Week 12...what a week!

As I think about the most exciting weeks I've had in the sport of triathlon including earning my pro license in 2009 by winning the Longhorn 70.3 amateur race, a 6th place finish at Racine 70.3 in 2011, Ironman Arizona in 2011, and winning Beach 2 Battleship full Ironman distance last fall...this past week falls right into that category...and I didn't even race.  It had nothing to do with the 47 miles running, 140 miles biking, or 2,400 yards swimming.  I was pretty excited about a 5x3 minute bike interval workout I did this week averaging 340 watts on the hard periods after hitting 298, 305, and 307 earlier in the month.  I was surprised by the big jump in power although I could tell I had really good legs when I began the workout.  The thing that made this week so exciting was the record-setting week of iHope Foundation contributions.  I met this week with the iHope Foundation board and we are going to be able to award 2 more iPads and $1,000.00 scholarships this week!  We are up to 10 iHope business sponsorships thanks to the following businesses helping with the foundation this past week.

Wallaces Garden Center located in Bettendorf and Davenport is a Platinum level supporter

Green Buick GMC located in Davenport, IA is a Platinum level supporter for the 2nd year in a row!

Online Freight Services is a Bronze level supporter and a 2 year supporter of the iHope Foundation

Tri-City Blacktop is a 1st year iHope Foundation supporter with a Silver level support so I'm thrilled to have them on my jersey in 2014!

UnityPoint Clinic surgeon Dr. Andrew Stevenson is a 2nd year iHope supporter and very thankful to have Silver level support!

First Central State Bank located in Eldridge, DeWitt, Le Claire, and Long Grove is a 2 year iHope Bronze level supporter!

Schebler Co. is a 2 year iHope supporter and I am thrilled to add them to my race jersey as a Silver level supporter!

I have included more on these businesses under the iHope business sponsorship page.  I am grateful for their support of this foundation as well as proud and excited to represent them this year while I race!  I will be sending the jersey off to be created in the Kiwami Triathlon lab in 1 week.  Silver and Gold level sponsorship will include business logo on the 2014 jersey.  I have had business sticker logos made for bronze level sponsorships and up.  I hope to fill the helmet up this year and have room on the disc wheel.  Also, outside of businesses we had very generous support from Nick and Jessica Ludwig (2 years in a row!) and Creston Fenn this week.  Thank you all so much for the support of this foundation.  I cannot express how excited I am about the great things we are able to do through this foundation.  With 10 business sponsorships we are not just 5 away from the goal I set out to hit this year for the iHope Foundation regarding business sponsorships.  My own goal is to earn $2,000.00 for the foundation through racing.  If you would like to make a tax-deductible contribtuion you can click here 

This upcoming weekend I will begin my season with the first of three races that make up the Scheels Duathlon series.  Jen is also racing the series this year so it excites me that we will be able to race together.  Fitness-wise I'm where I would have hoped going into the first race although I had hoped to be a few pounds lighter.  I'm working hard to reach that goal by June when I will race 4 times in 16 days. I'd also like to announce I'll be putting on a free triathlon transition clinic again this year hosted by Healthy Habits on the morning of May 31st.  I just confirmed this today and we have not set a time yet but I would expect around 8:00 AM with a bike ride to follow for anyone interested.  The clinic will focus on transitions but will also include tips and experiences I can share.  Last year we had 37 brave people in attendance...I say brave because it rained the entire time and we did not have a big enough tent to keep everyone dry.  There will be GU Energy products for all who attend as well as some door prizes to be given away.  I'll have more details and nail down a time in the coming weeks.  Thanks for reading.  Check back next week to see how the 2014 race debut went.  Last year I raced the 2.5 mile run, 18 mile bike, and 5k run in 1:18:26.  My goal is to be 2 minutes faster this year.  Thanks for reading.  DREAM BIG!!

