Second Triathlon in 1 week!

Well, I loved doing my first one and Chris found this one relatively close to home so I thought I'd give it a "tri".  LOL!  This was a sprint Triathlon down in the Shawano area.  It consisted of a 1/4 mile swim, a 16.6 mile bike and a 3.5 mile run.  The event was fun, laid back and well organized.  The bike route was redone due to some road construction and had a number of hills and was more challenging than the old course from what we were told.  I felt great on the swim my timing was pretty good!  The bike was was challenging as I said before, with numerous hills.  I averaged just under 15 MPH.  I got off the bike and felt pretty good going into the run.  It was supposed to be a 3.5 mile run but I think it was closer to 4 miles.  The last mile got me.....I started fading and having a hard time with my breathing.  All in all I had fun, and it was a nice addition to my first tri I did the Sunday prior! 

My First Triathlon!

Last Sunday (Aug 26th) I did my first triathlon!  I did the Danskin Super Sprint in Pleasant Prairie, WI.  It consisted of a 1/4 mile swim, a 6.6 mile bike and a 2 mile run. I had a good time except on the swim I got stuck behind a wall of people that were using noodles as flotation devices to help them and I couldn't get around them!  This added anywhere from 5 to almost 10 minutes onto my time which was frustrating to say the least.   I was a fun ace overall and look forward to many more!  Here's the video and some photos.....

Sidelined with injuries.....

Couple weeks ago I got into an accident and got banged up pretty bad.  Scrapes, bruises, strains, etc but thankfully no broken bones.  There's nothing worse than missing events and not being able to workout, it's driving me crazy!  I wasn't able to do the Minocqua Triathlon which I was shooting for the Olympic distance course but Ann and I did volunteer and helped out during the swim and bike portions of the race.  Felt good to contribute!  So I'm slowly getting back to normal and hope to start back slowly in a couple weeks doing a simply 5K run followed by a sprint triathlon on Sept 1st.  Time will tell......

Tri-ing for Children's Triathlon

Well, finally got my second tri of the season in this past weekend.  I had two others on my list to do but scheduling kept me from doing them.  Anyway, I was excited to do this race because I heard the bike and run course was pretty flat and fast.  I signed up for the sprint race for two reasons.  First off, it's been about 5 to 6 weeks since I did a triathlon ( I have done a 1 mile swim race and 2 running races over this time) and secondly, the this long course (Oly) simply did a second loop of the same for the bike and run which I don't care for.  Anyway, this race was one of the earliest starts I've done with the Oly swimmers sarting at 7AM.  The transition was closed by 6:45.  Ann had meetings in Madison which was a little over an hour away so I had to get up at 4AM to make it on time with the drive.  Left the hotel a little late and had to speed to get there.  The parking lot was a ways away and I debated on taking the wetsuit due to water temps.  I hurried and got checked in, marked and got my timing chip.  I only had about 15 min to get my transition area ready and felt rushed.  I saw a fair number of people with wetsuits so I debated on wearing mine.  One problem....I forgot it in the car a mile away in the parking lot!  I told myself this will be a good challenge for me since I've never done a race without one and my swimming needs some work.  My wave started and I stayed towards the back knowing I would be slow.  Felt ok at first then my form started getting poor.  I struggled and it felt like it was taking forever.  About 2/3rds through, the wave that started after mine caught up to me and over took me.  I wasn't happy with my performance at all.  Saw bottom and stood up looking at my watch.  It read 11:30ish which was about 3 min slower than my usual time.  I felt much more tired also.  Ran to T1, grabbed sunglasses, race belt and helmet and took off.  After catching my breath on the bike I was able to get a good average speed going.  My goal....pass and don't get passed.  I knew I had to make up a lot of time on the bike for my poor swim performance.  In total, I was passed 3 times by guys on super bikes that looked like they did this for a living (LOL) and I passed what seemed like 50 people or more so I felt good about this.  Average MPH was 20.5.  Had a decent T2 and started off.  This was my second race on the tri bike and for only the second time I had no leg cramps at all.  maintained a good run pace and finished pretty strong.  Overall, I was happy with the race performance overall but need substantially more swim work.

 

Hodag Run For Your Life 10K!

