Disco Pre-Tri

Good workout this morning and got to meet up with some fellow racers.

Swim: Two open water swims: 9:49 + 13:27.4. I'm guessing I did about 1,200 meters total. Good practice.

Bike: Rode the sprint course - did the portion on E Lone Oak Rd that was outside of the park twice for a total distance of 31.38 miles in 1:36 (19.6 mph average speed) and an average heart rate of 149 bpm.

MotionBased stats: http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/activity/8616960 (forgot to stop my watch right away so the time is a bit long)

Run: 3.68 miles in 40:22 (10:58/mi pace). More of a walk/jog than a fast brick run, but at least I got some miles in. Really feeling the effects of nearly 100 miles of cycling in the last 24 hours. My average heart rate was 155 bpm even with all the walk breaks and water stops. Oh well ...

MotionBased stats: http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/activity/8616961

Back From Break

Wednesday, May 20: My last hard workout before vacation. I will be taking it easy over an extended Memorial Day weekend as my brother, his wife and my niece and nephew are coming to town for a visit. Today's workout: 110 minutes of spin (148 bpm) followed by 1,000 yd swim in 19:31 (9:52, 9:31)

Sunday, May 24: My ONLY workout during the 5-day holiday/vacation - a 5.91 mile morning neighbor run in 57:24. Very slow (that's a 9:43/mi pace - there are many walk-breaks), but at least I broke my "lazy streak"!

Tuesday, May 26: 1 hour spin class (150 bpm) + 500 yd swim in 10:23

Wednesday, May 27: First a 1 hour spin class (150 bpm). Then a 3-mile treadmill brick run in 27:03 (9:01/mi, 154 bpm).  I started at 6 MPH and slowly worked my way up to about 7.5 MPH.


Thursday, May 28: 45 min solo spin session (149 bpm) followed by 45 min spin class (157 bpm). Afterwards, a 500 yd swim in 10:34 - a little slower than Tuesday, but can you blame me after that nice long (albeit indoor) bike ride.

Saturday, May 30: Morning workout: 1,500yd swim (in tri-shorts) in 29:05 (set times: 9:40, 9:46, 9:39) followed by 2hr,40min on the spin bike (24 minutes before class then back-to-back classes with 16 minutes in between).  A solid session and I kept up the intensity (154 bpm overall average heart rate) the entire time.


Sunday, May 31: Another Sunday morning run. This time - 7.16 miles in 1:07:09 - 9:23/mi pace at an average heart rate of 157 bpm. Quite a bit faster pace than last week's effort even though the route was 1.25 miles longer. Progress!

Monday, June 1: Skipped the lunchtime workout. My daughter graduated from Kindergarten at 1:00 PM. :-)

The rest of this week is almost a clone of last week.

Tuesday, June 2: 1 hour spin class (144 bpm), 500 yd swim (freestyle) in 10:04 (no tri shorts - so this is pretty fast) followed by another 500 yd of breast stroke (hadn't planned to go this far - just kept following Don - so no timing for the second set)

Wednesday, June 3: First a 1 hour spin class (147 bpm). Then a 3.5-mile treadmill brick run in 29:58 (8:34/mi, 154 bpm). I can't believe that I cut my pace that much as compared to last week while keeping the same average heart rate and going an extra half-mile. Yay!


As you can see, a key improvement was being able to hold a sub-8:30/mi pace at 156 bpm (see Lap 4) this run while that same heart rate was nearly 9:00/mi (see last Wednesday's Lap 3).  Hopefully, this is a trend and not just a fluke.

Thursday, June 4: 50 min spin class (146 bpm) followed 500 yd swim in 9:19 (tri-shorts) and other 250 yd that were (again) untimed (hit STOP instead of LAP on my watch so no stats)

So that's it ... catching up on a long list of old workouts.  Not sure why my heart rate during this week's spin classes was lower than normal.  Well, actually I do know, I felt tired. :-P  Will try to do a little better next week.

Tomorrow, I plan to do a morning run (I guess I had better get to bed now!) and then on Saturday, I'll be doing the 100K route at the 2009 Mesquite Rodeo Bike Ride.

Symmetric Week

Symmetric as in [Swim] - [Bike+Run] - [Bike+Swim] - [Bike+Run] - [Swim]

Monday (2/9) : 2,000 yd swim in 37:54.4 (splits: 9:28, 9:31.5, 9:25, 9:30).  Pretty fast time (5:45 faster than January 19) - mainly because I "cheated" and wore tri-shorts.  Taking yesterday off helped as well.  Still, it felt good to get in a longish swim.

Tuesday (2/10): 1 hour spin class (144 bpm avg heart rate - hmm, why so low? - lazy!) followed by a 1:16 transition and a two-mile treadmill brick run in 16:29 (8:15/mi pace; 153 bpm avg heart rate)

Wednesday (2/11): 1 hour spin class (149 avg heart rate - better intensity, but still doggin' it!) and then a 500 yd cool-down swim in 10:36

Thursday (2/12): A clone of Tuesday - 1 hour spin class (156 bpm avg heart rate) followed by a 2:53 transition and a two-mile treadmill brick run in 18:20 (161 bpm avg heart rate despite the 9:10/mi pace; I was a little tired after that spin class)

Friday (2/13): I ended the week the way I started it - with another 2,000 yd swim.  No tri-shorts this time so I'm back to my normal pace.  My time was 42:26.6 with splits of 10:23, 10:38.5, 10:41, 10:44.  Not bad at all - just 1:08 slower than my 2,000 yd PR.

Happy Friday the 13th and that "other holiday" tomorrow!

Big Weekend

Another day off in preparation for a two-event weekend - the Tour Des Fleurs 20K tomorrow and the Texas Man Olympic Triathlon on Sunday.

The standard spin-centric workouts the last few days ...

Tuesday: 45 minutes of spin class (avg hr: 159 bpm) + 2.5 mile treadmill run in 21:17 (8:31/mi pace, avg hr: 165 bpm ... first mile at 5% incline)

Wednesday: 2.5 mile treadmill run in 19:38 (7:51/mi pace, avg hr: 164 bpm ... first mile at varying 2.5-5% incline) + 60 minutes of spin class (avg hr: 158 bpm) 

Thursday: 61 minutes of spin class (avg hr: 155 bpm) + 500 yd swim in 8:52(!)

I have most of my stuff packed up for tomorrow mornning's run.  Since parking will be a hassle - I will have to park at least half a mile away from the venue (the Dallas Arboretum) - I'll be wearing my Fuel Belt during the race, not for hydration on the run, but instead because I have put my glutamine and Accelerade powder in the flasks to make 32 ounces of recovery drink (just add water) right after I cross the finish line (hopefully in about 1 hour and 45 minutes :-).

The Week's Workouts

Monday: 2,000 yard swim in 41:43. My 500 yd splits:

• 1st 500 yds: 10:31
• 2nd 500 yds: 10:50.5
• 3rd 500 yds: 10:18
• 4th 500 yds: 10:03

25 seconds slower than Friday, but still not bad.

Tuesday: 30 minutes on the elliptical trainer (avg hr: 137 bpm)

Wednesday: 75 minutes of spin (avg hr: 152 bpm) + quick 1,000 yd swim (splits: 9:52, 9:37)

Thursday: 45 minutes of spin (avg hr: 150 bpm) + 15-minute 1.5-mile treadmill run at varying inclines (5%-10%, avg hr: 157 bpm)

Spin & Swim X 3

Monday: Complete off-day - recovering from a busy/tough weekend. Yay!

Tuesday: 1 hour spin + 1,000 yard swim. 147 BPM average heart rate for the spin class. Swim splits: 9:56, 9:49. 19:45 total.

Wednesday: 1 hour spin + 1,000 yard swim. (Look familiar? :-) 144 BPM average heart rate on the bike. Swim splits: 9:39, 9:23. 19:02 total. A little faster.

Thursday: 1 hour spin + 1,000 yard swim. (Yep definitely a pattern :-). 152 BPM average heart rate (Amy was really kicking our butts today). Swim splits: 9:29, 9:15. 18:44 total. Over a minute faster than Tuesday. Still need to get it down another 40 seconds to break my 18:07 PR.

Yep, no running at all this week. I figure I'll give my legs a little rest because I'm doing two running races (totalling 25K) this weekend.

Tired Legs

I participated in the Texas Man pre-tri workout this morning. I was without any of the usual crew because almost everyone was at the Hotter Than Hell bike ride yesterday. So I made the trek to Lake Ray Robert's Johnson Branch Park myself, arriving at the park entrance just after 6:30 AM.

Because the open-water swim practice/clinic didn't start until 7:30, I did a quick bike ride on the park roads. I had traded bikes with Jarrod last Thursday - he got my "Red Baron" Specialized Allez Comp and I got his Motobecane Nemesis Pro tri bike - and get in some easy miles on it before doing 25+ miles during the pre-tri bike workout. The ride was smooth but slow - my legs were still sore and tired from yesterday's half-marathon distance run.

The practice swim didn't start off on the right foot. My goggles (specifically, the nose bridge between the two lenses) broke! Luckily, I always carry around an extra pair in my tri bag. So I just jogged back up to the parking lot/transition area to trade them out and then back to the beach. The open-water swim itself went well. Worked on my sighting and did three identical swims - out to the first buoy, to the second buoy, back to the first buoy, again to the second buoy, and then back to the beach. Each one took between 13:30-14:45 and I'd guess that the distance was 700-750 meters. So about 2,100-2,250 meters total. A solid swim workout.

I was actually the last swimmer out of the lake - I followed the guy in the kayak as he pulled in the second buoy back to shore - so, by the time I got back to the parking lot, the transition clinic was about to start. Since I really wanted to get in a longer bike ride than the schedule allowed (the planned activity was to ride the 17.6 mile sprint bike course once, but I wanted to do it twice), I skipped the transition clinic and headed out on the road.

I've ridden this bike course many times so I pretty much knew what to expect - i.e., where the hills are. With the two loops, I ended up riding 29.81 miles and completed it in 1:31:23 - a 19.6 MPH average speed. That's a pretty fast training ride speed for me, and since my average heart rate was only 148 BPM, it looks like my tired legs (and perhaps the increasing temperatures) were the limiting factor to going faster. The ride on Jarrod's tri bike was very smooth and the 54cm frame fit me perfectly. I'll have to seriously think about getting one! :-)

After a quick (1:26) bike-to-run transition, I headed out on the run course. Here is where yesterday's long run, the tough bike earlier, and the quick transition really caught up to me. I was only able to go able 3/4 of a mile before I had to start walking. Five minutes of walking did wonders, though, and after that I completed a 3.71 mile run with only three breaks at the water stops. Total run time: 38:06.5 for a 10:16/mi average.

The heat was definitely getting to me, and, overall, not my best performance. But it was still a really good opportunity for the open-water swim practice and I'm glad I was able to push myself. Lessons learned: continue to work on my running and also do warm/hot weather training to get acclimated to the heat.

Time Crunch

The latter half of this week was a lesson in time management. While I didn't get in the workouts that I wanted, I got pretty close so I can't complain (much).

Wednesday: Planned to do 90 minutes of cycling, but only got in 75 minutes. I thought my legs should be fresh since I only swam the last two days, but it was a tough spin class - even at a 154 BPM average heart rate.

