Season winding down

I can't believe how long I've allowed this blog to lie fallow. Well a lot has happened since Xterra. The Willard tri was disappointingly cancelled. This meant that Concreteman was up next. I decided to revisit the Olympic distance course again and hope they got it right. They did, and actually ran a pretty good event. I came in well under my goal of three hours. After that I did Tiger-Tri in Republic, and came in fifth in my AG. I was very happy about the result. I ran a low seven pace for the run and broke 20mph average for the bike. I had a very good race and felt good the whole time. Next up was my A+ race for the year. Ironman Branson. More on this later in a separate post. Next up will be Xterra Degray off-road tri. That was the tri season in a nutshell. Turns out that I did tons more stuff this summer. A couple of century rides including HHH in Wichita Falls TX, followed up the next day with a half marathon trail run. I also did two road bike races which were a scream. I have never ridden so fast. I learned more about bike handling in those races than in three years of riding. I also did a few long unsupported rides with friends this year. Not the least of which was the 5 Ugly Sisters, including the Lead Hill loopd. It is the most brutal climbing I have ever endured. This was terrific training and very satisfying. Once you've done something like that, you know you've done something. A word about this years training; I did more group training this year than ever before. I think the pay-off is evident. I had a terrific season. Met and exceeded most of my own expectations, and had a lot of fun to boot. The group I trained with was great. Abilities were matched well enough that if someone was having a good or bad day it boosted, or pushed the rest. These folks pushed me when I needed it. We all cheered one another on at races even though we were racing each other. Training together means you share in one another's success and anguish. You grow close in a short time in what I like to call the brother(or sister)hood of shared adversity. I truly enjoyed my training this year, and these folks are the biggest reason why. More soon regarding IM Branson 70.3 as this was a significant milestone for me.