Liberty Tri Pictures and Training Update

It’s been a while since I’ve had a decent picture from a race, so I was excited to see a few good ones from the Liberty Triathlon. It’s always nice to have one from each leg of the race.

They missed Mike on the swim but here is a good one of him on the bike:

Normally, I would take a couple days off after a race but having the half iron just 6 weeks after this one means the training must go on. This week I ran less and biked more as the biking seemed easier on my race weary legs than running. The next three weeks will be busy with training and then the workouts will start to get shorter. My number one goal is to come through the half iron injury free so that I can start training for Marine Corps Marathon right after. Only 12 weeks separate the two races, so there won’t be time for nursing any injuries.

With just a month of training left, here are some things I’ve learned so far:

The bike is a mobile smorgasbord. If I run for two hours, I’ll make sure I have something to drink and GU. Go on the bike for two hours? I bring a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, a protein bar, and maybe throw some gummy bears in my pocket. Even with all of that, I’m still hungry when I get done. Something about being on the bike stimulates the appetite.

A butt is an important thing to have. Somehow, over the weeks of training, I have lost whatever butt I had. Now, my family is not genetically gifted in the butt department, so I didn’t have a lot of butt to start. Thighs, yes. Butt, no. Losing the padding I had back there is not a good thing. It hurts to sit for any length of time and my bike shorts look more like a diaper. I need to do more lunges or squats or something to try and beef up my rear asset so that I have something more to sit on. Ouch!

Improvement in the pool  ≠ improvement in the lake. Even though my pool workouts having been going well, I wasn’t satisfied with my swim in the triathlon. I never felt like I could really see where I was going or find my own rhythm. My time was virtually the same as it was two years ago which would be fine if I had put my head down and swam the whole way. Instead, my head was up and I spent a lot of time trying to get my bearings. At first I was thinking that I would put swim training aside since it doesn’t seem like it is improving my race performance. Then I was thinking that maybe the lesson is that I should open water swim more often, although finding 50 other people to try to swim over me might be a little more difficult. For right now, I’m going to re-prioritize and refocus on strength training. The last month or two, if I didn’t have time to lift and swim then I opted to swim. Now I think I will opt to lift.

Swimmers are not friendly. Swimmers are insulated in a way that drivers in a car are insulated. With goggled eyes and cap-covered ears, it’s like being in your own little world. Some swimmers feel that this private world extends to their own private swim lane. Ask one of these possessive folks if you can share their lane and they look at you like you asked to share their toothbrush. Yes, not all of them are that way, but enough of them that it makes it intimidating to ask. When I walk into the pool on my way to the locker room, I anxiously scan the lanes hoping that there is one free. If there isn’t, then I look for the best swimmer in the group. My experience is that they are more open to sharing a lane. The more inept the swimmer, the more they look at me like I’m insane when I ask to share. My apologies to all of you friendly swimmers out there. I’m out there myself trying to make up for the rest of the group. I practically yell across the pool deck to invite people nervously milling around to swim in my lane. Two people can easily swim in a lane. Spread the word.

Triathlon training is time consuming. Maybe this should have been obvious before I started. I purchased the 20 week triathlon training schedule and saw that there were at least 9 workouts each week. By the time I added in weight lifting a couple times each week, I would be doing two workouts on most days of the week. I knew all of that before I started. Knowing it and living it are two different things. After living it for 16 weeks, now I REALLY know it. It’s tiring. It’s time consuming. It’s thought consuming. It produces a lot of laundry. It requires a lot of planning. It requires a lot of coordinating with training partners and family members to make it all happen. And all of this is just for a half iron. And I don’t have a job. And I’m hungry all the time. And I’m tired. And I lost my butt.

This weekend Mike and I are headed to Chisago to preview the bike course. I’m really looking forward to it and know that it will get me excited about race day. The weather looks good for the ride and maybe we’ll get a chance to swim in the lake. Maybe if I ask nicely Mike will splash me, swim over me and tap my feet. Now that would be some valuable training!