Thursday: Wanted to do a 2mi-45min-2mi run-bike-swim, but got to the gym late so I had to skip the first run. 160 BPM average heart rate for the 45 minutes of cycling and then finished 2 miles on the treadmill in just under 16 minutes (a better than 8:00/mi pace) with an average heart rate of 168 BPM, steadily increasing to 178 BPM by the end.

Friday: The goal was to match Monday's & Tuesday's 3,000 yard distance, but due to two conference calls sandwiching my lunch break, I only had time to squeeze in 2,000 yards, completing them in 41:20.5. My 500 yd splits:

• 1st 500 yds: 9:56.5
• 2nd 500 yds: 10:16.5
• 3rd 500 yds: 10:32.5
• 4th 500 yds: 10:35

45 seconds faster than a week ago. Getting better ...

Mini Du today; Tri tomorrow

Did another mini duathlon right in my neighborhood this morning. Needed a short(ish) workout at high intensity and these run-bike-run efforts always seem to do the trick. Probably still a little tougher of a workout than I should have done (don't want to wear myself out before tomorrow's race), but oh well the long-term goal is still getting prepared for the Ironman Longhorn 70.3 in October so I can't take too many days off.

The route was very similar to the mini-du I did back on July 4. Started with a 1.1 mile run around the block, followed by a 12.5 mile bike through the neighborhood, and ended with another lap of that 1.1 mile route.

Here are the stats for the workout:

Compared with the results from July 4, my first run was exactly the same speed (7:16/mi pace), the bike was quite a bit faster (19.7 vs. 18.6 MPH) and also a quarter-mile longer, but the second run was slower (8:20 vs. 8:08/mi pace). Transitions were about the same. So, overall, my time this morning was almost a minute faster (57:32 vs 58:30) despite the slightly longer course.

On the downside, my heart rate was quite high - averaging 165 BPM.

This is quite a bit higher than the July 4's effort (154 BPM) with the biggest difference being during the bike leg (162 vs 149 BPM avg HR). So while I was faster today than last six weeks ago, I was definitely pushing hard to meet that goal.

Not bad for an hour-long workout on what I had originally planned as an off/light day. I'll be relaxing and recuperating this afternoon and tonight I'll pack up for tomorrow's Take On The Heat sprint tri up in The Colony, TX.

Not To Plan, But Close Enough

Got to the gym late yesterday so I didn't have time to do the full reverse indoor tri, but I did 35 minutes of a spin class and then ran 2.5 miles on the treadmill for a solid brick workout. The run took 21:30 - an 8:36/mi pace.

Today, I swam 2,000 yards at lunch. Kept a pretty good pace and finished it in 42:05.5. This is more than a minute faster than Monday's effort at the same distance, which is a little surprising since it comes after 3 consecutive days of hard workouts. Splits: 10:15, 10:31.5, 10:35, 10:44.5

Tomorrow, I'll rest up for Sunday's tri. Hopefully, the thunderstorms will stay away for the race - the weather is looking a little sketchy for the weekend.

Back-To-Back(-To Back?) Spin Classes

My first full week back (in town and in the gym) is going pretty well. After a decent swim on Monday, I've had two more good workouts.

• Tuesday: 60-minute spin class followed up 2 miles on the treadmill at a 5% incline in just under 20 minutes. Solid workout. Worked pretty hard with average heart rates of 159 BPM and 172 BPM for the bike and run respectively.
• Wednesday: 75-minute spin class. Almost non-stop mashing and held an average heart rate of 160 BPM for the entire session. No time for swimming so just did some free weights at home after work.

Here's the plan for the rest of the week:

• Thursday: Full indoor reverse tri - haven't done one of these in a while. A few miles of running, then spin class, then 500-1000 yards in the pool.
• Friday: Some swimming - 3,000 yards is the goal. Hopefully, I will be able to follow through with it (mentally and physically).
• Saturday: Quick run and bike just to make sure everything is still working properly.
• Sunday: Take On The Heat Sprint Tri.

