April. More Training and a Spring Sprint Tri

Hey all,
March has come and gone and for the most part it was a solid month for training. All areas are progressing, but I also had some setbacks in volume due to work-related travel. It was a small sacrifice to the company that makes this triathlon thing possible. A couple weeks ago work sent me back to the corporate office in Illinois where I worked for over 13yrs. As a tele-worker, there will always be times when it's best I'm there face-2-face with my bosses and fellow workers. This was one of those times, but unfortunately it was a short 48hr visit so I couldn't see all of my close friends. I made due and was able to hang with a few and even managed to get a swim workout in with Kona Dog and Eric the Eeeeeeeeel as well as Mr. Rossi and MD. So this segways into a swimming thought....

I think I've mentioned I've pretty much been a Driller in the pool. Meaning, not a lot of hard sets, just tons and tons of yards drilling, drilling, and drilling. So the form is progressing incrementally well though I'm due for some video analysis. However, I got the eye-opener when I got with the Bloomington boys. These guys have been hard at it now for awhile, getting ready for Ironman CDA in a couple months. I had to struggle my ass off to hang with these guys. I shared a lane with KDog and the tall glass of water would pretty much drown my ace once he lead enough where his feet were by my lid. After that it was just a matter of getting through the set without being labeled as driftwood. It ended up being a great workout and probably the most yards I've done since pre-Ironman Arizona a year ago. I think it inspired me to get with the masters team a little sooner so I can be pushed when it comes time to push.

Last week I was in San Francisco for a work related Microsoft Conference. I've been to this conference six or seven times now and mostly in San Fran (once in NYC). I decided to pack the bike so I could get a couple rides in the evening. I really wanted to go climb Mt. Tam again and now that daylight saving kicks in earlier it worked out pretty well. Flying the bike with United is pretty much a scam these days and I urge anyone who's willing to complain to write United Airlines some hate mail on their new bike policy. They charged me $85.00 one way then tagged an additional $50.00 for being overweight. $135 to ship my bike one way, which was slightly cheaper than the ticket itself. The case itself is 35lbs and the bike is 20lbs so I'm screwed from the get-go. In May the overweight fee goes up to $100 so I don't think I'll be flying United with the bike again...ever. F#$kers! OK, I've vented, anyways, I got the bike out there and was able to find the top of Mt. Tam again. If I can get the pics off of my phone I'll post them. I had my Garmin with me, which I can import into my software (PerfPro):

The Ride

Google Earth File

I don't have a power meter on the Garmin so it really only shows speed/rpms, but it does show the course profile along with total feet climbed. Not a bad amount of climbing in the first 24-miles. Anyways, you can get a 3D look of the ride in Google Earth by launching that KML file. Kinda sweet.

I got back from San Fran last Thursday and the next day was the swim portion of my first triathlon of the year. The local YMCA puts on a sprint triathlon for the entire Treasure Valley area. It's an interesting way to have an outdoor triathlon in Idaho in early April when there's still plenty of snow on the nearby mountains. You basically predict your time for the Friday swim so they know where to seed you. After your swim they mark your time so it can be carried into the Bike/Run portion on Saturday. On Saturday, the clock starts at 00:00 and everyone lines up behind a transition line (also the chip mat). When the clock hits your swim time from Friday you briskly walk to your bike then head out on the 12.5 mile down and back course. It's then pretty much like a normal triathlon.

When I signed up for this race last month I really didn't have a good idea where to seed myself so I shot high. It's a 750yard swim in the pool so I put an aggressive time for me at 10:00 flat. After a couple moderate tests at that distance I realized that was way too aggressive for me. I think I was around 11:20 for one of them, but so be it. I get the lane to myself so it didn't really matter what I got. When the gun went off for me I felt pretty good. Laps where clicking off and I thought of a couple things. Keep the form and remember a couple weeks ago when KDog was kicking my ass. That workout was much harder than this 750yard test. Anyways, I lost count of the laps and kept pushing the long strokes until I saw the sign for the last lap. When it was all said and done I hit the mat in 10:10. I was stoked!!! It seems like it's been forever where I had a swim I was happy with. After the swim a lady asked me if was happy with my time. Not being one to ever answer a question like that directly I just said, "Was I happy? I'm always happy!" So I was excited now about getting the bike/run in the next day.

Saturday morning I gathered all my bike/run stuff and headed down to Camels Back park where all the festivities were at. It was a brisk 36F out, but the wind was mild so I kept the clothing light. I figured it would get a little warmer and it I think it got to around 45F. Still, a little chilly so it had a lot of people confused on what to wear. When my 10:10 time on the clock hit I ran to my bike and took off on the course. The course is a 12.5 mile (12.6 according to my GPS) course on Hill Road, which is a well traveled bike road going out of the city. There's not a lot of climbing really, just some gradual stuff that'll slow you down some. I felt like the whole ride I played it conservative. That will be my theme for the entire year. Back it off some and save it for the run. When I got off the bike I felt like I had plently left in the tank.

The run is a 5K course out in the trails where I run frequently so I kind of knew what to expect. The first half of the run is a gradual uphill so it tends to sap you a bit and it kept me from building up any kind of groove, but I kept at it. Only one guy passed me at the beginning and I passed one other guy. At the turn-around I see a whole bunch of dudes, but the course goes flat so I poured it on the best I could. With about half mile or so left one of the local short distance studs past me like I was running backwards, but he was it. I managed to hold off the rest and came in feeling pretty good. Good enough for a 2nd 30-39 AG placing and 6th overall (excluding the three relay teams) out of some 240 plus people. So it was a nice start to the season and appears to be a good sign that things are progressing well.

Well, I think that's all for now. I have a very tough half-marathon in a couple weeks. I'll report back on that. I'm sure the beer will help wash down the taste of lungs!

Aloha,
Drew.