Triathlon Training

The LONG weekend made possible by the 4th of July provided an excellent opportunity to start my triathlon training.

Unfortunately, my race is on July 13th, which means that Monday is the day to begin my taper. Ergo, I had about 4 days for serious training.

Despite the implications of Hollywood's various "Eye of the Tiger" montages, the truth is that you can't really get in shape in a week. The good news is that I wasn't starting from zero -- I do have a base level of fitness that makes an Olympic Triathlon survivable. But my goal for the holiday weekend was to do some significant exercise in each of the three sports so that I could feel good about resting up during the week before the race.

I also had an opportunity to test drive a mountain bike. I have a free entry to an off-road tri in September, but have never really ridden a bicycle on dirt. My generous brother (who had also provided me the triathlon entry) offered to let me borrow his hardtail so that I could assess my ability and affinity for trail riding.

Preliminary results indicate that I might actually enjoy riding a mountain bike -- as long as the trail isn't too steep or technical. But my poor vision, slow reflexes, and Foster Brooks balance do not provide a recipe for safety in the woods. During my test ride on the mellow trails of Bear Creek Lake Park, I fell off the bike twice and received a bloody leg gash when I somehow got my shin into an altercation with a pedal. No serious harm was done, though, and I arrived home with a smile on my face.

The rest of the weekend included a couple of pretty decent short runs, a peppy lake swim, and a granny-gear climb up Highgrade/CityView. I'll spare you the blow-by-blow accounts, but I can certainly say that I arrived at Sunday evening feeling well worked and ready to taper.

Oh, and there were also fireworks. I even took some photos, which I shall include in a later post. I hope that you all were able to celebrate our Nation's birth by enjoying enthusiastic displays of bright lights and loud noises, too. It's a pity we can no longer set off our own neighborhood pyrotechnics like we used to, but that's what we get for causing drought by eating trans fats and owning guns.

I make no promises (because I'm clearly not reliable when it comes to blog posting), but my intention is to share some memories about the Independence Day celebrations of my youth. In the meantime, if you have any particular memories of July 4th celebrations of yore, please tell me about them. Until then, please thank a veteran or two, and have a great day!