updates

- The Olympics have been great for publicity for swimming! (and a bit water polo...)
- Michael Phelps is awesome
- Hell week for McLane Polo went great!
- school starts monday!

i'm tired that's it.

Turning Points Academy

At a meeting today for TPA (Turning Points Academy). Not bad so far... but i'd rather be sleeping/working out! basically school begins now...

last race

It was the last race of the season for the Fresno PAL Triathlon Team.

Normally i copy and paste the race report as I type it to my growing army of supporters, volunteers, sponsors and athletes. And mom and dad :-)

This time I'll type it out anew. Basically we left at around 1am on Saturday MORNING to make the three hour drive up there. Well, i started picking kids up at that time after napping a bit. We actually did leave Fresno at 3:30am after stopping to get a bite to eat at some all-night taco place called Robertitos. It was very crowded too!

I sadly lost my $500 (last year) JVC Everio harddrive video camcorder as i placed it on the back of the suburban at a gas station that morning. i obviously don't have the cash to replace it so i was quite saddened by that fact but realized once we drove off, this is south Fresno so it would have been gone.

Once at the race the kids racing did great. We did have a problem with Edna getting into a crash but she was ok. As far as we can tell she was slowing down for a speed bump (the race starts out coming out of a campground) and a guy behind her ran into her. Looking at the pictures of the bike/tire, I'm amazed she was ok with just some bumps and bruises. Still, the runner on her relay team (daniel) was probably the most excited for this race so he still ran after we got permission/he knew his time wouldn't count.

Special Moment #1: Daniel helped billy run through the 5k even though billy was cramping (i didn't feel bad for him... told him not to eat that breakfast burrito but he'd already bought it and his other friends - not racing that day - had one...). It was amazing almost out of a movie!

then we set up camp and all kinda slept for a bit. i don't remember much except crashing on the grass. (sleeping)

For my olympic distance triathlon, i'd been doing more bike work so obviously wanted to improve on that. i'd done enough swim work but didn't feel great about it. normally i do 10x 100's on the 1:20 to make sure i'm ready for a long distance race but i hadn't had a chance to do those, so was kinda nervous; just relying on natural swim ability and my shaved body.

here are my own two times:
Place
2007 2008
Age 24 25 (by USAT)

Gndr. M M

Division 21-24 25-29

Swim Split 23:20 23:24

Swim Rank 27 40

Swim Pace 1:35 1:34

Bike Split 1:35 1:22 (13 minutes ain't bad)

Bike Rank 228 heh 160 getting there...

Bike Pace not given 18.1 mph (my half ironman pace was 16

Run Split 1:08.53 1:03.26 (almost a minute per mile...)

Run Rank 206 199 (still not much better)

Run Pace not given 10:14 :-(

Finish Time 3:07 2:49.01
----------------------------------------------------

my goal was 2:30 but perhaps that was overly optimistic. Still, i beat my time by a substantial margin and improved the most in the bike. Gotta love looking for those nuclear cooling towers (a pic of my team with said towers should be below):


I've mentioned before i developed some planter faciitis after my quick-to-trot half marathon in may. it's been getting much better with regular icing and stretching. what bugged me most on this run was that my feet just HURT. i need new running shoes that have actual arch support or get insoles that have it. my breathing wasn't labored, my legs felt fine and didn't cramp, my feet just dang hurt and i had to stop a couple of times to rest them. But it was ok. my students that raced in the aquathlon did excellent (run times for the 10k of 35 minutes and 40 minutes, respectively... so i'm training someone correctly!).

most positive for me was the rave reviews and the chance to say THANK YOU to the volunteers and staff at TBF Racing. from bill driskill, the co-owner and main guy we work with:
"Thanks for your email. It was great to have your team at the events this summer. Thanks for the letter and the cards to our staff this weekend, it meant a lot to them.

I am going to post a piece about your team with a link to your website on the home pages of TBF Racing and Total Body Fitness.

