Out of the Blogosphere

Facebook, is destroying my blog. Not that it was ever anything special, but it was my attempt at trying to stay up to pace with the 21st century. I have so little time to write, and now after answering e-mail and hanging out on FB, that time is even more limited. Blogspot will probably become just a vehicle for writing about events in my life that are out of the ordinary; I don't feel like I can keep up with the postings anymore.

Two Triathlons

This week I signed up for two spring triathlons - the Hempfield Triathlon in April and the Got the Nerve Triathlon in May. By doing this, my training is now focused, and it is easier to get and stay motivated.

This week went really well. My body is getting back into the swing of things, and my workouts have been harder. Fortunately, I haven't had any aches or pains. My goal for the rest of February, is to do some hard, but short workouts, which should set me up for longer hard workouts come March.

Monday: Off
Tuesday: 1 mile warm-up, 6x400m @ 85 seconds, 1 mile cool-down and weights
Wednesday: swimming, 500 yard warm-up, drills, 6x100 yards @ 1:45, drills
Thursday: 1 mile easy, 2 miles @ 6:50, 1 mile easy and weights
Friday: 45 minutes on the bike trainer
Saturday: off
Sunday: 5 miles @ 7:25; hiking in the afternoon

Tri To Help Results

The results are in, and lo and behold, I actually moved up a place from last year. Last year I finished 6th overall in the male category, this year I was 5th. And, I won the bike. I was 3rd in the run, but my swim was, well, I swam like a turd.

Guess I need to focus on swimming, or just concede that part of the race to more aquatic competitors and work on the bike and run. To that end, I was on the track this morning for the first time in a few months. I ran 6 400s between 85 and 89 seconds. I was happy with that for this time of the year. Afterwards, I did a little weightlifting: split squats, bench press, rows and planks.

This springlike weather has me feverish.

Training, Backpacking and Triathlons

I haven't posted in awhile, because I think I'm becoming addicted to Facebook. I have been working out and today I had a chance to see how good of shape I was in. But first, a bit of background. Two weeks ago, I was on a pretty good training schedule and was starting to get back into speed work. A couple of snow days, hampered my training a little, but not much.

Last weekend was our annual winter backpacking trip. It was a great weekend to be in the woods with snow on the ground, clear skies and low temperatures. I went into the trip with a bit of cold, and after the trip, it got worse, which caused me to lay low all this past week. (I hope to have photos for this event soon)

This morning I competed in the "Tri to Help" indoor triathlon. I participated in this event last year while training for Boston. This event is a fairly good gauge to determine "winter fitness." I didn't think I'd do as well as last year, because I haven't been training as hard due to an injury, and I was sick all this past week.

As it turns out, the only event that I was below par in was the swim. I managed 21 lengths last year in 10:00, but only eked out 17 this year. Part of the reason was I had to share a lane with someone and never could get into a rhythm. My biking was about the same as last year, 13.1 miles in 30:00 and my run was only about .10 off from last year, 2.98 miles in 20:00, which surprised me, because I was running so much more last year.

Bottom line, I'm not in half bad shape for February, but I have some areas that need improvement.