8 Days!

Hi everyone! I know it's been a while. I had a bike wreck a little over a week ago and must have pulled my writer muscle. But I wanted to pop in, say hi and let you know what's been going on in my workout life.

Everything is going well. I had a few more off days than I'd like with the wreck and the face issue, but all that is cleared up now...mostly. I'm still sporting some lovely road rash.

With 8 days to go, I've decided that I'm pretty much at the level I'm going to be for the race. I'm very pleased! A year ago, I got winded walking from building in my office complex to another. I can now bike 20+ miles and run over 3 with pretty quick recovery times. I did the whole bike and run segments of the race a couple of days ago in 1:30. If I can fit in the swim and two transitions in 29 minutes, I will hit my goal of under 2 hours. If not, I will be very, very close. There's not a doubt in my mind that I will finish.

So when I look at everything overall, I'm a completely different person than I was last year. That's amazing. I'm about to become a triathlete. Unreal!

As a side note, during the the 2nd Pfit competition at work, I have so far lost an additional 13 pounds. The more I lose, the faster I get, so I'm very happy about that.

The rest of my week looks like this:
Today - Run
Friday - Run/Swim
Sat - Bike/Swim
Sun - Swim

18 Days to go!

That's only 2 and 1/2 weeks or almost 3 depending on if you are a glass half-empty or half-full kind of person. Tues/Wed may change up this week, depending on which ride I decide to do.

Training for this week:
Mon - Run/Swim
Tues - Bike or Run/Swim
Wed - Bike or Run/Swim
Thurs - Off
Friday - Bike/Run (@gym)
Sat - Race Route
Sun - Swim

So...how have you been?

Baaackk!

Happy Independence Day!


I climbed back onto my bike today after a week. Still can't get Steven Tyler's voice singing Back In The Saddle out of my head. Ergo the post title. It was a little rough. Rode the race route to get a feel of my timing. Weather wise it was a good day to do it. Traffic was minimal and it was a cloudy 75 degrees. The slight breeze was very welcome.

Sidenote: We're seeing all kinds of wildlife on this route. A short time after starting we passed a huge, HUGE turtle. I thought it was an armadillo at first. I didn't know that we had armadillos in Kentucky, but according to Wikipedia, it is possible.
The hills on the route were definitely harder than the last time we rode, but I wasn't very warmed up and am not going to let it get to me. Still, I finished in 59:27. I'm pretty happy with that still having 4 weeks to go in training.
This afternoon I'm a little sore. I'm going to watch Tiger Woods (who just hit an Eagle) play golf before I head out to a friend's barbecue this evening. Hope you are all having a great 4th!

Making a list. Checking it twice.

29 days until race day!

While I'm on medical hiatus I'm trying to distract myself by thinking of other aspects of the big day. Let's get our race day checklist together shall we? There are items that still must be purchased!

Most of the big items I already have:

  • Triathlon Suit
  • Goggles
  • Bike
  • Helmet
  • Water cage
  • Water bottle
  • Spare tire kit
  • RoadID - If you don't have one of these, get one. Your identification/emergency numbers and 1st responder info all in one place and on your person. Just in case.
  • Running Shoes
  • Sunscreen
  • Watch/HRM
Items I still need to/would like to purchase:

  • Spare goggles
  • BodyGlide
  • Bungee Laces - saves valuable time in transition area and are fairly inexpensive
  • Sunglasses - the glasses I have been using hit the bottom of my helmet and look kind of goofy.
  • Cages for pedals - will go for clipless pedals next race.
  • Large bright towel for transition area. - In case they don't allow me to attach the planned-on ginormous helium Spongebob balloon to the bike rack. Worth a try, don't you think?
  • Race belt
  • Jersey to wear for bike/run legs of race (If anyone related to me is reading this an intending to send me a birthday present, I would LOVE a Vanderkitten jersey. hint hint)
  • New running shoes - not a necessity
  • Hat for running leg.

Please feel free to add comments with your suggestions.

In other news, in a show of solidarity, Eli has decided to take a break in his training until I'm back on my feet. You can see how much he is bothered by the missed workouts: