One more week until the Luray Olympic Triathlon. All my training and racing up to this point are really to prepare me for the months of August, September, and October which include my most important races or "A" races.
I guess the question is am I at where I wanted to be at this point. I think I am. It's actually very hard to tell. Marathon training seems to be getting in the way of 10K speed training. But, all training puts so much stress on my body that even when I say I am going to do a race pace run or a race pace bike to see where my speed is at I'm not doing it at 100% physically. Most of the time my legs have some level of soreness, this soreness is usually only felt when doing deep tissue massage, but I think that is normal.
After this Sunday training for the rest of the week will be tapered for Luray. As far as my other races this year go, I've only allowed a couple days taper before the race. Tapering is an important part of training because it allows the body to recover from the hard training sessions and in the end the body will come back stronger and faster. So hopefully a week will do some good.
I am still concerned with my run speed. In my races so far this year I have not pulled off the run times I know I can pull off. Both the run coarse and bike coarse in Luray are hilly, so I am not expecting record breaking times for myself. But I know what my times were last year and they are not bad. I know am faster this year for sure. Hills and heat can absolutely destroy my run if I allow it.
I'm still not sure how I am going to race this one. Whether I decide to go all out on the bike and push the pace like crazy and hope I can hold people off during the run or save myself a little during the bike to have that extra kick during the run. Probably won't make that decision until I'm out there racing. I think it will be important for me to not start out racing all out the first mile or two of the run, so I will keep that in mind when I'm out there. I know for a fact I will have to make up a good 3-4 minutes from the swim during the bike/run portion.
Speaking of swimming I am for a fact getting faster, but just not as fast as the "fast swimmers". My whole thing will be how comfortable do I feel that day in the water, sometimes the swim can feel like it takes forever other times it goes pretty fast. I am really hoping I find a good person to draft off in the swim. Some say drafting in the water is almost as energy efficient as drafting on the bike. Two things I love about swim drafting in open water are free speed and the fact I don't have to sight as often, just follow the swimmer ahead. Last year water temps were cooler so wetsuits were legal, so I am hoping that will happen again this year.
I wouldn't be putting as much emphasis on the Luray race if it wasn't for the fact that the winner will represent the state of Virginia in the championships. I think I have a chance of winning, but I will need to pull off an incredible run.
US Triathlon National Championships are in two weeks. I decided not to do this race, pretty much for the fact it is all the way in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Also, it is one week right after Luray and two weeks before Patriots, three weeks before Du Worlds. I would love to compete in this race as I would have a good shot at qualifying for Worlds. Next year 2010 Tri Nats are held in Myrtle Beach so I will definitely be marking that down in my calender.
Just received my team USA bike jersey, for cycling purposes only:
2010 races are already shaping up. So far I am looking at the Shamrock Marathon, Boston Marathon, Eagleman Ironman 70.3, St. Anthony's Olympic Tri Florida, Duathlon Nationals, Long coarse Triathlon Nationals.
Today I will do an all important 5K time trial run, which should give me a decent measurement of where my speed is at. Saturday will include a 15-16 mile group run followed by some cycling and a short swim if I have time/energy. Sunday should include some ocean swimming and a 3 hour ride followed by a 30 min run with some efforts. And the rest of the week will include massages and active recovery for the most part.
2 comments:
you're going to do great!
by the way, crazy photo of the day. a rat-eating plant?
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