Kyle Leto Elite Triathlete

New Year, New Home, New Life

2012-01-09T21:54:00.000-08:00

The last few weeks I havefelt like a nomad. After a three week period that included moving,Christmas, New Years, and a little vacation in Colorado, I was very excited toget home and settle down. Although settlingin at home is a little different than it has been in the past because I amsettling into my parent’s house in San Jose. Living in a new place has different challenges to the routine that I hadfor myself when I was living in the East Bay area. I have to find new places to bike, run, andhopefully find a new team to swim with. I still plan on training at the OlympicClub in San Francisco and I am excited to be able to use more of the facilities there now that my focus is on training. (Definitely want to startchecking out the nap room…) I have tosay that the move to a new spot has had me pretty anxious. However, after getting out for a ride and runin the 70 degree weather today, I have become slightly less anxious. I am starting to get a grasp on what, where,and when I might be training and I am excited to prepare myself to competeat the best of my abilities. I hope thatthis finds you enjoying the New Year; I know that I am excited for 2012 and Ihope that you are as well.

Run...and then keep on running

2011-12-11T12:02:00.001-08:00

I have always had the philosophy that if you want to get better at a weakness, then you need to focus on that weakness. If you want to get faster swimming; you need to get in the pool and start swimming. My obvious weakness in triathlon is my run. So based on my training philosophy; I decided to immerse myself into running for a few weeks. I ended my season much earlier this year compared to last, mainly to focus on some running in preparation for the 2012 triathlon season. Focusing on running has also had the added benefits of not being forced to spend much time on the trainer and also decreasing the amount of hours per week I have spent training; which has been pretty helpful since I am still working...(3 weeks left!).
The past few weeks have been the first time in my triathlon career where I have really focused on my run. I have been doing (for me) a lot of miles and really trying to turn myself into more of a runner than I ever have been. The running block has been, for the most part, really fun. I have been able to discover some new running trails. I did a lot of running when I was in Colorado for Thanksgiving. It hasn't been all easy. Although the intensity of my running has been pretty low the miles definitely have started to pile up. I wake up every day knowing one thing is going to be constant; I'm going to run that day, most likely twice. My running block will continue until the end of December but I had my first true test this weekend and I have to say that I am pretty excited with the progress. I managed to run a new PR for a half marathon. It is encouraging to know that the work I have put in is paying off in some regard; especially because in a few weeks I think I am going to have to re-learn how to ride a bike.

Kyle Leto to Ride Williams Wheels

2011-11-21T10:55:00.001-08:00

Walnut Creek, CA, November 20, 2011: Kyle Leto Racing is excited to announce
a sponsorship agreement with Williams Cycling wheels and components. Williams Cycling is a direct to consumer wheel and component manufacturer. “I am very excited to be partnered with Williams. I know that I will have the best products available to help me achieve my goals in the sport of triathlon,” said Leto upon signing.

Kyle Leto had an outstanding 2011 season finishing top 10 nine times, most notably 5th place at Vineman 70.3 one of the fastest races in North America of the season.

“We see Kyle Leto as an up and coming young talent and a future star in the sport of triathlon. We’re thrilled to have Kyle representing the Williams brand , and look forward being part of his bright future,” stated Keith Williams, President and Founder of Williams Cycling.

For more information on Kyle Leto Racing and Williams Cycling visit http://www.kyleleto.com or http://www.williamscycling.com

To Be or Not to Be

2011-11-20T17:58:00.001-08:00

At the beginning of the 2011 season, I made a promise to myself that I would seriously consider what I wanted to do in the sport of triathlon by the end of the year. With that in mind, I figured I would either have a great year, decide to quit work, and do triathlon full time; or, I would potentially not have a great year and decide that I should still continue working and competing at the same time. Even with this decision looming, I didn't feel like I had any added pressure on myself because I was really alright with either of the outcomes. I just wanted to train hard, race hard, and figure it out as the year went on.

If you have been following my results/blog/facebook/twitter this past season you would probably think that I came to the conclusion to continue working my current job. I did not have what I would call a stand out year; but I did have some good results mixed it. I had to overcome some adverse situations such as penalties, flat tires, travel problems, nutritional problems; many things that are to be expected in this sport. Unfortunately, some of these problems occurred in races where I was having a great race, but didn't get the result that I thought I could have achieved. With that being said, my training in 2011 was significantly better than it had been in previous seasons, and I knew that I was getting faster. I did have a few races that I thought reflected my fitness and the one that I was most pleased with was finishing 5th at Vineman 70.3. After having a mixed year, I had a very difficult decision to make as to what I wanted to do with work and triathlon. After discussing the options with my family, coach, co-workers, and friends; I decided that I had a unique opportunity to try my hand at being a full time professional athlete.

I have received a lot of support from the most important people in my life regarding this decision and I am very excited to embark on this journey. I would be lying if I didn't say that I had any apprehension or that I am nervous about my new profession. However, I am extremely excited about my new future and I cannot thank my friends and family enough for their support.

You can follow my journey here on this blog and I will be making some exciting announcements for my 2012 season soon!

Tri California Triathlon at Alcatraz

2011-08-24T09:56:00.001-07:00

The Tri-California Triathlon at Alcatraz is one of my favorite races of the year. It is a very challenging and fun course to race on. This year, with my focus being on Hy-Vee, Alcatraz presented a good chance for me to race at the end of what has been one of my best training blocks in my short career as a triathlete. My training up to this point has been right on track and I was very excited to see what I could get out of my body on race day.

As we filed out onto the side of the ferry boat I started to realize that water was suddenly a lot choppier than I had ever seen before; although this was just my 4^th time swimming from Alcatraz. Believing in my swim strength I thought that this could only help me in achieving my goal of moving up one spot from last year’s 2^nd place finish and winning this race. That optimism changed about 5 minutes into the swim when I somehow managed to loose the lead pack and end up on an entirely different route in the bay by myself. I decided that I would stay my course because I believed that it was more of a direct line to the swim finish and if I had any chance of catching that lead group of swimmers it would be to take a shorter line than the curve that they were taking. I still don’t know if this was the best decision but I ended up exciting the water about 3:30 down on the lead group. This was very unfamiliar territory for me and from there I went into panic mode.

Exiting T1 I had a choice; either ride as hard as I could and try to make up as much time as

possible on the bike and go for the win, or play it more conservative on the bike and go for a podium position. I really wanted to win this race and I decided that I would go for it on the bike and put myself in the best position to win. I felt really good on the early steep climbs and knew that I had to be making up time. When I reached the first turn around point I saw my competitors heading in the other direction and realized that I had made up a good chunk of time. However, that came at a cost because I was unable to keep up that pace and made up less time over the second half of the bike. Exiting T2 I was in 5^th place and 1:50 down from the lead.

