SWim bIKe rUN

I’m at work today planning on doing a 30 lap swim at Idaho Athletic after I get off.  Then out of nowhere the lack of motivation bug hits me.  I really don’t want to stop at the gym on the way home but one rule that I’ve learned, when you don’t feel like working out do it anyway for 10 minutes.  If at that time you still don’t feel like working out go ahead and call it a day.

Andrew came in my office today right before he was leaving work to talk a little about our training.  We are both training for the Boise Half Ironman and it was swim night for both of us.  He was heading to Gold’s Gym to do laps for a mile.  I got out a little late but thought I would check out the gym at Gold’s instead of Idaho Athletic Club where I usually go since I knew he was going to be there.

I got there at about the time Andrew had finished his 20th lap.  The first 5 laps felt grueling, the second 5 a little better and by the time I hit 15 I was actually feeling really good.  As you can see, I hit 10 minutes and kept going.

I’m just a beginner but I’ve never liked to do swim training in the pool.  Down, stop, turn around, up, stop, turn around and etc.  I just get bored.  I love swimming in the open water but the pool has never really been my cup of tea.  Tonight that may have changed.

I hit my 30th lap which was the length I set out to do tonight which is all I can take in the pool before I fall asleep and risk drowning.  I was actually having a good time so I decided to swim a few more.  I ended up with 50 laps.  This was the first time in the pool that I got into a rhythm the felt this good.  My form got more relaxed and I was using less effort yet my pace had increased.  A swim sessions like is very good for overall motivation.

Tomorrow we hit the trails for a 14 mile run followed by a 40 mile bike ride on Sunday.  Here I’m using another form of motivation.  Tell a bunch of people that your doing a 14 mile run and a 40 mile bike ride over the weekend.  If you don’t do it people will just think you are full of sh…….

Lance Armstrong has said that he will race the Kona Ironman in 2011, 2012 at the latest.  I’m more than curious to see how he is going to do against the current standouts Craig Alexander and Chris Lieto.  He announced that he would race triathlons again in this interview with everymantri.com.

I asked this question when I started out and recently I’ve been asked the same question from friends thinking about doing Triathlons, “road bike or tri bike”.  When I started most of my friends were also just beginning and for the most part they all rode Road Bikes with clip on aerobars.  These friends, the ones that told me it really didn’t matter, are all now riding Tri Bikes.  So do I keep up with the Jones or keep my Road Bike.  I’ve only done 2 races and I’ve been training for about a year and I have been bitten by the Tri Bug.  Because of this I decided to do some researching on this question, Road bike or switch to a Tri Bike? 

The number one question to ask yourself , “what are you going to be using the bike for”?  Are you going to be riding with roady friends where drafting and handling are important or is most of your riding going to be for Triathlon training?

The biggest argument that I’ve read about in favor of a Road Bike is handling.  This can be important if you are riding with friends that do a lot of drafting or riding with non-triathlete friends.  Starting, stopping, moving in and out of drafting positions and the need for fast handling are all better on a Road Bike.  This is not to say that an expert rider on a Tri-Bike isn’t going to be able to handle that bike just as good or better than a lesser skilled rider on a Road Bike.  I’ve actually read about riding groups where a Tri Bike is discouraged because of handling.  Then again I’ve seen and heard of individuals in the same types of groups riding their Tri Bike.

You can put a set of clip on aerobars on your Road Bike and make your longer rides a bit more comfortable.  However, if your going to do multi-sport races such as a Triathlon or Duathlon a Tri-Bike may be better suited for your needs.

A Road Bike is going to set the position of your body back away from the handlebars compared to the Tri Bike.  This you may want to take into consideration when finding a bike that is more comfortable for you.  Notice the position of Lance Armstrong on his Tri Bike as apposed to my position on a Road Bike with aerobars.  You can really tell the difference in the angle of the arms at the elbow.  Also notice that on a Road Bike you gears are located on the brake lever.  On a Tri Bike the gears are at the end of the aerobars and the brakes are on the handlebars.

The Tri Bike has been specifically designed for a comfortable ride when positioned in the aerobars.  It is also believed that the transition from bike to run is easier because of the positioning and that you will be using more hamstring muscles leaving your quads feeling better for the run.  I’ve talked to a couple of riders that say their average speed was increased between 2 and 4 mph when riding a Tri Bike on long runs as apposed to the Road Bike.  However, keep in mind they were not really designed for group rides.  There is no drafting in Triathlons.  They were built for flat and rolling courses with less climbing.

