Yes I am impatient. With the official broadcast of Kona not even on TV, I am already trying to plan out my 2010 racing season. With work and family obligations, planning where and when to race is not something you can do at the last minute.

However, after a long season it is so important to take the time to relax, recover and enjoy other sports and activities. This is a time to catch up on any personal things you did not get done while training took precedent over all of your free time.

So to answer my own question about what is next in the short term, here is my list:

• • Don't allow any workouts to get in the way of my family activities
• • Weed side yard and fix the grass (guess who has asked me to do this?)
• • Do some barefoot running see http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/27/health/27well.html.
• • Ride with Woodlands Cycling Team
• • Start lifting some weights
• • See if I can find a cheap stand up paddle-board
• • Swim when I can
• • Have fun with little to no structure in my training

I am sure my to do list will grow as will my impatience towards my 2010 season. Bottom line, stay active, but have some fun and take care of all the things I have had to put off for the past 9 months.


Finally, I had my second speaking engagement about my Ironman experience. After 3 seasons of service, I was invited to speak to 60 girls at Hannah's Girls Run group. I have to admit, this was quite a high point for me since the race.

With the girls ages being 6 - 12, I had to make it interesting and did my best by bringing all the toys. I shared with them how much you eat and drink while racing in the Ironman and what they need to eat and drink as they get ready for their 5k on Saturday.

There were great questions at the end and I hope the girls are inspired to keep up with their fitness after the season. I have mentioned many times on my blog how special this group of girls are to me and getting an opportunity to be one of the speakers was a huge thrill.

I am the race announcer at our 3rd annual Girls Run, Hit the Trail 5K this weekend. I look forward to seeing the girls run fast and enjoy competing in our Fall season finale.

Today is my 38th birthday. It seems like yesterday that I was sitting in Denver with my friends the Salazar's and Fricke's for my 30th. You do have to wonder why life seems to go by so quickly.

Here is how I would sum up my life at 38:

Marriage: Awesome
Kids: Awesome
Health: Awesome
Job: Awesome

Overall Grade: A- (You can always improve!)

To sum it up, I feel better at 38, than I did at 28. I also could not be more positive about the future.

I am taking a few vacation days for the rest of the week, so it will be nice to spend time with friends and family.

I often get asked, how and when do you train? This question often comes from people I know that see how often I travel and they wonder when do I get in the workouts.

Well, the first key is to have a good coach. Dana Lyons ask me for my schedule every week before I head out of town. He then coordinates my workouts around my schedule so I can do what I can while on the road. For example, if I am gone Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, I tell him how long I have to workout and he typically gives me a variety of runs.

Now the creative part is finding the time and place to do these runs. Two weeks ago while in Philadelphia, I was staying by the airport. I had on the schedule a tempo run with 5 x 1 mile repeats. I noticed by the hotel, that there was a service road with a bike lane. I had the hotel bus driver tell me how far it was around and we discovered that it was about exactly 1 mile. So problem solved. I ran the loop 8 times counting warm up and cool down. You do get some strange looks when they see an idiot running circles around the hotel in the dark. However, it sure does beat a crappy hotel treadmill.

Traveling west is my favorite. The reason being, if we don't have a work dinner, I can go to bed early at my regular time (8:00 pacific time) and wake up at 4:00AM with no problem. This leaves me with 3 - 4 hours of prime workout time in the morning before work. I typically only need 1 - 2 hours so there is plenty of time to get in a nice long run, get some work in and head out the door all before 8:00 am local time. On both of my recent trips to San Diego this has been the case so I have not missed out on too much running time. Note, If you are a night owl, this obviously will not work for you.

(In Dallas, we are fortunate enough to stay at the Cooper Clinic. This place is a triathletes dream with an outdoor running track, 2 lap pools and countless spin classes. They all start super early in the morning so you can get in the miles long before you have to start your day. If you travel to Dallas, give them a call and see if they have a room for you in the guest lodge.)

