Post-Race Training

Nine days ago was the Minnesota Triathlon (formerly known as the Lake Marion Triathlon). Here's what last week looked like after the race:

• SUNDAY (not pictured) was off. Rest. Healing after a hard race.

• MONDAY was a bunch of 200s in the pool and some PT legs. Nothing too dramatic for the swim being everything still felt "heavy" 2 days post-race: I averaged 2:56 for my 200s, keeping every 100 under 1:30.

• TUESDAY I got out for a ride to loosen up the legs (very little effort) and did some core.

• WEDNESDAY I did an easy run to make sure my legs still worked (they did) and had a good upper body workout.

• THURSDAY was another swim: that easy/nasty ladder swim that I like (100, 200, 300, 400, 300, 200, 100 plus 200 warm up and 200 cool down). And then a little core.

• FRIDAY I ran a bit harder with my boys in the stroller. (I'd call it an effort of 5 on my 1-7 scale.) We warmed up for a half mile, and then just ran "hard" for 4 miles (not quite tempo effort, but just "hard"). I averaged 6:23.5/mile for those middle 4 miles. The boys got a little chilly, so without breaking stride about 1.5 miles in, I reached down and got a blanket out of the back pouch on the stroller for them:

My view, running hard, with the boys covered up.


During our 2 mile cool down, Charlie spotted a porta potty and SUDDENLY
he had to pee. I swear he likes these things more than I do! #ItsInHisBlood
I need to start planning routes that DON'T have porta potties.


A few hours later, I drove them to Grandma's house! Yep, that was
2 weekends in a row that they were at (each) Grandma's house!

Remember, it was my decision to race the Minnesota Triathlon 9 days ago because my boys were at my in-laws. And this past weekend, they went to my folks along with their 2 cousins. AND MY WIFE WAS GONE FRIDAY THROUGH SUNDAY NIGHT AT HER SISTER'S, SO I HAD THE HOUSE TO MYSELF FOR 48 HOURS! (Along with a big "to do" list.)

• SATURDAY I planned on doing my longest ride of the year. I had no family commitments, so I could just take off whenever. I woke up at 6, did a few things, and took off around 7 for a ride.

Foggy start to my ride.

Only there was some drama 30 minutes later. Let my Instagram post from later in the day explain it:

Caption: "Bit of a hiccup on my long ride this morning. I was 12 miles in when my back wheel seized up and I nearly crashed. My chain somehow got lodged in my hub. Two guys stopped to try to help me, but there was no getting it unstuck. One of the guys lived nearby, so he went home and came back with a cassette wrench, and he took off my cassette so we could get the chain out. Thanks a bundle, stranger named Ned!! Got in another 30 miles (without being able to use my small chain ring) for my longest ride of the year."

Seriously, I nearly went down when my back wheel locked up, and one of the guys was surprised/impressed I stayed upright. And that chain was NOT going anywhere. When Ned came back with his cassette wrench as I was about to call a neighbor to get a ride, he smiled and said "you only call to get picked up from a ride if you're injured." It took him/us a bit to get the cassette back on because a little washer was a little torqued. But (as the Instagram post said) I got in another 30 miles after it was fixed.

87 barges (yes I counted) near downtown St. Paul in the Mississippi.


From wrestling with my chain, both hands looked like this once I got home.

I biked 42 miles with a 20.1 mph average which was my longest ride since this 43 miler FIVE YEARS AGO. And that ride was with an 18.5 mph average. (This recent ride was over 21 mph until around mile 30 where I started to tire more from having to stay in my large front chain ring because of my chain issue. And in the last 5 miles, I let my average slide another few tenths as I was going along River Road nice and slowly with other cyclists [a good way to force me to cool down - get stuck in "traffic"].) After a new chain and a derailleur adjustment, she seems as good as new!

• SUNDAY (yesterday) was going to be an easy long run. I didn't want to over-do it on my legs after my long ride the day before. I told myself not to worry about pace and just try to get in around 8 miles. Well, after a half mile, my legs actually felt pretty good! I think a 20 minute hot epsom salt bath post-ride the day before really helped! I ended up going more at a "moderate" pace and everything felt good! I went 8.40 miles in 1:00:49, which is 7:14 pace. (My mile splits were 7:24, 7:11, 7:08, 7:06, 7:06, 6:55, 7:25, and 7:17.)

I had done a number of 7 to 7.6 mile runs since April, but this was my first over 8, and my LONGEST in 17 months! (Since just before being put in "the boot" last spring.) This run also nudged me over 20 miles of running for the week, which is the arbitrary line where I FEEL like I'm actually "running" (and that was just the 2nd week all year that was over 20 miles). Time to take it a bit easy for a few days, and then keep building mileage for the TC 10 Mile! Hopefully I can have a few 20+ mile weeks coming up!