A:  Bob Stocks and I am from Binghamton, NY.

A:  42

A:  I work in a hospital as a Nuclear Medicine Technologist

A:  I did a sprint triathlon back in 1985 and participated as a swimmer on some team triathlons but consider the Mini-Musselman in 2005 as my first triathlon. In 2005 I did 3 sprint triathlons and got hooked on the sport and the people involved in the sport. I signed up for the Musselman 1/2 IM in 2006 and in training for that race I over trained and ended up with a femoral stress fracture and could not run for most of the 2006 season (A great reason to hire a coach!!). Fortunately, I was able to bike and swim and took a 1st Place overall in the Aquabike division. I did the swim and bike legs in a couple other triathlons that year and signed up for the 2007 IMWI in Sept of 2006. In 2007 I did my first marathon, first olympic tri, first 1/2 IM and first IM and I have signed up for 2 IM races in 2008 as well as many races of all different lengths.

A:  My favorite race is the Musselman 1/2 Ironman in Geneva, NY. I have raced this venue for the past 3 years, the mini-mussel sprint in 2005, the Aquabike 1/2 IM in 2006 and the 1/2 IM in 2007. The race director, Jeff Henderson, puts on a spectacular weekend with the sprint and a professional ITU race being held on Saturday and the 1/2 IM on Sunday. It's a weekend made for triathletes!

A:  I would probably say my NeverReach hydration system on my bike or my Polar 625X Heart Rate Monitor. The NeverReach holds 64 oz of fluid and I generally keep water in there and Gatorade and gels in my other water bottles. The Polar is a great training tool if you like gadgets. I use it on every run and every ride and find myself looking down to check my HR and pace constantly.

A:  I have been a competitive swimmer all of my life and have many highlights that involve swimming but I think my 1/2 Ironman at Musselman in 2007 would have to be my career highlight. It was my first race at that distance and ended up with a PR 1/2 marathon time and an 8th place overall in the race.

A:  I have set my goals for the 2008 season pretty high. Musselman and IMKY are my 2 big races and my goals are a top 3 overall at Musselman with a time of under 4:20 and a top 10 in my AG at IMKY with a time under 9:45. My main goal in any race is to have as much fun as I can though.

A:  My long-term goal is to keep triathlon as a big part of my life and get as many people involved in the sport as I can.

A:  Peanut butter, PowerGel and chocolate milk. Each morning I eat a PB and granola sandwich on wheat bread on the way to work. I go through 3 gels per hour running and biking and always buy boxes of PowerGel Vanilla and Strawberry Banana when it is on sale. My favorite recovery drink is a chocolate milk, peanut butter and banana smoothie in a blender.

A:  I have always been a distance swimmer and the longer the distance the better. The same follows with triathlon, I have only done one iron distance race but am hooked. I like the fact that strategy and nutrition play a huge part in the outcome of the race. It's not just an all out effort that the fastest person wins, the person who follows his or her plan and is able to adapt that plan if thing doesn't go right will come out ahead. That being said, it's unrealistic to specialize in Ironman as the training is very time consuming. If I had to choose a distance to specialize in it would probably be the 1/2 Iron distance.

A:  Have fun! Triathlon should be about a healthy lifestyle first then about competing. Train smart and don't go overboard, try to look at the sport as a lifelong activity and be careful not to over train, rest is part of training and should not be ignored and finally do what you can do when you can do it. Don't get too stressed out if you miss a workout, it's not the end of the world.

A:  Try to find a training partner or training group to do some of your training with. My best workouts and hardest training sessions are the ones that I am alone but the most memorable and enjoyable training sessions are the ones that I am doing with a friend. The other tip is to keep a training log. I use www.beginnertriathlete.com and have made the site a big part of my training. It's a great logging program that has some great training plans and allows me to enter my workouts from T3 as well as track my equipment, nutrition, mileage, weight, etc.

A:  My favorite workouts are undoubtedly my long rides. Being on the bike in upstate NY for four to six hours is an awesome experience. No kids fighting, no horse stalls to clean, no worries other than if I remembered to put a new tube in the tool bag after my last flat. The workouts I don't like to do but I feel that I benefit the most from are the track workouts. Specifically the 400 repeats or 800 repeats. I would rather run a marathon than do these workouts but after I am done and recovered I know that I had a great workout.

A:  T3 coaching has been such a huge part of the success I had in 2007 that I can't say enough about the value of hiring a coach. Having a coach that you trust to keep an eye on my training takes a load of stress off my shoulders. With a wife, 3 kids and all of their activities, job, etc. it is so much easier to try to plan training around workouts from T3 than always being stressed about whether or not I got enough hours of training in for the week or if I spread my hard days out enough so I don't injure myself (Like 2006).