Working Out When Not Working

Been a crazy week at work. Project deadlines, meetings, blah blah blah. Need my lunchtime spin classes to stay sane.

Monday: Recovery day from Disco Tri.

Tuesday: 45-minute spin class + 1,000 yards of swimming. 152 BPM average HR on the bike, but I hit a max of 180 BPM! Something got into Don and he really pushed it for the last 5 minutes of the class and he took me right along with him. The swim splits were decent as well: 9:57 for the first 500 yds, and 9:50 for the second set.

Wednesday: Picked up my Too Hot To Handle packet (and Brooks running singlet and running hat - SWEET) at RunOn! in Coppell. Wilhe is signed up for the 15K with me, and Don A plans to do the 5K. Scott & Jarrod may join us as well.

Thursday: A tough 45-minute spin class at LA Fitness in Irving - 155 bpm average HR. Not sure if I've written about our new Thursday spin instructor or not - she's almost six months pregnant and still kicks our tails on the bike! She was telling us a story last week (or was it the week before? - man, I am losing my mind) about growing up in Utah and cycling competitively. She did a Utah to Jackson Hole, WY race - over 200 miles of mountain climbs -and completed it in 10 hours and change. Hard. Core. Just what I need to improve my cycling. :-)

Afterwords, I did a brick run with Charlie and his friend/coworker Jay. For some reason, I thought he always did outdoor brick runs so we kinda got confused about heading upstairs to the treadmills vs. hitting the heat. In the end, we did a 1.88 mile loop from the gym in 15:42. That's an 8:21/mi pace - not too shabby considering that it was 95+ degrees outside.

Friday: Planning to do some light swimming. Will rest up my legs for Saturday's 15K!

Training Mini Duathlon

Happy Independence Day, everyone! As far as I could tell, the City of Denton didn't run their Liberty 5K that I had done last year. So I had to make up my own workout. As it turns out it was a tough (but very good) one.

I decided to practice my transitions and do some brick work by having a mini duathlon right in my neighborhood. A 1.1 mile run around the block, a fairly long (for a "mini duathlon") 12.4 mile bike ride throughout my neighborhood streets, and the same 1.1 mile run again. Here are my stats:

My first run was pretty fast, but I couldn't seem to hold my speed going up hills on the bike. The streets were almost completely empty at 7:30 AM on a holiday, but I still had to slow down to navigate some of the turns (and I almost wiped out turning near the end of my ride because of some sprinkler run-off on the street - whew, that could have been disasterous), but the main reason for just an 18.6 MPH average speed was that my legs just felt tired. I won't be doing any more hard workouts until Sunday's race so hopefully they will be well-rested.

The second run started off almost as fast as the second one, but I got really tired as I hit the uphill part near the end of the run and I even had to walk for about 30 seconds to get my heart rate down. My pace was still a respectable 8:08/mi for the second lap, but the short distance obviously allowed me to hold out until the finish line back at my house.

The transition times were very short - the time it took to open/close my garage door to grab and retrieve my bike being a major factor. :-)


My heart rate was pretty high during the runs, but due to my tired legs I couldn't push myself as hard I would have like during the bike. Still this was a very solid hour-long workout and I'm sure I got more out of this than I would have if I had run a 5K. And plus I didn't even have to go anywhere.

Enjoy the long holiday weekend!

Swim, Bike, Brick, and Neighborhood 10K

Monday: A day off. After three consecutive days of hard workouts (long swim, long run, pre-tri), I needed some time to relax and recover.

Tuesday: Solid brick workout. 40 minute spin (avg HR=158 BPM ... fairly high intensity) + 3-mile treadmill run in 23:05 (fast 7:42/mi pace with avg HR=160 BPM).

Wednesday: Spin class + a little extra. A total of 75 minutes on the bike. Still feeling some effects from yesterdays legwork - tried to ride hard, but could only keep an average heart rate at 149 BPM.

