Murtha's Tri - Minicamp! April 23-26, 2011

Ok, so it definately was not as cool as the title sounded.  There was no destination camp (other than driving to where I was training) and I was the only one participating in said mini-camp.  But I had a blast nonetheless!

Classes ended on April 21st, and do not start up again till May 3rd.  Also I have not had a vacation/staycation/etc since 2009, and I needed to have a few days off.  I don't have the Garmin on me right now, but here's the gist on how it went down.

Friday:  After work I went for a 5 mile run (a couple laps) around Chastain Park.  Good way to start off the weekend, and for some reason the run felt particularly good.  Probably something to do with the fact that I did not have to work for the next four days.

Saturday:  Met up with Mike at the Silver Comet Trail for a 2 hour ride.  This was the first time he had taken his new bike (Trek Speed Concept 7.0) out for a spin.  I'll admit, for a bike that I kinda shunned in choosing my Cervelo, it is a pretty nice ride, and I am jealous of the rear bike box.  That's ok, I am still really happy with my ride :)  The first two miles we were just puttering along to get our legs warmed up.  Because of finals that week, I had not been able to get all of my workouts in.  I really tried to keep it at MAX HR between 150-160, but I kept trying to be a speed demon and had to keep putting myself in check.  I have been focusing more on these Oly-distance races, but here pretty soon I am gonna need to put a lock down on my agression with HRM alerts on my Garmin so that I am not killing it on the bike.  I think we did about 35 miles or so on the bike.  Went home and then went to the Nook for dinner/drinks in Atlanta.  For those of you who are in the ATL area, it is on 14th and Piedmont right across from the park.  Patio is wonderful.  And if you love tater tots (and I think this group does) you are gonna be wonderfully suprised by the various selections of dishes called "Totchos."  Just google them and pull up their menu, you will wanna go ASAP.

Sunday:  Got up and did 1900 M total at LA Fitness, 1500M being my main set comprised of 3x500 with the 2nd 500 using a pull bouy.  Wears my arms out for the last set, but I do it on purpose because at some point in the longer distance events I will be swimming with tired arms.  I finished in under 30 minutes which I am happy with, I just wanna get my time down closer to 25 min for 1500 M.  In the afternoon I headed over to Chastain Park and belted out a few laps around the park totalling a bit over 5 miles.

Monday:  The first big day of two.  I did all three sports on Monday, however, there were no brick workouts.  Hit the pool in the morning and belted out 1800 as my main set, comprised of 3 x 600 with the 2nd set using a pull bouy.  Again, arms are worn out, but they are getting a workout, so I am fine with that.  Run came next early in the afternoon (Atlanta Memorial Park), and then followed it up a few hours later with a Monday night group ride (Atlanta Cycling - Vinings Recovery Ride).

Tuesday:  Last Day!  Woke up a bit late (last night was Monday Funday at my house, lots of drinking and such).  Swim was a straight 1500M swim.  It turned out to be somewhere in the 28min and change range.  I already had the bike on the car and the shoes in the back and headed over to columns drive to do my brick workout.  I was short on time so I only did 15 miles on the bike, and averaged about 20 mph.  There was a nasty headwind headed back to the parking lot on every lap, and it felt like I was working twice as hard just to get 18-19mph average on the way back in each lap.  Fortuantely because of this I belted out 22-23mph average on the way out each lap, with the tailwind on the way out.  After this I quickly racked the bike and put my shoes on and went for a 4 mile run.  After adding in a hypothetical 1:20 for each transition, I can project out around a 2:37-2:40 expected time.  We shall see if that actually happens :)

Post Brick I had a scheduled massage for an hour.  Man, that was just what the doctor ordered.  I think I am gonna need to start scheduling those for post race and post high volume blocks of training.  Was almost late to the massage, but made it nonetheless.  I am convinced if I had not gotten that massage, my legs would had been wrecked for the next few days following.  Instead there was only mild soreness on Wednesday, and no soreness after that!

I feel since then that I have absorbed the training really well, and now I just need to keep up the intensity.  It was really fun to have some time off of work and school, and just focus on triathlon for a change.  I hope I can do it again sometime later this season.

I hope all of your training endavours are going well!  Have a good weekend!

The Belated Review...

Happy Valentine's Day everyone!

Sorry I missed Friday.  My girlfriend was in town for the weekend, and I got distracted, since it was our early Valentine's Day weekend.  I did some scouting for new gear for this season, but I came home empty handed.  No worries though, as I am sure I will probably find some money to spend that I don't have this year (yay capitalism, yay materialism, yay deficit spending!).

Yeah workouts kinda did not happen since it was Valentine's Day weekend.  That does not happen too often nowadays that we are so far apart, and also since it was "spend time with your main squeeze holiday."  But I am ok with that.  As far as training is concerned, I have a 13 week training block leading up to the Peachtree International Triathlon on May 14th, 2011.  Between now and then I have the Publix Half Marathon in Atlanta (March 20th, about 5 weeks away).  After that then I have a 24 week training block till I hit Ironman Florida.  Everything is getting planned out quite nicely.  I am only doing a two week taper in my 13 week plan, so I have two extra build up weeks to help with the transition to the Ironman block of training.  At some point I will be completing either IM Augusta 70.3, Halfmax, or the new Half Rev3 in Anderson SC.  All of them happen the last week of September/First week of October, so that will be perfect to lead into tapering for IMFL. 

I am also working on tweaking with tapering, because I have been doing some new research and studying the training habits of a coach in Australia who has trained up swimmers, triathletes, runners, etc and put a lot of them on Olympic teams and some of them into Ironman World Championships.  Basically he craps all over periodization and tapering (not to get rid of tapering, you just don't need as much as you think you do).  I also got to listen to an hour and a half interview with him, and I totally drank the Kool-aid.  Why???  Because it made total sense.  We have been trained (in the age grouper macro view) to look at swim bike and run separately, and not to train for triathlons.  Sadly enough this guy has not written any books or training manuals, and short of paying money to fly to Australia and train with him in person, I will just have to soak up any articles/training logs/interviews that he has done and try to tailor more of my training towards his style.  Do I think I will become the next best athlete?  Hell no!  But I think he is onto something and anything I try is bound to improve my performance by some standard, so why not employ his methods.

Just some food for thought.  Swam today, total workout 1700M.  I am going to wait another week or two and then complete a swim test.  At that point I will begin timing my workouts.  Tomorrow is bike at 5:45am at LA Fitness, and then I will work, go to class, and about 9:15pm I will get out and then head over to the gym to get in 4-5 miles of running.  Good times :)  Hope all of you had a great weekend, and I hope that all of you were wished a Happy Valentine's Day by someone who thinks you are special (friend, family, significant other, pet, etc).

Finally a nice weekend to train outside!

I hope all of you had a great weekend!

