Triathlon « JustKev.in

Posts Tagged ‘Triathlon’

a quick note…

Thursday, February 25th, 2010

My posts have been few and far between lately. I could go into excuses about being too busy blah blah blah, but the fact is I have been lazy. My back is still giving me some trouble, so I haven’t been running like I should and it has been so cold, it is really hard to gain the motivation to get outside for endurance activities.

That being said, after (what I hope will be) a relaxing weekend with Jenn, I plan to start a 3-run-a-week schedule to get back into a routine. I only have a little over a month before my next race, a half marathon, and I am a little intimidated by that thought. Follow that up with a triathlon a month later and I realize I have a lot of work to do and that I need to be careful not to injure myself. I need to stay injury free and in shape all year if I hope to finish my first Half Ironman that I have signed up for in November!

On another note, my Grandmother, Great Mia, is in the hospital with kidney complications. Read more about it on Melissa’s post.

Tags: Great Mia, Jenn, Melissa, Random Thoughts, running, Triathlon
Posted in Random Thoughts, Triathlon Training | No Comments »

Happy New Year!

Tuesday, January 5th, 2010

Okay, so I am late with this post, but I have been enjoying the time with my family over the holidays and things have been hectic!

I will take some ideas from Melissa for an “end of year” post and reflect back on 2009 and then focus on what I am planning for 2010.

Family Changes

2009 marked the 3^rd birthday of my oldest daughter, Mia. She is a wonderful girl who has me completely wrapped around her fingers. The year also marked the 1^st birthday of my youngest, Sadie. She is an independent spirit who will be giving Mia hell in the coming years, I am sure. Parents turn the other cheek when it is payback, you know. My wife, Jenn, and I celebrated our 5 year Anniversary. My sister, Jenny, and her husband, Chuck, had their first baby, a boy named Cai and he is so adorable! See Melissa’s post on her experience being there with them.

Weight Loss

In the beginning of 2009, I started my weight loss journey. At the peak, I had lost about 40 pounds, but have slipped off since. During marathon training I actually saw a weight gain, which I have heard can happen. For the entire year, I lost about 30 pounds.

Running/Triathlon

In January 2009, I could not run a mile. I started the Couch 2 5K program from PodRunner Intervals and ran my first 5K with Melissa in February. I was hooked. I went on to run a 4.1 mile race in April, my first triathlon in May, a 10K in June, off-road triathlon in July, international distance triathlon in August, a 211 mile relay run in the mountains of North Carolina in September and a Marathon in December.

Hiking/Camping

2009 was a bit of a slow year in this department. I did manage to make the MitchellWinter trip with Melissa, Jeff and Chris. I also got up to the Linville Gorge for a weekend with Andrew and Chad. I was able to incorporate camping before a couple of triathlons. I hope that as the kids get older, I will be able to take them places that I haven’t yet been able to.

Special Places

You have followed some of my new special places this year, and I appreciate you all bearing with my strange sense of humor!

2010

I hope to continue the weight loss journey in 2010 and to increase my physical ability. I have already signed up for 4 triathlons including a Half Ironman in November. This will be my biggest physical challenge of my life and I have a long way to get prepared for it. I also look forward to another year of milestones with my wonderful girls and my beautiful wife!

Tags: Andrew, biking, Chris, Chuck, hiking, Jeff, Jenn, Jenny, Melissa, Mia, mitchell winter, running, Sadie, swimming, Triathlon, weight loss
Posted in Hiking/Camping, Introduction, Random Thoughts, Triathlon Training, Weight Management, marathon training, mitchell winter | 3 Comments »

2009 Cane Creek Triathlon Race Report

Monday, September 21st, 2009

One week after running with an ultra team in the Blue Ridge Relay, I raced my last triathlon of the year. During the week I did zero training to allow my legs some time to recover. I felt that they had recovered well, so I set my sights on a respectable time in the race.

The Swim

This was my first swim in a wetsuit, so I didn’t know quite what to expect. The suit did make me feel lighter in the water. It also made the slightly chilly water a bit more comfortable. I am not a strong swimmer at all and I felt especially slow on this one. I had expected a time of 19 minutes on the swim and I crossed the mat at 25:27.

Glad to be out of the water!

The Bike

After a slow swim, I looked forward to getting on the bike. I passed several people on the bike and that felt good. I don’t think anyone passed me that kept the lead. There were a few that would catch me on the up hills and I would pass them again going down. I forgot to start my Garmin watch until about mile 5, but here is the last part of the ride. Total time was 46:41, I had anticipated 45, so not too far off.

