Austin's Triathlon Quest

I DID IT!!

2009-09-14T16:35:00.003-05:00

I qualified for the IronKids National Championship!

I competed in the 10 year old male division. Results are here.

I think this was the hardest iron kids of all because I had 66 kids in my division and only the top 5 qualify for the national championship race. This was a hard course because there was a lot of uphill parts on the bike and run and I wasn't used to that.

My total time was 28:51.3. I was only 28 seconds behind 2nd place. I know I can train hard for the next three weeks and improve 10 seconds on each part of the race.

I actually had my best times ever on all three parts of the race but the transitions were really long. I had to run about 250 yards to get to my bike after I got out of the pool. I was pretty tired and really didn't run that fast so I know I can make up some time there.

I had the second fastest run time and the second fastest transition/bike time out of all 66 kids. My swim time was really bad, but it was good for me. Im going to work hard on my swimming the next three weeks.

My goal for the Championship is top 10.

Thank you for your support!

National Championship is October 4th in Tucson Arizona.

Training - September 5/6

2009-09-07T08:16:00.002-05:00

Sept 5 in the evening I rode 4 miles and then ran 1 mile.

Sept 6 I ran 1 mile and had a new best time, 7:40.

Today I'm going to swim and bike.

Training-September 5th

2009-09-05T10:19:00.002-05:00

Sorry for no posts in such a long time but school and baseball are really getting in the way. I've still been training though. Such as running a mile every now and then. A few days ago I got my one piece swimsuit for the ironkids triathlon, so we went swimming today. I rode my bike down to the pool and we swam a 50 meter warm-up a 150 meter swim the 135 meter mark in 3:59 a 50 meter warm-down and then another 150 meters. After the swim I rode my bike back to our house.

I'm also keeping up with my own workout with sit-ups, push-ups, kettle bell swings, medicine ball tosses and a new addition tri-cep push-ups.

We leave Friday for GA. We are going to train hard this week. I'm really looking forward to going to GA!!

August 26 (by Dad)

2009-08-26T20:08:00.002-05:00

Shortly after the last post, Austin spiked a fever. He ran fever on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday morning. He went to baseball practice Tuesday night (they have a tournament this weekend) but I decided to take a couple days off to let him get his strength back.

He assured me he was good to go for tonight so we eased back into training.

He did a fast 2 mile bike (7:10) and followed that up with a .5 mile run in 4 minutes.

Now that school and baseball have started, we really have to squeeze in training where we can. He is determined to do well at Ironkids.

Tomorrow he has school followed by baseball. He leaves for school at 6:30am and we don't get home until around 8:20pm on baseball days (tues/thurs)

Those will probably be "rest days" from now on.

We have a swim and a run planned for Friday.

August 23

2009-08-23T14:26:00.002-05:00

Today I did a big swimming work out.

50m warm up

150m as fast as I could go

50m sprint x 4 with 15 second breaks

Then we worked on turning around buoys

150m warm down

Training august 20, 21, 22,

2009-08-22T08:58:00.002-05:00

August 20:
This was the day after the Mock race. It rained really bad right when I was about to go for a bike ride. So instead I did a core workout. 30 pushups, 30 sit-ups, 5lb kettle bell workout, and I tossed up a 4lb medicine ball 50 times.

August 21: BIG WORK OUT!
I did the same workout I did yesterday plus an extra sit up and pushup and 10 extra medicine ball throws and 10 extra swings with the kettle bell.

Swimming: I swam 50m sprint, then 150m sprint x 2, then another 50m sprint. We think the timing was wrong for the Kiwanis 100m, because my best 50m is 1:07.05. So I don't think I can do 100m in 2:02 (plus that included getting out of the pool and running to the mat). So my new goal for 135m is 3:30.

Bike: I biked 6.27 miles

Run: Right after I got off the bike, we ran 2 miles.

August 22:
Bike: We just got done biking 10.33 miles.

Im going to keep doing the core workouts by adding one extra push up and sit up and ten extra throws witht he medicine ball and ten extra kettle bell swings everyday.

