Frank Maples Memorial Triathlon

In April, I was able to find a triathlon near Colette’s parents, so I was able to combine a triathlon with a trip to visit them. The Frank Maples Memorial Triathlon took place in Scottsboro, AL on an absolutely beautiful morning. The weather was perfect, and one of the rec center employees sang an awesome National Anthem right before the starting gun.

The race was a reverse triathlon, so it started with the run. This was fun for me because the run is my weakest event by far, so normally the run is filled with people passing me. In this race, I was able to get behind early, and then have fun passing people on the bike and the swim. The reason that the event worked well in reverse was how they did the pool swim. As you finished the bike, you would enter the pool in on lane, swim down to the end and then cross over to come back down the next lane. With the swim at the end, people were all spread out naturally from going different speeds in the first two disciplines. As opposed to a similar approach of time trial starts with a pool swim at the beginning, which can take hours. I did that once this year, too, so you’ll get that story soon.

Anyway, I completed the two mile run in just over 16 minutes, so most people were ahead of me getting on the bike. I passed some of them on the 15 mile bike and more in the 200 yard swim, such that I finished in about the middle of all participants (65th out of 139) and about the middle of the pack for Clydesdale (9th out of 20). Everybody came to watch, and there was a park right there for the kids to play on while they waited for that few minutes where I was actually visible during transition.

I would love to do this race again if it ever works out that I'm visiting Alabama on the right weekend.

The kids enjoying the playground right next to the transition area while I enjoy the race.

Dad keeping my splits with the timer on my phone while the kids push all the buttons in his truck.

Re-racking my bike to head to the swim.

A look at the lanes as I complete a lap and I'm just about to turn around.

Coming down the last lap.

Close up right before a turn. The water was too shallow and crowded for flip turns and I'm not very good at them.

New Types of Races – Summary of 2010

In 2010 I did my first half-marathon, my first reverse triathlon, and my first 52 mile bike ride. Each was a lot of fun, and each had different challenges. I also did two other triathlons and another 10k run. More on those later... let's start with the 13.1 mile run.

I ran in the Texas Half on January 30, 2010. It was COLD. I had been running quite a bit in preparation for the half, as opposed to my normal workouts that are usually designed around variety. I had cut out some biking, rowing, and lifting to fit in more running. Good thing, too, because the race still felt long.

It was about 28 degrees and windy. Waiting for the race to start was really cold. After the first few minutes of running, it was pretty comfortable when trees were blocking the wind. The race course was around White Rock Lake, so part of the course was sheltered from the wind, and part was not. My legs felt pretty good up to about mile 8 or so, where it started getting tough. Speaking of tough, don’t try to carry chewy candies for carbs when it is below freezing—they get rock hard. Anyway, I did some walking in the last few miles and finished in 2:32:52. The time is not impressive, but hey, I was slow when I was in peak condition in high school, so at 32 I’m happy with just finishing.

Near the end of the race it seemed really cold again. Sweat had soaked through some of my clothes, so when it got exposed to the wind… brrrr… Colette and the kids arrived at the race just as I was about to cross the finish line. I guess it is good that I was not any faster. This also means I don’t have any pictures.

I felt good in the days after the race. Even though I was not too sore, I did have trouble motivating myself to run again for a while. I logged only about 8 miles in February. I have definitely learned that I need to keep a future race scheduled in order to stay motivated.

Obviously not blogging

My last post seems to be about races in the fall of 2009, so I guess I have not been into blogging! I have a few posts in mind, as I have continue to run, bike, and swim, and we added Piper to our family, and I got an iPad. Piper has obviously been the most significant change since my last blog post. You can find recent pictures of her and the latest happenings of our household at ameybc.blogspot.com

Since fitness and iPad apps have dominated my discretionary time, stay tuned for some posts on those topics. I'm posting this from my iPad, otherwise I'd start with something longer. While the iPad is a truly amazing gaming platform and media consumption device, it is less than ideal for media creation.

First 10k run (and a couple more 5ks)

During Oct, Nov, and December, I ran in two more 5km runs and my first 10km.


I ran in the "Cowboys and Kids 5k" at the Mesquite Rodeo Arena in October. Janina also ran in this one. I finished with a new personal best of 28:09. There was a big hill about 2.5 miles into the race that was quite painful.


I did my first 10k in November. It was the Arbor Day run in Plano. It was a great event with lots of music and food at the finish area. I finished in 1:03:43 so breaking the 1hr mark is an obvious goal for the next one.


I did the "Rudolf Run" 5k in December in downtown Allen. It was below freezing. Even though I went to the restroom right before the start, I still needed to pee by mile 2. My knee started to hurt pretty bad with about a mile left and I had to stop and stretch and then walk a bit. My time ended up 28:54. So the 28:09 from October will have to be broken at the next one.

