Sunday, July 17, 2011
Ain't Over Till It's Over
I remember posting this song to my Facebook page after Lonestar... after I decided to keep on pursuing triathlon. I decided to keep going with it and signed up for coaching. I even signed up for the Galveston 5150 this October.
Maybe it is over.
Between work and the tri training I have been just beat lately. I have also been feeling like I have no time to do the things I really want to be doing like fishing, weightlifting, and working on my old project car. I have had no desire to do any more races after the Sylvan Beach Duathlon, which I didn't even post about. I took some time off to go visit my mom in Alabama, and decided to end the coaching after that. It just was not the right thing for me. I just don't want to devote that much time to it.
I have not had much activity this week. I went on a run today, but didn't get out until 9:00. That was a mistake made even worse by my current mental state with respect to tri training. The run was a real struggle of 'why am I doing this' and 'just quit and forget it all', particularly after halfway. I took long walk breaks and shortened my run intervals, but there was no motivation in it at all.
Actually that nails it, no motivation.
So am I going to finish it out and do the 5150? Honestly right now I am thinking no. I made a list of pro's and con's for doing triathlon right next to my list for getting coaching, and the lists were not that different. But, maybe I just need to work on my own for a few weeks and 'reset' to see if I feel any different about it.
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
COMBAT Triathlon Report
I have now done my second triathlon! At Tri Swim last Tuesday night we did the 300 yard pool 'snake' swim that would be in the COMBAT Triathlon on Saturday. I made it through pretty well so I signed up for the race!
SWIM (300 yards in 9:59)
The swim start took forever since I was number 322, we were seeded in order of our 300 yard swim time, and everyone started 10 seconds apart. I had timed my swim at the pool in 24 Hour Fitness at 10:55. I ended up doing it in 9:59! And even that was with catching my breath at the walls and letting people go past me. Much room for improvement but still a win for me. Coach Chris (Tri Swim coach and now one of my new tri coaches) was doing the swim start, so it was nice to hear a familiar "Ready... GO!" to get started!
T1 (2:38)
I had quite the n00b mistake in T1... I put my running shoes on! I grabbed my bike and started toward the line, then noticed... aww crap! And of course there were lots of fellow BAM! club member volunteers around to share (and laugh) with my misery. The really funny (or not) part of this picture is that the guy coming in with the LJFAT uniform is Donnie Artley... who won our age group. He was coming back from the bike before I even left! Note the long delay to swim start though. :)
BIKE (15 Miles in 48:56, 18.4 Mph, Avg HR 163)
I had a great bike! Tailwind to begin with, so I took max advantage there. I kept my heart rate around 160 and my cadence around 85 all the way and just shifted to whatever gear let me keep close to that. Since I was slow on the swim, I got to pass a lot of people! I don't think I was passed at all. I like that part at least! Garmin data here.
T2 (2:33)
More trouble in T2... this time some woman was trying to rack her bike in my spot! Right on my number. Then she tried to put the rear wheel on the bar and things got tangled up with my handlebars. It turned out she was supposed to be on the OTHER side of the bar... where she finally went, only to shove her bike back over to the wrong side. (Even with another volunteer helping) Argh!
RUN (3 Mi in 33:11, 11:03 pace, Avg HR 170)
My tentative run plan was to just run the whole thing with no walk breaks. I had not done that for 3 miles before, but came pretty close in training once. But not after a swim and bike. That idea fell apart after 15 minutes. I have been running 10 minute intervals, so I should have kept that going but I didn't quite manage that either. I ran 15 minutes at 10:33 pace, then took a break for a minute. I realize that was way past what I have been training to, the next couple of intervals were only 3 minutes each. I rounded it out with 7:44 of run at the end. I could have done better if I had stuck to my 10 minute intervals! I sprinted at the finish and found a new max HR of 189. Garmin data here.
RESULTS
I was a little sad to be last in my age group of 12, but then I realized I was 171 out of 244 overall. Not too bad for my second triathlon! Particularly when I have only been swimming 6 months and decided to do the race in the last few days. I have only been running a couple of years now too. So I have lots of room for improvement.
NEXT
So the plan is to continue Tri Swim, going twice a week now. The Thursday night class has less beginners so it is much more aggressive, but that kind of pushing would be great for me. I am signing up with MC Tri Training in preparation for the Galveston 5150 this October. I will probably be doing a few more sprints before then, and lots of open water swim training. It's going to be quite an adventure!
Darren
SWIM (300 yards in 9:59)
The swim start took forever since I was number 322, we were seeded in order of our 300 yard swim time, and everyone started 10 seconds apart. I had timed my swim at the pool in 24 Hour Fitness at 10:55. I ended up doing it in 9:59! And even that was with catching my breath at the walls and letting people go past me. Much room for improvement but still a win for me. Coach Chris (Tri Swim coach and now one of my new tri coaches) was doing the swim start, so it was nice to hear a familiar "Ready... GO!" to get started!