I did get that Friday run in at Chastain Park so I made up for a day I lost.  Saturday I kinda skipped my workout, but I was out of town for the weekend, I made an excuse :)  Sunday I broke in my new Asics GT-2150's in Raleigh on the Westside near NC State's campus.  It was a perfect day for running, and so was Saturday, I am kinda pissed I skipped that one.  It got up to around 60 degrees by the time I ran (high of the day was 68 degrees).  Slight breeze, not too many people out and about yet, really good run.  I will post some sort of shoe report when I get a few more miles under my belt with these shoes, however, so far so good. 

Weather is supposed to be warmer on average this week than the past few weeks, but more cruddy weather till this weekend (subject to change - please?)  It makes me kinda with that I could get this weather the last 3 weeks of October so that I will be prepared weather-wise for IMFL. 

I got to finally read one of my triathlete magazine issues over the weekend.  I got through most of it, and I finally gave up on trying to read the December and November issues because I just don't have the time to catch up.  Maybe some other time perhaps, but not any time soon.  I was really interested in three articles, I hope maybe some of you like these as well.  First was the crossfit article.  One of my blogging buddies, Sarah has been doing crossift now for a period of time, and she loves it.  I also tried out boot camp which is based off of cross-fit, and it is pretty intense.  Keeps me interested, just don't have the extra money to do it.

The second article was about being "that guy" at the master's swim class.  You know, the guy who does everything wrong?  Actually some of the stuff were stereotypical examples of people being A-holes, I was just more concerned about not making rookie mistakes.  I am searching for a Master's swim class. I have not found one yet because I am searching for convenience with regards to how close it is to my house and job.  If anyone has some good ideas in the Atlanta area please let me know.

The final article that I enjoyed was the article about training in sickness and in health.  I have had some minor health issues since the beginning of the year (non-stop) which has never happened to be before in my life (that I can remember).  Having some good common sense ideas on how to tackle your training issues with regard to sickness helps me out a bunch and also helps to tweak my training schedule so I don't prolong or worsen my illness.

That's all I got for now.  Probably won't hear from me till at least Wed/Thu because of grad school this week.  Hope you guys enjoy your Monday.  Have a great start to your week!

Murtha...

The Friday Review...

Hi Everyone,

    Hope all of your training and everything else going on in your life is great.  I have decided that I am going to make my Fridays the end of my blogging and training weeks.  I thought this a good idea for two reasons.  One, my day off usually is Friday for many reasons, and two, I treat my Saturday's and Sunday's like the beginning of my work week, so I figured having Friday as a review/last day of the week would work out well.

     I ran Sun/Mon/Tue and it was friggin cold every night, and it rained on Tuesday night, so that is another one in the IM bank for me.  IM Florida was damn cold this past year, and while things may change for this coming year's event, I want to have every miserable training experience imaginable so that when race day comes, I am either prepared or pleasently suprised.  Wedesday night I opted not to workout in favor of cramming for my exam on Thu night.  I got a bit of food poisoning from Willy's Wed night so I stayed at home pretty much all day Thursday except to take my exam, and then went straight home.  I talked to one of my classmates this morning, and she told me that class was really hard after the exam.  I don't know if that is a product of having your brain fried with an exam and then more class or just the material was hard, however, not something to look forward to. 

     I plan on running after work today to try and make up for wed/thu.  I know you cannot make up days, however, I can work out on my day off to make up for a missed workout during my training week.  About 8 weeks and change till the Publix Georgia Half Marthon, and Wes is already talking smack about whipping my butt on the course.  He actually may very well do so, but I will accept his challenge nonetheless.  It's on like Donkey Kong!!!

     I will be up in Raleigh this weekend and I am taking the running shoes with me.  The weather is supposed to be great, and I don't wanna miss out on that.  Weather has been too crappy lately, although I have been a good sport and participated in it anyways.  I need to break in my new pair of shoes I got for Christmas, ASICS GT-2150.  I will have some sort of shoe review after I use them for a week or two.

Get out there and have a good time this weekend, whatever you do!

Murtha...

Hump Day has come and gone... and power in numbers

Too busy to actually get this post out on Wednesday, so what's another day?

I have gotten in the workouts I have needed this week, just fewer than normal (my idea of a taper for a "B" race).  Runs have been ok, Tuesday's swim was hella good for me, and last night's bike ride was a beast.  I have been pretty dedicated to the Wed Night Atlanta Cycling ride since I began group rides this year.  Last night there were three really nasty accidents within the first 9 miles of the ride.  The first two crashes there were multiple riders that went down, but everyone was able to get up and keep going.  This slowed down the pace a bit.  After we got near the Brookhaven area near the golf course, there was a third wreck where a single rider caught a rut and went down.  broke his handle bars, right arm was all messed up, and he thinks he bruised a few ribs.  I was in the back of the group (as usual :) and I had to slide to a stop.  I have not slid to a stop since I was a teenager with a mountain bike.  Almost hit the guy as well.  It took him a good 4-5 minutes to get up, and then we got out our tools to fix what we could of his remaining handle bars so he could at least ride back home. 

By that time we were so far behind we cut out this three mile loop and rejoined the "B" group (there is not really an official B group, just the large group that falls off from the front about halfway through the ride).  Last week my average speed for the 25 mile ride was 17.1.  This week doing the 22 mile ride and rejoining with the "B" group I finished averaging 18.3!!!!  Please note that although the beginning of the ride was slower than normal, and I probably got a bit of rest in that 5-6 I stayed behind in the wreck, that is a huge improvement.  And one reason why.... the group.

There is something about riding in a group that keeps you going, and going faster.  I usually always get dropped before the golf course, so I never have a chance to hold on, but cutting off those three miles and staying with the group for the remainder of the ride had my average go up more than an mile per hour.  I was in the back of the group the entire time I was with one, but i hung with them nonetheless.  One of the "A" group guys saw me after the ride, and said that he had seen that face before, the one that says "I don't know if I wanna throw up, pass out, pitch a fit, have a heart attack, etc."  I told him, yup that is what I was feeling and he laughed.  If I would have stayed "dropped" and did that three mile loop, I would have been solo and and no incentive other than my own determination to keep going.  I would have finished, however, I can guarantee you that I would have not come close to 18.3 mph.  It is so much easier to back off when you are by yourself.

It got me thinking last night.  While triathlon is such an individual sport, there are so many benefits to training in groups it is ridiculous.  There will always be some training items in your week where you will be solo, but you NEED to incorporate some group training as well.  Masters swim, group rides, group track workouts or group runs.  And get a good mix of people in there with you!  Don't just beg your boy/girlfriend to go out to appease you (unless they are faster than you!)  Get people of all abilities, and you will all push each other.  Definitely make sure that there are people better than you in your group that you can push yourself towards and learn from. 

Whether that is joining a team, or the more economical method I employ (hitting up group rides and runs for free), just do it!  The gains and benefits are just to great to ignore.  Improving your performance while gaining new friends and experiences is wonderful.  Hell just go out with you and a buddy and challenge each other when you are out swimming, biking, or running.  When my friend James lived in Atlanta we would do that to each other on the bike, please realize when I was pulling he was probably coasting behind me, but nevertheless I was doing the work!  And when he pulled, well lets just say I was hanging on to his slipstream for dear life!!! Thanks coach Blaylock!

