First I lost a bunch of weight and just needed a new goal to keep staying in shape. I set the goal of running in my first triathlon. Ten years later I did my first one and placed second overall. After I lost my job, and the middle of my second season of racing, I found training for my next triathlon gave me a focus away from work. It's helped me keep my sanity! This blog is mostly about triathlon, but it touches on my life in general too.
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
Archives older than September 1, 2008
Dear Readers
This blog was on Myspace, but sooooo many people are having trouble with it there, I moved it here. Heck even I was having trouble with it there. The worst is that people had trouble even getting to the blog, but that was only the start of it.
I know I may have new readers, so I even brought over all the archives. Even my older readers may want to catch-up. It wasn't extraordinarily difficult, but you'd think someone would of made it easier. Just a copy and paste. This has left some remnants of Myspace on the blog, so please just ignore them.
Enjoy,
the Management
Monday, September 01, 2008
2008 Advocare Sprint Series 2nd Place Overall!! Current mood: excited Category: Sports
I forgot to mention that this race gave me 2nd place overall in the 2008 Advocare Sprint Series. This is based off of four races and you have to race in at least three to qualify for the final point standings. They haven't posted the final results, but I was only about 10 points out of first. You can find a better explanation of the series here.
So now that you have watched the video can you guess what one word can sum up this race? WET! Thank you Tropical Storm Fay!
You had to walk through a flooded swamp just to get to the swim. In the first hundred hards of the run my shoes were soaked as there were no options to go around the puddles.
Amazingly, I surprised myself with a 6th place overall and first in my age group. If you read my previous post, you'd understand why this was a surprise. I had been in California for two weeks helping my dad move and before that my life had been so hectic that I was lucky to get training in. My race seemed slow, but I still did well.
Now if I could just swim straight, I would be doing awesome. I must have added at least 100 meters. My goggles fogged up in the first few seconds of the swim and I could barely see someone swimming next to me. I couldn't believe when I got out of the water and I saw two kids, that must of been in the 15 and under category, running in front of me. I definitely need to train with the kids at the pool!
Transition went fast and I must of made up a bunch of spots on the bike. I was only passed once, but it gave me someone to keep pace off of. I didn't lose sight of them. In the middle of the race I passed another rider and he said there were only three people in front of me. I found that hard to believe, and just kept pounding away. I came to a spot on the course where I saw the leader and the pace car. I counted, and sure enough there were only three people in front of me.
The rider who passed me was one of them, but they were only about 50 meters ahead. I took his spot in transition and it took him a good couple minutes before he gained it back. My run is still my weakest event, and not training didn't help. I just ran relaxed and only ended up losing four spots. Working on my run is again going to be my off season training goal.
Three more weeks until the last race of my season! September 21, Athletes for a Cure.
Here is the video. Thanks to my wife Liz for doing the hardwork of filming it. I just ran the race and put the whole thing together. The blog is coming soon.
Boy am I not ready! I have a race this weekend and I've barely been able to train. Trying to start a new business from almost scratch takes a lot of time! That's not the only thing I've been up to. The past couple weeks I helped my dad move his 3000+ sq ft home 820 miles from San Jose to his 2200 sq ft home in Tucson.
I recommend that everyone moves regularly, this keeps the junk down. My dad hasn't moved in about 10 years, and I think he had at least six sets of dishes. Who needs six sets? If you live near Tucson, let me know and I may be able to work some deals out for you ;)
So while I was moving, I found time to get some training in about once every couple days. I found one chance to jump on a bike, and I only had the time to ride it 1.5 miles to the pool and back.
I got back yesterday and have watched heavy rain and winds from T.S. Fay completely ruin any chance to jump on my bike today. I wasn't even sure if the "Y" was open. It didn't matter, because I have spent most of the day doing MORE business stuff.
I am completely off schedule for my routine, I miss it and it's frustrating!!!
The little bit of training I have done, has kept me sane. It has pulled me away from long hours in front of the computer trying to figure out what's the next step in getting my freelance photography off the ground. When my hours were more regular, I had a set time to get a workout done in. Now that I can go anytime, my "job" always seems to take up the prime hours.
I wanted to do well in the race this weekend because it is the final for the series, and I have a chance to be in the top three overall. We will see
I have one more major race this season and it is Athletes for a Cure on September 21. I have to make money to race (Not to mention just to eat and pay the bills), but getting out and training keeps me from going insane before I make any money. How life can be so frustrating sometimes.
