The weather this week has been pretty much par for the course: cold, wet, and generally crappy. The 40MPH winds the past couple of days just upped the ante. The forecast for this weekend has it sunny and in the 70s, though. Perfect timing: we finally get good training weather in D.C. and it's a week before we head to Florida. Preliminary race day forecast: mid-80s and sunny. A tad too warm for my tastes, but I'll take it after the winter we've had. My wave will be the very last to start at 9:15 AM, so we'll still be on the run course close to noon and the hot sun could make it rough.
The temps for our last group workout on Saturday may still be in the low 50s in the morning. It's a practice triathlon. Coaches will be setting up a transition area and we'll run through the abbreviated stages: in our wetsuits (dry, but probably cold!), transition to an easy 30-40 minute bike, transition to a short run. It should warm up for the picnic afterwards. We'll be getting our race info including plane tickets (so help me if they are flying us out of Dulles instead of National ...) and our TNT logo triathlon jerseys.
Sunday a few of us are running a local 5K in Alexandria. I'm waffling between actually running the race to beat my previous best from St. Paddy's and just going out for a short easy run. I'll probably choose the latter; we have another 5K two weeks after the race that I won't hesitate to go all out on. No sense in risking an injury trying to push it this close to my first race.
10 more days!
Wednesday, April 18, 2007
Friday, April 13, 2007
Things are starting to taper
We are beginning to taper for the race starting next week meaning that the workout intensity will be gradually dropping off to almost nothing in the days leading up to the race. It's a time for the body to rest up and store energy for 3 hours of continual racing.
The training is not the only thing that's seeing a reduction. I've lost over 25 pounds since we started this almost 6 months ago. Counting my highest weight from early last fall I'm down almost 30. Looking back I can hardly believe it!
This past week was frustrating. I got called to attend a meeting for work in Seattle on Wednesday which meant a flight out on Tuesday night and then a red eye back on Wednesday night. I was able to get in the swim practice and long run on Tuesday but missed both the bike and run on Wednesday/Thursday. We did go swimming last night. The workout this week was some descending long sets: 20'/15'/10'/5'/2.5' . During each set we were supposed to work on something different: getting a good long glide for the 20', practicing sighting for the 15', etc. I lost track on one of them but in the end I swam a little over 3000 yards. That's by far the longest workout I've done in the water. I'm thinking the swim may end up being my best leg after having struggled so much in the early going!
The weather continues to be a real pain in the ass. Tomorrow we have our last long ride in Prince William Forest down by Quantico. It's supposed to be a really nice route but with more hills than we've seen before. At least it is supposed to be above freezing. We skipped out on last week's Saturday brick because it was frigid and there was snow. Snow! In April! Screw that. We signed up for a spin class at the gym and did about 50 minutes on the bike before class for about 1:40 total. That's short of the goal, but that spin class was hard! We ran the treadmill for 30' to complete the brick. I actually felt really good and was able to push some faster paces, but my hamstring ached the next day and it's still a little tight. I don't think the plane ride helped.
16 days to race day!
The training is not the only thing that's seeing a reduction. I've lost over 25 pounds since we started this almost 6 months ago. Counting my highest weight from early last fall I'm down almost 30. Looking back I can hardly believe it!
This past week was frustrating. I got called to attend a meeting for work in Seattle on Wednesday which meant a flight out on Tuesday night and then a red eye back on Wednesday night. I was able to get in the swim practice and long run on Tuesday but missed both the bike and run on Wednesday/Thursday. We did go swimming last night. The workout this week was some descending long sets: 20'/15'/10'/5'/2.5' . During each set we were supposed to work on something different: getting a good long glide for the 20', practicing sighting for the 15', etc. I lost track on one of them but in the end I swam a little over 3000 yards. That's by far the longest workout I've done in the water. I'm thinking the swim may end up being my best leg after having struggled so much in the early going!
