5K PR

Rita's Uncle who is 69 has been trying to hook up for a 5K with me for a couple of months. He called after finding out about the run that Carrollton Runners put on each month. He lives in Fort Worth and drove all the way here just so we could run together. Sunday morning I show up at the park and wait for him, but he does not show up. I start without him and run an 8 minute mile for the first mile then I see an older guy coming up the road (it was and out and back course). Sure enought it's Uncle Juris (Rita's family is from Latvia, in fact she is first gerneration American) with his head down just running along. I turn around and we run the rest of the 5K together. We run along talking about running, the birds chirping and the reflection of the trees on the water. He has broken his pace down to seconds per yard - he thought we were doing about 2 1/4 yards per second. We had a nice run. Juris won a trophy for second place. You guessed it - 2 in his age group.
My time 55:25
Juris' time 44:15
Later coffee and bagels at our house.

Friday Run

Around the lakes and 3 x the fields.
Approx 6 miles. I ran into Ken again and stopped to
talk with him for awhile. He totally ruined my run.
I am sure that I was setting a PR. Dang it.
We are going to try and hook up at the MS150.
Maybe Ken can pull my and Jimmy the entire way.
That would be nice.

Saturday DA ride

33 miles
18 mph
Small group due to the Kid Tri.
Rode with Jimmy. We are trying to get ready for
the MS150.
Great day for a ride.

Wed. Bike

Good Wednesday ride. Lots of wind. Trouble with my computer.
Kept up with the intermediate group.
Ran up to Beltline after the ride.
Beer and pizza after the run.

Tuesday CAC

Treadmill:
1 mile @ 9:30
1 mile @ 8:00
1 mile @ 10:00
.5 mile @ 8:00
.5 mile @ 10:00

Swim:
30 minutes at Oly pace.

Olypic Tri

My goal, other than just finishing, was anything under 3 hours.
Posting a 2:45:43 was better than I could have expected.

swim 29:37 - 1:58/M
T1 3:22
Bike 1:09:53 - 18.9 MPH
T2 - 1:38
Run 1:01:09 -
Total 2:45:43

SWIM - 29:37 - The swim went very well. I actually turned around sooner than I expected. I was one of the first in the water, filled my wetsuit, dunked my head, took water in my mouth and spit it out and did a little warming up before everyone got set. I learned most of the start routine in a lecture from a swim coach the day before. And yes I did break by wetsuit in, if you know what I mean. The start went well with not too much banging but twice as we made right turns everyone congregated at the wall and it got very crowded. The swim coach said "own your space" and I tried to make myself do it. I kept thinking long reaches, head down, feet up. I used other swimmers and the wall for most sightings. I don't think that I strayed too far off course. After the turn it did not get crowded again until near the finish as everyone started heading for the same spot. It took a couple of tries to get out of the water because the first step was way high. The "strippers" unzipped my wetsuit but I kept it on until I got to the bike.
Could not have gone better.

T1 - 3:22 - sat down , dried off, put my socks on (I can't run a 10K without socks) and got ready for the bike.
Could have gone faster, but I did it on purpose so I can't complain.

BIKE - 1:09:53 - Started on the bike thinking about just spinning for awhile to get the feel. Looked down and am going 25 MPH with no effort. Trouble. I am biking in a vacuum. The wind was blowing much harder than I realized. On the way in from the first loop back into the head wind I am going about 13 MPH with some effort. A couple of times the wind blew so hard from the side that it moved my bike over a few inches. I did love the aero bars. Stayed in the aero position about 80% of the time. Even when I was going 13 due to that fact that the wind was so strong.
Satisfied with the ride. Could make some improvement. My goal is 20 MPH.

T2 - 1:38 - Fast enough.

RUN - 1:01:09 - Now I have only run a 10K distance a couple of times getting ready for this Olympic being the smart man that I am and never after a bike ride. It took about 1/2 mile to get the rubber out of the legs, but hey I was glad that I could run at all. The first mile rest stop came soon enough - got some water and salt pills, after the second mile rest stop I knew, or at least thought that I knew, that I was going to make it. I tried to keep a steady pace and my HR about 160. At the turn I spoke with Tom and ask for a ride to the finish, he pinched me on the bottom and just told me to pick up the pace. The second half went well after all I was in the last minutes of my first Olympic. With a mile to go and a tail wind I picked it up some. Crossing the finish line with Rita there and all the other support was great.
The run is where I will make my biggest improvement. My goal is 8 minute miles.

The overall event on a scale of 1 - 10 it was a 9.

A great 50th birthday present to myself.

I checked my USAT Ranking.

Overall Ranking: 60.7711
Rank 2373

I don't know what it means, I just thought I would post it.
Maybe I will see an improvement as I do more tri's.

Now, I know some people will post theirs just to be mean.

Wed. Swim

I did not think that I had time to make it to the Wed. ride. I rushed home and in my hast forgot my bike shoes. I think the Tri Gods conspire against me.
So I headed to CAC for a swim.
200 pull wu
2000 yds - 40 minutes
Oly pace
150 swim with sighting cd
Tomorrow a recovery run.

Swim no Swim

Monday I went to CAC for a swim. I wanted to put in a long
Olympic pace swim and I wanted to try out my new
ear plugs. They are just big balls of wax. But when I get there
the pool is closed.
Why? Some child thru up in the pool during swim lessons.
I explained to those in charge that I did not mind swimming
with a little vomit in the water. After all I swam in Lake Grapevine
to build up my immune system.
Alas, no luck.

