Freethinker ~ Freerunner

Race Details
Swim 400 meters

Bike 12 miles

Run 2 miles

This was my first Tri and I had blast.  I learned that swimming 400 meters during a race is much harder than swimming 400 in training.  I have much work to do in the pool if I am to get competitive in Tri. 

The biking was a lot of fun, but the 6 miles back was into the wind and on the hills.  'Brutal' was the word most people have been using to describe it. 

I felt a serious stomach cramp develop about two miles into the bike portion of the race.  It stayed with me throughout the rest of the race.  I think it took about 1 to 2 minutes off of my run time.  

I'm looking forward to my next Tri.  I'm probably going to join a training group so I can get better.  

Finish time:  1:10:06

Swim:  8:24

T1: 2:40

Bike:  43:34

T2: 1:46

Run:  13:44

I ran 3 x 1600 repeats at 6:30 pace with about 1:30 rest in between.  I opened with 1 warm up mile and one cool down mile at 8:26 and 8:19 respectively.  

Splits: 

6:26

6:30

6:28

I feel like I'm getting a handle on my tempo runs.  Hal Higdon says to run easy for 10 to 15 minutes followed by gradual increases in pace.  The hardest running should come about two thirds into the workout.  He suggest holding the peak speed for only about a minute or two.  The suggested speed near the middle is 10k pace.  During this workout I peaked at 6:49, which is probably slightly slower than my projected 10k pace.  I held the 6:49 pace for a full mile rather than only a few minutes. 

I going to run an easy 6 tomorrow just to keep the blood pumping.  On Saturday I'm going to run 5 miles at my race pace of 6:52.  

7:53

7:41

7:11

7:04

7:02

6:49

7:51

Since I missed my easy run on Monday and Wednesday for a total of six miles lost, I decided to use my rest day today to make up the six.  I ran at an easy pace of 8 minute miles.  It was a warm and humid 68 degrees.  I'm starting more and more to question the judgement of holding a half marathon so close to June when the average temperatures and humidity might be higher.  

I'm am looking forward to my 5 mile pace run tomorrow.  

Yes!  I needed to run 5 miles today at my goal race pace of 6:52 per mile.  I finished with an average pace of 6:38.  I ready for my 2 hour run tomorrow with an accelerated finish.  I'm going to see if I can get my pace down close to 7:00 for the last half hour.  I think that my fast run today will help me tomorrow.  That's the theory I'm going with in my own head anyway.  

Today's Splits:

6:28

6:45

6:37

6:48

6:38