Blown out chain

The ride was going along nicely until I forgot the proper way to shift my bike while climbing a hill, and that's when the trouble started.  I guess I torqued it a little too much, because about 5 minutes later, I went to put some power to it after making a hairpin turn and BLAMO!!  No good way to get out of where I was with a busted chain and no tool to fix it.  So I coasted down the hills and tried to keep enough speed to get up them.  I think I ride better without a chain quite honestly.

Back to Back rides

It's been a while since I've pulled off back to back rides.  Even though I was sucking wind and had no legs, it still felt good.  She was a bit sandy out there today, which was not too good for me this morning.  I've got the itch again, need a day off, but can't wait to clip in and go again.

WEAK ASS SHIT

Well, I had it coming to me.  This ride was pitiful.  I've neglected my bike so bad, I rode with a half flat tire the whole ride.  It made it kind of weird in the turns.  Now that I have insurance, thanks Rachael, I'm going to get an appointment with a doc to get my foot checked out.  I have to quit being a lazy ass and get back into shape.  I HAVE to do better at Custer next year than this year.  Oh yes folks you heard it here, provided I can get the entry fees covered I will be back for another round at the Fort Custer Triathlon.  Anyway, if you are interested in looking at a pitiful ride, take a look at this crap.

Since the triathlon

Well, since the triathlon I've pretty much been a slob.  I've only ridden twice and haven't ran at all.  I've been swimming, but not like I was pre-triathlon.  Yesterday I went out and did some open water swimming with some new training toys I bought.  Hand paddles and swim fins, they kicked my ass.  Any way, here are the two rides I have done.  I'm waiting for Tony and Matt Longest to get here to do a ride tonight.  As much as I want to say they won't crush me tonight, I have a feeling there will be some serious wind sucking out of this kid.  That's what I get I guess.

This was a ride at the Cannonsburg State Game Area.  I was doing well that day, minus a couple of spectacular crashes.

More Triathlon Photos

Click on the link below to see more photos that the race photographer took.

http://www2.brightroom.com/browser.aspx?eid=81418&bib=115&pwd=

The triathlon

Yesterday was the big day.  I was about 10 minutes slower than my goal.  My goal didn't include transitions, which I need to get much better at.  The swim went better than what I thought it would, I finished with a time of 12:51.  I didn't get kicked in the face, although I did take one to the chest.  I was in the thick of things battling it out with everyone else up to the first turn.  After that turn, it was like I was swimming all by myself, which was nice.  I don't know if I passed anyone or not, I was just swimming.  I was gassed though coming out of the water.  It was all I could do to manage a slight jog up the hill to the transition. 

T1 was a little rough, I spent almost 3 minutes trying to get myself ready to head out on the bike course.  It was a cluster.

I didn't do as well on the bike section as I would have liked.  I don't know what my problem was, but I couldn't climb hills to save my life.  If there was one thing I knew going into the race that was going to be my strong suit, it was hill climbing.  Where I really caught up to people was on my incredibly fast downhills.  As the bike section wore on, the more tired I got mentally and I started to fall.  I fell at least 6 times.  Which cost me a lot of time.  One of the times I landed on my handlebar, which has left a nice bruise in the middle of my chest. Bike was 01:07:01

T2 was better, but still slower than what I thought it was.  The speed laces were a huge help though with the bike and running shoes.

Then came the run, my ending pace was faster than what I thought it would be.  I came in with a pace sub 10 minutes per mile.  It was still a huge disappointment because I had to walk portions of the run.  Part of my problem was over-hydrating on the bike and having a whole bunch of liquid sloshing around in my stomach.  I think I should have downed a gu towards the end of the bike, because it felt like I had no energy left in my legs.  Although I did manage to crank out a nice sprint to the finish.  Run time was 38:29

 

 

Here are some post race pics where I was kind of hating life.

Oh yeah!! I whipped the cold water!!

I don't know how far or how long I swam today, but I figured out how to swim in cold water.  It was still good to at least have it figured out.  Went on my last training run this evening.  The run felt good and I managed to do it with all negative splits.

