Tri For Fun

I did my first triathlon in 3 years on Saturday August 15, 2009 in Pleasanton, CA. I finished the Tri For Fun in 1:16:59! I was hoping for a fast finish, but when I thought about it, this is pretty good considering that I haven't practiced that much. The only time that I predicted correctly was the swim. I can't complain considering that I just came off of a knee injury.

• 0:08:26 swim- 400 yd (~2 min/100 yd)
  

• 0:03:04 (T1)

• 0:32:27 bike- ll mi (just under 22 mph)
  

• 0:01:13 (T2)

• 0:31:49 run-5 km (~10 min./mi)
  

Now which IronMan will I do next year?

Swimming

I've been swimming lately. I have to admit that I thought with such a long hiatus from endurance sport that my swimming would be really bad. My first time out I swam for 30 minutes and ~1000 yards (about 3000 short of the distance at IronMan). The next time out I went for 2400 yards (over the distance for a Half-IronMan). Two days ago I did 3000 yards!!! And I felt like I had another 3000-4000 yards in the tank!

My foot hurts though, and I'm not sure why. This bothers me because I have to work on my running.

Oh yeah! Biking! I broke out my road bike in the past 4 weeks. I did the Three Bears (18.7 mile route that climbs 2400 feet) in 1.5 hours. I did it again a few days later at 1.25 hours! So I'm getting back into the swing of things faster than I hoped. So good!

Been trying really hard to cut out processed sugar out of my diet. I feel really good. Actually, when I do take in some processed sugar (not the same as fruit sugar), I can feel myself spiking and then feeling like crap.

I quit drinking coffee again. It wasn't enjoyable anymore.

I ran today! I ran today! It felt so good!

I've been out running again since my knee injury for the past 3-4 weeks. I haven't been able to find a groove. I would warm up for ever, but my legs just didn't want to move... until today.

Today I had no goals except to just run. I had some crap at work that I needed to clear out of my head, and I just had to run. I think I did it! I stopped focusing so much on my running that the running sorta took care of itself. I did 5 miles in 1 hour. Still slower than where I was before my knee injury, but I'll take it!

Tri 4 Fun

My goals right now are to do any tri that I can, and right now that is Tri 4 Fun in August. It's a sprint, so no extensive 10-month training is needed. My left knee is healing up just fine. I can now run 5 miles on it. I started swimming last week and just swam 2400 yards on Monday. So I'm in good shape.

My mind is wandering lately, so I'm here writing aimlessly. I'm not too enthused with my job as of late. I've been trying to study for my personal trainer certification too.

And I've been playing ukulele too. When I get a chance I'll post a video of me playing and *gasp* singing!

Ironman will have to wait

My training pretty much ended before it began.  I injured my knee playing hockey back in Sept/Oct.  It didn't prevent me from running.  I did notice that if I landed on it during a game I would be in an inordinantly excessive amount of pain.  It also felt "loose" after a run.

So I took some time off from hockey.  I also rested it from most strenuous exercise.  I visited a physical therapist who prescribed more strength training.  My knee is back up to 95%, but it's too late to start training for Vineman. 

For this year I'm focusing on spending time with my newborn son, Sam and my 4 year-old son, Jesse.  Jesse will be going to Kindergarten in September.  He likes to play with me now, but I'm sure that will change once school starts *sniff*.  I may do a half-marathon and/or a sprint tri some time this year.  The other item that takes precedence will be training my wife for a half-marathon; which is something she had been talking about since she was pregnant.  

That's it for now.  I'll still update some training here.  It might be about me or maybe my wife.  Hope all your training is going well. -R