Week 11 Training Summary

Week 11 was a great one.  I met all of the weekly goals I set out to achieve this week.  I biked 182 miles, ran 50 miles, and swam 5,700 yards.  This was my 3rd week swimming and progress is being made.  Training has been much more consistent over the past 4 weeks and I'm starting to feel that consistency pay off.  This was my 3rd week in a row running 50 or more miles.  The goal this week is 60 miles.  My body weight is slowly coming down.  I was 166 lbs. this week after 169 last week and 170 the week prior.  I finally got my body fat % tested at Kaminski Pain and Performance Care today and it was exactly what I guessed...15.7%.  I've been tested 7 different times over the past few seasons so I tend to have a pretty good idea before I go in there.  I was guessing 15%.  My body weight is higher than it has been at that % in the past but I could tell I'm carrying more muscle on my legs right now and the higher weight of muscle was confirmed.  My body cell mass is 78.1 lbs. which is the highest it has been in the seven times I've tested.  Most of body cell mass is made of muscle...about 60% of body cell mass is made of muscle tissue.  The lowest body fat % I've had in the seven tests is 9.3% and that was when I weighed 151 lbs.  At that time my body cell mass weighed 71.6 lbs.  I've got some work to do.  Before my first big race in Ohio in late July I'd like to have my body fat % down under 10.  Last fall for Beach 2 Battleship I weighed 154 and my body fat % was 10.7%. 

I've been eating the same thing for breakfast every day.  I eat 1.5 servings of 100% plain oatmeal with 2-3 tablespoons of 100% natural peanut butter, 1.5 tablespoons of honey, and a handful of Granola added to it.  It makes for a very filling breakfast.  I wish I could be just as consistent with my other meals through the day.  I typically pack 2 apples for school and I have steamed rice or protein shakes at my disposal for when I'm hungry but the food that gets brought to our school and left in the break room often trumps my plans and is what I need to pass on. 

My best workout of the week was a repeat of last week but it went even better.  I did 3x10 minutes hard on the bike at 272, 283, and 292 watts respectively and after each I ran a fast mile in 5:36, 5:30, and 5:24.  I do very little brick running but when I do I try to make the bike at a race effort and then run at least 1/2 mile at race effort.  I don't believe too much in just riding easy and then running easy for race preparation unless it is for Ironman in which case the run pace is much slower.  I'm trying to get myself ready for early season races which all happen to be short ones until July.  My hope is to build speed early to drive up my threshold pace so when I move up in distances to the 1/2 in July 5:50 pace off the bike feels easy.  I've been steadily increasing my long runs and rides.  Over the past month I've biked 50, 60, 60, and 66 miles at one time and I've run 13 miles for my long one the past 3 weeks.  This week will bump to 14.  I won't start getting up to 4 hour rides until mid-June and 5 hours won't be until mid-July and mostly August. 

I was thrilled this week to receive iHope business sponsorships from General Constructors, Inc., Happy Joes, and Lindquist Ford.  My goal this year for the foundation is to get support from 15 businesses.  We still have a ways to go but I'm continuing to visit local business in hopes they see the benefit of the foundation and willingness to contribute.  General Constructors, Inc. becomes the first "Gold" level sponsor of 2014 and will be on my race jersey come June.  Speaking of races, I'm planning to make my 2014 debut in less than 2 weeks in a duathlon.  I will then race 4 times in 16 days through the middle of June.  All of those are sprint distance races with 3 triathlons and 1 duathlon.  In July I will do an Olympic Distance triathlon followed by my first big race of the year in New Albany, Ohio (1/2 Ironman distance).  August will be one small race but mostly my big Ironman training block before finishing the season with Ironman Chattanooga on September 27th. 

If you'd like to make a contribution to the iHope Foundation you can click either link on the right side of this page.  The top link contributes to the iPad portion of the foundation from which we provide low-income students displaying outstanding character and work traits with an iPad.  The scholarship link is below it and the money goes to the scholarship fund of iHope.  Every student that receives and iPad also receives a $1,000.00 scholarship provided they meet academic, attendance, and character standards through high school.  BIG thanks to Kevin and Kelly Pennekamp for making a very nice contribution in honor of our administrative assistants at PV Junior High this week!  Thanks so much for reading.  DREAM BIG!!

