My swim showed improvement, but I made some bad decisions early on that cost me. I was with the main group right until about 500 meters, then decided to settle in and sit on the guys feet right in front of me. Unfortunately, they were the wrong feet to sit on. He ended up swimming off course (nothing too drastic, but enough to get separated from the chase pack).  Totally my fault for not sighting more and getting on somebody else’s feet. Not having raced in awhile, I was going to be a bit rusty with race decisions. I was trying to save some energy by drafting, but realized that I was not even swimming hard. I broke away with about 800m to go and just swam as hard as I could. I ended up swimming about 30sec faster than last year, but the conditions were much worse (chop) this year. A big thanks to Gerry Rodrigues for helping me with my swimming the last couple of months. The guy is is going to get me where I need to be next season.

The bike was hard as usual and I was hoping to get some numbers to work with over the next few weeks to aid me in my training. Unfortunately, my powermeter did not work all day! I was pretty frustrated and had no choice but to ride on feel. I ended up riding a bit faster than last year.

The big question was going to be my run. I simply have not put in many miles at all running so far this season. I am being very cautious with my knee and the mileage is just not there yet. I was just hoping to run near what I did last year. I came off the bike feeling pretty good and found my rhythm at about mile 2. I felt pretty good the entire run and ended up running faster than I did last year even with a little “detour” off course (thanks to Ian Mikelson for turning me around).

A third place finish was not too shabby after what I have been through earlier in the season, but I know I have a long way to go. I was happy going faster in every discipline this year as compared to last years race. First race of the season out of the way and no knee pain! On to Kona!

Thanks for reading.

There are still 7 weeks until race day so plenty of time to gain some fitness (or cook yourself - for many). Nice to have some heat training inland as well. We needed it.

Hope everybody’s season is going well!

Here’s to a healthy and smart training block leading up to Kona!

We drove up the new Ford Flex in record time.

New Scott Plasma for next season.

Nice Pro extensions and deep Dura Ace wheels.

Trek Road Bike.

Lunch break - Mac and Cheese with a beer!

Start house.

Liquigas rider.

Front of start house.

TT course start.

Levi’s Trek TT bike.

Matt McConaughey checking out Levi’s ride.

RadioShack rider

Cervelo Test team rider

Rabobank rider warming up

Cancellara

Sparticus did not have the ride he wanted today

Rabobank riders chilling

BMC bikes

RadioShack guys warming up

Rolling to the start

Columbia/HTC warming up

Hincapie warming up

Liquigas riders warming up

Levi warming up

Schleck on his way to the start house

A break in the action for a photo

New Speed Concept toolbox/fairing

Leaderboard

Meredith met up with the lululemon peeps - they are a sponsor of Saxo Bank for 2010

Mick Rogers still on top

I flew in Thursday night to Milwaukee and Tristan picked me up from the airport in the new ride. As he rolled up in the vehicle I was immediately blown away. The Flex looked sweet.

We then headed from the airport to the Team Sports headquarters, where I got the VIP tour of Tom Schuler’s building. I knew Tom was a stud cyclist back in the day, but had no idea he was the face of American cycling for years. Former US Nat’l Champ, Giro rider, 7-11 team member, etc. I stayed at his place Thursday night in the “Man Cave”and got the chance to see his old school cycling pics as well. Very cool.

The following day, the rest of the crew arrived. Keith Meyer, Barry Siff, and Tim Hola flew in from opposite coasts and we did our best to model (the vehicles) for the camera.

After a long, but amazing day of learning the ins and outs of the new vehicles, we all headed to the Brewers game. The park in Milwaukee is beautiful and we even got to see 3 homers in one inning!

The highlight of the evening had to be the Hola’s well-behaved children making it all the way to the 6th inning without any meltdowns. Would you expect anything less from the Hola family though?