My legs were a little more wobbly than usual after the huge bike effort and I struggled to find my pace early in the run. After getting my legs back after the first mile and a half I reached the hilly part of the run course thinking that I could still run myself into a podium position. I attacked the course with what I had left and unfortunately came up short in the end. I finished in 5^th place overall but ended up only about 30 seconds back from a podium spot.

With my goal of winning this race a 5^th place was disappointing. However, with my preparation for Hy-Vee I was very happy with my effort for this race. I had a swim that put me out of contention but I gave the course everything that I had that day. I am excited to finally get some rest and sharpen up before what will be the biggest race of the year.

MIM, Escape from Alcatraz, Boise 70.3, and more

2011-06-22T13:19:00.001-07:00

It has been awhile since my last post and that has mainly been because of a continuously (and somehow getting worse) crazy schedule and also some challenging times as an athlete. Since my last post I have competed at the Memphis in May Triathlon (7th place)(also shout out to my amazing home stay Jeff Fejfar), The Escape from Alcatraz Triathlon (10th), and Boise 70.3 (not worth mentioning...except 1st out of the water).

What has been progressively challenging so far this year is the amount of racing that I have attempted this spring with my work and training schedule. I think that I underestimated how difficult it would be to fly across the country, race, fly home the same day, work the next morning, and then repeat that for 3 months while trying to train and maintain fitness in between. This spring has been a good learning experience, albeit of what not to do, but an experience nonetheless. When I put my racing schedule together back in the winter I had the goal of racing a lot during the spring, qualifying for Hy-Vee and 70.3 world championships, and then being able to take a break during the summer to train for those events. However, after some uncontrollable events (flats/cancelled swims) and some poor racing performances on my behalf, I am in a situation where I have raced (and worked) myself into a state of physical and mental exhaustion and have not qualified for those races.

After having a very poor and flat performance in Boise I decided that I needed to take a quick mental break and re asses what I was going to do with this season. I realized that I did have some good early season races coming off what was a great winter of training. It was really the second half of my 3 month spring racing season that took a dismal turn. I am going to spend some time just training (and of course working) and cut back on the amount of racing that I plan on for the rest of the season. I still think that I can qualify for some of my goal races but I am not going to sacrifice training and kill myself to get to those races. So until now its just training and trying to learn this crazy life of being a (for now) pseudo-professional triathlete

St. Anthony's and Beyond

2011-05-05T10:40:00.000-07:00

I had pretty high expectations for myself going into the race at St. Anthony's last weekend. I had raced well in my two previous races which were half ironmans, I had done well at MIT, and this race had the largest point total for the 5150 series. (Because of the high point total this race did end up being one of the most stacked fields ever for a non-drafting olympic distance race). I knew that a strong finish here could set me up for Hy-Vee qualification.

Unfortunately, I somehow managed to hurt my back on Thursday morning before the race. I'm still not exactly sure what happened, (nor does my back feel right), but I was about half way into a ride when my back started to tighten up. By the end of the ride I couldn't stand up straight. I had a couple of massages and some ART therapy in the two days prior to the race and my back started to feel a little better. However, the familiar tightness came back again when I was trying to transition from bike to run. I was able to hobble through the first few miles of the run but by the time I was able to run again I had given up a lot of spots. I actually felt really strong at the end of the run, possibly because I wasn't able to push myself early, and I ended up finishing 16th. Which was not what I was expecting or planning on; but with the hurt back and shortened swim I will take the 100 points for Hy-Vee. Hopefully I can get my back figured out, get a little training, and perform the way that I know I am capable of in Memphis. (assuming its still happening with all the flooding that is going on right now).

After this race I was very open about my frustration and disappointment. It has been a tough year for me in racing so far. I have had a few results that have not been indicative of where I believe I can perform and it was really starting to wear on me. Even with the troubles I have ad so far this year, I realized that triathlon is what I want to do with my life right now. After the race, I was sitting in my homestay's hot tub (after taking and ice bath), I noticed that in my short time as a triathlete I have met so many amazing people that all share the common bond of being involved in triathlon. I truly enjoy training, competing, racing, coaching, and being immersed in this sport. I am extremely excited about the opportunities that are ahead of me and look forward to being able devote myself to something that I truly love.

Oceanside 70.3/New Orleans 70.3

2011-04-25T13:59:00.001-07:00

"You don't need good luck...you just don't need bad luck" -Sherpa

This was told to me by my friend Sherpa from Davis Wheelworks after my last race in New Orleans. It is something that has helped to continue to motivate me through what has been two of the most difficult races I have faced in my young triathlon career.

My 70.3 world championships qualifying season started with Oceanside 70.3 I was extremely excited to race this event after doing very well there last year in what was my first ever half ironman distance race. I felt very prepared to have a better result than I did in 2010 and was looking forward to doing my first half ironman of the season; and get some 70.3 points in the process. I won't necessarily go into too many details about this race but I ended up getting 2oth place after a flat tire took me out of the lead group of cyclists at mile 40. One good thing I can take away from this race; my half marathon split ranked in the top 10...I might be learning how to run after all!

My second 70.3 of the season was scheduled to be New Orleans 70.3. While I raced in New Orleans I didn't exactly do a 70.3. My second run of "bad luck" in a row resulted in a canceled swim the morning of the race.

(I will go on a short rant here because I truly believe that canceling a swim in the conditions that were present on race day morning for the professional field was extremely unprofessional by the race organization. As a professional athlete I have swam in some pretty bad swimming conditions and the wind created chop that was present on the lake race day morning would not have even ranked in the top 5 of my hardest swimming conditions. Many professional triathletes are competing as their means to make a living, some are competing for valuable points (myself included), and to not be prepared to host a swim in those conditions is embarrassing for the organization)...end rant

I went through a wide spectrum of emotions on race day morning in New Orleans. After talking with my coach we decided not to race, then we decided to do the race but as a planned workout with intervals, and then after passing some athletes while warming up on the bike for the first 10 miles I decided I should probably just race it. I ended up finishing 10th overall with the 6th fastest bike split and another top 10 run split. (I still think it would have been a much different race if there was a swim...especially with that obviously being my strongest leg)

I know that "bad luck" can happen in races. There are things in the sport of triathlon that are going to continue to occur that are completely out of my control. I am happy with how I was able to deal with some of these new challenges and hopefully I can take away the valuable experiences. In what I hope to be a long career as a professional triathlete I can be guarantee that this will not be my only run of obstacles...Bring on St. Anthony's!!!