Tomorrow we are going to swim a lot and then try to run our fastest mile ever. (the fastest so far is 7:41)

Mock Race - August 19th

2009-08-19T10:39:00.003-05:00

Swim

Goal: 3:00.00

Today: 3:47.66

1st Transition:

Goal: 0:15.00

Today: 0:43.26

Bike

Goal: 15:00.00

Today: 14:23.27

2nd Transition

Goal: 0:30.00

Today: 0:20.10

Run

Goal: 8:30.00

Today: 8:42.92

Total

Goal: 27:15.00

Today: 27:57:21

Today was the mock race day as you know and in my thoughts I did very well. The three parts of the race that I think I can improve on are the run, the swim, and the first transition. The first transition I did better on Monday when I had a shirt. That time was 31 seconds. Today I didn't put on a shirt so I don't know why my time was slower. The swim was worse than Monday's swim but I know I can get better. I did the Kiwanis swim which was 100m in 2:02 so I'm not sure why it is taking me this long to go 135m. The run was only 12 seconds behind our goal and that's pretty good.

We're also biking 10 miles today for training.

Dad is getting me a one piece triathlon suit because we have to have our upper body covered for the bike and run in ironkids and I don't want to waste time putting a shirt on.

Training - August 18th

2009-08-18T10:40:00.002-05:00

Yesterday we did our training a little different. It was different because we decided to run on a treadmill. So we went to Legends where I could get some baseball work done and then run on a treadmill. Legends is the place me and dad have a membership at. We did three .5 mile runs.

Today we are going to do a core workout. Im going to let my legs rest today because I have baseball tryouts and they are going to be timing me running.

Tomorrow we are going to re-do the mock race. These are my goals:

Swim: 3:00

1st Transition: 15 seconds

Bike: 15:00

2nd Transition: 30 seconds

Run: 8:30

Total: 27:15

The swim and run are going to be the hardest for me.

Training - August 14,15,16

2009-08-17T10:41:00.002-05:00

August 14th- This was the first day of having the new shoes clipped in. We rode about 2 miles and then got off and ran 1 mile. We didn't time the bike ride. I ran the mile in 7:41.

August 15th- I had baseball in the morning and spent the night with my friend Bruce. So I didn't really do any training that day.

August 16th- This was the day I was supposed to do a Mock Race. It didn't go as planned. We started the swim and I finished it in 3:42. I did the 100m at Kiwanis in 2:02, so I know I can do 135m in a better time. I guess I was tired after spending the night at Bruce's. The first transition went well. With the clip in shoes I did it in 35 seconds. Then the biking went horribly wrong. I kept looking at my speedometer and it said 14mph. I was kind of upset about it because the average should be between 16 and 17. I was trying to push harder to get it up to 16 and 17 but I couldn't do it for very long. I was getting very frustrated and I didn't understand why I was going so slow. About 2.5 miles in I looked back and Dad wasn't there anymore. He had a flat tire and crashed. At this point we had to stop the race.

Dad explained later that there was a strong head wind and that's why I had to work so hard. He told me that I would have made up for it on the way back so I shouldn't have pushed so hard against the wind because I wore myself out. And he was right, because when I went back to the pool to get mom I got up to 21.7 mph.

I was pretty upset we didn't get to finish the mock race. Dad said I was on pace to finish in under 30 minutes but I want to finish it in under 27. We are going to run 3 .5 mile sprints today. Tomorrow I have baseball tryouts so we are just going to do a core muscle work out.

Wednesday we are going to re-do the mock race.

Training - August 10,11,12,13

2009-08-13T21:12:00.002-05:00

Thanks for all the nice comments that everyone has left me. Here is the update on the past 4 days

August 10th: I ran 1 mile then had a break for 2 minutes then 1/2 a mile.

August 11th: swim 50m sprint, 500m, 50m sprint

August 12: Ran 2 miles

August 13th: swim 25m sprint x 5 with 10 second breaks, 150m

Tomorrow we are going to the bike store to have my new pedals put on. Dad will be home all day so we're going to swim, bike, and run tomorrow.

We're doing a mock race this weekend with the ironkids distances. 31 days until Ironkids!!

Race Results (by dad)

2009-08-11T01:26:00.002-05:00

The results are in!

Austin's total race time was 15:05.8 which was good enough for 3rd place out of 14. The winner only finished 28.1 seconds in front of Austin!

