I’ve been in Madison for about a day now and have noticed a couple of things since I’ve been here:

1.  Most of the people racing this weekend are at least 10 yrs older than me

2.  There are some ridiculous bikes here; you could buy a decent car with the amount of money some people spend on their bikes.

3.  If you ever think you’re “in shape” go to the check-in area at a triathlon, you’ll be in for a huge reality check.

 

 

I finally got my bike back after having it in the shop for nearly a week.  I guess I picked a bad time to crash at the beginning of last week; there were three different tris in Chicago this past weekend so everyone had their bike in the shop.  What was most aggravating about the whole thing was the fact that there was nothing wrong with the bike, but better safe than sorry I guess.  I rode about 30 miles yesterday and 40 today and felt pretty good.  I’m still a little worried because I wanted to do one more long ride before the race, but probably won’t now since the race is less than two weeks away.

Did a lighter hour run in the evening and felt good, except for some minor pain in my right foot (guess the body is starting to break down).  I keep getting more anxious each day the race draws closer and it seems like there’s always something new I need to buy, this is such an expensive sport!  Today it was new sunglasses and a visor, tomorrow will probably be compression wear, and then who knows after that.

Also on an unrelated note here is the original ending (the better one) to a “New Hope”.  Strangely enough I find it motivating.

So updating this website sort of fell by the wayside over the summer due to studying for the CPA exam and other non-triathlon related things.  Since my last post (which was over 2 months ago…) I’ve had at least four flats, bought a new bike, crashed said bike, done a half iron distance race, and had an altercation with a driver on a bike ride.

The half iron race went well, aside from the run.  Splits were 35:50 for the swim, around 2 hrs 50 min for the bike, and 2 hrs 27 min for the run (results are available online for anyone who’s interested).  The run was really brutal.  It was around 95 degrees plus the heat index during the middle of the day, I was worried I wasn’t going to finish.  I felt like the heat got to me more mentally than anything, and because of that I didn’t push myself as hard on the run as I should have.  Under better conditions I probably could’ve done the run in around 2 hours, maybe less if I was feeling really good.

The biggest takeaway I had from the half iron race was that I definitely needed to focus more on my running and to include more “brick” workouts in my training (“brick” workouts are where you bike and then run immediately after to get used to the transition from biking to running that happens during a race).  Since the half iron race I’ve tried to make every bike workout a brick workout.  Even if I only run for 10 minutes after, it’s important to get used to transition from bike to run because it’s such an odd feeling.

Today was one of the more interesting workouts I’ve had, since it involved a minor altercation with a driver while I was biking.  Towards the end of my 30 mile ride I swerved to avoid a pothole in the road and a car behind me honked and the driver shook his head as he drove past.  For some reason I was feeling a little “punchy,” and made an obscene gesture as he drove by.  As a result he slowed down and started yelling at me from his car.  I yelled back, and eventually he drove off in a fury while I almost crashed (again) in frustration.  I was probably wrong for what I did, but most drivers don’t realize they need to share the road better; I’ve almost been clipped by drivers too many times!

Hopefully I’ll be able to get in a long ride this week to see how my new aero bars feel on a longer ride.  They felt really nice today on the shorter ride and I felt really good coming off the bike going into my run.  I’m going to try and give more updates  a little more regularly now that I have more time and with the race fast approaching.

 

 

 

Been a while since I’ve written anything on here, figured I’d post another video.  Most people have probably seen this, but it’s still interesting, enjoy.

 

I just noticed it’s been almost a month since I’ve written anything on here, so I figured I might as well write something.  I feel like I’ve gotten into a little bit of a funk with my training.  I took three days off last week and now I feel like I’ve lost some time in my bikes and runs.  I also won’t be able to swim until next week when I get back home which is frustrating because I’ve put a lot of work into my swimming over the past few weeks.

My first workout after my three days off was a 20 mile bike and a 6 mile run.  The bike went ok, but the run was tough.  I started to have some pain in my left knee (which I’ve never had before).  I thought it was a little strange to start to have pain after having taken a couple days off, but the body can react in strange ways.  I guess the best thing I can do is ice it and make sure I stick to my training; I can’t really afford to take multiple days off if I want to do well in my upcoming races.

I’ve also found it increasingly difficult to keep myself motivated to complete my workouts.  Up until recently I looked forward to my runs and bikes, but as of late each one seems more like a chore.  It probably doesn’t help that I don’t have much else going on right now, which has me feeling kind of lethargic, but hopefully the feeling is only temporary.

I meant to write this over the weekend, but I kept putting it off and it never got done.  On Friday I went for my first bike ride in about a week.  It was going well until I got to the 17th mile and I blew out my back tire.  Fortunately I was at the end of my ride and was able to call a friend to come get me, since I didn’t have a spare tube.  I had a good 11 mile run (1 hour 25 minutes) on Sunday and then did a light 5 miles on Monday.

I took my rear wheel to the bike shop on Tuesday because the tire had ruptured and I also thought the wheel might be slightly out of true.  Fortunately the wheel was fine and all I needed was a new tire.  After getting the wheel fixed, I took my bike out to make sure everything felt okay.  Less than 2 miles into my ride I had another flat (and again no spare tube).  This time I ended up walking the 2 miles back to my apartment and then went back to the shop and got another new tube.  By the time I got the tube fixed again it was already dark and getting too late to try another ride, so I ended up swimming for an hour.  Today (Wednesday) was another really light 5 mile run and then an hour of swimming.

Something that really surprised me when  I had my two flats was that while I was waiting on the side of the road numerous bikers went by me, but only one stopped over the two days.  Whenever I see another biker stopped on the side of the road I always stop and see if they need help or if there’s something I can do.  Another reason this surprised was because when I’ve had bike problems at home I’ve always had at least one person stop and see if I needed help.  Hopefully this string of flats is over since I can’t afford to keep buying new tubes and wasting nice bike weather.

 

For some reason, it wouldn’t let me post all 3 videos in one post.

 

I didn’t mention this in my post yesterday, but it was hot yesterday.  My heartrate kept oscillating between 185 and 190 and at I don’t think ever got below 182.  Despite the heat I managed to do six miles in under 45 minutes (which I was very happy about)

Today I did a lighter run, around five miles, in the afternoon and then swam an hour in the evening.  I really feel like my swimming is starting to improve and am  much more comfortable in the water now.  I’ve started incorporating more drills into my swim workouts to continue to improve my technique and speed.  The one that I find most interesting is a drill where you swim with closed fists.  You really have to work to pull yourself through the water and it shows you how much you rely on the surface area of your palms to pull yourself along.

In keeping with the spirit of my last post, here are a couple more videos that motivate me/get me pumped up before my workouts….from the greatest movie(s) ever.

 

This clip from “Raging Bull” has been running through my head for most of the day and while I was on my 6 mile run.  I can’t really explain why, but I feel like it’s one of those clips that motivates me or fires me up before a workout.