Miami International Triathlon

2011-03-28T14:42:00.001-07:00

Last weekend I competed in the Miami International Triathlon which marked the beginning of my 2011 triathlon season. It was also the first race of the new 5150 series race and therefore an important race to start earning points in order to qualify for the Championship race at Hy-Vee in September. This year my focus will be on Hy-Vee and the 70.3 World Championships in Las Vegas also in September.

This was the first time that I have competed at MIT and I was very excited to get my first race of the season underway against a very strong field. The first race of the year has an added unknown element to it in the fact that you aren't exactly sure how your training will pay off in a race. I have put in a lot of time and hard work this winter to make some improvement as a triathlete with the goal of being more competitive overall in races. I was happy to see that although I have much to improve upon throughout the course of the year; the work that I have done over the past few months did translate into being a better athlete.

Now for some race details...
The start of the swim for this race was a deep water start; which I typically prefer. However, there weren't any start buoys to keep us contained in a certain area so by the time the gun went off the field was stretched about 50 meters across which actually resulted in a very enjoyable calm start to the race for me. Because the field was so spread out I had time to move to the front of the pack without having to jostle for position and by the time we hit the first turn buoy I was sitting comfortable in the top 5. I was comfortable sitting in the front and I was able to see that I was in good company and was right next to fellow Blue 70 athletes Cameron Dye and Ben Collins. I figured that if the 3 of us were together it was unlikely that I would have to worry about anyone else being up ahead. (After talking to Cam after the race it was a surprise to both of us then that John Kenny was actually about 20 seconds ahead of us the whole time and we had no idea).

I survived the run to transition and after getting through transition (a little faster than usual I might add without having to put on sunglasses with my new helmet visor from Davis Wheelworks) I was in the front of the race. However, I now have a new project for Wheelworks because 1km in the bike segment I lost my water bottle which left me without any nutrition for the entire race. (Need to figure out a solution to that before Oceanside). The bike course was flat and fast except for hitting a pretty solid headwind going across the one causeway. I stayed at the front of the bike and was working hard in the beginning to try to string out the field and eventually somehow managed to get away for a little while. However, at about 30k into the bike I started to feel the lack of nutrition/water and wasn't able to maintain the same intensity. At about this point Cameron Dye went by me and about 5km from the finish of the bike Chris Lieto came flying by. I figured since it took Chris that long to catch me that there was a good chance I would have a slight lead over the majority of the field going into the run.

Now if you have been reading any of my blogs throughout the winter you will know that for the first time in my career I have put a huge emphasis on my run. So the run for this race was truly the first test to see where my run fitness was...especially after a hard bike. I did gain a lot of confidence in my run throughout the winter but I will admit I was still had the same fears/expectations that I would immediately get caught after completing the bike. I haven't many other experiences other than that in my short pro career to expect anything other than that.

Back to the race...I exited transition probably 30 seconds behind Lieto and Dye and even with Collins. Collins bridged up to Lieto and Dye almost immediately and I was content to stay with my pace. I still wasn't sure how the lack of nutrition was going to effect me and I also figured that the 3 guys ahead of me weren't going to maintain their current pace. I thought I might be able to bring them back over the course of the whole 10k as long as I didn't blow myself up in the first 2k. I fell into a good sustainable rhythm over the first half of the race and 5k in I was running in 5th. (Matt Charbot, the overall winner, had passed me at this point). I was feeling good with my pace but not with my overall position and I wanted to bridge up to the original 3 guys that were leading the run as they were still running in a group. I dropped my pace down and started to bring them back over the course of the next two miles. I got within striking distance of the group but the effort that it took to bring the time back on the group took its toll on me and I actually ended up loosing time over the last mile.

I finished the race in 6th place overall. The last money spot but more importantly I scored a decent amount of points for Hy-Vee qualification. I will need to improve upon that finish to qualify for the race but overall I was very happy with my first race of the season. With the help of Trent Richardson ( coachtrent.blogspot.com ) I have been able to get my swim back and felt comfortable in the front pack of the swim. Although my bike training took a hit this winter with my run focus I was very pleased to see that I could still hammer out a 40k and be competitive. I ran a 1ok PR of 32:55 and although the run is still a big weakness of mine it is improving.

I also want to thank Cobi and Hector at IRun Company ( http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/IRunCompany/177105198966712 ) ( http://www.yelp.com/biz/irun-running-and-walking-specialist-store-miami-2 ) for taking care of me while I was in Miami. They are great guys, have a fantastic running store, and are very knowledgeable about tri and running apparel.

On Saturday I will be doing my first 70.3 race of the year in Oceanside, CA. I am extremely excited to race here again after having such a great time in my first half ironman here last year.

Treeathlon

2011-02-28T12:56:00.000-08:00

First off I would like to congratulate my friend and training partner Andrew Bauer on his win yesterday in the Stanford treeathlon (changed from triathlon to duathlon). We both competed in the race on a very cold morning and I was actually happy that there wasn't a swim. For one reason because it was freezing and the other because I was doing the race to get in some hard, fast work and I knew that taking out the swim would eliminate my strongest leg and thus making the race that much harder for me. My goal before this race was to race on very tired legs and I definitely was able to accomplish this goal with having one of my best two week training blocks of the season. (Short Colorado vacation must have done me well).

The format for the race was a 2km run, 20km bike, and 5km run. I was probably most worried about that first 2km run because of the lack of speed work that I have been doing with my training. I have been doing a lot of base miles and longer runs as I am preparing for some half ironman racing so I knew that a 2km run to start out the race would be pretty painful. I also knew that with Andrew in the race that he was going to tear up that first leg. As I had predicted before the race, this happened and I found myself basically sprinting to try to limit the amount of time I knew I would loose.

Luckily that first leg was only a 2k and even though I was slightly behind it didn't take very long to work my way to the front of the race on the bike (while managing to loose my only water bottle on a pothole...glad it was only a 2okm bike). I pushed the bike as hard as I could weaving my way around other racers on the 3 looped course while there was, in my opinion, a substantial amount of drafting going on behind me and off of me. I kept a good rhythm on the bike and went into T2 first (with that pack of riders right behind me).

Out of T2 there was a small group of 4 and we started out with a pretty blistering pace by my standards and the group started to spread itself out. As we slowly spread out we ended up running about 10 seconds apart from each other and no one could gain any time. I tried to put in a few surges to close the gap but every time I started to make up some ground I would slowly loose it again and fall right into that 10 second gap and that is exactly how we finished...Andrew about 20 seconds ahead of me and Noah Beyeler from Cal 10 seconds ahead.

