Cardio Fitness Testing

I went in for a Cycling and Running VO2 test with Texas Triple Threat yesterday afternoon.  I was very encouraged by the results.

I’ve been running for few years but only seriously biking for a few months.  That definitely showed up in the results.  I have a lot less control on the bike but an excellent base on the run.  I was pleasantly surprised by my performance on the run.  But it makes sense because I started out slow and have been gradually increasing my speed over the past few years.  I’ve heard it said, “It’s all about the base.”  That is so true.

So what do I do with this information?  The best part is that I get to increase my speed on my run workouts.  I need to do steady state workouts at a HR between 153 and 162.  I’ve been doing my long and easy runs in the mid- to high-140s between 11:00 and 11:30 per mile pace.  I should be able to do those workouts at a 10:00 or faster pace going forward.  At the same time, I need to pull back on my running and get more bike workouts into my schedule, as well as swimming and strength training.  I also need to slow down on the bike and work on building my base in that discipline for a while.  This next week, I’ll put together my new training plan and have a consultation with Coach KW to go over it.

I highly encourage you to go in for this testing.  I did mine with Texas Triple Threat, but there are other groups such as PlayTri that will test you, as well.  It will help you determine where you are fitness-wise and what your training schedule should look like.  Who knows?  You may be in better shape than you thought.

jb

The Hardest Part of My Triathlon

Since I completed my first triathlon a little over a week ago, a couple of people have asked me, “What was the hardest part?”  It’s been difficult to answer because, in reality, it wasn’t really that hard! 

Thinking about it more, I’ve come up with two reasons for this.  First of all, I’ve been training for several weeks for the event.  The hard part came before the race as I took time to get in the pool or get on my bike or go for a run.  Those early mornings and busy Sunday afternoons paid off.  All the reading up on nutrition information and incorporating that into my diet and pre-race routine benefitted me.

The second reason is that I feel like I could have pushed myself harder.  Being my first tri, I really didn’t know what the actual experience would be like.  My goal was to get out there and finish in a respectable time.  I actually set my goal time at under 1 hour and 30 minutes.  I wasn’t timing myself during the race.  I just watched my heart rate on the bike and did negative splits on the run based on my breathing.

As I approach my next triathlon tomorrow and future events, the hard part now is figuring out how to balance my training to include enough of all three disciplines as well as strength training.  More on than in another post.

jb

Cycling Events Calendar

I should point out a REALLY good calendar resource for cycling events in the North Texas area. Bicycles, Inc. has a great calendar that includes weekly rides from their various locations and others. They also have upcoming races, rides, and rallys. The cool thing is that they include triathlons and duathlons. If you ride a bike in the events, it's on their calendar!

That's how I found out about the Cleburne Ironhorse Sprint tri. After the Frisco-to-Fort Worth MS 150 bike ride--actually on Day 2, which got canceled due to the threat of bad weather--I was like, "What's next?" I checked out of few other calendars but they weren't very complete. When I saw the one at Bicycles, Inc. and saw the triathlon events, I knew I had found what I was looking for.

Go check it out and find your next ride.

jb

Inaugural Post

I wanted to start this blog before my first triathlon but blogging is just one of those things that takes a lot of effort for me. So here it is: The first post.

I am now officially a triathlete.

I completed my first triathlon yesterday morning in Cleburne, TX. The 2nd Annual Cleburne Ironhorse Sprint Triathlon. What a great feeling! It was a whole lot of fun and very neat being in the midst of people of all ages and fitness with one thing in common: a love for that which we call "triathlon". What makes the triathlon unique is the fact that it is truly an individual test of fitness. Everyone there has different strengths and weakness across a fairly broad range of physical efforts. This is exaggerated when the swim start is staggered. You really don't have any gauge on your performance other than what you know of yourself. You can't look at the person on the bike in front of you and go after them with a whole lot of confidence that it will be worth the extra effort. The aspect of racing against others is quite far removed from the time you start to the time you finish.

At least that is my view from a little behind the middle of the pack and as a noob.

As far as results go my chip time was 1:28:22. My splits were as follows: 300 yard swim in 5:31, T1 3:30, 15.2 mile bike in 50:07 (18.2 mph avg), T2 1:12, 5K run 27:59 (~9:00 pace). I finished 117th out of 246 and 24th out of 29 in the Male 35-39 age group, a highly competitive one I might add. I'm happy with my performance but feel I can do better. That will come with experience and increased fitness over time. There are quite a few "free" seconds and possibly minutes I could reclaim in all the segments, especially in T1.

I could probably go on for quite a bit about the experience but if you're really interested, you can read much more detail about the experience on my race log over at BeginnerTriathlete.com.

My thanks go to all of my good friends and family who provided support and inspiration. This includes texafornia over at Zen and the Art of Triathlon for his super cool podcasts as well as holisticguru and her awesome nutrition info. Extra special thanks go out to Jack Weiss and the team at Ironhead Race Productions for putting on a great race that was well planned and executed.

Next up: Day 2 of the 14th Annual Metroplex Sprint Triathlon over at Joe Pool Lake in Grand Prairie, TX. This one will be my first open water swim. Should be fun!

jb