Second Tri - Stonebridge Ranch Sprint Sept 2009

Last September I did my second triathlon at the Stonebridge Ranch Sprint triathlon. Most of you have heard about this already from me or from Colette's blog, but I thought I'd put down a few stories about the event.

It was a big event, with something like 900 participants. This sprint distance tri had a 750 meter swim, a 20km bike and a 5k run. There was an olympic distance race also that doubled all three legs, but I participated in the sprint.

I got of to a good start with the swim, but had some mechanical issues on the bike. I got a flat rear tire. I had practiced changing tubes, but there were a few things that didn't go as planned. I had left the receiver for the kids' bike trailer on the rear axle. It was a mistake to leave this on. Because my hands were so sweaty, I couldn't move the receiver enough to get the quick release lever off. I messed with it for awhile. Then I thought maybe I could use a pliers if I could walk back to the transition area. I walked the bike for awhile but then realized it would take forever to walk in and I needed to fix the flat or quit the race. I tried again to get the quick release lever off in spite of the trailer receiver, and this time I was able to get it off. I guess it was easier once my hands dried a little and my heart rate slowed a bit. All in all I wasted about 30 minutes, but I was able to finish.

Oh, I'm always easy to find in a crowd.

Even though the weather was nice, the water was COLD. We had to tread water for a while waiting for the gun for a deep water start. There were lots of guys making jokes like "Come on over here, there's a warm patch."

Lila was willing to watch for me when she had a donut in her hand.

It was an absolutely beautiful day.

Exiting swim for a relatively long run to T1.

I think I make my bike look really small. This was the biggest mountain bike I could get in 1995 without a special order. I think it might be getting close to time for an upgrade. Hmmm.... I think I'd look more properly proportioned on a 29er.

Finally coming in from the bike.

Starting the run.

I was in the third wave, so my time was about 2:18. I lost about 30 minutes walking my bike before I got my flat tire changed (since the bike portion was two loops, and my split was 30 minutes faster on the second loop.) So that would have been about 1:48. I have already signed up for this same triathlon next year where I will be seeking redemption and a finish time of about 1hr 40.

Hot and ready for a snack.

My First Tri

This morning I completed my first triathlon.  It was a lot of fun.  Matt Nix told me about this race, and he and Denise met us there this morning.  It was an off-road sprint triathlon, so the biking portion was mountain biking and considerably slower than riding on roads.  It was at Joe Pool Lake in Grand Prairie, which is about an hour from our house.  We decided to leave Lila with Aunt Janina and take Wyatt down the night before and stay in a hotel nearby.  The idea was that we'd get more sleep by not having to get up so early since we wanted to be at the park by 5:30.  Well that didn't really work because Wyatt basically kept us up all night.  So with about two hours of sleep, we headed out from the hotel around 5am.

I started getting my bike and transition gear ready by the headlights of the car since it was pitch dark.

There was a little bit of light when I actually went down to rack my bike and setup my transition area.

Okay, here we go.  Thirty seconds to swim start.

And I'm off.  I'm the rightmost guy, basically in the center of the picture.

Wyatt is pointing me out to Denise. "Look, there's Daddy in the water."  He really loves poining lately.

Emerging from the swim.  I lost 15 pounds training for this race, but there's still plenty of gut to make me wince at this picture.

Through the first transition and riding out on the bike.

Coming back into the transition area at the end of the bike.  The bike was the longest component at about 1 hour 16 minutes for me to do the 20km (about 12 and half miles.)  There were a lot of places with pretty deep sand and a lot of fields where the grass wasn't cut very short.  So it seemed longer than 12 miles.  Thankfully, it was pretty flat.
My fans were as tired as I was by the end of the race.  Colette took some great pictures of Wyatt at the race.  Watch for them to show up on her blog.  ameybc.blogspot.com

Crossing the finish line at a little over two hours.  The clock says 2:09, but that was the time from the start of the first wave of swimmers, and I was in the second wave.  My official time was 2:03:34.

Me with my biggest fan.

Matt and I after the race.  We were covered in dirt from the dust on the trail mixed with our sweat.

Exhibit A.

So we went for another swim.

I had a great time, so I'm looking forward to picking out my next race.

Second 5km race

I ran in the McKinney Historical Run yesterday and finished in 30 minutes and 0.44 seconds. Yes that's zero point 44 seconds. So just a little bit more of a push at the end and I would have been 29 minutes and something. I was still very happy with my time. I had been a little stuffed up, and my time was a little over 33 minutes in the race about 2 months ago. The goal for the next run will be somewhere under 30 minutes.

The 5k runs have been part of my training for the off-road triathlon, which is next weekend. I hope I'm ready.