Going into transition after the bike

The Run

As soon as I got off the bike, I knew my legs were going to hurt. My hamstrings and calves started to cramp. As I changed into my running shoes, I stretched a little and my wife walked over to the fence and reminded me not to overdo it since I had to cut the grass later. I thanked her for that and went on the run. About a quarter mile in, my legs were yelling at me to stop. I did some more stretching and continued on. I managed to keep a decent pace for the rest of the run, walking at the water stops. The last quarter mile was full of pain! My final run time was 29:46, I had hoped for 27. Here are the Garmin’s stats on the run.

Heading to the finish line - that is the biggest smile I could give!

All in all it was a fun race. I shouldn’t have raced a week after the Blue Ridge Relay, but it was still fun. The lake was beautiful and the bike course was scenic too. The run was a very boring out and back two laps though. They should think about changing the run route to something more interesting. My final time with transitions was 1:46:34, good enough for 227^th out of 296. I ended up 31^st out of 35 in my age group. So nothing extraordinary or anything, but I finished. The best thing was seeing my people that came to watch me as I am heading to the finish. Mia yelling “Go Daddy go!” is always wonderful and my wife and Sadie were there too. My sister, Melissa and her husband Jeff and my Mom and Dad came out too! It is always wonderful when your friends and family come to watch. And now two days after, my right calf is cramping and telling me I was stupid for doing that. I got some IcyHot patches and hopefully that will help! Thanks to Melissa for the pictures! Check out her blog post here.

Tags: Jeff, Jenn, Melissa, Mia, Race Reports, Sadie, Triathlon
Posted in Race Reports | 4 Comments »

shifting gears

Thursday, September 17th, 2009

After not doing any training for the past 5 days to recover from the Blue Ridge Relay, I am now focused on this Saturday’s triathlon. Most people would not have scheduled a triathlon a week after a race like the BRR, and I wouldn’t have, except I had already signed up for the tri when Alex invited me to run with him in the relay race. Not being someone who likes to waste money, I am doing both!

When I asked Jason Sutton about recovery after the BRR, he told me not to do anything at all for a week and a half or so, then build back slowly. So when I told him I had a race next Saturday, he said, “well, good luck, your probably gonna feel it on the run”

My legs feel about 95% recovered now and I am hoping it won’t be too bad. It is a sprint triathlon with a 750 meter lake swim, 14 mile bike and a 5K run. After the tri, I can then focus on marathon training.

Tags: Alex, biking, running, swimming, Triathlon
Posted in BRR training, Triathlon Training, marathon training | 4 Comments »

Assault on Cherokee International Triathlon Race Report

Monday, August 3rd, 2009

This past weekend was another to remember. On Saturday morning, I kissed my girls goodbye and headed to Melissa and Jeff’s house to pick up Jeff. We went to TrySports so the bike fit master could make some last minute tweaks. The guy there was amazing. He analyzed my pedal form while on the bike trainer and made minor, yet noticeable adjustments to my seat position and aero bar position.

After that, we headed to Inside Out Sports and picked up my race packet. They made sure that I knew that shoes are required to get from the lake to T1. I asked what the deal was with that and they told me that the transition area was a little ways along a gravel path from the lake, so shoes would keep your feet from getting injured.

Jeff and I made our way to Kings Mountain State Park where I had registered for a campsite. We found the site, set up the tent then drove back out to scope out the bike and run routes. The first half of the bike course was pretty straight forward. Then, the road turns to a narrow road that is poorly maintained and very hilly. It continues to be very hilly the rest of the way back to the transition area. The run is also pretty hilly, using the road into the camping area as part of the course.

I was then not only intimidated by the longest swim of my life of 1300 meters, but of a difficult bike of 27.5 miles and a hilly run of 6.2 miles! I changed my official “goal” from finishing between 3 hours and 3.5 hours to “just finishing” with no regards to time.

Andrew and his daughter, Breanna, arrived early that evening and we all sat around and talked for a while.

That night I hit the hay early and tried to sleep in the muggy conditions. We had a thunderstorm in the middle of the night which brought the temperatures down, but made everything wet.

I woke up around 4:45 and caught a shower. I got changed and did some last minute prep for the race. I mixed up my HEED and made sure everything was in my transition bag. I drove down to the race area and unloaded my bike, walked over to the transition area and set up my area.

