Week 2 of Oly training

Week 2 is now under my belt. Another big volume week for me. I looked forward to every work out but was happy when my rest day arrived (Friday). I managed 2.4 hours of swimming, 2.2 hours of running and 4.9 hours of biking. Part of that time was spent doing my third tri yesterday. It was another sprint but the bike leg was a little longer than usual. It was 18 miles vs. the normal 12-14. Not a big deal. It was a very hilly and technical course and I'm used to long, straight, flat Illinois corn field roads. I actually got to use the big and small ring on my front crank (multiple times)! It was fun using all 30 gears instead of just 10. It was also fun going fast downhill. I hit 41 mph at one point and was above 30 many times. I also hit 5 or 6 mph many times spinning up the hills. This interactive elevation map is pretty cool. Full race report can be found here.

The run was also hilly and I was slow. It was very hot and humid but I should be able to run a least a minute a mile faster than what I do. I'll work on that later. I'm having fun improving my bike speed at the moment. I did a 33 mile ride today in the 94 degree heat (107 heat index) and felt solid. I feel stronger with each and every ride and it's fun.

Week 3 starts tomorrow and I'm feeling good about it at this point.

Week 1 of Oly training

I started following a plan this week to prepare for an Olympic distance tri the first weekend in September. It's funny how my view of training changes as I try things and get more experience. After about a year of ad hoc training, I was convinced that ad hoc training would be fine for Sprint and Olympic distance triathlons. After my first race in May, I still held that belief. My second race was a different story. The race was one week after my first and the temperature was in the upper 80's instead of lower 50's. The run was out and back across a dam. No shade and the rocks on both sides radiated heat like a sauna. I think I could have done the swim and bike portion of the Oly that day, but I would have blown up on the run. I felt ill after running the Sprint portion, I couldn't imagine running another 5k.

Here are some pics from my second tri. I raced it with my friend Ryan. We met through a group on BT and my wife likes to refer to him as "the guy I met on the internet" :-). Anyway, racing with friends is a lot more fun than racing alone. I need to meet some more triathletes. Yea, Ryan is tall and I'm short. I look really really short next to him.

The swim went much better than my first tri. I was much more confident and relaxed. I focused on swimming straight, having good form, and not going too fast. Out of the water we had a nice steep hill to run up. I left my goggles and swim cap in my sleeve and they must have fallen out when I ran up the hill. The bike was fast and flat with a strong headwind on the way back.

Shortly after that race I gave up on the idea of doing an Olympic tri at the end of July. I'm sure I could finish one, but I want to feel good when I finish. Feeling like death after a race isn't much incentive to keep racing. I picked a 12 week Oly plan from Beginner Triathlete and started this week. It is nice following a plan, it gives purpose to my workouts. The plan calls for 3 runs, 3 swims, 4 bike rides, 2 strength sessions and 3 core sessions per week. I'll probably skip the strength sessions since I don't need them :-). Just kidding, I'll skip them because I feel like a goof going to the gym because I am so weak. I know, I know, I should go to the gym to stop being so weak.

Anyway, I managed to get in 3 runs, 2 swims, 3 rides and 3 core sessions. Just over 10 hours and I feel pretty good.