Roughly 5 weeks

My big day (wedding) is just around the corner now. I remember when I proposed thinking, man, Jan 4 is so far away! Now time is approaching at light speed.

Off season for me has always been a problem for me. I'm like Jan Ullrich, as in, I get nice and fat. Come in-season...actually now I think about it, I go from fat to soft! The problem isn't as bad anymore as I have been in the low 140s this year. Getting back to my point, the off season and the wedding approaching can spell some trouble. I don't want my wedding night to come and I'm a big fatty. I don't want my wife's eyes to be scared from the get go. :) So I will be keeping my blog as my accountability partner. I will also post my favorite snack of the weeks.

As of now I weigh in at 147.

Favorite snack: Laughing Cow Cheese

This tasty light pasteurized cheese snack is incredible! I roll it up in a wrap and spread marmite all over. It is heavenly. For thoes of you who can't tolerate marmite, PB does the trick also.
Indulgence has a lighter side...ummmmmm

Calories: 35
Fat: 2.0g
Carb: 1.0g
Protein: 2.5g

Tag! You're it!!

I was tagged today my MarkyV. You have to give a list of five things people do not know about you.

1. I really like opera...especially Nessun Dorma when done by the three tenors.
2. I'm addicted to slowtwitch but never post.
3. I'm a tv star! Did a show with Gabby Resse on FitTV.
4. I use to be a big baller. Represented my region in NZL for basketball.
5. Can't get enough of facial scrub. Scrubbing particles feel great. Check out Jack Black products. The Face Buff is awesome.

Now I'm coming after others.

Bree Wee. First amateur female finisher and 13 OA in Kona. Smashed 20-24 record.

Tim Marr. Good training partner of mine. Navigate to his blog.

Down Time

Not a huge fan of the off season especially when the last race of the season did not go to plan. All I want to do is go and train so hard so I have a awesome base for next year. Even though my body is not too stressed it is my mind that needs a rest. This year has been one of the hardest years mentally then any other.

To keep myself entertained I have been rock climbing, mountain biking, consuming way too much coffee. Nothing beats drinking a hot cup of coffee outside while feeling the cold air at 6am. I have more free time to get my suit altered, find out about fixing my wedding band and will try find some clothes for my groomsmen today! I am getting married soon to beautiful blonde. Will have to post some lifestyle pics on my page soon.

In the plan as of right now is to run the Austin Marathon in February. I can talk the talk and say I would like to go around 2:45 but until I see what it is like training at that pace I have no idea. The goal is to be sub 2:50. I just would love to beat the time Lance Armstrong posted in New York!

Ryan Hall

That's all she wrote.

It is done and I will have some business to settle here next year. Last year I nailed the run and had a lousy bike. This year I had a great swim, lousy bike, and a solid run. If this trend continues then next year I will put together a solid package.

The swim was like no other swim I have been in. It was just vicious, really vicious. After I found some clear water I started getting into a solid rhythm and next thing I know me and another fellow were leading the swim...until I looked to right to see half the field had swam inside the bouys. I think I was in top 10 at turn around and was feeling great. Coming home with the sun coming always causes navigational problems and I fell victim to it today. I found my self very wide and had to work my way back into the pack. Ended up finding them but losing the top tier guys I so desperately wanted to swim swim. Great start to the day exiting in 23 minutes...three minutes faster then last year.

Once out on the bike I though I was doing ok as the pack was not gaining time on me. Then Mr. Chris Lieto graced the pack with his presence and I just didn't have the legs. In previous posts I mentioned how much my cycling was coming along thanks to the SRM. It was coming along, but I never was able to mix the high watts over a long duration. I was fast just never got to go long :) That will be a major target for me next year. Basically I said hi and bye to all my fellow triathletes on the bike. Mile 50 I was just hanging on.

Now I always love getting onto the run because it has become a strength of mine the past year. Today it was not. I struggled to mile three and then my legs said, ok, we are ready now. Three to eight was awesome! Managed to pick off 5-6 guys and ran with my good buddy, Michael Simpson for a good while and though I was good to the finish. Mile eight came and the legs decided that they were done for the day. Crossed the line in 4:01:50 I think. Not what I was looking for but hey, You only really learn perfection, or close to when you excecute a sub par race. Also, I have a good lookin' blond that i get to spend the rest of the evening with!

Congrats every one who completed the race today and big shout out to the Top 10 male and females. Thanks for everyone who were able to read my postings.

2007 Triathlon Lessons
1) If you wanna be fast, really fast, don't go get stressful day job.
2) Triathlons are a great way to meet great people
3) Cervelo...you make a beautiful bike.
4) Speed work in key. Get in three wickedly hard sessions a week.
5) SRMs are the bomb
6) 70 hr work weeks are not fun. Getting the money from 70 hr weeks is awesome!

