“This year I am trying to work on my speed which will hopefully translate into a faster Ironman. So far I think it is working!"

"This last weekend I was able to head down to Tucson Arizona for the launch of Tri Sports new mega store. 22,000 square feet of tri stuff and a huge endless pool. It was great to be apart of the big event. Friday night they had a casino night, and I was cleaning house in Blackjack. It was fun playing with fake money, you tend to bet it all and take risks. Some times it works and sometimes it doesn’t, but you aren’t really losing anything.

Saturday was the expo and the opening of the store with huge success. from 10am til 6pm the place was packed with people buying everything. It was good to see the store start out with a bang.

In conjunction with the opening there was a sprint race held at the University of Arizona. The swim was a pool swim (825 yrds), the bike 13 miles around the perimeter of the campus, and the run was 3.1 miles through the campus. It was a great start to the season to do a race that I could focus on some speed and try and get some of those first race cobwebs out. I had a descent swim and rode hard. It was different only going 13 miles, that usually is how long it takes me to warm up. I rode fast and broke a bike record that Jimmy Riccitello set years ago. Then i was off on the run, which I really wanted to see some improvement. I ran well in about 15:47 for the 5k. I finished the race in 50:52 breaking the overall course record set by ITU Triathlete Michael Smedley. It was a great day to see how things are going and I think the speed is coming around. I hope it will translate into my 1/2 Ironman and Ironman racing.