Swimming TT on Wednesday, 12/6

Did a 1650 swimming TT yesterday with a time of 31:07.  That's pretty slow, even for me, but at least it gives me lots of room to improve!

Milk Weed

Saw this on a long run the other day. Perfect autumn day in November!

Ok, its November 22nd, 2017! The season is over... Time to regroup and come up with a plan for 2018. I don't want to rush into anything just yet: think, think think.... Let me just meditate on this a bit.

Together We Tri Indoor Triathlon

On Sunday I did the TWT Indoor Tri at Glenview Park District.  Really fun race!  Friendly volunteers and raised money for JDRF.  I really like the way they weight each of the events so that it isn't just about the bike as happens in the MITCS indoor tri. 

Personally, I'm very encouraged because my running has been a little suspect laterly and I've been wondering if I'm losing my ability to really run fast, but at this race I had a solid run.  If the distance is what they said it was (~8 laps/mile), then I ran right around 2.5 miles in 15 minutes o 6 min miles.  If that's the case, then I'm really pleased.  I use to regularly run that pace at the MITCS, but in the last 5 years I haven't been able to crack 6 min/mile pace. 

Swim workout

Awesome swim workout this AM. Total of 2K swimming as follows:
5 X 200 on 4 minutes
100 breathing on right
100 alternate breating
5 X 100 on 2 minutes
100 easy
100 all out
100 easy

Monthly 1.5K swim TT

Did my first 1.5K swim TT this AM for the 2018 season. My time was 31:16 which is 1:54/100 yds...pretty slow, even for me.   I really lost it in the final 500 meters. Once your arms turn to lead, there is no going back! Looking back at my times from the spring, 2017, it appears like my best 1.5K was 30:10 or 1:50/100 yds, a minute faster than today and 3 sec faster per 100. That is a good goal for now, but I would like to get under 30 minutes and that seems possible. 

A Life Without Limits

Just finished reading Chrissie Wellington's book "A Life Without Limits".  Wow, really inspiring and without a doubt the best sports autobiography I've read!  Plus, she wrote it without a co-author.  What an amazing life and story.  Makes you want to go out and take on the toughest and longest races and enjoy every minute of it! 

Duathlon Nationals training starts this week!

Ok, the marathon is over and there is nothing scheduled between now and the Duathlon Nationals in April.  My goal is to do as well as possible at that race!  to be more specific, I'm hoping for a top 3 finish. To get there, I'm going to focus the next 3 months on biking and running with more time spend on the biking.  Lots of interval training and some bricks thrown in there.  I'm also going to keep up with swimming at least 1-2 x/week so that I don't regress.  My secondary goal is the Tri Nationals in August.  I may schedule a few races before the end of this year just to keep it real like a 10K or half marathon.  Then in January and February I'll do the indoor triathlon series and maybe an outdoor 10K or biking TT.  Let the training begin! 

Chicago marathon 2017

The marathon didn't go well for me. My time of 3:16 was not what I was hoping for and the race was difficult from start to finish.  Mile 19-23 were particularly bad with my hamstring cramping and throwing my stride off.  I'm just glad its over!  That was my 14th and maybe last Chicago Marathon.  The thrill of finishing just isn't there for me any more.  On to the 2018 duathlon and triathlon seasons!   

Oh God! Race Time

Ok, the marathon is only 4 days away... I'm very apprehensive!  I know my rep as a sandbagger, but this time I'm sincere: I'm going to fail!  This has been my worst marathon training EVER! Last year wasn't great, but I ran all of my training runs as a substantially faster pace. This year, every training run has been a slow slog. I fear this will be my slowest marathon ever. Also, the memories of last year and the pain in those last 6 miles is still in my head!