2014 iHope Foundation "Gold" Sponsor General Constructors, Inc.

 

 

2014 iHope Foundation Platinum Sponsor Lindquist Ford

 

 

2014 iHope Platinum Sponsor Happy Joe's

 

Week 10 Summary...iHope Business Sponsorship Campaign

Week 10 was a great week of training for me.  Monday morning I woke up and weighed in and was frustrated by another week of not losing weight.  It killed my motivation and I took the entire day off of training and went to bed early.  The day off had me feeling like Superman for the majority of the rest of the week.  Tuesday was my highest single-day training time of the year with 12.5 miles running, 25 miles biking, 2,400 yards swimming, and class at Barre563 to go along with pull-ups, push-ups, core, lunges, plyometrics, and jump rope.  The day totaled about 4 hrs. 50 minutes.  Friday was another HUGE day of nearly 5 hours with 2,900 yards swimming, 66 mile outdoor bike ride, and 6 miles running with some 1 minute hard intervals to go along with core work.  My best workout of the week was Wednesday which was a big confidence boost after the big day Tuesday.  I warmed up 30 minutes on the bike indoors and rode 3x10 minutes with the trainer set at 270-280 watts and after each 10 minute period I jumped straight to the treadmill for a fast mile and went 5:40, 5:35, and 5:30 respectively.  This workout really simulates the feeling of transitioning to the run on race day in a sprint or Olympic distance triathlon.  10 minutes at that effort on the bike was enough to make my legs wobbly when I started the run but after the first mile they seemed to remember how to do this sort of thing and I felt better with each one.  The bike segments were very challenging.  I'm not sure why but it seems getting the wattage high on the trainer is more difficult than the open roads which others have confirmed to me to be the case.  Sunday I ran 13 miles for the 2nd straight week and my weekly totals were 5,300 yards swimming, 150 miles biking, and 56 miles running.  It was my highest run week yet and I was happy to do it on 6 days of running.  The bike mileage wasn't high but I did that on 4 days of riding. 

This week is the kick off to the 2014 iHope fundraising campaign. 
The mission of the iHope Foundation is to provide low-income students in our community who display outstanding character and work traits with technology (such as an iPad) and scholarship money for post-secondary education that will aid in academic achievement and success. 

As part of helping the foundation grow I rely on support from businesses to sponsor me by making a contribution to iHope in lieu of supporting me personally.  Like last year I will recognize businesses that contribute in various ways.  In 2013 I had 10 businesses that sponsored me by making iHope contributions.  My goal is to increase that number to 15 or more this year.  It will be challenging.  I have begun dropping off letters telling about the iHope Foundation and including a sponsorship level proposal.  The picture below can be enlarged if you click on it.  For various levels of iHope support I will post business links and logos on the website, make sticker logos to go on my race helmet or disc wheel, add a business logo to my race jersey, or even do 12 weeks of personalized coaching towards a fitness goal. 

 

The iHope Foundation was created just over 1 year ago and I have been absolutely blown away but the support it has received.  We originally did not have the scholarship component but with the support from year 1 we were able to add this component so every student that receives an iPad will also receive a scholarship of $1,000.00 for post-secondary education provided they meet various academic, citizenship, and attendance standards through high school.  It really ties the mission together by no only building confidence and helping them with school by providing an iPad but also making college a real option and giving them something to think about they may have previously not had.  To date we have awarded 4 students with iPads and scholarships and we met last week to discuss awarding 1 or possibly even 2 more yet this year.  The students must be nominated by teachers, before having the foundation board assess the need, character, and work habits.  Once the list is narrowed down teachers submit recommendations and students are selected from those. 