After another night in the Man Cave, I headed out bright and early Saturday morning for the drive cross country. Leaving Milwaukee at a bit after 7am, I was able to drive through De Moines and Lincoln before staying the night in North Platte, Nebraska. A 12 hour day behind the wheel. I wanted to motor through Iowa and Nebraska so I could spend as much time in Colorado as I could. Good decision by me!

I rolled in to Denver early Sunday morning to catch the early afternoon game between the Rockies and Nationals. Coors Field is a great Park as well and I am glad I was able to check it out.

When the game ended I gave fellow Timex teammate (and great guy/athlete) Dennis Meeker a call for the local knowledge on Boulder. After finding some internet connection and banging out some e-mails, I met up with Tingle, Meeker, Kummer and Will Kelsay at Centro on Pearl St for some good grub. The Timex team is like a 2nd family. I am the “new guy”, but everyone on the team is ridiculously nice and goes out of their way to help each other out. I am so happy to be a part of this team. The night ended relatively early (I was beat) and I crashed at Barry’s house right down the road. Man, I slept well!

My journey back to San Diego was only half complete by this point. Luckily, my lovely wife offered to fly in to Denver to drive the 2nd half of the trip with me. I woke up early and hit the Boulder Rec pool on my way out of town.

Man, the combo of altitude and lack of fitness really hit me that morning. I felt like I was swimming backwards! I drove to pick up Meredith afterwards and we were off through the Colorado mountains. So beautiful.

We arrived in Cedar City, Utah for our final night on the road and immediately crashed. One final push to Cardiff the next day and the trip was over!

Huge thanks to Timex for the sweet new rig!

PT/ART with Gino has been great and Greg has been nice enough to give me some amazing acupuncture treatment as well.

I am also planning to use a friend’s COMPEX machine. I borrowed one at the IM C d’Alene camp and really felt it helped with the healing process.

I had my 1 month MRI this morning and am waiting for Dr. V to call me with the results tomorrow . . . fingers crossed.

That is the short story of my personal injury battles over the last month. However, during this past month I have been staying very busy within the sport. Virtually every weekend I had an event, the first being Collegiate Nationals in Lubbock, TX for the UCSD squad. We finished 7th overall (men and women combined). The student athletes battled the elements and really made me proud as I followed from home . . .  Dr. V strongly suggested I stay in San Diego and rest the knee. We had a great race and the kids once again excelled in and out of the classroom this season (we had an average team GPA of 3.7 last season).

The weekend after, I had an opportunity to work at the Multisports Coeur d’Alene triathlon camp with Paula, Jason, and Andrew. Lucky for me, Roch and Huddle were working their butts off making sure St. George ran smoothly (which it did) so I ran some of the lectures and the group swim workout. I learned a lot from lecturing and it made me realize I truly have a passion for coaching athletes. I am 100% certain I will get in to coaching full time after I stop racing (yes, I still consider myself an athlete and once I recover from this surgery I will be back stronger than ever).

In an attempt to better prepare myself for my return to racing, I reached out to a couple of different people. One being Gerry Rodrigues, who was strongly suggested to me by one of the best triathlon coaches in the business. I went up to Santa Monica to swim with his squad and to get a personal lesson as well. Gerry is very knowledgeable and I encourage anyone around the Southern Cal area to attend his Open Water Forum in June. I will spare the details, but Gerry has opened my eyes to a new style of swimming that will hopefully help me narrow that gap come race time in Kona.

After my swim with Gerry, I  headed up to Wildflower to help guide UCSD to their final race of the season. The team raced very well and we ended up putting two of our athletes (male and female) on the podium. UCSD finished 2nd overall as a team and finished off the season very well. They are do for some much needed rest!

I finally had a weekend in San Diego and really enjoyed having some time to relax. A bunch of us even met up for a guys night out Saturday (the wife was in Palm Springs), which I took full advantage of, as did a couple other of my buddies. Last week also allowed me an opportunity to catch up on my reading. Between some of Skiba’s books, some Noakes and the endless abstracts on Pubmed.org, I have stayed very busy. I still have SO much to learn about this sport and the human body, but I absolutely love learning!

