Life gets in the way of Triathlon

I like that title: Life gets in the way of Triathlon. I guess that speaks volumes for how I view this crazy thing called Triathlon.

My life has been so hectic this past week that I have not had time to blog…and I miss the blogosphere! I’ll use this post to catch y’all up to date on what I’ve been doing. “Ya’ll” – that’s southern for “you guys”. Oh, and “you guys” is Ohio-speak for “yun’s”. I’m not sure but I think “Yun’s” is hillbilly for …okay, enough of that tangent.

My training plan called for a “rest” week, so I was only scheduled to work out every other day. That was good and bad. Good because I didn’t have much time to work out. Bad because I NEED to work out. I’m a total endorphin addict, plus I need to burn the calories so I can eat a normal amount of food.

I watched the Ford Ironman Championship 70.3 Florida on TV yesterday. It was a great show, and if there’s one main point to walk away with when watching televised Triathlons, it’s that the fastest runners win the race. Miranda Carfrae won the WPRO division. She came off the bike 8 minutes behind the leader. She ran a pace of 6 m/m to catch up and win. It was amazing to watch her fly by the rest of the pack. I really felt for the woman who came out of the water first, held her strong lead all through the bike, and then wind up in fourth place. That is the story of my tri life. The men’s race was also exciting: the last few miles two guys were running shoulder to shoulder, until the very end, when Andy Potts, a collegiate swimmer and first guy out of the water, sprinted ahead to win it.

Aside from the exciting finish, my favorite part to watch is the bike. I like to observe the bike form of these pro athletes. Their upper bodies are extremely stable; their backs are completely flat; their shoulders and knees are tucked inward to minimize drag; their legs spin at a high rate in a circular motion; and they are pushing hard – but not killing themselves.

I did a brick workout today: 1 hour bike followed by a 30 minute run, each negative split. During the bike, I recalled in my mind the way the pro athletes looked on the bike. I tried to reproduce that. I especially tried to tuck my body in a more compact position. It was a good ride. My bike odometer says 5964. Maybe it will roll over to 6000 next ride. My next ride is only supposed to be 1 hour, but I’ll probably make it longer just because I want to.

During the run, I focused on good posture, fast turnover, and lifting the feet as soon as they hit the ground. That seems to work best to help me maintain a good pace. Whenever I start to revert to my old slogging form, I repeat these things in my head: “baby steps”, “fast feet”, “fast and lean”, “lift, lift, lift”. During the last 1/2 mile, Tool’s “Jambi” came on. I love the hard fast beat. I picked up my pace to go along with the music. The last 1/4 mile I sprinted as fast as I can. (I do this every run – it helps me have a strong finish in races.) During the sprint, I focused on the Pose Running drill: lean forward, put feet behind, try and lift feet before full weighted, and relax muscles not used. During today’s run, I actually felt good the entire time. I don’t know what my pace was, and I don’t even care. It just felt good and right.

ACK – I’m supposed to do open water swimming over the next two weeks. Jordan lake is only 58 degrees. I suppose my body could handle that in a wetsuit, but not sure if my toes can!

Coming soon (this is mostly a reminder to myself)… how i spent the prize money from that 10k race, swimming drills I’ve been doing, transition tips, a video of my flying mount, midsole cleats. Wow, so much I want to write about, so little time!