When I’m not training, generally I’m lying around in an exhausted, semi-conscious state, waiting for the precious few moments when I have useful brain function. It is during those instants that I try to perform such mentally demanding tasks as – reserve plane flights, plan races, read marginally edifying books, or speak. It took much trial and error before I realized that speaking should be done rarely and only in times of great intellectual capability. While I might think I am always a funny, charming individual, I’ve realized that the less awake I am, the more likely it is my sense of humor will cross the line from slightly off-putting to either non-sensical or straight up insulting.

Fortunately, however, the Olympic Training Center provides us with awesomeness that doesn’t require much intelligence to appreciate. This past weekend, Prince Harry dropped by, along with Senator Mark Udall and a few other important dudes. After growing up in England, it was very cool to see some royalty in my own backyard.

A terrible photo, but Prince Harry is on stage. Unfortunately he was quite responsible and there were no tabloid-worthy shenanigans.

Also, occasionally we come back to our rooms to find surprises left by the staff. A little while ago, we had Candy Apples left in our rooms. Since everything served at the OTC is undeniably healthy, I had no qualms about eating this apple.

In non OTC news, I will be traveling to Europe for a few weeks this summer for some exciting racing. Last year I spent time in Vitoria as well as a few weeks at a camp in the boondocks of Spain. There was some awesome riding and I’m excited to go back.

Cool house. Apparently if you want to check the time, you just have to lean your head out the window, and hope the sky isn’t too cloudy for the sun dial to work.

So, that’s about it. Tune in next week for more awesome things that happen at the OTC

I’m free! Out of alter g and running on the ground. I can’t run a ton right now (45-50 miles last week), so I’m still riding everyday.

When your ride workouts are created by the genius of Mike Doane, things like this tend to happen:

On the way back from a ride, I noticed that my bike had grown a pair.

I’m too tired to write a great update. Here, however, was a welcome package that came from Powerbar a couple weeks ago:

The computer was not included, but I received a bunch of the new Energy Blends. These are essentially gels made from blended fruit. They tasted like there was actual fruit inside and the consistency was similar to a very light smoothie. They were awesome!

Signing off. Greg

Yes.

Essentially. In this first of a presumably three part series, I will be kindly elucidating the activities which somehow take up all of my every waking moments.

Most recently, I’ve been injured. This may sound like a circumstance which would leave me with lots of time to ponder the nature of the universe, build suspension bridges, and become the next Iron Chef America. As it turns out, I’ve had to put my engineering efforts on hold as training and rehab generally take up more time than usual, in order to reap a smaller reward than usual.

Part of what takes up additional time is this piece of awesome machinery:

This piece of equipment supports a certain percentage of my body weight as I return to real running after a femoral stress reaction. It also makes my legs disappear.

So, for the past 6-7 weeks, I’ve been running twice a day, 5 days per week on this thing. Which has been awesome. How often can you do 30 minute runs at a 14% grade at around 5 minute miles?

I also get plenty of time to bond with this gorgeous inflatable treadmill – cleaning, calibrating, stuffing myself into this thing every time I use it turns even 20 or 30 minute runs into hour long adventures with lysol and zippers.

I get to start running again this week – I will now see how effectively I was able to destroy myself on that tready and if I’m still in even remotely passable shape.

During this time off, I’ve also spent a lot of time getting affectionate with my bicycle. Just like any long term relationship, there are up, downs, heart break, and (occasionally) terribly painful sores. Lubrication is necessary.

I am going to be so aero later this summer.
That’s Rakita fixing some brake issues on a beautiful bike I happen to own.

Among other things, there is also time for arts and crafts. I created an awesomely inspirational collage.

I collage of inspirational things. I purposely made it fuzzy so you’ll never be as inspired as I am. #TerribleCamera

Occasionally, when I get pissed that I can’t race, I remember that Colorado is great. And I repeat my mantra – “Triathlon is the greatest sport in the world, and I’m luck to be part of it.”

An average sunrise.

Though many have noted that the last Congress passed the fewest number of new laws since the 1940s, it did pass the indispensable legislation which made the Manitou Incline open for legal hiking.

Surrounded by people intimately involved in the process of legalization, I was very lucky to be present at the ribbon cutting ceremony.

The Incline is around a 2740 step journey to a decent view of the bustling Colorado Springs Metropolis, yet its completion remains one of the three questions I am asked on a regular basis (the others being whether or not I compete in Ironmans and, consequently, when I will actually do my first real triathlon).

Fortunately, I am able to affirm that I have indeed trained on the incline

And now, for your inspiration picture of the week:

Oh yeah, I’m a music video extra!

We are the Champions

Sunday Blog! This update has been a long time coming. I believe that I should make updates a Sunday event, in such a way as to maintain the viewership of whatever readers’ interests are piqued by my athletically, or otherwisedly, related endeavors.

In the past 6 months, I had a very productive base season, followed by a persistent Achilles injury, which ended directly after my race in Roatan, Honduras (I finished 3^rd powered by lots of enthusiasm, but little running and a flat with about 7k left of the bike). The race deserves a blog in itself, which will assuredly come later.

Apparently I missed something concerning

Immediately upon my return to Colorado Springs after the race I developed ‘thigh splints’. This is essentially a femoral stress reaction. Little is known about how it begins, but I have theories. Maybe I just raced too hard. Maybe my back was out of line and I ran lopsided. Maybe I just have exorbitantly powerful quads. Or maybe someone snuck into my room in the middle of the night and bashed my leg with a hammer.

Regardless of the hammer bashing, as soon as I can run normally again, I’ll be having a thorough mechanical and run form evaluation to see if I can pinpoint a functional deficiency. That will also give me another chance to stare at myself while I run, an activity I never cease to enjoy.

As of now, I can still swim and ride and run on the alter-g. There will soon be a picture of me running on the alter g. Although the novelty of running in a bubble wears off about as quickly as finding out that there are treadmills for bikes, it’s a fun opportunity to do runs which would be physically impossible at 100% body weight. Since my run speed is under precautionary limits, my particular favorite is running 5:00 miles at a 14% grade. If I can just keep this up as I return to normal body weight, I’ll be unstoppable.

In other news, I’m doing exciting things outside of athletics now that my training regimen isn’t quite so time consuming. I cut the ribbon at the re-opening ceremony for the newly legalized incline. I’m also interning at a senator’s office in the area – I make powerpoints, so that’s a pretty good deal. A little while ago I read about some bats in a library for a class of 3^rd graders at a local elementary school. Apparently, bats frequent libraries whenever the possible in order to read about King Arthur. Incredible. Fortunately, despite the precipitous decline of my intellect since graduating from Wake Forest, I was still able to read without stuttering. Whew!

And I have fish!

I also caught a glimpse of what my first job interview after years of professional triathlon will look like:

Retired Athlete Job Interview

Things aren’t ideal, but I’m going to have a full season. I’ll start in Huatulco and then continue racing through November. My swimming is better than ever and I’m putting in extra time on the bike, but I’m really looking forward to coming back with a concrete plan of how to stay healthy.

going well. swimming fast, running hard, biking fast

U23′s is over for me with an 8th place finish. I didn’t swim what I should have and I came out of the water about 45 seconds down. While I executed the bike and run exactly as planned and left everything out on the course, I missed the opportunity I had been training for all year.

I’m grateful for the support I’ve received from my coach, Mike Doane. He has not only made me improve this year, but he’s helped me enjoy the day to day of triathlon more than ever. USA Triathlon has been behind me every step of the way and without the support of Jono and Andy I wouldn’t have the experience that helped me stay focused after failing to perform in the water.

On-Running, of course, gives me the shoes that helped me run less than 5 seconds slower than the winner today. Power-bar provides the best stuff on earth, squeezed into translucent jelly and semi-solid rectangles.

I completed this course 10 minutes faster than last year and faster than the winning time of the 2011 World Cup. I know I’m improving, but that only adds a positive glimmer to the crushing disappointment of a missed opportunity. Like if, say, Fear Factor contestants were made to drink some donkey ‘juice’ and then eat a Bobby Flay cooked steak. Clearly the steak would be awesome, but it doesn’t make the other dish any more palatable.

I will now go put on a Hawaiian shirt, and it is impossible to be sad whilst wearing palm trees and coconuts.

My furnace is just about full of fuel, but this letdown could perhaps add some gasoline to my 2013 ambitions.

A blog two months late isn’t too bad, right?

Stretch and Yawn

My first professional victory! Something in San Diego loves me. I had a great race here at the Olympic Trials back in May and had a blast at the F1 triathlon in September. It felt weird to cross the line first. The race had felt as tough as any other and I hadn’t felt any better, but at the end I wasn’t having to destroy myself while watching some guys’ ass break the tape.This oddly different sensation did not quell the guttural shout erupting out of me as I threw the finish line on the ground. I was pretty stoked.

Demonstration of my lifting form

This race had an exciting format. It was 2 mini triathlons back to back and the entire race lasted less than 45 minutes. The cycling was crazy. I’ve been working on my handling this year and it’s improved, but that’s a very relative improvement. Like saying my cooking skills improved because I can now make oatmeal. The bike course was 10 square laps of 640 meters that went through an underpass twice each time around. With the pavement strip wide enough to fit maybe two or three cyclists, I was predicting carnage. That fortunately failed to materialize because genrally when there’s carnage, I am involved in some way or another. Not this time!

I went into this race to prepare for Under 23 Worlds, which was awesome because I had Eric Lagerstrom there to help me out on the bike. After the first swim we were pretty close to the leaders and and we gradually worked together on our way up to the front group. During the second bike we started taking the corners a bit quicker because Eric is a beast at bike handling. I ended up in the deep sand on the side of road coming of a corner trying to keep up, but managed to stay upright and we caught the leaders of Ben Kanute and Clark Ellice soon after. Shaken, but not stirred, I came into T2 super excited for the last mile and a half. I made a quick surge into the lead, and then monitored my 10 second gap for the rest of the run. Thrills but fortunately no spills.

Lars Finanger put on an awesome race and it was great to be a part of it.

We had an awesome homestay. Jon Jefferson (JJ) and Marilou Dolley took care of Eric and me for the few days that we were down there. They have an apiary in their backyard, which was conveniently right where I was sleeping. It was the perfect temperature so the outside bed was awesome, but I was a little creeped out having hives of bees about 5 feet away from my bed. They were caring for an elderly gentleman, Ray, who regaled us with some stories of his past. The impressive part of the stay, however, was when he looked at Eric and Me and said ‘I had a dream last night, and I foretell that both of you are going to perform very well tomorrow. You will win.’ Lo and Behold, we both podiumed. I need to do more races in San Diego and see this Ray fellow.

Mike Doane was awesome in getting me ready for that race while maintaining a great build-up for U23 Worlds. I was able to do an awesome race, earn a little dough, and get sand all up under my suit. That surfy swim made for a scratchy run.

Afterwards, I got on the front page of slowtwitch for getting the ‘w’. It still makes my day. If things aren’t ideal, I just look at the picture of me winning this race, and I say – ‘boo yah. Things aren’t so bad.’

This course is an out and back? I think I need a map

Update coming soon!

My ability to swim has a direct correlation with the size of my arm veins