Yesterday, because the triathlon class instructor was on vacation, my coworker and I did a practice triathlon on our own. We took spinning bikes and set them up right next to the pool with all our transition clothes (bike shoes, running shoes, socks, singlet, water bottles, towels). I wore my triathlon shorts and athletic bra (I don't have the wetsuit I'm renting yet) for all three stages, and also wore the singlet for biking and running.
500 yards of swimming took me just over 10 minutes. I can't honestly recall the exact time when I got out of the pool. :( Still, it was roughly a minute per 50 yard lap, so I was happy with that pace.
20 minutes on the spinning bikes. We should have ridden longer, but we were time constrained by LUNCH. :) I could have pushed myself harder during this stage. :/ This was also the first time I ever used my new biking shoes.
2.9 mile run = two laps around the complex. After half an hour of physical effort already, and with personal stress tying my stomach in tight nauseating knots, I maintained a 9:18 minute mile pace for the first half and was somewhat slower in the second half for an average pace of 9:39 minutes per mile. I even sprinted the last quarter mile.
I'm very pleased with these results. I feel much more confident that I'll finish the race strong. That's all I want: to finish strong.
Today: Resisted doughnuts three times at breakfast. I was looking at them, trying to justify eating half or a quarter of one, and eventually resisted. Also, did the noon-time spinning class at the gym, which was GREAT and I sweated buckets and all, but maybe wasn't a great move for my "off day." :) The screws holding the cleat to one of my bike shoes worked themselves off at the end of the class and I had to spend ten minutes with a gym employee getting it out of the pedal. :/ I pushed myself hard during that class, though, which is great for building my stamina in general, and my biking stamina specifically.
3 comments:
If you haven't spent a lot of time on SPD's before the race, just make absolutely sure that you can stop, and get out of them on the bike on a grassy/soft area *BEFORE* the race. Like, well before the race. And then also, that you can pull up, as well as push down while you pedal. This greatly increases your efficiency, but also uses muscles you probably haven't trained, if you haven't been using the shoes for a while...
Thanks! I haven't been getting ANY time on my actual bike, which is bad bad bad. Joe is going to loan me his aero bars, and I'm going to bring my bike to work so I can ride it for my workouts there. I need to get used to those bars and the SPDs _right_now_.
I have been spending time on the spinner bikes with SPDs and, as you said, discovering all these new muscles for pulling up. I can already tell how much faster these shoes/pedals are going to make me! (And I'm again so grateful for having years of weightlifting experience so that even as I learn all these new motions my muscles aren't my limiting factor. As ever, that's my lungs. :/ )
Oh, and WHAT ARE YOU DOING reading my blog in Paris? *smack*
There's a limited amount I can walk before my knee implodes. That amount is 6 hours per day.
Since we have internet at the apartment we're at, it's not like we're hanging out at an internet cafe. We're regaining our strength to go eat dinner, which is gonna be nothing at all like your most recent post. :D
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