I have a few more small runs lined up and one more swim tomorrow morning, along with the group swim on Saturday morning in Knoxville.  When I got home last night, I got the tri clothes cleaned, made sure that the speed laces on my shoes were to my liking by running up and down the hallway of my bldg a few times.  I cleaned my bike (ie wiping excess grease off and cleaning the wheels, taking off a profile design sticker that is fraying and falling off).  If nothing else my '05 Specialized Allez will look good this weekend even if I don't ;)

Tonight after I get back from swing dance class, I need to get in a run, and then clean my wetsuit and wipe down my bike rack that has been sitting on the back porch collecting pollen.  Put that on top of the car before I got to bed... I am going to get one of those $4 car wash and hand dry deals up the street from me, so it is clean before I put the rack on. 

Finally,  I was thinking of waiting for this before the team actually announced it, but I wanted to get a head start just in case I needed to make my friends and blogger buddies aware.....

EvoTri 2010:  Making the Team!

I entered into the mix again!  I have been following these wonderful, great, energetic people since the team's inception, and even before that (when the original group was known as team raceAthlete).  It has been a wonderful experience to watch these guys grow and perform as a team for this many years, as well as to inspire so many people.  I really want to be part of this team and contribute what I have so that the mission of team EvoTri endures.  A few of you guys had already figured it out from me eluding to my race season later on in the year, since I would be required to attend 2010 WIBA and Rev3 Cedar Point.  Stay tuned!  In previous years they have allowed the blogging population and the entrant's friends vote for who they wanted on the team, we shall see how they pick this year.

Will probably be my last blog post before the race,  unless I have something important or enlightening to say before Sunday.  I am also about a third of the way getting my IronMan race report from 2009 on my blog.  While the post itself is not too important, I just want to get it on the site so I have a record of it.  I am kind of ashamed I did not get it on the site right after the race, since my training levels dropped off and had plenty of free time. 

Have a good rest of your week!  Train hard!

Catching up!

Wow!

     You being to get motivated and things happen and then next thing you know is that almost two weeks have gone by and you have not posted a dang thing!  Oh well.  Here is my attempt at catching up.

I was not able to make it to the Friday evening event and mixer because I got off of work late and there was not way I was making it from the North side of Atlanta to Peachtree City by 7pm (and stopping @ my house).  I can barely make it there from my house in Atlanta on a weekend.  So I got up Saturday morning and got my swim gear ready and made it down to the 1pm swim clinic.  There were about 30+ people there, most of which were from the south side of Atlanta and/or on the Peachtree City Tri Club.  I met Anne, one of the members/officers of the Peachtree City Tri Club, and she got me set up, and it was into the pool for an 800M warmup.  Wait an 800M warmup???  Please remember that swimming is not my strong point in triathlons and I was never on a swim team, and I have never been formally coached.  My idea of a warmup is a couple laps down and back in the pool.  "Enough with the bitching already Andy!!!"  About that time Desiree Ficker and April Gellatly showed up (just coming from the previous bike clinic they were also hosting).  They ran the rest of the swim clinic.  There were so many of us there, while we were doing drills they would assist and give people tips on ways to improve their swim stroke.  I was able to speak with Desiree for a few minutes, and she helpee me with a big problem I was having with my swim stroke... It is still going to take some more practice to get rid of that bad habit completely, but I am working at it every swim workout.  After the practice was over, I went and spoke with both girls for a few minutes, thanked them both for coming out to help us, and then thanked Anne for hosting the event.  Next year I will make sure I get into work early/leave early so I have time for the event.  They had a pro male athlete last year (Chris Leito maybe???)  and I completely missed that event.  Kudos to whoever in the organization is able to get these big names out here.

In the training department, I am really ramping up my workouts/week, as well as getting all three disciplines involved again.  I am still shorting myself on the bike, but I am going to sit down and fix my flat rear tire that has been like that for a week now, and get that sucker hooked up to the trainer for some workouts this week.  Running is getting better.  My best workout for the week was a 50 min tempo run (on the dreadmill) where I began @ 5.5mph and negative split every quarter mile up to 1.25 miles, and then kept going every half mile after that till I was done (increase was .1mph, maxed out @ 6.7mph by the time 50 min was up)... by the time I was done, I was doing close to a 9:00/mi pace at the end of my run.  I decided against doing track workouts and instead focusing on negative split tempo workouts until the ING half has come and gone.  While track workouts also help in making you a faster runner, I am still logging early season base mileage (I know I am behind).

I need to decide in the next couple of weeks if I am going to do The Chattahooche Waterfront Tri or not, because it is going to determine whether or not one of my "A" races will be Rev3 Knoxville or the Chattahooche Waterfront Tri.  For those of you who live in the SE USAT District, the Chattahooche Waterfront Tri is the Regional Championship for qualifiying towards the AG Nationals in Tuscaloosa this year.  This means unlike some other regular qualifiers where only the top 10% get into AG Nationals, the top 33% in each AG qualify at the Regional Championship.  This would be a huge PR for me if I could qualify in my AG especially since I have moved up to the 30-34M group (I think I went from the 5th hardest AG to the 3rd hardest AG).  This would also be a huge PR for me at the olympic distance as well.  The last Oly I did was in 2008 (West Pointe Tri - Hosted by GA Multisport Productions), and I did not train properly for the event and finished just under three hours.  I looked at the times, and I think realistically I can come close, so why not at least try and see what happens.

Tomorrow I am going to try and get my weekly stats up on the site.  Wed I will post more and try to have a bit of news up on the site as well.  Have fun, be safe, and train hard!

The "Week - end" Report

Good Afternoon All!

I hope everyone had a great week this week!  My "year" started on Saturday by going to the gym in the evening and running for 30 minutes.  I wanted this to be base training, and although I am not strictly focusing on heart rate, I am paying close attention and allowing it to govern how fast/far I go.  As for anyone who has been off training for any discipline (for any reason), it is hard to get back into the "groove."  But when you do, it feels great! My mental attitude the past two days has been amazing, regardless of what has been going on.  Even looking at personal issues such as my weight, etc, is not a big deal anymore, because I know there is a process that is going to lead me to something better (great things, hopefully).  I will go so far as to borrow a word from Joseph's Blog, resolve.  I think by having some sort of resolve in one's life creates the opportunity to bring everything else into balance.  In just a few short days, I am seeing things in a new, refreshed manner, and a clarity that has not been there for quite some time.

I spent some time getting my training notes and my training log back in order this weekend.  I am using a Microsoft Excel worbook I created for my Ironman in 2009.  It got abandoned after a month or so, but I kept it nonetheless.  I dusted the cobwebs off of the workbook this weekend, added some more information, formulas, and a few tables for end of week/end of month results.  While I am sure it is not as complete as some of the training websites and other, more advanced logs, It works for me now :)  I can always borrow new material to add to my log as I go along.