From there, it was mainly a wait as I was set up around 6:30 and the race did not start until 7:30. I did get my timing chip and the body markings with my race number and age. I found a toilet and did some last minute “prep” there too.

The Swim

At 7:15, I headed down to the lake. When I was told “transition area was a little ways along a gravel path from the lake” I did not expect it to be mud and rock down a steep slope for about 1/3 mile! That would surely be a tough climb after swimming that far.

I got into the water and did a little warm up. I felt a lot of algae under the surface which would prove to be a problem in the water. The race director made some last minute announcements, one of which was to warn us that he would have to consider the bike course “a little cruel, so have fun with that”. We started in 3 waves, 3 minutes apart. I was in the first wave. I got in the back of the pack because I knew that I would be slower than the rest. When the second wave passed me, I knew I was going to have a slow time. I had such a hard time with breathing and the algae, that I spent the majority of the time on my back doing a backstroke just trying to calm my breathing. I knew it was bad when someone swimming past me before the halfway mark asked, “Hey are you okay?” I answered, “I’m fine”, but I knew that if I looked that bad, I am just hoping to finish!

I made my way from buoy to buoy until I was on the homestretch. When I finally got out of the water, I realized there were only a few others still swimming and I had a 6 minute head start on some of them! I ended up in 59^th place out of 60 that swam the course. So not last, but close to it! Then I grabbed my Keens and made my way up the hill. I walked most of it, but when it flattened out, I started to jog. Just before the transition area, I saw Jeff, Andrew and Breanna cheering me on! I got to the transition area and dried off, changed into my bike shoes, put my helmet on, ate a Hammer Gel and took some Endurolytes. I grabbed my bike and headed out on the course.

The Bike

The bike portion started off as I expected with it being relatively what I am used to. It was just slight ups and downs, but nothing too crazy. The one thing that I did not expect was that I was alone! I was so slow in the water, that all but 3 others had a huge lead on the bike already. In fact it took me 8 miles or so to catch up to someone! I passed several people before I saw the first accident. A guy took a wet turn too fast and wiped out, apparently slamming his knee and hitting his head too. After I passed them, more ambulances passed me and were on their way to tend to him. Although I did not see any others, there were apparently 3 accidents that resulted in DNFs for the participants.

The rest of the ride was very challenging with lots of hills. I passed several more in these sections and had a good enough ride for 29^th out of the 57 that completed the course.

As I approached T2, I saw that Melissa and Great Mia had arrived and joined Jeff, Andrew and Breanna to cheer me on. That people are there to cheer for you is a mental motivator more than anything else.

I spent the majority of the time in T2 changing shoes, trading my helmet for a HeadSweats visor and trying to get the cramping that had begun in my quads to stop. I stretched for a bit and then headed out for the 6.2 mile run.

I ran by my “support crew” again and managed a smile and wave, although my body is already yelling at me to STOP! As soon as I got around a bend and they could not see me, I started to walk while I ate another Hammer Gel. Then I cam upon the race camera man and I told him, “If you are going to take pictures, I’d better run!” So I did for a while and started to get into a rhythm. Then I came across the hills at around the halfway point. I finished the rest of the race walking up the hills and running down. I was not alone. Everyone that was around me did the same on the difficult course. I finished the 10K, quads burning and cramping, with everyone cheering, with a time of 1:01:47, good enough for 43^rd out of the 57 that finished.

Overall, I placed 44^th, so I am not at all unhappy about it, but elated to have finished at all. And to have my soon to be 93 year old grandmother see her first triathlon and my first of this distance was priceless.

You can see the event results here. I will add pictures to this post as I receive them.

I am all smiles on the outside but inside is a different story... Photo by Andrew

finishing the bike - photo by Melissa

photo by Melissa

the campers - Jeff, myself, Breanna and Andrew - photo by Melissa

more support crew - Melissa, myself and Great Mia - photo by Jeff

Tags: Andrew, biking, Great Mia, Jeff, Melissa, Race Reports, running, swimming, Triathlon
Posted in Race Reports | 5 Comments »

Recon Off-Road Triathlon Race Report

Monday, July 6th, 2009

This Independence Day weekend was one to remember. On Friday, I was a spectator for the first time at a race. Melissa and Chris ran in the Miles For Marines 15K. My feet were certainly itching to run, but I didn’t want it to interfere with my performance at the triathlon the next day. So I sat that one out and cheered them on with Mia, who played on the playground the whole time they were running.

