LA Triathlon approaches

Well, now less than a week out from the Test of All Tests, the LA Triathlon. It's going to be tough, no question...I've been wondering if I've really been putting in the hours lately. Last week was a pretty good training week: some fast swimming (100 meters x 16 on the 2 minutes) followed by 20 minutes of bike intervals; speed work on the bike and on foot Monday; the LA Tri Club ocean swim/run brick on Wednesday; a long swim on Friday--the SCAQ 2350 meter workout, wherein I was able to keep my 150 meter pace at 2:30 for repeat after repeat, finishing with one sprint at 2:20. That actually turned into something of a breakthrough session--that 2:30 pace was solid, and makes me think I should be able to finish the .9 miles in 25 minutes or less...which would be great. Finally, Sunday, yesterday, I did the a bike-run brick on the actual course...slow on the bike--took me 1:40 or so, but there were lots of stoplights and the like slowing us down. My 10K time was about 50 minutes, again with stoplights and waiting and the like, so that was relatively encouraging. All told, I think I'm on track to finish AROUND 2:30--of course, I'm not including transitions and the inevitable fatigue. But hey, it sure would be nice to finish in that time zone in my first Olympic tri. Then next year I can seriously set my sights on breaking 2:20--a serious accomplishment for a triathlete.

After the brick workout, Eric Skelley, who also did the brick, asked Robert Keating from TriLab if he could borrow some racing wheels from the store, and after negotiating with Eric for a bit he asked if I wanted some. I said, sure, and he began quizzing me on my race preparation...I realized after a bit that he was asking me because he didn't want me dragging my butt across the bike finish line at around 4 hours with two TRIATHLON LAB disc wheels proudly spinning on my bike...

This week: tapering hell. I feel kind of shot today after the brick yesterday; I'll probably swim, easily, this morning, maybe just hit the treadmill for a few minutes, and then come home. Keep it under an hour or so. Robert recommended doing workouts that approximate the time I expect to spend in each event...so swim workouts of less than a half-hour, run workouts of 50 minutes, and bike workouts of about 1:15. Don't really know how I'll make it happen...but it's going to be an easy week!

This race FOR SURE feels like the culmination of it all. All 8-9 months of training wrapped up in this event. I feel pretty good! And excited. Doing the course yesterday felt good--it's really quite cool to bike and run by all those LA landmarks: Miracle Mile, MY HOUSE (of course!), Venice Beach, The Walk of Fame, Little Armenia, The Disney Concert Hall, Staples' Center, all the government buildings, LA River Bridge! So bloody cool. Hey, it might need to be a yearly thing for me! Shooting for 2:20.

All right. Off for a relaxing swim.

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