While I was a little disappointed to not have been able to defend my title at this small race, I was happy with the effort that I put out. I had two decent run legs and a strong bike on tired legs and I am starting to learn how to maintain my run pace while my legs are tired. Through years of swimming I knew how to pace a mile. I could hit the 1000 yard mark and feel like I couldn't go on, yet I could still manage to close out the race at a faster pace than I started. I am nowhere near this for running but I am starting to have a better understanding of the feeling and I think that is one of the most exciting things that has happened this off season for me. I think that I will be able to get so much more out of my body in a race...specifically on the run.

This race marks the end of my base/off season/non racing season and from this point on I will really start to gear up for the triathlon racing season. I am very happy with what I was able to accomplish over the past few months and I have a lot of people to thank for that. I have mentioned some of these names before but they are worth mentioning again...Marlia at athleticamps.com for giving me nutritional guidance (I have lost some of that "swimmer weight" finally) My coach John Hansen, also at athleticamps.com, who has really put together a great plan for me and I just hope that I can race up to my potential. My friend/roommate/swim coach Trent Richardson (http://coachtrent.blogspot.com/) who has really helped my swimming over the past few weeks with an ass kicking swim training plan. I look forward to some hard training and also my first real race of the year in Miami in 3 weeks. Its going to be an exciting 2011.

Intro to 2011

2011-01-26T20:20:00.000-08:00

It has been a long time since I have made a post and over the past few weeks I have gotten in some great training. After Clearwater I started my season by taking my first break as a triathlete. Finally gave my body some time to recover after over a year of training and racing. I thoroughly enjoyed the break and took full advantage of not training. Starting in December I slowly started to begin my training and I was starting my season with something I have never done as a triathlete...base training and also focusing on my run. I have to say that the training has been going great and for the first time in my life I actually feel good on the run. I won my first one race at the angle island 16km trail race and just recently I finished 2nd at a 10mile run race in San Francisco.

Another new thing for me this year has been nutrition guidance that I have been receiving from Marlea at athleticamps.com. She has been a great resource to me and has helped me in ways that I cannot begin to explain. For the first time in my young career I feel like I have a team behind for this year. Between my coach, John Hansen, Marlea with nutrition, Dr. Gutierrez and Mckenzie at Inner-actionchiro.com keeping me healthy, and the cooperation from my work, I am getting lots of support this year to achieve my goals. I am excited to take care of the work on my end and have a great year.

I am also very excited to be partnered with some great companies again for next year. I will be wearing the fastest wetsuits on the planet with Blue 70 wetsuits, protecting my eyes and head with Rudy Project, I will be racing in the great suits made by Kiwami, and racing on some of the fastest bikes from Fuji Bikes. I will also be using technical swimming gear from Finis (finisinc.com) (check out the new swim sense). I will also be fueling up and following my nutrition plan with products from Powerbar.

Clearwater

2010-11-22T16:10:00.000-08:00

I finally had my last race of the season and it concluded with my 3rd half ironman and my first World Championships. I raced last weekend in Clearwater, Florida for the 70.3 World Championships. This was the only race of the season that I felt I truly rested for and I think that I actually was able to hit my taper. I went into the race feeling great and for the first time during the season truly fresh.
As I mentioned this was my first World Championship and the atmosphere was pretty incredible. There just seemed to be so much anticipation for the race. I was staying a little ways away from the race which had its limitations and also some benefits. It made getting to the race site every day before the race a little more difficult but then again I was able to rest and be away from all the excitement. Thankfully my dad went to the race with me and that made the logistics a lot easier so I didn't really have to think about that. By the time race morning came around I felt calm and confident in my preparation.
My race plan was to be the first person out of the water. Stay at the front of the race but not be the one leading the whole time (failed at this) and then have a strong half marathon because that is what I had been focusing a lot of my training on. I succeeded in being first out of the water but I failed at not leading the bike. Based on the way the race was last year I knew it was important to be at the front but to not actually lead. Because the bike course is so flat there are many opportunities to "legally" draft (and for that matter illegally draft). Because of that, being the first person in the chain of cyclists would take much more energy than being in the middle of it. For some reason I abandoned this race strategy and led the bike through about 40 miles. At this point I sort of realized that I needed to run still and backed off and just hung out in the pack. (this is where it was made obvious to me how much easier it was to actually just hang out in the pack than lead the race...learning experience.)
I got into the run and my legs felt very heavy but I was running at a good pace. Unfortunately this only lasted for a few miles and by 3 or 4 miles in I started to really struggle. I spent the majority of the middle part of the race slowly loosing time off of my pace and started to really loose my mental focus. I had high expectations of having a really good run because I was training so well and it was obvious to me that I wasn't running anywhere near my pace. That was until on the second lap when an age grouper came up by me (he was on his first lap of the run) and he flat out told me to run with him. With someone there to motivate me I quickly got back into a better pace and finished the last 2 or 3 miles much stronger. Overall I was happy with the whole experience and by the end I was happy with my effort. I'll take what I learned and I am excited to race the course in Las Vegas next year.
I am happy to have my season finally over. This was my first full season as a professional and I gained a lot of experience while staying competitive in some tough races. I look forward to a much needed short break and to start working on a true breakout year in 2011.

Dog Days

2010-11-04T21:34:00.001-07:00

When I was swimming at Davis our coach called our winter training dog days. It was the time of the year for a week and a half before Christmas and a week and a half after Christmas that we trained 2 sometimes 3 times a day, basically with no other teams in Davis and all of our friends on winter vacation, and with terrible weather (one year the wind was rain was so bad that signs at the pool were being ripped off, there were legitimate waves in the pool, and the entire town lost power except for the campus which had its own power source which meant we could still train.) It was our last big push of training before we started our dual meet season and it was something we all hated but loved at the same time because we knew that the work we did during that time period would carry us to conference.

The past 3 weeks for me have been somewhat similar except that for the most part the weather has been a lot better and unfortunately I had to do all of my training by myself. Doing that much hard training solo really started to wear on me and for awhile it was hard for me to see the end. I just tried to take it one day at a time and the one motivating factor was that I knew I would be prepared to race at the end of this block. (I was also excited for the ensuing break from training that would follow my last race.) When my coach first gave me my schedule for this block I laughed because I really didn’t think I would be able to do the workouts. He told me I could and just told me try them and see what would happen. I did and each key workout was better and better even though I was in a very exhausted state. After the first week and a half without a day off and doing some of the hardest workouts I have ever done I was in a place that I had only felt during the dog days of swimming. (Except unlike swimming when I could nap and recover between workouts I had the enjoyment of working all day every day) My last days of this block were over the weekend and I am proud of the effort that I was able to put forth the past few weeks. I can only rest now and race the way I trained. I am looking forward to the end of my first full professional season and I am also already excited for the work ahead to start preparing for the 2011 season but not until after a much needed break.