Thursday: Neighborhood 10K. 6.36 miles in 56:01 ... 8:48/mi pace. Average heart rate = 156 BPM. No stops (walk breaks) at all. My running is definitely improving - compare this to other recent runs. Route Map: http://maps.google.com/maps?q=http://pages.andrien.com/Neighborhood10K.kml

Friday: Taking another day off. On Saturday, I plan to ride 100 miles in the Cow Creek Country Classic in Waxahachie, TX!

Serious Training Ahead!

Definitely doing better this week.

It started off slow. Very busy at work so I couldn't make it to the gym on Monday or Tuesday. Settled for 30 minutes on the home elliptical trainer early Tuesday morning before I headed into the office.

Wednesday: 55-minutes spin class (Avg HR: 156 BPM) + swimming 1,500 yds in 32:23 (just a tad faster than two weeks ago). Splits: 10:48.5, 10:51.5, 10:43

Thursday: 55-minutes spin class (Avg HR: 157 BPM) + 2.5 miles treadmill run (Avg HR: 168 BPM) in 18:50 for an average pace of 7:32/mi. Solid brick.

On Saturday, I will be doing the 100K route of the Mesquite Rodeo Bike Ride. I may also run a little on Sunday morning.

In other news, I am officially signed up for the following upcoming triathlon races:

• July 6: Ironhead Pioneer Power Sprint (Denton – TWU) - http://www.ironheadrp.com/pioneerPowerSprint
• July 13: Disco Triathlon – Olympic Distance (Lake Ray Roberts) – http://www.discotriathlon.com/
• August 17: PlayTri Take On The Heat (The Colony) - http://www.playtri.com/toth2007_race.php
• September 14: Texas Man Tri – Olympic Distance (Lake Ray Roberts) – http://www.texasmantriathlon.com/

So it's a Good Thing (TM) that I'm getting serious about my training again.

Spin classes

Tuesday: 45-minute spin class (was late so I actually only got in 40 mins of cycling) followed by a 2-mile treadmill run.

Thursday: 45-minute spin class with some extra solo cycling before and after - 1 hour and 15 minutes total on the bike ... and I pushed hard nearly the entire time.

(Unfortunately, my Garmin Forerunner 305 got data corruption so I had to do a hard reset which wiped out all the data - so no stats/charts for this week).

Two solid workouts - so not a bad week so far despite slacking off on Monday and Wednesday.

Tomorrow, I will try to get in a swim and then on Saturday a long bike ride.

Run - Bike - Run

Did a quasi-duathlon today - albeit with a long break between the first run and the bike.

Met the "Hidden Lakes Runners & Walkers" - a Keller-based club - at the "Keller-Smithfield Actity Node" neighborhood park at 7:00 AM this morning. Ended up running a solid 7.28 miles in 1:04:51 along the Keller trails. Basically, it was this route but run starting from the eastern point with a loop around the Keller Sports Complex and a steep & long hill (see elevation chart below up Elaine Street. Even with a couple water breaks, my overall pace averaged 8:54/mi. That hill was really tough, I look forward to doing it again in the future as hill training for both running and cycling.

A few hours later, I met Don T and Jonathan G at the Fort Worth Trinity Trails. We did a brisk ride south to Benbrook Lake, biked the park roads after paying the $1 entry fee, and then returned to the starting point for a 42.54 mile round-trip (in 2:32:48 - 17.2 MPH average speed going out, 16.3 MPH coming back, 16.7 MPH overall).

Don wanted to ride at least 50 miles so we continued north on the trails for another 4.25 miles. We still kept a good pace for this second ride - 16.4 MPH - but I was definitely getting tired. When we returned to the parking lot, our grand total was 51.05 miles.

Don had planned all along to do a brick, so after reracking/locking up our bikes, we ran for 2 miles (again, on the trails). I stayed with Don for the first mile (when we turned around) but he poured it on for the return trip and he finished the 2 miles about 1.5 minutes quicker than me (16:28 vs. 17:57). In my defense, I DID run a little over 7 miles this morning. :-P

Great workout and nice weather (although it did get a little hot by the end) - this was exactly the type of workout I needed to get into better cycling and triathlon shape.

