Copperas Cove Road Race

Well my first road race is in the bag! Man, what an experience.

To be honest my training was great coming into it, but I knew that it would be a great test of where my fitness is cycling wise right now. I registered for the CAT 5 race which was technically a CAT 4/5 race.

My goal going into the race was to just hang around in the top 5-10 or so unless a break happened. If more than one person went I was going with them. Well during the first 3-4 miles I was in the top 5-6 people and I could see the first climb coming up. I made the split decision right there to go ahead and surge and see who went with me. I took a few glances behind me and it didn't look like anyone was coming, then next thing I know I see 2 guys come up right beside me. SWEEET. These guys looked pretty legit and I had high hopes for a good break.

We pushed the pace pretty hard to get a decent gap and then just held it around two minutes. Since this was my first road race I learned a lot from these two guys. Around an hour fifteen in one of the guys seemed to be hurting a bit and I knew that our gap was down to around a minute thirty or less. I pushed just a touch to maintain pace and he fell off the back.

Me and Eric, a fantastic cyclist from Texas Tech was now the only other rider with me. We took a right and hammered HARD with the tail wind. I wanted to see how much of a gap we could get back until we hit the headwind again. We took a right off that road and started the ride back to town with a stiff headwind. There was one nice climb here that I thought would possibly break us but I felt great once I got to the top.

Eric and I made the left turn back towards Copperas Cove and I knew we probably had it. Eric offered the win to me since he felt that I had down the majority of the pulling, but I didn't really want to take a win that way. Once I could see the line I sprinted with everything I had left and crossed the line in first with Eric just .3 seconds behind me.

This race was an absolutely wonderful experience. I met a few really cool people and some great cyclists.

Something that has hit me the wrong way is some of the responses I've read about my win on a cycling forum, but I'll definitely save that for a different post.

One more thing I want to hit on is the purpose of this blog. This website, in no way what so ever, is a self promotion website. This website is a BLOG, that I update not only for my own records but for my friends, family, and other people getting into endurance sports. I want nothing more than for other people to find the joy in exercise that I have found. (Hence my degree in Physical Education)

To those that made those comments regarding my results yesterday, I'm sorry you feel the way you do, but I, just like all of you, have to start from the very bottom of the totem pole, (That means as a CAT 5) regardless of my triathlon results. I am in NO WAY an "iron man pro" as someone put it. No where on this site do I claim to be a "pro" at anything.

My hope is that the guys or gals that made those comments decide to either stop saying such rude/false comments, or start training harder so that I don't have to ride 50 miles with two guys next time.

To all my friends and family I thank you guys SO much for supporting me in all my endeavors. You guys are the very best. I also thank B&B Bicycles in Cedar Hill for all their support. Without Beth, Jeremy, and Jeff I would still be on a broken down bmx bike riding around Ovilla.

Last but not least congrats to Krysta, Eric, and the whole Texas Tech racing team for a great show at Copperas. You guys are lucky to have such a huge cycling crew!

Hope everyone is training hard and playing harder :)

_Jacob_

4hr Single Speed Mountain Bike Race...

SOOOoooooo....

I finished my first mountain bike race this past weekend! YES. The weekend where we had record cold! When I arrived at the race sight the temps where getting close to 20 degrees. Due to the "extreme" cold I opted for the 4hr race instead of the 6hr. I was racing a single speed mountain bike instead of a geared bike so I was also in a different category.

What can I say? I have a new found respect for mountain bikers! I ended up doing 4 laps with a total of about 44-45 miles in 4:39:xx, and first overall in the 4hr single speed division. I had an absolute blast. My arms hurt, my legs hurt, my everything hurt. It definitely doesn't get much better than that.

I'm hoping that I'll be able to cram another mtn bike race in but the schedule is starting to look pretty full for 2010. I'm pretty focused right now on my upcoming road race, and the Rocky Raccoon 50 mile run.

I started running again on Friday! I can't even put into words how good it felt to get back on my feet, and off that saddle. I did an easy road run on Friday, took Saturday off for the mtn bike race, then got a nice trail run in on Monday. I'm looking forward to hopefully getting in a nice 7-8 mile trail run in this afternoon if the work schedule allows. My goal for Rocky Raccoon is a sub 8hr 50 mile run (which is REALLY ambitious) but I feel confident that if I train smart I can pull it off with my fitness being where it is.

