It's been too long!

I can't even remember what I've been doing. A lot of swimming, riding and running. My first triathlon of the season is in one week. I'm pretty excited and a little nervous.

This Sunday I'm running the Capital 10k, here in Austin. I'm treating it as a speed workout for the week. My goal time is 43:30, that's consistent 7:00 minute miles. I'm confident that if I feel all right I'll be able to pull it off.

Today was supposed to be a long run. I had to cut it short because of a lightning storm that blew in at about thirty-six minutes. Oh well, I've been training hard, so I'll enjoy the rest.

Tomorrow I do my last long ride before I race. Hopefully the weather cooperates. It's supposed to be chilly (cold actually). That is already spoiling my plans for a morning wetsuit long swim in the Springs.

That's all for now.

I'll try to be a better blogger from now on.

Saturday Brick

Today I performed one of the most intense workouts of my life. I was invited by Coach Brandon Marsh to a brick workout with himself, Coach Amy Marsh, and a couple of their athletes. The six of them are preparing for the Ironman 70.3 in New Orleans on April 5th, and I am preparing for the Lonestar Quarter in Galveston on April 5th.

The plan (for me) was a two hour ride followed by a 45 minute run on a track. The ride consisted of a long, eight mile loop at race intensity, followed by a small, maybe one mile loop of easy spinning. After two hours of that, ride back to the track, and change into running gear. The run was intervals of 1k at race intensity, followed by 200m easy jog recovery.

We rode an easy big loop together as a group. I followed with two super-intense loops, each followed with their respective easy spins. Each loop took between 20-24 minutes. I had about 15 minutes to spare, in which I rode back past the track, did a quick ride through a nearby neighborhood and finished at the track.

My goal for the 1k's were 4:30's, of which I am very proud to say I hit pretty consistently. My legs were very, very heavy and I had to dig deep to pull it off. But I did and now I'm dead tired.

Thanks Coaches Marsh!

Blog, blog, blog, train, train, train

It's been a few days since I last logged my training, so this is a 5-in-1: two swims, a long bike, a long run, a rest day, and a tempo bike ride.

Last Thursdays swim ended up being a one-on-one with Coach Amy. It went well. I came out with two points of instruction.

One, bi-lateral breathing is great and she's glad I can do it. However, when racing, you need more oxygen so you don't poop out (as I tend to do a couple hundred meters into the swim). Amy told me to breathe every two strokes (same side) when I'm going hard. Done and I can feel the difference. I do switch sides ever couple hundred yards so my rickety neck doesn't get mad at me.

The second point was to reach. When that arm comes around, reach out there and get those fingertips down! My hand was coming in at a sharp angle just in front of my head and I was losing half a stroke. Now, not doubt, this is more difficult, uses more energy, and will require greater fitness, but I can tell I'm going much faster. I like going faster.

Saturday afternoon I did a long run. Ran 1:20 at a moderate aerobic pace. The run felt great; my brother paced me on a bike the whole time, so it flew by. I didn't bring any fuel but could have used some at about 50 minutes. Ended up going about 10.2 miles, an average of 7:50 minute mile. Meh.

Sunday's long ride was rough. While it is cool to watch E.P.L. games while on the bike, a two hour ride at 5:30 pm Sunday evening is tough to get through. I didn't eat enough during the day and felt really flat. I didn't have any extra fuel and that did not help either. In the end, I jammed through it. Not much more to say, since my bike computer has been reset since then.

Monday, off day, yay! Rested and it felt so nice.

Tuesday Tempo Ride - so much fun! I have to say that the tempo ride has been my favorite ride so far. It was only 55 minutes long (this is a recovery week), but it really felt like I was working something. The ride broke down to a 16:30 minute warm up at a moderate aerobic pace. Then I dropped the gear and rode 22 minutes at threshold, at about 85% max speed. I had to push but once my legs settled in I was moving. I don't have my bike computer handy, but I'd guess I averaged 24-25 mph on the highest resistance my trainer can do. Hammering! After the threshold, 16L30 minutes of active cool down at moderate aerobic.

Feeling pretty good, four weeks to race time!