Please remember that it is difficult to compare our training (and goals/times) to this race. The first transition in this race was almost an 1/8 of a mile away from the swimming exit. There was also uphill portions to the run and bike. So we are very pleased with his time!

I won't go into the details, but it was fairly obvious who only did one mile on the bike instead of two. Its a shame, but they actually gave the first place trophy to one of those kiddos!

Here is the break down of Austin's times:

Swim (which started in the pool and finished after exiting the pool and running about 10 yards)
2:02.8
Austin had the 11th best time. This was by far his weakest event. The best time was 1:16.3 and the average time was around 1:49. I don't think we'll improve the overall swim time for Ironkids by more than 15 seconds, but every second counts!

Bike (started 10 yards outside of the pool and included a long run and the first transition)
8:43.2
This was the 2nd best time for his age group! As a matter of fact, Austin had the third fastest bike time for all boys ages 10-13! Remember, this time included the first transition. We are pretty excited to know that time will decrease even more once we get the clip on shoes that will already be fastened to the bike.

Run (started as soon as he dismounted the bike, included the 2nd transition)
4:19.8
Austin had the 4th best run time. The best run time was 4:10.8 so he was not far off!

Austin is pretty excited about the Ironkids Triathlon. He knows he can do well if he continues training. He eagerly ran 1.5 miles in the heat of the day today as part of his training. We will do a time trial using the IronKids distances this weekend. We are aiming for a time under 30 minutes. 30 minutes has been top 5 at every Ironkids so far this year! The best time we have seen was 25:31!

Stay tuned!

Kiwanis Triathlon!!

2009-08-08T20:18:00.005-05:00

Hey as you know today was the day of the Kiwanis kids triathlon! As you also know my dad said I was going to give my comments. The race in my opinion was very well organized (and dad thought the same thing.) The swim and the first transition were very well organized. They had a mat down at the first transition so that the computer chips knew that you had done the swim and started the bike time. The only part that wasn't very organized was the bike. Like dad said the people monitoring the bike ride weren't keeping track of how many times kids had been around the course and that's what's good about the bracelet thing. You get a bracelet for every time you cross the start line. That's not how they did it today. Instead they used computer chips to monitor time not the number of bike laps. The next transition was just like the first. There was a mat where you dismounted your bike and when you crossed that it started the run and included your 2nd transition. The run was a half mile so that was good. At the end of the run they had generators that stopped the computer chip when you passed it. My overall opinion was that the race was a great warm-up and a great first triathlon!

Race Day: "by dad"

2009-08-08T12:30:00.004-05:00

Austin did great! There were about fifteen 10 y/o boys. This was by far the most competitive group we've seen. The race directors decided to do staggered starts at 10 second intervals. Austin was the first to go in his age group. The good news is that he was also the first 10 y/o boy to cross the finish line! The boy who started the swim 10 seconds behind him exited the pool just in front of Austin, but Austin made up for it in transition one and was on his bike riding about 30 seconds before the other kiddo was.

He didn't "just finish" the race. He pushed himself the entire time. I was very proud of him.

We won't know the official times until Monday or Tuesday. There was major controversy involving the biking portion of the race. Austin's age group had to complete the mile long loop twice. There were several kids who only did one loop instead of two. Apparently no one was tracking this but it was clearly evident after looking at some of the biking times. I'm not sure how they will sort it out but it really doesn't matter. Austin had a great time and was grinning from ear to ear when he finished. I have no doubt the Ironkids will be a little more official with their results.

I would like to thank everyone for their support. Austin checked the blog on my iphone this morning (on the way to the race) to see if anyone had left comments. He was very encouraged by your words (mom, dad and christin)

Austin went straight from the race to a 2 hour baseball scrimmage. He went 0-2 a the plate but got to pitch and got through his inning with 12 pitches, one strikeout, no runs and only one hit and one walk.

He will post his thoughts on the race a little later today.

Thanks again!

Training - August 6th- 7th

2009-08-07T19:42:00.005-05:00

Today is the day before the BIG RACE!!!!!!!!! Today was also a rest day, but I rode my new road bike so I could get better at riding it. What I did was practice getting my feet in the toe clips and practice my transitions.

