March 2010

March is when my training schedule seemed to really fall into place. The days, disciplines, and times, really meshed well with the family life. March was also the month that I couldn't get enough of the pool. While my cycling miles remained pretty much the same, and my running saw a slight increase, my swimming yards skyrocketed. James gave me the book, "Workouts In a Binder, Swim Workouts for Triathletes." I didn't think I was quite ready to follow the workouts explicitly, but I did get some great info. I did, however, end up following one of the speed workouts every Friday and it really gets the blood pumping. March also saw my 1st open water swims in a full wetsuit and my first triathlon. On 03/12, I picked up the wetsuit that I was borrowing from Chris Bergeron. I think it was a Zoot Z1. That weekend, while Kristi looked on in amusement, I tried it on for the first time. Seriously, I looked like Houdini trying to escape from a straight jacket! I had worked up such a sweat, I almost felt like passing out. I never did get it totally on. On 03/19, I drove down to Bartlett Lake to meet some teammates from One Multisport for an open water. I got there around 5:50AM and was able to watch the sunrise. The main thing that was going through my mind was, "Don't look like an idiot trying to put this wetsuit on again." I even Googled, "How to put on a wetsuit." Turns out, it's a piece of cake. No problems this time. How did it go? All you need to do is read this excerpt from an e-mail I sent to John and Michael later that morning:

"How completely AWESOME was that?!? Sorry I had to cut out early (I hope you guys didn't leave early because of me), but I had to hurry up to get to work by 9. At any rate, that, right there, was completely outrageous! Standing there, before you guys rolled up, and watching the sunrise, then donning the suit, walking down to the shore, and BAM the sting of the water on the face. It was only about 45 minutes of swimming, but it was 45 minutes of swimming bliss."

Somebody told me that the Bartlett Lake Triathlon is considered one of the hardest tris in the country. Only makes sense that I made it my first, right? The hills, and climbing, are ridiculous! If I didn't know any better, I'd say that the swim was uphill too! The first thing you see when taking off for the bike (and then run) is a sign that says, "8% grade." I've ridden the bike part before, so I knew what to expect. The run, however, was unreal. Running over a mountain AFTER a 1 mile swim and 25 mile "climb ride"....really? OK, so here are my results (out of 67 overall and 11 in my age group):

SWIM - 5th overall / 1st in age group
BIKE - 15th overall / 3rd in age group
Run - 40th overall / 8th in age group
OVERALL - 16th / 4th

TRAINING

SWIM - Mondays typically saw 3400 yards, Wednesdays saw 5200, and Fridays saw around 2500. I also started encorporating intervals and set rest times too.

BIKE - My longest ride was 66 miles and the shorter speed rides were about 24.

RUN - My longest run was 10.5 and my speed runs were 3. This month, I noticed my times starting to come down a bit. That 10.5 mile run clocked in at 9:18 min/mile while my moderate runs (6.5 miles) were coming in around 8:50 min/mile. I was able to get my 3 mile run down to an average of 7:43 min/mile (and that was after a 24 mile bike ride!)

BRICKS

03/02 - 30 mile ride / 3 mile run
03/04 - 24.5 mile ride / 5 mile run
03/16 - 28 mile ride / 6.5 mile run
03/25 - 24 mile ride / 3 mile run
03/30 - 24 mile ride / 6.5 mile run

MARCH TOTALS

SWIM - 47,500 yards (27 miles)
BIKE - 404.5 miles (209.5 tri / 195 road)
RUN - 51.2 miles
GYM - 3 times