TriSports.com Discount Code!!

In an earlier blog post I mentioned that I would pass along a promo code that would give you an extra discount at TriSports.com. Well as promised here it is: BVAN-S

Simply enter the promo code and you’ll receive an extra 10% off your order. I’ll pass along any special deals I come across. Let me know how the promo code works for you!

Series Awards and Sully Super Sprint

Well the 2012 Tri season has kicked off for many area athletes and between the weather and the time change, lots of evening workouts can now be completed without freezing J This past Friday I had the chance to attend the El Paso Tri Club social/Southwest Challenge Series Award presentation and it was great to catch up with so many of the area’s best. Greg Gouveia, the Club President, did a great job making everyone feel welcome and just like Matt Emrich before, the El Paso Tri Club looks to do some great things this season. 

I was fortunate to win my age group this year and have to say that I was pretty happy to be getting the coveted Southwest Challenge Series winners vest. Other athletes receiving awards included Gretchen McElroy, Bobby Gonzalez, Rob Lovett, Michael Castaneda, and Scott Darling. I won’t be participating in the Series again this year, because of other triathlon goals, but the Series is a great way to meet new people and compete on courses throughout West Texas and New Mexico.

Bobby chowing down!

Gretch caught eating her fifth burger! J/K

Mike getting his award.

Not sure what I'm doing?!

Rob getting his bottle of wine.

After many months of training and not really taking an off-season I decided to head to Alpine with Bobby this past weekend to compete in the Sully Super Sprint and shake off some of the rust. Those that have never done this race would be pleasantly surprised at the quality of the course and the difficulty of the run portion. Race morning had perfect weather and except for the fairly stiff headwind on the return portion of the bike, we couldn’t have asked for a better day.  

One change that I have made this season was to hire a coach to prepare me for the Redman full ironman later this year and to also fine tune my very erratic training practices. Francois Modave has developed a great training plan for me and I was anxious to see what results I might have at this race. We have only been working together for about four months, but I knew I should be able to best my last years’ time. The run portion is very hilly and you can separate yourself from the pack if you have put in significant time doing hill repeats in your workouts. Fortunately for me I had ample practice with hills and was able to finish the run portion in second position among the age groupers only behind Bobby. Transition was smooth and I had hoped to maintain whatever lead I had throughout the entire bike portion. I have been doing plenty of bike miles in training, but partly because of winter weather and partly because I’m a sissy to the cold, most of my miles have been on the indoor trainer. The bike was uneventful and I felt really good for about 90% of the course. I did get leg weary on the final mile or so, but overall felt really strong. 

One thing I should add here is that you can have the greatest coach in the world, but if you don’t complete all the workouts they write for you, it is no one’s fault but your own if you struggle come race day. With that said, the swim portion of the race was a nightmare. I entered the pool with a huge lead over third place, but just couldn’t close-out the race the way I should have. I haven’t been in the pool very consistently and it showed. Third place blew past me with about 30 yards left and I had to settle for third overall and first in my age group.  

The good news is that I bested my time from last year by three minutes. Next race is Duathlon Nationals and even though it requires no swimming, I’ll be hitting the people hard for the next several months. Good luck to everyone racing the MVT this weekend!

2012 TriSports.com Champion Athlete

This season I have the opportunity to take part in the TriSports.com Champion Athlete program and wanted to pass along the information to those interested in getting great Tri gear at even better prices. As I have found out over the past two years, triathlon racing can be pretty expensive. Between having a good bike, wetsuit and running shoes you also spend money on entry fees and travel cost. At the end of the day all these things add up and you could end-up in hot water with your significant other if not careful J TriSports.com has developed a program that will allow me to pass along a 20% discount to those who enter a special promo code. Fast, easy and no strings attached. I should be receiving my new promo code within the next two weeks and will make sure it is always posted on my blog for you to use. In the meantime here is a current sale going on:

Up to 50% on 2XU clothing and wetsuits! Sale ends Friday!

http://trisports.com/2xu-2011-special.html

As far as training, I have been sick for the past five days and just started back up on Monday. Before getting sick I had begun to make big strides in my running and I hope to be able to get back to that level soon. My bike training has been hit or miss because of the weather and swimming has been severely lacking, but I am hopeful that by the Buffalo Springs 70.3 in June I will have had enough swim time to put me over the top. Not sure when my first race will be, but all my training is geared towards the Duathlon National Championships the end of April.