Shit that's cold

My rental wetsuit came in the mail a couple of days ago, and today was the first day that I was actually able to get out in the open water for a test.  When we left the boat launch the water temp was 65 degrees.  After multiple rain showers, the water temp a half mile from the boat launch had dropped to 58 degrees.  I was horribly unprepared for swimming in cold water.  I swam for about two minutes, but the cold had made my lungs clamp down so hard I could barely breath.  I made it a whole 75 yards and had to stop.  It's disappointing, but I'm glad it happened.  I've done some research tonight on cold water swimming, and now know what to practice tomorrow.

MTB TRIFECTA!!!

I came up just a bit short of completing the local MTB trifecta today.  I got dropped off at Cannonsburg State Game area, rode the MTB trail there.  That was a great ride, except for the massive stick that I managed to kick up into my rear tire.  That little incident violently sent me to the ground.  I finished there and rode up to the Cannonsburg ski hill to ride the trail there.  Decent ride, nothing really sticks out at me from this ride.  From there I rode up to the trail close to my house, Luton Park.  By the time I got to Luton, my legs were tired, but I decided to press on.  I rode part of the orange loop and finished the black loop and decided I had gassed my legs pretty good so far and didn't need to do the red and yellow loops.  Combined, those two loops are about 3 miles.  So I finished the rest of the blue loop and orange loop and went home.  Take a look at my goals for this race over on the right side of the page.

Taper week day #1

Took off on this nice run this AM before I headed off to the pool for 30 laps.  Wasn't going to do any trail running today, but I just could help myself.

Training ride dedicated to Remus

Matt, thanks for the motivation this afternoon.  I was really fighting with myself to get up and do this ride. Did two laps at Luton Park this afternoon.  Had I not ridden to the trail, I would have stuck around and done a third.  Although by the time I got done with my second lap, the trail was starting to get jammed up with "shirties", so it was probably time to go.  Overall, good ride thought I was faster than what my stats indicate.

May 7 Training Ride

I needed a nice long ride to boost my training a bit.  While Rachael was doing some cleaning at here old place I got to go ride on some of my pre-Rockford routes.

Trail run

Decided to do a trail run on the MTB trail close to my house.  It was a hard run, but an absolute blast.  The other thing I think I started to realize while I was out there, man was not meant to run on flat level surfaces.  I have been struggling with pain in various areas of my body during training.  None of those areas hurt tonight after the run.

I'm still training, just haven't had the time to update my blog

One thing I'm noticing when I've been out running or biking is that I'm much better when I'm following someone.  What I mean by that is that my heart rate seems to remain steady even with moderate increases in pace until I pace them.  I expect that in the triathlon I will have plenty of people to chase and pass.  I'm still swimming like mad.  I had a bit of a setback last week though with running and biking due to taking a spinning class at the gym on a rainy day.    Anyway, here's a favorite of the past couple of weeks.

Ft. Custer

Week #6 Day #5 Swim and run

The swim was uneventful, 30 laps in the pool.  Took it really easy today, and kept my pace at about a minute per lap.

The run was the longest I've ever run.  I still kept my pace about where I wanted it, and it felt good.  I really felt like I could have run more, but knew I had to get back home.  The reason I had to get back home, at the 1.5 mile mark I realized I had locked myself out of the house, and needed to get back before it got too late to do anything about it.  Luckily my great neighbor Joe and I figured out how to break in.

Week #6 Day #4 Cycle Hillwork revisited

I forgot to mention in yesterday's post that I hit the half way point in my training.  Revisited last week's ride, it felt great and I felt like I was flying through the MTB trail on the first half of it.  The long grueling slow climb on the back of the course lulled me out of the aggressive riding I was doing up to that point.  I managed to get back into it before I was done.

Week #6 Day #3 Swim and Run

The swim was decent, just 20 laps today.  Kept a decent pace.

The run was great tonight.  I might have been pushing it a little too hard tonight for a training run, but it felt really good.  I ran this same route last week about 23 seconds slower per mile, but my average heart rate was 3 beats lower last week.  I'm not sure what is going on with my heart rate though where my heart rate is shooting way up, but then settles back down to a decent level.  Apparently my body is resisting running, but when it realizes that it doesn't have a choice it settles down and performs.

