Welland: Post race

So what have I been up to since I finished my first triathlon?

Um...

Yeah, that's a half iron distance tri. 2k swim, 90k bike, 21.1k run.

WHAT HAVE I DONE???

I've been thinking about this for a while, from back last fall when I decided I was going to pursue triathlon this year. Granted, my original thoughts were roughly along the lines of OH HELL NO.

But my thoughts on the subject gradually changed along the way. The main sticking point, of course, being that whole business of having to swim 2 kilometers, which even 4 months ago seemed like an insanely ridiculously silly sort of thing to be thinking about doing. But now that I can easily knock out 2k in the pool, and since I've rapidly become pretty comfortable with that whole open water swim thing,it is on like Donkey Kong.

Wednesday night open water swim PB. SO CLOSE TO 2k.

Back in the fall I did a 100k ride with Nicole and Sam, and at that point I wondered about the wisdom of ever doing a 70.3 - I mean, I barely wanted to walk anywhere after that ride, much less run a half marathon. But my winter of training really built a solid base - I did 100k at the Ride for Heart a few weeks ago and although I wasn't exactly looking for my running shoes at the end, I could see that running would have been theoretically possible.

Possible if it wasn't for the pouring rain and the fact I couldn't feel my feet. My clothes were literally dripping when I changed after the ride.

In addition to building a really solid bike base over the winter, training for ATB has left me feeling like a much stronger runner on far fewer miles per week than I ever could have predicted. And since biking and swimming are sucking up so much of my workout time, that's a good thing! I know with my base, I can put in a really solid summer of training and be ready to really give this race my best effort. I'm looking forward to the challenge - to a large extent I prefer the training/buildup to the actual racing part, and this one is going to require some serious training!

Big thanks to this guy, too - it's not always easy balancing the schedules of two parents who work full time jobs, both want to work out 10+ hours per week, and 2 kids who aren't yet old enough to be left home alone. But we pull it off, even if it often involves a lot more getting up at 4:30 am than either of us really enjoys.

I've got a few short tris coming up in July & August to use in the buildup as practice, and I've worked out what I think is a pretty solid plan to get me through this strong and healthy.

I have goals. Most of which involve getting faster in all three disciplines.

I will, of course, be using Run Less Run Faster for my half marathon run training, with some modifications suggested by Coach Zindine. And the good guys at Trainer Road were kind enough to answer a few questions via email (thanks Trevor!) so I'm set for my bike plan as well (although I'm using that more as a rough guide - given the work/family stuff some changes and modifications will be inevitable).

Obligatory post long run #selfie I have no real reason to include except I think they take away my blogger license if I don't meet my selfie quota.

On the swim, I'll be aiming to get in the water three times a week, with at least one per week being open water if I can manage it. And one swim including (gulp) intervals. The 50m outdoor pool near my house is now open for the summer, which seems like a good place to start throwing in some fast 100 metres to try and improve my swim speed a bit. I've now been told by three separate people that my swim stroke is 'very smooth', although frankly I'd trade smooth for faster!

I have a feeling this pool won't be this empty all summer.

So, here we go. 13 weeks to my first half iron distance tri. This is going to be fun!

Foxy the bike and I met up with an actual fox on our ride on Saturday. Feels like a good omen.

(Not sure I will do weekly training updates, but maybe bi-weekly, for all 3 of you out there who don't follow me on Daily Mile or Strava)