Updates

Hey everybody!

How was your weekend? The inaugural Iron Man 70.3 Raleigh took place yesterday morning, and it was a massive success! More will come about my experiences volunteering there later on tonight, but as of right now, thank you to anyone who was affiliated with the race, whether you were a volunteer, a spectator, or an athlete, we couldn't have made such an amazing race without your help!

Now, without the excitement of the Iron Man, how was regular triathlete training? I like to interact with athletes from all levels just to get a good feel for how you train and what popular methods are, so please, comment on these posts and give me your opinions and feedback. This weekend for me was pretty normal, other than Iron Man action, with a speed run on the track and then a recovery run/bike skills Saturday morning. These days are always really rough for me, just due to my longer recovery time after speed work, and I always do my best to recover pretty hard. These days are commonly filled with chocolate milk, recovery bars and compression socks. Then add in anti-inflammatories, ice, and sleeping and you've got a pretty typical Saturday. I feel like these are solid recovery options and I'm hoping to perfect them over the next few months.

On Sunday I helped out literally ALL day at the Raleigh Iron Man and LOVED every second of it. We worked in the swim start in the early morning and got to see some of the pro athletes, then moved our way down into the bike mount line area. It was an amazing experience, I got to use the mechanic skills I have to change 5 flat tires at the bike mount line. That was crazy! People were flatting out before they got over their top tube! But I was really glad we could help out everybody who didn't have an extra tube and get them on with their race. After that last athlete rolled out of T1, we got in the cars and moved our way down to the T2/Finish Line area. I was a volunteer captain in charge of T2 Gear Bags, and what we did was unload the 2,300 bags the athletes used in the morning, for pre-race clothes and such, and then whatever they used in their T1, i.e. their wetsuits, goggles, caps, etc. This took about 3 hours before we could organize them all, and after we had got them organized, we had to walk up and down the aisles, retrieving the athletes bags for them. We did this until the race completely ended, and only ended up with a few bags and bikes left over. Afterwards, we took down the race area and then we finally headed home after a long day. I'll put up another blog shortly with pictures and more descriptions. But regardless, it was an amazing day, for athletes and volunteers alike! A huge thanks to whoever helped out.

These next few months are really exciting for me, mainly due to the fact that school ends for the summer this week. Everyone knows what that means-that's right, it's crunch time. Training volume is projected to shoot up, and more than likely double, due to me taking my own advice and enabling a strength program on the side of triathlon training. Does anyone here have good plans for the summer? I know with hotter days we'll all be able to get out and run, ride, and swim more but I know a few people will have some specific ideas. For example, later this summer, I'm taking my old road bike, strapping on some panniers, and I'll make the 120-mile ride down to Wilmington Beach and train/chill out down there. I'm super excited for it, and I know I'll be able to do key workouts down there.

So if you guys have any plans for the summer, let me know! It's great to get to know other triathletes in the area, that's my plan here, so please, comment on the posts.

Alright guys, that's the weekend update, thanks for reading!

Happy training!