Triathlon Training Resources

Saturday, January 30, 2010

Daytona Beach 5K Results

Today I ran in the Daytona Beach 5K. It was great because the course is on the Daytona International Speedway. There is a portion in the beginning that brought us through the infield to make the full 3.1 miles.

I felt good and was hoping to see some improvement in my time from October when I last ran a 5K. My time was a PR of 21:56. That beat my last time of 23:33 and was very happy. I had a plan to go out the first mile at around 6:50 and I did that. My plan was to back off to right around 7:00 min. for mile 2 and run sub 7 for the last mile, of course the .last .10 is pretty much an all out sprint. I stuck with my plan and it was right on.

Tomorrow is another long ride (70 miles) and an hour trail run off the bike for a long brick. I know it's going to hurt but that hard work is what makes the improvements happen. My season starts in March with a local olympic distance before St. Anthony's in April and Florida 70.3 in May. After that it will pretty much be sprints for the rest of the season. I may throw in an olympic towards the end, but we'll see how I feel (and how the wife feels about it).

Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Another Long Weekend Of Training For Ironman Florida 70.3

This past weekend was another great weekend for training. I had a good swim on Saturday and was prepared for my long brick on Sunday. We were going to have a 3 1/2 hour ride, followed by a 5 mile trail run. My ride was cut short to only 3 hours due to once again, flats. This sucks! Now last weekend I got 2 flats and we checked the tire and found nothing in it after the second change. I made it back home without a problem. This Sunday at around mile 40, we stopped for a quick bathroom break, and I was flat again in the front. I used the "pit stop" (fix a flat) we had to try and make it home, but I only got another 5 miles or so. I could feel that I was flat again and had to stop. This time, I changed the tube and got back on the road. 5 miles later, flat again!! I was out of CO2 and no more tubes, so I had to make the call of shame.

To make the call even worse, I actually called my "mommy" to come and get me because I knew the wife would have to load up the kids and it would much easier for my mom to jump in the car and come get me. I'm 37 years old and still depend on my mom for certain things; kind of normal right? Anyway, I got back to our starting point sure that I missed the group run (not totally disappointed honestly), but when I got there I had Helen (an ultramarathoner who is FAST) waiting for me. She tortured me for 4 hard miles on the trail and then let me go home. I was glad she was there to push me because I was definitely deflated (get it, deflated) after my disappointing finish to the ride and the wait on the side of the road.

All in all, it was another great training weekend that I'm sure made me stronger. I will be running in a 5K this weekend at the Daytona Speedway. It is pretty neat that I will be running on the actual track in the morning and there is a 24 hour car race in the afternoon. I'm not that into Nascar and other car racing, but it is pretty cool to live here in Daytona during those events. I'll update after ny 5K and hopefully be posting a new PR to better my 23:33 from a few months ago.

Monday, January 18, 2010

Weekend Long Ride: Fixing a Bike Flat On The Road

Happy Monday everyone. I had a great week of training last week and completed all but 1 swim workout. Yesterday I went for a long ride with a small group and we ended up at 70 miles. That is my longest ride to date. It was a tough ride as I was with a pretty strong group, but it's not suppose to be easy right?

We averaged just over 19mph and though it was tough, it was doable. We had some pretty strong winds to deal with. I had not 1, but 2 flats on this ride. That sucked. It was only the second time I've got a flat while on a ride and if I recall correctly, in one of my previous posts, I talked about never getting flats and that I probably jinxed myself and guess what, I did. We were 40 miles into the ride as I have never changed a tire on the ride before, it was interesting to say the least. We were on a 8 mile stretch and we split up as a group and were to meet up at the end so when the riders behind me passed they made sure I had what I needed and kept going. I have changed my tire before without levers and thought it would not be a problem. The problem was that it is different in my garage than it was on an empty road with sweaty hands and mosquitoes the size of a sparrow attacking me. A solo rider came along and helped me out. Thanks Kirk and I will pass on the favor the next time I see a cyclist who needs a hand. 20 minutes later I was on my way. After stopping for that long, it was not easy to get back up to speed. Some of the group came back for me and got me back up to the front.

I got behind on my nutrition a bit and hit a wall at about mile 42 and lost all energy. We were stopping for a scheduled stop and I was able to catch up and finished strong. My friend (Kona qualifier) talked with me about my nutritional needs and I will now have more of a plan. Overall good training ride and I learned from it. With the schedule I'm on, I should be well prepared for Florida 70.3.

Friday, January 15, 2010

Hammer Nutrition Endurolytes - Product Review

I have been having some problems with cramping when doing my longer training runs. I asked around a few people recommended I try Hammer Nutrition Endurolytes. I found them online and ordered a bottle. I started taking them before my workouts and then actually brought them to my last olympic triathlon and left thm on my towel and took a couple when leaving T1 and then before heading out for the run.

I was able to not cramp for the first time at that distance. I tolerated them well and could tell no ill affects at all. I will be using them again this season as well as other products from the Hammer line.

A Good Idea Of A Triathlon Start

If you have not been in a triahlon yet, this will give you a good idea of what the start is like.

Sunday, January 10, 2010

Long Brick Session

Today I met with a couple of friends (Kona qualifiers) for a good brick session. We did 1 hour and 45 minutes on the trainer to time trial spinervals workout and then did a 45 minute trail run. It wasn't just a trail run, they had us do hill repeats in the nice thick sugar sand we have here in Florida.

Did I mention it was 28 degrees when I left my house? Maybe not that bad for you guys up north, but for us in Florida, that is frigid. It turned out to be an awesome workout and it felt good because I knew there weren't many others in the area training. That is like an extra day of work that I did that everyone else did not. They kept telling me that these are the days that make the difference between participating and racing and I believe it. Great workout and I'm looking forward to my day off tomorrow and a warmer week ahead.

Friday, January 8, 2010

Freezing in Florida

I'm not much of a whiner, in fact I hate it, but I'm going to whine a bit. It is freezing in Florida. I know it's much colder in most of the country but that's why I live in Florida. The pool gets closed, I don't own a pair of running tights, and I only ride on the trainer when it's this cold out. I still get in good training but it's not quite as enjoyable.

On the flip side, we have to deal with the horrible heat that makes it almost unbearable to train after the sun comes up in the summer. I would rather train in the heat than the cold anytime. I'm just wanting to complain tonight because I'm sitting up, past my bedtime, hoping to see a speck of snow so I can wake up my 6 year old daughter because she has never seen snow and she would love it.