Yesterday Dad and I went down to the Branch Crossing YMCA and road my bike on the race course. Each time you pass the YMCA it's about a mile, so we rode the bike the equivalent distance of the track. We thought I was going to have to get off my bike and get a bracelet to show I had done one lap and could come in for the run but we were wrong! There was a lady there helping to set up the race course and told us that we were wearing computer chips so they start when the kids start and stop when the kids stop. We are also doing staggered starts, which means kids are starting the swim every ten seconds. She also walked us through the whole race and even told us where we were going to mount our bikes get off our bikes.

This is how the race is going to go:

Swimming: When I start swimming I'm going to go up a lane, then come back down another lane and do the same thing with the next two lanes. No buoys like the last one.

Transition #1: After I finish swimming I'm going to run to my transition area put down my goggles and swim cap, dry my feet, put on my helmet, put on my shoes and take my bike to the mounting area mount and start riding.

Bike: I'm going to do the course which when going away from the YMCA is mostly down but coming back is mostly up hill. One bad part is you have to go up a bus ramp when you go into the school parking lot. Another bad part is that the down hill part ends with a very steep up hill part.

Transition #2: I'm going to take my bike, put it up, take off my helmet and put on my shirt while I'm running.

Running: The run is only half a mile so I'm going to put on my shirt at first while I'm running because I have to have a shirt with my number on it when I cross the finish line and run as hard as I can to try and win!!!!

I am excited about the race. I have to wake up at 545am and be there by 645 so I am going ot bed soon.

Check back tomorrow for the results! Thanks for everyone's support!

Training - August 5th

2009-08-05T20:46:00.002-05:00

Today we got the new bike! The bike is a lot lighter and has a lot less friction so it goes a whole lot faster. It also has toe clips. Toe clips are important because you can pull up on the pedals and not just push down. After this race we are going to get clip in pedals instead of toe clips but we don't have the clip pedals because dad thinks I wont be able to get used to the bike and the pedals by Saturday.

I rode about six miles today. In the middle of that I did a two mile time trial. I did the two miles in 7:46. I did it in 9:21 with the old bike. I know I can do it faster I wasn't really going as fast as I could at first because I was trying to get my feet in the pedals. Also, I was still getting used to the bike.

I also went to Nick's house today to work on my swimming. He told me I need to keep my head in the water more when I'm breathing and also how bend my elbow when I bring my arm up. I worked on it and swam about 200m. I think it helped me a lot.

Tomorrow I am going to run and bike some more. Friday we'll probably bike a little but not too much. Maybe just 2 miles.

Training - August 3rd/4th

2009-08-04T21:29:00.002-05:00

Yesterday was a rest day so even though we went to the pool I just swam for fun.

Today was a swim day so when we went to the pool I did a 100m, a 50m sprint x 3 with 10 second breaks in between and another 100m. I did the 100m really slow but the 50m in I think my fastest time every!!!

Today I also had a 2 hour baseball camp from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. I need to equally spread everything from baseball, to school and triathlon training. I think that it might be a little bit hard to spread every thing out evenly.

Tomorrow is going to be exciting because of two things. The first thing is that Dad finally found me a bike. The first store lied to us and said the bike would be in the last week of July, but we went to the store and they called back and they said it wouldn't be here till the end of August. Dad was really mad. Dad and I called other stores in Houston and Austin and found two bikes that might work. The first one in Houston had a KIDS ROAD BIKE! It was like the one we were going to get from the other store but not a Felt bike, its a Schwinn. Its red white and black. I got on it and it fit perfect. We pick it up tomorrow!

The second reason tomorrow is exciting is because I'm going to take a swimming lesson with a swim team coach.

4 days until race day!

Training - August 2nd - MOCK RACE #2!!!!!

2009-08-02T19:55:00.002-05:00

Here are the goals, first mock race day times, and then today's times.

Swim

Goal: 2:30

1st Race: 3:02

Today: 2:28

1st transition

Goal: 30 seconds

1st Race: 1:29

Today: 1:00

Bike

Goal: 10:30

1st race: 9:25

Today: 9:22

2nd Transition

Goal: 10 seconds

1st race: 10 seconds

Today: 12 seconds

Run

Goal: 4:00

1st Race: 4:07

Today: 4:07

Total

Goal: 17:30

1st Race: 18:12

Today: 17:09!!

