New Isaac Pics

Isaac is now 3 months old and we have a lot of new pictures!
Here is a sample of those pics....

Isaac ready for Halloween!!

Going on a trip!

Hanging out with his buddy!

This one was just too cute to pass up!!

After a bath while we were decorating for Christmas!

Enjoying the Christmas lights!

Getting Tangled!!

Meet Isaac!!

Okay so now that he is a week old I think I have some time to add some pictures of Isaac to my blog. Here he is from newly born to a week old!!

Still in the hospital.


Peacefully sleeping


Being held by Daddy.




Enjoying a bath. :)

My Way or the Tri Way

July 27th I raced in the My Way or the Tri Way Triathlon at the Aurora Reservoir. If you are unfamiliar with this race it allows the participants to do the events in any order they want. About half the field still kept the SBR format, but I chose not to. This was my second race and having struggled with the Run during the 5430 Sprint I decided to do that first and then go to the Swim and finish with the Bike. The field was pretty small (only about 300 total racers (triathletes and duathletes)) which I feel made for a more relaxing atmosphere. Everyone started from just outside the transition area and at the sound of the horn took off to whichever event they had chosen to do first. The run went out to the dam and across and then returned on the same route. I decided to stay towards the back of the pack for the start since I’m not a speedy runner, but surprisingly I passed more people than I thought I would. Of the racers who started with the run I was the 15 out of the 41. The swim was actually a little more difficult than I had expected. Since I did that event second and the racer in front of me was about 2 minutes ahead, there was no real aid in direction. The buoys marking the turn around were directly into the sun which made judging them difficult and not having any other swimmers around to follow meant I was on my own and had to check my line more frequently than I remember doing in June. I did eventually pass 3 or 4 others, but my time was probably a little slower than it could have been. Finally came the Bike. I was able to pass several participants during this section. Quite a few people had mountain or cruiser styled bikes, so I imagine this was a first time for some of them. There was one guy who I passed that on the next uphill he passed me, I passed him again after the crest, but once again he passed me and was able to keep ahead of me by a fair margin the last mile back to transition. As for my results, I was able to do the swim in 1:30 less than I did in June, the Bike was at about the same pace, but the run was faster by 1:15 per mile. That gave me a placing of 66 out of the 240+ total triathletes and 5th out of the 25 participants doing the Run-Swim-Bike formatted race. I am definitely happy with my performance and look forward to the Crescent Moon Tri in Sept. Here are some pics from the event...

So far so good...

Thankfully up to this point I haven't had any problems with my bike during a race. Of course I've really only done one race, so I'm sure it's bound to happen at some point, but not yet! Today though while out for a short 16 mile ride, I'm going downhill, and fast, through an intersection that has some cracks in the roadway and all of the sudden I hear an unmistakable "PSSSSSSSSS..." I pull over and sure enough, my back tire is quickly losing its air!! I have never had an opportunity to change a flat on the side of the rode (I have changed them in my garage thankfully), so I pull out my tools and get to work. The one thing I had a problem with, was my CO2 inflator, since I had never used it before, but I soon figured that out and was back on the road in no time "flat". :) All in all, I would say it was good practice for when it inevitably will happen during a triathlon or some other big biking event.

Latest News...

So I completed another race yesterday. This was a toughie!! The Summer Roundup 12k is part of Colorado Springs Triple Crown of running which includes a 10 mile run through Garden of the Gods and the half marathon ascent of Pikes Peak. This race may not sound as grueling as the other two longer ones, but it is extremely tough in its own right. 12k equates to just less than 7.5 miles and the first half of the race requires ascending 1200 feet. Now that also means that the second half has that much descending, but after running the first half uphill, running downhill is very stressful on your legs, or rather, was very stressful on MY legs! There were some people that I know had they taken a spill going back down, they would have ended up in the hospital. I opted to do what I could to keep my speed under control which meant that heading back down the hill I got passed more than when I was going up the hill. My finishing time was 1:12:28 which put me right in the middle of the men’s field. Currently, my legs are killing me, along with a couple of blisters on my feet. I imagine they are more from the second half of the race, than the first. In time all that will heal as well, and now it is time to get ready for my next triathlon coming up in a few weeks.

After the race I went up to the Beaver Tail Triathlon (which is put on by the board of the Pikes Peak Triathlon Club) to help out with course direction and to take some pictures. It was a beautiful venue for an Xterra type Triathlon. Below are some pictures I took during the race. As you can see the racers had to deal with water during all three segments of the race, not just the swim!!

One View Point

So now my wife really thinks I'm crazy. I have now signed up for my third triathlon for the season. This again is a sprint level tri, but should be challenging in its own right since my son will be arriving just a few weeks prior to it. The challenge is going to be keeping up with my training while adding the new responsibilities of having an infant around including the lack of sleep that is sure to happen. I imagine that I'll cope with the sleep thing. If you know me well, you know that I can sleep where-ever and when-ever I need to. So there it is, my first triathlon season now has three triathlons in it. 1 is complete and the other two are yet to come.

Train well in whatever you do!

One Tri down, Who knows how many to go!!

Just a short report on my very first Triathlon! In a word, it was tough!! Now, I don't think it was unbearable, but it was definitely challenging. The swim was great. Water temp may have been a little on the cool side, and I did get a mouthful at one point, but 15 minutes for a half mile swim is easily something I never could have done if it weren't for my triathlon training. Next came the Bike. Thankfully, I started in the third wave of contestants (out of 9), so I got passed more than I had to pass other riders in this portion. Some of those guys on their bikes are really speedy, passing me as though I were standing still. An hour for the biking segment is about what I expected. Finally came the run. This is easily where I need to spend more time training. The start of the run kicked my butt. I think part of it was having too much still in my stomach when I got off the bike. There were a few times during the first mile when I had walk because my stomach was not feeling very good. Mind you though I did not stop during those times. By the 1 mile mark though my stomach had settled and I completed the run in a little under a half hour. All in all my unofficial time was 1:45, which is where I thought I would be. Of course the after race festivities were cool as well. Along with some breakfast (fresh fruit, pancakes and bagels) there was beer from a local micro brew there to wash it all down. In between beers I also had a short massage and my legs really needed that! Well, I think it is time to start training for my next race in July. This was a truly great experience!!

Later,
Jeff