Big Changes!!

Hey everyone, been a while since I have posted, but a lot has happened since then!

I am a little more than 2 weeks away from being done with school at UNI. All I will have to do is defend my thesis and I will be an official Master of Exercise Physiology! Will be extremely weird not calling myself a student, but it will also be a great change. I wonder what it will feel like to go home on the weeknights or weekends and not have papers to write or study, or go to a coffee shop and just relax! I am looking forward to it!

Training has been going pretty well. Have been doing some minor base work so far, and will continue building up the hours over the next couple months, getting ready for next season.

With nothing much going on in training, I have a bunch of other stuff to say! This past weekend I traveled to Boulder, Colorado for a job interview. This is the mecca of endurance sport in the United States, and was quite the trip. I was interview for a position as a physiologist/coach for FasCat Coaching. This company is owned by Frank Overton, who is a very big household name in coaching and racing across the United States. One of his most notable athletes I believe would be Tom Zirbel. He is growing his business very well, and is in need of a full-time physiologist to conduct metabolic tests on the athletes.

It was the first time I had ever been out of the airport in Colorado, and I fell in love immediately. Spent an afternoon crusing around Boulder and investigating the city. Then had a great dinner at a cycling themed burger joint with Frank and Jason Hilmire, another coach for FasCat. I immediately realized that these two guys are awesome. Very nice, humble, and obviously very talented coaches. The next day, I went for my formal interview day at the performer center. This center is in North Boulder, and is located in an absolutely amazing place. There is an Italian restaurant, a coffee shop, bike shop, FasCat, and a Mexican dinner place in the same strip mall. Everything I would need to be happy. It was also a fun day as local pro and ex-Iowan Amanda Miller came in for her on metabolic test. It was nice to see her again, and met her coach Meredith Miller as well.

Moving on to keep this post shorter, Frank and I went to dinner before I left and flew back to Iowa. During the dinner, he offered me the job! I was so stoked, I am sure if I would have had food in my mouth, I would have choked! This is the job I have wanted my whole life. Not many recent college grads can say they have the job of their dreams right after graduating, and especially in a location such as Boulder. I will be able to coach/work with some of the best athletes in the United States, and also continue my quest as an endurance athlete. I may also try do some research with UC Boulder and get my name published in some scientific journals. It will be a great experience, and I am ready for the challenge.


*Professional Greg Henderson doing some testing (Not a bad client to work with ehh?)


It has been great living in Iowa these past 23 years, but I am ready for a change. I will experience new weather patterns, new cyclists, new food, etc. It has been great racing against everyone in Iowa, and hopefully some day I'll be able to race again at some local stuff. If anyone is ever interested in coming out to Boulder for some training, just let me know!

Time is of the essence, I move out at the end of December!!!

Cross Racing

This past weekend I decided to pack up the cross bike and head to Cedar Rapids for the Morgan Creek Park Cross Race put on by the Hawkeye Bicycle Association. This was the first team I ever belonged too, and owe the guys a lot of praise and thanks for everything they did to get me where I am at today! Another good part of the weekend, is that my parents, sister and aunt/uncle live in Cedar Rapids, and my grandparents were also down from Decorah. So I drove down Saturday after work and spent the evening with the family catching up, relaxing, watching football and having a great time.

The best part of the weekend yet was that the race was about 1 mile from my parents house! So I got up, took my time, watched the European cross race via internet stream, had a great breakfast and then road to the course to register and get my number. Was able to watch my newest coaching clients John Adamson and Kathleen Porter put in some great work in the masters races! So after, I rode home, pinned my number and had a quick bite to eat before the race, before heading back.

I haven't raced cross since last season (Jinglecross) and really haven't worked on dismounts/remounts, etc....so I went into the race with an open mind, and not expecting anything, but to have fun! I lined up with the other 25-30 riders and got rolling around 12pm. I settled into about 10th wheel after the start and tried to pick off some riders on the power sections of the course. My technical skills need some work, but weren't as bad as I thought. I did lay it down on some loose gravel half-way through the first lap, and lost about 5-10spots. I spent the next 3 laps or so picking off riders, and soon was able to catch up with Mario to battle for 3rd spot. He is a pretty good technical rider, and was able to bunny-hop the log on course and the only time I tried it, I endoed over the front of the bike. Ouch is right. So I lost time to him and never regained contact after chasing the last 2 laps, and finished with a 4th place finish. It was a fun time, and I wish I had more time to do more this season, but a poor graduate student can only work so many times during the week, and most are days on the weekend.


One thing to remember from this race! Wear gloves (my hands look like I took sandpaper to them).

It was nice to see my niece (Brooklyn). She is such a cutie, and is almost walking, but crawls all over the place! Spent the rest of the day watching the Raiders get a great win!

In other news, school is getting closer to being done. I have completed my data research and now look forward to defending my thesis and graduating with my Master of Exercise Physiology degree in December!!! Bethany and I are doing Farrell's Extreme Bodyshaping right now thank you to my client Lauri Lumm. It is a great strength routine and is going to be great for my functional strength training for next season! I am not going to lose 40lbs, but I look to tone up the body and gain some strength in the process!

That is it for now, stay tuned, as a few job opportunities have revealed themselves to me and I have a couple interviews in the next few weeks!!!!