Late Dallas Race Recap

2010-11-04T20:57:00.000-07:00

My last Olympic distance race of the year was at the US Open in Dallas (actually Rockwall) Texas. This was my 3^rd race in a row and I was not sure exactly how my body would react because I have never raced 3 triathlons in a row but I was feeling pretty good going into the race. I was trying to balance my recovery with staying in enough shape to prepare for Clearwater.

After our pre race meeting on Friday we were treated to an amazing dinner provided by the host hotel. While we were waiting for the room to be ready for our dinner we saw a bridal party and we just assumed that the room that we thought our dinner was in was for the wedding. It was pretty amazing and I took full advantage of the fact that it was all you can eat. After that I was ready to race. I was also actually really excited to watch Kona the next day and at this point was thinking more about that race than my own. Sitting in my hotel room for hours watching that after my morning ride was a perfect way to relax. On the course ride that morning I went out with a large group of athletes and we rode the bike course and run course. The run course was a lot hillier than we all had expected and we were treated with a hill right out of transition but overall both courses looked like they would be fast. The one issue we were all concerned about was the fact that there was only one lane on the bike course. With the stagger rule for non-drafting races we were concerned that 1) it would be hard to pass and 2) that there could be some “accidental” drafting going on. (With the way my race went I did not have to worry about either of these…)

Race day morning I was excited to race against another strong field for the 3^rd week in a row and I was also excited for my last Olympic distance race. I had a pretty good race in LA the weekend before (specifically a good bike) and I was hoping that a similar swim and bike could set me up in a really good position. That didn’t exactly happen. If I could have split my race into a half of each distance I think I would have had a great race. I had a good first half of the swim and was sitting right were I needed to be about 3^rd or 4^th in the front of the pack. Then for some reason when we turned toward the shore with about 500meters left I started falling back. Not exactly sure what happened but those last 500meters ended up putting me at the back of the front pack on the swim which with a slow transition put me behind a group of about 5 on the bike…(that was the group that I knew I needed to be in for my race to go as planned). I did all I could at the beginning of the bike to try to get on the back of that pack but just could not find my cycling legs and ended up by myself for the first 15miles of the bike until I was joined by Greg Bennett. At that point I started to get into an actual rhythm we stayed together into T2 but I was already a lot further behind going into the run than I had wanted to be from the main group. The run followed a similar pattern as the swim and bike and I had a decent second half of the run but really struggled to find my pace in the beginning of the run. This lead to me being passed by I believe 2 guys on the run and I only managed a 10^th place finish.

My goal for the race was to finish in the top and by finishing 10^th I achieved that goal. However, I believe that if I was able to race the way that I had in LA and also race the way I had been training leading up to the race that I would have been able to be much more competitive. I am excited to get in a strong training block and prepare for my last race of the season at Clearwater.

Kaiser Permanente Los Angeles Triathlon

2010-10-12T10:43:00.000-07:00

Two weeks ago I raced the Kaiser Permanente Los Angeles Triathlon on October 3rd. This was a weekend after my race in Alabama and my second ever Lifetime Fitness Race to the Toyota Cup race. I drove down with my friend, training partner, and now eligible new pro Andrew Bauer the Friday before the race and somehow managed to make it through LA without hitting traffic (probably the first and last time this will ever happen for me). The race was on Sunday so we spent Saturday morning out where the swim was going to be at the beach because we wanted to see if there was any swell and to practice our run/swim out in the waves and also our swim/run out of the waves. With Andrew being from Michigan this was the first time I think he had gone for a swim in the ocean and I do have to say it was pretty funny watching him go through the waves for the first time. (To his credit it didn't take long for him to get good at it). There were a few sets that came in sporadically so we knew that the difficulty of the waves would really just depend on what the ocean was doing when the gun went off. After Nationals I was pretty excited to redeem myself with some good races and I woke up race day morning really excited to get out to race. This field was the strongest field that I had faced at a race and I was ready to see how I could race with them. (There were 5 Olympians in the field including the current World Champion). When the gun went off for the swim there really weren't any waves so it was relatively easy getting out to the first buoy. I found myself sitting in 3rd for most of the swim behind Cameron Dye and Javier Gomez and was happy to just hang out there knowing I wouldn't be able to push the pace any faster. The interesting part of the swim came about right after we made our right hand turn to head towards the beach...for those of you that have been in the ocean before when a wave is starting to form it starts sucking water back towards it. So if you are swimming right in front of a forming wave you will typically have the feeling as if you are being pulled backwards. Unfortunately I was in this position when the not a huge wave but definitely the largest we had seen so far that day was forming. I was in the position where I was too far in front of the wave to actually catch it and in the perfect spot for it to land right on top of me. As soon as the wave hit me I started flipping and tried to use some of the wave for any sort of forward momentum (this is also the point where the guys who caught the wave were able to ride it way past where I was). After I was able to get myself out of the water I had lost contact to Cameron Dye, Docherty, and Gomez and I was with Matty Reed and Andrew Starykowicz. I knew that Andrew would be pushing the pace on the bike and did my best to hang with him at the beginning of the ride but he quickly dropped me. At this point I was by myself and knew that the guys ahead of me would be hammering it so I did my best to really work the bike and I was feeling pretty good. (especially after I paced Gomez who would then later run by me so fast it made me wonder if I was actually walking instead of running.) At the turn around on the bike I saw that I was in 4th and saw the quality of guys behind me and just continued to ride as hard as I could to see what would happen. I ended up coming off the bike in 4th but was quickly passed my Greg Bennett as soon as I got onto the run. After the hard bike my legs felt really heavy and the steep hill that we had to run twice didn't help. I ended up having a pretty slow run and fell to 8th which I was happy about because of the quality of the field but also pretty disappointed about because it was one spot out of the money. Overall I was glad that I was able to follow up Nationals with a good solid effort. This was also the first race in which I feel the work I have done on the bike actually paid off. I still have the very obvious weakness in a my run but that will continue to be a work in progress. I have one Olympic race left for the season and that is next weekend at the US Open Triathlon in Dallas.

