This week I was fortunate enough to present the Timex Global Trainer in two separate presentations:  The Rocky Mountain Tri Club on March 9th and at the Colorado Endurance Conference on March 13.  I spoke to 150 people at the Tri club and smaller group at the conference.  Both presentations were a hit and a lot of fun!
 
Presenting in front of 150 people can sometimes be a little nerve racking, but when you know your going to talk about something you love, then all is good.   I presented on how to effectively balance work, family and triathlon including a formal presentation on the Timex Global Trainer and Powerbar. 
 
When I first got there, I was greeted by non other than friend and fellow Timex teammate Will Kelsay which immediately gave the evening a good vibe.  It was great to see him working a booth for one of the clubs sponsors.  Soon after some club announcements, I took the stage and spoke for about 40 minutes.  I talked specifically about good decision making, communication, goal setting, including the family in triathlon, etc. in relation to our sport.  I had a lot of audience participation, real world role playing, husband/wife communication scenarios, and some giveaways.  I even had Will come up and act out a part with a friend of mine of how triathlon gets in the way with family commitments.  They had the whole room laughing!
 
I had quite a few slides about the Global Trainer and went toe-to-toe with Garmin and made sure that before I left people knew why the Global Trainer is the better choice.  Not just because of the price and being fully desktop customizable, but also it’s ease of use and that you can see 4 pieces of data at once making it very easy to use. I also reminded them that the Timex name carries a lot of weight with many people in terms of quality. 
 
Finally, I spoke about Powerbar and all the different products that come form the Powerbar line that all people, athletes or non athletes, can benefit from.  I brought plenty of samples with the most popular being the Gel Blasts.  Did you know that a recent study showed that Powerbars C2MAX formulation produced an 8% improvement in athletes cycling times? This is from a presentation on the PowerBar website found here.
 
On the 13th, I spoke at the Colorado Endurance Conference which was an all day event featuring nationally known industry experts, key note speakers, gear-gab, interactive break-out sessions, and even a panel discussion on barefoot running.  I was part of a bike fit seminar in the morning with expert bike fitter Jerry Fuhrman from Bicycle Village and I presented in the afternoon.  People seemed to like my presentation and once again loved the Global Trainer and the Powerbar samples! 
   
  
Train safe and have fun,
 
Tim
 

 
Upon returning from our team camp at the Timex Performance Center in New Jersey, I can’t begin to explain the level of motivation and excitement I got to race this year.  The athletes on our team are nothing short of spectacular.  On top of that, we have a very strong line up of heavyweight sponsors including Orbea, Shimano, Powerbar, PRO, and Sugoi just to name a few.  As many of you read by now, our team camp was a huge hit and the relationship between Timex and the New York Giants will be a partnership in the history books that I am proud to be a part of. 
 
This past weekend I raced on Saturday and Sunday.  The snowshoe race on Saturday was a short 3K course as part of the TUBBS Romp to Stomp out Breast Cancer series held in Frisco, CO.  There were over 2200 people there for the 5K walk but only a fraction did the race.  We started about an hour before the walkers did and got a large cheer as the gun went off.  Armed with my fully equipped Timex Global Trainer, and wearing our new team jersey, I was off and took the lead.  After about 10 minutes, and exactly .82 miles in, I saw I had a good lead and powered to the finish line.  The walkers were all there waiting for the racers to finish and as I came across the line I had the cheers of many, many people which was great to hear! 
 
The next day I did the Lifetime Fitness Indoor Triathlon in Parker, CO (10 min swim/30 min bike/20 min run).  I wore our new team kit and it was super comfortable (even running in bib shorts).  The hardest part of this race is the 20 min treadmill run.  I pushed so hard on that run to get up to 3.67 miles, good enough for the overall win with among 110 people.  I went for a short ride afterwards and called it a day. Full results are HERE.

 
Finally, I just want to say how pleased I am with the Global Trainer.  Timex really nailed it this time with a superb GPS watch that is my new training partner.   Since I got it, I’ve logged about 25 hours of training with it and it does not disapoint.  It never looses a GPS signal.  For all of you who have a Garmin, just give Timex’s Global Trainer a chance and I know you’ll love it.  Besides, it’s cheaper than the Garmin and they both have the exact same GPS technology made by SiRF, the market leader in GPS systems.  It’s always great to see new quality watches from Timex!
 
