I'm Tri'ing

I recently joined a Facebook Triathlon group and have found it to be a very inspiring.  When I first joined I was hesitant because I was worried that everyone would be elite level triathletes that I would have nothing in common, but I was very wrong.  This is a group of everyday people dealing with the same ups and downs that I deal with.  The majority of my circle of friends and family are not involved in triathlons and I'm sure I bore them to death talking about training, gear, racing, nutrition, etc., but this group talks about all those things and provides an amazing amount of support to one another. I still haven't gotten outside on my new bike because of the darn weather but this coming weekend there is zero chance of rain so hopefully I'll be able to hit the road and get some time under my belt in aero.  But I was able to finish up the installation of my hydration setup this weekend.  The last piece of the puzzle is still to figure out a name!

Slacker is the best way to describe myself these days, one week of working out before tri training starts.  I have NO motivation.  I work out a few times a week but not at the levels I should be at.  I think not having races planned in June/July are really making me feel lazy and not get back into the groove of training.  I have some life changing things going on, that of course are impacting my mental health but I know that getting back on track with training will also help me deal with these life challenges. Life is passing me by and I'm not getting any younger so I need a big kick in the pants! Decided to give myself that kick in the pants - I have registered for Tri for Old Glory - Olympic distance   http://test.redemptionrp.com/?page_id=176.  Done, now I have a closer goal than my HIM's at the end of the year.

I know I should not complain, rain is a good thing, but it has rained pretty much every weekend so I haven't been able to take the new ride out.  This weekend is also a bust so I'm hoping that next weekend will be a different story. This past week was not a good week for me.  I had a pretty rough work week and a few late nights in the office so I was horrible about my workouts but it happens, life happens, so we will just start again next week. I still haven't purchased my hydration system for my new bike and need to the get rear wing on so when the weather does get nice I won't have any excuses.  Plus I'm super excited about the data I'm going to get from my new Garmin 500.  I'm a junky for workout data!! Still waiting to hear about the June and July Olympic distance races but since an even scheduled for next weekend at the same location was canceled I'm not so confident that these events are going to happen.

This weekend I decided not to run the Alamo 13.1 on March 22nd.  I have not trained for this race and do not feel the effort I would put into completing the race would be deserving of a finishers medal.  I've had plenty of time to train for this race and instead of being dedicated to that training plan I have elected to be lazy and miss too many workouts. I was excited for this race, I was looking forward to the challenge and hoped that it would help me with my triathlon training but I did the exact opposite.  My disappointment level is very high and the only way I feel I can get rid of this is to get back on track with my dedication to my training. I'm scheduled to start my triathlon training plan mid April so I haven't blown my prep for my triathlon races this year but I'm going to spend the next 5 weeks getting back on track.  I need to focus on weight loss, strength training and the basics (swimming, biking and running).  I will also get back to recordin...

I'm 4 weeks out from my first race of the season and first 1/2 marathon.  Am I ready??  hmmm not so much.  I practically took most of last week off and here we are Tuesday evening and I still haven't made it to the gym this week.  Guess I need to get my butt in gear tomorrow!!  I have been struggling to get and stay motivated.  My longest run since last season has been a bit over 8 miles so over the next couple of weeks I need to work on adding a few more - 5 to be exact. This is not an A race but important to me since I have never done a running race longer than 5K, yes i have done a 1/2 marathon but I haven't run the entire distance and that is my goal for this race.  I want to be able to run the entire race to prove to myself that I can. Reviewing last years schedule I'm not too far off from those distances so I'm still in a good spot but I need to get serious about training soon!

I'm registered for 3 of the planned 6 races.  I will wait to register for Rock n Roll till later in the year when I decide if I want to register for 1/2 or full marathon.  The 2 Olympic distance tri's (June and July) that I did last year have not announced dates, sadly it's possible that neither of these races might happen. I read on one of the websites that residents near the Boerne City Lake haven't been happy with the traffic that the races bring to the area.  One of the race directors has submitted an alternate course option but that was in November and they haven't posted any updates. So I have 2 choices, limit my race schedule to the other 4 or try to find 2 other Olympic distances near by........need to figure that out.  REALLY wanted to go back and race Gatorbait.  This is the race that I got a leg cramp, flat tire and my odometer wasn't working as well it has a huge hill called Heartbreak hill and I didn't make it all the way on the bike.  So I d...

The past 2 weeks I've been trying out the TriDot program.  I'm currently on a plan focusing on the 1/2 marathon I have planned in March and then after that it is meant to move to a plan for the 1/2 Ironman.  I'm enjoying the program because it's something different than what I'm use to but I don't like that it's a 7 day a week plan.  It allows flexibility to move sessions around but I was a bit surprised at the volume I'm doing so early.  If I was going to stick to this plan for the remainder of my training I think I would get burned out very quickly.  I prefer to have at least 1 if not 2 days off a week and I typically do my long run during the week so I can do my long bike ride on the weekends.  But I'm going to stick with it to see how it goes. and her she is, the new tri bike that I purchased....isn't she a beauty!!! I have added a Garmin Edge 500  with speed and cadence sensor.  I also purchased an xlab turbo wing  with water bot...