fat guy on a tri

A quick training update

Next Sunday is the Yankton Triathalon. I believe it's the last tri in the area, so I'm going to drag my butt down there. The distance is within my capabilities, so I'd be foolish not to do it.

Swimming-- my earlier post that linked the "Zero to 1650" swimming training plan really works. I'm up to 1000 yards nonstop in the pool. A nice older gentleman named "Mike" has been coaching me a bit Tuesdays and Thursdays at lunch. Lot's of little things that might have taken weeks or months to change got noticed right away by him. So far the lessons
breath out underwater
take smaller breaths
roll from side to side
keep 1 arm forward
keep the forward arm pointed straight out, not down
ditch the air under your hand when your hand enters the water (the catch)
don't wimp out on the push
kick for lift, not propulsion

There's more I can't think of now, but it's been much appreciated-- I'm not "great", but I'm certainly "less suck" in the water.

Kari and I started the weights on Sunday. We're doing the workout plan Joe Friel outlines in the Triathletes Training Bible... currently doing the "Anatomical Adaptation" or "get your body used to lifting weights" phase... high reps proper form low weight.

Today I hopped on the treadmill for a run after weights and ran 5 minutes at a decent clip. Nothing hurt! The new shoes (the new running store in town is great) helped, plus all the cardio (swimming and biking). awesome!

In bad training news, a friend suffered a crash and broke his collarbone and a rib and is out for 4-6 weeks, which will keep him from his Ironman race he's been training for. I'm not going to IM this year, but I'll be doing a bit of training the next few weeks in his place with Jon. We're going out for 6 hours on Saturday (4.5hr bike, 1.5hr run). Should be fun (or horrible).

The olympics swimming is over, so maybe the pool crowd will thin out and getting my laps in will be easier.

Finally in bike news

Check the results of the 212 Gut Check-- a ton of great guys raced this year. Harlan and Chris are both good friends and I'm extremely happy both of them completed the ride with time to spare. Mike killed it, averaging 19mph on the bike (and only taking an hour or so break) to complete the race in 22hours 45minutes. In case you don't know, this is a race from the Wyoming/SD border to the Minnesota/SD border all along Highway 212. A great accomplishment.

Big rides coming up include the Sanford Breast Cancer awareness ride, the Lanehogs Margarita ride, and in October the annual meeting and voting for FAB.

There's also a bit of bike-helmet related stuff going on, check your messages from FAB (and the news) for more details, but plan on riding the east side of the bike trails on Sept 6th and look for a giant FAB sign.