2015 Here We Go

Hey everyone!  It's mid-February and I'm back into triathlon mode.  So, I figured it would be a good idea to get back on this blog and inform the interwebs of what I've been up to recently and what I have planned for 2015.

I ended my 2014 season a couple races earlier than planned due to exhaustion and the desire to just take a break from racing.  That was good though because it allowed me time to get my yoga on and attend the occasional concert or LACMA exhibit.  I also spent some time refining my surfing skillz and took a pretty memorable CMH heli-ski trip in early January.  Later that month I went on a three day coastal ride from San Francisco to Santa Barbara with a rad group of people brought together by Rehab United Physical Therapy and Sports Performance Center. The break from triathlon was fun but it's now time to put those adventure sports (and their associated injury risk) back on the shelf and focus on my swim/bike/run.

The big news for this year is I have decided to pull the trigger and get my elite (pro) license. Racing elite should be a challenge but I'm really looking forward to it.  The other big news is that I am going to give the ITU draft legal racing a try this year.  I feel that type of racing suits my strengths and personality, and I'm really excited give it a go.  So, here's what I currently have planned for the year:

Date	Race	Location
2/21	Tritonman	San Diego, CA
3/15	Superseal	Coronado, CA
3/21	La Paz CAMTRI Triathlon American Cup	La Paz, MEX
5/2	Monterrey CAMTRI Triathlon American Championships	Monterrey, MEX
5/31	Vineman Monte Rio	Monte Rio, CA
6/7	Escape From Alcatraz	San Francisco, CA
6/28	San Diego International Triathlon	San Diego, CA
8/22	Kelowana CAMTRI Sprint Triathlon American Cup	Kelowana, CAN
9/19	Malibu Triathlon	Malibu, CA
10/11	San Juan CAMTRI Triathlon American Cup	San Juan, PUR
10/25	Life Time Triathlon Oceanside	Oceanside, CA

As always things may change but I'll try to keep the latest schedule plans on my Schedule and Results page.  Come race with me...I hope to see you out there!

Off-season Recap and 2012 Schedule

The 2012 triathlon season has started and I am currently heavy into my training with a race quickly approaching this upcoming weekend.  Before I get into discussing 2012, let me bring you up to speed with what I've been up to in the months since the Los Angeles Triathlon last year...

I have spent a large part my off season and the beginning of 2012 season battling a left ankle injury.  The injury began when I started to feel pain following the Ironman 70.3 World Championship in September of last year.  I decided to race through the pain two weeks later at the LA Triathlon, which may not have been the best idea.  The next several months consisted of several trips to the podiatrist and about 2 months of physical therapy.  During all of this, I maintained my conditioning through continued swim workouts, and tried to work in moderate cycle/run training while at the same time trying to avoid hindering the recovery of my ankle.  Things were progressing quite well until early February when I tweaked my ankle on a training ride.  My doctor had previously been going with the physical therapy and rest treatment, but with my season soon approaching, he decided it was best to get an MRI to evaluate whether there was any soft tissue damage or stress fractures.  The MRI results ended up coming back favorable with no apparent injury. The joint inflammation continued, so I was given a cortisone shot to treat the inflammation. Right now my ankle is not 100%, but is significantly improved and reacting favorable to the cortisone shot treatment.  I have ramped up my training and am on track towards meeting my training plan for the season.

During my ankle rehab and off-season workouts, there was also this:

That is the aftermath of me T-boning a pick-up truck on Paseo Del Mar in Ranchos Palos Verdes Estates in early January.  Essentially, the driver did not see me and decided to make an illegal U-turn right in front of me. As he made the turn and blocked my right-of-way, I did not have time to stop or swerve around him, so I essentially tucked my shoulder and braced for the impact.  I ended up having some pretty gnarly bruises on my knee, shoulder, and ribs, and also snapped a shifter into two pieces on my bar ends.  Other than that, my bike and my body were OK.  The crash could have definitely been worse.

Right now, I am just into the 2012 race season and my body is feeling quite well considering the off-season I had.  I have a pretty packed race schedule ahead of me.  There are a lot of the same races from last year, but also some new ones...the most prominent being Ironman 70.3 Switzerland on June 3rd.  I will discuss that race in greater detail in a future post, but shall just say I'm super excited about it.  My currently planned 2012 race schedule is the following:

Date	Race	Distance
2/25/2012	Race on the Base Reverse Sprint	Sprint
3/18/2012	Superseal Triathlon	Olympic Triathlon
5/5/2012	Avia Wildflower	Olympic or Long Course
6/3/2012	Ironman 70.3 Switzerland	Long Course Triathlon
6/24/2012	San Diego International Triathlon	International Triathlon
7/15/2012	Ironman 70.3 Vineman	Long Course Triathlon
8/4/2012	Camp Pendleton Sprint Triathlon	Sprint Triathlon
9/9/2012	Ironman 70.3 World Championship	Long Course Triathlon
9/23/2012	Los Angeles Triathlon	Olympic Triathlon

As always, my race schedule and results can be seen here.

My second race of the season is Superseal this coming Sunday in Coronado, CA. Come back later this week and I'll have a race preview posted. Till then, gute nacht.