Training Update 2

I finally decided on which triathlon I'm going to do. I'm registered for the Eastman Splash, Mash and Dash Triathlon in Grantham, New Hampshire. It is a 1/3 mile swim, a 12 mile bike ride and a 5k run.

The race is 11 weeks away now and I have started a training schedule. I looked around on the interwebs and found a couple training schedules for sprint triathlons. The schedules seemed a little wimpy to me. I don't really consider a sprint triathlon wimpy, but these training programs had training days that would consist of a 12 minute run. Some schedules even worked up to running by including walking days. So, instead I decided to overtrain. I know, I know, overtraining is bad. I'm increasing the chance of injury. I just felt I wanted more of a challenge than the training programs I had found.

I took a training schedule for an olympic triathlon and adapted it slightly. The schedule was balanced, meaning it did not stress any one of the 3 sports. The only thing I changed was that the swim times seemed quite long, so I halved them. Even halving the swim practices, the shortest swim practice is longer than I think it will take me in the actual race.

A couple months ago I made up some goals for myself. I really didn't have much to base my goals on, so I found some data on the web and chose average times for my age group. Now that I've been training a little bit, I can get an idea of how close I am to those relatively arbitrary goals.

My swim goal was to shoot for 1 minute per 50 yards. For 1/3 mile, that is just under 12 minutes. I timed myself in the pool a couple days ago and I swam 1/3 mile in a little over 13 minutes. I tried not to push off too much on the turns, but open water is going to be significantly different. My swim started at a decent pace, but I slowed at the end. With a little more endurance I think the swim goal will be reached, at least in a pool, without people kicking me in the head.

My bike goal was to average 15 MPH. For a 12 mile course, that would be around 45 minutes. I think this goal is going to be difficult. I went for a ride today and averaged 12 miles an hour. The bike is still quite difficult for me, I don't think I have my bike muscles back yet from the winter.

My running goal was to run at a pace of 7:30. Right now that seems a little ridiculous. I'm finally feeling like I'm back to my normal speed before taking a break from training over the winter. My last run felt great. The course I ran is quite hilly and longer than the race distance. I averaged an 8:42 pace. I have a serious amount of time to make up if I want to meet my goal.

Well, at least my goals are stretch goals. I may have to adjust my training as I go. I may swap out a couple swiming sessions for biking or running.

Okay, that's it for now.