Olympic Distance

Yep, I'm going to try my first Olympic distance triathlon.  I signed up because I was inspired by a 39:30 10k brick training run after doing an easy 25 mile bike.  I figured what the hell.  It's local and on Father's day in June.  Maybe I could apply all the half ironman training to it and see if I could really go fast on the run.  The brick run I was just cruising to that 39:30 so if I pushed maybe I go 36ish.  We'll see as it will be more for fun than anything since my 1500m swim will be pathetic as compared to fast men in my age group.

But overall my run is really coming along.  I just need to keep any additional injury at bay.  I still have the sore knee but I don't need any new one coming along.  I busted a 5 mile tempo at 6:10s which was good.  The 1:25 for the half run segment at Florida is in sight if it all comes together.

Elena got some new running shoes and is excited to be training again.  We ran an easy 3/4 of a mile on Sunday.  She has pretty good form which is nice.  I think I can get her up to that 5k distance but we'll see.  Maybe at around 8 minute pace who knows...I know she could easily bust a 7:30 mile if she had too right now.  I'm sortof excited to see how fast she can run when she gets older.

It's fun for me because she actually likes running right now.  I have to be careful to make sure she continues to like it.  Of course, we're going to get her into the pool this summer with goal of teaching her how to swim.  On top of that, it's also time for her to learn how to bike without training wheels.  My 7 year old is going to get the full triathlon gambit this summer.  It will be good for her and improve her confidence.

It's finally hot here(90 degrees) as I just finished my first ride of the year where I wasn't cold at the beginning of it.  Of course, now my condo is 80 degrees but no A/C yet...just yet.  I'm holding out as it's suppose to cool down to the 70s by mid week.

With the hotter temperatures, the summer movies start this week with X-Men Wolverine.  Next week is the new Star Trek.  I'm still not sure what I'm going to do for the movies this summer as I'm kindof just like sitting at home.  Maybe when I'm down in Florida at O's, we'll catch a couple of movies.  We'll also be doing extreme amounts of eating while I'm down there.   We start with going to the Whispering Canyon right after the race for all you can eat chicken, ribs, and sausage as well as bottomless shakes.  I'm thinking I'll gain 10 lbs while I'm down there.  I'll have to trade off going way off my diet vs. sticking to my diet in order to go fast at that June race.

A side effect of all this nice weather is my allergies are killing me.  The Claratin is holding them back but still my eyes are constantly itching.  Elena has been walking a tight rope of allergy medication and nose bleeds.  Her poor nose gets too dry from the allergy medication and then she has nose bleeds.  She woke up last night with one.  Poor kid, definitely not fun.

Lazy and Rain

It's been pouring all day after a really nice spring weekend.  I bagged my swim workout this morning because I just didn't feel it.  I put in enough calories Sunday afternoon to really need a workout in the pool. My legs are thrashed from the weekend workouts.  I thought about running on the treadmill but figured what's a day of rest gonna hurt as it still hurts just walking right now.

I was in shambles after last week's Wednesday's tempo run.  I figured I had no chance of going fast on the half and was worried that I might be slower than last year's 1:33 split.  Everything mentally changed for me on Friday.  It was 70 degrees so I went for a mild 25 mile ride just to spin the legs.  I got off the bike and immediately hit the road for a brick run of 6.3 miles.  I just wanted to cruise at a nice pace.  I clipped off the first mile in 6:40.  I thought that didn't seem fast more like a pedestrian 7:15 something to me.  I decided to keep cruising and see how it would go.  I got to the same part of the run where I had run the tempo on Wednesday.  I had averaged basically 6:10s for the 3 miles of tempo.  During this run, I was able to rattle off a 5:57, 6:05, 6:07 during that section.  I about lost it on the 5:57.  I haven't seen a middle mile during a workout since 2002.  I'm still shocked.  I finished the roughly 10k course in 39:30 and that's with a 1/2 mile cool down.  I immediately thought maybe I should sign up for a Olympic triathlon.  I suck at the swim but maybe I could drop a sub 36 on the run.  I might have to give one a go this summer.

On Saturday, I pushed my first 4 hour ride of the season.  The weather was great and even got a slight forearm sunburn from being aero for most of the ride.  The arms hadn't seen so much sun all year.  I got home with the thoughts of my Costco lasagna.  I ate 2/3rds of the entire tray.  I probably could've finished but I wouldn't have been able to hit the pavement the following day for my run.