Btw.... I don't know if I mentioned that I have a new blog specifically focused on my photography at http://pilsterphotography.blogspot.com. I hope to start posting pictures there soon and not just rants.
I'm in Arizona right now, I just helped my dad finish a move. I'm supposed to fly back into Orlando at 6:10p. Right now a hurricane (At the moment it is Tropical Storm Fay) is supposed to hit Tampa at 8p. Now I know most people would want to run away from a hurricane, but even though I no longer have a job at a newspaper, my instinct is to get back there in front of it.
This eagerness comes from the urge to be with my wife and dogs, but some of it is the possibility that there may be something to cover. Some of it is I don't want to be stuck at an airport on a layover, when I could be with family in either Arizona or home.
Hopefully many people won't be sharing my urge to head to Florida, and I may be able to book and earlier flight. Looks like I'll be on the phone to Southwest tomorrow figuring things out.
And don't forget that if you need photos when the hurricane hits, I'm available for freelance!
For a couple of reasons, I'm starting a second blog to focus on my freelance photography and issues surrounding it. I am still going to continue this one to focus on triathlon and my life in general. My new blog can be found at Weird But Cool! Thanks for reading!
Moss park isn't anything exciting, but it's great to race the same course over and over. You never know how you've improved in triathlon until you race the same course, because every course is different. This is the fourth time I've done this course and the second time this year. I was excited to see a minute drop off my time earlier in the season, but a little upset to watch my run time increase.
Once again my photographer wasn't able to make it. Her bed was much more exciting than a park she's seen me race at four times. I certainly hope she makes it to watch me race this park a fifth though. Right now I'm second in the overall points for the Advocare Sprint Series and the race is looking close!
The swim started out right into the sun. I found myself looking for the buoy way to often when there was no way I was going to see it anyway. I need to just put my head down and trust where I'm swimming to. I knocked 40 seconds off of my time earlier this season, but the first guys out of the water were three minutes ahead of me, so I still have a lot of pool work to do.
My bike was really good. I blazed through transition and was off on my bike. I had my shoes on, a gulp of water and watched as I passed people. At the halfway mark I made a loop and saw a pack of five riders on my tail. I kept it in high gear and finally one of them caught me, but that was it. I stayed on his tail the best I could and when we made a loop I saw the pack of riders even further back.
Once again I blazed through transition (Did I mention I like my new biking shoes!). The run started out smooth and I amazingly started to watch myself close a gap on the runner in front of me. I've been so used to being passed when I hit the run that it really is exciting for me to close in on other runners. Unfortunately I still had one person pass me, so I was back in the same position that I started in. It's really exciting to see improvement in my run, even if I was 40 seconds slower than when I started this season. I hope by the next race at Moss Park in August that I can set another PR in my overall and do it by dropping my run time!
No time for training! Current mood: focused Category: Sports
A race on Saturday gave me something to focus on besides trying to market my freelance photography business. I used to think I was busy when I had my job at the News-Journal, but now most of my days include waking up and starting on one project or another and then not getting to bed until 1am.
All of this has totally wreaked havoc on my training. I feel like I want to get all of my projects done before I even step foot out the door. Sometimes I don't finish a project, and sometimes there is a lightning storm going on outside. I started to feel like the light at the end of the tunnel was getting closer, when a curve ball was thrown at me. An opening for a photographer position at one of the papers I've been eying for years, and even more so in the past few months. I've had to switch gears to get everything ready to make their deadline 12 days after they posted the opening. I think I have one more day and I'll have the packet ready to go out the door.
As I check things off my to do list, one of the most major projects is 99% complete and live! I finished a major overhaul of my website at http://www.chadpilster.com. If you see a problem at it don't hesitate to let me know. I think I know most of them and will be working on them as soon as I get some priority projects done. Now that this is up I can start marketing myself to some editorial and advertising clients. Without a current portfolio, it's hard to show people what you can do.
My to do list is still a mile long, but things that needed to be done yesterday are turning into things that can be done next week. Just when things are starting to slow down, other things are coming up. Friday is my wife's birthday and party (Happy Birthday honey!), next weekend I'm off to St. Petersburg, Fla. for the amazing Geekfest workshop by Aphotoaday (I haven't missed it since 2002, and they have only gotten better), and then the Tuesday after that I'm off to California for two weeks to help my dad move to Tucson.
