Ahh swimming... what a blast!! Not!!

Have to update two practices because I forgot to write it in...

9/17/08

The main set was relatively hard and I didn't make it. Felt like challenging myself...

It was a 2000 yard set, alternating 2x100 and 1x200, repeat 5 times. The original pace given was 1:30 per 100. Too slow... so because I had a lane to myself, I attempted to do the set starting at 1:30 pace, then decending by 5 seconds each set. So the paces would be: 1:30, 1:25... 1:10.

I made it through the first half of the 1:10s... but completely fell apart and ended up coasting the last part of the set.

9/24/08

I don't know what it is about these people creating the sets, but they like 2000 yarders. Todays was another swim/dryland combo. It was 20x100s, alternating 1:30 / 2:00 pace. The deal was that each 2:00 pace, we had to climb out of the pool and do either 5 push ups or 10 situps.

The first time I did a set like this, I couldn't complete the 5 push ups at the end. One of the guys joking said that the last one would be a sprint... So I took him up on it. I averaged about 1:07s for the first 19, then on the last one I managed a 1:02 from a push. Not bad considering its only been a couple of months and once a week in the pool.

Fri Brick was a mess!

So I decided to do a small brick workout on Fri since it was nice out... 10 mile ride, 3.5 mile run.

Took off on the bike, was averaging a little over 20 mph when a 1 1/2" screw decided to somehow puncture my rear tire. It went completely through and damaged the rim a little bit. Grrr... having so many bike issues this year. Anyways, called the local AAA (the wifey) and had her pick me up. Got back home, threw the bike in the garage, changed shoes, and took off on the run.

The run actually was good... I've started to see actual progress. Did the 3.5 miles in under 31 minutes... Which is under 9 min miles. Got to keep building the base up.

I have to fix the treadmill sooon!!!

What a bummer!!

So I just went to forward the website to a coworker who has a friend that is starting triathlons and the race page says its sold out... and I didn't enter. DOH!!

There is one other, but it is this weekend. Was really hoping to do the one next weekend... Oh well.

First timed training run

Woke up this morning and decided to take a watch with me for the first time on a run... and I was pleasantly surprised.

My normal route is 3.5 miles. Did about 1.6 miles in 14 minutes which equates to under a 9min mile pace. It felt comfortable so I think my training is paying off a little. I'm definitely not going to break any land speed records, but there is definite improvement. So I took 20 minutes to run back...

This week is my last training week of the winter as next week will be short, quick tempo speed work as a mini taper for the race on Sunday

So finally got another run in...

Been slacking on the running this week. I couldn't get up early enough to not deal with traffic on Thurs or Fri morning, so with an evening football game that I MUST watch I got up early today and went. Did a different route this morning to vary it up a bit and went a little longer. Total distance was 7 miles.

Let me just say that 7 miles was a little too far of an increase. I probably managed to run about 5 of it. Ran out the first 3.5 miles, walked the next .5 mile, ran another mile, walked .5, ran another... etc

Right now I'm beat!!! However, plenty of exercise to eat my snacks later this evening.

Weekly Swim Practice Tonight

So I ventured over to the gym to join the master's swimmers again tonight. It was a good practice, about an hour and almost 3000 yards. The main sets were as follows:

1. 8x75 on 1:15 going swim/kick/swim, warm up
2. 2x500 on 6:30, second one faster than the first
3. 4x100 on 1:30, decending
4. 6x50 on :45, slow-med-fast (repeat)
5. 12x25, 4 on :35, 4 on :30, 3 on :25, IM order
6. cooldown

The highlight was the 500s, being that the triathlons are farther swims I worked these harder than the others. I went 6:00 and 5:45. Not great, but not bad considering its been 10 years+ since the last 500 pool swim.

Run day tommorow.... hopefully the weather holds.

Three weeks till next race

Being three weeks out and about half way through a mini training program I feel that this week should be my hardest workout week. My current plan is the following:

Mon: Run
Tues: Bike (Intervals)
Wed: Swim
Thur: Run
Fri: Rest
Sat: Run
Sun: Bike (Distance)

Considering weather is an unknown, especially with the hurricanes wreaking havoc, we'll see...

