I WON!

I won my first triathlon of 2011 on the weekend!

Ok, so in actuality, it may have only been a training day that happened to consist of a swim, a bike and a run, and I may have been the only one ‘competing’ but I like to think of it as a win ;)

So yeah, I had a pretty solid outing on Saturday. I’m not sure if Kelly intended I do all of my workouts back to back to back, but I had a meeting with a physic in the afternoon (umm, yeah, really), so time was limited.

I started the day with a pretty decent swim workout. It was only about 2100m, but was a nice mix of drills, hypoxic breathing exercises and some steady state efforts. From there I transitioned to the bike (had it actually been a race, my transition times would have been, oh, just a touch slow) for a 90minute aerobic effort.

I decided a bit of an out and back on the Goose (with a few loops on each end) was in order. Not long into the ride, I spotted a roadie up ahead and noticed he wasn’t really pulling away from me, but that I was in fact gaining on him (ever so slightly). My effort level intensified to a little more than aerobic and just when I thought I might be able to actually get within striking distance and catch him, he noticed me and dropped the hammer. Before I knew it, he was gone from my sight. So, after being dropped, I took my effort back to a more level and sustainable pace and carried on. The day was gorgeous and the ride seemed to fly by. It was definitely nice to be out on the road and not sitting on the trainer.

T2 was a little quicker than the first (since I didn’t have quite as many clothes to change this time around) so I answered a few texts, put my bike in the car, and then was on my way for an easy 30minute “+” run. (The “+” stands for 6 hill repeats at the end of the 30minutes).

In typical brick fashion, my legs did take a little bit to loosen up and find their place in the world. My calves cramped and I must have looked really bad in those first 10minutes or so, as a mountain biker who passed me told me I was “doing great”. Ahhh, words of encouragement from complete strangers – you know you look bad when…. Once I found a decent rhythm the run quickly passed and before I knew it, I was sprinting up (and walking down) a giant hill. Finally, with the repeats complete, I jogged back to the car in cool down mode, happy to have put in such a solid day of effort.


Otherwise, training really has been coming along pretty well. I’m working more on speed, which at times feels a bit weird compared to the long slow blocks of training that came with Ironman, but I am enjoying the change and the new challenge all the same. I have also learned that a 14minute workout can be sheer hell! You think 14minutes will be easy, but, oh no, you can definitely make yourself hurt - and hurt good - in that short period.

This coming weekend I’ve got a couple time trials on the agenda. I know it’s just me versus the clock, but I am feeling a little nervous about it. So please, anyone who is reading this, send me speedy thoughts over the next few days!

Anyway, until next time…. Thanks for reading :)