First 2015 Triathlon is 2 weeks from today!

I'm such a sucker.  One of my friends is doing the TriBoulder Sprint Triathlon on 26 July at the Boulder Reservoir.  He asked me to join him and I said "yes".  Uh oh, now I only have 2 weeks to get into some sort of triathlon shape.  What was I thinking?  We are talking 750M swim, 17.3 mile bike and 5K Run.  Sounds easy and I have no doubt about finishing but I also don't really want to embarrass myself by being last.  This will really change my goals over the next two weeks but I'm signed up so better get ready!

I guess the first thing to do now is set my expectations.  My mind says I am ready to do my best Triathlon ever.  My current level of physical fitness is laughing and says "You better rethink that"!  I need to use this race as a training race for "My Way or the Tri Way".  This will be my first race of 2015 and will be a good gauge of where I am and what is possible for my Tri next month.

This past week I was actually impressed with my accomplishments.  
  • Running:  3 runs of 3-4 miles.  Other than my Friday run, I had enough stamina to run the 5K distance.  Had a little problem breathing and with lower back pain but pushed through.  The foot did great!  On Wednesday I averaged 9:43 per mile so my pace is coming back.  This week I plan to do 3 runs of 3-4 miles.  My goal is to get my pace below 9:30 for at least one of the runs.
  • Biking:  2 ride of 16 miles where I pushed myself.  1 easy ride of 36.7 miles which included Lookout Mountain.  My pace was really slow on all the rides.  My quads and hamstrings are very weak and it was tough to push on hills.  Good news is my cadence on all 3 rides was over 50.  On the short rides it was over 55.  My goals for this week are 2 training rides and 1 easy long ride.  Try to get my cadence over 60 and to push and build some hill strength.  Would also like to get my speed over 16Mph on the short training rides.
  • Swim:  1 very show swim of about 30 minutes.  My pace was a horribly slow 2:25/100 yards.  I actually thought my pace was gonna be better and was disappointed when I saw the pace.  The good news is I had no problem swimming for 30 minutes.  My goals for this week are 2 swims, 1 open water and 1 pool swim.  The open water will be just to get in the wetsuit and swim for about 30 minutes.  The pool swim will be an attempt at increasing my speed.  I will swim 15 50's at maximum pace with 30 seconds rests in between.  On the speed working I would like to average below 2:10/100.

Here are my times from TriBoulder last year:
Swim: 17:21
T1: 2:38
Bike: 54:38
T2: 1:32
Run: 26:39
Total: 1:42:56

At this point I think I would be happy this year with:
Swim:  19:00  (slower by 1.5 minutes)
T1:  2:30
Bike: 55  (slightly slower.  I'm expecting the aero bars to help me this year)
T2: 1.30
Run: 28  (Slower by 1.5 mintes)
Total: 1:46:00

The goal seems aggressive and may not be attainable but it feels good right now!  Time for me to quit writing and do some training!  It feels good to have some goals and events to look forward to.

Comments

  1. Philip WangJuly 13, 2015 at 9:43 AM

    Good luck on the tri, Bob!! 28 minute 5k ain't bad either, considering you've been off your feet for a while.

    And if it makes you feel any better, if I did this tri, you would finish way before me.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Bob the runnerJuly 20, 2015 at 9:36 AM

      Thanks Phil! I think I'm gonna lower my expectations a bit more. My quickest runs have been at a 9:42 pace so 28 minutes is a bit optimistic. Looking forward to hopefully see you soon.

      Delete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

24 July 2016 - TriBoulder Olympic distance Triathlon

Image
TriBoulder was a race of many different emotions for me. I was nervous because I had only done this distance (swim 1500 meters, bike 27 miles, run 6.2 miles) once before. I was excited because I had high expectations after winning at Boulder Sunrise.  I was anxious about the swim especially after I saw how poorly the course was marked. I was excited about the bike ride, especially the back part starting on Nelson Rd since it included some nice downhill stretches. I was nervous about running 6 miles after the bike ride. The distance on the run was not a concern, it was the fact I had never run the back part of the reservoir and it looked hilly.   My goals for this race were to swim in about 34 minutes, transition under 2 minutes, average 20 mph on the bike, and complete the run in 54-56 minutes.  Overall I wanted to finish in under 3 hours. My only previous Olympic distance triathlon was TriRock Aurora in 2014 where my time was 3:16:55.  Hanging out with my sweetie before
Read more

My 2016 totals and 2017 goals

2016 was a decent year for this runner/triathlete.  I accomplished most of my goals, experienced a few new things, and ran/bike/swam a total of 2,401 miles.   I started the year off in February with the Hilton Head Island Half Marathon in South Carolina.  I ran a second Half Marathon in April at the Kentucky Derby Half Marathon in Louisville Kentucky.  These two races make 14 states that I have completed at least a half marathon in.  Only 36 states left to go!!  After this my focus went to triathlons and never returned to half marathons.  Over the summer, I completed 2 Sprint triathlons and 3 Olympic triathlons: June - Lookout Mountain Sprint Triathlon (very tough course on top of Lookout Mountain)            Boulder Sunrise Sprint Triathlon  (1st place in my age group out of 12 finishers!) July - TriBoulder Olympic Triathlon Aug - USAT Nationals Olympic Distance Triathlon  (first race without the wetsuit!)            Boulder Sunset Olympic Distance Triathlon. I also pa
Read more

15 September 2019 - Ironman 70.3 Atlantic City NJ

Image
Wow, one week ago today I experienced one of the highlights of my life by joining the Ironman ranks by completing the Ironman 70.3 race in Atlantic City NJ!  This also makes the 23rd US state that I have run at least a half marathon in. When I turned 60 earlier this year it just seemed natural to set a crazy goal.  60 is just a number but to help remember this milestone I decided to step it up and attempt an Ironman 70.3.  This race totals  70.3 miles broken down by a 1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike ride and 13.1 mile run.  I knew it would take a bunch of training and preparation but also knew finishing the race would make it all worthwhile.  After a bunch of research I chose the Ironman 70.3 in Atlantic City NJ.  Below is my race report.  Warning, it is a bit long! Pre-race: Pre-race time was filled with lots of anxiety in many areas.  Rumors about the swim course had me thinking about things like: I've never swam in salt water.  Will it make me sick?  Will it be different
Read more