I know I can get better at the run and the 1st transition. I can still get three minutes faster when I get my new bike too. Dad and I went to the bike store today and the owner is supposed to call dad tomorrow and let him know where my bike is.

Training - August 1

2009-08-02T19:52:00.002-05:00

August 1st was supposed to be a rest day, but since I didn't get to do my brick the day before, I went to the pool and swam.

I did 100m, then 50mx4 sprints with 20 second breaks, then 100m again.

Training - July 31

2009-07-31T21:08:00.004-05:00

Today I was supposed to do a brick but it rained all day so I didn't get to do the swimming or the bike. When Dad got home at 9:00 we did a half mile run. Our goal was 3:30 sec. but I did it in 3:21 sec. that was very exiting for me because our initial goal was 4:10 seconds! We also just got back from our vacation so we hadn't run in a while so I didn't know about 3:30 sec. being our first goal back. The best run we had done before that was a 3:52 sec. run.

Tomorrow is supposed to be a rest day but I'm going to bike and swim to make up for what I didn't do today.

My new bike should be in tomorrow so we will get it fitted so I can ride it tomorrow.

There are only seven more days until the Kiwanis race!!!!

I'm Back

2009-07-30T21:05:00.002-05:00

The last two days I was in Phoenix. It was 116 degrees outside. Ive never been in weather that hot before!

Me and dad hiked up a mile in the Phoenix mountains in 114 degrees. That was crazy. I did that instead of run. The last two days I did a lot of swimming in the pool. It was about 35 meters long and I swam 6x 35 with no breaks the first day and 4x70 with small breaks and then did 70 meters normal speed and then 70 meters sprinting the second day. My time for the 70 sprint was 1:14.

We had a lot of fun at the ballparks. I have 8 days to finish my training for the Kiwanis. My bike still isn't here but dad is going to call tomorrow and find out where it is.

Tomorrow is a big brick where I am doing 25x 6 sprint with 15 second breaks,then a 2 mile bike, then a .75 mile run, walk .25 and run .5.

Training July 23, 24, 25, 26

2009-07-26T11:24:00.003-05:00

Sorry for no posts for the past three days. We're traveling because Dad and I are seeing ever baseball park in the MLB before I'm eighteen. This year were going to go see the Dodgers, Angles and Diamondbacks!!! Last night we went to Dodgers Stadium. I thought that it was really old and one of the best stadiums we've been to! Tommorow we are seeing the Angles and Tuesday we leave for Phoenix.

Three days ago was a rest day. Right no I'm at Aunt Christins' house (in LA) posting. Yesterday we went to Hollywood, Beverly Hills and Rodeo drive!!!

Two days ago it rained so I just did push-ups and situps. Yesterday we were traveling so I had a rest day. Aunt Christin has a pool so I'm going to swim and run every day I'm here unless it rains.

When we get back to TX we are expecting my new road bike. We are going to ride it every day so I can get used to it.

Training - July 22

2009-07-22T20:25:00.002-05:00

Today was a swim day and I did 25mx8 with a 30 second break, 100m kick board and then 450m swim! I also ran .34 miles and biked 1.36. That wasn't on the schedule but I did it anyway just for fun. I did the run really fast. I sprinted the whole thing! The bike was real easy because I've biked 25 miles before. The 25mx8 was kind of easy. The 100m kick board was easy and I think I should start doing 200m kick board. The 450m swim was hard because my highest before that was only 150m. I was going for 500m and I could have done 50 more but the lifeguard blew the whistle for adult break. I wish that if youre a kid and youre swimming laps you could stay in the pool and swim laps during adult swim. Youre not playing or anything, youre just swimming laps. That's all the grown ups do during adult break if they are in there and besides there aren't many kids that will want to swim laps so there we'll be only like one kid in the pool during adult break. That's what I think should happen in adult break because if that was what happened I would have swam 500m!

Training - July 19-20th

2009-07-20T16:49:00.002-05:00

July 19: Sorry about no post yesterday, but Dad wasnt here for the training or to proof read my post.

