It's not easy to say why I felt compelled to blog about my experiences as I train for my first ever triathlon. I've always enjoyed keeping an active log of my exercise endeavors so I suppose this is a natural extension of that. In any case, if you are actually reading this, thanks!
I'm planning on chronicling my training and competition in my first ever triathlon. That happens to be the Without Limits Summer Open Sprint on May 22. It's the first of about five events I plan on doing this year.
I'm planning on chronicling my training and competition in my first ever triathlon. That happens to be the Without Limits Summer Open Sprint on May 22. It's the first of about five events I plan on doing this year.
So where do things stand with me? Well....
I'm nearing the end of what I would call a pre-training period. Since October I've been consistently swimming, riding and running to get myself in some kind of basic condition to start what I think is a fairly aggressive training schedule. I've also set some stretch goals for myself in the hopes of finishing with some respectability. We'll see if that works!
Today's activity was a very enjoyable bike ride along the Sulphur Gulch and Cherry Creek bike trails here in Parker. I had planned on doing just 15 miles, but curiosity got the better of me as I neared Cottonwood Drive. I know there's been some expansion on the trail since last I rode this way, but I didn't know how much.
To my pleasant surprise, I was able to ride well past Broncos Parkway before reaching the 10 mile turnaround point. If not for the distance I was willing to ride, I suspect I could have gone much further. Having a great network of trails around is a real plus. I'm not comfortable riding on the roads--mainly because I don't trust drivers not to hit me! Sad but true, I just don't think the average driver is paying enough attention to notice the cyclist on the side of the road. Fortunately, I'm able to do a lot of riding without having very much interaction with cars.
As for what kind of equipment I'm using, it's still pretty rudimentary at this point. My bike is a Trek 7200 Multitrack. It is not a triathlon bike. In fact its not even a respectable road bike. What is is is the bike I got about eight years ago when I wanted something to ride around. For now, it suits my needs. In the next two to three months, I am looking to purchase a new road bike. More on that in future posts.
I'm running on a good but aging pair of Brooks Addiction 8. They'll need to be replaced soon after the first of the year. No doubt with another pair of Addiction since those have always been best to my feet.
I also do all of my bike and run training with a Garmin 305 which I think is one of the best GPS watches you can have. I'm a bit of a tech geek so I love gadgets like that and I love the data they can produce. In the course of the next few weeks I'm hoping to add a cadence sensor (for the bike) and a footpod for treadmill runs. I'm also planning on sharing a lot of the data I generate from my various training activities.
For today, I can tell you that my slow self and slow bike completed the 20 mile ride in 1 hour, 20 minutes at an average riding speed of 15.1 mph. This caps a pretty good week of training that saw two runs totaling seven miles, two days of strength training and a 30 minute swim.
I'm off to Florida on Tuesday where I expect to be able to run but the biking and swimming will be on hiatus until after the first of the year. I'm hoping to be able to post while I'm on that trip and include some of the blog's first pictures as well.
Once again, thanks for reading and talk at you soon.
PJ
As for what kind of equipment I'm using, it's still pretty rudimentary at this point. My bike is a Trek 7200 Multitrack. It is not a triathlon bike. In fact its not even a respectable road bike. What is is is the bike I got about eight years ago when I wanted something to ride around. For now, it suits my needs. In the next two to three months, I am looking to purchase a new road bike. More on that in future posts.
I'm running on a good but aging pair of Brooks Addiction 8. They'll need to be replaced soon after the first of the year. No doubt with another pair of Addiction since those have always been best to my feet.
I also do all of my bike and run training with a Garmin 305 which I think is one of the best GPS watches you can have. I'm a bit of a tech geek so I love gadgets like that and I love the data they can produce. In the course of the next few weeks I'm hoping to add a cadence sensor (for the bike) and a footpod for treadmill runs. I'm also planning on sharing a lot of the data I generate from my various training activities.
For today, I can tell you that my slow self and slow bike completed the 20 mile ride in 1 hour, 20 minutes at an average riding speed of 15.1 mph. This caps a pretty good week of training that saw two runs totaling seven miles, two days of strength training and a 30 minute swim.
I'm off to Florida on Tuesday where I expect to be able to run but the biking and swimming will be on hiatus until after the first of the year. I'm hoping to be able to post while I'm on that trip and include some of the blog's first pictures as well.
Once again, thanks for reading and talk at you soon.
PJ
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