Well, my totals for the end of the week are not that great, but at least there is something to report! 

Swim:     0 meters
Bike:      0 miles
Run:       5.5 miles

I will get something up on the sidebar of my blog here pretty quick with weekly/monthly/annual totals.  That way you all can hold me accountable ;)  This week I am attempting to get at least a couple of swim and bike workouts in with my runs.  I am also focusing on stretching more (I am usually pretty lax in that department) because I feel I am way too inflexible.  I have some yoga class passes from my birthday last year I need to cash in, I think I am going to schedule those in the next 30 days or so.  I know Yoga is actually an art and a discipline in its own right, but for my purposes, I am going to log it under stretching, since that it what I am going for, to improve my overall flexibility.  Another area that has seriously fallen by the wayside is strength training.  I can contribute one of the most fit times in my life to strength training (the other is to my 2007 triathlon season).

For now though, I have signed up for the ING Georgia Half Marathon and the Rev 3 Triathlon in Knoxville, TN.  I am also going to be signing up for the Atlanta Track Club, as they have some pretty sweet member benefits and they sponsor some of the road races that I would like to participate in this year.

I hope that everyone enjoys the rest of their weekend!  I'll be on blogging sometime this week!

Gearing up for my 2nd stress test (hopefully doing better than the banks)!

Well actually my bank (Regions Bank) is posting a suprise profit for the 1st quarter! So I think they are handling the stress test well. Now sponsor me damnit!

So I have the ING Georgia Marathon in the books. 26.2 miles in 4 hours and 20 minutes (~9:55/mi).

I have been swimming most of my workouts at 2.4 miles, (around 85 laps in my gym pool). I just need the water to warm up a bit more so that I can get out in lake Allatoona and log some miles in the lake. I was out there last weekend for half an hour (I think the water temp was 50 degrees) and I did swallow half the lake... have to get back into the habit of watching out for wakes when boats pass by!

Now the bike.... the problem is that this is the area I am lagging in, and I will spend the most time during the race in this event (I am looking to do this in about 7 hours or less, trying to be conservative). Soooo....... to solve this problem I have entered into a century ride with a friend on May 3rd in North Alabama. I am kinda excited actually, except for the small mountain (i did not want to insult anyone who is in the area to call it a hill) that you have to climb both ways (it is an out and back course). Oh well.... Make the event harder than the Ironman so the IM is a breeze.

Still have my checklist to check off. My bonus is not going to be as big as I thought (I am disputing it because the numbers tell me that my branch knocked the numbers off the charts, and the incentive division says we lost money??? WTF?) so I am really going to have to hunker down to pay for all this in cash..... I also paid my taxes in cash this year too, which I think is better than putting it on a credit card, but you know... you pay for one thing, which stops you from paying for something else. Supply and demand... I need more supply of dollars!!!

Weather is going to be beautiful on Saturday, so I am going to try and get 5 plus hours in of riding tomorrow. Sun it might rain, but I can always run inside as well as swim. Hope all of you will have a great weekend!

Murtha...

Trying something new...

How about bringing life back to your favorite sport?
How about reinvigorating your senses to what you enjoy?
How about just trying something different (and new)?

Wednesday was that day for me. Just as I tried sushi for the first time last year and LOVED it, this was to be the same experience, yet not so much food related (and sodium infused)!

Tuesday I worked both jobs, so I took the day off as my one day off for the week. Yesterday I had to help Patsy with car stuff right after work when I remembered that she had scheduled us to go to YOGA. So yes, I have been kind of apprehensive about going, and I have found some excuses for not going. But I also know that it is good for you. This particular firm, which I will post their link at the bottom and give them a shout out, Atlanta Hot Yoga, is awsome! It was bikram yoga I believe, and the session was 1.5 hours.

We got there and I got in the newbie line (which was only me) to get registered and get my name in the computer in case I sign up for any additional classes. After which I then went with Patsy into the Yoga room, which was 105 degrees with humidity. Kind of like Atlanta in August for those of you who get to visit us down there in the South.

Without delving into the details, THIS IS AWSOME!!! I had been walking like an old decrepit man for two days after my weekend workouts and Mon/Tuesday's workouts were suffering because of it. I felt like a new man afterwards. Went through about 40 oz of water as well during the class. I felt so good I went and did 7.5 miles right after work on the treadmill at the gym and kept the pace above 7.0 mph for most of the time.

Working both jobs tonight, but got the swim in. Starting tomorrow is double duty for the next three days, with respect to training, regardless of the weather. It is supposed to rain this weekend. But I can not stop training. If it rains at CDA I will have no choice. But then again, if I go out training in the "elements" it would not be the first time. : )

Flight is booked. Hotel from Jun 17th-20th in spokane is booked, and then Hotel on Sat and Sunday is booked (James booked it, I just have to pay him for his half). Just need hotel for one more day, a rental car for a day or two, and bike case. I am not sweating the small stuff, as my b day is coming up soon and I am asking for gift cards/certificates from

All 3 Sports (my favorite place!)

Unfortunately, I also have my tax bill to mail out by April 15th, and I have to pay for my car tags! Only in Georgia does it seem we pay this stupid ad valorem tax, and the $25 emission testing fee to boot! I mean my car just turned 4 (and under 70K miles) and I seriously doubt that it will fail the emissions test. Especially considering I had a 1988 buick skylark limited with 125K plus miles on it that passed emissions every year until it died.

The money thing will come. It better, or Uncle Visa will be helping me out!

That's all for now folks, I will keep you posted with more details later.

Busy Weekend!

Hello Everyone,

Atlanta was beautiful this past weekend! Of course so did the rest of the population who has been hibernating in their homes all winter long. The only difference is that I was out there training when the weather was cold and miserable. Saturday I had to work, but I was quickly out the door and headed over to the Silver Comet Trail with James to ride. We cranked out about 52.5 miles in 3 hours 2 minutes. A bit faster than I wanted to go on Saturday, but nonetheless it was another workout in the books. I followed it up with a 5 mile run and then it was straight home for some partying.

One of my business customers at the bank is Wednesday Night Drinking Club, a social networking group. They were holding a St Patty's Day party on Saturday from 1:30p - 2:30a, pretty intense. Patsy and I showed up at around 9:30p and of course everyone was indisposed at that time, but we still had fun for the few friends which were still there (there were around 2,500 ppl there at one point). Green attire, of course : )

Sunday was car shopping day (not for me), and I was on my feet all day long. I also had a 16.5 mile run scheduled and was not looking forward to it, as I had pushed to hard on the bike the day before (James does that to me, but he is a much better athlete). The run sucked. However, I finished it late enough in the evening so that it was not too hot. Got a swim in as well.

Monday I decided it was too nice of a day to not be outside, so I did one of the Atlanta rides (in reverse), so that I would not be affected by rush hour traffic too bad. It worked out well and I got about 18 miles in probably an hour and fifteen minutes. I was not attempting to go too fast, I just was trying to keep my heart rate down and work the hills at the same time.

