Bike Goal

Yesterday I did a group brick workout (biking then transition into running). We biked 11.6 miles then did a 1.7 mile trail run. Wow, I am not used to so many biking hills and it just killed me both in my cardio and in my leg muscles. Though I guess that is why we practice because the short bike distance is ~16 miles and as I am now, I wouldn't make it.

Also, given that I really don't like going fast and was rather frightened that I hit 28mph, I'm a bit worried about making the time cut-offs. Even for the running because it is trail running and that takes a different set of muscles to stabilize everything. Guess it's time to hit the woods.

Swimming Zen

Today's swimming effort was very zen like. The 1000m felt very calm and not the struggle that it sometimes is. It took me 30 minutes to do the 1k, which is on the slow end but the technique is feeling more comfortable so I'm happy with that. I also did some sprints after the main portion. The 25m sprints weren't too bad, but doing 50m just killed me by the 40 meter mark. Sadly, the speed at which I was doing the sprints is where I need to get to for the actual races. As long as I keep doing both the length and the speed, I should be alright.

Guess this also meets my 40 lengths, any stroke without stop goal since it was 40 with frontcrawl.

Blood Sugar

The comment has been made that my fitness level is in a good state for training but my nutrition needs some work. For the second time in a handful of days my blood sugar crashed drastically to the point I felt incredibly ill. This is occurring before I don't have enough in reserve to be converted to energy when I need it. The two crashes are thus probably related because I didn't do a sufficient job of rebuilding the reserve.

When I first started training I was eating tons because I was always hungry from the increased level of activity. Eventually that hunger fell off and I went back to eating like I usually did but adding more midmorning snacks in, especially on days like going to boxing. Clearly I need to ramp back up my eating and making sure I get sufficient carbs.

First Two Weeks of Training Plan

The first couple weeks on my training plan have not gone overly well because I still haven't placed proper emphasis on the Tri over SCA. Last week I choose to go to an SCA event all day Saturday which left me wore out for Sunday. Then on Monday and Wednesday I did SCA stuff which reduced my planned exercise (though I still got some). Then this weekend I will be doing yet more SCA stuff. Thankfully, this should be it for a while.

That being said, I do need to go back and adjust the training plan based on what it appears my pattern will be. For instance, group ride with work folk on Thursdays, and possibly group runs on Mondays.

Now to today's group ride. It was my first one with my road bike. First off, I hate hills. Not just going up them. I'm not a great fan going down them. I topped out at 22 mph going down at one point and that just scares the heck out of me. In contrast, riding really fast on flat, straight areas is enjoyable and perhaps even fun. Interestingly enough, I got up to 19mph on a flat. I guess it is not so much the speed as the relative "I'm going to die" feeling that gets me.

A final thought... I'm a white & pasty girl. Thankfully I only burned a little.

16 weeks

It's now less than 16 weeks until the Int'l length which means I need to get in gear and really start training. I posted a link to a training plan a couple entries back, I am now starting to customize and populate that. This morning was already successful with the swim portion, and planning on the biking after work with hopefully new spiffy clip-in shoes :)

New Bike

I finally gave in and bought an entry-level road bike. Lots of folks with much more biking experience than me kept telling me how much easier the ride portion and training would be, and as much as I hate to admit it... they might be right. I rode it around the loading area at the store today and it is a much different feel but I was amazed at how easy it was to get going rather quick. They might be onto something here.

I need to do a fair bit of practice in the upcoming month but then I'm going to put it (and me) to the real test doing the Tour de Madison in mid-May. 27 mile course with a fair number of hills.

Really... now I'm done buying new modes of transportation...