I woke up Sunday for the longest run since doing the PT stuff.  10 miles loomed and my legs were already tired.  The first mile felt like 21 of a marathon.  The legs were just dead.  I guess it will make me mentally tough running 80 minutes with dead legs.  I was glad when the run was over.

I can feel I'm getting stronger on the bike and run.  I actually may have things timed right for a good peak at Florida.  My stretch goal is to qualify for the half ironman championship in Clearwater, FL.  I'd have to have a perfect race and hope it was hot enough to decimate the field.  I would need to make the top 10 for a shot in my age group.  The key is getting my swim at 35 and then being able to finish with a 1:25 half.  Of course it wouldn't be an easy task to drop a 2:30 bike in the middle of that.  I was close on the bike last year while just cruising at an Ironman feel.  The run will be the hard but if things go well I could do it.  The real problem with the run is dodging other participants due to the course being 3 loops.  This is toughest part of that course navigating everyone as you overtake them on the uneven surface of grass/dirt.  I just want to see 6:30s on the watch at as many miles splits as possible.

The swim isn't improving but it isn't getting worse.  I haven't been swimming as much as last year but that's okay.  3 quality workouts each week seems to letting me hold some shape.  I'm not sure it's going to translate to a 35.  I think my experience from last year will help cut some time from last year's 42.  I definitely spent a little too much dodging swimmers and sighting.  I think based on my experience from Canada I will sight a lot less.  In Canada, I think I sighted maybe 3 or 4 times total.  I just used the crowd to guide me around the course.

I can't believe it's almost May though as April has just flown by.  I probably need to change the layout of this blog and change it's title.  If I do qualify for Clearwater, I'll have some purpose for training this summer.  If not I can see a lot of lounging by the pool.  I've also just given myself a new goal for 2012.  I want to run Boston when I'm 40 and possibly do another Ironman at age 40 as well.  Instead of buying a sports car, coloring my hair and buying a bunch of fancy clothes, I'll train for a qualifying marathon and maybe even another Ironman.

Hmmm

Yep, it's been a long time between posts. I just sortof update my facebook status with key workout information rather than putting all the gory workout details in the blog. My life continues to be pretty boring so it's not like I have some great story about going to the bookstore to talk about or even to a Wizards game. Although I had entertained doing a Wizards game just for something different since it's pretty convenient and they are so bad the StubHub tickets are super cheap.

Speaking of StubHub, this service is awesome. I'm sure Elena and I will go to a few National's games courtesy of that service. I will also try to take her to a WNBA game but man the cost of those tickets seems outrageous for the popularity and the seat locations. I tried last year but it was just too expensive. With the slower economy maybe the prices will be cheaper, I will have to keep looking for those games this summer.

And with the economy, I moved my 401k investments back to 75% into the stock market as it's been slowly increasing over the past weeks. Buy low and hopefully sell high when I'm 80 and can actually retire. I wish my 401k would show how much money I've put into the account over the years. I'm wondering if I've actually made money or not. As I think about it, I've probably doubled my investment so that's better than it just sitting in my mattress.

The weather is still cold here. It might get to 50 today. The usual average is 65 and we've only seen like 3 days in the past 2 weeks at that temperature. So sad. This is really hurting my cycling shape. I'm going out today with a bunch of layers for a hard ride so hopefully I don't freeze. The knee is the knee nowadays. I think the PT is helping but it's a super slow process especially now that I'm running a bunch. I did my first real running workout yesterday. I decided to run some tempo. I figure with the limited time I have before the race in May, I'll do one tempo run each week. I started with just a simple 1.75 mile tempo yesterday. It was brutal and I only went 6 minute pace. I still think back to 2001 when it was breeze running 6 minute pace. That's really the last time I've been in awesome shape. Anyway, if I can keep the tempo pace the same but increase the distance I could still have a shot at a 1:25 half. We'll see..

Elena is on spring break this week but luckily the before/after care went full time this week. I wonder how she is liking the no school. I'll have to ask her about it today. Easter is this weekend so I'm not sure what the plans are. I may have to get some eggs and color stuff for this weekend since she's at my house. Maybe I can do an egghunt out in our common area?

Also on the plan for the weekend is a massive Costco run, I'm completely out of food. I have one chicken breast, 5 brats, and 3 boxes of pasta. That's it other than rice for dinner. Luckily, I can eat the same thing every night for days on end and not care. I'm expecting a large Costco bill but overall it's cheaper than just a normal grocery store.