The Life and Times of Sam Luna

Iron Star Half Ironman TriathlonThis past weekend I completed my first Half-Ironman. I raced in the Ironstar Triathlon in Conroe, TX. The course distances were 1.2 mile swim, 59 mile bike and a 13.1 mile run. Brief Race story: The swim was non-wetsuit and foggy. I caught an elbow in the first 20 meters that knocked my goggles off. I tried not to panic and I swam steady and got my goggles back into place. I didn't find a rhythm until about halfway through the swim. I had hoped to get out of the water in 35-36 mins. I surprised my self with a 29:20! Definitely an improvement than can be attributed to the swim work that I have been doing with Patrick at TriVantage, plus the TYR "Spiderman suit" kept me a bit more buoyant in the water, another definite advantage. I dashed through the first transition and headed out for the bike ride. I now understand how people have life changing feelings after completing a race this long. Out on the bike I had some ups and downs and every ti

Frisco VelodromeMetroplex Sprint Tri Results. Swim - 12:46 T1 - :53.6 Bike - 41:36 T2 - :31.6 Mile 1 - 6:33 Mile 2 - 6:30 Mile 3 - 5:55 Run Total - 19:27 Finish - 1:15:47

Hot Springs DuathlonRace morning. Didn't sleep too well and still not psyched up for the race. Looks like it will be a hard training day. The weather turned out to be very warm and humid! The race was going to be closely contested. In attendance besides Wes and myself were Race Favorite Dwain McDuffie, Rick Rosales, Marius Maianu, Todd Hink, an unknown local and a couple of other "sleepers".The gun went off and all of the above mentioned did the first two miles in 11 mins. I was off the pace at 11:37 and new I would be chasing a pack trying to drop Dwain and Marius. I chased for the first half and only caught a couple of people as the packed kept its distance. On the return trip Rick new that a surge was need to drop Dwain in order to have a gap coming off the bike. Local Ted Herget went with Rick as I caught the remainders of the pack. I went into the second run 3rd place with a fast Dwain on my heels. He passed me within a quarter mile and went on to run down the rest o

Since the TT last weekend I have been battling with some serious allergy problems plus not getting much rest. On my drive up to Dallas Fri afternoon I lost my voice and spent all Saturday in bed resting and talking Claritin and flo-nase. Sunday morning I woke up with my head pounding and my nose and eyes a watery mess. I went ahead and went to the race and gave it a go. All through the swim crap was coming out of my nose and my goggles were filled with mucus crap too. On the bike my nose just kept running and all the meds were affected my heart rate. By the time I got to the run I just wanted it to be over. My eyes were all teared up affecting my vision and I puked liquid around mile 2. I was definitely sick. I finished the race and pretty much collapsed. I didn't even stick around for awards. I crashed the rest of the day Sunday and I am driving back this morning (Monday) feeling a bit better. Results. Swim - 6:50 T1 - 1:00 Bike - 46:58 T2 - :51 Run - 17:56 Finish - 1:13:33

Finally a decent race this year! So its now 4 months since I broke my collar bone, and despite some disbelief. I am starting so show some of the form I had last year. The Metroplex Du-2-Du is the longest Du on my race calendar, a 5k run, 42k bike followed by another 5k run. It is under 2 hours of racing, but it hurts. This was my third year to complete this race. I went into it hoping for a top 10 placing, and was pleasantly surprised to finish 2nd overall to duathlon power-house Dana Lyons.Race morning was pretty typical, I got to the race site at 6am and filled my tires and set up my transition area. I decided to leave my shoes off the bike and put them on in transition. I didn't want to take any chances of knocking them off the bike like I did in Austin 2 years ago. I hung around and chatted with a few of the Tri-geeks from Dallas and talked to Dana and the Woodlands group and wished everybody luck. I just wanted to have a solid race and not get tossed like the past two weeks of

I had a great time in San Marcos for the Texas State Triathlon, host of the Regional Collegiate Triathlon Championships. However, as my first Olympic Distance Triathlon, I got my ass kicked. The swim course tore me up, 1.5 - 2 ft swells in 62 degree water. I definitely need to visit Autumn for some open water training. I didn’t have the range of motion in my left arm for really handing the choppy water well and I am not used to open water swimming so breathing to the side proved to be quite difficult also. The bike course was super hilly and windy, I didn't use my disk. I had a bad stomach/intestine problem about 15 miles into the bike, I really wanted to get off and go to the bathroom, but I thought it would pass, my whole stomach was tight for the last 9 or so miles on the bike and definitely hurt my cycling. I think my body didn't like the drink mix I was using. I had really bad gas etc.. I started the run and let one rip (gas/bodily release to put it nicely) I thought it wo

I decided to go and visit Louisiana for an early season du. I needed to get back into racing and the Louisiana State Championship race fit into my schedule. The race was 2-16-2, a good short race to get back into the swing of things. The bike course was pretty windy with some winding hills along the feeder road. I pretty much lost touch with the leaders when we hit the bikes. I definitely have a way to go before I am back into top biking shape. Results. Next weekend I will head to Canyon Lake to race in the 2004 Collegiate Regional Triathlon Championships. It will be my first time to compete in an Olympic Distance Race.

Well I saw the doctor and he took some more x-rays. They were a little better than the first back in December, but he wasn't satisfied with the healing rate. I will go back in again in March for a Cat-Scan in order to get a complete view of the bone. I have started jogging again about 6 miles 3 times a week and riding outside on Sunday for 40 miles. My collar bone feels ok, but I still can't swim. The motion is to much and so I will put the pool off for another couple of weeks.

So far my new year has been pretty un-eventful. I started school this past Tuesday and am looking forward to another great semester. The UH cycling team held the Regional cyclocross race on Campus! Results and Pictures. I have been able to spin indoors four times a week. I will see the Orthopedic Surgeon again Feb. 9 so keep your fingers crossed and hopefully I will be able to run quickly there-after!