 

If you know of a business that you think would consider sponsoring me for the 2014 race season by contributing to the iHope Foundation please e-mail me and I will get them the necessary information.  Any amounts make a huge difference to a small foundation such as iHope.  All contributions are tax deductible and contributions made towards the scholarship component also qualify for the 25% Endow Iowa tax credit which is pretty awesome because the contributor will make a big difference to iHope and will get 25% of the contribution back as a tax credit in addition to the federal deduction.  For me last year that meant about 1/2 of what I contributed came back at tax time. 

 

We also rely heavily on individual contributions to make this happen.  If you would like to contribute to the iPad portion of the iHope Foundation you can click here.  If you would like to make a contribution to the scholarship portion (Iowa donors earn the 25% credit on this part) click here.  Thanks for making a difference...if you don't believe me check out the note one of the iHope recipients left for us below (click to enlarge).  HUGE thanks to Dan Westbay, Robert White, and Jason Rangel for recent contributions!! 

 

Thanks for reading!!  DREAM BIG!



Week 9 Summary

Week 9 was my first week back in the water although I only swam one time.  It was my first swim since Beach 2 Battleship on October 26th.  I started with 300 yards and my triceps were burning something fierce.  After kicking some they loosened up and except for feeling slow I started to regain a feel for the water.  The week was a good one.  I biked 150 miles, ran 51 miles which was my highest weekly total in that discipline so far this year, and swam 2,400 yards.  My total training time was 17.5 hours.  I did a long ride of 60 miles on Friday with local triathlete Dan Ward and it was VERY windy.  We rode almost straight into the wind the first half and then had a comfortable ride home although it seemed like the wind was dying down substantially in the evening.  We didn't begin the ride until almost 4:00 so by the time we turned the evening calm was probably setting in.  Sunday was my longest run yet this year of 13 miles.  It was the best I've felt on a long run yet.  My past few runs of 70 minutes or more all have left the top of my right foot a bit sore in the big tendon that runs over the ankle.  I didn't have any soreness after this long run.  I've been doing more interval work on the bike and while running.  I had 2 interval bike sessions and 2 interval run workouts.  Wednesday I ran a 10 minute warm up and then ran 6x3 minutes hard with 2 minute jog recovery between each.  Saturday I was really pleased with a track workout I did with Jen.  It was in the morning only 14 hours after finishing my long ride and my legs could still feel that ride in the wind.  I ran 4 sets of (600, 400, 200) trying to get some speed work at faster than 5k pace.  I ran consistent times all the way through hitting my 600's in 5:12/mile pace, the 400's in 4:56 pace, and the 200's all in 33 (4:24/mile pace).  I was most pleased by how my legs responded after the long ride.  Jen was very quick as well averaging under 5:20 pace through the entire 3 miles of intervals.  We were able to let the kids run around the track and play in the "sand box" (long jump pit) while we did the work out.  With the kids growing up so fast they are becoming much more a part of our workouts.  On Tuesday we ran 6 miles as a family with Owen on his bike and me pushing Payton in the single running stroller, and Super Mom running alongside.  Owen had his first big bike crash a few weeks back with some road rash scars and a bruise on his head under his helmet (thankfully he knows the importance of wearing that!)  He hasn't let that scare him away from his bike.  The kids are in tee ball on the same team and I found out practices are on Wednesday night.  That created a conflict for me with the Wednesday night group ride I enjoy getting to on the same night.  I decided I will help with tee ball and ride intervals alone before practice so I can be there to help with their practice.  I knew when I began this journey in 2009 that if I was still going strong 5 years later there would have to be changes to the way I trained.  Those changes are in place but I believe my best racing is still ahead of me despite the changes.  It adds motivation knowing I can prove to others that the balance of family, work, and competition can still produce good results.  The start of this week has been very encouraging.  I'll post more on that Sunday or Monday.  Thanks for reading.  DREAM BIG!!

