Team Brauns.com introduction post

In the spring of 2004, I started swimming with a local master's group in an effort to get a good cardio base going into my karate black belt grading later that year. Well, adult-onset swimming often leads to triathlon, and I was no exception.

I dabbled for the next few years at sprint and Olympic distances, two or three per year, a marathon here and there, with largely MOP (middle of the pack) results.

Fast-forward to 2010: the year of Getting Serious. I bought a real TT bike, signed up with a local triathlon squad and applied structured principles to my training -- periodization, lactate threshold, FTP -- all previously unknown, but now very familiar.

2011was going to be the year of Results : I had a series of 70.3s (half-iron distance) lined up through the season, with the goal (admittedly a "best case scenario" one) of qualifying for the World Championships in Henderson, Las Vegas. This is where I will mention how I gained a visceral understanding of the phrase "the best laid plans of mice and men." I spent four weeks working full-time, trying to take care of my ill son, and trying to get 12-14 hours / week of training in on less than 6 hours of sleep per night ... it didn't work. So I regrouped, decided to cut way back on the training hours, and target local sprint and Olympic races (I actually ended up placing better than I ever had before at those distances) and keep my sanity in the process.

At the end of the year, I entered in the Tour de Hans, and despite the miserable weather, and walking the last 4k after a mechanical, had a great time.

What I had learned in the last two years was that training in a group makes you work harder, and get better faster, so when I heard Braun's was starting up a racing team, I got involved; I'm going to be in more straight-up bike races this year, so that seemed to be a no-brainer to train with other motivated athletes, and to learn from Winston and Jason about bike racing.

In the last 8 years, I have learned that the self-coached amateur athlete is like one of those plate-spinning jugglers -- child, significant other, job, training : you're not just keeping all the plates spinning, you need to keep them spinning at the proper speeds; neglect any one too long and you're going to be picking up the pieces. Training with a motivated group lets you get the most out of those limited training hours.

2012 sort of feels like starting over: I'm a novice at racing bikes, and that's what most of the season is. It's exciting to not know what you're getting yourself into.