Week #6 Day #2 Cycle

I wanted to take another run at the ski hill today, but when I got to the actual trail entrance there was a sign saying the trail was closed.  I ended up taking a detour to get the miles in I needed for the day.  It wasn't as difficult as I was hoping for, but it was still decent.

Week #6 Day #1 Swim and Run

The swim was good, I somewhat timed just my laps and not the warm up and cool down portions of the swim.  It took me between 20 and 21 minutes to swim 19 laps doing interval swimming.

I am starting to see the benefits of all of this training however.  I compared the run to the last time I ran that same route about a month ago my pace was almost a minute faster and my average heart rate was 3 beats lower.

Week #5 Day #6 Bike

I didn't ride the original route I had planned.  It was a humbling ride though.  I got on the Mountain Bike Trail, and was getting passed by everybody out there.  Oh well, it was still a decent ride.

Week #5 Day #5 Swim and Run

The swim was normal 2 laps today, decided to ease up a bit today to hit it again on Monday.  I was all done with my laps though waiting for Rachael to get done with her stuff and she challenged me to a 1 lap race.  I smoked her, but the most amazing thing about that 1 lap was that my form seemed so much better and I was hauling ass.  I have to figure out what it was that I was doing and see if I can replicate it.

I was really looking forward to this run for a couple of days.  I like this loop due to the hill work and the dirt road that I get to run on.  About half way through the run I was beginning to wonder why I was looking forward to this run, because it was kicking my ass.  I obviously prevailed.  Can't wait to run it again.

Week #5 Day #4 Some serious hill work

I was thinking about this ride when I got done, and thought about how things change.  Last year I would have driven to the ski hill and rode.  Today I needed 10 miles on my bike.  I got it, but worked my butt off doing it.  Check out the elevation graph of this ride.  Overall though it was a great ride.  I had to get off and walk my bike in the snow that was still at the bottom of the ski slope.  I conquered the areas of the trail that were my nemesis last year, and only had one minor slip that sent me off the trail.  It was great to be back on my favorite trail.

Week #5 Day #3 Swim and Run

Today's training went pretty well.  1250 yards in the pool took me about 29 minutes.  I was really hoping for a faster time, but I just couldn't make it happen.

The run was even better tonight than Monday night's run.  I was having some issues with my IT band last week, and did some extra stretches tonight which really helped.

Week #5 Day #2 Cycle

This was a decent quick ride.  I got slowed up on a decent due to a lady and her special needs son.  That boy was all over the trail, I had to slow way down to make sure he didn't step in front of me.  The worst part of it was I had a climb immediately following the decent, so I had no momentum going into the climb.

Week #5 Day #1 Swim and Run

First thing, Rachael has thrown down the gauntlet.  There will be a reward for me finishing in the top 10 in my age bracket.  Last year, the #9 and #10 spots finished at about 1 hour and 55 minutes.  I think I can do it.  I have my events broken out this way.  18 minutes or less for the swim, 1 hour for the 12 mile bike, and 36 minutes or less for the 4 mile run.

Today's swim was good, but I've got some work to do to hit the time above.  I did 20 laps in 24 minutes, which is a little slow in comparison to the goal above.  Hoping that the adrenaline of race day will pull me through quicker.

Tonight's run though made me feel better.  It felt like it was the strongest run I've had since last fall's 5k.

Week #4 Day #6 Cycle

It was a little chilly for this ride.  To make myself feel better for my inability to not crash while riding the trail, I came up with something to make myself feel better.  "If you're not crashing, you're not riding hard enough!"

Week #4 Day #5 Swim and Run

Today I ended up doing something resembling a brick workout.  I didn't have a chance to get my swim in earlier in the day, because Rachael and I were out running errands all day.  We went to the gym, and I took off for my run, and then changed into my bathing suit and hopped in the pool for 750 yards.  It was weird making that sort of transition.  The first two laps in the pool felt like I had a weight on my chest.

Week #4 Day #4 Cycle

Nice little ride.  Was focused on speed that night.