Melissa & Chris Before Start

Melissa & Chris Start

Melissa & Chris

Melissa & Chris Finish

That afternoon, I went to Omega Sports to pick up my triathlon race packet and spoke to the event organizers who told me they were going to have a race briefing that evening and that I could come. I figured since I was camping at the site anyway, it would be great to see what they had to say. They went over all race logistics and gave us some good info and pointers for the course.

That night, Jeff, Melissa, Chris and I camped out and I slept in my bivy sack for the second time. The night was fairly uneventful, with only one critter that decided to visit us around 3AM. It rummaged through the trash and woke us up and Jeff made some noise and it ran off.

bivy sack!

That's right, # 13!

morning lake

: morning lake

morning lake

calm before the storm?

At around 6:30AM I woke up, took a shower to warm the muscles, stretched some and went to set up my transition area. It was nice to have a 2 minute walk to the race site. I was early enough to get the second best spot on the bike racks. It helps to get a spot that is close to where you exit and enter on the bike. That way you don’t have to run very far with your bike.

After that was all set up, I went and got body marked. They draw your race number on each arm, and your age on the back of your leg. The numbers are the only identifier you have in the water and the age tells other competitors if you are in their age group or not. If you are, they will be more inclined to try and pass you as you are categorized within your age group for awards.

I went back to the campsite and sat and went through the bike course in my head. I know the trails well and I put visual images in my head of the turns and spots to be careful. I have suffered some falls a couple of times and I remember those areas all too well!

After that, I stretched some more and went to the water for a warm up swim. The first thing I noticed about the open water lake swim as opposed to the pool is dirt. The lakes smell and taste (yes taste, I tried not to get any in my mouth, but it is impossible) like dirt. I assume that is because it is full of dirt!

The Swim

I got out of the water and with less than 10 minutes until race start, I consumed some Hammer Gel and took a few sips of water. I walked back to the lake and most everyone was in the water at this time. It was an “in-water” start, meaning that everyone got in the water before the start siren went off. They announced a few last minute directions and then said “swimmers on your mark” and the siren went off.

I knew from reading about triathlons that when a bunch of racers are standing in the water in relatively close proximity to each other, that when they start swimming and go from a standing position in which they are taking up about a square foot of water surface area and go to a horizontal position taking up 6 feet in length and a foot or 2 in width that people are all over each other. I tried to avoid that by starting about 5 feet behind the mass. That still wasn’t enough. After the start legs and arms were hitting mine and I was doing the same. There were just too many people around to be able to do a normal stride. I made my way to the outside of the pack and got a little more room. The other issue with an open-water swim is that the people are creating waves in the water which will splash you. This makes breathing difficult to say the least. I choked a few times during the swim because of that. I spent a lot of the swim doing a backstroke so that I could breathe more easily, but this slowed me down considerably. I exited the swim at 11:29, good enough for 33^rd place out of 39 finishers.

About to start!

People everywhere!

The Bike

After exiting the water, we had a ¼ mile run up a grassy hill to the transition area. I got on my bike and had a fast transition so I passed a few of the people that had beaten me on the swim. I figured my best chance to get a decent time was on the bike. I passed a few more people when I decided to ride through Steele Creek instead of walking my bike across the bridge. Once we entered the woods, on a narrow trail, it made it quite difficult to pass people. I did pass several people and had a respectable pace going.

It all started to fall apart when I realized I missed a turn and did an extra mile or so that apparently no one else had. Like I said earlier, I knew these trails well and had studied the maps they provided. I did what was mapped out. Apparently they decided to cut the trail short and cut off an entire section. That was fine, but they marked the turn with two small arrows off the side of the trail, which I missed until I came back through the area and saw that people had made tracks in the grass between the two sections of the trail. At that point it was a mental struggle. I was mad at the race directors for not disclosing the accurate maps and for not being more obvious with the trail markings. Then I was mad at myself for not paying enough attention to see the arrows. I tried to push a little harder to make up the time. I did pass some of the people that I had already passed, which was frustrating too. It was like doing the work twice! I finished the bike with a bike split time of 1:34:45, which includes the two transition times. That was good enough for 26^th out of the 39 finishers.