Elite Nationals

2010-09-27T20:09:00.001-07:00

I had a very different perspective leading up to nationals this year. Last year it was definitely my big race of the year. Because it was the US National Championships I still was very prepared for this race but my focus has been more towards non drafting races and Clearwater. I was much more relaxed for the race and I had a plan that I knew I wanted to try to execute. I wanted to be aggressive over the course of the entire race. This field was a very strong field with a lot of strong swimmers. Going into the race I figured there would be a large group out of the water and I wanted to be aggressive on the bike to try to set up my run. I would rather race for a very high position than race for a mediocre one and I knew that the combination of the athletes that were competing, my developing run, and the heat and humidity; that I would need to do something on the bike. This was the game plan that I had going into the race and although I did pretty much try this it didn't really work out at all.
Race Day: It was no secret that the weather in Tuscaloosa for nationals was going to be hot. I had heard rumors that the water temperature was reaching up to 88 degrees (lucky for us it was only 84 degrees...just about 6 degrees warmer than I would race in a pool). I haven't heard anything about the actual temperature on the day but it was just flat out awful. I had a terrible start to the swim. For some reason didn't get off the dock very well and had to swim through a group of people just to make it to the back of the front pack. At that point I was just getting mauled. It was probably the slowest I have swam in a race and also the hardest at the same time. Getting on the bike it was quickly apparent that there was going to be one big group of about 20-25. We cruised around for a lap or so and with the heat it was almost hard to breath. I just tried to drink as much as I could. I went on a couple of short attacks to no avail early and I was starting to think that being aggressive might not be a good idea. At the beginning of lap 5 I somehow managed a little separation without really making a move and with that I decided I would really accelerate and see what could happen. I was by myself till the top of the hill and then was joined by 3 other guys. (Charbot, Fretta, and I was not sure of the third) We didn't stay away for very long and by the 6th lap we were one group again. By this point I was starting to regret being aggressive early and was just boiling. By the final lap and I got dropped at the top of the hill...threw up...and then decided I might not even try to run. I did eventually make it to the run and with the help of my parents and friends cheering me on I knew I couldn't give up and gave what little I had left on the run which mainly consisted of putting one foot in front of the other. I am glad that I was able to finish the race and I am still glad that I took some chances on the bike. I want to continue to race aggressively and I am still learning so much about draft legal races. I do however look forward to the next two weeks where I will be racing in non-drafting Olympics at LA and Dallas.

Yosemite

2010-09-27T10:19:00.000-07:00

So this was my first real vacation of the year. Of course I would take a vacation where I hike over 40 miles in 3 days but it was well worth it. Yosemite is probably my favorite place that I have ever been too. I have spent so many trips here camping with my family or going on backpacking trips with my dad and brother. I had been wanting to take some of my friends that had never been there to this amazing place. We had a trip planned that had 3 long day hikes over 3 days. Our first was probably the most epic of the 3. We decided that we could drive to Yosemite, pack up camp, and hike to the top of Cloud’s Rest all in the same day. Although we did accomplish this we did spend more time than I would have liked hiking in the dark. Seeing the sunset from Cloud’s Rest might have been worth it…I haven’t decided yet. The hike to Cloud’s Rest I thought was 10 miles round trip. It ended up being 15 and you hike up 2500 feet and down 2500 feet. An ambitious hike for starting at 3:00pm. We set a fast pace and our group quickly split into the group that was determined to make it to the top regardless of time and the group that was sane. We made it to the top and seeing the faces of my friends that had never been to something like that was priceless. I now know what it must have been like for my dad when my jaw dropped the first time I saw that view. From Cloud’s Rest you look down Half Dome and you can see the entirety of Yosemite Valley. On all the sides around you can see the vast wilderness and granite peaks. The sun went down on our hike back and I was pretty surprised how quickly it went from being sunset to dusk to complete darkness. At this point I was really happy that I had packed a few headlamps in my day back and it was actually not a bad hike in the dark. Eerily peaceful I would say. That was until Heidi and I decided that we were walking faster than the other 3 in our group and we decided to go up ahead and get the car and drive it closer for the other guys. About 5 minutes after Heidi said how safe she felt even though we were in complete darkness, I was trying to make sure we were going the right way at a trail junction she sees what we are very sure was a mountain lion. I had seen eyes in the darkness following us the whole time but was hoping that it was a deer or even a bear. Bears are much more afraid of humans than a mountain lion. At this point we pretty much just screamed at it and tried to make ourselves look big. That didn’t really bother the mountain lion who just stayed where it was which happened to be right on the trail that we were tying to go on. At this point we decided it would be a good idea to head back up the trail to rejoin our group because a group of 5 is much more intimidating than a group of 2. (especially when one member of the group is 6’9). At no point did the mountain lion seem like it was going to attack us or anything it was more watching us but that was a very terrifying moment. We successfully made it back to camp and were able to enjoy the next two days of our trip which included a hike to a lake with a gorgeous meadow where there was a wildfire pretty close to us (we might have ignored the signs), and a trip to the top of Yosemite Falls. For some photos check out my brother’s and Trent’s facebook page…

http://www.facebook.com/#!/album.php?aid=65681&id=1130580001&page=2

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=715810215&ref=ts#!/album.php?aid=196115&id=715810215