Excuses...Weeks 3-8 Summary

I apologize for the sporadic posting...or lack there of.  There is no good excuse.  I want to post every week to update followers on this journey.  I am now 8 weeks into training for the 2014 race season.  I'm excited but the first 8 weeks has had ups and downs.  Out of the gates I was ahead of where I was last year.  Then for some reason after taking a mini 3 day break from training after 30 straight days I struggled to get things back on track.  I was not recovering well.  My long run left me with deep quad soreness that would not go away.  Over our spring break a couple weeks ago I could tell my legs were REALLY tired and not recovering well.  All I could muster on the bike was base mileage rides on the trainer.  Anything hard I did not have power for.  Running was even worse.  The deep soreness made easy runs feel hard and hard runs unattainable.  I was humbled when I started a track workout with my wife.  Initially I had a faster goal pace than her.  After warming up and feeling the deep soreness in my quads I decided I would just run with her.  We were supposed to run 3x (1200/400).  On the first 1200 I stopped after just 1 lap.  I decided not to dig the hole any deeper.  I watched Jen go on to run the workout at 5:45 pace on her 1200's and 5:20 pace on her 400's.  I managed to run a 400 with Owen in 2:05. 

I have been frustrated with my lack of losing weight.  I am only 5 weeks away from a race and I'm not near where I wanted to be by May 11th.  I haven't lost any weight in the past 5 weeks and I'm just fluctuating between 168 and 171.  I weighed 152 for Beach 2 Battleship last October.  The extra 20 lbs. doesn't make running very fun.  I could think of a lot of excuses.  I hear excuses all the time.  In the past week I've heard the following...
1.  I missed practice for a doctor appointment (after the fact)
2.  I missed practice for a funeral
3.  I don't have my assignment because I left it at home
4.  I don't have my assignment that was handed out last week because I was gone yesterday
5.  I don't have my assignment because I lost it
6.  I didn't try in the mile time trial because I'm not in good shape yet
7.  I didn't turn in my goal sheet because I forgot my goals

Some of these are great excuses and some are not.  The point is there are always reasons not to get things done.  One of my coaching mentors onetime told me "There are 2 kinds of people in this world...those who get things done and those who find reasons not to get things done."

I could sit here and say that I'm getting older and it's tougher to lose weight (something many others have told me when I say I'm struggling with getting to race weight).  I could say it's tougher because my kids are getting older and playing 2 on 1 basketball in the basement may trump my run workout.  I could say I'm struggling due to the crumby weather.  I could say I just haven't felt great and I needed the extra rest so that is why I've skipped some workouts.  I could say maybe because I haven't started swimming my metabolism hasn't kicked into full gear...there are lots of excuses but ultimately I'm someone who simply realizes I haven't done the work to be where I want right now.  The reasons may be good (or maybe some don't think they are).  The reasons don't really matter come May 11th.  I won't get a head start when I say that I'm not in as good of shape as I should be for this or that...I'll have to deal with what I have set myself up for. 

I am far from giving up or feeling sorry for myself.  I'm accepting I'm not where I want right now but plan to get things turned around.  For the first time this year I printed off my weekly goal checklist to help me stay focused on doing the little things I think have made me successful.  I changed my eating habits about 2.5 weeks ago and have cut down tremendously on the amount of refined sugar I'm consuming.  I am addicted to sugar like millions of Americans.  The more sugar I eat, the more I want it. Currently I'm eating less than 10 grams of refined sugar a day.  I've only given in to the addiction twice in that time.  I'm feeling like I have more energy.  I'm recovering better.  This week I did 2 bike interval workouts, one track workout, 1 tempo run, and got in 43 run miles and 230 bike miles.  Things are starting to look up and I'm remaining confident my weight will fall if I continue eating healthy.  My point in all of this is to show that any training cycle...any journey for that matter is rarely met without ups and downs.  Training is a series of tearing the body down...resting up and gaining new strength...and then tearing down again so the adaptations will leave you in the best shape of your life.  The graph below shows what most hope from training and the 2nd one shows how it really works. 

