New Program

I'm now working with a coach (see links) and start the new training program tomorrow. I'm looking forward to it.

run = 0:45:00
weight training

Next Race: Goal

My next race is the Buster Britton Memorial Triathlon, a sprint race in Birmingham, Alabama, on June 9, 2007. I have time goals for the event, the only one of which I'll disclose here is the following: I want to do each of the transitions in 1:00 or less. My transitions have always been ridiculously slow, and it's time to change that. The devil's in the details. I'll be planning and practicing transitions between now and then.

bike = 1:00:00
swim = 2,100 yards [50 wu, 1400, 4x100, 5x50 drills]

Enough about me

I'm a 43 year old man with a wife and two children, aged 3 and 5 days. I have a demanding professional job. I have religious and philosophical interests that occupy a substantial amount of my free time. Life is busy.

Until less than a year and a half ago, I was badly overweight and in poor health. I would become winded by one flight of stairs. I started dieting and, at my father's concerned request, working out with him at the YMCA. I knew some guys at work who did triathlons and thought that looked like a cool thing to do. My first race was in May 2006. There is a story behind that, which I may or may not post here. Anyway, I was hooked and did five sprint races in 2006.

Last December I crashed on a mountain bike and smacked my knee. Two days later I was running and the outer part of that knee began to hurt so badly I had to stop running. I was told by a sports medicine physician that I had developed IT band syndrome. It kept me from running for seven weeks. The knee pain kept me off my road bike for four weeks as well. I'm back in full swing now, but my run training suffered over the winter.

I've had four races this year. The links on the right are to websites for each race. The Y Tri race was a relay in which I did the bike and run, and my father did the swim. My speed and endurance have improved substantially since last year, but I'm still a newbie. I have a long way to go.

run = 0:45:00
weight training

Purpose

I am training for the Great Floridian Triathlon, an ironman distance race in Clermont, Florida, on October 20, 2007. I began competing in triathlons about a year ago, and this will be my first race at this distance (2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike, 26.2 mile run). I have created this blog to keep an online record of my experience in training for the race. I'm now working with a coach, who suggested I think about why I want to do an iron distance race, so I'll use this forum to explore that question. In addition, I will put my daily training at the bottom of each post. Many posts may contain nothing more than that. I will likely leave posts about unrelated subjects as well, as the mood strikes me. If you are reading this, I hope you find the contents of interest.

bike = 1:15:00
swim = 2,000 yards [1200 & 8x100]