Week #4 Day #3 Swim and Run

For some reason, my swim was a little slow today.  I felt like my form was better, but I was slower and working harder.  I don't know, I'm just hoping to build up enough stamina and strength to get myself around the course in a decent time without drowning myself.

Tonight's run was much better than the previous run.  Way less pain and a much better pace.  Which leads me to believe that the slow pace caused the pain.  I guess I'm just going to have to step up the pace to get rid of the pain.

Week #4 Day #2 Cycle

The ride was fun.  Had a great high speed crash on a downhill.  The front tire just didn't have a enough grip as I was making a turn and just slipped out from under me.

Question:  Are you supposed to stop for a school bus with its lights on when you are on your bike?  I took the safe route and stopped for the bus.  First time I've ever had to do that.

Week #4 Day #1 Swim and Run

This week is a recovery week, so mileages and yardages are a little lower this week.

The swim was good, dialed it back to 750 yards today.  Continuing the interval training, but trying to focus on form and speed.

The run was PAINFUL!!!  About half way through the run, I started to get some pain on the outside of my right knee.  It definitely had an impact on my pace.

Week #3 Day #5 Swim and Run

Swim today wasn't bad, went back to interval training to hopefully work on speed.  I think my form goes to hell when I try to swim fast.  When I was purposely trying to swim slow in the warm up and cool down portions of my swim, those sections were really not that much slower than my lap times when I was trying to exert myself.  How I'm going to fix that problem, I'm not sure just yet.

The run was good.  When I turned the corner to head back east, the sun and wind were at my back, and warmed me up nicely.

Week #3 Day #4 Cycle

What a frigid ride.  I got about 1.5 miles out, and the tube on my Camelbak froze up.  Luckily I was able to get some water moving through the hose to get the blockage cleared.  Guess I should have been drinking a touch more.  My ride started on a nice little warmup route, then off to Luton Park for the meat of the ride.  On a side note, I wish I would have had a camera handy because some of the sites I saw with the sun shining through the ice on everything was awesome.  The freezing rain didn't effect the ride too much, I was a bit more cautious on the MTB portion of the ride focusing on technique which may or may not have been good.  I crashed twice on the trail, and both times I was flying right toward pretty substantial trees.  I did have to cut the ride sort however, because my future in laws were getting close to my place.  It was probably a good thing that I abbreviated the ride, because I think I was close to getting frostbite on one of my toes.  I almost forgot the other moment of panic I had on the ride.  The last 1/4 mile or so is a great downhill headed to my house.  I shifted out of my highest gear, because the road was starting to level out.  When I did that, coincidentally enough ice had accumulated on my bike to cause the back tire to rub on the accumulated ice.  That made me a bit nervous given the problems I had had with screwing up the rear-end of the bike last fall.   Luckily I didn't need the small chainring at all today, because the ice accumulation also made the front derailleur kind of unreliable.  Overall though, I loved the ride, just wish I had a solution for keeping my toes warm.

Week #3 Day #3 Swim and Run

Today I swam 1150 yards in the pool with warmup and cooldown.  The actual workout I did today was 17 laps, did them straight through with no stops.  I guess I will be able to swim the tri distance without having to stop.  The training program doesn't recommend this type of training, instead it suggests using interval training for the swim.  I will probably go back to that next week.


The run was good.  Ice, mother nature's equalizer.  One odd thing about the run if you look at the heart rate chart of this run, there is a really nice spike near the beginning that shot up 200 bpm.  I don't think I had enough liquid on the HRM strap, because I took a little spit and rubbed on it and my rate dropped to where it should be.

Week #3 Day #2 Cycle

I finally got to get my first MTB ride in today.  I managed to finish it up before the sleet really started to come down.  That didn't matter though, because it was a cold ass ride.  The trail had some spots that still had ice and snow on it.  I managed to get a snow burn on my leg in one spot where the snow took me down.  Anyway it was a good ride, and I decided to tack on a little extra by going around the block instead of straight home.