Swimming can be done as well by simply visiting www.usms.org. The masters website will list all masters workouts and clubs in your area. If you can't find one of those, the local Y always has a pool. I try and keep an extra suit and goggles in my suitcase, so if there is some extra time before a dinner etc., I can try and get in a short swim. If time does not allow for a swim, so be it. I think too many people stress over this one. Yes I swam in college, but I learned the hard way that these races are not won during the swim. They are won on the run!

Getting in a ride can be a real challenge while on the road, so most of the time I just work with Dana to be sure I don't have one scheduled. If I can plan my travel around an early morning bike ride and an afternoon flight, then great. If not, it comes down to my one long ride on Sundays which I make sure it is a good one.

Sometimes I just don't train and try to plan my off day from training around my travel schedule. It can be a real drag to get a run in after you have flown for 4 hours and have 100 e-mails to catch up on. The stress alone is a work out, so I always opt for the e-mails, stay current with work and live to train another day.

When I don't travel, training is pretty simple, because I get up early! Daylight savings is a blessing, since you can start rides at 6:00am and be back by 7:30. You can run in the dark, so out the door by 5:00 and you have plenty of time to get in that run or swim.

Lastly, every athlete wishes they could have more training time. When I am having a rare pity moment, I often say what if I could ride my bike for 300 miles a week? It takes me about 5 seconds to realize that I am more than fortunate to see 150 miles a week and I have a great job and family that allows me to get in that much. After all, this is still a hobby and there will always be someone that can train a lot longer than you can, so you just have to get over it and make each session count.

So if you want to find time to work out while on the road, work with your coach, be creative and make it happen. Half the fun of this sport is the silly things we do as triathletes to get in the miles around our busy lifestyles.

On Wednesday, we had some cold weather move into Houston. It was quite a culture shock from the 85 degree days we have had over the past few weeks. Thus, I find myself inside today relaxing and watching it rain outside and writing on my blog.

Before I get into my training update, I have to share with everyone how proud I am of my son Parker and his T-Ball game on Wednesday night. I have ever seen him play so hard and do so well. He played in the infield for 3 out of the 5 innings and hit some shots to the outfield while at bat. You could see his confidence lift as the game went on. What a great sport for young boys.

With all I have going on with work, training and family, having an afternoon of relaxation has been a really nice treat. Mimi is here from Orlando and is joining us for all of next week. The kids are so excited she is here. I enjoy her visits as well because it always frees up some time for training!

Thanks to MiMi being here, I watched Cycling Tv on the internet this morning and got to see Alberto Contador Bonk on the final climb. I thought that guy was invincible, but it goes to show everyone can have a bad day. He was left all alone out there to defend his jersey and they got the best of him. Unless a miracle happens tomorrow, his Paris-Nice is over.

Yesterday was a long run of 15 miles, and the cold drizzly weather was welcomed by me as I always enjoy running in colder weather. Legs felt great and running in the dark, thanks to daylight savings, can make for an interesting adventure during an early morning run.

I did manage to get a nice swim in today up at the new natatorium. The Nat was set up as long course and should be for the rest of the spring and summer. Long course swimming is such a different experience than short course. It always reminds me of the long summers of training as a kid. Although my arms were tired today I still managed to put in a solid 4,000 meters. My swimming is really starting to come along and my times are starting to show some improvement.

Tomorrow should be a long ride. I hope the weather lets me get outside. If not, I will be on the trainer in Dana's garage. If you have not checked it out yet, take a look at Dana's new website www.coachlyons.com.

I found this youtube post of the final kilometers of the Paris Nice today. The quality is not that great and there is no voice over, but if you missed the stage, good chance to see what happened:

Yesterday I received the most awesome e-mail. I was contacted by someone from Ironman.com that is doing interviews of the athletes that qualified at IM Wisconsin. I don't know if anything will be published, but to just get contacted was a pretty cool experience.

I finally made it back from Pittsburgh late last week and was so glad to be home. I was only able to get on a treadmill Thursday of last week in Pittsburgh after a forced 2 days off. My coach, Dana, had scheduled last week to be a rest week so not too much was lost.

