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2010 was my most successful year of racing since I entered into the sport of triathlon. I finished 4th at Memphis In May, I smashed my course record at Elkhart Lake International Triathlon, finished 5th at Ironman Wisconsin and set personal best numbers all season long. Though hugely successful, this season did not come without some very low points.  In fact, I briefly contemplated laying down my sword after a terrible race at Ironman Lake Placid. I was not meeting my expectations and things were continuing to go exactly how I did not want them to go. After the race I took a week and visited my brother, hung out in New York and got completely away from the lifestyle and sport.  On the way back to Wisconsin I asked myself why I chose this sport as my career. The answer was because I LOVED IT! Everything else aside, when it comes down to it there is nothing I would rather do than get out there and swim, ride and run; push my body to it's limit and see just how much I can m...

Though the blog has been quiet over the last month, there has been a lot going on with me and Blake Becker Multisport Coaching LLC.  Racing: I am currently writing this blog on my way down to race my last Ironman of the 2010 season in Panama City Beach.  This will be my 3rd time toeing the line here, which means I am quite familiar with both the city and the race itself.  Let’s just say prep has gone well and I am looking forward to getting out there and getting things started. You can follow the race online over at www.ironman.com this coming saturday starting at 6:50am CST. New Website: You will notice that www.blakebecker.com has a new look.  A big thanks to Kaili Purviance at Clever Melon LLC for putting together one awesome, easily updatable site.  I also want to thank Gary Geiger of Gary Geiger Photography for providing me with some great photo’s that you will see rotating throughout the site! 2011 Multisport Team: I am excited to announce that Blake Bec...

BREAKTHROUGH!!!! 8:55:44 5th Overall Ironman Wisconsin 2010 So I am going to write this blog a little bit different than I might write a normal race report.  I will go through some of the race details, but there is a more important takeaway from this race; both for me and to everyone reading. For those of you that haven't followed my racing, this was my 20th Ironman start and for me it had been a struggle every step of the way. I always showed promise in training, but it never came together on race day. I knew I could, but just didn't know how to bring it all together. So what changed? Absolutely nothing physically or nutritionally.  As always I trained hard and fueled well. This was what I always looked to in finding a solution...until 6 weeks ago. 6 weeks prior to Ironman Wisconsin, I started working with   Bobby McGee . Bobby is a world renowned run coach, but I sought him out for his sports psychology background. In short, he did some evaluations and we ...

We are now sitting on Wednesday of Ironman Wisconsin race week and it seems as though the days have flown by. Today marks the end of most of my pre-ironman obligations.  Between training, resting, coaching, speaking and consulting with my athletes, I have had a fairly packed schedule over the last 2 weeks. I have trained the mind and body hard over the last 7 weeks and have prepared to suffer on Sunday better than anyone else out there. In the beginning my body resisted, then the mind protested in many different ways, but FINALLY they both gave in and got on board with the program. I usually find that when I train hard up until 14 days out from a race, there is a period of time within the first week of taper, when I feel very tired and sluggish.  No matter how many times I go through this, I always wonder if I am going to come out of it.  The good news is that I usually do and this race has been no exception.  After 5 days of dragging my tired body around last we...

We are now into full on taper for Ironman Wisconsin and there are a few things that I would like to pass along as we go forward. I will post them to the forum, but wanted to make sure you got them first. Not all of you on this list are racing Ironman and I haven't directly coached many of you, but we have crossed paths at some point along the way. Whether or not you are racing, have raced or will race again, I think that this information is good for everyone to remember. Each one of you has had a different story, a different training plan and a different path to get where we are 12 days out from the race. Some of you have had injuries, some have been sick and some have had to learn to train in a different way due to changes within your lives. Whatever your story is, whatever your state of mind is and whatever your level fitness may be, it is important that over the next 12 days you take advantage of every opportunity you have the race you want and have worked so hard for. It ha...

Hi All, If you get a chance, head over to the forum to check out regular racing, training, nutrition and life balance topics. Sorry for the lull in thread topics and posts; as the taper starts I would like to add a few new topics every couple days, so feel free to respond, start threads of your own, or add questions. Here is the first topic that I posted from the forum, you can register(for free) or check out the forum here. The first topic is the sweat test. Nutrition is called the 4th discipline in triathlon quite often and for good reason. I think that many times athletes just neglect it and don't put in the time and effort to simulate their race in different conditions in order to find out what works and what doesn't work for them. Ill cover a few more ideas and steps as we go here, but the first is "The Sweat Test." What to do: 1) Write down weather conditions and specific intensity that you are planning to train in. 2) Weight yourself naked before the sessio...

I had the privilege of getting to know Todd Varness over the last year and a half! Let me tell you about Todd. Now I only saw Todd a few days each week for a short period of time outside maybe an occasional Saturday morning at the famers market. Though it wasn't much, he did have a huge impact on me as a person. There are a lot of people that workout early in the morning. They get up when it's dark, are grumpy and bitter throughout their workouts, then go to work and live their busy lives. Well with Todd, he had a busy life, he worked with kids and he did train before it was light out. But there was one huge difference with him. He NEVER and I mean NEVER complained once about anything. Infact , I think he laughed and joked just about more than anything else. Even right before he was diagnosed and when he was feeling so bad, he never once complained! He was always the first one to ask how your day was going or say hi. He was sarcastic, funny and genuine...no one deser...