Clear Lake International Triathlon - Olympic & Sprint

Five Finish Strong coached athletes (L to R) Tim Monk, Kyle Mays, Tommy Sustala, Rodrigo Abascal and Mike Bard (not pictured) have award winning performances at the recent Clear Lake International Triathlon held on August 22.

Tim Monk was the overall winner of the Clear Lake Triathlon Olympic distance open race. Tim finished the 1.5k/40k/10k race in 2:05:33. He finished the swim in 21:10, the bike in 59:55 and the final run in 42:06 at a brisk 6:47 pace.

Kyle Mays placed second in his 45 to 49 age group in the Olympic distance. Kyle had the second fastest run and completed the race in 2:25:45.

Mike Bard placed second in the Clydesdale group in the Olympic distance. Mike finished in 2:27:49. He had a strong swim at 24:04 and bike at just 1:01:15.

Tommy Sustala came in third in the enormous 40 to 44 age group in the Olympic distance. He finished in 2:16:38 with the fastest swim in his age group of just 21:40.

In the Sprint distance race, Rodrigo Abascal won his 15 to 19 year old age group and placed 10th overall! Rodrigo had the fastest run and bike in his age group and the second fastest swim. He swam the .75K distance in 11:50, completed the 30K bike in a blistering 47:37 at a 23.4 mph pace, and finished strong with a 21:12 5K run at a 6:50 pace.

Special thanks to Irasema (Rodrigo's mom) for snapping these photos at Clear Lake.

Tuesday Night Track Group!

The Tuesday Night Track program continues to grow. We recently did a 1,600 and 3,000 time trial. Based on the time trial, we each learned our VDOT that helps us with our training intensities for different paces and distances.

Darnd'st Duathlon San Marcos

Here we are at the start of the Darnd'st Duathlon in San Marcos on August 16, 2009.

I'm running near the outlet mall. My daughters told me they came along to watch me, but I think they really wanted to shop!

Biking and more running!

I was 4th overall and 3rd in my age group. Congrats to Rodrigo who was 1st in his age group!

Tri-Arkansas Triathlon

By Tom Schwartzkopf

I just finished the Tri-Arkansas Triathlon Festival in Arkadelphia Arkansas. It was fun but very tough due to the hills.

This is me coming in on the 1500 meter swim. I'm all alone. The pack is back behind me

about 100 meters. I'm in second place here. The kid who beat me did so by over a minute. Fast little critter.

I could have sworn there were people at my feet. I was surprised by the lonely welcome I got coming out of the water.

Alright, time to go to work. The girl at the top asked me if I wanted a drink of water. I told her I swallowed enough lake water to last me the entire day.

This is what it looks like at the start of the bike. I'm not in the picture. This was one of the easier hills on the 28 mile course.

This is me on the run heading up the hill. Yea, I'm tired but I'm ready for the 6.5 miles ahead of me.

Here I am at the end of the run. Coming down the hill was a lot easier than going up. My age group was tough. I came in fourth but I was pleased with my performance.

Austin Triathlon

Kudos to Finish Strong coached athletes Jim Harrington and Richard Lewellen who competed in the Austin Triathlon on Labor Day, September 7.

Jim Harrington, 45, competed in the Olympic distance 1500 meter swim/40K bike/10K run event. He placed 6th in his mammoth age group 62 deep of (45 to 49 year olds) and 69th overall in a field of nearly 650 age groupers. Jim had a particularly strong bike leg covering the 40K distance in just over 1:05.

Richard Lewellen, 65, competed in the Sprint distance 700 meter swim/27k bike/5K run event.
He placed 5th in his age group of die-hard 60 to 64 year olds. Richard had an excellent swim of just over 17:37 for the 700 meter.

Way to go!

Friday Night Lights

The Woodlands Lady Highlanders Cross-Country Booster Club and team hosted the first high school meet of the school year on Friday night, August 28. We had over 1,700 athletes signed up to compete at Bear Branch Fields in The Woodlands.

After several years of heading up the event,
Cindy and Scott Andrews eagerly passed the torch of "Race Director" to me this year. But, fortunately, both stayed on to coordinate volunteers and help in countless other ways. Thank heavens!

At 8:30am, we had a great troop of eager and able-bodied volunteers doing the back wrenching work of setting up the course to accomodate the 2 mile and 2.8 mile course for the competing JV and Varsity boys' and girls' teams. Others were helping set up the concession stand under the competent direction of Martha Miller.

By 5pm, we were in the midst of signing up folks for the open race, helping coaches get their race packets, putting volunteers in place, checking the timing system, and all the countless other last minute chores. Things were coming together.

At 6:30 pm sharp the 2 mile open race was underway! My eighth grade daughter, Anna, was competing along with a slew of high school students and other adults from the community. We watched as the competitors made their way around the first loop of the course. At 6:38pm, a violent burst of wind snapped the tent for our timer and announcer. No one was harmed, but the timing clock was knocked over forcing us to announce times as the runners crossed the finish line.

The uncooperative weather persisted. Several streaks of lightning crossed the sky forcing a delay of the remaining races. More lightning forced the cancellation of the race much to the disappointment of the everyone -- athletes, coaches, spectators, and volunteers.

On a positive note, as a Race Director I'm so appreciative of all the effort and hard work that so many people put in to make a great race. Is it too early for me to ask for you to volunteer for next year's Friday Night Lights?

Colorado Trip

I volunteered to be a chaperone for The Woodlands High School girls cross country team's annual trip to Colorado (my oldest daughter is on the team) this year. We left The Woodlands Saturday morning taking two days to make it to Winter Park, CO. The first night was spent camping out under that stars in Palo Duro Canyon in north Texas. Beautiful area!

The days start with a short run, breakfast and then a long hike in the mountains surrounding Winter Park. The hikes are rather tough but all of the girls (32 of them) make it up each peak. Yesterdays hike up James Mountain was particularly tough but the view from the peak (13,000 feet) was awesome. Hope to post more soon.