Swim
This weeks swim included a swim test.
My last swim test I came in at 2:23/100yds. I know that is many of your 200 yrd paces (yes, I am jealous). I do not come from a swimming background at all.
Sure, I was (am) a whitewater raft guide, but most of our swimming involves being pushed down the river wearing a life jacket, timing your breathing so you do not breath in when the next wave hits you, and then Tarzan swimming your butt off away from the nasty stuff and toward where you want to go.
Pool swimming and triathlon swimming are much harder, trust me.
Anyway, I did the swim test this weekend and I am now at 2:01/100 yards - that is a 22 second/100 yard improvement only going to the pool 1 time a week. I am more than happy with that, and 100% credit my
coach Ange for getting me there. Sure, I did the workouts (and that FREAKING DRIVE), but she planned them and I definitely couldn't have made that kind of improvement without her guidance.
Oh yes, I plan to be under 2:00/100 yards on the next test for sure.
Bike
I got to ride outside today! YEAH. I was stoked, today called for a high of 40 degrees and I took my road bike Rico out to do the bike portion of today's brick workout. It was super windy but I ended up riding 16 miles in 54:25 which is include a stop to unlock my rear break from my rear tire.
Yes, I am a bonehead.
I thought it was awfully hard to pedal. I was kind of freaking out about it thinking I was WAY out of shape, I couldn't even pick up speed down hill. I rode 2 miles DYING thinking...WTF is going on here? And what is that squeaky sound?
Duh.
Anyway when I was messing with my break, a bald eagle flew by (we see a lot of them as they nest on the nearby river and lake) and landed in the white pine tree. I tried to get closer but it flew off, so this is the best picture I got of it.
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Blurry Bald Eagle. Crappy picture, I know, but I had to give Jon proof. |
Just to give an idea what we have left for snow...and the road also is FULL of sand, so you have to be super careful riding. I am thinking of putting off taking out my new bike until this gets cleaned up some more.
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Pretty good sized snowbanks still.... |
The one thing that I couldn't live without is my
Pearl Izumi Barrier Shoe Covers
. My feet were super happy and warm on my ride today. These babies rank up there with my favorite pieces of gear.
Run
I transitioned quickly and hit the road. I felt super strong on this run, nothing too much to say except it was a really gorgeous day and the river was all sparkly. I ran 6.4 miles in 58:28 which is a 9:08 pace. I want to get closer to 8:30, because that is where I was before last year's injury, but I am happy with this run.
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Kennebec River looking south. |
Sled-olympics (or what happens when you get a bunch of raft guides together in the off-season)
Fulfilling my minimum 2 times a week of non-triathlon stuff, I spent some time with some friends sledding. There is this awesome hill behind our house. It is the hill we took the
kids sledding on with the mini raft but this time since it was all adults, we thought it was a really good idea to build a kicker.
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Building the kicker (we are trained professionals, don't try this at home) |
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The shuttle (we are trained professionals, don't try this at home) |
Before too long it turned into a competition to see who could get the most air. The next logical step was to do an
Evel Knievel type thing, so the sled could jump people.
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(we are trained professionals, don't try this at home) |
I have some great video of this stuff, but I just don't have time to post it right now. The winner (competing for bragging rights) went almost 20 feet before landing! Here is a photo of my nephew Luke in the air.
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Luke trying to beat the record. (we are trained professionals, don't try this at home) |
That's a wrap on the weekend recap!
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This week: Rest/Recovery week
Swim: 3800 yds
Bike: 78 miles
Run: 15 miles
96 miles total