So You Wanna Be A Triathlete?
3 days ago
Recently there was an article posted on Active.com that talked about what it’s really like being a triathlete. It’s not a cute little “here’s what to expect” or anything. It’s a pretty honest and blunt recitation of the things you deal with, think about and dream about to do this. It’s true for high-level pros and it’s true for us peon age groupers. If you really care and really want to do this, it’s tough, it’s demanding and it’s something that you will never want to stop.
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Yoga for Athletes
4 days ago
Well, I realized that I am really not nearly as flexible as I should be. I can feel it when I do squats at the gym and it’s uncomfortable bending my arms back to hold the bar, I can feel it when I try to get into the aero position on my bike, I feel it all the time as I go through my day. So I decided to do something about it, finally. I ordered a DVD called The Athletes Guide to Yoga.
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Workout Update 2-17-12
5 days ago
Well, the past couple weeks have been surprisingly slow. Currently I’ve been swimming 1-2x per week and cycling every other week (not by choice as much as schedule). I’ve been running a lot but that’s mainly because of the fact that it’s not something that takes as much time to prepare for (i.e. driving to the pool or driving home to cycle) since I can just leave from work easily. I met with a friend who has been guiding me and helping me with my training plans and he gave me some really good insight and direction. The biggest one was that if I want to really improve my swimming and cycling as much as I’m hoping, I need to be doing them 3x a week.
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I'm becoming that guy I used to hate...and I'm liking it!
17 days ago
You know that guy you hate? You know the one. You’re out running, you’re doing what feels like a marathon but is only really 2-3mi at a whopping 10min/mi pace and you’ve hit that point when your body says enough is enough, time to walk. You look around and nobody’s in sight so you dramatically slow down to a semi-fast walk. Breathing deeply you wonder what you’re doing and then you hear the sound of footsteps. A quick glance back and there he is. Running along like it’s no big deal. He could be on mile 50 of a 300mi run but he looks like he just left the house. You mentally wonder why this guy couldn’t have passed you 2min ago when you were still running and looked like you were at least partially in shape. But no, there he goes, trotting by as you try to summon some dignity in your exhaustion. He disappears around a bend and you’re left wondering how in the world someone could ever get in that kind of shape.
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Thinking about the coming 7 months
23 days ago
For the record, I’ve been sitting here typing up my goals for the year and thinking through what needs to happen and all and as I’m looking at the map I’m starting to get that “what have I gotten myself into” feeling again. It’s the feeling that says, I don’t know if I can handle this. This is a long race. Those are some fast goals. I don’t think I’m good enough to do that. Maybe I should set the bar lower. Maybe I shouldn’t have signed up for this.
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2012 Goals Pt 3: My Goals
23 days ago
So this originally started out as one post about my goals for the year but as I started writing it just kept getting longer and grew into this 3-part monument to my wordiness. Now, a big part of why I’m writing so much is because this is more about recording where I’m at and how things are going so that I can look back and see how I did.
So what are my goals for this year? My goal is to complete the Giant Eagle Triathlon (Olympic Distance) in under 2.5hr. I want to swim with an average pace of about 50sec per 50yd, cycle at an average speed of 21.5mph and run at an 8min/mi pace. If I can do all that, I can finish the race a solid hour faster than my first attempt at an Olympic distance triathlon.
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2012 Goals Pt 2: The Current Situation
23 days ago
So where am I at right now? It’s the end of January and I finally actually figured out my goals for the year. It took a while to get to where I am but I think I’ve got a good idea of what my plans are and all. I’m currently running, swimming and riding my bike on the trainer at least once each per week as well as getting in some kind of strength training as well. I’m doing a weekly long swim set that consists of a 3000+yd swim. I’m running outside and I’ve been doing intervals on my bike that are designed to really get my power up.
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Swimming update Jan 29, 2012
23 days ago
I just wanted to make a note that I did a 3300yd straight-through swim yesterday. That’s my longest non-stop swim to date and I managed to have an avg pace of just barely over 1min per 50yd. My goal is to go much faster than that, but step 1 for me is get the distance, step 2 is get the speed.
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2012 Goals Pt 1: Getting here
23 days ago
Every year at work there’s a big staff meeting where the leadership gets everyone together and lays out the goals and objectives for the coming year. They go through the financial situation, forecasts, what we want to achieve, vision for upcoming programs and other very exciting stuff. So I decided that I’d go ahead and write up my goals for the coming year as well. I’ve heard it said often that one of the best ways to make sure you really go for a goal is to write it down and tell people. So that’s what this is. It’s an opportunity for me to share my goals for the coming year, how I hope to get there, longer term dreams, the current situations and challenges and other stuff that will hopefully give a better picture of where I’m going and how I hope to get there.
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Winter Swimming
32 days ago
Well, I’m actually continuing to write!
I’ve been swimming semi-seriously now for a bit over a year. I started trying to do more swimming and push harder in the late fall of 2010. That was followed up by taking an early morning swim class in the winter of 2011. That class really helped me kick up my swimming speed and strength. It helped me get my endurance up a bit and get my speed up more. I kept up really well with it through the winter and then re-took the class in the spring. The second time around I wasn’t able to keep up with things and I ended up missing many of the classes. After that I ended up swimming off and on during the day, mornings, afternoons and even the occasional open water swim in the evenings with COTT.
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