No time for.. blogging.....

I must confess I have been deficient in my blogging, but for good reason; I have been training! I have been able to get very consistent with my training and now with a little over 8 weeks to go, I am starting to feel good about my fitness. My weight has dropped (I'm down 6 and a half pounds since early January), my running has gotten stronger and even my abysmal swimming seems to be improving. Make no mistake however, I am still dreading that mile swim.

I have started my 2-a-days (meaning two workouts in one day) and I have begun to feel some of the fatigue I anticipate in Tampa in April. This is good though, because at least I'll be prepared for it. Last night in my swim class, my legs were dead from running and it really showed, my 600 yard time was a minute and a half slower than my previous best. I have been gradually increasing my long swims until eventually, I'll be up to 1650 yards in the pool. Hopefully by then I'll start to feel confident.

The weather in Maryland has started to cooperate and I am now able to do my runs outside; stationary training is VERY, VERY boring as I'm sure anyone training during this part of the year must know. I was speaking with another triathlete at the gym who does Ironman distance races and he told me he does 2 to 3 hours on the treadmill to prepare for early season Ironmans (Ironmen????). I would have to be committed to even run 45 minutes on one of those things.

On the bike I have been keeping my spin classes going and also using my new indoor trainer, the Travel Trac by Real Axiom. I promise a full review in an upcoming blog. The trainer has actually kept me working really hard on the bike and I feel I have my best January fitness in years. I even took the radical step or renewing my USCF (United States Cycling Federation) license and planning some road races to get the competitive juices flowing. I am looking forward to a strong start to the season.

Good luck to everyone out there and....

keep training :-)

Rob

Chaffing, Kickboards, and other training gremlins...

I know it's been a while, and ironically enough it hasn't been because I've been TOO busy. Actually quite the contrary, I have gotten in some quality time training the last few weeks. I have gotten some helpful training aids (more on that later) and I have had mostly productive training sessions. Despite all the good fortune, there is always a training gremlin (like those buggers in Bugs Bunny or the Progressive commercials) lurking, ready to pounce. Mine caught up to me last Sunday on my first run over an hour. It was a little chilly and I threw on the first pair of tights I could find. Bad idea. They were kind of old and a bit tight, I ignored it. About halfway through my run I felt a sharp stinging in my groin area. Not really pain, just kind pin pricks so I ignored them like all guys do..... Another bad idea. I got home to find my base layer blood soaked and my skin chafed to the bone (ok not quite but it certainly felt that way!). To make matters worse I had swim class the next day and of course we started out just kicking. Nothing like a tight swimsuit and constant kicking to give the raw groin area some stimulation!

OK but enough of my problems, outside of that bad one two punch I have started to feel pretty good with my progress. My hundreds in the pool have started to fall, and my running is certainly stronger. My only laggard at the moment is my cycling which is traditionally my strongest discipline. Mostly due to the weather, I haven't spent much time on the bike. It has been my intention all winter to get a CompuTrainer. This highly recommended training aid however, was somewhat out of my budget at almost $1700. So I decided to get a cheaper alternative. The Performance Travel Trac Real Axiom trainer. This trainer has alot of the same features that the Computrainer has, but with the 20% discount Perfomace was throwing in it turned out to be about a third of the price. So far I have only played with it, but my initial impression so far is favorable. I plan to do a full review in a future tri-ing Times blog.

Notes:

A blog or two ago I was chatting up Polar's personal trainer FREE web site. So far I still approve, but recently the website has been unavailable for no apparent reason. Being in the IT field I know this happens but I was still surprised at the frequency it was happening to polar's site.

A number of my tri buddies have been sick lately so I'm sending out my best wishes... Get well everyone and get back to training!

I made a couple of new tri buddies in swim class so hopefully I will have some new riding partners when the good weather finally rolls around.

Peace and keep training......

Rob