Off to Wisconsin on Thursday to meet up with the Timex peeps and will have some exciting news after the trip. I will also be heading to the Tour of Cal the following weekend as I am coaching an athlete that was invited to race the TT Saturday morning. All exciting stuff that I am very fortunate to be a part of!

Thanks for reading . . .

Once the Summer hit, I had the surgery and came back 4 weeks later because I could not stand the sight of seeing all my best friends playing  Summer League ball. It tore me up. I was sidelined and my life revolved around sports. It still does and always will. The knee never healed properly due to scar tissue, but after 4 more surgeries (the last being a cleansing from a staph infection) I finally got back to about 99%.

My right knee has held up for 12 years since those first surgeries I had in highschool/college. I have traveled all over Australia with that knee and have competed in numerous multisport races across the country as well. In hindsight, after all I have been through, I am very fortunate to be in the situation I am in.

The common theme that runs through my life in absolutely EVERYHTHING I do is patience.  Or for better explanation, lack thereof. I am the most impatient person I know. My friends and family constantly tell me to slow down and relax, but I can not. I was speaking with my friend Grady the other day on the phone and he gave me some great advice that was given to him awhile back. He said “you need to learn to relax.” In other words, I need to teach myself to slow down and really focus on the task at hand. Great advice.

My goal for the next 6 weeks is to focus on rehabbing my knee and not worry about the race season. JUST GET HEALTHY. With the help of Gino, Greg, Dr. Valletta and all my other amazing friends/family, I am sure to make a full recovery and return to the sport. I which capacity, I do not know. I am just trying to focus on the task at hand.

Thank you to all those who sent me good luck wishes and notes of support. You all do not know how much that meant to me.

I decided to get another MRI and “low and behold” I have a tear in my meniscus. This means I will have to have another surgery soon to fix the meniscus. Needless to say, I am a bit frustrated.

I am still planning on racing the 2nd half of the season, but will not be making any promises after the bouts I have had for the last 3 years. Everything happens for a reason so this is all part of the plan. I really just wish somebody would fill me in on the plan one day . . .

I flew in from San Diego on Thursday evening and Tom Shuler was there waiting to pick many of us up from the airport. We have quite the team this season . . . Forty-seven athletes in all, with nearly a third of the team comprised of international athletes. It was nearly a miracle that everyone arrived on time, but in happened. A great start to team camp!

After a quick check-in at the hotel, we headed over to the TIMEX Performance Center (TPC) to meet up with all the other team members that had flown in on earlier flights. It was a massive reunion for most of the team and I could immediately tell this was the exact atmosphere I was looking for when I applied for the team. After a great dinner covering about every food you could think of, we headed to the auditorium for a presentation by Keith Meyer and Tristan Brown. The team was introduced to members of the NY Giants medical staff (Ronnie Barnes – legend in his field), the President of Timex Business Group, Adam Gurian, and many other professionals that work very hard to keep the TIMEX Multisport team a very well oiled machine. Right before the meetings ended we were even given the new TIMEX Global Trainer that had been rush delivered to members of the team specifically for the camp (these will not be available to the public until late May at REI). All I can say is the watch system is amazing and will definitely be on my wrist for training and racing this season.

Friday morning came very early (still on West Coast time), but I was eager to see what the first day of camp was going to bring. The team headed over to the TPC for breakfast to fuel up for a long day of clinics and seminars. We were given an assignment to create short videos with FLips to embody the collaborative efforts of TIMEX and the NY Football Giants. We shot footage most of the morning before we headed in to some “round robin” clinics in the afternoon. After learning about the awesome TIMEX products, we were given the opportunity to play some football on the indoor turf field. It is amazing the quality of the field and overall facilities the Giants players utilize on a daily basis. Our team ended up with a sub par record (probably due to my multiple interceptions), but fun was had by the entire Multisports team and TIMEX staff. However, the biggest surprise was yet to come.

