Done, but not Finished.

     That's it, I'm done racing for the year! :( After 2010 I didn't think I could have a better race season. I had set PR's (personal record) in the 5K, marathon, sprint distance and Olympic distance triathlon, and I even won my age group in the Hagerstown Sprint Triathlon. When I started looking ahead to the 2011 race year I knew I wanted to start racing bikes, and that was going to be a new challenge, so I wasn't sure how my other exploits were going to fair.

     My first race was in march at the Shamrock marathon in VA beach. This was going to be an easy pace race ran with my Wife, but as we passed the halfway point at a little over 2 hours 15 minutes, I found myself feeling great and (with her permission) left the wifey shortly there after to finish in 4:18. I was so stoked to have run a negative split race. I didn't think I would top that, but in April I ran a 10K in Winchester, VA as part of a Team for my wife's work, and the first finisher of the Team won half a pool of money donated by each Team member. Guess who won the money and set a new PR, this Guy!

     So 2011 was off to an excellent start and I was just getting started. I raced my first Crit in May and realized I was in for a different world of hurt as compared to Tri's and Running. I didn't really train for bike racing specifically this year and I think my results show that, only two top ten finishes in crits and getting dropped in both of my Road races. Most of my focus early on this season was on completing my first Half Ironman, which I did in 5:51:11, and then my focus would turn to training for the Nations triathlon in September to qualify for the 2012 age group national championships which I also did. Unfortunately I'm not going to go to nationals due to injury, not mine, my wife's. The Nationals thing was her idea and it doesn't seem right to go without her, but this may be good news for my cycling agenda. After qualifying for nationals I slacked of in my bike riding and just focused on running so I could run another marathon and some 5K's. Then in October I had the urge to race cyclocross and my sponsor ( EP/BC ) was willing to accommodate my cravings by providing me with a sweet ride! (see Below) I did a lot of interval training during this time and it paid off. I had a blast and moved up to the #1 ranked Cat 4 racer in the state of WV (pat self on back). I look forward to doing this again next year and moving up in Category.

Fuji Cross 2.0

     In the coming months I plan on dedicating myself to training almost exclusively on cycling for next year. I've purchased some literature on training and plan on putting it to the test. I hope to focus mainly on crits, but will do some road races if my teammates are in need of support. I have a couple of Tri's on my list and a marathon in the fall, but cycling will take center stage for next season and I look forward to racing with a great group of people known as Team Integrity.