The Run

After pushing myself a bit too hard on the bike, I was exhausted for the run. I knew this was bad. I have read that having a slow bike and a strong run is much better than having a strong bike and a slow run. I had made that mistake. The mental game was on again. I was still mad at myself and it was hard to push myself when I am fairly confident I am not going to have a good time anyway because of my mistakes.

My calves cramped up a little bit, but not as bad as my first triathlon and I simply stopped and stretched them a bit. I walked too much on the hilly 3-mile trail run and I finished with a time of 38:47, good enough for 32^nd place on the run.

Even though I was disappointed with my time, it was still a very fun race and will do it again next year. As always, the best moment comes when I see the finish line and I hear Mia yell “GO DADDY!” and I see her waving her pom-poms that she always remembers to bring.

You can see the official results here. I wore the Garmin for the bike and the run.

Starting the run, about to realize that isn't water that is going to get in my eyes...

Just starting the run

Almost there!

On the way to the finish line!

Post Race Fun

After they gave out the awards, they decided to have some more competition. They had 6 $50 TrySports gift certificates to give out. 3 to female winners and 3 to males. The first contest was a pushup contest. Needless to say, I lost out to a Special Forces Marine who could probably do 200 push ups without breaking a sweat. The second contest was a Gatorade chugging contest and I didn’t even finish half of mine before two others were finished. The last contest was where I shined. The director called out, “Okay, for our last contest, whoever is the first female and first male to get back here after completely submerging themselves in the lake wins. Go!” I took off down the hill towards the lake about ¼ mile away. I got about ¾ of the way down and looked back as I could hear people behind me. To my surprise there were two girls and no other guys! I win! I dunked myself and jogged back to the top of the hill to collect my prize!

Melissa and her dog, Chris and I chillin after the race

I am done already!

After dunking in the lake going to get my prize!

Tags: Greenway, Melissa, Mia, Mountian Biking, Race Reports, running, swimming, Triathlon
Posted in Race Reports | 7 Comments »

Heating Things Up

Monday, June 29th, 2009

Mountain biking is harder than I remember.

I changed the tires on my bike (because I can’t afford two bikes) back to the all-terrain tires that were original to the bike. I also reinstalled the rear suspension all in preparation for the off-road triathlon this Saturday.

Once I had this completed, I decided I would like to go for a trail ride at the Anne Springs Close Greenway. I had planned a 6-7 mile ride and then a 1-2 mile trail run to do sort of a “mountain brick”. The only time that I could get away was during nap time, which happens to be the hottest part of the day. If you live in the south, you know how hot it was on Saturday. It was in the mid nineties, but with high humidity, it felt even hotter. There was very little, if any, breeze and there wasn’t a cloud in the sky to block the sun’s heat. The one positive was at least on the trails, the trees do a good job of shading the sun.

I realized early on that I was not used to riding on trails and have become more accustomed to the smooth surface of the asphalt. I figured there would be some adjustment, but since I have ridden a mountain bike on these trails numerous times, I figured I would not need that much. However, it has been almost a year since. About a mile into it, I notice that my pace is not that much faster than my normal running pace and it worried me a bit. I ended up doing a little over 7 miles, but it took me over an hour. See the details here. Compare that with my time on the bike leg of Tri the Rock Triathlon of about 50 minutes for the 16 mile ride and you can see how much slower that is. I did get more comfortable throughout the ride, so I hope I will be okay this Saturday. I just hope I don’t embarrass myself!

The worst thing that happened was that when I got home, just looking for some relief from the heat in the air conditioning, I noticed that it felt just as warm inside as it did outside. I checked the thermostat and it said it was cooling and set to a temperature of 74, but the actual temperature was reading 85. I asked my wife if she had changed it lately and she said no. I went outside and the fan was not running, so I checked the circuit breaker. Tripped. So I turned it back on and went to check it again. I could hear it running, but the fan wasn’t spinning. I gave it a few minutes and checked again. Tripped again. Shit. Luckily we still have a home buyer’s warranty that we renewed last year due to the age of the HVAC system. I placed a claim and then called the repair company and asked if it were at all possible to get Saturday service. They told me for an extra $50, they would come. Okay! The guy came out around 6:30 and it took him all of about 15 minutes to replace a capacitor that had blown, apparently due to overheating.

I took Sunday off since Jenn had to work and today is an off day. I will swim tomorrow and Thursday mornings and run Wednesday morning. I might do a bit of jogging on the trails on Friday, but I won’t do much. Hopefully this will leave me prime to not suck at the bike leg too much.