For those who have never been to Medieval Times . . . wow. This is where we went Friday night for dinner and it was quite the show. The entire team walked down the road to the restaurant where we were given cardboard head crowns to wear for our dining festivities. We were to cheer for the RED Knight, who fought a gallant battle, but ended up losing to the black/white knight in the finale. It is amazing how the spectators get so in to it, me included. I thought for sure our knight would have won on sheer enthusiasm alone. The entire TIMEX team was doing the wave and making sure EVERYONE in that place knew who we were. Oh well, can’t win them all.

Saturday was the dawn of a new day and a day in which our videos would be finalized. The NY Giants editing staff did an amazing job of putting our videos together and they all turned out very well. The legendary Giant Carl Banks was our guest judge and I really forget which team won the competition (I know, but I am not giving them an opportunity to rub it in even more). In addition to the FLip competition, we had various other clinics focusing on functional movement and a presentation of MELT, a series of myofascial release exercises in the arms and feet to loosen the muscle of the entire body. Cool stuff I will be using down the road to help with injury prevention. After a long, but great day at the TPC, we all went our own ways for dinner. I ended up visiting two of my childhood friends in the East Village that I rarely see anymore. It was great catching up with them both and we are really coming up with some great fundraising ideas for the DA Taylor Foundation. I am really hoping to meet my monetary goal for Kona with the help of the Janus Charity Foundation.

The last day of camp was very sad, but we did get to take some team pics and play the championship football game. The red team won in penalty kicks (that’s what you get when triathletes play football). After packing up the massive amounts of TIMEX product we were given to test, I headed to the airport to begin my long journey back to San Diego.

Last weekend made me realize how lucky I am to be chosen for this team. Every member of the team truly cares about the success and happiness of others. Results will surely come when you are surrounded by fellow competitors out there cheering and supporting you on the course. I am already looking forward to team camp next year!

Many thanks to the TIMEX corporation and the NY Football Giants organization.

Pics of weekend below:

Giants welcoming the team!

Giants have won three Superbowls!

Amazing weight room

Global Trainer - thing is dope

V02 Max testing

Starting RB Brandon Jacobs

Underwater treadmill to take the load off the lower extremeties

Bruce doing functional movement analysis

Final day of camp, it had to be done Keith! Sorry

I have also attached a short video clip below (Click link and 2/22 - Timex greets Giants)

http://www.giants.com/multimedia/

Everything else besides the knee has kept me very busy and has not even really given me a chance to think too much about it. I have committed to working 5 Ironman events in the US and I am playing a more active role with Multisports.com as well. The private coaching is going very well along with the UCSD team poised to make a run at Nationals this season as well. We have a VERY talented team (best the school has ever seen) and our main goals include  winning Conference and the National Championship. With all these commitments, which are awesome, I will not be racing an Ironman this season except Kona in October. I simply do not have the time to put in the necessary hours to really race an early season Ironman at a high level. Roch and I have some great ideas about my training this season which will be a shift from long and boring hours. I am really excited to try some new things.

I am off tomorrow for Team TIMEX camp in Newark, NJ for 4 days. I can not describe how happy I am to be on the team this season. I come from a team-oriented sports background (lacrosse and basketball) and love the camaraderie TIMEX has already been displaying with their athletes. We have a big group this year on the squad and are lucky enough to get to train out of the TIMEX Performance Center for the camp. TIMEX just signed a 15 year partnership with the NY Giants so this will be our headquarters for camp. I will be sure to tell Eli that San Diego says hello. I will also have a chance to meet up with my good buddies I grew up with in the city on Saturday night. They are all on the Board for the DA Taylor Foundation and I am sure we will come up with some great ideas for raising money for the annual scholarship.

I hope everybody is enjoying this San Diego weather . . . wish I could take some to NYC with me!