End of recovery week

It has been a nice recovery week. Just cruising through some short workouts and really enjoying them. I ran 10k today and felt really good. Next week really ramps up some volume so it should be an interesting week. There is some rain predicted for the area so hopefully it holds off so I can do the long run and long ride outside. I would be very very bored on the treadmill.

Next weekend is the Austin Triathlon. It is on Monday in downtown Austin. Should be a great race. I am really looking forward to it.

Was planning to swim Gatormania on Saturday but it was raining when I rolled out of bed so I bagged it. I am wondering how it went.

See you at the finish line.

Long Brick Today

Due to the Olympics, I have been sacrificing a little sleep to be a good American however I rolled out at 5:30 this morning to do it my workout before it got too hot. I had a great workout. One mile OWS, 1:50 minutes on the bike - about 30 miles with a LOT of hills and then a 20 minute trail run. The legs got to feel good after about 5 minutes and I felt very good after the run. I had a recovery drink and then ate a sandwich on the way home. I was able to do this with a tri shop here who has just started doing these Sat trainings at a local lake. So I have a chance every Sat to OW swim, bike, run or any combination thereof and any distance. They usually do an hour/an hour/and an hour but they are adjustable and met my schedule today without any problems. So here's the reason I share this with you, Debbie (Mrs. L.R.R) has been swimming since May (which incidentally is the first time she put her face in the water) and last night swam 1400 yards in a 200, a bunch of 100s and a few 50s. She went out with me this morning to try an OWS and follow with a short bike around the park and to run with me. The lake is 1/2 mile across - she swam ALL THE WAY across AND back. Her first OWS ever was 1 mile. I am so proud of her that I had to share that with you all. Now here's a funny, there was a lady at the lake promoting Gatormania - an OW race next weekend at the same lake. Debbie was like - I might want to do that. So who knows what we have created here. Thanks for listening and I hope you all have a wonderful rest of the weekend.

Jack's Generic Tri

I raced (if you can call it that) the Jack's Generic Triathlon today. Jack's is the product of Jack and Adam's shop in Austin - a great tri and bike shop. Their place is actually where I bought my QR. This was also the first triathlon I ever saw last year, other than watching Ironman on TV. It was about a week before my first sprint and I wanted to see what the heck people did and how this whole thing worked in reality, not just reading about it on the web. They put on a heck of a party and I said last year that I would be back to race this year. So here's the report...

Alarm at 4am...ouch. Left the house a little before 5 for a 45 minute drive to the race site at the Texas Ski Ranch. I got my packet, race number and chip, got marked and moved into transition about 6. I was set up by about 6:30 with the race start at 8. My wave started at 8:20.

The water smelled horrible and tasted worse...we both know you can't help a little taste here and there. The swim went well for me, it was 500 meters (give or take) and I came out of the water in 10:40 - a pretty good time for me. I got kicked in the head at the beginning and then got kind of caught up in a pack that I couldn't seem to get out of...finally, mud under my feet and out of the water into T1. T1 was 2:35. I really simplified my trasition area today. I went minimalist and I really liked it. Very clean and simple. I should have been fast in transition....that's free speed.

Hit the bike with a bit of a higher heart rate than I wanted but my plan was to push the bike pretty hard and just see what happened on the run. There were quite a few rolling hills on the course and it was pretty windy and exposed in a couple of areas. The final mile or mile and a half are downhill so that was fun...I was up in the 30s realizing that at some point I would need to stop and get off that machine. A good dismount and cruise into T2. Speed on the bike averaged 18.6mph. T2 time was 1:28.

My legs felt really good leaving transition. I hit the road and really wanted to get done. I ran a 29:05 run which for me was a great time for a triathlon run. I am not fast...will never be accused of being fast....but maybe someday someone will say I am half-fast....

A great triathlon, a great party and a great group of people. This one will definitely be on the 2009 calendar.