Disco Triathlon Recap

Fortunately the triathlon mishaps for the day occurred only before the race not during but a big mishap it was. My front wheel flew off it's rack while driving to the race at 5:30am. Too dark to look for it but tried with no success. Thankfully Patrick was able to drive up and put his front tire on my bike as the swim start began. Milina's parents came to town Sat to visit the twins and see the race but mostly visit the twins. This is the first race the twins have come to and I was able to carry them across the finish line, this highlight of the race.

Swim -500yd (450m) 9:25min 11th place out of 44. Lake open water swim with a mass beach start. I was a little worried after seeing the number of people in my division Males 30-39, which is typically a large division. I will often hold back a few seconds to allow the main group to start to avoid any needless kicks to the head but didn't this time. I only suffered a few small kicks to the arm. This was a relatively fast swim as the water was not all that choppy and the sandy beach made exiting more comfortable than concrete boat ramps.

Transition 1 - 3:20min Average time in T1, boy was it nice to see a tire on the front of the bike. I was imaging completing the bike portion like a unicycle. It was a long run from the beach exit to the transition area though which added a little time.

Bike - 17.6mi avg 19.2mph 55:02min 22nd place out of 44. Great road condition with mostly flat smooth road. There were a few hills and some of the descent or as bad as North Texas gets. The weather was near perfect for the bike ride. After 9 or so days of triple digit temperatures I was dreading the heat during the race even with a 7am start. It was low 90's with a slight breeze.

Transition 2 - 1:04min Probably my fastest T2 ever partially because it was only a spring distance race I didn't need to bring any gels or anything like that on the run and I knew the run was mostly shaded so no extra water either.

Run - 5K 3.2mi, 27:34min with a 8:54/mi pace 27th place out of the same 44. It only took about 1 mi to break into a good pace and get my legs used to running instead of cycling. From there it was actually a nice comfortable run, mostly shaded on paved running trails. Definitely felt like I could have repeated the run portion of the race a second time without difficulty.

Final Time - 1:36:23 placing 26th out of 44 in my age group and 155th place out of 420 participants

Leaps and Bounds

Sorry for another long drought of information on the twins and their progress. They are so much fun to watch as they learn new things. So here we go
They discovered their feet a few weeks ago which aided greatly in Mia learning to roll onto her stomach from her back. Adam took a little longer than Mia to learn the rolling from back to stomach trick I say because he has about 3lbs on her it takes more oomph to get than weight shifted over enough to roll. They are really just now deciding that lying on their stomach is really not that bad and will stay there for several minutes before the crying starts. Last week they started rolling back over onto their back but have not really mastered that enough to do so at will.
They make the most interesting and funny noises which is a personal favorite of mine. Mia has mastered the girly, squeally laugh that when coupled with a big smile and sparkling eyes would brighten anybodies day. Adam has perfected the art of the raspberry and especially mimicking raspberries. If you make a raspberry noise at him he raspberry right back at you just with a little more slobber and spit bubbles involved.
They are starting to put some weight on their toes and try to stand but still need someone holding them up.
We are going to Milina's family reunion this weekend and will have lots of new pictures to add to the gallery.

It's true! They grow up way too fast!

As of last Thursday, Adam found his feet and now loves to play with them usually when he is in his swing. Friday, Mia rolled over for the first time. I was on the computer with her beside me lying on her back and the next thing I knew she was not happy and I look down and she was on her tummy crying. She has since rolled over 2 other times, once yesterday and once today. Adam isn't rolling over just yet but if you put him in his crib on his tummy he will raise his head so high that when he shifts his head he rolls over onto his back. It is really fun to watch but only on a soft surface of course! I can't believe that our little ones are getting so big already. Time flies!
The twins have been enjoying their walks around the neighborhood at night. They usually fall asleep which is great for mommy and daddy so that we can get them to bed sooner. They have been eating around 10:00 to 11:00 at night and sleeping until 5:30 in the morning! They also have been sleeping in their cribs at night!!! Mommy and Daddy are happy to finally get some quality sleep in their own bed instead of one always being upstairs with the babies.
Adam and Mia have also become quite the talkers. Adam has learned how to mimic some sounds/noises, so we take turns making noises back and forth. In the mornings they are both very happy when they wake up and spend the fisrt 10 min or so talking to us and each other.

Fueled by TWIN POWER!!