World University Games

2010-09-27T10:05:00.001-07:00

I had the honor of being chosen to represent the United States at the World University Games in Valencia, Spain. This would be my first trip to Europe and although I was only going for a few days I was extremely excited to go to Spain. My brother spent a semester abroad in Barcelona so after hearing stories from him about Spain I couldn’t wait to be there myself. The trip over was really long but pretty uneventful. I had the advice to not sleep when I arrived in Spain regardless of how tired I was which worked out well. When we arrived we had to go through the process of getting badges for the race. This turned out to be an ongoing problem for our team and our coach Steve Kelly took it all in stride. We didn’t get to see much of him during the trip mainly because he was dealing with making sure we were all credentialed (the ITU makes everything easy right?). The hotel that we stayed in was basically an apartment. We had a few rooms, a kitchen (which Dustin McClarty, Chris Stehula, and I used to make amazing breakfasts), and an amazing ocean view. Chris had arrived to Valencia a day before the rest of us and he had toured the city around on his bike. I had really wanted to see some sights while I was there and Chris took Dustin and I out on our bikes and we rode around the city of Valencia for a few hours. It was pretty surreal riding around on our bikes with race wheels through the streets of Valencia and this was probably the highlight of my trip. The architecture is amazing and there are two very different parts of the city. The very old part with cathedrals and old beautiful buildings and then a really modern part of the city where they have museums and such. We would visit this area again for the post race and to this day is definitely the coolest place I have every partied in. More on that to come. Our race was in the middle of the day and happened to be on the hottest day. The days leading up to the race were very mild and not humid. That quickly changed on the race day. I do not typically do well in heat so I was less than thrilled about our mid day start time. That and the fact that the water temperature was I believe 70 and they made it wetsuit legal (not sure how that fits in the rules). So the course had a really long run out into the water and we did that twice and then also had about a half mile run to the transition area. So with all the running in the swimming we all came out in one large pack. We had talked about race strategy as a team before this race. We had decided that we were in a unique opportunity to represent the USA as a team, something that is not typically done in triathlon. Our best runner, Greg Billington, had a good swim and was in the large bike pack that game out of transition. We thought that with our swimming background Dustin and I would be off the front out of the water and we would hammer the bike to try to go into the run with a lead but since this didn’t work out we were there to work for Greg. I wanted to make sure that the bike pack stayed together so that Greg would have the best chance to outrun everyone. I basically just sat at the front of the pack and chased down any breaks. It was pretty fun doing this and I was getting yelled at by other competitors who were trying to work as a team to make a break on the bike. All in good fun, except that while I was doing this I forgot to eat and drink on the bike. A mistake that would later destroy me on the run. The bike group came into T2 all in one piece and we were off on the run. I completely blew up on the run from my lack of hydration and the effort I was putting in on the bike but Greg was able to run his way to a 5^th place finish. It was really fun to be part of a team in a race and was something that I had not been able to do before. After the race we immediately went to a beachfront restaurant for some Spanish beer to celebrate the race (and also Greg’s 21^st birthday). The post race awards were a the really modern part of the city and it was really fun to celebrate the games with all the other competitors from all over the world. I was truly honored to be picked for this team and has definitely been one of the most memorable trips of my life.

Long time without posting

2010-09-27T10:04:00.000-07:00

So I haven’t written a blog for awhile and I thought I would start up on this again. Sometimes work, training, and life seem to be pretty consuming and I just forget about certain things. A lot has happened since my last post and at the same time it is more of the same. Lots of training and work. (I try to throw in some fun when I can for example my trip to Yosemite) But first a recap of the last few races I didn’t write about. I raced at the Silicon Valley Triathlon and was able to come away with 1^st overall. I then raced at the ITU race on Treasure Island in San Francisco. At this race I found out that if you are given a penalty and don’t take it they don’t add 15 seconds at the end of your race. They just disqualify you. I was a little frustrated with this because they did not have a clear penalty board with who had penalties or anything and they never told me I had one. I had seen the penalty board while in Spain and there it was very obvious if you had a penalty or not. In SF not so much. This was an unfortunate learning experience as I had finished 8^th at this race and it would have been nice to get some ITU points since I am not doing many ITU races this season. Unfortunately it happens and I will from now on rack my bike before unstrapping my helmet…not doing it simultaneously. I followed this race with my first ever race in the Lifetime Fitness series. I do enjoy Olympic non-drafting races and I want to be competitive in this series but I was going to this race more for the experience than for a specific result. That made finishing 3^rd at this race even more surprising. This is probably the best race result of my short career as a triathlete and I got to celebrate that with my first champagne podium finish. (The crowd seemed to enjoy it when the announcer told us that the champagne was real and not to drink it at the exact same time that I had the bottle vertical to my mouth! Oh well I was enjoying the moment!). I then raced my second ever 70.3 race in Calgary. I was able to go to this race with my mom who decided to take a little vacation. It was great to have her with me at the race and having someone cheer for me. I definitely made a rookie mistake at this race. I did not drink or eat nearly enough on the bike. I actually ended up only consuming the same amount that I do during an Olympic distance race. This combing with the GI issue I had at mile 3 of the run didn’t lead me to the outcome that I was expecting. (I had a use the porto potty…that was a first for me in a race and hopefully the last). I came off the bike and started feeling pretty good on the run. Even with the porto potty break I spent a lot of the run running in 3^rd (which was my goal going into the race). At about 15km into the race I blew up in ways that I had never experienced before. I think the lack of nutrition really hurt me at this point. I spent the remainder of the run trying to put one leg in front of the other and was amazed at how weak my body felt. I ended up getting 6^th at this race. I should be a smarter athlete than to make this mistake but I am glad that I made it there that way I can learn for it is I prepare for my first 70.3 World Championships in Clearwater.

Oceanside

2010-04-04T20:44:00.000-07:00

I completed my first 70.3 race last weekend in Oceanside, CA. This distance is something that I don't normally train for; but I spent a lot of the winter doing base work so I thought that it was a good time to through in a half. I drove down on Friday before the race with my parents and my brother came up from San Diego to meet us. I met up with my Aunt and Uncle who live in Carlsbad and we went to this Mexican place in Carlsbad that we always go to because it is amazing. The race start was at 6:40 which was really early for me because I have been getting used to the late start times of ITU races...although I like early starts better.

Race day morning it is dark and freezing at transition. (there were also 35 bathrooms for a race that had like 3000 people...which wasn't great) It was still pretty dark when I ran to the water for the start of the swim. The swim is in the harbor so it was protected from any wind and we had super clean and calm water. For it being an ocean swim the water really wasn't that cold so the conditions were great for the swim. My buddy and training partner John Dahlz took the swim out really fast for the first 200 meters or so which I knew he was going to do. I was able to pass him and led the entire way from that point on. I really tried to hammer the second half of the swim and we were able to string out the field a little bit. I was first out of the water but was passed immediately by Raelert while running through transition. We had to run all the way down one side of transition and then all the way back through transition which seemed really long.

