Tri-Week.

Last night was the Pfizer Tri. I did the swim in a respectable but unspectacular 12:15 and our team won the 'mens' division (only 2 teams total). I fun night to be sure. I decided to do my own tri that day: biked into work 8.8 miles, swim that night (~750 m) and then a 1.3 mile run. I'm still missing my marks for marathon training - and still feeling 'sick' with this lingering throat respiratory problem - but hope to get the run in tomorrow (~9 miles) and then pickup normal training next week.

Tri Results

Yesterday I completed the Pfi Sprint Triathlon at Eastern Point Beach. I did about average: 1 hour 21 minutes and 36 seconds (10th out of 23 men). Unlike previous years I had a decent bike, great T2 transition and a pretty good run. I struggled mightily in the water - especially considering that I've been swimming all winter/spring this year. The breathing just wasn't there. The swim took 14:42 - which was the 15th/23 men. I was hoping to be at least in the top half - if not the top 3rd. I didn't have a wet suite which may account for some of it - but I think I should've done about one minute better based on the times of people I know I can swim with. Oh well, something to work on. On the plus side, I did much better on the bike. I did 41:54 which was good for 12th/23. Not great - but not horrible. My T2 was pretty much the fastest - about 30 seconds faster than anyone else - since I didn't have to switch shoes (mentally - I think that puts me up into the top 10 or so). The run started very hard - probably > 8 min/mile pace for the first mile, but once I caught my legs - I had a decent final 2 miles and finished strong: 7:38 min/mile pace. Of my 3 attempts at this try - this is by far my best attempt - so I am happy about that. It certainly is a lot harder that your standard run race.

I've taken the week pretty easy leading up to this. Monday I did my final BRICK: 47 minutes on the bike and 17 minutes running. Tuesday I did 6x400s at ConnCollege. They felt great. I can't wait to get back to the track in 2 weeks. I was suppose to do 8x400s - but I wanted to take it a little easy just 2 days before the tri. I have a 8 mile run tomorrow or Sunday and I'm done for the week.

Pfizer Triathlon

Well. The Tri didn't go off as hoped. I did the swim pretty well - in the top 1/2 of swimmers in my age group - but blew a flat on the second lap of a six lap course and had to walk it in. Tri's certainly take a bit more preparation than runs - and that's what killed me. I probably would've finished in fourth in my age group had I finished. On to other things.

Road Bike Workout

Yesterday I did my first ride on John's road bike. I was worried I would have lower back problems - but I felt pretty good, albeit slow, coming off the bike. The ride covered the course (5 of 6) laps for 11 of the 12.6 miles (about 44 minutes total). I then ran for about 9 minutes (I'll go 2.75 + 1 mile total workout). I did the ride without toe-clips, but with the clip pedals - although I'll look to fix that this weekend - I really didn't notice after about a mile (probably when my upper back started to get sore). Today's pretty busy at work - I may try and ride tonight for a little bit, then again Monday next week.

Two More Tri Workouts

Yesterday I did my longest scheduled Brick workout at Haley Farm afterwork: 54 minutes on the bike (~11 miles) and 27 minutes running (~3.1 miles). The run felt hot, humid and difficult - my legs were certainly struggling from the get go. I felt overheated all night. Today and ran down to Eastern Point Beach and did 6 lengths (~0.4 miles). Not many jellies (took one on the left forearm - but not bad) and the water felt wonderful. I swam pretty cautiously looking for jellies - which probably wasn't warranted - I think maybe there are less when you have low tide - or when the tide is heading out. Most importantly, I've borrowed a road bike - which I hope to take for a spin tomorrow at lunch or in the afternoon.

Overall, it's been a pretty solid week of training - with 3 critical workouts already complete: long run, brick and swim. I just want to round out the mileage (I've done ~18 eq. miles so far) and test the road bike over the next two days - and then do some easy workout next Monday and Tuesday.

Triathlon Training Begins

So my next goal is the Pfizer sprint triathlon, to be held Thursday August 7th. This 'goal' is more of a training schedule designed to make the summer a little more tolerable. The real goal is week to week: keep up the overall mileage and aerobic conditioning with at least one swim/bike/run per day. This will last for about 6-8 weeks, then I'll start thinking about getting faster for my fall runs.

Today, I did ~5 miles running. We have some thunderstorms rumbling through our area, so I wimped out of biking or swimming. I have to be home early tomorrow, so I'll probably do another run or swim at lunch.