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April 11, 2008

spring in Colorado

Well, it is another spring in Colorado which is probably our worst season. It makes me crabby! Yesterday it snowed all day (luckily nothing really stuck on the roads) and today the high is 44 degrees. However, luckily this weekend is going to be awesome! So that works out well, I'd rather have to ride for an hour on my trainer and deal with bad conditions for an hour on a run than for my longer rides and runs.

So training is going really well. I am in the middle of an equipment dilemma. What a fun aspect of the whole tri world - in running my biggest equipment dilemma would probably be whether or not I should switch my shoes, or whether or not my shorts will chafe. In biking it is just at a whole new level. Right now I am having a raging internal debate about buying another bike. I really want a second bike as I love my current road bike but it's steel. Steel bikes are very cushy so you do not feel a lot of bumps in the road, but they are also really heavy. Depending on who you talk to, this is or isn't a big deal, but in my quest to get faster I figure if my equipment can help me instead of hindering me, it will probably make me somewhat faster. I also think that if I continue to train on my current bike, and then race and do my fast rides on my new bike, I will be smokin' fast!

Anyway, so the crux of the dilemma is - should I upgrade my road bike or venture into the world of tri bikes? At first I was convinced that I should get a tri bike. All the fast chicks seem to have them, and they are sweet looking. However, on the flip side, I would not ride a tri bike as much as I would ride a new road bike, and given the expense, maybe it makes sense to upgrade my road bike because I will get more hours of enjoyment out of my purchase. I have contemplated my existence and decided that the best way to decide is to go to a store where they carry both, and have a professional fit. I like to listen to experts on such things because I am obviously not an expert. So my fit is next Sunday, how exciting! I can't wait to get a sweet new bike.

In other training news I am just having a great time with tri training. I have successfully been running less and now I just need to subtract one more running day from my program. I have been improving my swimming quite a bit recently, I feel that consistency is really key to becoming a less spastic swimmer. And biking has also been going well. Last weekend we went out to Aurora (way East of Denver) for a two hour ride on the hills. I felt pretty good. Then Sunday I ran up in Boulder with my friend C. who is tapering for Boston. I am so excited for her! We had a great run. It was an easy pace but I was not used to running on so many hills so I was a bit sore. We ran about 14 miles.

Monday is my easy running day plus my training session in the gym, so that was fun - my friend M. and I share a personal trainer to reduce costs and have more fun than if we worked out on our own. Tuesday was a morning swim and a track workout (10 x 400) with my tri club. The weather wasn't great but I had a good time running with my tri club friend B. She is faster than me (she busted out a 5:06 half IM last year), so she pushes me to run faster than I would otherwise. Wednesday was an easy biking day. Yesterday I swam and ran and today is biking and swimming. It is ridiculous just the volume of training but there is enough variety that I don't mind it.

Anyway that is what's up in my neck of the woods!! I hope everyone in other, more temperate parts of the country, is enjoying springtime!

Posted by barb at 8:55 AM | Comments (1)

April 4, 2008

Training Away

So I am just hanging out, going to work, training, etc., etc. Life has not been too exciting recently which could be why I have not been blogging much! My 'less running' plan has been working really well. I still need to drop one more running day which I plan to do by May 1st or so. I am also amazed by how awesome my swimming feels when I consistently swim 3 times per week. Last night I went to my first swim workout with my tri club, and it was so much fun! We swam 2900 meters which for me is a whole heck of a lot. It was definitely good practice for swimmin in races, as we had as many as 8 people in our lane at a time which is very similar to being in an open water race situation (except that the water is clear, not brown :) ). My flip turns are pretty easy these days which is cool too. It is really fun having a sport where I can improve a lot. With running, I got to my threshold where I could train all the time and see really minor improvements. However, with cycling (my serious friends always tell me I should say 'cycling', not 'biking') and swimming, I feel that I improve almost every week. I guess I'll see how much I've improved when I start racing!

More to follow... I am off for a little brick workout. Then tomorrow I am biking for 2 hours plus, how fun!

Posted by barb at 2:49 PM | Comments (0)