Learning to let go of control
Dear Izzy, Max, and Kate, I woke at 4:30am on Sunday – Father’s Day. I climbed on my bike at 5:15 and rode 43 miles. Mostly moderate-to-hard miles, feeling like the extra effort… Read More
Dear Izzy, Max, and Kate, I woke at 4:30am on Sunday – Father’s Day. I climbed on my bike at 5:15 and rode 43 miles. Mostly moderate-to-hard miles, feeling like the extra effort… Read More
There is a lot of coaching advice on the internet and at your local bookstore, but making sense of the clutter is a struggle, especially in the midst of actually trying to train,… Read More
Dear Izzy, Max, and Kate, I came across this old picture a few weeks ago at Nana and Papaw’s house. It’s from a cold evening in February 1993: McClellan Gymnasium on the University… Read More
Dear Izzy, Max, and Kate, My biggest fear isn’t losing everything; it’s wasting this rare opportunity to change the direction of our life. I may never get the chance again to work with a… Read More
Dear Izzy, Max, and Kate, My first experience with Newton running shoes was with the “Motion”. It’s a shoe that I’ve come to love. It’s light. It’s fast! And I look a little… Read More
Dear Izzy, Max, and Kate, This morning I didn’t want to run. I woke up and turned off my alarm that had yet to sound. I’m preprogrammed to wake up between 4:30-5:00am now.… Read More
Dear Izzy, Max, and Kate, As the sun set into the Gulf I sat and considered the future. How one path leads to another and what’s behind you becomes overgrown sometimes and you… Read More
Dear Izzy, Max, and Kate, Sometimes you have to go at the mixing bowl with reckless abandon. No time for keeping things clean. Making sure the time is right. The oven is the right temperature.… Read More
Dear Izzy, Max, and Kate, In response to the tornado in Oklahoma I wanted to do something to help. It’s a strange feeling being on vacation while so many are suffering. Mommy and… Read More
Dear Izzy, Max, and Kate We’re having a blast on vacation. Each day is filled with hours on the beach, trips to the pool, sandcastles, boogie boarding, and holes dug to “all the… Read More
Dear Izzy, Max, and Kate, This morning I walked down to the beach alone. I sat in the sand, digging my toes in, feeling the coolness of it’s depth – before the heat… Read More
Dear Izzy, Max, and Kate, I want to introduce you to some awesome Moms and Dads as I write these letters to you. I’m doing my best to balance being a husband to… Read More
Dear Izzy, Max, and Kate, We had such a great time at Rev3 Knoxville last year we decided to go back again this year. I trained hard, through the ebbs and flows of a… Read More
Dear Izzy Max, and Kate, I have met and talked to a lot of interesting people over the years of my involvement in triathlon. Some of them were and are athletic heroes of… Read More
Dear Izzy, Max, and Kate, We’re beginning to see lasting signs that spring is here. After another long winter of slogging through miles in the cold and wet Tennessee winter, warm afternoon walks… Read More
Dear Izzy, Max, and Kate, Triathletes are an adventurous bunch. That’s stating the obvious, I suppose. That sense of adventure often leads to early adoption of new technology in gear and gadgets related… Read More
Dear Izzy, Max, and Kate I worked my way through it. The first big overdistance training weekend of my 20 week training cycle. I’ve done a few rides in excess of race distance… Read More
PART II OF TRUST AND CLARITY IN THE TEXAS HILL COUNTRY. READ PART I HERE. Dear Izzy, Max, and Kate, We drove straight to Salt Lick BBQ when we arrived. It didn’t disappoint.… Read More
Dear Izzy, Max, and Kate, Carolyn Horton handed me a pistol. “It’s scatter shot,” she said. “So you don’t need to have good aim, just point and shoot.” She walked back up the… Read More
Dear Izzy, Max, and Kate, I now own 3 pair of Rudy Project sunglasses. Yes, they’re that good. Along with my Zyon sailing and Noyz glasses I was lucky to also get my… Read More
Dear Izzy, Max, and Kate, People don’t slow down often. I saw a guy cut across a median on the off ramp and slide 3 lanes over. That move motivated, I presume, because… Read More
Dear Izzy, Max, and Kate, We had a great weekend! The sort of weekend that you hope for during the other five days of the week….filled with fun, love, and photo opps. It… Read More
Dear Izzy, Max, and Kate, Grandfather sent us this picture of you fishing beside the Pedernales River in Texas, Izzy. I stared at it for a long time. Different emotions overcame me as… Read More
