Getting Smaller

Well, here I am again finally getting back into it. I’ve had to take a few months off do to a change in jobs. At my previous job I was able to spend quite a bit of time training and making my own schedule, when I accepted a new position at a different company not only did my schedule have to change but my commute to and from work averaged 3 1/2 to 4 hours a day on top of and average of 9 to 10 hour work days. needless to say this took up all of my time and I’ve been able to do nothing but work/drive/ and then relax as much as possible on the weekends. That started back in August just after the second Triathlon I did in Rhode Island. I got 4 or 5 training days in between that event and the Triathlon in Malibu and after that my hellish commute took over my life.

Thankfully I moved closer to work (68 miles closer to work!) and I’m now able to get back into the gym every other day. I don’t think it’s going to be a difficult as it was last March when I started out since I had not been in a gym for a few years at that point. Now it’s just a few months but shit…those few months took a toll on the body. I think I’ve gained all of the wieght back that I lost, it sure is a bitch getting older, you really don’t bounce back quite as fast. Metabolism slows WAY down and it take twice as long to make the gains I made when I was 26, 27, 28 years old.

so I got into the gym last weekend on Jan 5th. Cardio only on the Elliptical trainer for 20 minutes

Jan 7th, Monday Morning at 7:30 am I did - 25 minutes on the Elliptical trainer and an abdominal workout.

Late night Jan 8th 11 pm - 20 minutes on the Elliptical trainer, one set of back rows w/ 90 to 160 lbs. and one set of chest flys 70 to 140 lbs.

Looking forward to filling out the first form of the year for the first event. I’m going to take a look and see if there are any in late April or early May so i can get one in before the San Diego event.

Here’s what I did last moth total.

I’m already back into it full time again after the last event. I honestly feel like I spent a little too much time “lingering” and slowly getting back into it. I on;y have about 4 solid weeks to train now for the next one and i have to get some running in by this weekend to see how the shins feel.

Til then.

So, after relaxing all day Monday I started thinking about how I’m going to prepare for the next race. I realized what I need to do to get better but also noticed that everything i’ve done up to last Sunday had only prepped me for the bigger task ahead, not only maintaining my current physical abilities but if I want to improve my times and eventually carry someone across the line with me I’m going to have to step it up.

My Plan for the next race (Aug 4th- Block Island, Rhode Island) I’m going to try to ride to work twice a week starting next week and do lot’s of distance bricks on the weekends.  I’ll also make sure I’m swimming as much if not more than i was in the past 2 months and i might relax on hitting the gym but once a week. I need to spend that gym time on the bike, in the pool, and on the road running.

So, 3 days of rest after the last race seemed to do the trick. I rode to work this morning (16.5 miles) and will ride back home tonight. I felt real good coming up over the Hollywood hills this morning, much better than last time. So, I think as long as I keep riding this route to work I’ll be good. 16.55 miles in an hour flat, same as last time, but i felt much better about it.

Here are my split times. I’m very happy with the swim and feel pretty good about the other times.

CATEGORY

MALE CLYDES

PLACE

7/9

O’ALL

194/235

BIB#

1549

NAME

KEVIN CONNORS

CITY

SHERMAN OAKS

SWIM RANK

141

SWIM

0:10:18

T1

0:03:17

BIKE RANK

154

BIKE

0:47:28

T2

0:03:02

RUN RANK

207

RUN

0:42:00

The race was 1/4 mile swim, 13.2 mile bike ride, and a 3.6 mile  run. It was in San Diego on Sunday morning. I got there at 5:45am to set up and get my transition area put together. I did not enter the water to start until 7:55 am. 2 hours to just hang out and let the anticipation build even further. I made sure to hydrate continuously for the two days leading up to the race so, the worst part of the morning by far was having to go into a port-O-potty with bare feet because I had to pee 15 minutes before my start.

So short story for the race:

I placed 7th out of 9 in the Clydesdale class

194th out of 235 total entrants overall

My total time was 1:46:05

Long story:

My goal was 1:30:00 and I know that was an ambitious goal to have but it gave me something to shoot for on this first one. Now that I have a time I can work off of that.

Swim: I felt great when I was swimming but had issues with water filling up my left goggle. so every 10-15 strokes I had to do a modified breast/side stroke and get the water out of the goggle. This really had an effect on sighting the buoys and I felt blind in that eye once I got out of the water and into the transition area.

Transition: got everything off and on pretty quick (wet suit, stupid goggles, swim cap OFF - helmet, shoes-no socks, glasses, gloves, shirt with race number attached ON)  and felt like I did the best I could.

Bike: Got on the bike easy and then the first 6 miles of the 13 mile ride was ALL UP HILL! This was a little painful but I chugged all the way up and kept telling myself it’d be all better on the way down. 1/4 of the way down I though my back tire was getting flat (this had been a concern as I noticed that both tires were a little low when i set up the transition in the morning) so I contemplated stopping, then I looked at my speedometer and I had reached a top speed of 37 MPH, so I decided i had to check the tire for fear of taking a turn and loosing control. Tire was fine, and around the next turn I saw some poor bloody bastard being hauled away in an ambulance next to a slightly twisted bike, I was then patting myself on the back for being so cautious. Got off the bike and walked gingerly into the transition

Transition: Tired! pulled on socks, knee brace, sneakers, sucked down a sports drink, put on hat, grabbed a gel pack and ran out.

Run: Sucked = Shin Splints. But I powered through ‘em. I ended up walking and running all the way to the finish although I made sure to do the final mile all running. Surprisingly the shins are not feeling as bad as the knee is today.

Can’t wait for Block Island Tri on Aug 4th! Still going to go for a 1:30:00 time goal.

Talked to my friend who’ll be doing that race with me and we put a wager on it, looser buys beers that night for the other. Both of us knows how much the other can drink so we’ll both be training hard!

Holy crap! This Sunday is the first of my 3 Tri’s this summer. I wouldn’t be as nervous as I am but I have had a nagging case of Shin Splints for 2 weeks now, the pain is subsiding a little with the ice treatments so I’m not soooo worried about the race but, not going into it at 100% does taint the nerves a bit.

The other thing that’s getting to me is it’s Tuesday night and I have to pack for the race tonight as I”ll be at a conference Wed-Fri in San Diego, the good thing about this is that the race is also in San Diego so I’m just extending my stay down there. But having to pack now for the race on Sunday just makes me fel like I’m going to forget something. I guess as long as I have my Shoes, Bike, and Wet Suit everything else will fall into place and I can buy what i don’t have.

Anyway this is my week in San Diego.

• Wed- Fri conference
• Friday night Red Sox vs. Padres game (GO SOX!)
• Saturday set up for the race and chill at the beach
• Sunday Race Day!

I’ll be sure to post on Monday or Tuesday about the results and overall feelings about the training plans so far.

Also, last Sat when I was in the gym I weighed in at 227 lbs. It’s still coming off, ooo-rah!