A weekend of good training

Saturday I had a swim and run workout in Chatfield. I had sent my broken wetsuit to Desoto on Thursday so I was swimming at the pond just in trunks. As I was getting started I had the enjoyment of watching Tony trying to put his wetsuit back on after a run. He had a swim-run-swim-run workout and struggled to the point of laughter trying to get his wetsuit back on for the second leg.
I jumped in and got the workout done, It was a little later in the morning so I rushed to get it done before the pond closed. After the swim I quickly ran to the car, changed and was about to start on my run workout when Rob ran by the car. He waited and we ran the swim pond loop together talking and having a good time. This was the first time that I was able to hang with Rob and it was really fun to hear about him and what he is doing. We ran well together and had FUN. After the first loop he was done with his workout so I went it alone on the second. I pushed the pace and felt good and ran the second 6 minutes faster than the first. The sun was out and it was a hot fun day. I felt good about the credits going into the bank, at the end I was tired but in one of the really good ways.
I found the family at the outdoor pool and we swam for a while. We came home and I was able to go on a date with my fun wife. It was a good evening and I felt like a recharge happened.
Sunday we had a bunch of work to get done on the house and so I had a late workout. I decided to leave from my home to get the distance needed for the day. I was blown away by the amount of people in Chatfield and Deercreek at 11am. It was crazy busy, fun to be out since we usually ride early and alone. I was able to meet and talk to other riders as I climbed for the day. I pushed hard and steady up Deercreek before the down poor hit. I turned at the school house and made my way home. I arrived 55 miles later and 3.5 hours into a good workout. I pushed up to School house faster than I have all season and feel good about the month of June so far. I was able to see Tony again, (he was mending a tire on his last few miles) and I was able to see Rob just as I was at Deercreek and Wads. It is fun to see the gang since I do not train much with them anymore even if it is for a glimpse.
Here is to more good workouts, and success for the year.

T

My kids trip to Moab or mine?

Kids- We were able to get out of school early on Friday and the other kids in my class were jealous and that was fun. The car was packed so we just jumped in and went for a really long ride. We had dinner in the car (that does not happen very often so it was cool) DS, movies and of course plenty of fighting. Lexi hit me so I hit Josh and then they both hit me since I was in the middle.
We made it to Moab, Utah at dark, there was a pool, mini golf, a play ground and we were able to make friend's faster than Dad was able to put up the tents. First night was crazy, Josh would not leave me alone and kept bothering me even though we had our own kids tent. It may have rained a bit but no real big deal. The next day was fun and we went to Arches National Park. We hiked, climbed on the rocks, did some of the Junior Ranger's program jobs. We had lunch in the park, that was really fun. Dinner was during a huge rain storm. We all climbed in Mom and Dad's tent and played Uno for a long time. The rain stopped and we started to play again and did until we were tired. Their was this huge pool left in the road so we rode our bikes and had a blast until our lips turned blue. The next day Mom and Dad said they were really tired and wanted to go home (loossserrrressss). We went back to the park and climbed up to a really cool arch. Dad was really nervous when we got close to the sides and yelled a few times. I was surprised that he had kept his manners this long in a trip, he usually blows much earlier. I guess we just did not push as hard as we should. The ride home was fun we went to the Dinosaur museum and it was really cool. Dad fell asleep in the chair during the movie, I hope I do not turn that lame!!! We got home and cleaned up. I asked if we could go again to Moab and Arches next week, Mom said "well see" dad said "nope, but maybe next year". I had a good time and I am glad that we had a fun Memorial Day trip to Moab even if we only lasted 3 days 2 nights.

Dad- I hurried home and helped Anne pack the truck to it's limits with almost everything in our house. We checked the weather once more and it got worse from the last 20 times that we checked it. We decided that we needed to go anyway and it would be fun. We arrived to Moab without much problem except that the rain had just started to down poor and we were getting wet. I liked the KOA, it was just outside of town and it looked pretty all around us so we felt good about the choice. The kids did not go to sleep until 10pm and it rained all night. I had a leak in the tent and stayed wet the entire night. The kids were very kind and started to get up at 6:30am. So much for sleeping in!!!! We cooked breakfast, packed the car and headed to Arches. We hiked, had fun, took a long hike and then it started to rain really bad on us so we headed home to the tent. Anne read in the park that it was the desert and on average it rained 9 inches a year. That night as we ran home we beat the hail but landed smack dab in the down pour. It lasted for 1 hours and everything was wet by the end and it was getting dark. We moved the tent to higher ground, had another sleepless night and woke to a windy cold morning. Anne and I made the decision that we were done, we packed up and headed to the park for one last hike. We did the loop to Delicate Arch and the kids were awesome. The camera was left in safe in the car so we do not have a pic but it was really, really neat. The drive home was good and I slept for 9 hours that night. The next day the kids asked if we could go again and they were surprised that we said the weather was bad, they did not even notice and had a blast. The kids helped clean up and so I guess we will do it again.

Loved Arches, Anne and kids had fun for their first time and I would like to go again when we have time to check out other sights. I love my family and will always keep trying to give them experiences like this one even if they do not realize how crappy it was for Anne and I.

Love you Anne,

T

Success at Littlefoot Triathlon

I decided last minute that I wanted to do the Littlefoot Triathlon on May 17th 2009 in Morrison Colorado. I had plans to ride with friends but after talking to Anne I went and signed up and started to get pretty excited. The distance was was a sprint with a normal swim (750M) long bike (15M) and long run (4M).
The day started at 5am and I was off to Morrison, I was racing solo but was really excited to hear and see Annie, Troy and Sonja cheering me on. 7:20am was the first wave and I as I walked into the cold 55 degree water the day started with a brrrrrrrr cold. I took it out slow and found some feet to follow the second half of the swim.
Out of the water Sonja told me I was close to the lead pack and I felt a surge that I have never felt before in a race. I was not sure what to do because I have never been close to the lead or the front runners of a race so I smiled and keep up the effort. I took the bike slow on the first of 2 laps, I had not done any recon on the course and felt that I would learn the course and then press hard on the second lap. The course was 2 loops with plenty of areas to mark your progress. It was also on the technical side and I came out of arrow in a few areas to make the turns. Passing the first lap I realized the I was sitting in 7th or 8th place and ramped it up a couple of gears. I passed a few guy and came into T2 sitting 6th in my wave. The first 2 guys were well past me but I had a few in my sights. The wave start was for men 39 and under and so I felt I was doing pretty good for my age group. I took the first part of a 2 loop run course mellow and started to pick it up after the turn around. I had 2 guys in my sights and I was able to get past 1 of them. I started lap 2 with some power in my legs and after hearing Sonja and Troy yelling like total rock stars I push it as hard as I could. I came into the last mile feeling like it was my fastest and and had a HUGE smile running into the finish shoot.
This was a totally fun course and I will add it to my next year schedule. The race was safe, fun and very cool to push the early season effort.
Since I never have had this happen I feel that I am able to blog about it and have that be ok. I have waited around for almost every awards ceremony to see my fellow friend take the podium and celebrate their success. Today I was my turn.......Yep 3rd place in my age group and 7th age group male overall. I had a great day and really feel good about it. So yep, I feel that the year is off to a good start and I am feeling good about that. Sometime you just have to throw in the mix a little FUN and today was not just a little it was a whole bucket full.

Thanks for letting me go and have fun Anne,

Thanks for coming and cheering Wieck Family.

Boooo Yaaaaa

T

PS here are the stats.

TYLER WALTON
Swim 13:23.6 T1 0:48.4 Bike 44:42.0 Speed 20.1 T2 0:54 Run 23:47.8 Total 1:23:36.1

A good miss and a good workout

The last few months have been a challenge for me to string together a good set of workouts. I have been able to keep up on most but I have had a challenge trying to be on my game consistently. This week it happened, back to back good workouts and it looks like I have more to come.

It started by looking at my May calendar and seeing the distance shrink and the variety of what I like in workouts starting to appear. Tuesday I had a personal track workout with 16x400 as the main workout. I live 1.5 miles away from a good track and headed there in the morning. I felt good, decided to do the workout without my Ipod toed the line and started my first set. The pace was written at a 10K pace but I ended up missing and rolling in on my 5K pace. The same problem happened rep 2-4 so I decided to go keep the change and see what the last 4 would feel like. Each set I felt better and better, my mind became clearer and the stresses of the world left for awhile and I was able to focus on my workout and push myself. I remember this time last year that I was having the same challenges. Soon I was done with 12 and keeping myself within 3 seconds of my starting lap. I finished strong with the last 3 being the fastest on the day. I ran slow home and started the day feeling great with a good workout under my belt.