Saturday June 30th, I had a chance to run a 10K down in Rhinelander that was put on by the YMCA.  I was concerned about the heat and humidity since the whole week it was warm and I was having a difficult time training.  Got up Saturday morning, had a couple cups of coffee, some oatmeal and got ready to go.  Got down to the race about an hour before start.  Did some warm up exercises, stretched, had a protein shake and banana and waited for the start.  My hip has been bugging me over the last few weeks so I was concerned about it holding up for the duration but knew I would push myself regardless.  The gun went off and I was able to maintain a nice pace for the first couple miles.  I felt the heat starting to get to me about mile 3 but kept telling myself  "I'm a machine and I must simply push through the heat and hip".  Was happy to see water stations about every mile or so and took advantage of it but had to remind myself not to drink too much or I would get stomach cramps.  About 3 miles in I found someone that was about my age and thought I would pace myself about 3 steps behind him and it worked well.  As I passed the 5 mile mark I started to game plan.  I didn't know if this person was in my age group but he could have been so I wanted to wait and push it the last couple blocks before the finish.  As I got about 4 blocks from the finish line the person I was pacing with seemed to slow down and I passed him quite easily.  I looked at my watch and had a chance to PR so I pushed it HARD.  As I crossed the finish line I saw I was about 38 seconds slower than my best 10K time and I was out of gas.  I searched out the shade and someone handed me a cold water and said "You look like you need this more than I do..."  At that point she was my savior!  LOL!  As the results came in I was disappointed to see that I didn't place either so I had a quick massage and headed home.  Good race overall considering my hip was bugging me and I almost PR'd.  Halfway through the race the heat was getting bad and despite my week of so-so training it wasn't as big of a factor as I thought it might be.

Minocqua Island Swim Challenge!

So I was looking on facebook last week Thursday and saw this race.  It was the first year for the event and I was intrigued.  It was a 1 mile swim out and back in Lake Minocqua.  Now, I have been swimming a fair amount this year but have only done one .93 mile practice drill so far and I did one last year, so needless to say I didn't have many big swims under my belt.  I wanted the challenge and thought it would be a good test to see where I am.  Nothing like an impromptu race!  So, I got there about 7:45 that morning, signed up and started chatting with some fellow racers.  After the mandatory swimmer meeting I suited up in the wetsuit and did some warm up swims.  I knew I was in a field with some very strong swimmers, some on collegiate teams so this time around I decided to stay in the back of the pack so I could concentrate on form and maintain a good rhythm.  The gun went off and everyone took off.  It did take me a few more seconds to get swimming as the front pack cleared out.  About 1/3 of a mile in I was thinking...."This is long!" as I was siting buoys.  LOL!   Overall siting was pretty good.  There were a few times I needed to make adjustments but overall I was pleased with staying on course.  I never really was passed and I did pass a few people along the way.  Felt good to see the finish line!   Total time was 43:43 ranking 9 out of 12 in my AG and 60 out of 71 overall.  The good news was that other than a little dizzy coming out of the water, I was not tired.  This will play well in my triathlons going into T1 and the bike. Time was almost exactly what I thought it would be.  I could have pushed it a little more but wanted to make sure I didn't run out of steam towards the end.  Form was ok, and I'm still trying to improve on it.

I'm in the black Xterra wetsuit adjusting goggles.

Here's a link to a nice video of the event

Back to training!

Took a couple days off after last week's triathlon in Eau Claire. Wednesday, I decided it was time to get back in the saddle....Why?  I found a tri to do on July 1st!  So Wednesday I went for a run.  Felt good.  Didn't do any type of speed drills, just a nice easy run about 4 miles long.  Heart rate never got into the 140's so I could have pushed it a little more.  Thursday I had a little time so I went to the gym to lift.  It's been a while (about 4+ weeks) since I've done any weight lifting so I wanted to mix it up a little.  Did some Dead lifts and shoulder work.  I went light though since it's been a while and my shoulder still is bugging me from an injury last Feb which I probably should have had looked at in hindsight.  Friday was a bike day.  My lower back started to hurt about 10 miles into my race last week so I wanted to see if it was a fluke or if it would happen again.  After 17 miles it felt ok so I'm hoping it was a one time issue.  Took Saturday off because Ann came home from being gone a week at school and it was our anniversary.  Movie time and dinner at Pub and Prime!  So that comes to today.  Bought my state park pass and jumped into my training ground....Crystal Lake.  I love this lake.....all sand, deep and crystal clear.  It's about 50 acres in size and no motor boats are allowed.  the short way across is about 1/3rd of a mile and the long way across is about .47 miles.  Today I wanted to push and see what I can do.  I went for the long way across and back.  Ann said my sighting was bad but there wasn't much to use to sight with.  My form wasn't the best so that's something I need to work on.  Good news was I wasn't overly winded.  Total time came to about 40 minutes at .93 miles.  I need to get that time down substantially.

Chris