Well I would like to say I went for a 5k run today. Unfortunately, a slow, painful jog would better describe how I traversed the 5 kilometers this evening. I did lap another person on the track a couple of times during the 2nd half of my run, but she was a tad heavy so it wasn't a huge victory. One thing is for certain: I still hate running as much as ever. I will concede, though, that a pair of running shoes is probably one of the cheapest and best pieces of work out equipement you can buy. Swim trunks COULD be if you live near a lake… other wise you're paying for a pool and suddenly swimming isn't so cheap.

Now that it’s finally warming up and I’m mostly over my illness, I can start training for the new season of Triathlons! That’s right, I’m coming out of retirement after a year long sabatical…

I’m still getting my bike legs back from the winter so I did a 15 mile jaunt today with moderate hills. It took me 1:19 to complete… glad it’s still early in the season.

Keeps the doctor away. A mile swimming that is. That's right, after a year sabatical, I am again training for a Triathlon. No longer a sprint triathlon, but a full triathlon: 1.5k swim / 40k bike / 10k run. (the swim is 50% longer than the typical Tri because it is with the current of the river). I've been getting back into the swim -er- swing of things for a few weeks now, but today was the first time I had accurate timing for the swim. I was pretty happy with my time as my initial goal was to get under 45 minutes. 1/2 Mile Split Swim Time: 21:30 1 Mile Swim Time: 44:19

Finally. Race day. Two months of work comes down to this… And it was a blast. It’s a lot more fun to push yourself when there is someone just ahead of you to catch. And with 338 particpants this year, there was always someone just ahead of you. This year we had 7 people not finish – almost double of last year. Perhaps as the race grows in popularity you get more and more people not realizing what they are getting into. On the flip side there were 3 kids (yes they are kids ) in the 11-12 age group that not only broke the 1 hour mark they were under 50 minutes grabing the 37th, 39th, and 40th spots overall. 40 year olds fine, women ok, but it’s a little disheartening when an 11 year old is leaving you in his dust.

As for my race, I was glad the water was surprisingly warm. We’ve been having a uncommonly mild August and honestly my biggest concern going into the race was that the water would be freezing. Thankfully this fear was misplaced. Going into the swim, I positioned myself at the back of the young-guns wave i was in since I would be doing the breast stroke and didn’t want to get in anyone’s way. The funny part was the fact that while all but one of us started off with the great speed and effort of free style swimming at about the 100M mark about a third of the young guns rolled over to either their back or side to continue. Most would roll over again when i came to pass with my slow and steady approach, but then would soon be back on their side or back as i waved good bye. I ended up passing 13 of the 54 people in my wave (20-29 year old males) of which I am quite proud. I had gone into the swim event with my strongest stroke to avoid fatigue not win any medals, so smoking a few young guns was a nice bonus. Also of note is that 2 of the people in my wave that smoked me on swim speed never finished the race… peak to early guys? :D
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I stepped up to the full distance today — or at least close. I had a little out-of-the-way routing due to the tree that was being cut down and blocking the road on my bike course. Another race is scheduled for Friday and as distances continue to lengthen, it may be redesignated to a Sprint Tri instead of a the Super Sprint it was previously.

.25 Mile Swim Time: 11:00
Transition: 2:45
8.5 Mile Bike Time: 34:33
Transition: 1:50
2 Mile Run Time: 20:30
Total Time: 1:11:20
(Estimated Full Race @ Pace: 1:13:22)