Wow... you are reading this, I can't believe it. It works for me though.

Hi there… if you’re a new visitor, thank you for your interest; if you’ve been following my blog, thanks for checking with me again – don’t forget to send me your motivational thoughts, I am open to your feedback.

What I've done this week...

This week I am happy to report that I kept up with my program and did two weekly sessions per sport. But the highlight was the weekend.

On Saturday morning, I met with my swim coach and he had me do a lot of exercises with different rubber bands, etc. After that he had me swim 1800 yards; that’s 1 ¼ mile. It wasn’t all in one shot but it was all done within an hour.

My swim time for 100 yd is about 1:45, which is an avg speed for a recreational swimmer. Now, I need to sustain that speed for the needed distance (endurance). So, he gave me a few drills (focused swim sessions). Including swimming faster for 100 yd and resting for 20 seconds before doing another 100 yards, and he also had me swimming 25 yd (all out effort) eight times with one minute rest in between.

Needless to say, come Sunday morning, I am feeling the burn in my arms, shoulders and lats.

Then Sunday morning even before the sun was out, I setup a transition in front of my house where I would change from cycling gear into running gear, just as I would do on a race.

I went out for a time trial on my bike. A time trial is an all-out, non-stop ride where I am trying to make the best possible time. I immediately followed it by changing my shoes and helmet and took off running.

This type of routine is called BRICKS. Aand after doing it, I think it should be spelled with a "p" instead.

You see, when you’re on the bike, you’re using a specific set of leg muscles and when you run, you use different muscles. So, the first few minutes of the run feel like you’re carrying bricks in your feet and can barely lift your knees up.

Since this will occur on a race it is important to practice and get used to it in training.

I did not feel feel too bad after pushing so strong on the bike, so I went for my usual short run right after the bike. It was only four miles and I felt pretty good doing it.

I want to give you an idea of how hard these "bricks" are, I have been running at a 10:00 min per mile pace for the last 2 months, yet, for this brick run, I did 11:31 per mile. That’s not bad either but it is 15 % slower than my normal, rested speed.

So, my body thought me a few, new things this week:
I am certainly capable of completing a Sprint triathlon, possibly an Olympic distance too
My persistence in training is paying off.

By the end of the week I will have registered to the Publix Family Fitness series - commiting to three individual races for points, as well as a champioship race. Sometime in June I will determine if I am ready for a half marathon later in the season.

So, I am very pumped up about how and where all this training is going. I hope you find this either interesting or motivational to you. And I hope you come back next week....

TThese accomplishments are so great for me that all I am saying about my weight this week is that I didn't lose and I didn't gain. My analysis next week, following some additional changes. See you then.