Today is a rest day, collect my thoughts and plan out the rest of the week. I have to work both jobs on Thursday, which will put a cramp in everything, but I have saturday and sunday off, so two full days of hitting the pavement. I just need to make sure I don't get too crazy on Friday night, as my friend Melissa is having her 25th birthday in Buckhead, and this group likes to party!

Oh and one more thing! I am going to miss my 10 year high school reunion this year (actually it will be my 11 year, but there were problems last year with booking the venue, so they just pushed it back to this summer)!!!!!
The reason being is that it is the day before IMCDA. Well, I tried to get them to change the date, and they won't. It's their loss I think.

Talk to you guys (and gals) soon.


Murtha...

25 weeks to go!!!

Now I realize why it pays to work at the bank (actually I knew all along)...

Bank holidays! Sure all you guys in corporate America get flexible schedules around your 9-5, can go wherever you want to for lunch, are not locked down to your office every day, and more importantly... Don't have to work SATURDAYS! But when it comes to federal holiday season (October-February), I have it made! I Basically worked 3 days last week, and I will only work 3 days this week, and I am not even taking any vacation for it.

More training for me!!!

Saturday was brutal! I thought I only ran 12 miles with James, however it was 14.5 miles, longer than I have ever run before, and I did it in about 2:10 somewhere (neither of us had watches but we looked at the car clock when we left and came back. Legs hurt like hell! I also saw at the pool about 2500M before Patsy got back in town, so I was not doing a late night workout when she got back in town from her Dad's place. Sunday was spinning on the bike inside, as the weather was nasty.

Gotta work both jobs today (actually at number two right now) so my spin at home tonight will be late. This week will be great for training, as I have Tue night off, then all day Wed, Thu, Sat and Sunday off! Sweet! I already have my schedule down for both jobs and my training so I know what I am to do every day, which is what i should have been doing months ago! That is ok, I will be just fine!

How are all of you doing lately?

I need to post some on y'all blogs this week so that you realize I exist again and bring back the blog stalking once again : )

Well it is off to greet customers on the floor, and more work to do!


Murtha...

Catching up on what is happening...

Hello All,

Nice to finally be posting again. I am coming in on my 100th post, and hopefully I can come up with something good like a summary/flashback/etc to cover how I started, where I have been, things of that sort.

This was a bad week for me, due to my work schedule. Now yes, I did set my work schedule so that I would know when I was working, but the way the week went, and other (extracirricular activites I participated in) things that occured, it shot my training week to hell. I got some stuff done last weekend, but it is on my Garmin (which I dont have with me to report), and I ran a tempo run on my new shoes (4 miles) on Wed night in the unbearable heat after I got home from work. I think I like my new shoes, but I will need to put a few more miles on them before I make my final decision. I am also going to try and get all the graphs up this weekend, so that I can create some kind of training log, and so I can quantify what I am actually doing. Wes gave me some HTML to update my blog.

Speaking of Wes, his wife is participating in the Acworth (Women's Only) Triathlon tomorrow morning. I am going to go, and I think that Jackie is coming with me, I am not sure. There are a few other people that will be there as well, both watching and participating. It will be my first tri that I watch/volunteer and not actually participate in. Well, really it is not that hard to fathom, since it is a women's only event, but just to be able to look at it from the participant's side, as well as being a cheerleader, will be pretty cool.

Training today and tomorrow, and getting my schedule set up for next week.

That is all I have for now.

Murtha...

Workouts, and I promise that technology works! (As long as you use it right)...

Ok lets get the down and dirty details out of the way, with the exception that I did not bring my Garmin with me, so I will have to approximate the data.

07/26/2007 (Thursday)
Workout: Bike - Austell to Marietta Loop
Distance: ~ 26 miles
Time: 1:40:00-1:45:00
RPE: 6-9

07/27/2007 (Friday)
Workout: Run - Silver Comet Trail
Distance: 4.01 mi
Time: ~26:30
RPE: 7

The title of my blog now leads me into my short story. I was about 40-45 min into my workout, and sometimes, if a light at an intersection is long enough, I will stop my watch. Well I did that, and then the light was green, and I began my ride again. Let me add, without hitting the start button again. Did not see this until almost two miles down the road when I went to check my time. Now there is a feature on the Garmin where if you slow down (either running or biking) to a certain pace/speed, the watch will stop for you, and not begin again until you are back above that pace/speed. This is to precisely fix this situaiton. Maybe I need to sit down this weekend and set that up. Speaking of which, I need to do a couple of other things with bike(s). First, I need to get fitted for my bike. I never really got fit when I bought it, and I tweaked it until I thought it felt right. Then I got my aerobars. You should see how far forward I am on my seat when I am pounding it. Second, I need to install the Cateye on Jackie's bike. She has been waiting for me to do so, and I have not done it yet.

Working my other job for the next three days, but at least I don't have to close Saturday night. I am working a special wine tasting that we are having, and although we have to bus and clean up that area when we are done, we should be out of there by 10:15p, rather than me getting out at midnight. (Let us not forget that I then have to drive 35min to get home, traffic is lighter that time of night).

I am soo pissed at LA Fitness right now. I know that is my fault that I am slacking on my swimming workouts, but it definately does not help when I get motivated enough to work out, and then the gym closest to me (takes me 3-4 min to get there) is closed for almost a week for renovations. The next closest gym takes me 30-40 min in off-peak traffic to get to, round trip. I wanted to go this morning, but I did not get up early enough to go, swim and then come back to be at work on time.

I think I will get the peeps together and try to get a lake swim in this weekend, possibly Sunday morning again. If I can get a swim in on Sat and Sun this weekend that would be great. I am excitied about doing the West Pointe Olympic Tri with Wes. I am kinda bummed about not doing the last Tri the Parks - High Falls race, but I will get over it. You have to be able to improvise in this sport.

I also got my email notification about general elections for USAT. The person who is in charge of my region, I have seen before, and I think that he is part of the Peacthree City Triathlon team. I would not mind having him on again another year if he is allowed to be.

I will get caught up on all your blogs this weekend. I know that some of you raced in IMUSA, and some of you are tapering for IMLouisville.

Paitently waiting for my next issue of Triathlete Magazine..... for now.


Murtha...

Rain, Rain Go Away (At least for my bike training days)...

So,

Three out of the last four "bike training" days that I have had, it has rained. Now, as bad as Georgia needs the rain, it has all day and night to rain outside the few hours of each workout I have on my bike. Oh well, at least it keeps everything cool. It was probably only 70-75 degrees during and after the rain, and it would have been 85-87 degrees without the rain and humidity. Mallie jinxed me up here in Atlanta, I think ;)

There were only 20-25 people that were there for the ride, I think due to weather (c'mon people, a little rain will not hurt you!). James was out there tonight with me. Start was a bit slower, and this time I sucked his wheel going through the first hill. I stayed up with the group until the golf course, and then I began to lose them. As I was catching up with them through the first series of hills after the golf course, well, you know the "hill effect." And what makes it worse is that I am already a bit more cautious than the best riders there. Henceforth, the DROP.

