Ayerd{dot}com :: Triathlon

Saturday was the 5K Bridge-to-Bridge Swim and 1.3 mile swim. When I hopped into the salty bay water for the 5K — and it was closer to 3 miles than a true 5K — I felt pretty good. The water was a little warm. Actually, once you got moving, it felt like bath water. Overall, ideal conditions for a long swim. I wasn't trying to go too fast and I crushed that goal. Time out to the 1.5 mile turn around was 39:10. The way back was against the current and it took me 47 minutes. Total swim time for the 3 miles as 1:27.56. We'll call it 1:28.

That puts me on pace for a 26-minute mile without out a wet suit. With a wet suit, that would have been damn near a 23-minute mile, which is my goal pace for Ironman. Hell yea.

I felt really strong after I popped out of the water. Zipped up to the car, grabbed some nutrition (Heed/Gu), and hopped the bus for the 1.3 mile. This swim was just a bit shorter than the second half of the 5K but used the same water-way, just stating a few houses closer to the finish. Total time for this swim was 39:42! Let's have some props for the ability to swim at a steady pace.

Sunday was the day of the long bike. Been a long time between longish bikes and I forgot how much of a drag 5 hours can be in the saddle. I set out a 6:00 AM to meet Karen, Sara, Drew, and the Loving Wife™ about an hour down the road. Down the hilly road. /sigh Once I met up with them, our little group did a nice, paced hour loop. Drew, Karen, and Loving Wife™ then packed it in while Sara and I tacked on another 3 hours. It was a great day for riding, I just wish it was a little shorter.

On a side note here, I had problems meeting my weekly goal of 20.5 hours. Lost an hour on Wednesday when thunderstorms shut down a planned hour tempo ride. Lost 1.5 hours when yoga got replaced with "Batman Begins". That still leaves 2-2.5 hours "missing" from the workout. I think it is all in the strength/core column. I really need to buckle down and make sure I do that part of the workouts.

Monday was the run component of the long workouts. Started at 8:30 AM for the Revolutionary Run — 10K. Nothing like a 10K to get the blood moving on a bonus day off. For me, this was a sweet run. My legs felt a little fried after the bike on Sunday, but overall I felt pretty good. When the starting cannon — and I do mean cannon as one of the advantages of starting a 4th of July race at Washington Crossing Park is there are Revoluntary War buffs in and about the area looking for reasons to fire cannons — went off I was a stuffed in the middle of the pack.

The first mile was near 8:40 as a spent time looking for running room. Mile 2 clocked in at 8:18, still felt pretty strong at this point. Mile 3: 8:22. Slowed a tad and I think that irked me. I really wanted to negative split every mile. The turn around gave me strength and mile 4 was at 7:57. Mile 5 came in a 7:48 but I was starting to get a bit winded. I reminded myself that the reason I get up at or before 5:00 to workout is to do well on race day. It worked, mile 6 was a most impressive (for me anyway) 7:32. That last .2 just about killed me but I pounded it out in 1:35. Total race time by my watch was 50:15. I think the semi-official time will be 30-40 seconds slower as they went from the cannon and my watch was set from when I crossed the starting line.

Still, 50:15! Personal best. Yea me!!!

This was a great weekend of swimming, biking, and running. This week should be more of the same with honking run of 140 minutes on Wednesday afternoon followed by a 6,900 yard swim on Thursday morning. I'm a bit concerned there isn't more running in the week so if there is a free hour or two I may try and sneak in a run. Pretty S&M-esque idea, huh?