Ok I had to show you this, there is a great message here! Do you know where your food comes from? What it was raised eating?

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100 Miles to NoWhere

June 4th 100 miles To No Where! Except, I will go to Look Rock 5 times! Yes, that's 2,250ft of climbing each trip. This is an estimated 11,250ft in one day. Not really bad since it will be on 5 different routes. Yes boys that's most likely an 8 hour day in the saddle, with most of the time pointed up. But the downhills will be so much fun. I am doing it as an official rider of this event. If you are brave I will see you at 7:30 at the Maryville courthouse its a BYOB ride. If you want you can also join me for a leg or two of this day. I would like some company. I already have two takers for the 5-way, full Monty. Sphere: Related Content

Commitments

2011 is well underway and it is time to make a Race plan. It is way past time to make some race plans. This year is shaping up like the get it done year or go home. No pressure on myself haha If I get lucky, I will make a couple podiums So the time is now to put in the time and effort to get the rewards. The key this year is training smart vs training volume. Gone are the cookie cutter training plans you find all over the Internet. You know the ones, we have all used them at one point or another. After two years of competing at this 3 sport thing called triathlons I realize I need balance. I see a lot of age groupers out there who lose themselves in training hours and I mean 18-20 hours per week. I can't be that guy, and I am ok with this. I am a social person at heart, and triathlon training seems to be a very lonely sport. Very rarely do you have training partners or friends who may compete in one sport who are training on the same training effort or volume. Workouts tend to be more solo and lonely. This is not for me! My latest training partner, He never shuts up!

I have family commitments that are number one in my life. Yes, honey I know your laughing very hard right now. As our children get older, the time commitments seem to grow in number.

Jennifer (age not important) - wife, relationship, co-chair PTA, chief meal creator, Head bath coordinator, CEO of Bedtime, lead poop scooper and overall champion

James 12 - Travel baseball, Basketball, Tennis, Football

Olivia 10 - Horseback Riding "Hunter Jumper", Tennis

Justin 8 - Tennis, Football (Flag), Swimming Team and sometimes baseball and basketball

Good Family Fishing times

This year I will release my inner super hero and become a more efficient athlete. Train smarter in less time and enhance my family time. How do I do this, one way CrossFit Endurance training

2011 Schedule

4/3 Knoxville Half marathon 1,200 ft in 13.1 mi

4/29 Dogwood Mile, Knoxville Tn

5/15 Rev3 Knoxville Olympic

5/28 Knoxville sports expo 10k

6/4 100 Miles to Nowhere 12k ft climbing on the Foothills parkway. GSMNP

6/18 Cherohala Challenge 116 mi 9000 ft climb bike ride we try and race

6/26 Tellico Sprint Tri

7/10 Chattanooga waterfront Triathlon - new this year

7/16 Vacation Hilton Head island

7/23 Carter Mill 10k

9/11 Rev3 Cedar Point, Oh - Half Iron

9/? Bridge To Bridge 104 mi Epic century 10,486 ft climb Lenoir city, NC

9/25 Augusta 70.3

10/8 Rev3 Olympic Anderson, SC Nov- Feb "Crossfit K Town" Wow, this doesn't include 2-3 sprint tris I will complete with the local series.

As you can see, my training time must be focused and for a purpose. This is why I have since last June been using Crossfit as my base conditioning. If you do not know what I am referring to, click here this is the main web page for the concept. If getting lean, strong and melting away fat is your goal then use this site to find an affiliate gym in your area. Most "boxes" as they refer to themselves, have a free day to try out the concept.

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Crossfit Total

The CrossFit Total is the sum of the best of three attempts at the squat, the press, and the deadlift. All three lifts are done while standing on the floor. They require minimal and inexpensive equipment. They are not technique- dependent to the extent of the Olympic lifts, yet they require technical proficiency beyond mere passing familiarity. They are safe when performed correctly, since they can all be performed without spotters—alone in a garage if necessary.
There is no time limit for each lift or for the length of the session in which they are all performed, but they must all be performed during one session—i.e., you cannot leave the area to rest or perform other activities between the three lifts.
Anyone in a position to attempt a legitimate CrossFit Total should be familiar enough with their capabilities on the lifts to have a fairly good idea of just what might be possible for a one-rep max (1RM). This number is what you warm up intending to do. A meet situation will involve three attempts, and this is a good way to determine a true 1RM.
The first attempt would be a weight you know you can do for a heavy set of three. The second attempt would be a weight you know without any doubt that you could do for a single, having just done the first attempt. And the third attempt is the weight you want to do, based on your performance on the previous two attempts.

