A swimmer I am not. But I have to admit that the worst feeling is getting beat by a guy by 5 minutes in the swim and losing to him by 2 minutes over all. Because of my sever level of suckiness in the swim I have decided to be proactive. This morning I did my first work out with the Mission Viejo Nadadores Master Swim program. There is something not right about working out before the sun is out but the 6 – 7am workout didn’t seem to kill me to bad. Granted, I did not do the work out as assigned but coach Steve (my new BFF) was gracious enough to work with me on what he called a very open water stroke. My biggest tweak today was breathing on every 3rd stroke instead on every other stroke.

As of now I am committed to going back on Thursday morning. The double shot of espresso in my coffee this morning has seemed to kick in! On Thursday I am bringing a kick board and some hand paddle things. I hate looking like the only one who doesn’t know what I’m doing!

Andy B
outsideallday.com

The results from the Snow Valley Xterra are in. I got 73rd place out 172 racers.

Stats:
2 hour and 14 minutes overall
16 minutes and 34 second swim
1 hour 9 minute bike
47 minute and 57 second run

All of this equals one tired fat man!

Racing at 7,500 feet was a new experience and I don’t think my body acclimated that well. 3/4 of the way through the swim I noticed that my breathing was terrible and my wife said that I looked like a large drowning fish. This would not be considered my best swim ever. The lake was beyond low and some of your strokes would hit the bottom creating the murkiest poopy water. I am pretty sure I contracted Hepatitis and this may be the last time you hear from me. But I survived and moved on to the bike.

While on the bike I felt like I raced well. The reality for me is that I am just not that fast on the MTB bike. I am faster in my head. In comparison to the other bike times mine was actually pretty good. It was probably in the top 20 fastest bike times. In the transition from the bike to the run Dave was hooting and hollaring. It was making me laugh which was hard to concentrate. At one point he screamed, “throw that damn bike down on the ground and hurry your ass up!”

There are certain things in life that sucks. Blisters, fights with your wife, burned pop corn, business travel, babies waking up in the middle of the night crying, adult zits and running this 4 mile idiotic run. It was stupid hard and I have to admit that I had to walk at one point. To start off the run I pulled off on the side of the trail and peed. Julie thought I was throwing up. I gave it my all but the run was my weakest point. During the run my GU fell out of my back packet which didn’t help, could have used it.

Julie and I were talking on the way home and I have 3 goals before my next race.

1. Lose 5 pounds
2. Find a master swim program
3. Work on my run speed

That is the fun part about racing. You can always get better!

I have to give a special thank you to Julie, Carter, Allison, Alex, Susan and Dave for rooting me on. The support kept me going.

Andy B
outsideallday.com

Keeping track of your time is important in almost all sports, at least sports that are fun. About a year ago I picked up this watch from Amazon.com and have had a great experience with it. It was cheap, it’s comfortable and has all of the features I need. No problems with swimming with it so far. If you are looking for a good sport watch I highly recommend this one.

Amazon.com has a really good price on the watch right now.

Andy B
outsideallday.com

This weekend, actually Sunday, Julie and I are doing a sprint triathlon in San Luis Obispo along with her brother Bryan, sister Alison and our brother in-law Alex. My problem with race weeks is that I am hesitant to train so I error on the side of not doing much. This in turn affects my diet because I am not as concerned with what I eat since I’m not training. UGHHHH! For instance, today at my day job we took at a team day and went to the Orange County Fair. My lunch today is below.

What is your race week work out and diet routine?

Andy B
outsideallday.com

Tonight after work I swam 36 laps (.5 miles) at 24 Hour Fitness in preparation for my race this weekend. Finished the laps in 19.3 minutes. Stop laughing at me! It makes it even worse that I swim them in my tri shorts which resemble a speedo.

I have come up with a list of the top 5 things I would RATHER do than swim 36 laps:

1. Listen to my son cry non-stop for 2 hours while stuck in traffic coming back from Oceanside.
(This happened on Sunday. I told my wife that I stopped loving him. Not really, just felt like it.)
2. Drink burned coffee from Starbuck’s.
3. Pull my eyeballs out of their sockets, rest them on my checks and bash them against my face.
4. Listen to Dave talk about bikes.
5. Listen to Dave talk about girls.

However terrible this list might sound to you, trust me, nothing is worse than swimming laps. If you have any additions to the list please add them in the comments section.

Off to bed,

Andy B
outsideallday.com

The new Oakley Radar is RAD! I never thought that I would be saying I love wearing large funky shaped glasses such as these but for sport specific activities they are amazing. I have been riding my Radar’s about two months now and continue to be amazed. The hydrophobic lenses really help with shedding water and sweat which are key for me when riding. There is nothing worse then glasses that fog, spot, and collect moisture which then turns into mud from dust and dirt on trails.

Hydrophobic™
Oakley Hydrophobic™ is a permanent lens coating that prevents water from leaving streaks and sheens, which can compromise vision. Whether it’s rain, sweat or splashing runoff, H2O can’t get a foothold. And that’s just half the story.

They pretty much make me faster!

-Sergeant Sheek

My buddy Brian Morales, better know as Bmoe had a fun idea for me to post about. On March 29, 2008, I am going to be competing in the Ford Ironman 70.3 in Oceanside, California. To be honest, the thought is totally overwhelming but it falls in line for me to do a full Ironman by the time I turn 30 (2 years from now).

2 things to know about me:
1. I am still fat (190 pounds)
2. I am not competive, at all

I do these races and events to be a heathly person and to get my family involved. My wife Julie and I are doing a race in San Luis Obispo this weekend and her whole family deceided to do it with us.

Half Ironman distances:
Swim – 1.2 miles (This will drown me)
Bike – 56 miles (I road 30 miles on Saturday and 45 miles on Sunday)
Run – 13.1 miles (See below)

Earlier this year I completed the Rock N Roll Marathon in San Diego. It was all part of my master plan to not be fat any more. Ongoing I will update the site with training runs, rides and swims along with the thousands of dollars of products and help move me along.

Andy B
outsideallday.com