Week 5 - Done

Good morning! Ran yesterday with the group and about halfway around Griffith Park my right leg started hurting and got worse. Ended-up walking back to the parking lot. Feels like it's time to get back to stretching! This morning however most of my body hurts - I got the bright idea on Friday of going to the gym on my "day off" from training and I'm sore from head to toe. It's a good pain though, really! However, due to the heat and soreness I'm going to take today off, resuming tomorrow with an early morning swim.

Training Week 5

This week is starting off a bit slow due to STILL being sore from working out so much on the weekend (actually, I think it was the Father's Day pool party where I overdid it). However, today I'll be swimming, if I can get there before it gets too hot. Just sent around 40 emails asking for donations to help reach my goal - I thought training was tough, it's nothing compared to asking friends and family to donate! I appreciate all the help and support you care to give and your consideration in helping with this very worthwhile cause.

Father's Day Mock Tri

Saturday, my neighbor Craig and I went to Balboa Park and rode around for about 16 miles. Not to be outdone, Craig suggested we go for a run afterward but I couldn't due to time constraints. However, out of that conversation was born the "First Annual Father's Day Triathlon."

Sunday: 7am Craig and I are in my driveway packing up the car. We head over to Braemar Country Club (I play tennis there) and unload our bikes, chain them up by the pool and start to spread our things out over multiple cubbies in the locker room. At 8:13 we start our 25 minute swim ending up with me at over 1/2 mile and Craig at over 1/4 mile then go change into bike clothes. We head out and take a very long route to Balboa Park and then through Tarzana, 18.22 miles in all before making it back to the club. Changing once again, we head out for our 4 mile run (which was actually half-run, half-walk at this point) and complete that. 3.5 hours from start to finish (transitions took about an hour total), we were done. WE DID IT!

Now we've got to start working on time...

40 Minutes of Bliss

More like 40 minutes in a water-logged, out-of-breath, gatorade-swigging liquid hell. Yes, of course I'm talking about swim training today! But I did it, and I'm proud. I'm also half-full of pool water...

Saturday was our first coached bike session. Rode 13 miles on the new bike and loved just about every minute of it, even the minute I almost fell over because I didn't get out of my clips fast enough, but I recovered and avoided disaster.

Training Day

I figured I'd try to push things a little, so I rode the bike to the pool (2.6 miles one way), swam 30+ minutes, then rode back.

Positives: good workout, my legs are burning, my upper body is worn out, bike was great (butt still hurts from the hard seat though - gotta get used to that)

Negatives: legs are still burning, backside is still hurting, can't ride up steep hills.

Knowing the hills would be a problem, I packed a pair of running shoes in my backpack and when I got to the hills at the pool and on the way back to the house I just switched shoes and walked up.

Total time was 1.5 hours which I've got to work on getting down, likely via using Tri shorts (no changing time) and getting better so I don't have to walk up the hills. Top speed: 28mph.