Today I recorded my first total of 645

based on tables by Kilgore, Rippetoe, et al. (Aasgaard Co, 2006) this total puts me at the beginning state of itermediate! That sounds like WEAK SAUCE to me and pisses me off.

Squat - 225

Press - 135

Dead Lift - 285

New Goal of 750

Lots of pillar strengthening needed on my part to get my goal

Sqt to 275, press to 155 and DL to 335

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Rev3 Tri

Well that ride was wrong, sorry folks

Here is the new version

This takes off the back portion of last years ride, I will scout soon.

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Rev3Tri Olympic Preview

A little short but it will do




Upside Down My Whole Life

I have a confession to make, Superbowl Sunday turned out to be a training ride on the Rev3 Triathlon Olympic bike course. I hard as I tried, the ride was upside down from the start. Yes I had remounted my Garmin clip upside down. So the whole ride I was just a little off when trying to spot grade or speed.

This is where it all begins, The swim starts slightly up river at Calhoun's and you exit here at the UT Row house. Run across the road, dodge a goose and your in T1. Yes, 1,000 meters is downriver and it was a nice benefit to a slow swimmer like me. you will want a wet suit, I went sleeveless and was fine.

The ride this year starts out a little different than last. You will exit left out of T1 and climb up to the woman's BB hall of fame. From here you will cross over to Gay st. bridge and head out to south Knoxville. You will make a right turn off the bridge and head up to the construction of Henley St Bridge. Watch here race day, pavement may be rough. From this point most of the course is exactly like last year. It does appear to have a 5 mi tail about midway that i tried to find on this ride but was not confident enough.

Here is the view at about the halfway point. For you doing the 70.3 you would cross this point at about mi 39. The ride is what I would call controlled effort. You start right out of the gate going up hill to the bridge and once over it, you have a couple mile run up to the first hill. Don't worry all the hills are less than 1/2 mile long just steep, about 8-11% grade. During last years race I stayed in my big gear. I have a confession, I ride a compact crack here so it was a 50t. Yesterday being an easy training ride, I did drop down on both larger hills. This year will be a big test, I will be coming over these with 54t On my new/used cruiser.

The hills have to be managed, you need to know when to push and when to settle back into a usable pace. Last year I felt great coming over them but could feel it at mile 5 in the run.

This is the other side of the road at the halfway point.

Post ride recovery was on my mind after a nice 40mi weekend solo ride.

Check out where I parked, all of these people are either training for the Ktown 26.2, walking their dogs or are cycling. Knoxville is a great little training area, I call it the Boulder of the East

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Sunday Bloody Sunday

Nyc is one busy city

The night before, Team Fat Cyclist went to dinner and Fatty presented us with our team shirts. Sweet swag from Pearl Izumi. It would be so cool to be a sponsored runner.

Game time!

I feel great, slept well, extra hour has made me feel awesome. I am ready to run NYC the worlds largest marathon.

I met a couple other Fatty runners in the lobby and we hoped a taxi to the ferry. We timed the trip perfect, after we got off the ferry, we laided around in the lobby.

I had big fears about being cold as shit for 3 hours. I had foot warmers, hand warmers, layers of clothing and all supplies to make a small camp adventure on Staten Island a positive experience.

The starting city was a mess of people all huddled together keeping warm. Some runners were standing around in only shorts and shirts others had layers on top of layers. They were turning blue and looked like they were hating life.

My corral opens and I enter, it was only a short wait until they took us to the start line. As tradition calls, the cannon goes off and Frank Sinatra "New York New York" is playing on the speakers. Epic!

I start running and can not believe how crowded the road has become. I am trying to get a pace going over the first bridge when it happened. Bam, I strain either my calf or Achilles on my right leg. I am pissed, I slow a little to see if it will loosen up. After about 1/4 mi I pull to the median and rub down my calf. I can't believe this is happening to me. I run again, it begins to scream and seize up. I begin to talk to myself, I am pretty sure it is out loud. I have to stop again, I stretch and tell myself "I will finish"

I jump back onto the road and start down the backside of the opening bridge. I am at mile 1 of 26.2 and I can not run under 9 min. miles. Every time I push under 9 min. and my calf seizes up with knifing pain. As we pull off of the bridge, I decide my PR is gone and I will just run at 9min. pace. At that moment I let the goal of a PR go and decide I will try and enjoy a nice long run.