Congratulations Brandon on the success of your program and the success of your athletes."

so that was nice; through our kids working as volunteers we've raised a lot of money through them... and it is indeed changing lives. (had a meeting with the director of the police activities league and she is committed to the triathlon program too... good stuff!).

- i've enjoyed being on vacation this week. it's nice to just sit and clean sometimes! i officially put away all of the triathlon stuff so it's clean here:




yes... that's much more organized than it was before! ok i'm out.



for more pictures and fun see http://picasaweb.google.com/paltriathlon/Triforreal3

amazingly true

i couldn't have written it any better myself. click the title link - long read but explains a ton about my kids... i thought of a particular kid at almost every description! (sadly, even the one talking about kids cutting themselves...)

- great "taper" run today, tomorrow last little swim and bike along with some transition training. getting ready to leave

http://picasaweb.google.com/paltriathlon/Flyer/photo#5229454658058071314

i couldn't get it to export to pdf for some reason tonight, but i'll be distributing color copies of that this weekend at the triathlon in sacramento in an attempt to build more support and perhaps sponsorships for next year.

getting ready!

Getting ready for the (official) last camping/racing trip of the 2008 season.

I'll post something sentimental afterwards, but this season has seen:

it hasn't been the easiest of seasons - balancing a new girlfriend to the incredible pressures of coaching and teaching math in a low-income, high need school has been challenging. i had to quit church involvement with the jr high group after 6 years of faithful service. Had to kick out about 6 kids from the team due to disciplinary issues including issues related to sexuality.

- got to help a team member move from his house. i was one of the first persons his mom called when he went to the hospital later that night (and was ok).
- was told by a mother, "my kids life is in your hands, and that's ok with me."

but my personal favorite thing thus far? Despite my fallacies as a coach, taking a step back and realizing that no matter what, I hope they've improved their life as much as they have improved mine. Through these kids, I've become more patient, more firm and effective, and more cognizant of my place in life - it is so EASY For me as a white middle class male to become complacent, and these kids expose my "unfairness", my lack of seriousness or my over-seriousness as it may be. The Triathlon team has been the best thing that's ever happened to me, and no matter what happens to it after this point, this has been a season of incredible triumphs amidst incredible odds. Can the kids do better? Absolutely. Can I be a better coach - both athletically and sponsorship-wise? For sure. But that's not the point!!

It's NOT ABOUT ME!

It really is and has been and will always be about the kids and them showing themselves THEY CAN do this sport called Triathlon.

- for those who still read, what are some things that as an outside observer you'd like to see happen next year? if you were in my shoes, what would you dream for?
(hint: I am looking into putting on at least two races as fundraisers... = no more asking for donations and car washes/yard sales etc...)

bikes are bad!

Yesterday, I watched as a bicyclist was hit and drug by a car... we tried to help and i called 911, and the police came within a few minutes too... i keep replaying the scene in my head but at least she's ok!

http://abclocal.go.com/kfsn/story?section=news/local&id=6285893

then today i was out biking with some of the kids, and one of my athletes (albert) got a flat in his back tire and lost control - literally jumping off his bike as he fell to avoid hitting a light pole. he wasn't going super fast, but fast enough! it was pretty scary for all involved but he was ok aside from a few cuts and i'm sure bruises. could have been a LOT worse! we only did about 8 miles max today, but that's more than most of them bike in a month so it's cool. at least we tried, and they learned how to fix a flat tire...
http://picasaweb.google.com/paltriathlon/BelmontRoadBiking

(the tall hispanic kid is Justin - his first time biking! the shorter one with the red shirt is Benny, also his first time biking. Albert is the shirtless one, Eric is the kid putting the bikes up on the car... and is becoming an amazing athlete! I'm excited to see his sprint tri time next weekend!)

training

wednesday: flat 20 mile ride to test new tires
thursday: Hilly! 20 mile ride with friend (Justin)
friday: great 3 mile hill run and mile swim brick with the kids
http://picasaweb.google.com/paltriathlon/Millerton_run_swim

saturday: easy bike ride followed by either a strong swim... or cleaning the apartment?

olympic distance tri next sunday! i will shave for it! :-(