My First Time Trial

Last night I did the Tadpole Time Trial (pdf), a ten-mile ride on quiet, rolling hills. I had no idea what to expect, since I didn't know the course, had only ridden this bike twice before, and I had done the lower-body workout earlier in the day.

I knew from talking with one of the riders before the race that the turn-around was after a big climb, and before the "T" intersection. I started out slow: the person who started behind me passed me before the two-mile mark. But I passed the person I had started behind also before the third mile. Then I climbed the hill, looked for the turn-around and -- where is it? I kept going: it can't be too much further. Then I started wondering: did I miss it? I was coming up to the "T," and still there was no sign. When I got to the intersection I knew I had gone too far, and lost a lot of time in the process. So I turned around and rode back as hard as I could.

I finished second-to-last in 36 minutes (for a ten-mile course). I think I can take about eight minutes off of that next time. But I did get a free bike computer out of it.

New Bikes!

So after a lot of consultation with the folks at the Bicycle Shop, my lovely wife and I got our new bikes. I got a Specialized Transition, and she got Specialized Vita. Both are beautiful. The gear shifts and (for me) the stirrups will take some getting used to, so we hope to get in a good amount of riding time over the next few weeks. Unfortunately, Sue's got a flat about 10km into our first ride. We had nothing with which to repair it, so I had to ride home as fast as I could to fetch the car to retrieve her. On the bright side, since I sprinting, I got a good feel for using the Aero-bars at speed.
Sunday we went running on the track at Rec Hall with our friend Joseph. We were going to run outside, but with the rain and with our vastly different running speeds, it made more sense to run on the track. That way we could run together at times, and when they needed to walk I could keep going.
Then later Sue and I went swimming at the white building. I was really struggling at first, but I started to get a really good rhythm going. I even tried a 50-free, and did it in 49 seconds.

Lower Body Training

Today I did the lower body strength training. After last night's run, and biking the night before, my legs were dead. The jump squats were especially cruel.

Where Have I Been?

My lovely wife and I took a trip to scenic Toronto. No real reason, except to get away for a few days. We had a great time, and some great meals. (For those of you in or going to Toronto, I highly recommend Jalapeno and Little Tibet.

Back home, training resumed full-force for the triathlon. Swimming on Monday, biking Tuesday, yesterday was upper-body strength training, and then a 4-mile run. I feel like I'm making some progress swimming, and I'm trying to remember the tips and advice my coach/wife is giving me.

I felt terrible the whole time I was running yesterday. My knees were sore, and my stomach felt like it was sloshing around. I was careful about how much and when I ate and drink yesterday, so I don't know what that's about. At any rate, many times I found myself running on sheer willpower alone. But I still took that last turn back up the hill instead of the flat road home, because I figure I need to learn to run with fatigue for the tri.

Swimming Update

Today I finally managed to swim 750 yards! And I felt pretty good most of the time. OK, there are two caveats to that: (1) I used the pool-boy for about 500 of the yards, and (2) I stopped to rest three times. The first caveat is OK, because I really wanted to work on the arm motion anyway. The second wasn't so bad, either, because none of the rests were more than a minute.
The breathing rythym still needs work: when I try to breathe every other stroke, I'm still exhaling when it's time to breathe again. So I wind up gulping air a bit. I'm trying to work on breathing every third stroke, but breathing on the left just feels weird.

The Hard Ride

Yesterday Sue and I went to the gym to do the lower-body workout. I felt strong the whole time, until jump squats. I could totally feel the tortellini I'd had for lunch.
I had been thinking about riding my bike home from work, and the circumstances worked out right last night for it. So, even though my legs were well-trained already, I loaded up my backback with my laptop, and started for home.
It's only about 10 miles, but some of the hills are just rough. Especially when you're carrying 20 pounds on your back. But I made it (in about 38 minutes), so I know I'm just getting stronger.

Less Than 60 Days To Go

As the ticker to the left shows, we are now less than 60 days away from the triathlon. There have been some things going on recently which have gotten in the way of training. But yesterday we were back in the pool.

Coach Sue had me use "pool-boys," and that made things much easier. I was having no trouble breathing every 4th stroke, but I didn't feel like I could maintain that through 750 meters. So I tried switching to every other stroke, but I felt like I was breathing too fast. What I realized later was that when I run, I control my breathing through long exhales. So maybe I should actually breath every fourth: that will give me time for a long exhalation.

I experiemented with breathing every third stoke, which means breathing on alternate sides. But I was having all kinds of trouble breathing on the left; it just felt unnatural. Could this be a case where I've overthought this? If breathing every fourth was easy and felt natural, why couldn't I do it the whole time?

I hope the weather warms up enough to try an open-water swim soon. With my inexperience in the pool, making the turn at the wall throws off my whole rythym. I think I'll do much better when I can go 100 or so yards without having to worry about the wall.

Forced to Idle

My old Driver's Ed teacher, Mr. Yaffe, always used to say, "People have to enforce human laws, but nature laws enforce themselves." He meant that it didn't matter whether there was a cop around; if you took a sharp turn too fast you were going if the road.

Well, I've been training really hard the last few weeks, culminating in that 10K I did last weekend, where I felt like hell the whole time. There was no rest on Sunday, either, as Sue and I spent most of the day working in the garden. Monday I woke up with a terrible head cold. My sinus were so bad I couldn't see straight. I had to stay in bed all of Monday, and Tuesday I sat on the couch all day, working from home.

Rest is so important in the training cycle, yet I often overlook the need for it. But, the natural law has enforced itself, and I've done nothing except some yoga, some meditation, and some dog-walking this week. I might do a half marathon tomorrow, though. I'll see how I feel when I get up.