2009...

Well, in a few days I will officially close the 2009 chapter to my book of life. 09 was a significant year in my life in many ways. I became engaged, ran my first marathon, completed my first Ironman, and battled through an extremely difficult time at work which saw some close friends and mentors leave via lay offs. One year ago I was not confident that 2009 was going to be quite this successful, or even managable, on many different levels. Was it easy, hell no. Not a single day of it. Well I take that back, the days immediately after the marathon and Ironman were amazingly easy (think lounging and beer!).

As I look to what 2010 will bring, I can't help but be optimistic! Why? Well, for starters, I'm getting married!! And to my "otter half!" I can't say enough about Meg. She has been amazing this past year. Not only putting up with my ridiculous amounts of training, but encouraging me all the way! On top of that, I'm racing Ironman Canada the week before our wedding! Totally awesome. Ironman Canada has such a special place in my heart that it's difficult to put into words. My Dad raced there five times. I was there for everyone of them. Canada is my A race this year. With his help, we plan to have a great race...we have set some lofty goals. I so cannot wait!! What a great week that is going to be! Ironman and then wedding. Awesome.

Beyond that, there are countless other adventures that we will undertake. My biggest undertaking will once again be to properly manage my time this year. Work is continually exhausting with high stress and long hours. Add wedding planning and the thought of cramming in 20 to 25 hour training weeks seems impossible. But as the commercial states....Impossible is nothing. I do believe this. Bring it on 2010! I took everything you could throw at me in 09 and came out smelling like a Rose...GO DUCKS!! Thanks for reading,

-T

First Ride...

Well, my first decent ride post IMAZ is complete. A buddy and I went out this past Saturday for a little over 2 hours. It was great, except it was pretty cold, and a fair amount of hills! I felt pretty good except my asthma was still an issue. My lungs were burning, especially on the climbs. It was somewhat miserable. Getting a sinus infection post IMAZ definitely put my lung recovery on hold. That being said, my legs felt great which is a very nice sign. I was happy to get out and happy to have such good company. Thanks Jer!

I'm running a few times per week, nothing over 45 minutes yet. I'm not swimming too much at this point, but will start to incorporate more swimming post New Years. As I was telling someone the other day, swimming is the hardest thing for me to get back into during the off season as I have a really difficult time getting up early enough to make practice. This time of year I'm all about getting caught up on sleep and not braving the morning cold to jump into a pool. Soon that will have to change. Until then...thanks for reading!

-T

Christmas Time...

Already?!? Crazy how quickly the year has gone. Just one week left until Christmas! I love this time of year. It's an interesting time of year for me as there is no formal training. The rest of the year I'm focused on working my training into my work and social life, or when Ironman training really kicks into gear, just into my work life because there is no social life for a while :) Instead this time of year is just about hanging out and I love it. Especially the holidays! Eventually I start to crave the structure of training schedules, intense work outs, etc...but not yet!


This Christmas should be great with some quality family time. It will be great to celebrate a wonderful year with family and friends. Hopefully we won't have a massive snow storm that derails the state for days like last year. I love snow, but that was too much last year! I remember last year was such a fiasco to even get to my family's house due to the large amount of snow that fell! Pops was shoveling the darn hill we live on for days just to make it out of the house.

Best part of Christmas? Ping Pong tournament baby! Yep, we get pretty darn competitive in the yates' household and this time of year that means hours of high quality table tennis!! Too much fun...can't wait! As always, thanks for reading,

-T

Post Ironman Thoughts...

No matter how much I try, I can't stop thinking about my race in Tempe last month. All the time the race is on my mind. At least once a day I catch myself recollecting about the race. Analyzing moves made, moves not made, nutrition, hydration, pace, heart rate, etc. All of this analysis has left me with some definite conclusions to my race.

I've read that the race doesn't really start until 2/3 of the way through the marathon...or mile 18 to 20. I would agree with this. If I hadn't had the airway issues I did early on in the run I feel I would have been able to keep shuffling between 8-9 minute miles...until about mile 18 to 19. I'll get to that moment in a minute. As far as the asthma issue goes, I think I did the right thing in trying to manage the problem as opposed to push through it and hope it got better. By proactively keeping my HR down, and thus my energy output, I was able to keep going...albeit at a walk at times.

