY on fathers day.

L3: Live, Learn, and Lead.

Schmidty

What's Next?

Mon-Friday Work, Dallas trip
Saturday 44 mile ride to Andice General Store
Sunday Off; taking kids to the pool
Now that CapTex is behind me, I'm unsure what comes next. If I'm being honest with myself, I've lost the commitment and dedication it takes to fit in workouts for three disciplines during the week. I just can't sustain 4am workouts before an hour-long commute only to arrive back home at 6pm to get in yet another workout before going to bed at 8pm to do it all over again. That's beyond a healthy lifestyle...mentally or physically. Training for the CapTex was more sustainable but I had no motivation to make the time for drives to the pool.
I share all that to say I'm leaning to becoming a training duathlete and a full-time cyclist. What I mean by that is that I want to keep my fitness levels in cycling and running while concentrating on weekend group rides. Being able to jump on the bike trainer or treadmill or throwing on the running/cyling shoes and heading out the door when I have a few minutes for a run/ride is both much more likely to happen and more fun for me at this stage in my endurance athletics progression.
Heck, who knows. I may do a 5k or 10k now and then and even a sprint triathlon is not out of the question. The day may even come (within a decade) that another Ironman becomes part of my near future.
Make it a great week! Kia Kaha!

Post CapTex Week

Took it easy this week after last week's Olympic triathlon. Arms and legs were pretty sore until Wednesday.
I did find out on Wednesday that they had calculated the swim times incorrectly and they took almost five minutes off my previously recorded time. I was able to go under 3 hours for the race. Pretty stoked about that given the limited amount of training I put in and considering I was hoping to stay under the 3-hour mark. I met my goals despite that painful run.
On Saturday I participated in the ATLAS Ride 70-miler. The ride started on part of the course Claude, Dean, Chris, and I rode during our February training camp a couple of years ago. It was a beautiful ride on a beautiful day of partly cloudy skies and little wind. I tried to push the pace and had a strong 50 miles before my legs started feeling Monday's triathlon. The last 20 miles called for a little more work in the small ring than I had hoped. :)
The Texas4000 is a group of UT students who will ride their bikes over the next few months from Cedar Park, TX to Anchorage, Alaska...a distance over 4500 miles!!! The ATLAS Ride is a fundraiser and a way to see them off on their incredible journey to raise money for the fight against cancer. What a wonderful way for these kids to spend their summer vacation!
Last night, I offered to babysit our neighbor's three kids while the wife and Jennifer went out with some of other neighborhood ladies to celebrate one of their birthdays. The husband was out of town on business. Imagine me babysitting 5 kids?! They were all very well-mannered and behaved and everything went well. I even got a movie in I'd been wanting to watch.
I plan to take it easy today hanging out with the family and enjoying another beautiful day in Round Rock, TX.
Make it a great week! Kia Kaha!

A triathlete is born

I am still recovering from some kind of nerve damage issue in my left calf and foot, so I don't have much to report except that I am working hard on rehab with a doctor to alleviate the pain. I am hopeful I will be able to race my first Tri in Owensboro this coming weekend. I would just like to be healthy enough to complete the race, so we shall see.

Speaking of first races. My awesome wife Rebecca did her first Tri this weekend. I had the privilege of being race support. It was a super sprint at Taylorsville Lake State Park. It consisted of a 375 meter swim, 5 mile TT, and a 2 mile run. Becca has been training hard and putting in the hours and I think it is starting to make a difference.

The race started with some excitement as the men's and women's waves entered the water for the official start. Just before the whistle, a water snake decided to make its way through the middle of everyone. Needless to say, everyone exited the water quickly. The snake moved on to better things and the whistle was sounded for the start. The men started first with a one minute delay to the women. Becca looked like a champ as she maintained a smooth steady pace and stayed in the middle of the pack throughout the entire swim.

She exited the water and made her way to the transition without any issues. She quickly was out on her bike for the long climb out of the lake. The bike portion was difficult for many athletes because it was a mile climb from the start. Becca was strong and gained some positions as this is her strongest area. I was so happy to see her smiling throughout the first two portions of the race.

She dismounted the bike, changed in to her running shoes and headed right back out to tackle the big hill again..........with a big smile on her face. I knew this would be a challenge since her knee still gives her problems from time to time since the ACL surgery. Like a true champion she just kept slapping one foot in front of the other and before I could blink I could see her coming back down the hill. She had headed out with a smile and I knew she had this wrapped up, she was still grinning from ear to ear when she passed me and headed for the finish line banner.

She was so pumped up after she was done. The entire ride home was filled with the post race stories we all love to share about the "would of" "could of" "what if" scenarios of competition. I enjoyed being a fan and the support guy for a change. I think we both learned a lot. Next week we are both competing in Owensboro and Cole with be running the support operations. This is going to be a fun trip because we get to race and hang out with Claude and his beautiful family. Hopefully we all have smiles like this when we are done..........

L3: Live, Learn and Lead.

Schmidty