Posted by madtrippin on September 19, 2008
For the three weeks after the Chaska Tri in July I continued on my frenzied training schedule of 6 workouts a week over 5 days. I was assuming I’d be doing another tri in just over a month. Then my parents came into town for a week and I only trained 1 day. Then the next week we got a puppy and I didn’t train at all.
Long story short… I scrapped the second tri for the year and have been only running, biking and weight training only once or twice a week since. I haven’t swam once in the month of September and that’s really where I need the help.
I guess I need the event to motivate me to train. That being said… I’m looking into some runs to do this fall (5ks or 10ks) to keep me working out more consistantly. I really do get a lot of satisfaction out of working out and being in shape. I guess I also like to just be able to say I work out and stay in shape too.
I’ll post more on my run training and suspect I’ll continue to bike and swim some as well.
Posted in General Triathlon | Tagged: biking, running, swim, training, tri, Triathlon, weights | No Comments »
Posted by madtrippin on July 31, 2008
Originally I was planning on doing my first triathlon swim shirtless and then pulling on a cycling jersey for the remainder of the race. After speaking with a few more experienced triathletes and hearing one story of trying to pull a tight jersey on over a wet body, I changed my mind and searched out a tri shirt.
I’m a big fan of buying online, but was running out of time before the big day and wanted to be able to train a little in the shirt, so I sucked it up and bought through a local store. I had intended on going to Gear West, as they have a huge selection and it looked like decent pricing online. The night I headed out there I got stuck in traffic and wasn’t going to make it before close. So as to not have wasted all that gas and time, I stopped at Start Line (the same place I got my running shoes) and pick up some yankz laces.
As it turns out, they also had a small line of tri clothing, including a couple of tri shirts with reasonable pricing. It’s good that I didn’t buy online, as I was sure I was a medium (I’m 5′8″ and a healthy 170). When I tried on the medium, it was TIGHT (and not in a good way). The sales woman commented on how you shouldn’t be able to see chest hair through the shirt. When I tried to take it off I heard a small ripping sound, so I actually pulled it down past my feet, rather than over my shoulders.
So… Large it was. I decided on the Sugoi Fuel (the price was right – at about $40 – and it seemed pretty comfy). I wore it for training in all 3 disciplines and it seemed just fine. I didn’t notice any drag in the pool and it wasn’t so tight I couldn’t breath on the bike or run.
After my first race I can tell you that it worked like a charm. I went from one event to the next without even thinking about the shirt. Plus, I looked pretty cool in it - I suppose I should have some pictures to back up my claims. My feeling is that good clothing should feel like nothing. I didn’t even notice the shirt at all… that’s good stuff. It dried quickly and didn’t chaffe or irritate in any way. PERFECT.
Posted in Tri Product Reviews | Tagged: bike, gear west, louis garneau, product review, run, Start line, sugoi fuel, swim, tri, tri shirt, Triathlon | 1 Comment »
Posted by madtrippin on July 8, 2008
Last night I was going to do a full brick. Bricking is what they call the transition from biking to running – apparently a reference to the way your legs react to the change in muscle movement/usage. I’d never heard the term until I decided to do a tri. I’ve done 13 miles on the bike and then run 1 mile after and your legs do feel like bricks.
Unfortunately, the weather didn’t cooperate. It wound up storming pretty hard and I found myself running on the treadmill at the community center for about 35 minutes on an uphill setting most of the time, followed by a light round of weights. I could have biked indoors and then run on the treadmill, but spinning on the exercise bike for an hour bores me to tears. I need to be outside to bike any kind of distance.
Today will be my off day. I’ve trained 3 days in a row and I’m feeling a bit tired, so a rest day will be nice. I’ll have to hit the pool on Wednesday night and then again Saturday and Sunday. I’m only a week and a half away from the race, so I’m going to try and finish up the serious stuff this week and lighten the load next week.
Posted in My First Triathlon | Tagged: biking, bricking, full brick, running, transition, tri, Triathlon, weights | No Comments »