Week #3 Day #1 Swim and Run

Swim:  I'm pretty sure I did an extra lap today, because I bumped my sandals (I use them to count my laps) on the edge of the pool.  So I think I did an extra lap, but what could it hurt.

Run:  The run was good tonight.  It's the first time in a long time that I ran in the dark.  There's something very peaceful about running at 10 PM.

Catching up on posts

Thursday, March 17:  Finally got to the mileage I was hoping to hit on the bike.  I tried to hit a MTB trail, but still too much snow.  So I went down the road to the other trail I wanted to ride.  I got a ways down the trail through the snow, but finally had enough of the snow and turned around.

Week #2, Day #3 Swim and Run

Apparently I need to go back to school to count, because I did it again today at the pool.  I meant to only swim a half mile, but ended up with one extra lap in there.  I did the swim a bit different today.  The program calls for doing a lap and then resting 10 seconds.  I decided to break the workout into 4 lap segments.

The run was good tonight.  I'm glad it's warming up.  I'm really liking this route I've found to run though, there is some nice hills to negotiate on this route.

Week #2, Day 2 Snowed out

I really wanted to do some off-roading today on my ride.  That didn't happen, I tried two different trails and the snow was just too much for me.  Instead I did some road riding.  I should have known though that things weren't going to go according to my plans, because I managed to leave my Garmin at Rachael's place.  I used the Droid app to track my ride, and am working on a way to get it to load up here.  I didn't get in as long of a ride as I wanted, but with the hill work I did I felt like I made up for it.

Week #2, making things tougher

I'm making things harder on myself this week, because I missed my bike ride this past Saturday and I'm going to miss this upcoming Saturday.  I got to the pool today and was only supposed to do 300 yards.  I felt like this wasn't enough, so I decided I was going to do a half mile today.  I miscounted the number of laps, and ended up doing one extra.  It can't hurt.

Nothing too spectacular to talk about on the run.  Only had to do 3 miles, I know I should probably be paying closer attention to my heart rate and staying within some zone.  Screw that, decided to just push myself a bit harder and try to keep the pace closer to 9 minutes.  I'm kind of liking of this route that I've taken the past two runs, some great elevation change to contend with.

Week #1, Day #5

This week is probably is the easiest week of the program, which has been a good thing.  Yesterday was a day of rest and it felt good, because my muscles were a little sore from earlier in the week.  Today's run wasn't bad, it got a little chilly with the crazy wind that was blowing in some of the areas.

Week #1 Day #3 Swim and Run

Started out the day with a quick 300 yard swim, and a couple of drills.  My times were pretty good in the pool, but I just wasn't feeling it today.

Just like I was dreading the run today.  I was pretty tired this afternoon, and didn't feel like running.  I did heed Remus' advice and go run outside instead of on the stupid dreadmill.  Matt, you were right, the dreadmill was the cause of my knee pain.  Ran totally pain free this afternoon, it was great.  Here are the results:

Training Day #2

Today's training was a nice little 8 mile bike ride.   One really fun thing about the ride, was part of it was on a dirt road that still had some patches of ice.  Those ice patches made my sphincter tighten in a couple of spots.  I could have chosen a less demanding route for my ride today, but that won't get me ready to blast the trails at Fort Custer.  I thought all of the swimming I did in the off-season would have gotten me in much better shape than what it felt like today.  So, I'm blaming the cold I had for my decreased lung capacity.  It was pretty cool though to actually bust out the Garmin again, and be able to put something other than just words on my blog.

Not down with the sickness

Well, last week got eff'd because I came down with a cold.  Last Wednesday was the last swim for the week at 2000 yards.  It was a bit disappointing that I only got 4000 yards in at the pool last week.

Today I started the actual training program.  Started out the day with a pretty quick 300 yard swim.  Then I closed out the day with a 3.1 mile run.  It wasn't that great of a run. I started to get some knee pain, so I threw some walking into the run so as to not get things to messed up.  The other crappy thing about the run was it was on a treadmill, because I didn't figure it was the best idea to run outside while I'm still recovering from this cold.

Behind again on posts.

Here I am catching things up.  Friday I swam another mile, which put the week's total at 3 miles.  My swimming stroke has definitely improved.