JC

Race Morning

Morning! Had a good nights rest after a nice rub down from Lindsay. It is going to be a very fast race today with a massive pro field. The run down to the beach is going to be crazy.

I hope to have a good race today but it will be tough. Will write again once the race is done.

-$$

One Day Left

Carbo loading party was last night on the beach and conditions were very cold. Last year was much warmer and comfortable being able to wear Hawaii attire. I just hope the conditions warm up some on race morning. Having said that, I just returned home from a morning swim off Pier 60 with the outside air temperature comfortable.

Now back to to the carbo loading dinner. I ran into Paul and Lance, the superstar coaches from Lifesport. I meet them back in 2004 when they came to Kona for a camp with a bunch of athletes from the academy they use to coach at. It was nice to catch up with them and see how far their new company has come along. They coached Kona superstar, Bree Wee to her record breaking perfromance in Kona this year.

Had a nice swim today and the new wetsuit is incredible! I know a secret that too many don't know about and that is Xterra wetsuits. Most flexibility out of any suit I have ever used..hands down. Big shout out to Glynn at Xterra for helping me out. Ran into Chris Lieto before jumping into the water and had a nice chat. I tell ya, Chris is a hell of a good guy and very humble. He was sporting some sweet 3/4 compression socks. I have talked to a few people here about the socks including Chris and the Lifesport coach Paul. They have all recommended them for traveling and recovery, but they were not so sure about race day until some more scientific evidends comes out. I have a couple pairs and think they do a great job as well for travel and recovery.

About to go for a little beach run and then stay horizontal until the pro meeting a 14:00.

-$$

2 Days to Go

Hello my few dedicated readers!!
Lindsay and I arrived in Clearwater last night after a comfortable flight over from Austin. Bike arrived safetly with out the gorillas doing much harm to the case. I did however find that my derailer had shifted and the chain is rubbing so I will take care of that down at the expo shortly. Will be meeting up with my partner in crime, Tim Marr down at the expo. It has been a while since I have caught with him. It's pretty funny when I think of Tim and I this time last year. We were both single, not thinking of anything crazy...like marriage, and riding aluminium bikes. Fast forward to today and Tim is married to a beautiful Brazilian riding a carbon fiber bike. I'm one step behind, engaged to a beautiful Texan and riding a carbon fiber bike. Life is very fun and exciting at the moment.

To you all who know the Cotter's, we are not great at getting things done in a timely manner. So, I didn't book the hotel in time and the one we were after was booked up. Lindsay got to work and found a little motel around six miles away from race site. When we arrived late last night it wasn't to appealing to the eye but this morning we woke to a pleasent surprise! We are steps away from the beach. Lindsay and I completed an easy 30 minute run on the beach (Lindsay would like to chime in that she ran longer then me) after throwing some food down the hatch. There is a full kitchen in our place so we have the luxury of putting together our own food.

Off to expo to see who can fix my bike and see who is looking fit.

-$$

Time Already!!!

Tomorrow Lindsay and I head off to Clearwater for the day I have prepared as best as I can for. It has been a long, hard, and rough journey to this point and I hope all my efforts result in a race I can be happy with.

I worry as I have been very hermit like in my training doing everything solo which I have not done in a while....or ever. My swimming yardage just tops over 3,000m per day when most are doing 5k. I do try to swim race pace of faster every set..but will my arms have the stregth in them to swim the race with the front pack? The biking has been coming along and I did my last hard ride on Saturday down south. Rode at L5 for 45 minutes and broke my PB on the loop without giving my bike full throttle. Almost was suckered into doing a hard VO2 max set today and bailed last minute. I have been a fan of doing high intensity work close to race day, but since my training has not been following the norm I should probably back off. Ran sub 6s on the 10 mile loop on Sunday but my pacing is pretty off because of lack of speed work. It wasn't pretty since I realized at mile 7 I misjudged my pace and had a to pull a wanna be Ryan Hall.

Thanks to the maybe 5 people.....? who have been reading my posts in the build up to the race.

-$$

Crank that....but I aint no SUPERMAN!

If I were a full time coach, I could honestly say the following. Do as I say, not as I do. I have come down the superman syndrome the past week because of my anxiety with race day so close. I pretty much hung out in L4 and L5 on bike for the past four days and it has taken its toll on my body. Yesterday was interval day on the run and I could only manage one 15 minutes interval at 5:30 pace! Little pissed off as I really needed the other 4 intervals, but i have the bike speed and milage under my legs. I'm going to be walking a very thin line going into Clearwater but I have to do what I have to do to get some high end form into my legs. When you work a 70 hour week the week before World Champs you don't think straight. Can't wait to see my fiancee either for longer then 30 minutes.

Train hard and train right!!