I am now headed down 4th ave. in Brooklyn. As I run, the smells of food and crowd is cheering loud. Bands seemed to be every 1/2 mi and the water stops are at every mile.

I tell myself, my calf will loosen up later in the race and I will have all kinds of stored power to finish strong.

Around mile 6 I pull into a first aid tent and ask the volunteer to massage my calf. Hoping this would help it loosen up. I head back out onto the course and take in the sights. Each neighborhood has its own feel. Kids line the streets with parents giving high fives.

I come to the half way point at 2:07 and tell myself, that this day is going to be a very long day. I try and keep positive, but my mind is going into the pain cave. My calf is killing me and with every step the pain seems to be getting worse. I tell myself it makes sense to walk 1min and run a mile. I do this until the bridge back over to Manhattan. At that moment, I begin to crumble, the bridge is a lonely place, no crowds just silence. I walk and walk and walk.

I make it across and head down to 1st ave. this is where the crowds are packed and screaming. I want to run but my leg is killing me. I run some and walk a lot. It was a very humbling experience. The streets are lined with barricades, if not I would step off and head back to my hotel. It was at this moment, I tell myself I will make it to Central Park, I will finish this race. Then at mile 18 I look up and there she is Philly Jen.

Jen and a group of Fat Cyclist supporters are there with signs and positive vibes. I stop and give hugs. They are great, they give me some Reese's pieces and they are the best tasting treat I had all day. The mile after this visit was my fastest of the second half.

After what seemed like an hour, I cross into Harlem. I was in what seemed like a fog, I knew it was only a 10k to the finish. I just kept moving, walking, jogging.

Before I knew it, I was headed south along the park. As I entered the park, all I could think about was why I was running. I was here to fight the fight against cancer, I was here for a bigger reason than some PR. I looked up and saw a man with the name DEAN on the back of his shirt. It was a sign, I work with a Dean who lost his son to cancer, and the night before the race he emailed me and wished me luck. I followed this man for the next 3 miles, he lead me to the finish.

I learned a lot about myself this weekend and in the process, I supported a honorable cause.

Below is my favorite picture of the weekend, Fatty and the Runner

That night when I returned to my hotel room, I took off my tights an revealed a bad looking ankle or cankle.
That's one ugly pic! Swelling has gone down, but I still have pain on both sides of my ankle and calf. I will wait one more week to see is a MRI is in my future.

Oh by the way, I did pick up some bling

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NYC 26.2

The time has come to check off one of those bucket list items. It is the night before the NYC Marathon.

I am running for Team Fat Cyclist supporting the LiveStrong foundation. The excitement is in the air here in the city. Nationalities abound, teams from all over the world are here to run.



This morning we had a breakfast meet up for LiveStrong at Nike Town. On my way how I came across the nations peace 5k. It was amazing, as far as the eye could see runners of all shapes and sizes from all nations running with smiles. This was very powerful to watch, I wanted to jump in but instead, I cheered my ass off giving high fives and support.




The city is a very big and intimidating place. I have yet to stick my head underground to the subway. You know that is where the warriors are hiding.

I couldn't live here, there are amazing delis on every block, I have been eating multiple meals.


I was able to meet a couple people at the expo, Sarah Stanley and Andy Baldwin.

you may remember him from the Bachelor TV show




For now, I wait to go to the team dinner with Fatty and Friends.

A huge shout out to the Wife and family for their support! Sphere: Related Content

Augusta 70.3

Finisher @ 5:10:54
Here I go off to Augusta with a goal of finishing in my mind. I will tell you, it is a lot less stressful when you under train and head to a race without any expectations. I stayed outside of downtown, if I were to do it again, I would stay at the Marriott downtown.


Once there is scouted out the swim start and transition area. This is a point to point swim so logistics were a challenge. I spotted a couple of dilly bars going to jump in. They must be from East KY, water temp was 74ish
I proceeded to head to check-in and the line was small. This made me very happy, but gave me more time to check out downtown. I started to drive the run course and realized it was perfectly flat. I then spotted the Mellow Mushroom, had to atop and have some dinner. Good eats!


