Signed up for the sprint tri at Joint Base Lewis-McChord up near Tacoma, WA this Saturday. Most likely my last race before heading to Army Basic training and OCS. Legs and lungs are feeling good. Definitely have a good chance of coming back with a win.
Its an interesting course with a 880m swim, 13 mile bike, and 3 mile run. This is the second race in the series and the previous winner came in at 1:05 which is a respectable time but something I believe I can do. If I can come out of the swim in the top 5-10 places I should be able to seal the deal on the bike. I will be riding my old Specialized I used back in mid 2008 since the Cannondale is gone. The bright green lunar-racers will be back for another round
Lubbock/Twenty-12 Talent ID was a good experience but the race was quickly over for me. I took a heel in the adam’s apple at the first buoy/250m. That took the breath out of me and I couldn’t recover aerobically. I came out of the water in the last group which was caught by the leaders and lapped on the loop; disqualifying us. Lame, but it happens.
Right now I’m getting ready for the ‘heart of the valley’ triathlon outside of Corvallis, OR. Its a AA Sports race so there should be a good number of competitors. The swim is an indoor swim so I should be able to avoid another heel. For this race I get to go back to the time trial back and dump the draft legal rules. I’m looking forward to it.
Got an email from USAT about the upcoming USAT 2012 Talent ID Tri on April 18th. Its right after the Collegiate national triathlon. Its on April 18th so I have about 9 weeks to get ready for the race. Its a sprint Tri so its perfect for me. Im really stoked. Can’t wait!
Well I am starting to set my sights on races for this coming season. I know for sure that I will be attending the first National Sprint Triathlon Championship at Pacific Grove. I have looked at the course records and I have no doubt that I will break them. I’m not trying to be cocky but rather that I am confident that my determination and training preparation will render all those who oppose null and void :). Depending on my financial situation I will also attend the Age Group Nationals which are being hosted on the opposite side of the country.
Now that Im pumped up Ill speak some honest truth. My training has hit a few plateaus this winter. Im going to let you in on a few things that I have found to work wonders on breaking them. Ill break it down by sport. Please consult a physician before attempting any workouts I am not a training professional
Swimming- I have found that sets of very fast 25yd Butterfly has really done wonders for my power in the pool. I will say that after 10 or even 20 lengths of butterfly I am dying but the next workout after a recovery I find that my freestyle speed is much easier to maintain. Give it a try.
Cycling- Most people say hill sets will really help break any plateau. The problem I see with this is that you end up pushing your mental /strenght barriers as well physical ones. Another option is very easy. Go out and do a ride for fun. Seriously, hop on the bike and just go somewhere. Enjoy the sights and pick a destination that you want to go to. I find that biking to and from a coffee shop or even McDonalds across town does wonders. You remember why you started biking in the first place.
Running- Sadly this is the opposite of my biking advice. I have found, thus far, that only intensive asymetrical training really breaks you through a lull. I have been experimenting with race pace intervals in my 70% HR max runs. Its killer but I’ve found that personally slow runs only make the situation worse. Gotta pay to play.
Good luck to everyone training. Except if you are going to Pacific Grove in September
With seven weeks to go till the first time trial of the year, a random sinus infection is slowing me down. Nevertheless, training continues. The time trial is a 20k distance which is what you would find in a regulation sprint triathlon. It will be a very quick race with the winners clocking in the 26-27min range. Ill begin preparing the bike and test riding the course soon.
Considering how early this race is in the year I won’t be tapering too much because I don’t want to lose any training momentum that I’ve gained thus far. With the race being hardly 30 minutes there really isn’t a reason to slow down anyways. Well, besides that I just need to get a new pair of running shoes. My Brooks with probably 500+ miles are dead.
Well I took my new 2XU V:1 wetsuit to the pool yesterday for a quick run through. What a difference a wetsuit makes! I felt like I was skipping accross the water. The extra buoyancy that the suit provides makes it so much easier to glide in between stroke pulls. In the pool its nearly as advantageous as it will be when I hit an open water swim. Doing flip turns in a wetsuit is quite interesting because of the buoyancy. I did a race pace 500 in the suit and I have no doubt a was significantly faster than without it.
Now I trying to focus on not training to hard as I taper for the race. Its difficult to say the least as I still have the motivation for epic workouts. At this point its more of a mental game than a physical one. I need to keep focused despite working less.
I have all my reservations set up for San Francisco and all my gear here. The only thing left to do is get the bike tuned and aero bars swapped. Despite that its a “hurry up and wait” game.
After testing I have decided to stick with this bike. The bike is a Cannondale Six13 Ironman. The biggest difference between this bike and a standard road racing bike is the lower bottom bracket position. I just have to be mindful of where in a pedal stroke when I’m going through a corner. Otherwise the dura-ace brakes work wonderfully. All that is left to be done with the bike is tweak my body positioning some and install the S-bend aero bars in place of the current ones. And yes…It is a Lance Armstrong jersey…I feel like poser when I wear it
I am not a training professional