So today I got to the pool and busted off 2,000 yards in about 45 minutes.  I know I'm going to swim 3 times this week, but I'm not sure what my goal is for the week.  At a minimum, it's going to be 6,000 yards for the week.  Just think I should step it up a bit before I started my tri-training program.

A little behind on posts

So, last week I closed it out with 1400 yards in the pool at my usual pace.  This week I opened it up with a mile in the pool.  That was a great accomplishment.  Back in the pool today, I swam the mile in 40 minutes.  I was pretty pleased with the pace.  Outside of my warm up and cool down activities, I was able to manage sub minute laps consistently without feeling gassed.

Squeezed in a run

Rachael went to the gym before work, so I went with her.  I was thinking I wanted to swim, but instead decided to squeeze in a run.  It was a nice 3.25 miles.  Although, as I write this morning I'm noticing some tenderness in the side of my knee.  Guess I may have pushed things a little far on the run.

Week #9 Swim #2 2/16/11

Another 1400 today, today's swim was much better than Monday's swim.  I was able to end the workout portion with another 200 yards of really strong laps.

Week #9 Swim #1 2/14/11

Got to the pool and it was packed.  I was going either have to wait for a lane or share one with someone else.  Wouldn't you know it, the guy I may have insulated last week was more than happy to share his lane with me.

I think I need to review the swimming DVD again, because my body wasn't quite as happy to swim last night as others.  I swam 1400 yards last night in about 34 minutes.  I would like the pace to have been a bit faster, but it will do for that distance.

Week #8 Swim #3 2/11/11 Man Trip Prep

Decided that I needed to get to the pool one more time this week before the man trip.  It was another great night of swimming.  Using some of the concepts in the swimming DVD I watched this week has really helped.  I actually had enough left in the tank to do 4 all out laps at the end before my cool down.  I'm actually enjoying swimming now.  I wish I had time to go today before I left for the weekend.

Week #8 Swim #2

Great swim tonight.  I watched an instructional swimming video last night.  Wow, what a difference it has made so far.  Not sure how long it took me to swim my 1250 tonight, but it was about a half hour.  The tweaks to my swimming stroke made it so I can swim way more relaxed with much less effort.  I did however step it up on my last two laps before my cool down to race some old dude in his Speedo.  He didn't know we were racing.  Probably if he did, he would have crushed me.  Anyway, it was good to have someone to pace with.

Week #8 Swim #1, Mildly offensive comment

Down to my last four weeks of swim training before I start full on triathlon training.  Tonight was pretty uneventful as far as swimming went.  1200 yards in 32 minutes.

On to the mildly offensive comment.  Dude in the lane next to me, had to be pushing 300 lbs., says to me, "I don't know how you swim non-stop like that.  I'm sucking wind by the time I get to the end of the pool".  I replied that I don't swim non-stop, and that I take small breaks between laps.  I also said that it's been a gradual build up and that I've only been swimming since mid-November.  He said him as well, but that he had a 100 lbs on me.  I replied with, "yeah, just a couple.".  I really meant to say "Yeah, just a couple pounds".  He didn't seem offended by the comment, but it so could have been taken the wrong way. 

Week #7 Swim #2 2/3/11

Not a bad swim tonight, 1,000 yards in 26 minutes.  I'm past the 1/2 mile mark on my swims, which takes care of a lot of my concern about being able to swim that distance.  Last night the doubt was creeping in as to my stamina and being able to swim that far and then go bike and run.  I know I will be fine, and will achieve my goal.

Week #7 Swim #1 1/31/11

Tonight's swim was a jump from the 800's I was swimming last week to 1,000 yards.  It was a lot of swimming, but after completing this swim I've got the confidence to complete the swim portion of the triathlon.  The only other thing of mention was the nice "vurp" I had about 2/3's of the way through my laps.  I hope I didn't leave any residue behind in the pool.

Week #6 Swim #2 & #3 1/26 and 1/28

These two swims were fairly uneventful at 800 yards a piece.  I do remember with both swims wondering how I was going to complete a 1/2 mile swim for the triathlon.  That nagging doubt that I will be ready to swim that far in a race just keeps popping up.