Tuesday I went to CAC for a swim. I wanted to put in a long
Olympic swim . . . But when I get there no lanes are available
for lap swimming.
Why? The Boy Scouts are swimming for badges. The life guard
says she doesn’t believe it will take too long. They were only
swimming 3 laps. So I decide to wait and wait and wait. I did
see some real interesting swim “styles”. Some would make even
Peter look like a good swimmer. Anyway, just as the Scouts are
finishing up and I am stuffing wax in my ears the Life Guard
tells everyone to get out of the pool. For a moment I think she
is clearing the pool for me. I can’t quite hear what she is saying
because I have that stupid wax in my ears, but no not for me.
Lighting. Pool closed.
Alas, no luck.

OWS/Bike

Sunday first open water swim with Dallas Athletes.
No buoys so I don’t know how for we swam. About the same as
Thursday maybe a little further. Felt good again. I did have a new
sensation - vertigo when I tried to walk out of the water. Learning that
one thing might make a difference in the Oly. I have read about it but
never experienced it, some have even had motion sickness to the point
of throwing up after the swim. I am going to start swimming with ear
plugs which is supposed to solve the problem.

Bike ride was swift (for me). Jimmy my old friend came along and
struggled some at the beginning but got his legs about half way
thru. He, like me, felt like we did pretty good job. Of course the average
age of our group might have been near 100. Me, Jimmy, Peter, Doc (Tom)
Ken, Dr. Stitch, one youngster.
33.8 miles
1:53 time
17.9 Avg.
Peter wanted to run after the ride but Ken and I said no thanks.


In the afternoon Rita and I went on a short 45 minute ride at about 15 mph.
The day was too beautifull to pass up.

Looking forward to the Olympic - not so much.

I forgot to post a 4.5 mile recovery run on Saturday. If I had not seen
Ken on the run I would not post it. I keep half of my training a secrete.

First OWS

This was the most important single workout of the year.
I now know that I can complete the Oly. I was shocked, not by the cold water which it was 68 degrees, but by the lack of anxiety of the open water. Even though there was a stiff wind on the lake the swim went better than I expected. Not so much the distance, we were in the water less than 30 minutes, but the positive "feel" of the whole experience.
Travis, #2 son, was in our kayak and kept a good eye on us (me and D) which also helped in the confidence area. We swam with the wind for ,just guessing, 300-400 yds and then had to turn into the wind on the way back. That made for some work.
Over all 600 to 800 yds.
Great learning experience.
Maybe I am becoming a Triathlete.
I was trying to explain the difference between open water and lane swimming to Travis. The best analogy that I could come up with was imagine walking a 6" wide board on the ground. You could do it all day long. Now raise the board 50 feet in the air and try walking on it. The only difference is in your mind . . . and the fact that you could die. I think he got it.

Wed. Bike

Nice ride, my best so far.
Took on the Hill @ LC.
Got aero a few times and thought it was great.
Drafted allot - pulled a little in Valley Ranch where I spent the most time areo.
Made a difference, at least in my mind.
Kept up on Beltline.
Ave 18 mph
Ran up to Beltline 8:10 pace, 14:37. Too fast, way too fast.
Now all I need to do is add about 4 more miles to that run and I will be ready for the Oly.
Again copying data from others.
Nice little brick.

Tuesday Run

3 Mile Time Trial
1 mile wu
3 miles in 26:30, 8:50 per
1 mile cd
AHR 162
Mhr 183
I don't like Kuay. First she laughs at me because I can't get me legs to look like a "4" and then she helps me stretch by smashing me into the track. She did make sure to get my name so she could help identify the body when I went to the
hospital.

Tour Dallas

Rita's first "real" bike ride. A 30 mile tour of Dallas, Swiss Ave., White Rock, the "M" streets and AA Center. With a temp of 38 we added an extra layer of clothing and headed down to the AAC. Surprisingly the weather was not that bad, but I was glad that I had not just finish a swim like some fools. We did bike thru some small snow flurries, but neither of us got very cold. We stopped at the 10 and 20 mile rest stops. This was truly a tour. Lots and I mean lots of turns. We took it nice an slow. Rita had a good reverse split. The second 10 miles was faster than the first and the third 10 miles was faster than the second.
I may have have created a monster. We are going to ride the Lancaster Country Ride - me 62 miles, Rita 26 miles. We will see if she still loves me.

Base Run

Approx 4 1/2 recovery run with the dog.
Watch problems so I don't have any data.
I am sure my AHR was aroung 147.

Well I finally made it to a Tuesday morning run.
wu 1 mile
8 x 400s in 3:00
Each lap in 2:00 with 1:00 rest.
Last lap in 1:45
cd 1 mile

4 miles total

No HR info

I'm learning how to post this stuff. Still copying.

I plan on running one more week with Group A then try to move to Group B.

Hills of VR

Went for a 30 minute swim at lunch at Loos.
It was me and an old lady sharing the pool. I am sure she is writing in her blog about a her and an old man.
Just a swim no drills.

I tried to hook up with DA bikers at Valley Ranch for the "hills" ride. I could not find anyone so I decided to go alone.
4 trips up the hill on Riverview from MacAthur up to the theater. About 13 min round trip. Min 9 mph, max 30 mph.
The last trip was a fast (or slow) as the first.
4 times - 53:36
Ave HR 154
Max HR 169