Out on the bike I started pretty conservatively. I was passed by a few guys that were hammering it and with this distance being new to me I wanted to try to play it on the safe side. I settled into a good pace and was taking turns at the front with Rasmus Henning which I thought was pretty exciting. The bike course was flat for probably the first 25 miles or so before we headed into Camp Pendleton. My old teammate from swimming had just moved to San Clemente to be stationed at the base so I was lucky enough to meet up with him on Friday and he drove me through the course. The parts that were through the base were really hilly. There were a couple of good climbs but there were also just a lot of rolling hills. It also seemed like we had a head wind the entire time so overall the bike course was pretty challenging. I knew my position was right around 6th or 7th and I think I actually went into the run in 7th place. I had spent every other Saturday for the past few months before this race running off of a long group ride but the feeling in my legs at the beginning of the run was completely foreign. As I was getting into the run I saw my friend Kelly Reed and she gave me some advice on just keeping my form and I just kept thinking about that for the entire time. Even though I felt terrible I was running the pace that I wanted to be doing and finally started to get into a good rhythm. This lasted up until about mile 10 where I completely fell apart. I was literally just trying to keep one foot in front of the other and make it to the next aide station where they had these sponges soaked with cold water. I am pretty sure if it wasn't for those sponges I would have passed out. Right before I blew up I was in 6th place. I was first passed around mile 10 or so and couldn't even attempt to make a surge to pick up the pace. I was still in 7th till about mile 12.5 where I was passed at this little uphill section. At this point I was able to compose myself and knew that I was going to be in a lot of pain but I was able to pick up my pace and got right on the heels of Hoffman who had passed me. I tried to push the pace with maybe 400 meters or so but I couldn't open up a gap at all and Ben was just right with me. I put everything I had into the finish but was beat out at the end. As soon as we passed the finish line we both just collapsed on the ground.

I was really proud of my effort for this race. The field was really stacked and it was a hard race. It definitely makes me wonder what I could do if I spent a little more time focusing at this distance. My focus will remain with draft legal Olympics but it was a fun race. I will probably be doing another half in June at Rev3 and I was also able to get a spot for the 70.3 World Championships in Clearwater. My next race will be a non-drafting Olympic at St. Anthony's on April 25th.

Mazatlan Post Race

2010-03-24T20:50:00.000-07:00

With the race over I was finally ready to really kick back. The whole trip we were joking about a few things, this white castle with night clubs and these golf cart taxis that were everywhere (some of which had rims and blasted music). So with the race out of the way we had a few things that we needed to take care of. I went out with my new friends Kelsey and Kate and we took a golf cart over to the newer part of Mazatlan to meet up with my friends from the Riptide tri team. The golf cart had rims and music so it was a sign that it was going to be a good night. We met up at Senor Frogs and started to have a good time. Our friends from riptide were staying at a hotel that had free drinks and food so I became Matt Balzer from room 230 for the night so that I could get a wrist band to access this amazing place. We did our best to make the hotel sorry for offering such a deal then we went out to explore the castle. We were distracted by this bar called Joe's that was playing 80s music for a little while but eventually made our way to the castle. We decided that since we were there for the race that we could bypass the lines and get in for free and somehow this worked. Apparently we were a big deal there. Somehow we found the energy to dance for awhile and it was a great night. Definitely one of the best nights that I have had after a race and I would like to thank everyone that was there for such a great time. After I finally unpack my bag I will post some pictures...

Mazatlan Race Recap

2010-03-24T20:28:00.000-07:00

It would have been hard to not improve upon my last race but all in all this was a step in the right direction. I had a great few days leading up the race and even though I have had several weeks of pretty intense training I was feeling fast and just excited to race. We found out the night before the race that the race was going to be pushed back an hour which I was a little disappointed about because it was HOT down there. The later start also allowed for the wind to pick up. I had the same breakfast that I had every morning while there pancakes (which were probably the best pancakes I have ever had), eggs, coffee, and orange juice for about $6. The food in Mazatlan was really cheap and really good which is probably another reason why I liked it there. After breakfast I made my way down to the race start, set up my transition and headed to the water to warm up. By this time the wind was pretty strong and I realized while warming up that the water was really really choppy especially heading out to the first buoy which was about 300m off shore. Before the start I made sure to line up with Cameron Dye and John Dahlz because we were hoping to get out to a fast start to break away. With the mad dash to the water I was pushed over by the two Mexican athletes next to me and ended up getting in the way of my friend Matt Balzer. Fortunately I was able to get in a few good dolphin dives after entering the water and was out in the front pack quickly. After the first lap we had a group of about 4 and upon entering the water for the second time I went out in front to push the pace going directly into the chop to hopefully get a little bigger lead. I came out of the water in 3rd and we had a sizeable lead. I had a really really slow transition and missed Cameron's wheel coming out of transition and he just hammered the bike right away and he was gone. My bike pack started with 5 and turned into 3 quickly but we couldn't make up anytime on Cameron. Serrano from Mexico and I were able to really push the last few laps of the bike and were able to get over a minute lead on our chase pack but still not any time over Cam who actually put time on us. Going out onto the run I was definitely feeling the hard swim and the hard bike effort and my legs were really heavy. I hung in for the first 5k and was in 3rd but was starting to get run down but guys from the second pack. The better runners from the second pack caught me and I was trying to hold on but didn't have anything left and by the time I got to the last lap I was pretty toasted. I finished the race in 11th position which is not exactly what I was hoping to be able to do. I have been putting a lot of emphasis on my run and it didn't really show up at this race and I am hoping that is due to the fatigue load that I was carrying into the race. The race was still a good learning experience and with my swim and bike I was able to put myself in the exact position where I wanted to be; it is just clear that I am still trying to learn how to run.

Mazatlan pre-race

2010-03-18T17:04:00.000-07:00

I got into Mazatlan Mexico today and I am happy to say that this day of travel was SO much easier than my travel was to Ecuador a few weeks ago. Instead of the 18 hour day of travel I had my last trip I was able to fly out, unpack, swim, run, and relax and watch some first round action of March Madness all in the same day. (my dad is enjoying his time as well already; I bought two gallons of water at a market and he bought about a gallon of beer). A lot better start to my trip than arguing with someone in Spanish in the middle of the street at 3am trying to get a hotel room. I am excited to finally be getting into the racing season after the past few months of winter training and I hope that all the work that I have put in will pay of in some results. Now comes the worst part of traveling to any race and that is the anticipation of the race to come...post race report to follow soon!!

First Blog!

2010-03-05T16:52:00.000-08:00

I have finally caved and was pressured into creating a blog. So welcome to my blog site. I guess it was a big day for me as far as the internet world is considered. With the help of my coach John Hansen and Bruce Hendler from Athleticamps I now have a website as well which can be found at

http://www.athleticamps.com/cycling/about_us/leto

As far as my triathlon training has been going I have been putting in a lot of work this off season to build upon my first year as a pro. I was able to have a strong enough season to be honored USAT's Rookie of the Year after 2009 which was a huge honor for me in my first season. I can't even compare where my training was last year to where I am now and there was no way that I would be where I am without training with my friends in the area. Specifically John Dahlz, Andrew Bauer, and Ken Rakestraw. I have a few big races coming up soon the first of which is the ITU race in Mazatlan Mexico. I will be following that race with my first 70.3 race in Oceanside, CA.