Dear Izzy, Max, and Kate, I get to try out a lot of different shoes. Lately that’s meant a number of minimalist shoes. It’s rare that I find something “completely different” on the… Read More
Dear Karen, Happy 14th anniversary. Last year I wrote this for you. It’s been another crazy year. Some people only remember the good in their lives. Some people only dwell on the bad.… Read More
Dear Izzy, Max, and Kate, It’s becoming more and more popular, but triathlon is still a “fringe sport.” For that reason I’m asked often what sorts of products I use regularly in training.… Read More
Dear Izzy, Max, and Kate, The breezes helped me relax as I lay motionless, eyes closed, drifting back in time: a beach in Hawaii, a beach in South Carolina, Mexico, Duval Street, Bourbon… Read More
Dear Izzy, Max, and Kate, We wandered through unfamiliar streets. Bordered by thick green, heat waves, and banana trees. All of it felt like it might close in on us at once. I… Read More
Dear Izzy, Max, and Kate, I wrote to you a few days ago about some of the struggles I’ve been having with my health. At first the doctors called it an ulcer. When… Read More
Dear Izzy, Max, and Kate, I have enough to think about on long training days and race days without thinking about raw, chaffed, or sun burned skin. But I’ve been there. The middle… Read More
Dear Izzy, Max, and Kate, The first 20 passed effortlessly. The first signs of spring allowed me to ride in bib shorts and a jersey rather than the layers I’ve been wrapping myself… Read More
Dear Izzy, Max, and Kate, You kids couldn’t be more different. You’re each unique and special in your own way. You two girls have started playing together more lately as you’re getting older,… Read More
Dear Izzy, Max, and Kate, The dinosaur stampede in the most recent version of King Cong; what’s so terrifying isn’t the lumbering big dinos, it’s the smaller FASTER, MORE VICIOUS little guys who… Read More
Dear Izzy, Max, and Kate, Another silent morning. Layered. Pressing into the still life. Sunrise held captive by the heaviness drifting across the horizon. Snow fell, mixed with thicker, less beautiful, ice. Into… Read More
Dear Izzy, Max ,and Kate, I heard a guy speak yesterday on the book of Job. As he made light of the Job’s trials I considered the path I’ve been following. My life… Read More
Dear Izzy, Max, and Kate, I started to feel it this weekend. That empty feeling I get. The loneliness that sets in as the miles build. I’ve written to you about how miles… Read More
Dear Izzy, Max, and Kate, I’m a bad daddy. I scare my kids. But only at their request. Here you two little ones are a few nights ago after “seeing a monster” downstairs… Read More
Dear Izzy, Max, and Kate, I heard a song this morning that brought back a flood of memories. Rushing waters tumbling over submerged boulders, following the path carved by my experiences since then.… Read More
Dear Izzy, Max, and Kate, It was dark when I walked in. The oddity threw me off balance for a moment. I stopped, rubbed the morning stubble still on my face, as if… Read More
Dear Izzy, Max, and Kate, I had a rare Saturday with no training yesterday. Thanks to a quirk in my schedule I managed to get my workouts accomplished during the week, leaving me… Read More
Dear Izzy, Max, and Kate, It sounds impossible for someone to break into the triathlon world and finish 3rd in the world, among pros, in just their 2nd triathlon ever. But Canadian off-road… Read More
Dear Izzy, Max, and Kate, I wrote to you about Swiftwick a while back. Someone commented on the letter to the effect of “how can you write about socks?” It’s easy. My socks… Read More
Dear Izzy, Max, and Kate, When it started we were stunned. I wondered how loud it might really be, assuming that from our vantage point the noise would be manageable. It rattled our… Read More
Dear Izzy, Max, and Kate, I went surfing a few times when I lived in South Carolina. One day in particular stands out in my mind. It wasn’t one of the quiet days… Read More
Dear Izzy, Max, and Kate, This the 200th letter that I’ve written to you here. So I thought I would do something special. Your papaw, my dad, is a man of few words.… Read More
Dear Izzy, Max, and Kate, Another installment in our “gettin down” series: Kate, my little hippy child, we just had an extended kitchen dance session to the Grateful Dead’s “Hard to Handle.” I… Read More
Dear Izzy, Max, and Kate, Trevor and Heather Wurtele are rising stars in the long course triathlon world. While it’s not that unusual for two professional triathletes to be married, Trevor and Heather… Read More