Getting Caught Up

I've done a terrible job keeping this blog updated in the last few weeks (or months, rather). Sorry. I've been a little busy!

Racing:

Tri season is just getting under way (and is off to a VERY slow start) in Iowa. I had hoped to do one sprint race last weekend just to get my mind back in race mode before the Ironman, but the weather had other ideas. In case you've been under a rock somewhere, Iowa is in the midst of an historic weather pattern which involves massive amounts of rain, big storms, and lots of wind. One of those big storms just happened to occur the morning of the inaugural Copper Creek Triathlon. I was really looking forward to this race, as it is just down the road in Pleasant Hill and the race director is my coach and good friend Jenny. I spent the Friday night and Saturday afternoon before the race helping her get things ready to go. She had a bunch of contingency plans in place just in case modifications needed to be made due to weather. However, the morning of the race the sky was continually flashing with lightning, the winds were blowing hard, and the rain was coming down in buckets. After standing around in the rain for an hour or so, Jenny made the very difficult decision to pull the plug on the race. It was a smart decision, but there were a bunch of disappointed triathletes.


Jenny's problems with the weather are nothing compared to the what the Hy-Vee Triathlon is dealing with. They have a sold-out age-group race and the final Olympic qualifying race scheduled for June 22, but no lake to put the athletes in! Unless, of course, you consider that all of downtown Des Moines is under water. At the height of the flooding, the transition area at Grey's Lake was 17 feet under the water. Even if the water was to go down quickly, the contamination would be too nasty to even consider letting people swim. Both races will now be dry-tris (better known as duathlons). I had the chance to get out on the new courses yesterday, and I am REALLY glad that I get to do an Ironman that day instead. My race may actually be easier...

After we returned from Arizona in April, I planned on doing the Drake Half-Marathon (held at the same time as the Drake Relays) as test of where my training so far had brought me. As it turned out, I had one of my best races ever that day. It was chilly and windy, but I ended up with a PR and felt great. It was a good boost to my confidence going into the last 10 weeks of training.

Two weeks ago was Dam to Dam. The race didn't go as well as I would have liked, but I was right in the midst of the peak of my training, so I'm trying not to beat myself up over that one. It was a PR, so I guess I can't complain too much.

Work:
Although it is not official yet, I am not going to continue working for DMACC. The commute is starting to kill me financially, my supervisor Irene quit a few weeks ago, the work itself was hard to get excited about, and personal training has taken off like crazy in the last couple of months. I worked with some great people there, but I'm not sure that was ever a good fit for me. One thing I learned for sure from that situation is that I do not want to sit behind a desk. I need to be up and moving around and interacting with people. I always had a hard time with people who complained about being too tired after work to workout, but the DMACC experience taught me first-hand why that is.

I've started back to work at the Adventure Learning Center. We are now at two locations: Living History Farms and Southeast Polk High School. That means more work! I also took a "promotion" to lead facilitator this year. Basically that means that I have more responsibility to not only facilitate the groups out on the course, but I will also be helping plan the sequences, coordinate the details of each day, and get paid a little more! As part of becoming a lead, I went through a great 40-hour training program on safety and rescue. There we facilitators from a couple other programs across Iowa that took part with us at Living History Farms. The highlight was practicing rescues on our high course. We took turns being "victims" caught in precarious positions, and we learned how to perform our rescues safely (our first priority) and quickly. Those of us who were able to safely perform the rescues in under four minutes were "awarded" a golden figure 8 key chain. Every time I look at it, I am reminded of what a cool week that was. The adrenaline was pumping like crazy that whole week - I slept like a log every night!

I can never tell when or why things get busy in the personal training business. Most people think I would get swamped right after New Year's, but that never seems to be the case. Most years it is springtime that motivates people. With spring starting later this year, so had the influx of people needing help. I am totally swamped with new clients now! It's great, and I am very grateful that so many people want to work with me, but it is getting tricky to fit them all in! It's kinda strange really. My phone just rings - people I've never heard of or met, but they somehow track down my number and ask me to train them... weird.

This was year six for Team 12.4, and there were 14 people along for the ride this time. I even had a four people who had taken the class in previous years come back to do it again! All spring we fought training in the rain, snow, wind, you name it, but race day turned out to be nearly perfect - maybe just a little warm. These guys get lots of tough kid points for taking on a big challenge like a 20K and doing it in some crazy conditions.

Professional:
I couple of cool things have happened over the last few weeks. In May I went through the USAT Level One Coaching Certification. We had three days of learning, followed by a test and background check. When I get back from CDA, I should officially be a USAT-certified triathlon coach. Although not for publication quite yet, I should have another announcement along these same lines soon after I arrive home from CDA. Stay tuned!

Although a little embarrassing, I can also announce that I was recently awarded the Best Personal Trainer in Story County for 2008.


I'm not really sure who all voted for me, but Crystal's mom assures me that she did! I'm thinking it's probably her and all the little old ladies that I teach in the mornings... Really, it is an honor, and it's nice to be recognized for some of the hard work.

On the other hand, some of my clients aren't quite as crazy about my hard work. I helped talk two of them into running Dam to Dam. They claim I've brought them over to the dark side! I couldn't be prouder of both of them, though. They came a LONG way to get across that finish line 2 weeks ago!

I am now just looking forward to the big race in a few short days and then taking a little break in Coeur d'Alene.