So after researching this on the web, talking to the owner of Meridian Cycles in Meridian, Idaho and talking to my friends there are a couple of items you wan to take into consideration when choosing a bike.  What is you main purpose for the bike?  For what types of races are you training?  What type of riding does your group of friends do?  Most importantly, which bike is more comfortable for you?  Would it be cheaper to wait until one of the Jones family upgrades and buy theirs at a friend discount?  Unfortunately for me the Jones already upgraded and the new Jones snatched them up before me.  So it’s buy new or Craig’s List here I come.

I did my first Triathlon in Boise Idaho on Saturday July 11th, 2009. I have to say that after competing in this first race I am hooked. This race gave me all the satisfaction of a marathon without the continuous pounding of the marathons that I’ve been running, not that I’m going to stop doing marathons.

I didn’t do too bad for my first Triathlon. I finished in 2:44:26. My goal was to come in under 3 hours and my optimistic goal was to come in under 2:50:00 so I was pretty excited by my finish time.

I haven’t been swimming too long so that is the part that had me a little nervous. Sitting out in the water bobbing around waiting for the gun didn’t help matters any. And go figure, a couple of minutes in the water and I had to pee. I hadn’t, and still haven’t christened my suite yet so I just held it and waited for the gun. I finished the swim in 32:27. Talking to some of the racers afterwards, those who had some experience, they believed the swim was a little short and this was reflected in my next race when I finished the swim 3 minutes slower.

After getting out of the water I was a little disoriented. Luckily I had been warned about the fact that this may occur so I wasn’t too worried about it and stumbled up to my bike. My transition from swim to bike was 2:33. As you can see I wasn’t too concerned about how fast I got changed. I was more concerned about making sure I had everything I needed.

The bike ride was great. We start off on a little out and back that took about around 6 miles and then headed up a grueling 3 to 3.5 mile hill. I blistered up this hill at an amazing 7 or so mph. After getting to the summit and topping off my fuel tank with a GU I hit the downhill. This part was pretty fun with a top speed around 45 miles per hour. The rest of the ride was fine but I’d have to say I enjoyed the long downhill the most. The great thing about Triathlons is when you are getting sick of doing one event, it’s time to do something else.

I got off the bike with a time of 1:13:18. This was followed by a transition of 0:52. I spoke briefly with a 55 or so old gentleman during our transition and we both took off about the same time from there. We ran together for about 1.5 miles until he broke out a lead of a couple hundred yards. I used his pace to pull me along trying to keep him in sight throughout the remainder of the race. I ended up passing him with about .5 miles to go in my final kick. However, he ended up beating me by quite a ways in the Emmett Triathlon. I finished the run in 51:00 averaging an 8:13 pace. I was pretty happy with this.

I had a really good time doing this race with a couple of buddies that had done the Boise Half Ironman and a couple of buddies from work who were also doing their first Tri.

My first race was in April of 2006.  Now most people I believe would start off with a 5k or a nice flat half marathon, but not my wife and I.  We chose “The Race to Robie Creek”, the toughest half marathon in the North West, located in Boise, ID.  Runner’s World did an article on Robie Creek calling it “Best Bragging Rights” in 2008.

I hadn’t done much running before 2006.  I’d played a lot of basketball, softball, a little rugby in college but I’d never really just gone out and ran.

I had neck surgery to fuse a couple of discs in my back in 2005.  After this surgery I took to running a couple of miles 3 to 5 times a week.  I couldn’t really do any lifting or jumping in basketball so this was my way to keep in shape.

A couple of buddies that I went to college with and played softball with talked me into running longer distances with them on Saturdays.  They eventually talked my wife and I into running “The Race to Robie Creek” with them.  I’ve been running longer distances ever since.  Our group meets up every Saturday for a longer run and it continues to grow.

After running 4 or 5 marathons we decided to tackle some Triathlons.  In June of 2009 a few of my friends in our running group decided to start their triathlon career with the Boise Half Ironman.  I started mine about a month or so later in the Boise Spudman.  A couple of months later I did the tri in Emmett Idaho.

Currently I’m training for the 2010 Boise Half Ironman which two other friends are racing with me.  A few of the others in our group are doing the 2010 Coeur d’ Alene Ironman.

4 years later and I still can’t wait for Saturday mornings to go running with the group.  The wife and I love running with this group and they are now among some of our closest friends.  I’d have to say that this is the number one way to stay motivated, train with friends.