Thanks for reading and be safe training,
 
Tim

Well it’s already mid February and I can’t believe my first triathlon is at the end of March!  I have had some good training in since Ironman Florida consisting mainly of snowshoe racing, as well as my usual training schedule.  Here is a short recap of what races I’ve done since New Years Day:
 
The family and I drove up to Summit County and I did a 10K snowshoe race in Silverthorne on Jan 9th.  Super hard, lots of ups and downs, but a lot of fun.  About a week before the race, fellow Timex teammate Trista Francis was in the Silverthorne rec center when she called me and said she saw my picture on a poster advertising the race in the women’s restroom!  It was a little strange, but cool to see that my picture was used for the race, in all sorts of places!  After a few wrong turns, I placed 2nd overall and won a family 4 pack of burritos to non other than Chipotle! 
 
Later in the month, I raced a 10 mile run by my house placing 4th overall.  I saw Trista racing in her Timex colors and showing them proudly!  I used my WS4 watch with the glowing orange band and got a lot of inquiries about it.  I have to say that the watch is great.  I have used it to track ascent/decent rates on runs and rides and it is spot on as long as it’s calibrated before your workout. 
 
The last 2 weeks I raced in three more snowshoe races winning two of them and placing 3rd in the other.  Certainly a great workout and a great calorie burner!  One more to go on March 6th and that will call it a season.
 
I am very excited for our new and improved Timex Multisport team camp held this weekend at the Timex Performance Center!  Last year, Timex partnered with the New York Giants and gained the naming rights for the Giants’ new training facility and corporate headquarters. We as athletes are meeting there Feb 18-21 for our team camp and a few nights out with Eli Manning and the team (maybe??).  Either way, it’ll be a fun time and a great new experience for all of us.
 
Also, this will be the first time that I will get to try out the new Timex Global Trainer.   From what I am hearing, this thing is hot and will be one slick watch to own.  It should be released in specialty stores in September 2010.  Click HERE if you want to be emailed when it is available!
 
Thanks for reading and keep safe!
 
Tim

After the triathlon season ends, I always find it tough to take a break, so I rarely do.  I definitely take the intensity down, but I soon resume to my “normal” training.  I know it’s best for my body to rest more, but I still want to keep racing.  That’s why I wanted to sneak in one more race before the end of the year.  Since snow fell early in CO this year, Nikki and I decided to do a snowshoe race.  

A couple days after Thanksgiving, we went up to Copper Mountain to do the 6th Annual Gobbler Chase 5K snowshoe race.  It’s a quick 5k loop on Copper Mountain basically going up and down at around 9500 ft.  Nikki, myself, and my sister in law all raced on our Atlas Snowshoes and it was super fun.   Even though it’s a 5k, running on snowshoes is always a lung burner.  I lined up next to my ultra runner friend Dave Wilcox, who lives in the area, and we were on our way!  I took the lead early on, pushed hard and finished in 23:48 to take the win by 2 minutes.  The topper was winning 4 ski lift tickets to Copper Mtn.  Nikki had a great race and placed 2nd overall among the women!  The next day I noticed that I had my picture in the local paper, The Summit Daily (see below). If you’ve never been on snowshoes before, give it a try!

Tim

Ahhh competitive eating.  It’s a fun thing to watch, but sometimes even more fun to participate in.  Since Ironman Florida, I’ve had a few unhealthy “celebration meals”, but yesterday I took on a new challenge, eating 3 Chipotle burritos, with the basic ingredients, as fast as I could.  It was interesting to say the least.

 The 1st annual Chipotle Burrito Challenge was conducted by a group of Ultrarunners here in Colorado called Team CRUD.  Scott Jaime, a friend of mine on the team invited me to take part and I could not refuse!  We met at the Chipotle in Castle Rock, CO after a 15 mile/2 hour trail run to build up some hunger (2 weeks after an Ironman made this tough but doable). There were 7 contestants,  (and a ton of spectators) and each guy looked like he could really put down some food.  After a quick announcement to the customers and a rule overview, the referee yelled “GO” and we were off!  I finished my first one in a little over 1:30, cruised through the second one by 4:30 and was closing in neck and neck with one other guy on burrito #3. 

weighing in

finishing burrito #2!

I “sprinted” to the line and finished in 7:02 to take the title!  It was very close at the end, but I managed to pull through.  I won a gift card to REI, a free burrito, chips and salsa, and a t-shirt.  As you can see by the picture, it was a little under 3 pounds of food.  I have attached a short video here that my wife took in the closing minutes of the contest. Burning calories is fun, but eating them is even better!

Tim