Fairly low impact workout week and it played out well for the Sprint yesterday. I will probably go with a similar workout plan for this week, doing short runs/rides and stretching.
I feel like I am about as ready as I could be for the 70.3 in exactly 1 week. Since I started this journey, I have dropped 30 lbs and have made huge leaps in my endurance and strength.
On Sunday, Sept. 27th, I will see if it has been enough.
Another Sprint Tri in the books!
I am very happy to say that I improved on my best time by almost 4 minutes. I can attribute that to being able to wear a wetsuit, the new SRAM S80 wheels, and no cramps on the run!
The weather report didn’t look good, but I said screw it and went for it anyway. Luckily, it only rained for about 5 minutes at the start of the swim and then it held off for the rest of the event. With all of the recent rain and cloudy weather, it was great news to hear that the water temperature was 76 degrees which meant it was a wetsuit legal event…and wear a wetsuit I did.
Overall, the swim went pretty well and it was my fastest swim ever as I shaved about 1:30 off of my best time ever.
Nothing worth mentioning in the transition other than everything was pretty wet. I doubt that my transition time was very fast but I will have to look at the official results to know because I didn’t look at my watch.
The bike ride was pretty hilly…which means that I sucked on the climbs, and kicked ass on the flats and downhills. The wheels performed as well as I could have hoped and I probably could have ridden certain sections faster, but some car traffic and the really wet roads had me playing it a little cautious. On one hill climb, my chain came off and that cost me a little time, but it was a pretty good ride all things considered.
After getting off the bike and getting through T2, I had to wait to see if the cramps that always seem to plague me were going to show up. During the ride, I drank a lot of concentrated Gatorade that I hoped would finally stop the cramps. You can’t imagine my excitement when the cramps never did happen. Apparently the strong Gatorade worked as planned.
The run was slightly hilly, but I had a pretty good run. I felt the strongest during the last mile which was encouraging. I think I have confirmed yet again that I am never going to be fast, but I can still maintain a good pace and feel strong doing it.
Next stop, Ironman Augusta 70.3.
Finally, I had a chance to take the bike out for a longer test ride today. Wanted to be sure everything was good to go after changing out the wheels myself…well, with the assistance of a co-worker who had the special tool I needed to remove the cassette…thanks Allan!
It appears that I did everything right because it rode great and all the parts stayed on. I noticed three improvements with the wheels right away. First, the bike felt stiffer, in a good way. I felt like it was keeping me more vertical. Not sure of the reason, but it could be that more of the weight of the wheel is shifted more to the outer portion of the wheel.
Next, I noticed I was cruising as a faster speed…I would guess 3-4 mph. I was actually riding about 5-6mph faster but I would attribute a couple of mph to feeling like I could go faster.
Lastly, the wheels seemed to take a lot of the road ‘buzz’ out. Having an aluminum frame vs. carbon fiber, I get a little more vibration…these wheels definitely helped reduce that.
Tomorrow is the Sprint Tri here in Gainesville so off to bed for some rest.
Got some new wheels for the bike and finally got them installed. They’re SRAM S80′s and the wheels should prove to give me an extra 2-3mph on average and a lot better ride because of their carbon fiber construction.
Sprint Tri is Saturday but it’s not looking good. Going to rain pretty heavily over the next several days and with the 70.3 a week away, I am not interested in wrecking the bike on wet pavement. I hate to miss it, but at this point, gotta play it smart.
Had the first Triathlete.FM show tonight and it went pretty well for doing something like that for the first time ever.
There are certainly areas that we need to work on, but at the end of the day, we’re doing it because it’s something really fun and we had a blast. Lots of good feedback and encouragement from everybody was great to hear.
Low impact workout tonight since sprint is coming up this weekend. Just 15 mins on the bike, 15 mins on treadmill, then 20 mins of core. Right knee is feeling a little wonky so going to make sure I don’t do anything to make it worse over the week.
Another decent week of workouts and I feel that I will be ready for the 70.3 in two weeks. I have no delusions of doing it quickly, but I do feel that I should be able to complete it.
A lot of work was done on getting ready for the first Triathlete.FM show and I think it’s going to be a blast. As mentioned in an earlier post, we did our first interview with a recent Ironman Canada finisher and it went very well. I finished editing the audio today to cut out the lulls and make it flow a little better. Be sure to tune in at 8PM ET this Wednesday to hear JD and I go live and the playback of the interview.
Sprint Tri in Gainesville is next weekend and it should serve as an opportunity for a nice weekend workout. It’s funny, I used to train for sprints vs. using them as one of my weekly workouts.
Nice combo workout tonight.
Ran 5 miles then moved right into 30 mins of core workout and then finished up with 10 miles on the bike. A solid 90 minute workout!
No workout tonight…recorded our first interview for our first Triathlete.FM show with Erin Lee tonight. She has a great story as a first time Ironman Canada finisher. Listen to in this Wednesday at 8pm on Triathlete.FM.