All your base are belong to us

Week 1 of the spring TNT schedule is behind us. It looks like we're going to have a really good team this year; several participants have been involved with other charity training programs for marathons. The weeks leading up to the New Year are all about building base miles, low intensity workouts designed to get the body used to running and biking again (or at all!). Swimming is a bit of a different animal since it's typically the discipline most people need help with. The workouts are geared towards short drills and building the form that will help develop efficiency in the water. These are mixed in with some longer intervals for those that already have a good swimming base under them. You can always tell the former competitive swimmers in the group: at the beginning of practice they say they're worried about not having taken a stroke in 5 years and then go and blow most of us out of the pool! A powerful message that building muscle memory for an efficient swim stroke is the biggest advantage you can have in the water.

Saturday was the Triathlon 101 clinic. Coaches Jenni and Noah went over gear, basic nutrition, hydration, and a high level overview on what to expect on race day. I saw some worried expressions as they went through all of the "stuff" that you can get to race. I told my team members not to worry about all of it right now. Our bike schedule is pretty light, and that's where 90% of the "stuff" comes in. They will have a bike clinic this Saturday where they will be able to pick up the necessities. It can be a bit overwhelming when you see it all laid out in one place!

Luckily we have most of this gear from last season, but that doesn't prevent the desire for better gear, a disease that seems to be rampant in the triathlon world. To wit, my new bike:


I hadn't planned on picking up a new bike. Honestly! But that's before I signed up for a 1/2 Iron event. Even after being fit on my old bike (but not very well, I fear) I was never comfortable on it. My hands would get tired and numb when I was on the hoods, and my back and shoulders would get sore when I was down in the stubby road aerobars. I wasn't looking forward to 3 hours of that. The folks at Bonzai Sports were having good deals on some 2007 models, so I went in to see what they had. This Felt was on clearance and after a couple hours of adjustments and swapping out some parts I think it fits me pretty well. I'm still planning on getting a professional fitting sometime around the New Year when I have some miles in the saddle, but it already feels leaps and bounds better.

Week 2 (and 3 and 4) is still all about base miles. I'm adding some more run mileage on my own to prep for the 1/2 marathon in March and start laying down some better base to get me through 70.3 in June. It'll take some adjustments to the TNT schedule, but I think I'll be able to fit them in