Swim: Yesterday was a swimming day. I did 25mx8 with one minute breaks in between the first 4 and 30 seconds between the last four. Then I did kickboard for 100m. And then finished with 50mx2 with a 5 seconds break. That went pretty good. Dad is going to try and get me a swimming instructor to help me with my stroke.

July 20: We had a brick today. Bike 5 miles and run 1 mile. We averaged 12 mph on the bike ride. I'm still on my mountain bike.

Right after we got off the bikes we started running. There is a big difference in running right after I bike. My calf muscles were hurting when I first started running. I had cramps again today for the first time in a long time. They started right around half way. But they weren't too bad. The time for the mile was 8:40. We weren't really trying to run fast, we just wanted to keep a steady pace.

Tomorrow is supposed to be a rest day but I'll probably go to the pool anyway.

Oh yeah! I got my triathlon shirt today! Its like an under armour tank top with a zipper in the front.

I can put it on in 3 seconds!

Training - July 18th

2009-07-18T13:08:00.002-05:00

Run 1 mile:

first .5 mile was 3:48

Second .5 mile was 4:16

Total 8:04

Best half mile ever.

And we've never run a full mile without walking so it was a challenge to finish but I felt like I could have keep on going. I think its because all the training.

I'm not supposed to swim today, but if we get to go to the pool I'm going to swim 100m as fast as I can.

Mock Race Day! - July 17

2009-07-17T08:48:00.003-05:00

I just finished my mock race. I feel tired. I knew I could finish after all the training I've done but I want to be competitive. Here are my times:

Swim - 3:02 My goal was 2:30. I need to work on being able to sprint the whole 100m not just the first 30 and then run out of gas.

Transition one - 1:29 My goal was 30 seconds. I need to do transitions a lot more so I can fix this. I think because I've never done a competitive transition before I wasn't ready for it. Putting my shirt on took almost 20 seconds (it was inside out when I picked it up). My socks took 10 seconds. Running to the transition area took over 15 seconds. I think I should have been practicing more on transitions because it added a minute to my time!

Bike - 9:25 My goal was 10:30. I'm really excited about this! The reason I was going so fast was because of the first transition and I knew I had to make up for that time. I think I can go a lot faster when I get my road bike.

Transition two - 00:9 The goal was 10 seconds so I'm very happy with this. Transition two is just running your bike to the station and taking off your helmet and starting the run.

Run - 4:07 My goal was 4:00. I'm ok with this time. I really pushed myself on the bike so I'm ok with being over by 7 seconds.

Total time - 18:12 Goal was 17:30

So I really need to keep working on my swimming. My best 100m is 2:44, so I know I can do better than what I did today.

Tomorrow is a running day. But I know I'm going to work on my swimming everytime I go to the pool

July 16th- Rest day

2009-07-16T20:13:00.005-05:00

Tomorrow is my first mock race day! There is one more mock race day before Kiwanis.

Our goals for the first mock race day are Swim 2:30, Bike 10:30, and run 4:00. The goal for the transitions is 40 seconds. That equals 17:40 which should put me right in the middle of the pack. For right now, 17:40 is really good because we are half way through the training and we still are using the mountain bike. For the second mock race day I should have my new bike and my goals will be Swim 2:15, Bike 8:00, and Run 3:45 and 30 seconds transitions which is 14:30. That would make me top 5 in all the Kiwanis races that have been posted this year. The new bike should really help!

Now onto Baseball! Baseball is my favorite sport. I play center field mostly and back-up at second base. For almost this whole last season I hit lead-off. I really like to play center field. There are a lot of pop-flies in Center field. When the batters are up I always want them to hit really far to my left or right or front or back so I have to dive and make an outstanding play. When I'm on the bases I love it when there are two outs because you get to run when its hit no matter what. But my favorite thing to do when I'm on the bases is steal! In 19 games this past season I had 31 stolen bases and I only got picked off once when I was at third. The catcher made a really good move and I thought he was throwing to second so I took off to score, but he threw it to the pitcher and they got me. Im pretty mad about that. I had 57 plate appearances and my batting average was .395 and my on base percentage was .544. I got hit by the pitch 4 times and was walked 10 times.

