See Jane Run Women's Triathlon goals

I meant to write this post last night, when I was less anxious and jittery, but didn't get to it (I was too busy watching Lord of the Rings for the thousandth time, furminating the dog, and checking approximately 95 billion times to make sure I'd packed my bike helmet. Speaking of ... I should check again.)

So I'll have to make this quick ...

The race is: 400-yard swim, 12-mile bike, 3-mile run.

A-goal: 1:15 or better (this would be slightly faster paces on all three events than the Tri for Fun in July, which I finished in 1:13 but had a shorter bike)

B-goal: 1:20 or better

C-goal: Don't drown.

Kidding! (I mean, mostly.) C goal will be to finish in under 1:30.

I have had to adjust my expectations slightly because I am still feeling the Half Dome hike we did on Monday. Which I also need to write a post on. For now, here's a little taste ...

And I'm off!

Haphazard tri training

So I finally decided on a race. I'm doing the See Jane Run Triathlon on Sept. 24-three weeks from today! I'm so excited to do another tri!

I toyed with finding or creating an actual training plan this time around, but I haven't been able to find a sprint triathlon training plan that really fits my needs. Most of the ones available free online are, oddly enough, too easy. They want me to swim for 20 minutes, or bike 25 minutes. And while I'm a beginner triathlete for sure, I guess when it comes down to it I'm not quite a beginner endurance athlete. I may not swim fast or beautifully, but when I go to the pool I'm there 45 minutes to an hour. And I still don't own a "real" bike jersey, and the clipless pedals still give me a bit of trouble, but I really prefer riding 20 miles to riding 20 minutes.

Besides. I eat too much to only work out 20 minutes a day.

So I'm just playing it by ear again. Trying to run, bike and swim twice a week each, give or take, with a long bike and/or run on the weekends and an occasional brick. For example, this past week looked like this:

Saturday: Brick, 4-mile bike/4-mile run
Sunday: Rest
Monday: 4-mile run, moderate pace (8:56)
Tuesday: 7.5-mile bike (13 mph)
Wednesday: Rest, though it should have been a swim
Thursday: Interval run, 6 x 400 (7:25, 7:13, 7:25, 7:38, 7:32, 7:24)
Friday: Rest

OK, so that wasn't exactly perfect, what with the lack of swimming and all. I'll get back to that this week, honest! But aside from that, it's not too far from off from what I'd like to be doing. This weekend I have a long ride, a fairly long run and a hike (need to get ready for Half Dome, too!) on the schedule.

It's all a little haphazard (truthfully, more haphazard than I can be if I really want to improve my time), but I'm having fun!