Saturday was a very busy day for us. We had Girls Run for Hannah starting at 7:30, then off to the ball park for the opening day of T-Ball. The whole family was exhausted by the time we got home, but we had a blast!

Since I am the photographer at Girlsrun, it was great to get some pictures of all the girls for the start of the spring season. We have a record number of girls for the program this year, so I am sure we will raise a lot of money for Livestrong.

Training got back to normal by Sunday with a decent ride in some very warm weather.

This week promises to be a good training week with some hard runs, hard rides and my longest ride of the season on Sunday.

The pictures in this blog post include one of the T-Ball parade, one of Parker hitting home on opening day and Hannah at her first Saturday practice at Girls Run.

So what is 14 degrees? You are probably thinking it is some high tech weapon for my aero-bar angle on the bike. Better yet, the precise angle of the lugs on the bottom of my Newton Shoes. Nope, 14 degrees is the current temperature outside here in Pittsburgh!

I arrived here on Monday night and they have been in a deep freeze since I landed. I really don't know when I will get a workout in, and might end up going a few days without one.

Anyone that trains for Ironman and lives in the Midwest is a dedicated athlete. I brought my cold weather running gear, but I don't think it will do the trick in this temperature so I will have to find another way to get the work out in later today if at all.

Work is crazy right now so that is my focus. This economy is causing everyone to keep their eye on the ball like never before. I have a great sales team, so I know they can find a way to deliver numbers no matter what the economy is doing. Being in Pittsburgh is giving me a great opportunity to complete some work projects that have stalled and find some new ways for us to generate revenue. Strong companies like ours always emerge from times like these in a better position then before. I see us puting even more distance on our competitors. It is kind of like racing in a headwind. You can whine, you can cry, or you can HTFU, stay down on the bars, grind it out and ride so far ahead of your competitors they will never catch up.

I came across this awesome article by Oliver Blanchard from a blog called The Brand Builder Blog. Sometimes you read something else that you just have to share with others. So here you go:

Why runners usually make great employees.
February 21, 2009 by Olivier Blanchard

My good friend and super personal trainer Holly DiGiovine sent out an email over the weekend that struck a chord with me. Here’s some of what she had to share:

When you have a goal that is as huge as the marathon-it will “keep you honest.” It’s not like a smaller goal that you can announce and then put off or fake your way through. Once you sign up, commit months to training, and take your first step on race day-you better have done your homework.

The beauty of this is that it goes against 99% of the natural tendencies of our culture that favors gratification without effort or devotion. But is that kind of achievement ever as satisfying? Linda Hill once told me she loved the quote, “There is no glory in training, but there is no glory without training.” In no way is this more true than in running.
And business.
One thing I’ve found over the years is that many of the folks I train with (and race against) are for the most part as devoted to their jobs (if not more) as they are to running or cycling or triathlon.
Unlike participation in say, golf or softball or basketball - no offense to club/league sports - the type of determination, discipline and emotional focus that comes with training day in, day out for extremely challenging endurance events (often by yourself) tends to bleed over into people’s 9-5’s.
Whether you’re training for a marathon, a century or the Ironman triathlon, one thing you quickly find out is that there’s no room for bullshit out there on the pavement. You either do the work or you’re screwed. Politics won’t get you to the finish line. It doesn’t matter who you know or how well you can work the system. When you’re out there, every weakness bubbles up to the surface and stares you in the eye. Lack of preparation, lack of motivation, lack of dedication will all come back to bite you in the ass. there’s nowhere to hide. They will all find you and jump up on your back to stop you dead in your tracks. The choice becomes this: Do you let them stop you, or do you accept them and keep going?
You learn a lot about yourself, training for that type of event.
You learn a lot about how to break thresholds and get past your own little ego, training for events like these. When you’re tired and sore and hungry but you still have four miles to go, guess what? You still have four miles to go. How you get through these last four miles is entirely up to you. Nobody cares whether you walk those last four miles or run, or hail a cab. Nobody made you set 26.2 miles as a goal. Or 100 miles. Or 144+.
Once you’ve broken past your lack of will and learned to keep going, you are transformed. A similar thing happens to Marines during training. At some point, who you used to be before you went beyond what you thought your limitations were, before you kissed excuses goodbye, before you left all of the bullshit that stood in your mind’s way ceases to exist. You become someone else.
That someone else, the marathoner, the long distance cyclist, the triathlete, the Ironman, he or she walks into your place of work with you every morning.
We all work with two types of people: Partisans of the least amount of effort, and dedicated professionals.
The latter aren’t all marathoners or triathletes, but I have yet to meet an Ironman or marathoner who didn’t take his or her intensity and dedication to their job.
Not that there’s anything wrong with drinking a case of beer and watching sports on TV all weekend, but who you are outside of your work does have parallels with who you are when you are at work.
Something to think about.
Update: Wow. You guys have turned this post into The BrandBuilder blog’s most popular post ever. Over 2,000 views in less than 24 hours already. Thank you all: Fellow runners, cyclists, swimmers, triathletes… It’s amazing to have so many of you respond to this post with so much enthusiasm. You’ve really made my day. Next time you’re in the Greenville, SC be sure to look me up. Lots of great running, cycling and racing out here.
Train hard!