One of the riders from team Cycleworks was in charge of the "second group," which I was leading. Well the funny part is that everyone behind me in the second (last) group decided they did not want to do the Oglethorpe Univ/Silver Lake area, so I was by myself. Except that the rider from the team decided to stay with me. We chatted for awhile, and I did not get his name ( I will next time). We traded places, and I think that when he got behind my wheel it was to let me set the pace and push me. When we got towards the last 1/4 of the ride though, I began trying to push the hills (not 110%, but more like 95%) and I turned around and he was not there. I got to the light at the top of the first ascent, and then he caught up. I did not say anything, but I was thinking, WTF??? The second ascent before we got to Chastain park (pretty much the final stretch with my dreaded large rollers). he got dropped. You must be kidding me. His chain must have broken or something. There is NO WAY this guy dropped. I finished up and James was waiting on me. As I was packing my bike, the guy pulled in and was talking to his teammates. I overheard, "yeah I have a Velodrome race tomorrow, and I was taking it easy tonight..." Well there you go.


With the rain, and not pushing it 110%, I finished in approximately 1:37:00.00. I am ok with that.

I will hopefully be signed up for a race in August after the weekend is over, and I have it narrowed down to two races. I am kind of excited. I also need to sign up for South Carolina half by the end of the month to get around the price increase. Crap. Yet another month of spending. IT NEVER ENDS.

In other news (on the topic of spending) I need to get new work pants for Wolfgang Puck. Holes are starting to form in the seams (in certain places) and they are just looking nasty, no matter how much I clean them. I also have not bought new "bank" clothes for work in almost 2 years. Why, well, because I am a guy, and because it costs money. But it is needed. I will use some Clark Howard tactics though, and try to shop around and save a few dollars.

I think I am going to skip my Thu night ride to ensure that I get some more running/swimming in this week. I am only working Sunday lunch shift. This means I have ALL day Saturday to train, and then Sunday morning early and Sunday afternoon/evening.

I'll keep you posted. Let's see if it rains on Thursday, since I will be training, but not on my bike.

Murtha...

Weekend Events...

I hope all of you had a good weekend...

Short recap and then on to bigger and better parts of my post.

Saturday: Nothing - and there is nothing you can do about it :-b

Sunday: 50 mile Ride with Wes and his wife on the Silver Comet trail.

I got home from the Bank at about 1:00p on Saturday afternoon, a basketcase. I told myself that there are more important things to do rather than a workout, so I got some stuff done around the house, watched some of the prolouge of the Tour de France, and chilled out. Then it was back to work at Wolfgang Puck Express by 5:30p. This weekend at the restaurant was rough. They were high on labor costs, so they kept cutting people early (and of course it got busy). The HVAC broke on Saturday as well, so we were only running Air Conditioning in half the restaurant. Fun Stuff.

Wes posted to my blog earlier in the week wanting to know about working out at the SCT on Sunday morning (50 miler). It was supposed to be his peak bike workout before his taper (I think) for his Olympic Race in August. Hmmm, let me think.... yes! I must be crazy, because I worked a double with 5 hours of sleep on Friday, then a double with 5 hours of Sleep on Saturday, and then get up at 6am Sunday for this crazy ride. We all went a a training pace for the first 10 miles until Dee Dee turned around and headed back to the car, then it was soooooo on!

I don't know how Wes felt during the entire ride, but I felt like we were pounding it the entire time. It seemed like we were trying to make up for warm up time during the ride. I took in some nutrition during the ride in the way of Gu and Accelerade, and had some Nuun in my "water" bottle. On the way back in my legs seemed to be tiring, but I somehow found that extra bit of "oomph" that we all search for late in our workouts, and most of the time we do find it. We had another small group on the way back in the last 5-6 miles where we took turns pulling. At that point it was which group of us was going to hammer harder.

When we got done I told Wes I would call him later in the day about the swim, and then it was off to take care of cats and work! The kittens are hellions right now, and so you have to have paitence with them (which I had none of last night, I was exhausted). We were short yet again on Sunday, and so by the time I got off work at the Sauana, uh I mean very hot restaurant, it was going to be too late to hook up with Wes and Dee Dee for their evening swim. So I called Jackie to see what was going on. We went and got some dinner and then it was off to my sister's apartment to spend the night with the cats. I will say a definate positive was that it only took me 10-15 min to get to work this morning from her apartment, rather than the usual 45 min or more from Austell.

This week should be good.

There we go, positive mental attitude on a Monday morning, I love it.

Murtha...

Weekday workouts, My encounter with Get Fit Atlanta, and a bad time to take Excedrin

I am feeling somewhat recovered today. I'll go through the motions first, but without stats, I don't have any of them with me.

Monday was a track workout where my main set was a 6x400

Tuesday was the Sandy Springs ride. James came with me, and he rode with the front group. He said that they are very unorganized and dangerous at times compared to the Roswell Thursday night rides.

Wednesday was nothing. It was a holiday damnit!

Thursday I tried to get in some intervals on my bike, I only got in 4 and then averaged probably 17mph the rest of the ride. More to follow on this below.


Monday I tried going to Osborne High School again for my track workout. This time they had it on lockdown. I didn't feel like climbing the high fence. This sucks. I have payed taxes for years now, as has my family, and a portion of that goes to pay for the public school system. All I want to do is use the track at a PUBLIC SCHOOL. Oh well, there is another high school to try about 5-10 minutes down the road. Yeah!!! it is open! Wait, what are all the people doing here? Soon to find out there is a coaching organization called Get Fit Atlanta had there track workout that day as well. I just mixed in with the group, and did my own thing. I later that night checked out their website, and they are raking it in, if they have enough members of course. There were about 40 people there.

Tuesday, as I stated before, James came with me for his first try at the Sandy Springs ride. I know that this ride is easier than riding up in Roswell, so he should end up in the front behind a few people (only because it was his first time). I stayed with the group this time further than I have ever been before (getting dropped), and it was to my detriment. I ended up as a basket case for the rest of the first half of the ride, and finally recovered enough to finish in an average time for the entire ride. I am kind of sad for the entire group. The past couple of years there were about 10-20 people that we either as fast as me, or just a bit slower. So on those past rides there would be about 3-4 of us and then the remainder would be in the final group behind me. I think due to the pace of how the front group wants to run, people got demoralized and quit coming. This now puts me at the back. Not that I have a problem, however, this is supposed to be an 18mph recovery ride, and ALWAYS turns into a 20mph ride easy. Only reason I did not finish dead last this week is that someone wrecked in the Lake neighborhood.

