A spot opened up for the Azalea Triathlon in Wilmington, NC. My parents-in-law and awesome wubby were game so I signed up. So, two weeks from today, I will be racing my first triathlon. The Azalea Triathlon is a sprint tri (300 yard pool swim, 10 mile bike, and 5K run) so I think I should focus on speed next week. So far I have really tried to build up my endurance with loooooooooong bike rides and even looooooooooooooooonger runs.
After last weekend's 10-Miler, I took Monday mostly off. I did 3,200 yds in the pool and decided to give the legs a rest. On Tuesday, I started the day with 25 miles on the gym bike. In the afternoon I went to the indoor track to run a few miles. My legs were still a bit sore and stiff from Sunday so I did not have a plan. I hesitated between long and steady and short and fast until the end of my first mile (10:30). After that mile, I kept going faster and finished mile 2 in 09:50. I walked one lap and tried for a fast third mile which I did in 08:45. Even though I knew I was on the right pace for that time (75sec/lap) I was very excited since it was my fastest mile to date (yeah, I know, for most people this would be a slow marathon pace, but I was happy with it!). I walked two more laps, and then ran 3 more slowly. I started one more fast mile but after 1 lap I gave up because my left leg was hurting like crazy.
On Wedneday, I did another 22 miles on the stationary bike with a 2 mile run thrown in the middle. I was going to finish with another 2 mile run but since my leg was still very stiff I decided not to risk it.
On Thursday I went for a morning swim (2,600 yds) and an afternoon run, again at the indoor track. This time I did 6 slow miles with the purpose of keeping my heart rate low. It worked! My mile splits were 10:48, 10:32, 10:40, 11:15, 10:30 and 10:07. My average heart rate was 156 and maximum heart rate was 167. My left leg/hip was still very tight and I was very careful not to hurt myself. I am really focused on not getting hurt. I think I am doing great so far, but there is this little nagging voice in my head singing "overtraining, overtraining, overtraining...".
On Friday, I took it *very* easy, at least intensity-wise. I did 20 minutes on the elliptical and 10 minutes on the rower. Then I plunked myself on the stationary bike and biked until I hit 2 hours. I kept the intensity fairly low. My heart rate was around 130-135 most of the time. I think that helped my legs recover from all the running.
So today I was thinking of taking the day off. However, since my legs were feeling so good for the first time in a week, I decided to go to the indoor track for... another 10 miles. I don't think I will be doing that again. 70 laps. Inside. In the curves, the sides of the track are elevated (I guess for the fast people) which makes it very uncomfortable to run. They do alternate the running direction on Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday vs. Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. Sadly, this week I went running on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. The consecutive clockwise running might explain why my left leg is hurting. However, I did manage to run my 10 miles in 1:45:39. And since each mile is only 6.85 laps, my 70 laps were actually 10.2 miles... And I did the last mile in 09:10... Go me!!!
Now I just need to work on getting fast(er) in the next two weeks, practice transitions, and I will be ready for the Azalea Triathlon!!!
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