Racing Tomorrow on Under-Trained Legs

The Clif-Notes version:
1. I have no reason for not swimming more right now!
2. ONE bike ride in the last 3 weeks? Ouch.
3. Two runs since my twisted ankle. Well, we'll see what the race holds.

So, I'm going into tomorrow's Waseca Triathlon with a few "excuses." Here's what my training has looked like lately:

As a teacher, I HATE excuses. But I'll give you my 3 excuses now:

EXCUSE #1: I have a 7 week old child.

REALITY FOR EXCUSE #1: Pharmie is being AWESOME and actually TELLING me to get out for some of my workouts! She's caught in a tough spot where she'd like to be training more, but she just can't quite yet; she's working her way back up. And she's being great about making sure I get out even though she can't always do the same. I just need to make sure that I have the proper workout planned for the proper time of the day so I can jump out of the house on a moments notice when it's finally the "right time." ("The right time" meaning everyone's napping or being fed or going for a walk.)


EXCUSE #2: July 17th through 21st I was living on a small island in WI while teaching a photography workshop. Yeah, if I weren't the one involved, I'd be sure I was lying. On the 18th is when I twisted my ankle on a trail run on the island. As you can see from my training log screenshot, I did a short open water swim later that day, some strength work on the 19th, and nothing the next couple of days.

REALITY FOR EXCUSE #2: I could have done more OWSs. And I could have done my leg exercises in the evening after class.


EXCUSE #3: I was on a family vacation from the 23rd through the 27th.

REALITY FOR EXCUSE #3: I should have done an OWS! How is it that I was staying on a cabin 40 feet from a lake for 5 days, and I couldn't find time for a freaking OWS? For what it's worth, I DID do some other good workouts:

• On the 24th, I did my first run since I had twisted my ankle the week before. But bigger than that was that IT WAS MY FIRST RUN WITH HENRY IN HIS STROLLER! Here he is asleep during the run as I'm actually running with him:

Around mile 2 of the run


Meeting Pharmie out on her run as we were heading back


A passed-out little guy after 4.4 miles

I had NO IDEA what pace I was running being I had the stroller for the first time and I was running in unfamiliar territory. I ran at a "solid" pace, but not too fast. I mapped it out using mapmyrun afterwards, and I found out that I covered 4.4 miles in 32:12, which was 7:19 per mile.

• On the 25th, I had that long and fast bike ride that I posted about earlier this week. Oh, but did I mention that this ride has been my ONLY ride since the LTF Triathlon 3 weeks ago? Crap. Super crap.

• On the 26th, I did some good strength and core work, and then did a hard tempo run. I first did my "fatherly duty" of calming down my crabby son on a 40 minute walk while it was drizzling:

I LOVE the clear "window" on our BOB stroller!

After that walk, I quick got changed, thought about stretching (but didn't have time to actually stretch), and I headed out for a hard 5.2 mile run out-and-back from our cabin in Alexandria. I made it "out" in 17:21, and "back" in 15:29. I ran an average of 6:20 per mile, and it was a KILLER workout.


So, how do these more "minimal" workouts make me feel going into tomorrow's sprint triathlon?

Well, not too bad, actually. I knew that having a little guy in my life would put my training on the back-burner for a bit, and I know that my race won't be THEE best ever. But it should still be OK. And I'm just going to go "balls to the wall" and have a good time.

The swim is only 400 meters, and my swimming has always sucked, so that's that.

The bike is 14 miles (out-and-back), and even though I haven't "time trialed" this year and have only biked 163 miles over the last 2 months (yikes), I still feel like I can have an OK ride. I think.

The run is where things could get interesting. It's a longer run for a sprint (4.4 miles) which drew me to this race initially last year. Running is my best event, so having a "longer-than-normal run" allowed me to catch a lot of people and finish 5th overall. (I'll be thrilled with top-10 this year.) But with my lack of workouts (and therefore "lack of endurance"), the run could get a bit ugly. I want to go hard, so I might end up having to walk for a moment. I'm not above that. Actually, I'd rather go TOO HARD and have to walk for a bit than go TOO EASY and hold too much back.

Oh, and speaking of last year, it was THIS RACE last year where I first debuted the "tutti frutti" shorts!! It's the 1 year anniversary of my shorts! Here's the first photo (from Sean) at the race last year of me and the tutti fruttis:

Off to the races! Back with a report next week, and a few more photos of Henry on our family vacation. Happy weekend!!