Sunday's 3000 Meters

Triathlon swim class. Today I went out to practice with probably 35-40 other people. For me the practice was a bit unlike Wednesday's practice in that I purposely saved some at the beginning in order to have some left for the end. This was an obvious smart move because during Wednesday's workout, I ended up getting multiple cramps in my feet. This was due to not being adequately hydrated and going out too hard too early. Both of these were taken care of today. At the end of today's workout, I felt good and not too fatigued. That was nice, and I felt pretty good about being in good enough physical shape to not feel whipped at the end of the workout.

The workout consisted of (in meters):
- 500 easy warm-up
- 20 x 50's on 1:10 - stretch/glide drills
- 4 x 200 stroke swim
- 200 warm down

This coming week is the start of my official coach induced training schedule. I'm looking forward to the challenge and the gained knowledge of both the sport and how my body will respond. It'll be fun and tough at the same time.

The 60 Mile Struggle

It's Labor Day and because it's a holiday, I decided to go on a long ride. Our scheduled training regimen calls for a 40 minute run and strength training. With me still not being able to run, I decided to do a very long ride this morning. I wanted to test my fitness and endurance on a ride I had done at the beginning of the summer which was the Harpeth River Ride. In the end, I was pleased. My fitness felt good, I'm not too sore, I'm not too exhausted, and I didn't struggle with my hydration. I think we've got the hydration and nutrition thing somewhat figured out for the long workouts. It definitely wasn't a problem on the ride today. Overall, I was quite pleased with where I am fitness-wise.

Troy has yet to knock out his training for the day (as of 3:00 pm), but says that he's getting in his 40 minute run tonight. I don't know what he's going to do about the weight training aspect though. Probably nothing, save some push-ups and maybe some sit-ups. It's been a while since we hit the weight room and I can tell in my strength, so I'm sure that the same goes for Troy as well.

Progress is good overall and I'm pleased with where the both of us are on the training path. It should be good once it gets closer to the Suncoast Triathlon. I'm looking to better my time overall, so I'm going hard!

The 42 Miler. . . again

This morning we embarked on our second 42 mile excursion on the bike since our Top Gun Triathlon. Going in, we didn't really know what to expect in our fitness and endurance. We did know that we could make it of course. We just didn't know how we would fair toward the end. So to that end, Troy and I decided to experiment with our calorie intake and our hydration process. We went to the REI outdoor store and got some GU gels to test out to see how our bodies and our energy levels would respond. Put it this way, . . . they work! I found myself, toward the end of the ride, having a ton of energy and ready to keep going. Troy's endurance and energy level was definitely higher than normal too. Therefore, we're going to keep training and racing with these "new" products. I know this is no new found thing, but it's new to us and this process and it's cool to continue to discover things about our nutrition and fitness levels. We continue to learn new things and continue to progress. That's what we love. Not to mention the whole spiritual aspect of the training and being outside in nature and with our thoughts, ideas, and our Lord.