 

I'm excited about the weather turning to spring finally!  This weekend I rode my first outdoor rides of the year so far.  I put over 1,300 miles on the trainer (65 hours on the saddle) before getting outside.  I rode 50 miles on Saturday and was tired after doing a morning long run of 11 miles.  Sunday I rode 60 and felt very strong.  I pushed the hills at the end of the ride and even got my wattage over 700 on some of the final climbs.  I got a new Garmin 510 from Healthy Habits this week and a SRAM Red Quarq power meter crank that give me a lot of cool data to learn from.  This next week will be my first week of swimming and I'm really excited to get back in the water.  I haven't swam a yard since October 26th at Beach 2 Battleship.  I really hope our lakes warm up soon because I enjoy open water swimming much more than pool swimming.  Thanks for reading...remember when things are difficult the next peak is just around the corner.  Stick with it.  DREAM BIG! 

 

Week 2...progress

I've always been a big believer in the 10 day rule.  The 10 day rule is that it takes the body about 10 days to adapt to workouts.  Therefore the first 10 days starting any new training cycle should always be tough but after 10 days things begin to feel better each day.  I am now past my initial 10 days and I'm seeing progress.  For the week my total training time was 16.5 hours.  I biked 215 miles, ran 33 miles, and attended class at Barre563 once.  I also did core work 12 times, lunges, push-ups, pull-ups, jump rope all twice, and plyometrics once.  My harder sessions for the week included a 2.5 mile tempo run on Friday where I averaged 5:55/mile and an interval session on Wednesday where I did 7x2 minutes at 5:20 pace following each with 90 seconds easy recovery.  I was a bit sore from that one since I had not run that fast since last October.  My long run this week was 1 hour.  I try to slowly build that up adding about 5 minutes each week for the first 4-5 weeks and then 5 minutes every other week after that.  I'll try to be to 15 miles or 1 hour 45 minutes by summer. 

I am enjoying coaching 3 individuals this year.  I have been inspired by their commitment each week to stick to a plan.  Two of them are training for their first Ironman events and one is training for his first 1/2 Ironman.  Today I had the chance to do a 4 mile road race with one of the individuals and it was VERY inspiring to me.  Daniel Westbay from DeWitt started working with me 8 weeks ago.  Daniel had a 4 mile personal best of just over 30 minutes from back in 2010.  This past summer he ran 4 miles in 31:04 on a flat course in Eldridge.  Today he ran 4 miles on a hilly course in 20 degree temperatures in 28:46!!  I couldn't believe how much he has improved.  It was awesome for me to see this and be able to run with him because he has hit every single week as written out.  It was a great example how commitment to a goal and to a plan will lead to success.  It is still very early and he will be much faster by summer when he starts racing triathlons but it was a great benchmark race for him.  I couldn't have been more proud of the work he has put in.  Remember if you are beginning a new journey towards health and fitness that it WILL come if you are patient, have a goal, and work towards that goal.  DREAM BIG!!

2014 Week 1

I distinctly remember beginning 2013 a year ago and my first run of 3 miles was a death march.  Every step was difficult.  I was in such bad shape I remember thinking I felt like I was at the bottom of Mount Everest staring up to the top wondering how I would climb this mountain by year's end.  The view from the bottom of 2014 is much different. 

On New Year's Eve I weighed myself and was 183.  It was the most I had weighed since I began training seriously for triathlons back in November of 2008.  I had not done a single workout since winning Beach 2 Battleship Ironman distance on October 26th and the results showed on the scale.  I coach basketball in the winter and purposefully allow myself to get out of shape.  I have always been a big believer that to see big gains from one season to the next it is important to allow my body to get out of shape and fully rest before any serious gains can be made.  I also realized that 2 months without a workout was long enough.  I was realistic in the goals I set on New Year's Eve.  I still had almost 6 weeks of basketball in front of me.  My goal was to lose weight by beginning to eat healthy, condition with our basketball team, and ride the bike at least 5 hours a week.  My weight dropped each week from 183 to 174, 172, 170, 168, 165, 163, and this week 161.  I averaged about 6.5 hours a week on the bike and ran sprints with our team while eating much cleaner than I had the past 2 months.  Monday night was our last basketball game and the first day of my 2014 season.  The base of bike miles, weight drop, and even the sprints put me in a position far ahead of where I was beginning last year.  Although I don't believe a quicker start necessarily means faster times through the year I do know it made this first week much easier than my first week a year ago. 
For my first week of 2014 my total training time was 16.5 hours.  I biked 10 hours on the trainer or what I calculate to 200 miles, ran 27 miles, and attended class at Barre563 three times for my strength training.  I was sore after each session at Barre.  Attending classes there was a key to my late season success a year ago.  I began attending classes at Barre563 in late July and went on to have some of my best races ever following that. 