After working all week and mixing in training when I can, I have come to really enjoy my Saturdays. For about 2 years now, I have made Saturday my off day from any training.

Using Saturday as a day off works out great because we typically have family activities like games and other things to do with the kids. Trying to fit a workout in around all of that just causes unnecessary stress for me and my family.

Sunday's morning's usually start with an early morning long ride so starting the ride on rested legs is always a bonus. After being off all day, I get up extra early on Sunday and look forward to my ride.

On another note, last night was Parker's first T-Ball scrimmage. We have been practicing almost every day for months since the end of the fall season. At 2 of his 3 at bats, he hit the ball to the outfield and played pitcher and short stop for 3 innings. My son has worked so hard to get better and last night it showed! I was so proud to see him playing well and most importantly, enjoying being at the game and trying his hardest to make things happen for his team.

As this is an off day, we will head outside in a few to play some catch and his coach gave us some drills to work on as well. Hannah has her Girls Run starting soon so I am sure a short ride or run with her is in the works.

Saturday is not a day to just sit on the couch, but one where our family takes time to do fun stuff. Even my honey do list can be fun. (I just don't let on that it can be fun or it will get way too long.)

Enjoy your day off, and be ready to hammer down on Sunday for a 3-4 hour ride.

The weekend is starting out to be a good one. My 1 hour run this morning was early before work and the weather was high 50's and it was just great being out there and watching the sun come up. We are in for some mid 70's in the afternoon all weekend which should make for some good cycling.

On my run I listened in to IM Talk and my HR started jumping with excitement as tri-season is fast approaching. Clearly I have high hopes for 2009, but hopes aside, I just love being out there and putting in the miles. IM Talk was all about their Epic Camp in New Zealand. For 2 weeks tri-junkies from serious age groupers to pros put in an insane amount of volume early in the season in New Zealand (They are in Summer). To hear their stories about 9 hour rides and 3000k open water swims gets you excited to take on the challenges of the season.

Beautiful weather also means time with the kids outdoors. Hannah has her girls run program fast approaching and we picked up some new shoes and clothes for her last weekend from Lukes Locker. I am sure she will be ready to run with me tomorrow. I also want to commend my friends at Lukes for taking such care with Hannah finding the right shoes. Hannah is only 9, and they worked with her as if she were toeing the line in Boston. I think every athlete dreams about owning a store like that some day. If you follow the blog and are new to running, don't underestimate the importance of being fit in the right shoes. A store like Luke's makes sure you are ready to run.

Parker should find out who his T-Ball coach is and what team he will be on this weekend. We have been throwing the ball at night and he has really improved the past few months. I look forward to his season and some more time tomorrow playing catch.