We should be starting the fall season in a couple weeks. Im really excited to start playing again. Here are some pictures my dad takes at the game.

The first one is my favorite. I had a full count with two outs and the bases loaded and I hit a triple to right center field.

My favorite player is Michael Bourn the center fielder for the Astros

Training July 15th

2009-07-15T19:37:00.003-05:00

When I woke up today I knew this was going to be a hard running day. I had to run .75 mile then walk .1 mile then run another .75 mile.

But I did more than just that. When Mom, Tyler, and I went to the pool I swam 3x25m with big breaks in between. Swimming wasn't on the schedule, but I just did it for fun.

My dad told me he would be home around 530pm. So I needed to hydrate around 4pm. I drank half a water bottle full of water and then played with Tyler and the Thomas the Train set. Tyler really likes playing with the trains.

When dad got home and right before we left to run, the news weatherman said it was 96 degrees. But when we got outside it felt like it was 103! We started running from the driveway and ran around the block. Its .34 miles around the block. We run with a GPS so we can see our average speed and how far we run.

Our goal was to run .75 mile in 6 minutes. At .5 mile we were at 3:52 seconds and finished the .75 mile in 5:52! Thats exciting because in the first week we ran the half mile in 4:30 and I don't think I could have gone any further.

Then we walked .1 mile and ran another .75. The second .75 was 6:46 but I ran the whole way.

Im really excited because I've seen a lot of progress since when we first started.

Tomorrow is a rest day so I'm going to post about what I do when I'm not training for the triathlon. BASEBALL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And then Friday is a mock race day! I am going to do the same race as the Kiwanis with the transitions.

Training- July 14th

2009-07-14T18:57:00.002-05:00

Today was a swimming day. I started with two 50m sprints with a 15 second break. Dad timed me and I did the last 50 meters in 1:08. I think I could have gone a little faster. Then I was supposed to do 100m, but at the end of 100, Dad told me to keep going and I ended up going 150!

The Ironkids distance is about 135m and when I first started swimming I thought there was no way I could do it. But today I did it! I was really happy.

The rest of the time at the pool we worked on me breathing on both sides instead of always my right side. It felt very different! But if I can breath on both sides it should really help me. Dad says I need to take a breath every three strokes.

I didnt get to ride my bike today because Mom had to go to a meeting as soon as Dad got home and we had Tyler. But Dad said that will be ok.

Training- July 13th

2009-07-13T20:45:00.003-05:00

Sorry there was no post yesterday, but it was a rest day! And I needed it!

Today was a running day. When I ran on July 10th I had really bad cramps. Today we had the same distance run as July 10th ....so your thinking that I had those cramps again. Well I didn't! I ran a .75 mile distance at a much faster pace and I didn't have to walk! So I did really good on that. We also had to run .5 miles after a 2 minute walk. The .5 mile was my fastest yet! Our old fastest was 4:30 but today I did it in 4:05!

Tomorrow is a big swimming day with a 5 mile bike ride too!

Training- July 11

2009-07-11T19:17:00.003-05:00

Thanks Aunt Christin for the great comment about begin 100% behind me!

Today was the day of the 4th Kiwanis triathlon. The one I'm training for is the 5th Kiwanis triathlon. We watched the 7-8 year old girls. Then the 7-8 year old boys. Then we watched the 9 year old girls then boys. Then it was my age group the 10 year old girls then boys. So even though I'm 9, I'm in the 10 year old group for boys is because the age is determined by my age on Dec. something. I learned some things by watching the transitions and swimming. For the swimming they go around buoys so no one is in a lane.

Today's workout was a 25m warm-up then 50mx4 with the break increasing by 15 sec. break (starting from 15 sec.) Then 100m KB and 50m warm-down. KB stands for kickboard. I finished the 25m warm-up fast but the 50mx4 increasing by 15 sec. break starting from 15 was hard. The first one because it ad only a 15 sec. break in between. My best time for 50m was 1:10 seconds. The 100m KB was kind of hard because I could only use my legs. The 50m warm-down was pretty easy.

I'm learning to do the back crawl as a back-up stroke just in case I need a little breather because my head will always be above water when I do the back crawl. The only problem is that I'm using my same muscles in my legs that I am in the front crawl. The arms are close to the same but when I switch I haven't had a problem. The legs I've had I think one problem with and that was today.

