Prepping for St. Anthony's

Specific training for the Great Floridian won’t actually start for two more weeks.  This week has been about prepping myself for the St. Anthony’s Triathlon on Sunday.  My workouts this week have looked like this:

Tuesday:   Simulated, indoor Triathlon at the Y.  I swam a mile in the pool, then did 30 minutes on the spin bike, followed by 30 minutes on the treadmill.

Wednesday:  Easy paced 4 mile run (9:23 min/mile pace)

Thursday : 15 mile bike ride which included two 3 mile intervals at race pace.  (about 21 mph)  This was immediately followed by a 2 mile run at race pace. (8:50 min/mile)

 We leave Saturday morning for St. Petersburg.  I will post a specific race preview before I leave.

BFAST Duathlon Race Report

My first race of the season was the Beaches Fine Arts Series Duathlon, in Nocatee, FL.  I did this race last year and it’s a part of a local series my brother and I do each year.  The series consists of one duathlon and three triathlons.  I did all four last year, but this year I will miss the last triathlon, as it is the same weekend as my brother-in-law’s wedding.

Anyway, it’s a small race of about 160 competitors, and consists of a 2 mile run, 13 mile bike ride and then another 2 mile run.  My goal coming into the race was to be under 1:10 and to be in the top half of my age group (Male 35-39).

Me at the finish line!

I completed the first 2 miles in 14:13, which is about a 7:07 min/mile pace,  (to be fair, though, I think the course was a tad shorter than 2 miles) which put me in 7^th out of 12 in my age group.  I finished the bike portion in 36:02 (21.7 mph avg) which was 3^rd in my age group.  Going into the last 2 mile run I was sitting in 4^th place in my age group and well on pace to break 1:10.  The final run didn’t go very well, however, and I stumbled along, finishing in 17:03.  That gave me a final time of 1:08:55 (I spent about a minute and a half in transitions) and placed me 6^th out of 12 in my age group. 

Overall the race was a success, in that I completed both my time and placing goals.  I was disappointed in my final run, however, and realize that I’m going to have to get stronger in the latter parts of these races.

Link to the results of the race:

http://www.altavistasports.com/results/2012%20results/beachesfineartsseriesduathlon04152012.htm

Next up is the St. Anthony’s Olympic distance triathlon in St. Petersburg, FL.  That race will be this Sunday, and I will post a preview of the race at a later time.

First Post...

On Saturday, October 20, 2012, at 7:30 am I will jump into Lake Minneola and begin a 2.4 mile swim.  Following the swim I will then complete a 112 mile bike ride and a 26.2 mile run.  The event is the Great Floridian Triathlon in Clermont, FL and it will be my first time competing in an iron-distance triathlon.

This blog is intended to be my training log.  I will record my daily and weekly workouts, as well as my mental and physical state,with the intention of tracking my progress as I draw towards race day.  In addition to logging my workouts, I will post race reports from the half dozen or so events I will be competing in before the Great Floridian.

Finally, this blog gives me accountability.  I anticipate the preparation for this event will be difficult and will take a great deal of focus on my part.  By recording my workouts and making them publicly available for all to see (though "all" probably isn't that many), it gives me one more tool in the belt to help my motivation during the inevitable ups and downs of my training.