Great weather also means thinking about gardening! Thus, I am going to the Home and Garden show with Shani on Saturday. I am sure she will find some awesome ideas for our house. She had the front of the house painted this week and it looks beautiful. I did not think it needed it, but I was wrong. Always listen to a woman when aesthetics and beauty come into play. As men, we have no clue. Don't fight it, just admit it.

Finally, I am grateful that I have a good job during these tough times. Tough times will mean doing things a bit different and it will get difficult as our economy changes from one of debt driven exuberance to conservative economics. All of these are changes for the better. I am also thankful that sport helps you prepare for so many life experiences. In Ironman, you have some great moments and some difficult ones in racing and in training. It is what you do during difficult times that make you stronger and better. Work is no different.

Break out the sunscreen because we will need it "down here" in Houston this weekend.

Good Training,
Tim

My sales meeting is over and I finally made it back home.  I have spent some time with the family and find myself on the couch watching the Tour Down Under.

My sales meeting kicked off on Wednesday evening and so far it has consumed my time.  The cool part is we are at the Cooper Clinic the company that formulated my favorite product,  the Elite Athlete Multi-Vitamin.

Shani returned from Orlando today to my delight. Glad to have mom back in the house. We did our part to be sure the house was cleaned, kids laundry was done, and the floors vacuumed. Shani greeted the kids and they went right back out to play with friends.

Even though she was out this morning, I still managed to get a run in with my neighbor Jody Gaddy. Laura Gaddy watched the kids so we could head out for our last long run before next weekends marathon. I have Jody pegged to run a 3:40. That will be a big PR for him. He is running really well.

Jody and Laura also invited me and the kids out to dinner last night to Bucca Di Beppo for a little pasta. We had a nice time and enjoyed a great meal.

The last long run felt fine, I just kept it under my aerobic zone and averaged about 144 bpm. I was surprised how sore I felt this afternoon, but oh well, nothing you can do about it now. I do take our Wobenzym product all the time to help with the soreness and by the time I started writing this, most of it went away. It is mostly my calves that hurt and have the lingering pain after runs. I wonder if it is the Newton shoes at times, but my calves hurt in just about anything I run in.

Now that Shani is back, I have the feet up and watching a little playoff football. San Diego just scored the first touchdown in what appears to be some really cold and snowy weather in Pittsburgh. Hard to complain about our clear and 40 degrees that we ran in this morning here in Houston.

I have another busy week with work coming up with our sales meeting right around the corner and us launching our new CRM on Demand software. I also plan a trip to Chicago on Wednesday to see one of our best clients. That means Wednesday is definitely an off day.

Good Training,
Tim

Shani returned from Orlando today to my delight. Glad to have mom back in the house. We did our part to be sure the house was cleaned, kids laundry was done, and the floors vacuumed. Shani greeted the kids and they went right back out to play with friends.

Even though she was out this morning, I still managed to get a run in with my neighbor Jody Gaddy. Laura Gaddy watched the kids so we could head out for our last long run before next weekends marathon. I have Jody pegged to run a 3:40. That will be a big PR for him. He is running really well.

Jody and Laura also invited me and the kids out to dinner last night to Bucca Di Beppo for a little pasta. We had a nice time and enjoyed a great meal.

The last long run felt fine, I just kept it under my aerobic zone and averaged about 144 bpm. I was surprised how sore I felt this afternoon, but oh well, nothing you can do about it now. I do take our Wobenzym product all the time to help with the soreness and by the time I started writing this, most of it went away. It is mostly my calves that hurt and have the lingering pain after runs. I wonder if it is the Newton shoes at times, but my calves hurt in just about anything I run in.

Now that Shani is back, I have the feet up and watching a little playoff football. San Diego just scored the first touchdown in what appears to be some really cold and snowy weather in Pittsburgh. Hard to complain about our clear and 40 degrees that we ran in this morning here in Houston.

