The race is done! Not the race to find a cure for cancer, but the first in many of my upcoming events with Team in Training!!!

Saturday Sept 18th Colleen and I woke up at 3:30 am, brushed our teeth, ate breakfast, and headed down to Liberty Station in San Diego. It really was perfect race conditions. Cloudy and cool (and of course still dark at 445am)!

:)

The gun for the first wave went off at 6:30 and 24 mins later I was in water starting my race as the gun went off for my age group! Just under a 1 mile swim. It felt good to start but soon my goggles were leaking and the salt water was stinging my eyes! Not much I could do, other then like Nemo's friend says :Just keep swimming, just keep swimming." So that's what I did! And 25mins and 55 seconds later I was rushing up the stairs out of the water and into the transition area for the bike!

A quick 2min 21sec transition (it was a large transition area) lead me out onto the bike course! I pedaled furiously, but I never seem to go fast enough!! :) It was a beautiful course, 2 loops, onto the military base up a pretty hairy hill and then to the top of Cabrillo national monument (where Colleen and were married 5yrs ago)! Then a steep fast hill back to the bottom and repeat! I took the last few mins on the bike to strech out my legs and back before dismounting and with an average speed of 18.8mph, 26.2 miles and 1hour 19mins later I was back in the transition area.

With a speedy transition time of 1min 6secs I was out the gates and running! I think it was at mile 2 of the 6.2 mile run I realized I was pretty gassed!!! I hadn't taken in the proper amount of nutrition on the bike and I was gonna feel it for the next four or so miles! I just kept telling myself I could do it, that at least it wasn't chemotherepy! So after 54mins and 17 seconds on the run and a total time of 2hours 42mins and 45seconds I crossed the finish line!

My mind was numb and my body was aching, but I kept thinking about all the people who would benefit from all this hard work and everything immediately came into perspective again about why I do this!

This is only the beginning!

Thank you all so much for your help, love, donations, and support!

Thak you for being a part of my life and sharing this moment with me!

I promise I won't let you down.

With your help there is an Ironman in my future!

And more importanly there is a cure!!

Why I Compete

Why do you do it (Train, Fundraise, Compete)?

I do it for those who can’t.

I do it for those who told me I can’t.

I do it for those who think they can’t.

I do it for those who won’t.

I do it for the little part of my brain that says “you won’t go through with it.”

I do it for me.

I do it for time, distance and speed.

I do it because when the challenge ever arises I will meet it, complete it and smile.

I do it for the hills I never thought I could climb.

I do it for my teammates at the finish line.

I do it for my finisher’s pin that I wear with pride.

I do it for the mission moments.

I do if for the Honored Teammates.

I do it for the Honored Angels.

I do it because it makes me a better person.

I do it because there is no greater competitor then you except for maybe your watch.

I do it because I love the rain, sunshine, roads, woods, and ocean.

I do it because it makes me feel better.

I do it because it puts us one step closer to a cure.

I do it because it puts me to sleep at night.

I do it for the adrenaline rush before a race.

I do it for the last ten seconds of the race.

I do it to push my body to the limit and watch it deal.

I do it for the little kid in the back of my head telling him/her “No we are not there yet.”

Why not?

I do it to push my body to the limit, wait what limit.

I do it because my body yells “stop”, my mind screams “pain”, and my soul says “keep going”.

I do it to find the place where I hit a brick wall and then break through.

I do it for when my mind and body thank me it is over and my soul tells them that was just the end of the beginning.

I do it…

No one ever works out or donates their time and money and regrets it. You never go for a run, bike, or swim and when you’re finished wish you would have just stayed home. You never climb a mountain and reach the top saying, “I should’ve been content to stay where I was.”

This is for all the times people ask you why you compete, train, and fundraise and your innate response is “I just do.”

-Jennifer Keating (Coach Jen)

Monday - Just under 1 mile swim in the pool!

Tuesday - Super hard Track workout. Sprint 300 meters, then walk 100 meters (in 1min (recovery)) (400 meters = 1 lap) Repeat 3x's. After the 3rd 1min walk, run 800 meters at 10K pace (for me this is 3:58). Then repeat that whole series 3x's!!! OMG I was so sore on Wed and Thurs!

Wednesday - Ocean Swim to the half mile bouy and back. Then practice race exit!

