Inspiration all around us



If Oscar made it this far, how far can you go?

 Holy crap! I am inspired. Television does nothing for me and the thought of wasting hours watching sitcoms and reality shows depresses me like soap opera's and daytime television. HOWEVER. With the Tour de France and then now the Olympics on - I have been glued to the set. My eyes have been burning from late night dates with inspiration. It's amazing to watch these athletes perform at the biggest stage and see all of the fruits of their labor come into fruition. Few moments pop out at me. Oscar Pistorius and his amazing story and performance getting into the freakin Olympic 400 Semi-finals as a paraplegic. Watching McKayla Maroney nail a perfect vault in team gymnastics competition only to fall in the individual competition. Did you see her look into the eyes of the Romanian that beat her afterwards? She gave her a look like the Romanian took her soul. And in a way, she did. Then of course there's Galen Rupp. That silver medal just inspired a 9 year old boy somewhere in the US to run instead of play soccer and he very well may be the next great American distance runner. Finally, we can stop talking about Billy Mills. Love Billy, but that was in the 60's for crying out loud! American distance running is back!

Treated myself to some IPA's

So besides being inspired on the tube, I finally wrapped up two stressful weeks of work where I put in a lot of hours. It all capped off with our customer appreciation golf tournament that I was the event director for last Friday. It went really well and I'm glad that it is over. Back to reality! After a long day Friday I woke up the next morning, swam an hour with my friend Mike and then hit up a long ride. I hadn't been on the bike for an entire week and was a little nervous of how I would feel with all of the extra work/stress I was putting in. It ended up being a pretty decent ride. I would have an hour where I would feel like garbage and then the next I would feel great. Then, the next morning I set out on a little tempo run to see if I could back up the big ride from the day before. So I put in 6.5 hours in two days and only 7.5 hours for the week. Talk about a weekend warrior! I had no way around it though with my work schedule - so James and I just tacked it on as a short "mid-season break." I probably needed it...



Haven't done this is awhile, Garmin files:

The Bike

The Run

Now it's all about sharpening up my run and swim. My confidence is soaring on the bike right now but with the lack of running and swimming the past two weeks I need to get back to being at least respectable on the swim and have my running "weapon" in my holster for the Santa Barbara Long Course triathlon on the 25th. I picked this race because it fits my strengths; except for maybe the 1 mile ocean swim which will hurt me a bit but then it's a hilly 35 mile bike followed by a 10 mile flat run - Score! I'm really excited to race since I haven't since June. I feel like I am a completely different athlete than I was even in June and have made some big breakthroughs both physically and mentally. I can't stress enough on how much James and Champion Factory Coaching has elevated my fitness. I already have way too much on my plate to worry about workout plans. All I do is listen to what James says, put in the work, listen to my body and my fitness is off the charts righ now. Can't wait to race....If anyone is racing up in Santa Barbara and wants to split a hotel or knows of anyone in the Santa Barbara area for a home stay - let me know!

Here's a few more pics from the last few weekends:

Scarlett with her "custom" safari hat

My boy Taylor. Loves to play with trucks, dirt and smile often. Perfect boy.

Love being a dad