Monthly 1.5K swim TT

Did my first 1.5K swim TT this AM for the 2018 season. My time was 31:16 which is 1:54/100 yds...pretty slow, even for me.   I really lost it in the final 500 meters. Once your arms turn to lead, there is no going back! Looking back at my times from the spring, 2017, it appears like my best 1.5K was 30:10 or 1:50/100 yds, a minute faster than today and 3 sec faster per 100. That is a good goal for now, but I would like to get under 30 minutes and that seems possible. 

A Life Without Limits

Just finished reading Chrissie Wellington's book "A Life Without Limits".  Wow, really inspiring and without a doubt the best sports autobiography I've read!  Plus, she wrote it without a co-author.  What an amazing life and story.  Makes you want to go out and take on the toughest and longest races and enjoy every minute of it! 

Duathlon Nationals training starts this week!

Ok, the marathon is over and there is nothing scheduled between now and the Duathlon Nationals in April.  My goal is to do as well as possible at that race!  to be more specific, I'm hoping for a top 3 finish. To get there, I'm going to focus the next 3 months on biking and running with more time spend on the biking.  Lots of interval training and some bricks thrown in there.  I'm also going to keep up with swimming at least 1-2 x/week so that I don't regress.  My secondary goal is the Tri Nationals in August.  I may schedule a few races before the end of this year just to keep it real like a 10K or half marathon.  Then in January and February I'll do the indoor triathlon series and maybe an outdoor 10K or biking TT.  Let the training begin! 

Chicago marathon 2017

The marathon didn't go well for me. My time of 3:16 was not what I was hoping for and the race was difficult from start to finish.  Mile 19-23 were particularly bad with my hamstring cramping and throwing my stride off.  I'm just glad its over!  That was my 14th and maybe last Chicago Marathon.  The thrill of finishing just isn't there for me any more.  On to the 2018 duathlon and triathlon seasons!   

Oh God! Race Time

Ok, the marathon is only 4 days away... I'm very apprehensive!  I know my rep as a sandbagger, but this time I'm sincere: I'm going to fail!  This has been my worst marathon training EVER! Last year wasn't great, but I ran all of my training runs as a substantially faster pace. This year, every training run has been a slow slog. I fear this will be my slowest marathon ever. Also, the memories of last year and the pain in those last 6 miles is still in my head!