The weather continues to be a real pain in the ass. Tomorrow we have our last long ride in Prince William Forest down by Quantico. It's supposed to be a really nice route but with more hills than we've seen before. At least it is supposed to be above freezing. We skipped out on last week's Saturday brick because it was frigid and there was snow. Snow! In April! Screw that. We signed up for a spin class at the gym and did about 50 minutes on the bike before class for about 1:40 total. That's short of the goal, but that spin class was hard! We ran the treadmill for 30' to complete the brick. I actually felt really good and was able to push some faster paces, but my hamstring ached the next day and it's still a little tight. I don't think the plane ride helped.
16 days to race day!
Monday, April 02, 2007
Four more weeks to the other Opening Day
The Nats Opening Day at RFK is today (the first actual Opening Day in D.C. since they moved here). As of yesterday just 4 more weeks until the other Opening Day: the race. That's starting to sink in.
Last week was the last of our EZ weeks. Due to a bad schedule I missed both of the bike rides in the middle of the week but was able to get the rest of the workouts in. Tuesday's swim was a number of easy drills and then some more open water simulations. Thursday we did 1950 for an "easy" workout. Those were our hard workouts only a month or so ago. I'm really feeling strong in the water. Yesterday I was able to go for 1800 yards in 30 minutes (that last 50 was an all out sprint, though). Too bad the swim is the shortest event! Saturday's bike was 60' and would have been really easy if we hadn't taken a wrong turn and gone up a big climb by the Mormon Tabernacle. That hurt. Luckily we won't get hills like those in Florida, but I probably will in the other races this summer. Might as well get used to it.
This week is roughly the same intensity as two weeks ago, and then we start to taper:
Monday: 50' bike, 3 x 7' AT (finally got out in the morning and did 3 loops around Haines Point for the intervals)
Tuesday: swim (2600 yards), run 45' with a bunch of intervals
Wednesday: Bike 70'
Thursday: swim (2600 yards again), long run 70'
Friday: OFF
Saturday: Brick - bike 120', run 30', swim
Sunday: 30' swim
I will probably swap out the Tues/Thurs runs since we get done swimming so much earlier on Tuesdays and it's easier to get the run in before work. Short day at work today then off to RFK. I'm going to try and follow Liz's lead and go on the wagon for the next 4 weeks after a beer at the game. Oh, and maybe except for the wine happy hour that Teen is holding tonight. And the bourbon tasting on Friday. Seriously, I should be good after that!
Last week was the last of our EZ weeks. Due to a bad schedule I missed both of the bike rides in the middle of the week but was able to get the rest of the workouts in. Tuesday's swim was a number of easy drills and then some more open water simulations. Thursday we did 1950 for an "easy" workout. Those were our hard workouts only a month or so ago. I'm really feeling strong in the water. Yesterday I was able to go for 1800 yards in 30 minutes (that last 50 was an all out sprint, though). Too bad the swim is the shortest event! Saturday's bike was 60' and would have been really easy if we hadn't taken a wrong turn and gone up a big climb by the Mormon Tabernacle. That hurt. Luckily we won't get hills like those in Florida, but I probably will in the other races this summer. Might as well get used to it.
This week is roughly the same intensity as two weeks ago, and then we start to taper:
Monday: 50' bike, 3 x 7' AT (finally got out in the morning and did 3 loops around Haines Point for the intervals)
Tuesday: swim (2600 yards), run 45' with a bunch of intervals
Wednesday: Bike 70'
Thursday: swim (2600 yards again), long run 70'
Friday: OFF
Saturday: Brick - bike 120', run 30', swim
Sunday: 30' swim
I will probably swap out the Tues/Thurs runs since we get done swimming so much earlier on Tuesdays and it's easier to get the run in before work. Short day at work today then off to RFK. I'm going to try and follow Liz's lead and go on the wagon for the next 4 weeks after a beer at the game. Oh, and maybe except for the wine happy hour that Teen is holding tonight. And the bourbon tasting on Friday. Seriously, I should be good after that!
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