6.24.2012

2012 Part II

June 18 - June 24
S:  14,582 yds - 3hr 26min
B:  169.46 mi - 9hr 49min
R:  41.05 mi - 5hr 6min
Total:  18hr 21min

After a mid-season break of sorts last week, this week officially began Part II of the tri season.  Things started off nicely with a solid week across the board, culminating with a pretty challenging Sunday ride in 90+ degree heat:

Getting in the "pain cave"

Next week is the Alabama State Time Trial Championship (40k).  Biking has been going well lately, so hopefully I can show some good form.  The week after that is the Chattanooga Waterfront Triathlon, followed by a 4 day training camp in the mountains of Asheville, NC at the end of the next week.  After camp is a trip to Nashville for the Music City Triathlon and a visit with my brother and his wife.  July is shaping up to be a fun month!

6.17.2012

Mid-Season Break

June 11 - June 17
S:  8,600 yds - 2hr 2min
B:  78.12 mi - 4hr 21min
R:  27.33 mi - 3hr 27min
Total:  9hr 50min

"Mid-season break" really just means 1 workout a day instead of 2 (for the most part).  It was nice to have some extra free time this week to rest the legs, sleep in, and get some good hang out time.  Good People Brewing Company, a pot luck dinner, and a visit or 3 to J. Clyde were in order.  I also got a chance to visit Gaston in the hospital a couple times, after he got banged up pretty bad at the Buster Britton Tri last weekend in a bike/car incident.  All in all, it was a good week.

6.10.2012

Buster Britton Triathlon Race Report

June 4 - June 10
S:  11,000 yds - 2hr 42min
B:  64.26 mi - 3hr 30min
R:  10.78 mi - 1hr 18min
Total:  7hr 30min

What a roller coaster of emotion.  Leading up to the race, I was lacking all kind of confidence.  I have not felt that great on the bike lately, and even though my running has been going good, it just seems like my training has been pretty spotty as of late due to traveling.  I honestly didn't know what to expect coming into the Buster Britton Triathlon, but I eventually reasoned with myself that a good fitness base of 350 hours so far in 2012 does not just leave the body, so I should be able to be in the running for a win or at least a top 3 overall.  Here's how it went down, unofficially:

Swim (400yd) - 6:16
The race was a TT start, and I was 3rd in the water.  Most likely, the swim was a tad longer than 400 yards...but what triathlon swim is the "right distance" anyways?  I felt pretty good about my effort, and it felt like I was moving fast.  I was passed by a couple high school kids, but I knew I could track them down on the bike.

Bike (13mi) - 32:29
The bike went...well let's just say that it was crushed.  Fastest on the day by a good 45 seconds.  Starting the bike, I had 4 riders about a minute in front of me.  By the halfway point, I had passed 2 of them and had a line of sight to pass the next 2 within two or three miles.  I made sure to slam it for 10-15 seconds while passing the last 2 riders, just to get in there heads and make them think they were getting crushed.  After passing that last rider, I was solo for the next 4 miles or so into T2, just trying to chase the lead motorcycle and build as much of a gap as I could.

Run (3mi) - 18:49
The next riders were just coming into T2 as I was heading out on the run.  The first bit of the run was pretty rough.  My calves were tight and I couldn't get anything going.  To make things worse, the first 0.3 miles was pretty much uphill.  After cresting the hill, my calves calmed down and I felt like I could finally push it some.  Mile 1 was semi-slow in 6:40, but after that I started to pick up speed.  Mile 2 was a 6:10 and I started seeing the gap I had on some of the athletes and knew I was going to beat them.  This was very motivating, which created a 5:57 mile 3 into the finish line.  I knew every second counted, as one of the race favorites Aaron Ainsworth started a bit behind me so I wasn't sure how much time he made up on the run.

Total - 59:29
It turned out that Aaron absolutely crushed the run and took the win, with my effort putting me in 2nd overall with a good 30 second margin over 3rd place.  But like I said, this was unofficial.  I later found out that I was slapped with a 2 minute "position foul" penalty on the bike.  Apparently, I was riding in the center of the lane, which I tend to do when hitting high speeds of 40+ mph down curvy descents.  Bad luck.  Oh well, nothing I can do about it.  This penalty put me back to a 1:01:29 and 9th place overall, which is pretty frustrating and unacceptable.  Besides that, I know I executed the race well in terms of raw speed, so I'm pretty pumped for a couple more good races this summer.

6.03.2012

Traveling, 5k, and a Wedding

May 21 - May 27
S:  8,106 yds - 2hr 7min
B:  172.53 mi - 9hr 20min
R:  25.02 mi - 3hr 16min
Total:  14hr 44min

May 28 - June 3
S:  6,000 yds - 1hr 27min
B:  62.92 mi - 3hr 22min
R:  37.52 mi - 4hr 49min
Total:  9hr 38min

The last 2 weeks have been pretty busy with things other than triathlon, hence the lower than normal volume.  Memorial Day weekend was spent on Lake Martin with Gaston and his wife and a couple of her friends.  While the girls slept in and stuff, Gaston and I knocked out 60-65 miles on the bike on both days, followed by eating and floating around the lake all day before sneaking in an afternoon run.  The plan was to get in some OW swimming as well, but that didn't happen because the lake was too choppy due to all of the boat traffic! 

This past week was rather light on cycling and swimming due to a work trip to Houston and a trip to Kentucky for the Gibson/Phelps wedding, but I was able to finally get some decent run quality and mileage in.  On Saturday, most of the wedding party raced a 5k in Clarksville, TN, so that was pretty cool.  Like an idiot, I forgot my racing flats in Birmingham...that's good for like 5 seconds/mile right??  I probably went out too hard (mile 1 in 5:31), but there was a slight tailwind on the way out and headwind on the way back so the pacing wasn't as horrid as it may seem (although I still think I left some time on the table).  I finished 3rd overall in 17:49 and manged to sneak out a new PR by 4 seconds, which is always a good consolation prize.