The pictures above are of me in my speedo (the swim suit I'll where on race day), me swimming on the 50m warm-down and Tyler watching me and enjoying a capri sun. You'll also notice I got a haircut today!

Training- July 10

2009-07-10T17:20:00.004-05:00

Today was a tough day! I woke up at 730 this morning. I wasnt planning to go to the pool today, but mom was going to swim laps so I asked if I could come. I swam 25 m x 4 with big breaks in between. It wasnt very hard. I wanted to try a different stroke, so I chose the breast stroke and swam 25 meters. That was hard because I never have done the breast stroke before.

We had a scheduled workout with a 2 mile bike and .75 mile run. We started at 445pm and the temperature was 98!! The picture is right before we got started biking. This is a mountain bike and its hard to get over 13mph sitting down. I should get the new bike the last week in July. Here is a link to the 2009. (mine will be the 2010 model)

New Felt Bike

Running was really hard. I had a really bad cramp in my right side. I had to walk a little but I kept pushing myself to finish. My cramps were probably because I didnt hydrate before my run today and because I'm not used to taking deep breaths yet. Im hoping it gets better before I race.

Thanks everyone for the donations! I really appreciate those donations!

Tomorrow morning we are going to a Kiwanis triathlon to see how they do the transitions and how how triathlons run. I'm very excited and it should help me with my transitions by watching how they do it.

July 9th

2009-07-09T14:21:00.004-05:00

Hey Pawpaw, thanks for the donation! Today my training was swim 25mx6 15 sec. break in between the 25m. I also had to swim 100m nonstop. I did both plus I did an extra three 25m but they weren't close to each other. Thanks for the support and I'll keep pushing until the end!!!!

Training - July 8th

2009-07-08T20:28:00.003-05:00

Hey Uncle Andy, Aunt Lisa, Pawpaw and Aunt Christin. Thanks for the comments to help me keep pushing myself and keep going for the ironkids! I've decided to donate ten percent of the money I get from sponsors to a charity! The charity I'm donating to is to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation International.

Today Dad and I rode six miles but our average speed was only 11 mph. With the road bike we're hoping to get up to 17.5 mph. That bike should get here the last week of July just in time for the Kawanis race. Just in time to get used to it. I think it'll be okay but it might be a little harder than the ironkids will be because I'll be used to the bike by then.

Thanks for everyone's support! Check out the Donate button on the upper right!

Introduction

2009-07-08T13:37:00.000-05:00

I'm training for a triathlon and wanted to create this blog so I can update everyone on my progress. Each night I'm going to tell you what I did that day to prepare for the triathlon. I'll try and get my dad to get some pictures of my training and I'll post them on my blog.

I'm planning to compete in the ironkids triathlon on Sep. 13 in Apharetta, GA. http://www.ironkids.com/Locations/IronKids_Alpharetta.htm
I'm competing in the intermediate divison (9-11 y/o). The distances are 150 yard swim, 4 mile bike and 1 mile run.

On August 8th I'm going to compete in the Kiwanas Kids Triathlon in Houston. The distances are shorter than the ironkids (100m swim, 2 mile bike, and .5 mi run) but since this is my first triathlon it should be a good challenge to tackle.

I started training 2 weeks ago. When I started I had a hard time swimming 25 meters. Biking was pretty easy. I am used to sprinting for baseball but had a hard time running .5 miles.

Ive come a long way. Monday was a brick where I swam 50 meters, biked 3 miles, and ran .5 miles. Tuesday I swam 25m x 6 with a 15 second break in between each 25m. Then 50m, then 100m then 25m. Then I ran .5 miles, walked .25 miles and ran anther .5 miles. Today I have a 6 mile bike.

My best time for 25m swim is 30.44 seconds. My best .5 mile time is 4:30. I'm averaging 12.5 mph biking. Dad says once I get a road bike I'll be able to average 17.5mph.

My goals for Kawanis are 2:30 for the 100m swim, 7:00 minutes for the 2 mile bike, and 4:10 for the .5 mile run.

If you would like to sponsor me (to help with training, equipment, and travel costs) please check back soon for more information!