All of my bike miles were easy base miles as I continue towards my goal of trimming the extra fat I gained during hibernation.  For running my long run was 55 minutes but I also did 1 interval session of 4x4 minutes hard with 2 minute recovery after each.  I did not push terribly hard being my first week back but I was running the 4 minute periods at 5:45/mile pace and it did not feel too difficult.  I also ran 2x1.5 mile tempo runs on Thursday and I averaged 6:05/mile and 5:55/mile respectively on each.  Neither felt difficult.  I'm in the process of planning a race schedule but I'm pretty confident the big race I will try to peak for will be Ironman Chattanooga on September 28th.  This is a first time event and one I will be looking forward to.  The late September race works out well for me.  I should be able to do all my swimming in the lake here before the temperatures are too cold to swim open water in Iowa.  I came up about 12 days short for my October 26th race this past year.  I will execute a BIG training block from 8 weeks out until 10 days before the race.  I will not race during that time but will focus all my energy on being as fit as I've ever been on September 28th. 
I have decided I will not begin swimming this year until April.  As my kids get older and life gets busier I have to find ways to make this continue to work and one thing I have learned is that I can get in pretty good swim shape in about 4 weeks if I swim consistently.  I also found that by swimming open water for nearly all my swims last year leading up to Beach 2 Battleship I was able to swim my best ever. 

I am proud to race again in 2014 for the iHope Foundation that provides technology and support for low-income students that display outstanding character and work traits.  The iHope Foundation received such incredible support in the first year we were able to endow a scholarship that will go to each student that receives an iPad.  Because the scholarship is in an endowment any contributions made by Iowa donors will earn them a 25% tax credit.  Recently when I was at Amerifile I was pleased to find out that I earned an extra $1,300.00 on my Iowa tax return just because of the contributions I made from my race winnings last year.  The contribution to the scholarship fund is also still a federal tax deduction.  To contribute to the iHope scholarship fund click here.  If you would like to contribute to the technology portion of iHope click here.  Thanks for making a difference to children in need.  In March I will be trying to line up local businesses that would like to support me this year by making a contribution to iHope.  I'm hoping to add some more iHope business supporters' logos to my 2014 race jersey. 

I'm thrilled to have a lot of support for the 2014 journey.  I have been blessed to have support local bike shop Healthy Habits and from local ART provider Kaminski Pain and Performance Care.  I will do all my strength training at Barre563.  I'm also blessed to have support from international companies like GU Energy to keep me fueled through all these workouts and races, Xterra Wetsuits so I can swim new PR's in the Vendetta Sleeveless, and Zipp Speed Weaponry so the wheels under my Specialized Shiv are as fast as anything on a bike.  If you are in the market for a new wetsuit you can use Xterra discount code SA-Jeffp to save 60% off products like the Vector Pro or Vortex.  If you have questions about sleeveless vs. full suit I'd be happy to help.  If you are just embarking on a new fitness journey in 2014 have patience.  With continuous commitment you will see progress you are hoping for.  It may not happen quickly and there will certainly be difficult days but through hard work, commitment to a goal, and BIG DREAMS you will make it happen.  Thanks for the continual support and following this journey.  It's hard for me to believe this will be my 6th year of high level commitment to this sport.  DREAM BIG!