5/25/09 was the Capital of Texas Triathlon in downtown Austin. I turned in a personal best time for an Olympic distance of 3:00:39, my goals was around 3:10.00 and my previous personal best was 3:06. Considering I put in far less training than I ever had leading up to a race I am more than excited. It was a fast course though compared to other races I have participated in. Here is the breakdown for the race.
Swim -29:14min for a 1500 meter swim which is slightly less than 1mi (.97miles). the swim was in the river than goes through downtown. 68deg water temp which is wet suit legal. I contribute a faster swim time to my first time wearing a wet suit and a friendly current. The first portion of the swim was against the current for about 600M and with the current for about 900m. This was also not as violent a swim as some in the past. For those of you who have never swam with several hundred people at a time swimming truly can be a full contact sport. I have never broke the 30min mark on the swim.
Bike: 1:18:23 for a 40K bike ride, avg 19mph. Very fast bike course, it was 4 laps of a 6~mile loop up Congress by the Capital. The first 2-3miles was either gradual or not so gradual up hill then about 2-3miles of nice fast downhill. Turns were a little tricky though due to congestion from countless other cyclists all making the same turns at high rates of speed (23-24mph on some). Good bike course for spectators because you can see your friends/family several times throughout the course. Unfortunately we didn't have a cheering section so I just imagined everyone was cheering for me. Only bad thing about a fast bike course is you have a tendency to race too hard which affects the run later on. This is about 4-6min faster than my normal pace
Run: 1:04:52 for a 10K, or 6.4 miles. The run was a 2 loop course of 3.2mi per loop also through downtown. A few moderately challenging hills which always seem to come when you are the most tired. The run course was fairly exposed to the sun. There were a good number of aid stations with plenty of water to cool you off. The nice thing about a 2 lap race is by time you finish the first lap and start the second you have a list of mental landmarks throughout the course to keep you motivated and pushing at the appropriate pace. This is exactly the time I was expecting on the run as I did not prepare as much as I would have liked to. This time is about 8min slower than my previous 10K race time of 56min.

Transitions: My only complaint about the transitions was the large size of the transition area. There was a several hundred yard run into transition from the swim and then again on the way out to transition to the bike. You can not mount your bike until you leave the transition area which leaves you running in you cycling shoes on sand and pavement for far too long which greatly slowed my transition time. That being said I had a 4:22 min transition from the swim to bike (T1) and then a 3:45 min transition from the bike to the run (T2). That was a respectable T1 and about a 30sec slower than I would have liked T2 time.

For race pictures click here http://www.asiorders.com/choose_name.asp?EVENTID=46372&LAST=stoddard&DIVISION==

New Found Respect for Batman

This weekend is the Captial of Texas Triathlon, CapTexTri, in Austin. Patrick, Dallas and Myself are racing and for the first time Patrick and I will be in the same age category. The water temperature is currently 68deg, yes that is cold. I knew it would be a colder swim so I bought my first triathlon wetsuit, an Orca Equip Tri Wetsuit. I put it on for the first time and must say I feel somewhat like a superhero, Batman in particular as the wetsuit is black neoprene. It took about 15min to put on and I even attached pictures for those of you that would like to see me as my superhero persona. I wearing it as I type, sweating like a pig and wondering how I will ever get it back off. So next time you see me if I am dressed all in black annd look like a less buff version of a superhero it is becuase I couldn't take it back off.

Hello Sleep, Oh How I Have Missed You!!!

The twins had their 2month appt this morning and they are doing great. Adam weighs 12.5lb and Mia 10.5lb. They are still underweight for a 4month old which is to be expected. Adam is in the 90the percentile for the preemie scale and Mia is in the 50th percentile for the preemie scale. Basically they have gained weight and are slowly catching up to what they should weight but have a little way to go. Best news of all is they can go longer at night in between feedings. I have been averaging 5hr sleep/day and Milina around 4-5hr/day. It is amazing we are not comatose. Now we will feed them at 11:30pm and then again at 5:30pm which means one of us goes to bed at 10:30 and sleeps until 5:30 and the other goes to bed at 12:30 and sleeps to 6:30. I am not sure how my math skills are since I am still sleep deprived but that is 6-7hr sleep/day, Hallelujah!!!!!
I have also posted some new pictures of the twins. Boy they are happy little babies. Not that they don't cry but only when they are hungry or tired basically. They both have smiles that can melt your heart. They love to go on walks and get to about 4X/week. When we go on walks they look around at everything they can. Mia is especially fond of her father and seems to like male voices over female voices, her mother is the exception of course. When a guy holds her she sill stare intently at their face with this adorable little smirk like she is in a staring contest.

Baby Blessing This Weekend

The twins will be blessed in church this weekend and there is an open invitation to all those who would like to attend. It will be on Sunday May3rd at 1:30 (best to arrive about 10min early) at the following address. Our Sacrament meeting which is the main service is from 1:30-2:30 and invite all who come for the blessing to stay the hour.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
7600 N Beach St
Ft Worth, Tx

Of course all those who have noticed sudden onset of the ability to seek out truffles, a desire to bathe in mud, recent espisodes of rooting in the ground, development of cloven hoofs, or other swine flu symptoms may come at your own risk. You may however become the main dish at a Luau in honor of the twins later that day.