Wekk #6 Swim #1 1-24-11

This was the first swim of the new swim program.  It definitely was a lot tougher with some different warmups and a longer cool down.  For a minute it made me question how I was going to be able to handle swimming a 1/2 mile then completing the other two legs of the triathlon.  I know I will be fine by the time I get to race day which seems both like a long and short time from now.

Week #5 swim #4 Jan 22, 2011

It's amazing how little things can piss you off and mess with your head if you let it.  10 laps into the 14 I had to swim today, some little shits came to the pool.  I use my sandals on the side of the pool to count the number of laps I have swam.  These little bastards not watching what they are doing, bump my sandles.  I was pretty confident on my lap count in my head, but I began to doubt myself and was pissed.  I got things straightened out on the edge of the pool and got back to swimming.  I quickly cleared the frustration from my mind and got back to swimming.  Knocked out the 700 yards a little slower today, but still did it in about 18 minutes.

Week 5 Swims #2 and #3

My plan for the week was to try to get up to 4 days in a row swimming.  I've gotten to three straight days of swimming 700 yards, and my shoulders have had it.  Not going to make it to 4 straight days, but I will get 4 days of swimming in this week.

For both nights, my pace slowed a bit and put me at an approximate 17 minutes for the 700 yards both nights.

Last night I found out Jim Dreyer's new quest.  He is hoping to build a boat out of empty bottles and row non-stop from somewhere in Michigan to Chicago for some sort of celebration this summer.

Week #5 Swim #1 Jan 18, 2011

These first swims for the week are tough.  I think the time off between swims for the weekend is what the problem is.  Anyway, swam 700 yards last night in approximately 15 minutes.  On a positive note, I've been able to maintain a consistent pace all the way through, and even as the distance has gotten longer.

Week #4 Swim #3 Friday 1-14-11

Swam next to Jim Dreyer again. 

Was only going to swim my scheduled 600 yards.  Stepped it up and swam 700 and felt like I could have kept going, but no need to push it too hard at this point.  Still managed to add in another 500 or 600 yards of drills though.  Next week is my last week of beginner training, then off to intermediate training from now til March

Week 4 Swim #2

The highlight of the evening was getting to swim next to Jim Dreyer.  For those of you who don't remember him, he's the guy that swam across Lake Michigan and made multiple attempts at swimming across Lake Superior for charity.  Dude had some crazy contraption that he swam with that looked like two parachutes hooked together.  He had to get about a 1/4 of the way down the pool before these things were doing their job.  Being that he was swimming with those things and some paddles on his hands, I couldn't really watch his form to learn anything though.

Anyway, I swam another 600 yards last night in 14 minutes.  I then did another 500 yards of just swimming drills for the next 20 minutes or so.  It was a good night of swimming overall.

Week #4 Swim #1

Uggh!! 600 yards last night was a chore after having that much time off from swimming.  I still managed to crank it out in about 14 minutes.  That pace might be a little bit on the slow side, but I can work on the pace later once I've got more of the endurance side down.

Swimming program Week 3 Swim #3

Ok, so three days in a row of swimming didn't sound that bad when I setup my schedule for the week.  I'm definitely feeling it and am glad that I get to rest now until Monday.  Still knocked off the 500 yards in 10 minutes.

For the next two weeks I'm swimming 600 yards in preparation for the more advanced portion of the training program.

Swimming Program Week 3 Day #2

Yesterday I swam 500 yards in about 10 minutes.  That's no swim cap, a swimsuit that acts like a parachute and 5 second rests between intervals.  I was really pleased with my performance given I had just swam 500 yards the night before.  In another hour I will be back at the pool to swim another 500 yards.

Ah!! 2011 you've come at last

Well 2011, you are here.  With you, you bring some new adventures and challenges.  I welcome you.

136 days from now, I will face my number one goal for 2011 to complete a triathlon.  I don't want to just finish this triathlon but I want to complete it.  By completing it, I mean a constant 1.75 and 2 hours of constant physical exertion.  No clinging to life boats, no walking, etc.