The next day, I slept in until 8:30 wow. I had planned on something like 10a but I just couldn't make it that long. I went for a short 2 mile run and felt strong. Then it was off to bike check-in. Here is where my biggest race mistake was made. As you can see the bike is racked and covered for rain. That was not the mistake, the fact i didn't make my transition spot with some kind of colorful ribbon was. In both T1 and T2 I couldn't find my spot. As you can see from the pic below lots of bikes. I was in the right area both times, just couldn't spot my bike.



Ok now for the race report
I started in the 21st wave pros went off at 7:30 I went off at 8:30ish
I played it cool and let the group swim off for about 10 seconds. I started to swim and for the first 100m or so, it was crowded. I took to the outside on the left and found some open water. Amazing, I swim pretty straight compared to some of these fools. About every 50 m or so some goober would come across my face going at a 45 degree angle??? I just stayed calm and swam to finish. The current didn't feel strong, but it must have been I came out in 30:45 1:28 / 100
For some reason the last 500m I went for the most direct line to the finish and this cost me some time. It took me out of the strong current and near the shore.
As I stood up to exit the water I vomited, and thought to myself oh shit that was not good. Then I realized the swim was over and I was happy as shit. I ran to transition and yes looked for my bike what seemed to be 2 mins but probably 60 secs. Jumped into my shoes grabbed my bike an d off I went. Upon getting on my bike, I passed what seemed to be 60 people in the first 400m.
Keep in mind my ag was one of the last 5 to start. I had 2,000 people to pass on the bike. I swear it was a crazy ride. It rained the entire ride, sometimes very hard. I can not explain how flat and fast this ride was. Well yes I can, I rode easy many a mile trying to save my legs and rode 22.2 mph for a 2:31:40 80k. That was good enough for the 275 best bike time. What a fun ride, I was smiles the whole way, my heart rate was way low and I was having a ball. I love those Zipp wheel rentals.
I finished up the bike ran into transition and yes, again I couldn't find my spot. This time it was longer my T1 time was 4:51 and T2 was 4:55. I gave up 4-5 mins in the transition.
Once I had my running shoes on I realized I had to pee. I stood in line for about 10 secs and then realized I was about 8th in line. I was not waiting, so I took off. I was soaking wet from all the rain and I just let it out. My first pee on the run experience. I hit the road and the legs felt great. They started turning out 7:30 pace. I was worried, about going to hard so I pulled it back to 8:00 pace. My plan now was to run 8min miles for as long as possible. I am a garmin nerd but I didn't set up my 310 for multi sport before the race. So it ran the whole time in running mode. When I started to run I didn't mark the mileage and was a little unclear where I was on the course. Looks like I ran 5 at 8:00 then 4 at 8:42, 8:42, 8:50, 9:05 this is where the legs went tight. They looked up to me and said, "No more papa" the next miles were a miserable 10:23, 10:12, 10:48 and 10:05 for a 1:58:46 half.
I was very happy with this result, It is a very easy course and I would recommend it to anyone.
Noe time to recover for a day at least. NYC is only 41 days away. Sphere: Related Content

NYC 26.2

Oh I did it again, yes I just signed up to run the NYC Marathon for Team Fat Cyclist. Many of you remember last year I rode in the Livestrong challenge Philly for Team Fatty. We raised over 800k for the fight against cancer last year. Get ready, I will be begging everyone for donations.

This year Team Fat Cyclist is at it again, we are riding in all the Livestrong events and around 12 of us will be running the NYC 26.2! I have thrown my name in the hat.

Am I up for this kind of pain again? Yes, because I know I can run faster than fatty! Last year he went off the front at Philly for a good reason. He also trains at 5,500-7,500 ft elevation. He looked at me last year while I was suffering an made the comment how nice it was to still be nose breathing, sea level is great he says! We will see this year big boy.

Oh wait a min. Fatty is an Ironman now. Shit, there is no way I can run with him and The Runner. They are Bad ASS Ironman

Below is the response that just came over my email. Wait, what does this mean? I have to wait and see if I am selected.