Tags: Greenway, Jenn, Mountian Biking, running, swimming, Triathlon
Posted in Triathlon Training | No Comments »

Best Week so Far

Thursday, June 25th, 2009

This week has been the most intense week I have had training wise. That is the reason why I didn’t get a post up yesterday. Once I got home from work, I just kind of crashed and didn’t feel like doing anything. A quick 12 hour rest was all I needed though.

I will start with what you have missed. I commented on the bike ride to work on Tuesday and here is the link to the stats. The ride home was much the same, and although it was late (I had to work late) I had fun with it. I actually passed another bicyclist, sure he was on a mountain bike and not really trying, but I still passed him! It is also fun when a car passes me right before a turn or railroad crossing and they slow down more than I have to. It gives me a chance to “ride” their bumper, but I have my hands on the brakes and I am always ready to swerve around them if they do something stupid. Come to think of it, maybe I shouldn’t do that… Anyway, here are those stats.

The next morning, I woke up early again, went to the pool and swam 700 yards. Once again the swim is feeling comfortable, which is growing my confidence. I went back home, showered and jumped back on the bike to work. Much the same, nothing special there. Here are the stats. The ride back home Wednesday afternoon was good, but very hot. It was about 1:30 in the afternoon and about 95 degrees with full sun. Here are the stats. I was a little slow, but it was hot!

I woke up early again this morning and went for a run, but I slept in about 30 minutes longer than I wanted to. I needed the rest! I was able to squeeze in about 2.85 miles before my wife had to leave for work, and it felt pretty good. It was cool, but the normal SC humidity is back. Here are the stats.

Since Sunday morning, I have ran 14.14 miles, biked 35.75 miles and swam 700 yards. I plan to swim at least 700 yards tomorrow morning and will probably bike to work again. Add to that another run on Saturday morning and I have greatly surpassed total training for previous weeks. This all works to add to my confidence. If I am going to go the distance, I need to be able to do the training. Oh, and not counting the swim, in the last 5 days I have burned an extra 3,385 calories. My diet hasn’t been perfect, but I will look to shed a couple of pounds when I start to taper next week for the off-road triathlon. I will keep you posted.

Tags: biking, Greenway, running, swimming, Triathlon, weight loss
Posted in Triathlon Training | No Comments »

Wet Morning

Wednesday, June 17th, 2009

This morning is wet. It is raining, but also I was able to roll out of bed at 5:15 and head to the pool! I was able to get in 700 yards of swimming, or 28 lengths of the 25 yard pool. It was a challenging workout, but I felt very good with my form and I can tell it is improving. I am still concerned that I feel the need to rest between laps, but I was able to rest less today. I did 100 yard repeats with about 20 – 30 seconds rest between each. Normally I would only do 50 yards before resting. I am also still concerned that I won’t be as comfortable in the open water (as opposed to a pool swim) when I go to my next three triathlons that I have scheduled.

Next up is the Recon Off-Road Triathlon and Relay at Ann Springs Close Greenway in Fort Mill, SC. It will be my first open water swim, but I am confident I will be able to swim the short 400 meter course. It will also be my first off-road triathlon which consists of mountain biking and trail running instead of on paved roads. It will be nice to run in the shade of the woods in July though!

After that, I will compete in my first international distance triathlon at the Assault on Cherokee at Kings Mountain State Park near Gaffney, SC. It will be a 1300 meter swim, 26 mile bike ride and a 10K run. This will be my biggest triathlon event of the year. It will certainly test out how well my training efforts have paid off.

Then I will compete in the Cane Creek Triathlon in Waxhaw, NC. It is another sprint distance triathlon, but it looks to be a nice event and it is close to home. My brother in law, Alex, will also be competing, so that will be fun as well.

My hope is that these three events, combined with the marathon in December, will give me the motivation to continue my training and give me the confidence to do a few international distance triathlons in the spring and early summer of next year and shoot for completing a half iron distance triathlon in the fall.

Next up training wise is a bike ride this evening if the weather holds out as they are calling for storms again today and then a run in the morning. I will try to get the time on Friday morning to swim and then bike to work.

