Author: davecriswell

Today was a GSTC training at UNH. We started with a 2700 yard swim that had a few tough intervals. Suzan gave me some good tips on my stroke. I really feel like I’m honing in on my perfect stroke. The swim workout was tough, particularly since the run workout wasn’t any easier.

I know that this makes absolutely no actual difference in my swim speed, I felt like I was gliding through the water faster since shaving the legs yesterday. I know it was all inside my head, but hey, anything helps!

The run started out easy enough, a 20 minute warm up through college woods followed by some drills and strides on the outdoor track at UNH. Then Suzan dropped the bomb – a two mile time trial. In other words, run as fast as you can and still finish a two mile run. I hadn’t done a running time trial in a while and it was tough. The key with a time trial is to pace yourself. I did the first 400 meters around the track in 1:45 but I was afraid that I was going to hard so I slowed a little for the next couple of laps, 1:49 and 1:50. At this point I was feeling OK and picked the pace up a little, the next few laps were at 1:45. On the last lap I was still feeling good so I pushed a little and finished in 1:39, my fastest lap. This brought my overall time to 13:57 which was just under a 7 minute mile. The workout wrapped up with another 20 minute warm down.

I followed up the workout with a big breakfast with some friends from the club and am now looking forward to a nice Sunday afternoon nap!

I was so pumped up for the upcoming triathlon season after having such a great ride outside on Saturday. So, I decided to shave the legs for the season. For whatever reason, every spring when I do the first shave of the season it boosts up my motivation level.

I just did the legs for now. I’ll do the arms before the first race of the year, Mooseman, in June.

On another positive note, I’ve dropped a few pounds and am down to 198. I’d like to get down another 8 before Mooseman. That will be just a couple of pounds over where I was at for Ironman Lake Placid.

I had a ride on Saturday. The forecast was cloudy and rainy all day. I put off what I figured would be another day on the indoor trainer but as the day progressed the sun came out and temps climbed to 60 degrees. So, I headed out for about 90 minutes on the bike and followed it up with a 15 minute run.

Not trusting the good weather I still brought a long sleeve jersey which ended up being a mistake. I was way too warm. I was smart enough to wear bike shorts so overall I was still comfortable. For the run I changed into a short sleeve short and I think it was the first time in several months I’ve been able to run outside with both shorts and a short sleeve shirt.

The ride was on the challenging side. I stayed off the coast so the terrain was rolling. It was the first rolling terrain I had been on this year but only my third ride outside so far. I felt good and was able to stay in my aerobars for most of the rollers. The forecast for the week is good so I hope to get outside on the bike a couple of times.

I had a workout on Monday that my coach gave me that kicked my butt. It was only 45 minutes long but I hadn’t done much speed work yet this year, and this workout let me know that.

Here is how it read:

Warm up 10, then do 4 x 5 minutes as follows: 10 seconds at 95%, 50 seconds at 80% – continue this throughout the 5 minutes. Take 2 min easy jog recovery between each 5. Warm down 10

It looked innocent enough but after finishing the 2nd interval I was telling myself I couldn’t wait until it was over!

I also had to share a bike workout I had last week that I actually had to print out and keep in front of me on the trainer just to make sure I was doing it correctly.

Form ride – warm up 10 minutes
Aero-hover drill: Count 80 for the drill
Then sit and remain in big gear for 1 minute
Then gear medium and do 1 leg drill – 40 rotations on each leg
Then 1 minute in same gear working the rotation
Then easy for 2 minutes,
Warm down 10

All this was x8! It went fast because I was completely focused on keeping track of either what number interval or which part of the interval I was on.

Complaining aside, the workouts definitely go by faster when it is broken up like this. It’s one of the reasons I enjoy having Suzan for a coach so much.

First of all I’m lucky because such a great wife who puts up with the experience I’m about to describe.

Second of all, I am lucky all that came out of my ride yesterday were tired legs.

My training calendar called for a 2 1/2 hour ride. The weather was cloudy, drizzly and in the 40’s so I had contemplated most of the morning whether or not to get on the trainer again or finally take the opportunity to ride outside. With the forecast supposed to improve throughout the day I decided to ride outside but use my road bike (rather than my tri-bike) since it was already off the trainer plus I didn’t mind riding my older road bike on the wet and sandy roads.

I put on my warmest clothes and headed out. It was really nice to be off the trainer and on the roads again. I decided to take it easy and head towards the coast where the terrain was a little flatter. I was seated for the beginning of the ride as the terrain never required me to get out of the saddle.

About 30 minutes into the ride is a short steep hill on the old Pease Air Force Base. I downshifted and got out of the saddle for the climb. At the top I sat back down and my back wheel froze up?! I unclipped and started to take a look for the cause. The brake pads weren’t up against the rim nor was the wheel up against the chain stay. So, I had no idea what was keeping the real wheel from moving forward? As I investigated further I noticed the problem. My rear wheel quick release was missing! The only thing holding my rear wheel in place was my body weight. Apparently when I got out of the saddle it knocked the wheel loose enough that it stopped spinning.

After cursing at myself several times I finally called my wife to let her know I needed a ride. She is used to getting these calls but they are normally for flats that have been unrepairable. I wasn’t excited to tell her that I had been riding for 10 miles on a what was essentially a wheel with no axle. At this point I had assumed that I’d be heading back to the house and riding my final 2 hours on the trainer. However, my wife, being the incredible wife that she is suggested that the quick release be brought out to me so I could finish the ride outside. She suggested this while she was right in the middle of preparing for a family birthday dinner.

My father-in-law came out to bring me the quick release and I finished my ride. The weather turned much better, the sun came out and I actually felt like I was overdressed by the time I finished my ride. As it turns out the wind was in my face for most of the ride back and I finish the last 30 minutes of the ride with mostly uphill terrain. This made the end of the ride challenging but fulfilling, once I finished.