Gulf Coast Triathlon

The Gulf Coast Triathlon 70.3 is a week from Saturday. I rode 50 miles Saturday and ran 9 miles this morning, trying to get ready.

I was very disturbed all weekend about the triathlete in San Diego who was attacked and killed by a great white shark during an open water swim.

Building a house continues to compete heavily with training. The house should be done within the next month or so, and should free up some hours.

Festival weekend

Festival International starts today in downtown Lafayette, Louisiana. It has music, art, food, theater, dance - all celebrating the rich cultural heritage of Cajun Country.

Baton Rouge's Blues Festival is going on all week in downtown Baton Rouge - looks like Saturday's going to be a huge day.

And don't forget about the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival which will be the next 2 weekends. If you go to the website, there's a slide show of the incredible artists who will be there this year.

Something's wrong with you if you can't find a good time this weekend in south Louisiana.

Spring time in Louisiana

Ahhhhh...Spring time in Louisiana. Beautiful warm weather, azaleas in bloom, crawfish season, and OCHSNER IRONMAN NEW ORLEANS 70.3!! My wife and I signed up for the inaugural event, which will be April 5, 2009. Spots are filling up fast, so if you think you got what it takes, then BRING IT !!!

MVP

Here I am with the 2008 Louisiana District 7-3A Outstanding Female in Track, my oldest daughter Catherine. Being from a small school, she ran the 400, 800, 1600, and 3200 events. She had to ice her leg after her fourth event - shin splints - Ouch! French fries afterward made it all better.

Triathlete, but doesn't realize it...

Have you ever known someone who you knew would be a great triathlete if they ever gave it a try? Who you knew would just love multisport training/events, and the endurance community?

I have a friend named Mary Grace who I think would love tri. I've told her so on several occasions, but I think she doesn't believe me. She has a great running base, but she says she's not a good swimmer (HA! - I told you she fits right in - most of us hate the swim!). I think I'm starting to scare her about this - tonight she said she's concerned I'm inviting her into a cult and that she'll have to drink some Kool-Aid or something.

Mary Grace's husband Tim is a triathlete - he's going to do an event this fall with us. We'll keep working on her, though...

Weekend update

My whole family ran the Holy Cross Elementary run on Saturday morning. We had a great time. It was an inaugural event, and it was very well attended. My family did the 10K event, and I ran with 3 of our four daughters. Lisa ran with our oldest daughter. Our friend Laura ran the 10K, also. She recently passed her certification to become a running coach - she's awesome. I bet during this 10K event, Laura ran 15K. She runs up and down the course, giving everyone instructions and helpful pointers about how they can improve their performance. I even saw her giving out waters at an aid station. Her love of running is so inspiring.

We biked earlier today, leaving at 2:00. We rode about 34 miles, out and back. I'm not joking - we had a head wind both ways. Okay - maybe it was a cross wind, but it felt like a head wind. Here's a picture of us before we left. Notice the smiles - they didn't last long.

Worked at the house the rest of the weekend. I'm working on our shower right now - spent most of the weekend on my knees, tiling the floor of the shower. My "hair pants" have holes in the knees!

Flooding

Well the Atchafalya River between Morgan City and Berwick is at flood stage. According to weather.com, flood stage is 4.0 feet - the river is currently at 6.5 feet. It's expected to crest at 7.5 feet Tuesday morning. The above picture is of the protective sea wall with an opening called a flood gate that is closed if the river rises. The picture below is on top of the sea wall, showing Front Street in Morgan City on the left, and the swollen river over the pier on the right - the flood gates are all closed.

This week has been difficult as far as training goes. Coach Dan has a nice organized 10.5 hour plan for me this week, trying to get me ready for the Gulf Coast Tri 70.3 next month, but life keeps getting in the way. My wife Lisa and I are building a house, and we're the general contractors. This week we've had contractors working on painting, trim work, and driveways, and I've been working on building a custom shower. I've gotten a lot of the workouts in, but will have to play "catch up" over the next few days and miss my usual Sunday off.

Lisa, the girls, and I are all doing the Holy Cross Elementary Springfest 10K on Saturday. There's also a 5K and a 1 mile run. We're all really looking forward to it. I'll be running with our 2 youngest girls and their friends.

My closest available pool for training is at a YMCA in Houma, LA, which is about 40 minutes away. I'm planning to swim there tomorrow night after work - Dan has me scheduled for 3000 yards. The kids usually come along and swim while I train. Saturday we're doing the 10K. Sunday I will be biking with a group for 2.5 hours - the forecast for Sunday is awesome, sunny with a high of 69. Busy weekend. I'm on call also for our group - call is usually not very busy, but it can add a twist here and there.

Congratulations to Jeff Wrigley and Steve Stenzel, co-winners of the GYGO! Drymax Challenge. Check out Wil's blog to see the details.

Biking with camera

I took my camera with me on my bike ride this morning and got a few shots. The one above is a picture of the "new bridge" on the right and the "old bridge" on the left that connect Morgan City and Berwick over the Atchafalaya River.




This is my favorite tree in all of Berwick. It's my turn-around tree when I run - I run to it, turn around, and run home. I love to see this tree.

I almost ran this little guy/gal over with my bike. I had to get off my bike and get a picture of him/her. It kept a pretty close eye on me the whole time, as you see.


Coach Dan has me doing a 2 hour bike followed by a 45 minute run tomorrow - check out my training log.

Congratulations, Sara!!

Congratulations to Sara Ziemnik, the newest member of Team Evotri. The endurance community at large presented Team Evotri with 3 finalists, who then were interviewed by the team to learn more about their visions for expanding and enriching the endurance sport community.

Sara's idea focused on the next generation of triathletes, our youth. You can listen to Sara's ideas here. I really loved Sara's idea because it focused on encouraging our youth to tri. I liked her thoughts about tri being a "life sport," something that can be done with children, parents, grandparents - a family event. It also focuses on helping with some of the big problems our youth face, such as obesity, addiction, self-esteem issues, etc.

I have never met Sara in person, but know that she's going to be a super addition to our team.

Check out Sara's blog here.

Welcome aboard, Sara!