That Bike Was Fast......

I enjoyed the Swing Into Spring Duathlon last Sunday...it was well done and provided a great workout. About 100 people competed, with many of them being very good local multi-sport athletes. It was a small event relative to others that I've done, but a very high percentage of the folks that participated were strong. The event was technically a 3k run, 17 k bike, and a final 3k run. As a point of reference, a 3k run is just under 2 miles...about 1.9...and the 17k bike is around 11 miles. My hip did not hurt before, during or after the event...but it was very tight the whole time. It felt like my hip extension was really, really tight and it seemed like I couldn't get a very good push off with my left leg. In any case, I managed to complete the first run in 14:09 and had a 59 second transition to the bike. The bike course was fairly flat, with just a few rollers in one 2-3 mile section. We fought a pretty strong cross wind...and had the wind against us or with us for only a small portion of the ride. I completed the bike portion in 28:51, with an average speed of 22.9 mph. This was my fastest bike split to date. My transition from bike to second run was solid...1 minute exactly...but as soon as I started running I knew I had over-cooked the bike. I really felt gassed for the final leg of the event and only managed a run time of 15:37...nearly a 1:30 slower than the first run. I will chalk some of my "slowness" up to the fact that my left shoe came untied right at the half way point of the run...lol. The shoe was slipping off my heel the last mile and was more irritating than anything else. At one point I thought about stopping and taking 15 seconds or so to tie it back up...but I have a personal rule...don't ever stop! I did have a proud moment on the second run though. A guy passed me right before the turn around and I picked up my pace to try to stay with him. He pulled away by about 20-30 yards and then I held his pace. With about half a mile to go I picked the pace up just a little bit and noticed that I was closing back in on him. My adrenaline starting kicking in since I thought he might be in my age group. I kicked as hard as I could and passed him with about 20 yards to go to the finish! I ended up beating him by 3 seconds. It turned out that he was in a younger age group than me...but nonetheless...I proved to myself I could dig down and find a little more at the end. My friend Jeff Paul smoked the entire field...winning with more than 3 minutes to spare! He is doing so well in his endeavor to become a professional trathlete. I'm glad he is healthy again and ready for a great season. As a point of reference...Jeff did the first run in well under 11 minutes, and completed the bike leg with an average speed above 28 mph!

Training this week was a little on the light side. I did a track work-out and strength training on Monday, a hard 12 mile bike ride on Tuesday, an easy 5 mile recovery-type run on Wednesday, a moderate effort 23 mile bike ride and strength training on Thursday, and 1900 yards swim training and a hard 5k run on Friday. Not great totals but solid training overall. I was particularly happy with my swim workout yesterday...I started with a 100 yard warm-up and timed it just as a point a reference. I normally would come in around 1:40ish for a moderate effort 100 yard swim. However, I came in at 1:32 and felt great doing it. I did 6 100 yard repeats on 2 minutes, with each completed under 1:42. I completed my work-out with a 1200 yard continuous swim to further test my endurance.

Just 3 weeks to go before the QC Triathlon! I'll be working the next 2 weeks on speed work with some hard tempo runs and track workouts. I also want to get in a few longer bike rides...somewhere in the 30-35 mile range once or twice a week (in addition to my regular stuff). I'll keep adding yardage in the pool...and see if I can get a least one or two open water swims in before the event.

Things are getting better in many ways....and...I'm just getting started. My attitude is positive and I know I am progressing in a good direction. I've spent my entire life doing for others and now it's time to focus on what is right for me.

Change is good!

TJ