Dear Robert,
Thank you for applying to fund raise on behalf of the LAF in one of our Team LIVESTRONG endurance events! We have received your application and will be reviewing all submissions in the coming days. Once we have chosen the recipients of our guaranteed spots, we will notify you right away.
Thank you,LAF Fundraising Staff

I understand, Fatty will hand pick the runners. There is only one reason he wouldn't pick me, he is worried my thighs will be bigger and more defined than his!

Here he is showing off those legs prior to last years event. I think he was trying to scare Chris Carmichael

Last year this is how I rolled to Philly 12 hrs

Here I am running my first Half Mary in cotton. Yes my nipples were raw. This was before Twin Six produced their spectacular line of Team fatty running gear.

P.S. I just wanted to look like Kenny

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Rev3 Tri

2010 REV3 Knoxville - First Olympic Distance Triathlon 15 in AG 99th overall Top 15%


It was a cold morning in Tn. As you can see from my picture, I looked calmer than I was on the inside. The last time I lined up for a mass swim start, resulted in a bad experience and a DNF

Here is the swim exit, that is Phelps in the grey cap. He blistered the course in 20 mins. I swam a 24. Good for me, but put me behind from the start.

I couldn't help but have some bike envy checking out the pros rides. More over the wheels than the frames.

Here is a picture of Phelps bringing it home on the bike. I don't have a pic of me to post sorry. The bike portion was great. I started off going down Neyland just telling myself to get into a nice rhythm. As I got to south Knoxville, I began passing people and it was awesome. This is the bonus for being the 158th best swimmer. The way the results are sorted and the swim start we had, it is impossible to figure out how many I passed. Every hill we came to I was blowing by people. The front part of the course also had 70.3 participants. They started in a wave 10 mins ahead. I caught a bunch of them as well. I realized I was going to post a solid bike time when I began to pass riders who looked sponsored. Now I don't mean pros just some local type sponsors. I even passed some Trakkers sponsored athletes. I came to the last 3 mi with two men who were hammering. Both were in the age group above me. I ended up dropping one coming onto the Gay st. bridge and the other heading up to UT campus. Bike split was 1:17:26 Hilly course 19.22 mph

I felt real good coming off the bike and as I was coming in, I saw Phelps and another even better swimmer Greg Simpson headed out on the run. Greg swam a 15:30 - 1:04 / 100 ave SICK!!!

I jumped into my shoes and told myself my toe would be alright. I ran the first 3 with a conservative approach 7:40 ave and I think it was smart because my quads were not happy nor was my toe at mile 4. I was able to maintain the pace over the 6.2 mi and finish in 47:29 or 7:40 pace. It was a flat course and with a perfect body I feel I could have ran 44 flat.

Here I am Phelps once again beat me. That's ok, it was the closest race we have had yet. I had a blast and the event was first class.

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My Birthday

Today is my 40th birthday! I am ok with that number, I have never felt better. 40 is the new 30 these days. I weighed in at my 11th grade wrestling weight this morning of 155#. I can't believe how hard it was to maintain back then. Poor Poor Diet! Now, I make much better choices of what goes into my body. Last week Lenny, our Corp. Trn Mgr put on a demo with his Vita Mix 5200 - Green smoothies and healthy soup. I can't wait till the office kitchen has it's own Vita Mixer.





Lately I have been attempting to get my bike legs under me for the upcoming Rev3

Below, Phelps AKA @DavidADawson shows off his new STEED! Its fast, he's fast and I will not see him during the race.

Here he is again sucking my wheel like a pro!

Last Sunday, I raced a 10mi running event in the Great Smokey Mountain National Park. The first race in 30 years and touted as the last race ever. The only reason they are having the race is Cades Cove Loop was resurfaced and has been closed for the last couple months. The race was great, I spotted 28 deer and 2 Black Bear. Results were ok, only thing consistent about this race was you were either going up steep hills or down one. Tore my legs apart by mile 10.

This is Brandon Bruce, I have rode with him in a couple of events last year. He is about 6'7 and he is a stud. Listen to this he completed a 508 mile solo Time trial in 35 hours and 7 mins.

Check it out HERE By the way, he also beat me in this running race. Oh, by the way, he finished 6th overall! Yes that is sick! check out the results HERE

As we parked for the race, some friends appeared

My Olivia, showing off an Easter Egg

Last victory as a 35-39 ag. Today I join the ranks of the Masters!

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