http://www.ryanbickerstaff.com Life's a journey, not a destination - my experiences in the world of triathlon Sun, 31 May 2009 18:51:44 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en I'm still not 100% sure of twitterology, but feel free to twitter, tweet, twit, follow, etc.  - http://www.twitter.com/ryanbickerstaff  The simplicity and brevity of the posts are nice. http://www.ryanbickerstaff.com/2009/05/31/twitter-me/ Yesterday I rode the Spectrum Ride - a large fast group ride that brings out some of the faster riders in the area.  I felt really good and contested most of the sprints and small hill climbs - it made for a really good workout and with the mixture of ... http://www.ryanbickerstaff.com/2009/05/31/oak-knoll-otter-run-5k-menlo-park/ This past Monday (Memorial Day), I race at the Pan American Cup in Austin, Texas.  I spent the Sunday-Thursday after the Oklahoma City race at home in Alva, OK.  I hadn't been home in the Spring or Summer for 8 years, and it was nice to have great weather and ... http://www.ryanbickerstaff.com/2009/05/31/captex-triathlon-austin-tx/ I flew into Oklahoma City for the Pan American Championships on Wednesday May 13, my birthday.  Being able to race was up in the air until the last minute due to the ITU qualification procedures.  Basically, there are 75 starting positions allocated across countries from North, Central, and South America. ... http://www.ryanbickerstaff.com/2009/05/31/pan-american-championships-oklahoma-city-boathouse-triathlon/ Around April 21st, my left shoulder started to hurt again.  I had just done a short quick set in the pool of some 25, 50, and 100y efforts.  It felt a little bit funny and really noticed something was wrong when I went to the gym afterwards to do some ... http://www.ryanbickerstaff.com/2009/05/31/shoulder-injury/ I went out for my first bike ride outside with my new bike and powertap wheel on Saturday.  It's a fairly challenging 66-67 mile route to the coast and back, with some pretty significant climbing, but the scenery is pretty varied and once you get to the top of the ... http://www.ryanbickerstaff.com/2009/04/19/first-ride-outside-with-powertap-pro/ Training has continued to go great since the Stanford Treeathlon last month.  Everything has pretty much gone according to plan, and I really like it when I know I've put in all the work I wanted to do.  Hopefully the results take care of themselves when my racing season starts ... http://www.ryanbickerstaff.com/2009/04/15/training-is-going-great/ My first race of the year, the Stanford Treeathlon, was this morning, and after 4 years of racing it, I finally won!  That means I'm undefeated so far this year!  haha  The last time I won a race overall was Boulder Peak in 2005, and both races were close. I ... http://www.ryanbickerstaff.com/2009/03/07/undefeated/ In an effort to stay focused and add consistency, especially in swimming, back at the end of September of 2007, I decided to train every day for at least 2000m swimming or 30:00 total.  I managed almost 90 days in a row of swimming before having to end the streak ... http://www.ryanbickerstaff.com/2009/02/22/513-days-in-a-row/ I have been feeling really, really great this week.  It seems like I'm gaining speed, strength, and endurance all at the same time.  I'm going to bed tired but am getting incredibly restful sleeps and feeling refreshed and rejuvenized each morning for another day of training.  It's been several years ... http://www.ryanbickerstaff.com/2009/01/30/feeling-amazing/