The BRICK

Triathlon training continues. I'm doing pretty well overall with Sunday being the only day in the past week that hasn't involved some level of fitness activity. Sarah's in much better shape than I am and is dragging me and Steve along. Matt's also in on the Tri training, but he probably rivals Sarah for fitness.

Sarah and I started our swimming lessons last Thursday, which was bad for me because I'd biked 25 miles that morning with Matt.  Swimming on Monday was much easier, and even better last night at our second lesson. The biking isn't going to be a problem, and I think I can handle the swimming, but I hate running. HATE. This morning's workout was a real eye opener - our first brick.

What's a brick? It's fancy triathlete jargon for a workout where you both bike and run. This morning we did a repeat twice (we probably should have done three, but Sarah had to get back to drive to Buffalo for work). Each repeat of our brick involved jogging a lap around the track, biking two miles, then running a lap around the track. Add warm-up/cool-down bike rides back to the house for a total of 6.5 miles biking and a mile running (half at a jog and half all out). Doing it a third time would have made the workout portion equal about half of the biking/running portion of our triathlon.

The good news is that I'm pretty sure I can finish without killing myself in the process. The bad news is that it'll be pretty slow. I'm going to have to practice the bike-to-run transition because switching from the bike shoes to the running shoes is taking me WAY too long. Ahh fitness. 

Triathlon?

In an attempt to get myself into better shape I've decided that I need a goal. Sarah got it into her head that she wants to do a triathlon and somehow I've managed to get myself  sucked into the insanity. We were eating dinner Monday night with Steve and apparently he'd already said he would do it when I told him that if he did it I would. Oops.

I've biked off and on all spring, but rarely more than twice in a week unless biking to work counts (which it doesn't). Yesterday I ran for the first time in years running three minutes and walking one minute for a grand total of about two miles. To top it off I biked again last night - roughtly 9 miles.

The triathlon we're going to run is in August - about 7 weeks away and consists of a 300m swim, 12 mile bike ride, and a 5k run. Should be doable.

Long Rides

One thing I really like about biking is taking long rides. I haven't done any in quite awhile, but today I pushed myself a bit further than I probably should have with the amount of riding I've been doing lately. Until today I've ridden about 35 miles a week on average for the past 3-4 weeks. This includes 8-10 mile rides and the occasional commute to work (2 miles each way). The longest ride I've done recently was about 12 miles last Monday night. Today I left our house near Second Baptist and rode to the South Creek Trail, out to Wilson's Creek, back to the Sequiota Trail and the James River Trail connector, then back home for a grand total of 30.33 miles. I did the ride in 2h15m with an average speed of 13.5mph. My legs were like jello towards the end of the ride which led to a pedal related mishap that resulted in me and the bike hitting the ground at a stop light.

I've done the South Creek Trail ride several times in the past. It will be quite awhile before I decide to tack on an extra nine miles again.

Cycling Update

I've not done so well with the cycling, but I've managed to keep my weekly average between 20-30 miles (except for last week when I only did 9 miles in a single ride). This week I've broken the 40 mile mark mainly due to some crazy riding yesterday.

I have a new bike which is almost complete. I still have moments where I wish I'd have gone with a Jake the Snake, but I couldn't get one locally and wanted to buy something from a local shop. I ended up with a Giant TCX frame (aluminum with a carbon fork) that is built up with Shimano 105 and Ultegra components. It's a much nicer bike than the Jake, but it doesn't have the coolness factor that comes with a Kona bike. My main dislike is that the Jake came with everything I wanted o n the bike -- pedals, cross top levers, etc. I've had to wait for parts to come in on the giant. That said it's a great bike and I really enjoy riding it.

Yesterday I got the clipless pedals and a pair of shoes which makes riding much easier than with the platforms. My previous bike (which Sarah is now riding) had clips and straps and I had shoes/pedals on the bike before that. I really got a chance to realize how inefficient bare platforms can be over the past few weeks. Riding with shoes and pedals is a joy, and I didn't kill myself like I thought I might after 12 years not using them.

Now I have to learn to track stand.

I'm Biking Again

In my younger days I was an avid biker, er cyclist. I used to ride more than 100 miles a week on average, often times riding twice a day. It's been quite some time since I've done that and I'm pleased to say I'm getting back into the swing of things. I still have a long way to go, but I'm started. This morning I did an 11 mile ride bringing me to 29 miles this week. Next week's goal is 35 miles which can be achieved easily by adding a third day of riding during the week. My goal for the year is to get my weekly mileage up to 75.

Currently I'm riding a Trek Multi-Track hybrid bike. It's a decent bike, but nothing spectacular. I bought it when I went to college because the touring bike I had been riding wasn't good for campus. That's when the regular biking pretty well stopped. The hybrid is great for quick runs across a campus and recreation, but not so great for longer distances. I'm jonesing really badly for a new bike, of course I have to be riding before I can buy one. Currently my desire is a cyclocross bike -- they're good on the road and on the trail. I've got my eye on the Kona Jake the Snake -- I'm hoping I'll be able to get a deal on the 2005 model as the 2006 bikes come out.