Wednesday I spent the afternoon at my sister's pool (at her apartment complex) and imbibed just a bit. I then had to work. We stayed late afterwards and had a few beers, and then I went home. I had a bad headache, and decided that the best course of action would be to take Excedrine Migrane. Bad idea!!! I don't drink caffinated beverages much anymore. There was enough caffine to keep me awake most of the night. I was a train wreck on Thursday. That basically translated into my crappy workout last night. I just did not feel on. I did get some intervals in though.

This weekend is going to be rough. Double today, double tomorrow, Sunday lunch at the Puck, and then double Monday. Skirted my swims again this week. Bad Andy!!! I think I might have an open water for Sunday morning. If I get at least 1 swim in with my brick and endurance run this weekend, I will be happy.

Working this 2nd job is really wearing on me. When I first started, I was working 4-5 shifts a week making more money, and having a good time. Now I am working 3-4 shifts a week, making less money, and my attitude has changed at that job. I try to be as positive as possible (since it is a customer service oriented job), but it just leaves me drained at the end of the day. Oh well, it is a means to an end. Hopefully be the end of the year the majority of my debt will be paid off and I will not only have that money to save, etc, but I will have all that time back to do what I want to do. No more debt = New tri gear!!! :)

I'll keep you posted on my weekend, other than that, I am just going to read all of your blogs!

Murtha...

Recapping the weekend...

Well,

This weekend went really well. I did not double up on my workouts like I would have wanted to do, but that is fine. I had more important things to do, like hang out with friends, family, etc. Saturday morning I worked, and then went home and got some stuff done. Laundry, Cleaning the bathroom, cleaning the bedroom, etc... I was also waiting for the temperature of the afternoon to come down a bit. I also was in the hunt for a different running location. If any of you are ever looking for something different for the bike or the run, I think you need to choose these two websites out.

Map My Run
Map My Ride

I ended up doing a 5K from Kennesaw Mtn State Park over to downtown Marietta, 5 min break for Gu and Stretching, and then 5K back to my car at the Park. I will have to say, I probably should not have stopped for that short break (as much as I needed to stretch), since my lap average really suffered after that. I was taking it easy, so I was trying for 9:30/mi pace, and I pretty much hit that on the way out, but on the way back in there was a large stretch of road that was 11:30-11:45/mi. The last mile was flat/downhill, so I was able to get my heartrate back down and increase the pace faster again.

Sunday, I got up early (8:00a for Sunday) and I went to the gym to put in some laps. This is the one workout I have been slacking on lately. I did a 100M warmup, 50M worth of drills (just swimming on my sides) and then did 2x400M free drills. I did not time myself, I just did them as best as I could technique-wise. Halfway throught my second 400M I had to keep refocusing on what the heck I was doing. There was a lady who was in the lane next to me, and we were swimming about the same pace, so it was easy for me to see if I was off pace or not, from my RPE.

After that I spent the rest of the day down on the south side of Atlanta visiting with my aunt and uncle, and then my best friend and his wife. It was good to see all of them again.

This week is going to be pretty hectic for me. I will be working all weekend long, so I will have to get in over half my workouts during the week. I am also working at night on the 4th. Booo. The funny thing is that the fancy 4 star restaurant next door is only going to be open early in the morning for the Peachtree Road Race, and then closing promptly at 10:00a. We're opening at 2:00p and then staying open until 9:30p. Now you know at 9:30p no one is going to be there, because they are all going to be out watching fireworks and cooking out. They are going to waste all that money on labor and operating costs for the little money that they are going to make. I am sure Wes can throw his two cents in (since he is in the restaurant business) about how well as fast casual restaurant does on the holdidays (not well).

Oh, I also was up Sunday morning checking out the European Ironman Championship. I used to speak German very well, and now I hardly know any. I picked up some on what the announcer of the program online was saying, but mostly I was just focusing on the race. It was the perfect time in the morning for me as well, since Germany was six hours ahead. By the time I pulled it up on Ironman live, the men were in the last few kilometers of the finish. I was very suprised to see how far back Norman Stadler and Faris Al-Sultan ended up in the race. I guess every race cannot be your best race. However the duel between Nicole Leder and Andrea Brede was awsome!!! Just like a close superbowl or BCS championship game, this finish was great to watch.

Workout tonight, and then two tomorrow. If I can get two in on Thursday or (Thu nigh/Fri morning) then I will be really happy, since that will leave me with two remaining workouts for the weekend, as busy as I am going to be.

Murtha...

Just plodding through the week

UPDATE: Pics to be posted this weekend when I get some time to get my scanner working again. I am also going to order the race pics once they are posted from the race's official picture site.


My legs were sore until Tuesday. I went on my Tuesday night ride, but I had to cut it short (in half to be exact) so that I could get Jackie's camera back before she went on her business trip. It was about 12-13 miles in 54 minutes. Sandy Springs ride. I kept up with everyone past the golf course this time until I got about a mile or two after that, and then I got dropped. See I am getting a little further every time.

Swimming did not end up working out Wednesday morning for logistical reasons. Thursday either. I really need to take care of that situation. Especially on nights where I am able to go to bed at a decent hour.

Thursday night was an endurance ride for me, 2 hours in the saddle. I forgot to bring half my stuff to work with me, and I really, really needed to pick up my dry cleaning, so I went to the Silver Comet Trail. I got started about 6:40p in the evening, and it was getting really cloudy and dark outside. I kept getting hit with sprinkes, but nothing serious....... until I made the turn to come back. After my first hour, I turned around and it hit me. for 5 miles it was drenching rain. I was probably riding 1/2 inch deep in some places, and I had to move the cellphone to the front of my tri shirt to try and keep it dry. That did not help too much, but my phone still works today, so that is promising. I did about 37.3 miles in 2 hours, averaging 18.6 mph. I purposely tried to average 18mph at the beginning of the ride as it was a tempo ride, but once I got about 20 miles into the ride, my legs loosened up and my body wanted to go faster. My mind was thinking control, but that is not how it played out. There was one area of about 1/2 mile where i felt burnt out for a moment (it was a false flat incline), but I kicked it in gear again when it flattened out. Once I got back to the car it was light rain, and I headed home to wash up and then get some dinner (Taco Mac).

I am pretty open this weekend, so I am going to try and get 4 workouts in this weekend (especially swimming) to make up for the week. Most of them are interval/speed training, so there will not be heavy volume of workouts back to back. I am not worried.

In other news, I have kind of mapped out what I think I am going to do over the next 12-14 months. I am toying with the idea of doing IM Louisville. It does not interfere with the wedding, it is fairly close (I can get there in 6 hours), and it is not at the end of the year (like IMFL). The ONLY negative is that it is not as flat as IMFL, but I don't think I want it to be. I also want to get some key events in before hand (such as Half-Mary in Nov, Mary in March, Century ride sometime between April-June). I had no clue until I started writing everything down how much planning and time you need to look ahead to do an event such as this.