Like I mentioned earlier I'm also getting ready for my first actual road race in the 23rd of January in Copperas Cove, Texas. I'm racing the Cat4/5 group race which is 54 miles. Being the triathlete that I am, I'm sure that I'm going to go off the front hard, end up pulling 4-5 fast guys, then get dropped around mile 50, but you know what they say... "if you're not first you're last!" Haha. But seriously, it should be a blast, and I'm looking forward to leaving it all out on the road. I hope everyone else is bringing their "A" game, cause I don't want to ride 50 miles by myself :)

Alrighty, I've gotta get back to work, but wanted to give everyone a quick update on that mountain bike race. Below is a picture or two of the race. Hopefully I'll get a race report done within the next week or so....

Stay safe, stay warm, and train hard!

_Jacob_

Racing this weekend!?!?

When I think of racing I get warm fuzzies all over.

When I think of the fact that the windchills are supposed to be in the negatives this weekend I cold shivers.

I'm hoping that it all balances out and I'm just mildly frozen this Saturday.

Yes. Yes I am going to race this weekend. I decided about a month ago that I was going to do this 6hr mountain bike race at one of my local trails. Our local mountain bike association (DORBA) puts it on. I'm excited to see how competitive I can be among our local mtn bikers. On the downside the most I've ridden this winter is about 3hrs, AND I'm actually doing the mtn bike race on a 29er single speed. No matter what happens it's going to be interesting! If anyone else is interested in racing check out the DORBA website.

Now for some SUPER POSITIVE news: I'M RUNNING ON FRIDAY! Again, it's supposed to be 15 degrees, but I haven't run in 6 WEEKS. I'm so excited to get back into ultra running shape. I'm hoping that all this cycling has really helped my endurance. (Even though my endurance was peak before all this happened) If you check out my 2010 schedule to the right you can see that I'm planning a lot of ultra runs and very few triathlons. We'll have to see what races get chosen for the regional championships, then I'll add those in and that will probably the 2010 season.

I've gotta go work on this mountain bike, but in my next post I'll be reviewing my first 6hr mountain bike race, then in post after that I'll be reviewing my 2009 season that was by far my favorite, and most successful season yet!

I hope everyone is doing well... staying warm... and training hard!!

_Jacob_

5 days left....

Wow. It has been forever since I've updated. I guess that by now everyone knows that I decided to take 6 complete weeks off from running in order to heal a possible stress fracture. Mentally I never wanted to accept the fact that I was possibly injured but after a few really painful runs (and walks for that matter) I decided it was time to take some downtime.

That downtime included missing two scheduled and payed for races. First was the Texas Trails 50K, and second was the Dallas White Rock Marathon (which I had run four previous times). Not running and missing scheduled races was a lot more difficult that I expected.

With that said it's now January 4th, and I'm running on January 8th!!! It has been a LOOONG 6 weeks but it's finally almost over. Over the past week or so I've been planning out my 2010 season and it's going to contain a lot more trail races that triathlons or duathlons. Last year was solely focused on getting 1st overall triathlete in the South Midwest Region, and that's what I did. Now I'd just like to trail run as much as possible and just have fun.

Since I'm definitely not going to ready to run 100 miles for Rocky Raccoon in 4 weeks I'm opting to run the 50 miler. I'm also going to knock out to other 50 milers I've been wanting to do for awhile. The Jemez 50 in Los Alamos, NM and the Zane Gray 50 in Arizona. Zane Gray is supposed to be one of the toughest 50 miler in the US and I'm sooo excited to run that one.

Outside of triathlon/running news I graduated from UTA on December 14th with a degree in Kinesiology/Education. I'm now certified to teach P.E. (grades K-12) in the state of Texas!



While I'm not actively searching for a teaching job I am keeping an eye out and keeping my mind open. I recently started a new job doing what I've been doing for the past 5 years and it's for a great company that I really enjoy working for/with.

As my 2010 season begins I plan on having as much fun as possible and beginning this new chapter in my life outside of school.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and a great/safe New Year! I look forward to seeing and hearing from all of you!

_Jacob_