Living the Life

Now that it's been almost six months since I last posted to this blog, I think it's about time to get started again. During the year the pressures of training plus teaching overwhelmed any ability to publish on the blog regularly, and now that the summer months have arrived I think I'll be able to return to these pages more often.

Presently I'm in Colorado Springs, dealing with a little altitude sickness (are you supposed to feel that you're drowning at the third flip turn of a 100?), and living with my fiancee, Amy VanTassel, who has been killing it recently on the road running circuit (8th in her age group at the ridiculous Spring Runoff 10K at the Teva Mountain Games and then 1st in her age group and 5th overall at the Colorado Springs Sailin' Shoes 10K).

I'm adjusting to life of just being a professional athlete, which the title of this blog ostensibly states. It's a funny transition, since I'm used to filling up the hours of the day with work and training. Now there's just training, and it can be a little overwhelming. I haven't been good about getting to the pool in the morning, since it's easy to say "Oh, I'll get there later." Still, getting into the water early (before breakfast!) makes the rest of the day Oh So Much Better.

Racing has been hot and cold up to this point. I've only raced twice, at Wildflower and then two weeks ago at Boise 70.3. Wildflower was a bummer, with a bad swim and two flat tires. Boise was much better, although I still swam poorly (28:30! Yikes). I came out of the water 4 minutes behind the front group and got back to T2...4 minutes behind the front group. My cycling, it appears, is on par with the Craig Alexanders and Ben Hoffmans of the triathlon world. I ran well, too, for me, posting a 1:22, which, at this point in the year is quite good. Final time 4:05 and change, 10th place. I missed the money by two spots, but I feel that I raced well.

Here's the schedule for the rest of the season:

Boulder Peak Tri
Boulder 5430 Long Course
Canada IM
Scott Tinley Challenge
Austin 70.3
Clearwater 70.3 Worlds

I already punched my ticket to Worlds at Boise, courtesy of my training partner Chris Boudreaux, who has been a huge help in getting my head around this whole professional thing. Chris has had a tough season thus far, but he'll figure it out—he's mentally tougher than most, and knows how to compete when he has to.

That's it for now! More updates to come. A huge shoutout to Athlete's Lounge in Portland, OR, who are presently helping me out with race related expenses and equipment.