In retrospect, I will push at this point next time. I know when to stop if things get serious, but they weren't serious yet. Would they have gotten serious? Possibly. Probably? Hard to tell. I believe I was acting extremely cautiously because it was my first Ironman and I had ended up in the medical tent a few too many times this year already! Chris McCormack said their are points during a race when you have to take a risk, and you have to be able to pay the ultimate price if that risk doesn't work. In hindsight I don't think I was completely ready to take that risk at that point. Although, because of what I did I was able to make it to mile 18 and my airway was ok enough that running was no longer an issue.

Mile 18, this was right after entering the third loop of the race. At this point my entire body was screaming at me. On top of that I was having issues staying focused. Well turns out I had devoted so much time to the asthma issue that I hadn't taken any calories in during the run. After 1.5 miles of walking or so I reloaded with calories and was running within .25 miles. I ran the rest of the way in...pretty much. There was a point when I was getting those few hundred calories that I thought maybe I would just walk the last 7 miles in. I was feeling sorry for myself. This is when I dug. I was prepared to dig deep, but my first Ironman taught me what it is really like to dig that deep. It is indescribable. Here is a great pic of Macca digging deep in Hawaii!!

So, short version? I feel like I was prepared to go about 45 minutes faster, maybe a little more. I lost it on the run. I left for the run at about 6hr 20min into the race...a 4:00 marathon still put me under 10:30, actually closer to 10:15. Yet, this is why we race. I learned a ton from this race and am confident that I will use the lessons learned to better prepare and execute in Canada! I have some ambitous goals set for 2010 and I can't wait to start reaching for them! Thanks for reading,

-T

First run...

Well, I got my first run in post Ironman tonight. On a treadmill...all 30 minutes of it! I felt really sluggish at first, but after about 10 minutes kind of got into it. I was just concentrating on working on my form so no intensity. It felt good to be sweating again and to be well...running! Hopefully if it starts to warm up soon I will get a run in outside this weekend. I have my first outdoor ride scheduled for this Sunday, can't wait!!

Still working out some race planning for this upcoming year. It's exciting to think about this upcoming season. Some of the things I'm going to concentrate on this winter are: my swim - I've never been good about getting to the pool in the winter; bike fitness, I want to keep up a certain bike mileage during the next 3 to 4 months of base while incorporating some speed to keep the legs solid; run toughness - I need to get tougher on the run with some road races this winter and early spring. Right now though it's all about planning...planning for the wedding and for the race season! The more planning done now...the easier life will be months from now! Thanks for reading,
-T

Brrr...

Well, I had everything packed to go to swim practice this morning. It would have been my first workout since Ironman, just over two weeks ago. I am getting over a sinus infection, but figured I had been lazy enough and wanted some exercise. Although I was still feeling pretty bad, the idea of getting some exercise in was too good to pass up. Then I saw the weather forecast. It got down to 12 degrees last night in Eugene. Well, 12 is pretty cold for us in Eugene. And to top it off...we swim outdoors year round!! This time of year at Echo Hollow pool.


As much as I was looking forward to working out again...the idea of staying in bed, and in turn staying healthy, was too good to pass up! My bed was warm, and hell, it was 12 degrees outside! Thanks, but no thanks. So, another day passes. No exercise. I'm starting to go kind of crazy! I will say the time off has been nice though! I'm getting really excited for next season. I have some big goals for this upcoming season and look forward to putting in the work necessary to achieve those goals. Hope everyone is well and staying warm. Thanks for reading,

-T

Rose Bowl...

So every football season, I dream of the Ducks over achieving. I hope that they will play tough every game and ultimately end up in a big time bowl game. Entering this season there were lots of questions about the Ducks team this year, but they did look good on paper. And then Boise State happened. We all know about "the punch" at Boise State. The better story is how the Ducks have rebounded since then and put themselves into position for the Rose Bowl entering Thursday night's Civil War game with our arch rival Oregon State!! It was winner take all, with all being a berth to the Rose Bowl.

We had a great time at the game. And what a game it was!! The Ducks pulled it out in the end and we all celebrated a return to the Rose Bowl, 15 years removed from our last appearance!! It was a fitting end to this season and this year. The past few weeks have been amazing with Ironman Arizona, Thanksgiving, and now the Ducks heading off to the Rose Bowl. I'm one happy guy right now! As far as triathlon goes? I'm into my 12th consecutive day off. I have done nothing. I'm fighting off a cold so that has actually helped to keep me inactive...which is good. I'm still trying to hammer out my race schedule for 2010 and will get that up once I have it established. Until then...GO DUCKS!!! Thanks for reading,

-T