The very next day was TT for 2 hours, 1.5 sub R/P with 10 :30 pickups. BOOOO YAAAAA. I started from home and headed south. They finally paved the road over Daniels Park to Castle Rock so I headed that direction. I did my warm up and then settled down into my 1.5 hr effort at sub Race Pace. I climbed harder than normal, I pushed the downhills a little faster then I usually do and 40 minutes later I was at RT 85. I was going to do an out and back but missed on my timing so I took a left and headed to Chatfield. I was on flats, in arrow and pushing like it was race day plus a little. The time flew by, so did the morning traffic which was very cool to me this day. I keep interjecting my 30 seconds of pickups, some on the flats, some on the hills. I took a right on Highlands Ranch Pkwy and headed back through HR to home. I had a few good climbs to finish up the ride and did so with a good solid effort. I felt good mentally and was proud of the workout.

I love the spring when the weather is nice in the AM and you can get a good workout in before the day starts. For the second day in a row I was able to put work aside and concentrate on what I enjoy as my hobby and it felt great.

Tonight is a group run at Chatfield,

Love you Anne,

T

A few things!!!!

Me: Work has been very challenging the last few months and at the point that I thought that things would be smoothing out it changed and got harder. I enjoy working in the environment that I am in and have worked really hard at changing how I look at it "who moved my cheese". I have been a bit down and to this end I am making a change and should be feeling better really soon.

After the Rage I was home for a week while Anne and the kids went to see family and work on Liz's home. I realized the simple things that happen in a given week are what I miss the most when it is gone. I love my little Lexi and hanging out with her is one of my top 10 joys.

Some days it is important to know that you just have to wear shades. At Josh's birthday party Lexi keep it very cool.

Jackson worked very hard on his Pinewood derby car at the Blue and Gold banquet his car raced really well. He would take 2nd or 3rd most of the time and had a blast. I was working in LA that night and I am sad that I missed it but the photos and video made me feel better.

We decided to drive to Las Vegas to race in Mid April and the boys stayed with me most of the time and were great. They rocked out to music, video and playing the DS's together. These guy rock and were really fun to travel with. We rented a home and had a good time with all the parents and kids that stayed with us. The race was good and we had a good time.

I like racing but most of all I like racing with my Peeps. It was awesome to race with such a large group and most everyone had a good race. This is a picture of the big group doing recon the day before the race. Good job everyone.

While the big group did recon Michael Ford, John M and I took the kids to see Hoover Damn. We had a really good time. The kids were excited to see the huge damn since seeing it on the movie Transformers.

I am a pretty lucky guy to have what I do. I am not sure if I make that known enough so I thought that I would end with that. I love my family, I really love my family.

Love you Anne,

T

Rage in the Sage 70.3 race report

This last weekend in Las Vegas kicked of the 2009 triathlon season with a great opener. This is the start of my 3rd season in triathlon and I wanted to get is started with a 1/2 Ironman. Las Vegas was the stage and we had 14 Practical Coaching friends toe the line. The weather once we hit Nevada on Thursday tell we left on Sunday was sunny, hot and enjoyable. A few of us rented a home and we brought our family's. We piled into 4 cars and headed down in a caravan that stayed together.

On Friday we spent some time looking at the course, going to the Hoover Damn, Pasta and Chicken and oh yes the pool and hot tub for the kids were Fridays highlights.

Saturday morning I awoke after a really good sleep and loaded up on 2 eggs and some turkey sausage. I packed shot blocks, hammer gel, perpetuem in 2 bottles, salt tabs and put on my Garmin for the first time in a race.

I was able to get racked in a good spot and settled into race mode for the 20 minutes before I had to start. I was able to see Eric B for the first time in over a year and was pleased to see him racing along with his friends and family. This was also a first for Anne and I since she was racing this day as well.