Thursday - Cross Train - Surfing

Friday - Recovery/Rest Day

Saturday - 30 mile ride from Beautiful Lake Hodges to Fletcher Cove in Solana Beach ten back up to Lake Hodges, then a 6 mile run (in what felt like blazing heat (it was only 85)).

7/25/10- After having to take a week off training for various things, I was welcomed back yesterday with a 50 mile bike ride from Carmel Valley to Ramona and back! I started out poorly without the proper breakfast or nutrition and not enough sleep the night before. My stomach was squirley all morning and I couldn't get the sick feeling out of my stomach, but I know that I had to do this ride. The first half of the ride was really good. I had a decent pace and things were going well despite the 4 mile climb up Scripps Poway Parkway to the 67. Thats when it started to hit me that I still had 4 miles to go before turning around and heading back! Fortunately most of the ride back was flat or downhill, I actually hit my fastest speed ever on the bike of 40mph! Then iI got back to Black Mtn Rd and I had to give everthing I had just to keep from getting off the bike and walking up that hill my legs were so weak and all I could keep thinking to myself was "this isn't chemo it's just a hill just keep moving"! By the time I made it to the hill I only had about 8 miles to go in the ride, but I was done! My butt was so chaffed i could bare manage to stay in seat, my feet had gone numb after 30 miles but having to alternate standing was causing some tremendous pain in my toes. At 48 miles I noticed that my front tire was starting to go flat, I must have hit something, but there was still some air left in it. I couldn't stop to change it! I knew that if I got off that bike I wouldn't be able to get back on so I rode it in that way! But I made it. I made it back! 50 miles completed! My longest ride thus far. People always ask why do you that to yourself? Why would you put yourself thorugh that? All I can answer is that I do it because I can! I do it for all thouse who can't and who are just fighting to stay alive! I do it because I can!!

Racing to Save Lives

Ok people, it's been a while (3 years to be exact), but I'm at it again!!!

I am training to participate in the SAN DIEGO TRIATHLON CLASSIC as a member of The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's Team In Training and I need your help!

For those of you who don't know, this is an Olympic distance triathlon (1.5k/40k/10k). Which basically means that on September 18, 2010 I will embark on - 0.9 mile swim / 24.9 mile bike ride / followed by a 6.2 mile run (For more details click here www.sandiegotriathlonclassic.com)

All of us on Team In Training are raising funds to help stop leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin lymphoma and myeloma from taking more lives.

My Goal is to complete this triathlon in honor of all individuals who are battling blood cancers, these people are the real heroes on our team, and a few special friends of mine (you know who you are) who have lost friends and loved ones because of this. We need your support to cross the ultimate finish line - a cure!

I feel now more than ever many, many people are experiencing the pain of dealing with cancer in some way shape or form. Whether we ourselves have been diagnosed, a loved family member or a friend - we are all in this together.

Please make a donation to support my participation in Team In Training and help advance the Society's mission.

I hope you'll visit my web site often. Be sure to check back frequently to see my progress, and feel free to email me at bradmichels@gmail.com.

Thanks for your support!

Update

Week 1 of training has been a success! 50 miles on the bike, 1.25 miles in the pool and 6 miles running!! Not a bad start!

Week 2 - This is no Joke! 2.4 miles swimming in the pool, Ran a 7:05 for my 1 mile time trial and then did another 4 miles! Then managed to do 4 Hill repeats (two in the big chain ring!) at Torrey Pines. It's only 3 miles round trip but WHAT A HILL!!!!

Week ??? - 6/30/10 - Can't keep track of the weeks any more but this training is Crazy Last Saturday we did our first Brick work out! Run then Bike, and then run then bike then run, you get the idea! While the distances weren't that far much of the run was in deep sand and this was a tough workout! I only got through about 3 revolutions before I had to stop and I was very sore after!

Also, finally started swimming in the ocean again! I've done 3 swims so far at a decent pace about 1mile each! Something about being in the ocean and in the water just brings me back to myself, and while it can be mentally challenging (trying not to think about what lurks in the water beneath you) I just always feel so blessed to live by the ocean and to be able to take advantage of it every day!

Last night was another crazy run workout. 5 miles with deep sand intervals!!!! I’m already feeling it!!!

7/4/10 - Wow What a great week! - Logged over 2.4 miles in the pool/ocean this week. Then 40 miles on the bike yesterday and 6.2 mile run today!!!