Time to start talking training

Ok, enough about my first with no training.... now its time to talk about what I've been doing since my recovery week.

Basically, the weeks have been going like this:

Sat: 2-3 mile run
Sun: 40-65 mile bike ride
Mon: rest day
Tues: 45 minutes on the treadmill or 30 mile bike ride
Wed: 10 mile bike to pool, 1 hour swim workout, 10 mile bike back
Thurs: rest
Fri: rest

I did this basically the last two weeks and have pretty much destroyed my legs. At the pool, my calves have cramped up so bad I could hardly walk. The first week it was my right leg, the next was my left. I don't think I was drinking enough water/sports drink. I gave my legs some rest this past weekend (skipped the Sat/Sun run and bike ride) to try and recover.

Overall, running is my weakest discipline so that is where I need to spend the most time.

Next update: Three weeks till second race.

Decision on another Sprint this year

In doing seaches of local races, I came across another race at the end of Sept. This one is another Sprint distance (.3 mile, 15 mile, 3 mile). So, 5 weeks between the races, time to start training....

First Tri - Week after race

Week After - Ok, so the lack of training took a toll on my legs. My guess is it was the running that did me in. The top part of my quads were in severe pain. So much so I could hardly walk for the week.

The good news is that I thoroughly enjoyed the triathlon. After the event, my cousin and I sat down and have actually planned out some events for next year. A warmup sprint tri in June, an Olympic distance in July, and then culminating with a half-ironman in Sept. For this schedule... I need to start training now.

First Tri - Race Report

So here I was about to get inducted into the world of triathlons!! The challenge of the day:

1. .5 mile swim in a bay
2. 12 mile bike
3. 3 mile run

My plan was simple, don't drown, have fun on the bike, and survive the run. With really no training, I thought that was a good approach.

Wakeup was 5am. WAAAAY too eary. Race day breakfast: egg sandwhich on a bagel and some oatmeal. We arrive at the race location a little after 6am. A few diehards there, but its not crowded yet. Its a local YMCA triathlon, so only about 250 participants plus relays. My cousin and I head to registration, get out numbers, and get marked up. Transition area was next. Racks were organized by number so it made it easy. My cousin and I staked out our spots. Since we had back to back numbers, we got spots next to each other. Using a video from BeginnerTriathlete.com, I organized my area. Seemed simple enough. We rested and chatted to a few people the rest of the morning. Race start time was 8am.

About 20-30 minutes before the start, people start warming up in the water. Since it was my first open water swim, I thought I might as well give it a shot. So out we went. No biggie. There was no wind so the water was like glass... perfect conditions.

T-minus 5 minutes... everyone started walking towards the far end of the beach. So off we went. The swim course was a little funky as it was about 40 yards from the beach the the first buoy, then about 600 yards parrallel to the beach to the next buoy, then back to the shore. The bad thing was with around 100 people lining the beach and 40 yards to the buoy, the first part of the race would be psychotic. It was like rugby, but in the water. So I made the decision to start on the far outside.

Swim - So my decision to start on the outside probably cost me a bit of extra distance, but no biggie... I just want to finish. So after plowing over a couple of people, I got into the flow of things and crossed back over into the line of swimmers. All I know is that .5 mile felt really, really long (I can't remember the last time I swam that far). I did fairly well and I came out of the water in 9th place out of the first wave. Swim time: 10:49

T1 - The crappy thing about the swim, is that there was like a .2 mile run along the beach to the transition area. The beach was not sandy... more of a shell/seagrass beach... and it hurt! Later I found that I got a shell or something stuck in the bottom of my big toe. So I finally jog into T1, find my area (which I was thankful for the numbers, because my mind was blank) and begin to clean/dry my feet. We just used 1 gallon jugs to clean our feet but one fellow had a nice rubbermaid bin that he just stepped into. Got my socks and bike shoes on, put my sunglasses on, then added the required helmet, grabbed the bike and off I went. Here comes my first tri lesson learned: If you put your bike shoes on in T1... MAKE SURE YOU TAKE OFF YOUR CLEAT COVERS BEFORE THE RACE!. I hoped on and went to clip in and nothing worked. I was heading towards a small hill and still was clipped in, so I reached down carefully (while moving) and removed the covers tossing them into the grass. They were later recovered. Crisis averted. Overall T1 time: 1:47

