Recovery Week Numbers

... but first a quick story.

I’ve been swimming at this pool for about three months now and I’m getting more comfortable there. I see the same people, for the most part, every week and everybody is courteous about entering a lane. They’re supposed to have six lanes open for lap swimming, but for some reason they always leave the first two lane lines out. I’m assuming that this is to accommodate the “leisure” lap swimmer.

I usually get to the pool early enough to get one of the good lanes, but last week I was forced to swim in one of the first three open lanes with no lane lines. Normally this wouldn’t be a problem except for the “Runner Guy”. This name will make more sense in a second. Runner guy is about 70 years old by my estimate. He sticks to the middle of the lane and just slowly goes up, down and sometimes across the lanes.

On this day his lane was the only lane available so I waited until I could make eye contact with him and signaled my intention to share his lane. I entered the lane and began my warm-up. At this point he was now at the far end of the lane and was heading back in my direction. I tried to keep as far left as I could in order to give him plenty of room. As I approached him I noticed that he was not going to move over, he just kept on course. As I swam around him I couldn’t help but laugh, he was wearing a flotation device around his waist and ankle weights. His little legs just kept running like a hamster on a wheel. All I could think about was one of those National Geographic programs where they use an underwater camera to film hippopotamus’ swimming across a river. He never did move over!

Last week was supposed to be a recovery week for me. I was scheduled to swim 2750, bike 45 and run 15. I missed my swim the previous week because the pool was closed, so I added a few yards each swim to try to make up for it.

Totals for last week
Swim: 3250
Bike: 47 miles
Run: 12 miles

This week starts the speed work and quality phase of my training plan… this should be fun!

Schedule for this week
Swim 6000 + optional easy 1000 (yah right!)
Bike 95 miles + optional easy 20 miles
Run 20 miles + 60 min. walk

Five more weeks until Mooseman!!!

Things are looking up!

Last week started out on the down side. I arrive at the pool 5:30am Monday morning only to find out that the pool was closed for renovations. The girl at the desk informed me that they had signs up all last week. I informed her that at 5:30 in the morning I’m lucky just to find the front door, forget the little sign at the desk. She handed me a swim schedule for the Franklin YMCA and said they would honor my membership. Now I’m already driving 45 min to get to this Y (it’s on my way to work) so another 15 minutes was pushing it a little.

The weather was also not cooperating, it rained most of the week which made riding a little tough… hence the low totals.

Totals
Swim: 0 (the pool was closed)
Bike: 53.8 miles
Run: 16

This weekend was awesome!

Saturday I headed out on a great 6 mile loop from my front door and was back in time get some much needed things done around the house.

Sunday was another great day. My training plan called for a 30 mile bike so I loaded up two bottles of fuel and headed out. I picked a new route that would head out to Horseneck Beach and loop back to the house. The weather was perfect, I must have passed three or four groups of riders… they were going the other direction. The route was hilly, but I was able to average 17.8 mph for 33.8 miles… I got a little lost!

When I got home, my wife and I loaded up the kids and the dogs and headed to the beach. We walked for a couple miles while the kids collected rocks and the dogs played in the water. We ended the day with ice cream… it doesn’t get much better!

Not so good - Week in Review

Last week started out great, my swimming was getting better and I was looking forward to putting in some big mileage on the weekend. Unfortunately, after my swim on Thursday I started to feel like I was coming down with a cold. I was hoping it was just a headache and would pass, but it didn’t. As the day went on it started getting worst and eventually settled in my chest. I ended up not running that night and I had to skip my weekend long bike and run. What a crappy way to end the week.

Totals
Swim: 3250
Bike: 35 miles
Run: 5

On the bright side I was able to book a nice cottage for Mooseman!

I hope this week is better!

The week in review

My training went well last week, it was great to get back into the pool. I'm starting to work in more swim and bike time into my workouts. My next event is quickly approaching and I need to pick it up.

Totals
Swim: 2500
Bike: 45 miles
Run: 10.5 (missed one day)

Thursday I met up with my friend Manny and a group of guys for a 20 mile ride. I was a little nervous at first to be riding with an experienced group, but I did well. I usually train alone so I stuck to the back at first so I wouldn’t take anybody out. It didn’t take long to start feeling comfortable riding with them, they are a great group of guys. I started getting a cramp in my left calf at about mile 8. I would finally get it worked out and then it would move to the other calf...frustrating! I was wondering if it was the 1000 yard swim from that morning.

I went for a 4 mile run with my son on Sunday. We went to the park so he could follow me on his bike. We had a good time and I told him we should make it a regular thing. He should have no trouble keeping up on my longer runs… just watch out for the goose Bren!

Very Busy Weekend

Saturday

I entered my family in the The SimplyStu Worldwide Triathlon II on March 24th, 25th. I thought this would be a great way to introduce my children to the sport I enjoy so much. It was snowing here in Massachusetts last weekend so we had to postpone it until this weekend.

We loaded up the bikes Staurday morning and headed to the beach. The beach has a large closed parking lot that was perfect for the race. We setup some cones in a .25-mile circle with a transition area close to the car. We headed to the water for the swim start, but the kids decided to skip the swim due to the fact the there was no lifeguard on duty. Safety first!



Everybody lined up at the start for five loops of the bike course. Brennen and Kaitlyn started out strong, but everybody caught up at the end. The kids need to work on their transition times!





We headed out on the run, five more loops. This is where the field started to open up and everybody was giving it all they had.



The finish was very close with Cullen edging out mommy in the end for the win!



I think Cullen summed it up best “This was the best-est day ever!”



Sunday

I ran the Officer Thomas Giunta Memorial 5K



I finished 103 out of 753 finishers. My official time 22:35