Final Days

I'm following my plan for the most part. Had some solid workouts the last few days. Not quite at the normal intensity since I'm in taper mode, but still enough to keep all pistons firing.

• Tue, 25th - Brick: Bike (medium-hard intensity for 45 min), Run (2 miles at 5% incline for 20 minutes)
• Wed, 26th - Swim (1,500 yds in 31:42.5) - splits: 10:20, 10:42, 10:40.5, Easy Weights
• Thu, 27th - Reverse Tri: Run (3 mi at varying incline 0-5% in 26:30 min), Bike (medium-hard intensity for 45 min), Swim (1,000 yd in 19:07.5) - splits: 9:47, 9:20.5

Plan for the rest of the week:

• Fri, 28th - Rest/Travel to Galveston
• Sat, 29th - Open Water Swim (TNT practice at Palm Beach) + Easy Bike (probably ride the run course and part of the bike course) + Walk/Jog (probably walk around the Moody Garden grounds and check out the Expo :-)
• Sun, 30th - Lone Star HALF-IRON!

I'm getting very excited!

Tapering vs. Training

Lots of literature that I have read wants me to "taper" my training these last two weeks before my half-Iron tri, but I truly believe that I only need about one week to "gather steam" for the big event. Additionally, Derek got a tri training book and it definitely still has some serious workouts planned up through the "week before last" for its 18-week half-Ironman training schedule.

Since I put in a monster swim session yesterday, I decided to concentrate on leg work today. I started off with 30 minutes on the elliptical trainer and then attended Leslie's 45-minute spin class ("Tuesdays we go high-end aerobic pushing occasionally into the anaerobic zone"). After that, some brick work with a 3-mile run on the treadmill. I averaged 8:00/mile and so that distance took exactly 24 minutes.

My plan is to do a few more solid workouts this week and then really tone it down next week. Hopefully, this plan won't backfire.

Brick & Swim

Sunday: Feeling pretty good after yesterday's tri. This morning I did a 33.5 mile bike ride with Don T and Derek. We averaged around 14 MPH with a few stops along the way. Not a blistering pace, but still a solid ride. Afterwards, we ran 2 miles to get more bricks in.

Bike Route: http://www.mapmyride.com/ride/united-states/tx/roanoke/141933372

Monday: After fighting an emerging cold last night and this morning (achy, dizzy, and weakness - Theraflu, sleeping in and a mid-morning nap did wonders), I did my third "Ironman" swim this afternoon. After a slightly disappointing tri on Saturday and brick on Sunday, I was pleased that my time was my fastest yet for this distance - I completed the 80 laps (4,000 yds) in 1:24:22 - more than 3 minutes faster than my Ironman swim back in November. Here are my 500 yd splits - the times in parentheses are from the Nov 11 swim:

• 1st 500 yds: 10:01 (10:13)
• 2nd 500 yds: 10:20.5 (10:19)
• 3rd 500 yds: 10:23 (10:28.5)
• 4th 500 yds: 10:29 (10:48.5)
• Water break: 0:29.5 (0:54)
• 5th 500 yds: 10:25.5 (11:04)
• 6th 500 yds: 10:39 (11:18)
• 7th 500 yds: 10:47 (11:13)
• 8th 500 yds: 10:47.5 (11:19)

So, although my speed still slowed over the course of the swim, it stayed more consistent than prior outings - with only about a 45 second difference between the first/fastest set and the last/slowest one. I'm definitely getting better at this discipline. I don't think a sub-40-minute swim time for the half-Ironman tri is unrealistic - especially since I'll be wearing a wetsuit (with its added buoyancy). Hopefully, it won't be too choppy when I swim in the Gulf of Mexico!