T1 (2:38)
I had quite the n00b mistake in T1... I put my running shoes on! I grabbed my bike and started toward the line, then noticed... aww crap! And of course there were lots of fellow BAM! club member volunteers around to share (and laugh) with my misery. The really funny (or not) part of this picture is that the guy coming in with the LJFAT uniform is Donnie Artley... who won our age group. He was coming back from the bike before I even left! Note the long delay to swim start though. :)
BIKE (15 Miles in 48:56, 18.4 Mph, Avg HR 163)
I had a great bike! Tailwind to begin with, so I took max advantage there. I kept my heart rate around 160 and my cadence around 85 all the way and just shifted to whatever gear let me keep close to that. Since I was slow on the swim, I got to pass a lot of people! I don't think I was passed at all. I like that part at least! Garmin data here.
T2 (2:33)
More trouble in T2... this time some woman was trying to rack her bike in my spot! Right on my number. Then she tried to put the rear wheel on the bar and things got tangled up with my handlebars. It turned out she was supposed to be on the OTHER side of the bar... where she finally went, only to shove her bike back over to the wrong side. (Even with another volunteer helping) Argh!
RUN (3 Mi in 33:11, 11:03 pace, Avg HR 170)
My tentative run plan was to just run the whole thing with no walk breaks. I had not done that for 3 miles before, but came pretty close in training once. But not after a swim and bike. That idea fell apart after 15 minutes. I have been running 10 minute intervals, so I should have kept that going but I didn't quite manage that either. I ran 15 minutes at 10:33 pace, then took a break for a minute. I realize that was way past what I have been training to, the next couple of intervals were only 3 minutes each. I rounded it out with 7:44 of run at the end. I could have done better if I had stuck to my 10 minute intervals! I sprinted at the finish and found a new max HR of 189. Garmin data here.
RESULTS
I was a little sad to be last in my age group of 12, but then I realized I was 171 out of 244 overall. Not too bad for my second triathlon! Particularly when I have only been swimming 6 months and decided to do the race in the last few days. I have only been running a couple of years now too. So I have lots of room for improvement.
NEXT
So the plan is to continue Tri Swim, going twice a week now. The Thursday night class has less beginners so it is much more aggressive, but that kind of pushing would be great for me. I am signing up with MC Tri Training in preparation for the Galveston 5150 this October. I will probably be doing a few more sprints before then, and lots of open water swim training. It's going to be quite an adventure!
Darren
Saturday, April 30, 2011
Sunday, April 24, 2011
Easter Swim Miracle
Happy Easter!
I made it to the pool today to work out some of the soreness in my legs. I hadn't done anything but swim since Lonestar, so I started getting back at it. After a hard 4 mile run on Friday and a 31 mile bike followed by a short run yesterday, my legs were really sore.
I started out with fins, doing lots of kick drills. I have been doing a lot of side kicking to work on getting comfortable in that position and stay balanced. I also did some 'Superman glide', transitioning that to swim. I did a couple of 50's, which were a little better but still felt hard.
Donna had suggested that I swim 300 nonstop, then I would know I was ready to do Silverlake. She thinks that would be a great one for me. After the 50's I was thinking the only way I could swim 300 straight open water with no wetsuit would be with a pull buoy! And I am trying to overcome that addiction... lol
I kept doing drills and even swam 25 breast stroke. Then after half a pool length of drill, I started swimming. After I hit the wall and turned around I suddenly noticed that I could feel water splashing over my hip... it was getting air! I was swimming with my hips up, without excessively kicking, just what I had been working on! That was almost like swimming with the pull buoy, but without it! I kept going and made 6 more full laps. I had no idea I was going to be able to do that today, something finally clicked!
Now I am taking another look at Silverlake. :)
Darren
I made it to the pool today to work out some of the soreness in my legs. I hadn't done anything but swim since Lonestar, so I started getting back at it. After a hard 4 mile run on Friday and a 31 mile bike followed by a short run yesterday, my legs were really sore.
I started out with fins, doing lots of kick drills. I have been doing a lot of side kicking to work on getting comfortable in that position and stay balanced. I also did some 'Superman glide', transitioning that to swim. I did a couple of 50's, which were a little better but still felt hard.
Donna had suggested that I swim 300 nonstop, then I would know I was ready to do Silverlake. She thinks that would be a great one for me. After the 50's I was thinking the only way I could swim 300 straight open water with no wetsuit would be with a pull buoy! And I am trying to overcome that addiction... lol
I kept doing drills and even swam 25 breast stroke. Then after half a pool length of drill, I started swimming. After I hit the wall and turned around I suddenly noticed that I could feel water splashing over my hip... it was getting air! I was swimming with my hips up, without excessively kicking, just what I had been working on! That was almost like swimming with the pull buoy, but without it! I kept going and made 6 more full laps. I had no idea I was going to be able to do that today, something finally clicked!
Now I am taking another look at Silverlake. :)
Darren
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