Training and Goals..

This year I hope to compete in the following races in 2012..

Heart Mini in Cincinnati, March 18th - 15k run
Warrior Dash in Logan,OH June 2nd
Giant Eagle Triathlon at Alum Creek - July 29 - Sprint or Olympic distance
Columbus 1/2 Marathon, Columbus OH, Oct 21st
Butter's Beer and Burrito Bash (run a mile, chug a PBR beer and eat a Chipolte burrito and run another mile to the finish!) - no date set yet

And one (or both?) of these half ironman events...
Deer Field Creek, Mt. Sterling OH - September 23rd
Great Buckeye Challenge, Springfield, OH - Aug26th




I am not sure what to say about training. I joined the gym in early November and I wish I could say that I have utilized it to be in great shape, but.. I'm not. I'm trying to figure out if I'm in better shape than I was in November and I guess I can say Yes, I am. So that's probably worth the $183 dollars that I have put into it by now, right? Hmm.. maybe... I ran 5.25 miles today! I'm not quite sure where that puts me, compared to my previous half ironman training. When I do 9 miles next month, that will be huge though. In training for my previous (and only) half ironman, I only reached 9 miles once in training. So to get to 9 miles this early will be awesome! Sadly, I'm not nearly where I wanted to be on the bike, but since I committed to the March 18th race, I've concentrated more on the running obviously. And I will definitely be out there on the bike this summer for sure. It will just be more interesting working everything into my schedule as I am seeing someone currently, where during my previous training, I wasn't. So I need to make sure I can work in the training and commit enough time to the relationship ('cause I really do enjoy the relationship!). So we will see how it goes.. For now, I'm happy that I had a great run today (the best run in a very long time!) and think that the 9 miles in March might actually be a possibility.

Completed my first Triathlon

It was actually a sprint tri that I participated in at Tri for Joe, at Coney Island in Cincinnati. It was a great experience, and for a great cause. The swimming was as bad as I feared. It didn't help that it was 2 laps around a huge pool. Actually, there were cones you had to swim around, and the problem was that there were bottlenecks going around them, so you ended up treading water for awhile as you waited for people to go, and when you finally started to swim, everyone was so bunched up that there was no way not to kick someone (or get kicked yourself). So after 2 laps, we exited and ran to the transition area to get the bikes. I didn't realize how hard it would be to actually run after swimming 700 meters. My legs were a bit wobbly, but I made it to the transition area and was a little disoriented. I had expected my bike to be on the right side, since I put it on the right side when I put it on the rack, but I forgot that I came in from the other side. Oops.. But I did notice that the numbers were going the opposite direction, so I quickly adjusted and found the bike.

I have misplaced my bike computer and didn't have my speed or distance as I was riding so that hampered me a bit I think. We turned right onto the main rode and went a couple of miles and did a turn around, and then went many more miles and did another turnaround, so it was hard to determine how far we actually were going as the ride was going on. I wrongly assumed there would be mile markers on the rode, but I didn't see any. There was only one slight hill, and that came at the very end and was more painful than it should've been.

The exchange for the run went well. We didn't get any of our transition splits, which was disappointing, but it didn't seem too bad. My legs felt fairly strong which was nice. I was passing some (but mostly getting passed). It was only a 5k run, but it felt like much longer! Many times I debated about stopping but talked myself into running the whole way, so I'm sorta proud that I didn't stop. Although I did pass 2 girls that looked to be in their 20's. They had stopped and I was feeling pretty good, but they flew by me in the last 25% of the course, so maybe stopping would've have been too bad. Oh well.. Yeah. I didn't stop! :)

So it was a good experience for me as a first triathlon. It was a 700 meter swim, 12 mile bike and 3 mile run. I didn't finish last and I did finish, so I can't be too upset. :)

Update on training...

As I've mentioned previously, I am in the midst of training for a Half Iron Man. The event is called The Timberman and will be held in NH this August. So far, I've put some good hours in at the gym, I think. But I don't feel like I've progressed too far in my swimming yet. This is definitely my weakest skill. I went to visit a friend over the weekend who has done a few triathlons for some swimming tips and I did learn a lot. Now I just have to hit the pool and put those tips to use. My technique is better, but I really need to figure out how to get air without throwing off my whole body.

Last week, I ran 5 miles on Tuesday and biked 28 miles on Wednesday. At the actual race, I'll need to swim 1.2 miles, bike 56 miles and then run 13.1 miles. The majority of the race will be on the bike, and that is probably my strongest event, but I haven't really ridden 56 miles in one sitting in a very, very long time. So I need to continue on with my endurance training. Hopefully the weather holds off this week so I can go on a long ride.

I've been reading lots of books and have looked at training plans, but as of right now, I'm not really following a plan per se. Just trying to up my endurance on individual events, but I know I need to start putting the events back to back (bricks). So.. I'll keep you updated...