Tags: Alex, Greenway, swimming, Triathlon
Posted in Triathlon Training | 1 Comment »

For Starters

Friday, June 5th, 2009

Some of you may want to ask, “So how did you get started?” so I will go ahead and answer that question. I started running a few times and failed to keep at it, so I know it is a daunting task. The amazing thing is that once you get into a routine, it really isn’t that hard to keep at it. The trick is to get over the hump. I would recommend almost forcing yourself to be consistent with any exercise routine for at least 3 to 4 weeks in you want to have any hopes of being able to continue. And remember that there are always excuses not to exercise, but you have to look past those immediate excuses and keep your sights focused on your goals. I assume this would apply to most forms of exercise or anything challenging for that matter, but I will comment on how I started to swim, bike and run below.

Since I first started to run, I will comment on a few of the things I have learned along the way. First, start with an achievable goal. I came from somewhat of a running background since I ran track in high school and I had run 2 miles before, so I wanted to work towards a new distance. A 5K was perfect for me and since that is generally the shortest road race you will find, it worked to work towards a 5K race. The first one should be completed with no regard to time. Just finish. Then work on it from there. If you are anything like me, once you finish you will want to do it again and do it faster.

Once you have a goal, decide how you will achieve it. For me, this was extremely simple by using the First Day to 5K IPod Podcast. You simply walk when it tells you to and run when it tells you to. It will gradually bring you from running a minute at a time to running 30 in about 10 weeks. That should get you to the 5K distance.

Some pointers for beginner runners:

Stretch. This is vital. I subscribed to the stretching routine I found at www.REI.com. You can find it, along with a slew of other great info here. It is as important to stretch after a run as it is to stretch before. Take the few minutes and do it properly.
Get good shoes. Again, this is vital. Make sure that you are properly fitted at a specialty store, at least for the first pair until you know what kind of shoe works best for you. They make different shoes for the different ways people land on their feet when they run. If you have the wrong kind of shoe, you can create knee injuries or worse. I would certainly recommend the fitting system at TrySports. They put a pair of shoes on you and actually take video of your feet as you run on a treadmill. They then analyze the video with a computer system to determine which type of shoe you need. Everyone I have talked to there knows their stuff. If you aren’t close by to one of their stores, try to find one like them.
Nutrition. I will write more detailed blog posts regarding nutrition, but it is important enough to touch on here. Obviously, you need to hydrate while doing any exercise, but nutrition goes beyond that. I have learned many things regarding nutrition for athletes from Hammer Nutrition. They have endless research and information for free on there website and I currently use several of their products. Again, more on that to come.
Have fun! Make sure that when you are running, you enjoy it. Whether it is good music that gets you going or dressing up to be funny, have fun and you will keep it up.

For beginner bikers:

The bike isn’t the most important thing at first. In fact, I am still riding a mountain bike that I have had for 6 years. I changed the tires to a “hybrid” tire that has no tread like a mountain tire, but is wider than a normal road tire so I can use the same wheels. I also picked up a set of aero bars at an REI garage sale. These help you get into a more aerodynamic position and, for me, it is more comfortable for longer rides. Eventually I will purchase a nice tri bike, but the point is you can get started without having to invest a lot if you already own some form of bicycle.
Learn your area. Know where and when it will be best to ride your bike on the roads. My area is very poor for riding on the roads as I expect most areas of the country are. There are no bike lanes designated on any of the roads around me, so I am forced to share a lane of traffic with 2,000 pound vehicles that are travelling twice as fast as I am. Not the best of situations to say the least, but it is what it is. Make sure to wear a helmet and increase your life insurance policy. Seriously, it pays to know when and where to ride so you can reduce your risk on the road.
Stretch. I do the same stretches before and after the bike that I do for the run.

For beginning swimmers:

Practice. I should point out that before this whole triathlon thing, I already knew how to swim. I learned as a kid, but I never competed nor did I ever learn how to do it “properly”. I simply knew how to stay afloat and get from point A to point B.
Learn. My brother in law, Alex, loaned me his copy of Total Immersion by Terry Laughlin. It teaches the most efficient way to swim and it has helped me a great deal.
Did I say practice? The only way to get comfortable with anything is to do it over and over. And for me anyway, swimming is far from comfortable. Breathing is the most difficult to get used to for me and only repetition seems to make it any easier.

I will go into greater detail in future posts, but I thought it would may help to touch on the biggest issues that I came across as I started this triathlon thing. Keep checking back in for more.

Tags: biking, running, swimming, Triathlon
Posted in Triathlon Training | 1 Comment »

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