The only time I don't struggle with getting to the pool is when I've arranged to meet Tanya there at 5:30am and I get out of bed at 4:45am and make it all the way to Plymouth while still half asleep... before realizing I have to swim... (thankfully the nice policeman down the road from Lifetime decided I wasn't worth the hassle of a ticket on the one occasion he caught me rolling through the stop sign).
But getting up before 5am became a bit too much so we've recently been swimming in the evenings - which is okay when I am sticking to a routine but otherwise I tend to find an excuse not to swim. It's my weakest tri event but also the one I am least likely to improve on even with dedicated training. Still, I do want to make another 1:20 swim at Ironman this year so I've been trying to make it to the pool at least twice a week since January. Mostly I've made it but this evening after my massage I was definitely planning on heading straight home until I saw a text from Tanya and decided since I was just down the road from the gym and had my gear in the car I really had no excuse!
And as always, once I got in the water and got moving I was glad I'd made it... ended up doing 3200 yards which is the most I've done since Madison last Sept! I was taking it quite easy - with regular chat breaks to catch up with Tanya and Karen - and I actually enjoyed it...
Speaking of Ironman I decided on a goal for Arizona. I like symmetrical numbers so 11:22 it is! Quite a leap from the 12hrs in Madison and mostly it means improving my bike time as well as a few minutes off my run. Here's how it breaks down:
1:20 swim
0:10 T1
6:00 bike
0:10 T2
3:42 run
It's a wee bit ambitious but sure that's never stopped me before! I think I can make the run but it depends how hard I push it on the bike. I expect to be in much better biking shape this year and the course is more forgiving than Madison. And obviously having paid a pretty price for my fancy new tri bike I fully expect to have a great ride :)
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3 comments:
If you go for the 1:5:3 time ratio of swim:bike:run, you might do the run even faster! How are you on the bike to run transition?
Have you figured out the bike cost to minutes saved ratio?
I hope the run doesn't take me 3 times the swim as I will never get out of the water in under 1:15...
I am cushioning the transitions a fair bit - I should get T2 down to under 4 mins but I don't know the layout yet so the swim exit to transition area could take a few mins...
oh the bike is worth every cent already!
Helen, great to see you blogging and that you have ARIZONA on your race calendar. I wish I could take you on some trails, but your have bigger fish to fry when you come out.
I really enjoy swimming. I swim with a Masters group here in AZ. Swimming is a way of life out here.
Looking forward to seeing your progress via blogs.
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