I have another busy week with work coming up with our sales meeting right around the corner and us launching our new CRM on Demand software. I also plan a trip to Chicago on Wednesday to see one of our best clients. That means Wednesday is definitely an off day.

Good Training,
Tim

Today is my 11th wedding anniversary to Shani. Hard to believe it has been 11 years. This year's gifts, a convection oven and new office furniture! (We did a cruise for our 10th) For those that wonder, you can't train for an Ironman without a supportive spouse. That is why I know how lucky I am.

After heading out for some Cinnamon Rolls to cook in the new oven this morning I managed to get a short ride in for about 30 miles. The cool part was the temperature of 70 degrees at the start. I have not been able to get out on the bike much this past month because of work, holidays etc, so it was nice to get out for a little cruise.

Tomorrow is the last long run of the marathon training with a 2:15 effort +/- 17 miles. I can't wait to be done with that one. It is not that I don't enjoy running, I just have not enjoyed training for the marathon.

Yesterday I managed to get a swim in during lunch which was fun since I have not been in the water for a few weeks either. I felt suprisingly good for such a long layoff. A couple of weeks back I had swam with TJ Fry, a local phenom here and he did some underwater video of our swimming. He pointed out that I had some slipping with my arms underwater probably causing me to give up some pull when I get tired. Now I just try and keep a steady pull from start to finish. The good news was we did some 50's on the :40 and I was pretty comfortable coming in around :33.

We also headed by our team sponsor's new bike store BikeLane now off of I-45 and 242. The place was huge and must be a dream for the owners to have such an awesome location. I know they will do well there. Ken the local mechanic is legendary around here and you would not dream of taking your bike anywhere else. He is going to order me up some new Time pedals for the Q-Roo.

I also sucked it up and signed up for the Lonestar Qtr IM in Galveston in April. We go their every year and I happen to be the 2 time 35 - 39 AG champion! However, I am going to keep the long stuff at bay for a while longer this season and only race the Qtr. These guys do an awesome job with the race and it is always fun to go. All though they started a new 70.3 race in New Orleans the same weekend, I look forward to supporting Keith Jordan and the Galveston Community.

Lastly, my friend Mike brought what my wife refers to as the Nerd Box, that is the Honda Element. I have to admit, it is a pretty cool car for endurance sports. But it does look like a box for endurance nerds.

Before I get into New Years Day, here is an update on yesterday's inervals. I had 7 x 1 mile repeats at 15 - 20 seconds faster than goal marathon pace, which means I hold about 6:50 per mile. My legs felt pretty strong from the start so I clicked off the intervals with no problem. I enjoyed listening to IM Talk and found the Hot Tub when I was done. Basically, a pretty good day!

Today is New Years day and time for resolutions. I think I speak for many triathletes out there, especially those doing IM races that resolutions are kind of silly. Most of us have goals already set for the upcoming season and we don't just think about working out more, we would kill to work out more! For us it is not about losing weight, but about competing and letting our bodies get to the point where we are the fastest.

Back in 2002 I found myself training for my first marathon. I stopped worrying about losing weight, diets and other silliness and started training. I found a sport I loved to do and started doing it. For me, running is fun, swimming is fun and cycling is fun. If you are looking to get fit, find something you like and go out there and challenge yourself. Instead of saying, I am going to get in shape, set a resolution to break 4 hours in the marathon, break 1:30 in the 1/2 or like me in 2008? qualify for Kona.

What makes the above goals different than most is they have a set point of accomplishment and they allow you to enjoy the journey. Training for an event like the Ironman requires a lot of time. If you don't enjoy the training, then you are in the wrong sport. Yes there are days that are tougher to get motivated than others, but 99% of the time, I just love being out there.

This Year's goal is simple for me, cross the finish line along Ali Drive. The good part is I have 10 months to enjoy the journey of getting ready to compete in Kona.

Today marks the official start of the 2009 tri-season, so whatever your race goal is, set it and go get it!

Good Training,
Tim