August 2011 - Zane's Blog

The week in review

This week has been a pretty tame week for training. Monday I headed to the gym and did some lifting. Mostly legs, as I want to increase my leg strength for biking. After lifting I went out for a short slow jog and it was definitely short and slow.

Tuesday and Thursday I was out on the bike. Tuseday morning I did my time trial route through Boxford and managed to hold onto 20.6 mph average. Not bad, but I had it up over 21 mph for the first 10 miles. Thursday morning I went out and rode with Jan. She took me on short steep hills through Topfield. Pretty easy ride, will have to pick up the effort on Thursday mornings.

Wednesday and Friday were swim and run days. Pretty much all swimming right now consists of a single crossing at Stiles and that likely won’t change until we head back indoors. I ran on Wednesday with Melinda and we did 7 miles at about 8:30 pace. I think she will need to pick that pace up if she is going to qualify for Boston. This morning I did another 5 miles at 7:30 pace. Wasn’t able to finish off the last mile with a negative split, so was a little disappointed in that. The first four miles were good though.

This weekend it looks like Hurricane Irene is going to ruin any plans I have of a bike ride. Maybe I will get out in the rain and run.

Just about a month ago….

It’s hard to believe that a month has already passed since Ironman Lake Placid. I’m sure for those people signed up for next year they are probably thinking, “Only 11 months until Ironman!”.

For the past year this blog has been where I posted all my training and thoughts on training for and completing my first Ironman. So, now what? Ironman is over. What is the goal for next year? Last year was the 10 mile Kingdom swim, this year was Ironman Lake Placid. What is the big event for next year?

I don’t have answer for that yet. There are a few possiblities in swimming, Great Chesapeake Bay Swim, or perhaps the Bermuda Round the Sound. As far as triathlon I plan on doing a half-ironman next year, most likely Patriot. Who knows, maybe I will do two half-ironman events next year. I’m sure a spring and fall half-marathon will be on the schedule.

Goals for next year are probably pretty obvious, get faster in all three triathlon events. Part of that will be getting on a better diet plan. I need to lower my body fat, but I also need to increase my muscle mass. Training for Ironman didn’t give me the luxury of time to hit the weight room and my strength has suffered because of it. I’ve already started to rectify that situation by getting to the gym on Mondays.

So for now, this blog will contain my ramblings on my triathlon training for next year along with race reports. I will also post occasionally on the gear I use.