BRRRRR!

The winter of 2013/2014 has been fierce! With Polar Vortex #3 hitting our region, most of my training has moved indoors. December and January saw me spend a lot of time in the pool, on the trainer, or in spin classes at LAC. Keeping my bike fitness is so important for me this off season. Two reasons why: 1.) I want to go into race season ready to race and not ready to suffer. 2.) I want to be lean. Racing at 160lbs is a whole lot easier than climbing hills at 180lbs. So far, I am on track, and by March should be where I want to be for the season.

The off season is also time where you can dial in specific techniques or perhaps your bike position. For me, this time has been used to work on my swim technique, dialing in my breathing, body position in the water, and stroke rate in the pool. YouTube is a great source for many things, including swim videos. Michael Phelps, the greatest Olympian of our time, has a powerful stroke in the pool. But the guy is also built like a Dolphin. I will never be as fast as he is but there are a lot of things you can learn by watching his technique in the pool- how he breathes, how is arms enter and exit the water, his kick pattern, how is hands and arms act as a powerful paddle moving water each time he takes a stroke. I am working on all of those things- and it has really changed the way I swim for the better.

My goal is to bring down my minutes per 100 meters to a competitive rate- while being efficient in the water. Granted pool swims and open water swims are completely different, however, I am experienced enough in the open water with two Ironman's and several shorter races under my belt to know that it is a blender out there!

So far, in practice, my time has decreased from around 2:07/100m last year to 1:43/100m this year. My goal is to complete a 1.2m swim in around 30-33 minutes and a 2.4 mile swim in about 70-75 minutes. The only way to keep improving is to spend time in the pool, using designed workouts, and trying to get better each day.

Have I been ignoring running? No way! I raced the Hangover Classic 10 miler in 1:24, which was 7 minutes slower than my PR. However, my goal wasnt to blow away any records rather to see where I am in my running fitness. My training up to this point has been some treadmill brick runs right after a trainer session, and some 7-9 mile tempo runs once or twice per week. My running miles will tick up however because I am raciny my first Marathon in April at the Derby Festival Mini/Marathon presented by Wal-Mart. I have never ran a marathon other than Ironman, so I am looking forward to this challenge!

So here is a peak at my race schedule over the next three months:

Headfirst Shelbyville Triathlon #1 Feb 9
Anthem 5k                                      Feb 22
Headfirst Shelbyville Triathlon #2 Feb 23
Rhodes City Run 10k                      March 8
Papa Johns 10 miler                        March 22
Headfirst Shelbyville Triathlon      March 23
Headfirst Shelbyville Triathlon      April 13
Derby Marathon                              April 19
TriFest Taylorsville 70.3                May11

Thanks for checking in. Check back soon for race updates, results, and some new sponsorship announcements!