I suffered several setbacks on my training ride today including a two foot diameter tree across the trail, a set of RR tracks that threw me out into the road (luckily I missed the oncoming traffic), and a construction project that cut off the end of my route. Thoroughly ticked off about how this hindered my pace, I decided to begin my multi-event training and ran two miles today as well.

9 Mile Bike Time - 35:15 10-15 min later 1 Mile Run Times - 9:29 & 9:37

Set a new (recent) record for the mile. I started from a different place on the track where I run so that I could use the 100 yard markings to help set a 8 minute pace. I have also been using these markings to do interval training for the last few days.

1 Mile Run Time - 8:07

I finally made it to a pool and I now I not as worried about running. I had discounted the swimming portion of the triathlon since I used to be able to swim over a mile nonstop (apparently back in my youth). Well that is no longer the case. I ended up doing mostly 1 minute intervals over a total distance of .38 miles.

.25 Mile Swim Time ~ 8:30 non-continous interval pace

I have stepped up to the full distance on running. Not nearly the pace I want to set, but I’ll admit that I’m the most concerned about the running part of this little race. It’s my weakest event and I have to do it last.

2 Mile Run Time - 19:26

I set a new record for my mile time. Now I just need to double the distance without my heart exploding.

1 Mile Run Time - 8:06

I have stepped up to full distance training for biking. I need to shave about 6 minutes off this time before race day.

9 Mile Bike Time - 36:14

As I’m sure many are wondering where I am at in my training thus far… I am currently training at half distances for the biking and running portions so as to be able to keep the pace needed for my time goal. As I progress, I will increase the distance to full and then 150% (since I won’t be doing only one event during the race). I have not been able to get a swim time yet as my pool access is limited.

1 Mile Run Time - 8:24
4.5 Mile Bike Time - 19:21
.25 Mile Swim Time - NA

As some of you may be aware, I am currently training for a Sprint Triathlon. A Sprint Triathlon, in general, is half the distance of Triathlon which in turn is half the distance of a Sprint/Half Iron Man which is also half the distance of an Iron Man. Let that boggle your mind a bit: Iron Men are CRAZY! At least crazy in shape. An Iron Man event is a 2.4 mile swim followed by an 112 mile bike ride followed by a full marathon of 26.2 miles. These are rounder numbers in KM, but who really has any idea how long a KM is? — I mean in THIS country.

Anyway, I digress. An iron man is too Olympian for me. The meer mortals like myself will stick with the Triathlons, sprint or otherwise. My first forray into this event will be a short .25 mile swim followed by a 9 mile bike ride and a 2 mile run. While these are much smaller distances, I will be competing against veteran Triathaletes that will be setting a speedy pace. My goal is to complete the race in under 1 hour. This is both a nice round number and should give me a respectable finish “with the pack”. Below are the times from last year’s Sprint.

285 people out of 289 finished the race

285th place was 1:35:24
280th place was 1:18:59
270th place was 1:12:35
250th place was 1:07:30
200th place was 1:01:41
150th place was 57:34
100th place was 54:40
50th place was 50:57

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A recent report shares some startling news. America’s weight problem is about to become it’s #1 killer (in preventable deaths at least). As soon as 2005 obesity is going to pass cigarette smoking as the favored way for Americans to kill themselves. Which begs the question: is smoking/eating/drinking your way to death simply a slow form of suicide? Does thinking about it in that manner change the basic predisposition for Americans to let other Americans do as they please?

The study showed that America is curtailing smoking (as it becomes more socially unacceptable and frankly harder to find a place where you can smoke) while growing fatter by the minute. This amazes me amid the current low-carb craze that is sweeping the nation.