Everyone that was doing the 70.3 started the same wave (this is not common when you have more than one event running in the same day). I positioned myself in the middle and took a deep breath as the first line took a dive into the 59 degree water. 1.2 miles of swimming was ahead of me and I was pretty jazzed and ready for the day. I did not realize that the water was going to be so cold and it took me more time then I anticipated for my face to get numb and allow my body to relax and get into a smooth flow. The swim was good, I keep a really calm pace and was proud of the effort that I was giving knowing that I had a very long day ahead of me on a very, very hard course. I approached the finish feeling really good and made my way to T1 to get ready for the bike. There was a good steady climb out of T1 to the road and by the time that I made it to the top I was excited to be on my bike and ready to push a good steady pace. I had my watch on and wanted to maintain a HR under 165 for the first half of the bike. The climbs were good and I was able to get into a really steady groove. The bike course was an out and back so 22 miles into the ride I was able to see the leaders starting to head back. As I approached the turn-a-round I saw Steve, Anthony, Nicole H, Keith and Sonja and was able to give smiles and cheers to each of them. The lift that I got from that seems to help me and I love to see friends on the course. On the return of the bike around mile 45 I stared to get sore in my back, knees and arms. I had some things done to my bike last week and did not get much time dialing the fit in and paid the price on the last 25% of the bike course. The last few miles to the end felt good and I was able to get focused on the run.
T2 was quick and I was out and ready to attach 13.1 mile of running on a very, very hard course. Miles 1.3-3.6 were all up hill and it was not easy. I picked a pace after settling down and was cheered on by Andrea finishing up her race. Just past mile 1 I started to climb and slowed down to keep my HR below 175. I kept checking it every 500 yards and was doing good. The last bit was hard and I decided to walk the last 200 yards of the climb. Once on top we had a smooth run through tunnels overlooking Lake Mead and it was very pretty. I believe that we went through 5 tunnels and with the weather so hot it was a great rest from the sun. At mile 6 I started to feel burned out and spent some time walking to give my body a rest, I may have pushed too hard on the day and was now paying a price for that error. The good thing about mile 9-11 was it was all down hill, the bad thing was I was pretty spent and it did not seem to make me feel any better or allow me to go faster. I wanted to finish the day strong and be able to stay out of the med tent so I continued to take things slow, (that means walking again) for mile 12. PC friend Michelle and Beth jumped in the Tahoe and found me at this point and received a very sad I am fine and leave me alone I need to get into the finish and be done with the day.
That time came and the last bit of the race I ran in feeling good. I had friends, family and spectators cheering me in. Jackson and Josh ran through the shoot along with Preston and Logan West with me and the race came to an end. 6:10+ for the day and I have to say I was pretty pleased with what I was able to get done. The human body can get so worn down on race day but my soul seems to get a charge. I was not first, closer to last in my age group but feel motivated to keep exercising, pushing and getting ready for the next race. I look back a few days later and I already miss the thrill of racing and can't wait for the rush to come again.


Anne did very well in her race. She did not put her face in the water during the swim and decided to take a slow swim but be very aggressive on the bike and run. I have been told that she looked great and did a super job. She liked the race and is excited to work on getting over the fear of open water this summer. I love the fact that she is joining me on the journey side by side. Jackson and Josh both told me how excited they are for their races this summer and so I have to end saying that I am a pretty lucky, and a very happy man.

Big BOOOO YAAAAA

Love you Anne,

T

Josh's first Blog post

Josh knows how to ride his bike. He even crashes sometimes. He likes to ride his bike. He likes his bike. Josh likes Dad and his family so much. My teddy bears are hugging me. I like my huggy bears. They like me. I hope we get a new house with a golf course and it will feel fun to be in our new house. I have fun with Lexi even sometimes she gets hurt and sometimes I get in trouble because I hurt Lexi. But I like my Dad so much. Mom helps me be a good person. I try to be a good person and Mom is a nice Mom because she helps me when I feel sad and I need help. Jackson is a good person, he keeps his room clean and he is nice to me becuase he sometimes plays with me. And he's really nice. And Daddy goes to work sometimes and he stays with us sometimes. I like Jackson, I like Dad, I like Mom, I like Me, I like Lexi, I like Grandma and Grandpa. They are the best people ever. I like Molly the dog, she is black. I will come to your house some time, it will feel fun to be with you Grandma, Grandpa, Molly, David. Andrew and Parker are coming here to night. I like them. They will have fun with me so much fun, fun, fun, fun Andrew and Parker. I like them.

By,

Josh