During this whole time I hope to get my act in gear for training. I know, I have an excuse and I shouldn't be hard on myself, but my excuse is finally starting to give me some free time. I am planning on taking full advantage of this free time and getting ready for the last two races of my race year. I will, I will, I will train! I miss regular training, I'm getting tired of staring at the computer. The only excuse that's going to be acceptable to me is that I have a freelance job or other job, otherwise see you on the road or in the water....
CANCELLED! Current mood: stressed Category: Sports
FOR THE SAFETY OF OUR ATHLETES AND VOLUNTEERS, THE TRIATHLON HAS BEEN CANCELLED DUE TO INCLEMENT WEATHER IN THE AREA.
FREQUENT LIGHTENING AND HEAVY RAINED PREVENT US FROM BEING ABLE TO SAFELY CONDUCT THE RACE.
The 3rd Annual Morton Plant Mease Triathlon For the first time in my short racing career a triathlon I was supposed to race in was canceled. That's pretty amazing considering the amount of crazy weather we get here in Florida. A drive to Tampa and the usual 4:45 a.m. early morning wakeup call was wasted. A poor volunteer standing in the rain with a flashlight got to tell me that the race has been canceled (I just want to say these hardworking guys standing in the rain do an awesome job!).
So I read once that if you don't finish a triathlon it's against triathlon lore to wear the t-shirt. What about if the whole event is canceled?
I feel real sorry for those two bikers who didn't have lights on their bikes, riding in the pitch dark and biking through the rain (Who I nearly ran over, because I couldn't see them before I passed them) who were 75% of the way to the park when I saved them the trip and told them the bad news.
Thank you to our great hosts Debbie and Helmut, and I'll see you whenever the race get's rescheduled. If we didn't get to see you two the trip would of been a complete gas burner.
Since there are no photos this week, take a look at my new wedding photo website. I hope to update my main portfolio site in the next week. More triathlon will be coming soon, i'm headed back to Orlando for the Moss Park Triathlon next Saturday. Right now I'm third place in the Advocare Sprint Triathlon Series and I hope to keep that spot or better it in the next two races of the series.
Training was difficult this week. On Monday I found out I lost my job. In between making over a 1000 minutes worth of phone calls, consuming lot's of alcohol with VERY supportive friends, getting equipment to go freelance, and figuring out what's happening next, I made it to the pool twice for masters, ran one day and didn't get on the bike at all (The afternoon thunderstorms haven't helped either). Oh yeah, I did have that race last Sunday and then another Yesterday (Sunday), so you might call those training days.
Well for not training everything went smooth. For my first race ever my support team (photographer (So there are no photos this week), cheering squad, best friend in the whole world) wasn't there. I think the whole week was harder on her than it was me and she couldn't handle the 5a.m. wake-up call.
The swim was SOOOOOO much better than last year. Last year, you could pull yourselves by the weeds. Ten feet out and the bottom dropped out, I don't think I felt a single weed until I was ready to stand. It was also 800 meters, and I really enjoy the longer swims, it sorts the people out. I like doing races that I did the previous year, because it gives me a nice gauge to see how much I've improved.
My transition was fast just like last week. I highly recommend a good pair of tri biking shoes to anyone that doesn't have them. I had my Rudy Project Syton Helmet and Horus glasses and I was out of transition in about 36 seconds and already moving on the bike while I put on my shoes.
One person passed me, but I stayed with him the rest of the bike. We made five laps around. They said there might be 600 people and at one point everyone was on the course. I really know how the Rolex 24 hour drivers feel. They have multiple classes of cars on the track, so the faster cars are always passing the slower cars. I was constantly shouting "On your Left!" as I rolled by averaging almost 24mph. It added a whole new challenge, or at least one that I hadn't seen since last year, and it evened out some of the stronger bikers.
Once again my transition went smooth. This has been a whole new experience from the beginning of the season. Only about a quarter mile of a 2.5mile run was in shade, and with a lot of pavement around it was hot.
For the second week in a row my race was very smooth. I hope to get back into my routine soon, but just getting out the door is refreshing. I have one more definite race this season in about two weeks. I hope to finish out the Buttar Sprint series. I may do one more Olympic late in the season, but unless my work situation improves I'm going to have to cut out a few races and maybe end my season about a month early. Wish me luck!
excited 
focused 
stressed 
hopeful 
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