And the $$MONEY$$!!! Now I know why the average person only does 1 Ironman Event a year (whether or not they do one close to them or they make a vacation out of it). In theory, I would leave Thu night to louisville, and get there late. Then I would take Friday and Monday off of work, and then come back Monday afternoon. 4 nights hotel, gas, 4 days of food, spending money for entertainment/Ironman SWAG, etc. I think the budget, including entry fees is coming somewhere near $1500!!! Since this is not an event that is popular enough to sell out, I am not too worried about signing up for it the day after yet....however, I am probably not going to take a chance. We shall see, I need to check on a few other things before I make a final decision on this one.

I just found out my schedule for next week at my other job, I am going to have to do the majority of my workouts during the week, because I am working double Wed, Fri, Sat and then I am working sometime on Sunday, but I do not know when yet.

Murtha...

Last workout pre-race

T-minus 15hours and 15 minutes (roughly) before Tri the Parks, Indian Springs State Park!!!!



Excited is the word I would use right now, not nervous. Ready to get this thing the hell on. Do I think I am going to best my fastest sprint time? I am not sure, but I am going to have a good time doing it.



Last night was my last workout this week before my race. Actually I really slacked this week, but it will turn out ok. Bike + Transition Practice (yes I will get more to this later) on Thursday, full tri on Saturday (so it picks up 3 workouts) and then an open water swim on Sunday. So my week will be lopsided, but that is ok.



So last night, James was to help me out with my transition times. My fastest times in a Sprint race have been a total of about 2:20-2:30. So last night we practiced in his cul-de-sac, and although the distance was shorter than my average run through transitions, we compensated for this by adding 10 seconds to T1 and 10 seconds to T2. I think the point I want to hammer home to everyone (and I am sure that I am preaching to the choir, save the people that have never actually practiced their transitions), IS TO MAKE SURE YOU HAVE A (SOME) SYSTEM IN PLACE, MEMORIZE THAT SYSTEM, AND THEN EXECUTE THAT SYSTEM!!! Other than that, you can skin the proverbial cat anyway you want (**Note** - no cats were injured in the creation of this post ;-)



Here is my break down: Total times for both T1 and T2 in practice (including the added 20 seconds) 1min 20 seconds!!!! An improvement of 1min 10sec-1min 20sec!!! Cutting my time in half! Here is what I did to achieve this



1) NO SOCKS!!! I have been told any race shorter than an Oly you do not need to wear socks, but take the appropriate precautions by a) training without socks and b) athletic tape, band-aids etc... or better yet band-aids and then tape over them so they do not fall off during the race.



2) Rack bike (within race regulations) so that your bike is facing the most efficient way towards the exit of transition. If you have the option of putting your bike wherever you want, put it close to the bike exit (this gets complicated when the bike and run exit are on the opposite sides, but getting there early can help you determine location).



3) Set up your system as efficiently as possible, and anything that is mandatory goes where I have to move something (i.e. sunglasses and helmet on aerobars, race number goes on top of running shoes). I also have my running shoes equipped with the slip on shoe laces (where you fix the elastic laces to how tight you want your shoes to your foot) and my bike shoes are already opened up as much as possible.



4) Do not clip/strap down shoes until you are on the bike (from t1)!!! What you say??? Won't they fly off! I thought so too, and then I went through three practice runs. The trick is to run and take smaller steps so that you are not flexing your foot as much with the possibility of it flying out. I have noticed people during races not locking down there shoes until they are a mile down a road once they have started.



5) Practice unstrapping your shoes before you get off and leave them on there (run barefoot to your spot in T2). My shoes scraped against the ground a few times, and once my rear wheel popped up because my right cleat got caught on the ground, but I just kept running with my bike. If you have a downhill, you can unstrap them earlier (1/4 mile left to go). If it is an uphill or turns you will have to wait later.

6) Do not be afraid to just throw the stuff you don't need anymore anywhere in your space.

7) Make sure you "run" through transition!!! This is an ok time to max out your heartrate. The shorter the race the more T1 and T2 count.

8) When you are coming into T1 or T2, then you need to be visualizing what you are going to be doing in transition.

After my transition practice, we went on an 18.5 mile bike ride through roswell on some fast flats and steep hills. He kicked my butt, but got me averaging 24mph on the flats (maxed out on 28.5 on flats) and then had to granny gear it on the hills, I could not handle it.


I'm ready...

Awake Time (5:30a-12:30a) + 2 workouts = WORN OUT!!!

My body (and eyeballs) are composing this post under protest!

Tuesday was a good workout. I did not keep time, HRM, anything. I just let my body do the talking and completed a bike sprint workout (8x1 minute sprints), with what I thought was about a 5 minute rest in between each sprint. Legs were pretty torn up after that!

Wednesday morning I was in the pool by 5:45am and I did a straight 1/2 hour with no stopping. Again, just feeling, working on technique, and there were a couple of laps that were breast stroke and butterfly. I lost count of laps (what else is new), but I know for a fact that I completed somewhere close to 1500 M give or take a few hundred.

After work yesterday I went straight to Chastain park for a track(hill) workout. 8-10 minute warmup and then I found a good hill on the run where I did 5x1 minute hill sprints (actually it went 1:24, 1:11. 1:11, 1:10, 1:13). Notice the hill was a bit longer than 1 minute to complete, but I did not complain. I did not get in 8X1 min, but that is due to the fact I got tired out, and there were three more hills for me to jog up back to the car on my cooldown.

I met up with Jackie yesterday evening and we ate at Cheyenne Grill in Buckhead, and then went to the Landmark movie theatre in the Highlands where there was an independent film contest called the 48 hour special. All over the country are people who put together mini movie clips in 48hours or less, and then the audience in each city that they do the competition in votes on the best so they can go to the national competition.

It was supposed to start at 9:30, but did not get started until 10:00pm. I have to apologize to a couple of people who made a few of those movies, I fell asleep during two of them. I was really tired, and I was slumping in a comfy chair and it was dark. Most of them were pretty good, and there was one that was really funny because it had a fight scene and the sound effects were about 10 seconds behind the actual action sequence. Jackie's co-worker had a movie and it was pretty cool, I voted it number one for the night, and then we went home. Got in bed about 12:30am, and did not sleep well last night. I need to go next door and get a starbucks double shot.

I might scrap tonight's workout in favor of getting some rest, I am almost 100% from this sinus thing, but not quite yet. Also, Jackie has a small work shindig with her co-workers, and since I am an unofficial employee (for moral support) of her company, I feel only obliged to show up and partake in the ongoings of drunken debauchery that will ensue tonight :-)

I am going to try and post some more pictures from my tri at John Tanner State Park. I also have the Tri the Parks - Indian Springs state park next weekend!!! Wow, next weekend already?!?!?! Oh well, how time flies. My weekend is packed. I have a swim, endurance run, brick, and I should have one more workout in there somewhere, but I might scrap it. Next week is week 5 in my training plan, and I will make it light for a) reovery from weeks 1-4, and b) it is a race week, even though it is just a sprint. I do not need to be extra sore waking up Saturday morning for a race.

Murtha...