Great Fun In The Sun

So Austin selected components and built me a road bike that I could use for Triathlon racing, general road use and potentially go to Ted when after I wipe out, breaking multiples bones and retire from racing --pass it on. It's based on a Cannondale CAAD9 frame, aluminum with a carbon fiber fork. I feel good on it and it fits like a glove.

The Pterydactyl Tri this past Wed was a rerun of the Tri at Island Lake a month ago, except this time I was nine minutes faster overall, second in my age group instead of third and four minutes faster on the bike for the major part of my improvement. Really a blast. Chris, Liz, John Zach and Leah came to watch me compete again too, which was great fun. Two different guys came up to me after the race and asked me where I got my smokin' hot bike.

Marathon training has suffered, but oh well. Gotta work in a long run around a trip to cousin Bill's Wampler's Lake party tomorrow. Very hot and very muggy these days. Thank goodness for AC for sleeping and today's babysitting.

Balancing the Training

The melody for the theme of this summer as far as my training goes seems to be chords of the usual marathon training program spliced with additional riffs of triathlon swimming, cycling, laces and races.
Last Sunday, I tried a brick workout, doing a lap around Kensington-plus on the bike for 12.4 miles, then a 3.1 run. The bike ride was slow enough that the run was pretty much down near 7 minutes per mile and progressively negative and fully caffeinated I was feeling pretty good about my fitness. Monday involved just a bit of a swim after work (the day job still being a real obstacle to training). Tues, Wed and Thurs were just 3 tough miles each in the early morning heat and humidity. Fri--child care- then Sat----a 15K race and today (Sun) a sprint triathlon at Clark Lake down near the Irish Hills. Neither of the weekend races were all out, but an attempt to just do some training, enjoy the moment and not make the upcoming Tri on this coming Wednesday (Pterydactyl at Island Lake) impossible to do.
The Tri today included a first transition time of over5 minutes between the swim and bike (including more sunscreen) which triggered a drive to Running Fit for some Quik elastic laces. My bike time was slow but on the horizon, Austin is shipping me a new road bike that he has hand built for me, which hopefully I can use in the next race on Wednesday. Absolutely can't hurt. Here's a picture. I know----------- really awesome!