Bike - The 12 mile route was fairly flat with some rolling hills. Of course they felt like mountains today. I used the first part to spin a bit to get my legs going. Because I hadn't biked, I really felt it on the hills. It was like I put the 60 lbs back on that I have lost. I got passed by a number of people... most on $4k bike setups with disc wheels and aero helmets... they are supposed to pass me right? What I didn't get was some of the drafting. Its just a local event, so I doubt anyone cared... but its not an Olympic distance... and its a fun event, so why bother?? Wimps I say. So I cruise into T2 and finish the bike. When I finished the bike, I was in 18th place.Bike time: 34:00

T2 - Relatively straight foreward compared to T1. Off with one set of shoes, on with the running shoes. Off with the helmet, on goes the visor. Take in some fluids, and off I went. T2 time: 1:17

Run - It was an out-and-back course that measured 2.84 miles by a garmin, which must have been uphill slightly heading out. I just felt like garbage. I made the turn and actually started catching someone. Key point is "started" as I soon lost sight of him. The run wasn't as painful as I thought and my cousing who is a marathon runner... did catch me, so I was excited. Overall, I lost like 50 some places on the run, ouch! Ok, so you know your going slow when you are holding conversations with the spectators on the side of the road. That was me the entire way, whether it be family, friends, or volunteers. Run Time: 26:00

Total time: 1:14:00

Not bad for my first triathlon. Up next... Post Race week

First Tri - Race week report

So, race week came with no physical activity for a month. What to do. Well, first thing was to find out if my ribs would hurt. So up went the bike on a trainer for a quick 20 minute session. Basically just a test to see if the aero position on the bike would hurt. 20 minutes done, no pain.. so good to go!

The next day was a good hour long road ride to get comfortable again on the bike. No pain, so far so good...

Two days before the race I still hadn't pushed myself so I joined the local bike shops weekly bike TT race. Its a short 8 mile TT so it would give me a good workout. I'd push it till it started hurting, either my ribs or my legs, whichever came first. Well, never got the change because I flatted 4 miles in. But, again no pain... so the race was on!

Day Before - Went out for a relaxing recovery ride just to flush out the legs from the previous night. Talked to my cousin (who runs marathons) and he decideds to do the race too!! Getting psyched now.

Up Next - Race Report

Summer in Review

For the last three summers, I've been living in the world of recreational bicycling. I was doing this primarily for weight loss. Since I've started cycling, I've gone from a starting weight of 235lbs to 179lbs! I have a swimming background so I thought why not attempt to learn how to run and enjoy the world of triathlons.... note the use of the word "attempt".

So in late Sept of 07, I received a nice present to myself of a TT/Tri bike. So I set my sights on a local YMCA sprint triathlon (.5 mile swim, 12 mile bike, 3 mile run) and off I went....

2008 started just like any other with me putting in miles and miles on the bike. I enjoy riding and it has served me well in weight loss and overall fitness so I put off running and swimming. Deciding on when to start training the other two sports was difficult, but I thought if I gave myself 10 weeks to prepare, that would be enough. Since the race was short, this was plenty of time... or so I thought. I was bringing my running miles up, felt comfortable on the road, and even managed to do a brick workout. Then everything fell apart!

About 5 weeks before the race I was out on a ride with a friend when I had a mechanical and wrecked pretty bad. It was one of those crashes where everything feels ok at first then gets progressively worse. At first I felt fine, then I was a little sore, and then a little later I could hardly breath. In the accident, I landed on my side/back and must have broken a rib. GREAT!!!

So fast forward four weeks.... here I was, 1 week before the triathlon I had been looking forward to for almost a year, without any kind of physical exercise for a month. What to do? Suck it up and do it!!

Up Next... Race week report!