2008

2008 was a great year for me, both professionally and personally. My fiancée and I really settled into our new home in the suburbs of Birmingham, AL, and I got accepted into the University Of Alabama School Of Law, where I currently attend Law classes and hope to earn a J.D. by 2011 ( or 2012 f it gets in the way of training/racing), while maintaining a career as a professional triathlete.

My initial thoughts were that Law School would slow me down some, but I have found the opposite. It made me streamline my life, simplify things, and as a result, I ended up getting faster. I hope to be able to keep the trend through 2009.

Here is a quick recap of the year:

January:
Florida Training Camp
March:
Miami International Triathlon – DNF (flat tire on km 4)
Training Camp in El Paso, TX
April:
Dallas, TX Half Ironman – 5th
May:
Alabama State Champion
Tri-America New Orleans (Course Record) – 2nd
Rock 'N Roll Man – South East Long Course Championship – 2nd
June:
Buster Britton Triathlon – 2nd
Alabama State Games – Gold (new course record)
July:
Riverboat Triathlon – 1st (new course record)
August:
Lake Chaparral Olympic Triathlon (Canada) – 2nd
Callaway Gardens Triathlon – 1st
September:
Weiss Lake Triathlon – 1st (new course record)

Totals:

Wins: 4
Podiums (Top 5): 10
Pieces of luggage lost/delayed: 2
Miles traveled to and from events: 19,000+
Injuries: 0
Times sick: 0
Rides with former Tour de France winners: 1

Solid Day

Although I should have spent at least some time catching up on my contracts class, I spent the day training with the 'Bama Triathletes.

After a solid mid day long run on Saturday ( gotta get acclimatized) that took me through the heart of Tuscaloosa on game day, I woke up today feeling ready to tackle the long day we had planned.

5 of us did about 40 minutes of open water swimming right down from the dam at the Black Warrior River. Then 3 of us then jumped on our bikes for 110k through the rolling hills of Tuscaloosa and Pickens County. Once off the bike, we did a transition run with some speed thrown in to keep ourselves honest.

All in all, a very solid Sunday.

Lake Weiss Triathlon Race Report

I was excited to race this event again this year after winning it last year while preparing for Ironman Florida. I really wanted to use the event as a gauge of my 2008 fitness vs. 2007, and was pleased at the end when I stopped the clock at 1:10:20, over 90 seconds than the course record I set last year.

Thanks goes to Morgan Ramey who showed up and kept me honest all day. He started in the wave behind mine, and was in the virtual lead ( I was actually at the front, but he lead as he begun the race in a wave 2 minutes down from mine) for a good portion of the race.

He is quite a speedy rider and his bike split was nearly 2 minutes faster than mine on the rolling hills of Northern Alabama/Georgia. Luckily my swim and run were faster than his, and with a couple of miles at ~5:30 I was able to secure the win and set a new course record.

Overall, I had a great time. The RD's were so kind to put me up in a very nice cabin, right on the water. I wish I had stayed longer.