Refocusing on Austin 70.3

I'm now all signed up for the Ironman Austin 70.3.  I'm shifting my training slightly to focus on this as my "A" race along with the Dallas marathon.  I feel like my marathon training should have me in good shape for the run portion.  I need to focus on ramping up my swim and bike.  I'm following a training program from a training book I got.  I think it's working pretty well.  I guess the race will tell.

Recovery and Over Training

This week I had a super hilly 16 mile long run, including the biggest hill in Austin called Ladera Norte. The "Run From Hell" is aptly named.  Through this, I feel like I might be overtraining a bit.  I'm exhausted and sore.  I don't feel like I'm recovering as I should.  I took a couple of days off and caught up on rest.  It's made a HUGE difference.  I got to where I neither physically nor mentally could get into my workouts.  It was a struggle to start, really hard to get through the workout, and didn't feel like I was getting fully back to square one after the workout.  I'm feeling better now and will continue to keep an eye on this.  I need to learn to listen to my body.

Time Trial & Brick Workouts

A couple of updates from this week.  As part of marathon training, we have to do a 2 mile time trial.  We're supposed to run this as hard as we can consistently for those two miles. This allows us to establish a baseline for which we can predict what my target goal pace will be for 10K, half-marathon, and of course the marathon.  I pushed really hard and finished in just under 16 minutes.  I felt really good about that.  I'm getting faster and stronger and might be able to set a good PR for the Dallas marathon.

The triathlon club I'm a part of offers free brick workouts every Wednesday night.  I joined for the first time this week.  It was good, tough workout.  We had timed bike, followed by a timed run.  The bike time got progressively shorter and faster while the run stayed the same.  We practiced the transition between each.  It was tough and probably not the best idea to do this the day after my time trial.  But I really enjoyed and am looking forward to doing more of these the rest of the season.

Preparing for Jack's Generic Triathlon

Having recovered from the Marble Falls Triathlon and getting into marathon training, I'm now gearing up for Jack's Generic Triathlon.  This one will be an actual Olympic distance race back at Lake Pflugerville.  I've been talking to my marathon coach about what happened during the Marble Falls race and she suggested trying salt tablets.  As I am a heavy sweater, she suggested that I may be losing too many electrolytes during exertion and this might be a good way to supplement that.  Especially with the heat we're dealing with.

I bought some and have found that they make a difference.  I started looking for a better way to carry these during a race, especially on the bike.  My research lead me to the Salt Stick dispenser.  It carries 6 tablets, dispenses them with a twist, and can be carried, mounted, or even inserted into a bar end.  I think this might be a game changer.  Guess I'll get to try it out soon.

Marble Falls Triathlon Race Report

Well, that was one of the more challenging races I've done...And that's why I do multiple races in a season. It was a tough race.  For some reason, the swim was challenging.  I guess I'm still not quite comfortable in the water.  The bike wasn't too tough by itself.  However I think I expended too much energy attacking the hills and wore myself out.  I was trying to maintain a certain average speed and I think that caused me to go hard on some of the hills.  And there were a lot of them.  I felt like I had rode pretty hard and when I got into T2, my legs were already cramping.  Not good.  I knew the run was going to suck.  It did.  I had a decent pace for the first couple of miles, then everything started to fall apart.  I was having serious cramps in my quads and I was just worn out.  I was able to slog through the run that wound through a residential neighborhood and ended with a steep hill up to the finish.  After a little active recovery massage at the finish, I started the hour long drive back.  Overall, the results were not great.  I was toward the bottom of my age group and overall didn't feel great about the race in general.  Oh well, I've got more races to come.  I earned some good food, beer and a nap. Oh yeah, and an ice bath.

 

  

  

   

 

 

Marble Falls Triathlon

I'm preparing for the Marble Falls triathlon.  It should be an interesting race.  It's a 1K swim, 23 mile bike through the hill country, and a 4.4 mile run.  Not sure how/why they came up with this distance. But, I'm looking forward to it.  Looking to build on the momentum I had from the Lake Pflugerville Triathlon.  I just registered and the race is Sunday so I'm thinking it might be a small race.  I keep stepping up the distance to each one is a challenge.  Looking forward to it.

Starting Marathon Training

Marathon training has now started in earnest for the Dallas marathon in December.  Hard to believe I'm starting training now for something that's 5 months away.  Also hard to believe that it should actually be cool when I race.  It's definitely not right now.  Hot, sunny, and humid.  It's great to see a lot of familiar faces again as well as meet some new people.  We've got a big and diverse group.  Should be fun!