The Life and Times of Sam Luna

  So first lets discuss training and plans. After spending the winter training for the mile, I decided to get in a race workout. As I have aged I have decided racing in cold or wet weather isn't as fun any more. This year the Dirt in your shoe duathlon looked to be warm and dry. Ben puts this race on in his series, and this is my first time to try it with decent weather. Switching from a 5 min race to a 1 hr + race requires some mental flexibility and adaptability. As an athlete and human, its pretty hard to do it all, so you teach your body and mind along the way.  Doing these races has also become a great family day. With the girls and dog in tow, they are my best cheerleaders and support. Its a great way to show our youngest about following your passions, working hard and how to work through tough days. I decided the race would be a great way to support the even, and begin my next phase of endurance training for some summer events.  This race also features unique racing Primes/

So last year I did this race as my first road duathlon back to racing.  I really enjoyed the location in Laporte near the water and it brings out a good local crowd. I did have a couple of goals in mind, be faster or even to last year, and hold onto the run at the end. I spent the last few months (10 months) working on my bike. I tried to maintain my run over the period, but it wasn't my focus.  My newbie "Masters" mistake was racing hard 2 weeks ago with a hard Brick right after. So it took a good 10-12 days to start to feel a bit recovered. It definitely took a bite out of my top end speed. The race was slightly modified this year with a 1 mile run to open; the same 12.5 mile bike follow by a 3.2 mile run to finish. The first run felt ok to get started; I just focused on not going to hard.  Once on the bike I felt in my groove, and then WHAM! I hit an expansion joint, heard a crack and felt my handle bars turn. My steering was off the rest of the race, so I had to just

The  Bayou City Triathlon   team did a great job getting this race done! The day was very windy, and they had to adjust the swim course the morning of for the triathlon. For those of us non-swimmers it was just a windy day on the bike. For my first race on the road in years I really spent the day enjoying being back out among some old friends and also re-learning what it felt like to push the pace and get comfortable in a race. I made some rookie mistakes in transition, forgot my socks altogether and definitely have some work to do on the bike! Results

Sooo Sam on a MTB??? Sure why not!   I really needed to just race. Sometimes you just need to go deep and enter the pain cave.   One of my fellow UH alums, Ben Proko who is not only a Band Instructor, but a Triathlete, Coach and Race director. He puts on a few different races and with the Pandemic, he was able to get this race approved with precautions and a limited field. I was also fortunate to be able to do this race with my friend Fede who was doing his first triathlon! We had a blast and it was great to be able to race and see some old friends! Results   Pictures