NH Vacation

The NH vacation was great. Did we get to everything that we had hoped? No way, but we had a really good time.

I’m going to summarize the triathlon side of the trip.

Swimming: Started off badly, I was really wasting a ton of energy with a bad stroke. Even with the wetsuit on I was unhappy with my swim. Fortunately I was in the water enough that I eventually corrected the problem. By the end of the trip, I could have swam for miles with or without a wetsuit. I’m really hoping my form sticks around for Timberman. I’m not sure it’s going to be faster but it should be an easy start to the race. My biggest concern is my sighting. I drift left when I get tired. (I don’t think I should be tired after 1.2 miles).

Biking: We biked over 56 miles a couple of times. We were carrying over 100 oz of water with us at the start of those rides and we both became familiar with taking salt tabs. We also ate along the way, testing out what we were planning for race day.

I think I’ve determined water with salt tabs is much easier on my stomach than Gatorade. So I’m going to stick with water on race day. Also I’m going to stay with bars for the first half of the ride. I will have GU but those don’t seem to sit well initially. On both the rides, during the 2^nd half, the GU was definitely the boost I needed.

I didn’t ride the Hed 3’s at all this trip. I’m really glad I didn’t for the Timberman course ride, there were some wind gusts that were really giving me trouble with my standard wheels. There are also a couple of rough sections of road. I’ll admit I’ll be nervous on race day if I decide to got with the Hed 3’s. A flat on the tubulars could really mess up my day.

I’m definitely a 90+ RPM rider now. It’s definitely made a difference. Going long is much easier and the legs are feeling much better at the finish. (ready to run). It’s unfortunate that I haven’t been spinning 90RPM since last November because I don’t think I’m going to be able to hold the HR zone I would like for 56 miles. I just haven’t had enough time spinning this speed. I didn’t track my speeds during my rides, I didn’t want to be caught up trying to push using the wrong gauge. My bike split for Timberman is going to be a surprise. (It may very well be slower than last time).

I’m really happy with my biking tho’. I haven’t been having the low back pain I have had in previous years. I’ve also put much more training time on the bike, most of it on a trainer. (sadly). The extra time has paid off and I feel that I will continue to improve. I almost wish I Timberman was in September so I’d have a bit more time to work in this 90RPM with more speed.

Running: I am still way behind on my speed workouts. It’s really unfortunate, as there is no catching up now. I’m not too upset by it tho’, because I feel like I’ve been dealing with some issues which feel like they could be an injury if I pushed it too hard.

After the 60 mile bike at the Timberman course we ran for 30 minutes. I was moving along feeling pretty good. I started to get some stitches in my lower abs, right above the belt line. Cramping is always a concern of mine. If it’s a warm day I’ll be downing many salt tabs hoping that it will help.

My run split is going to be a mystery also. Although I’m fairly confident that this is the one split that will improve over my time 2 years ago. (2:09:54)

Now that we are home, I ran last night and my legs felt horrible the last 20 minutes. I really need a massage. Driving 5-6 hours really gives me troubles it seems. I guess if I go for a massage, I’ll have to have them just work on my legs even tho’ my upper back is killing me. Why? Well I’ve got a bunch of bites on my back from either a spider or mosquitoes. They itch like crazy and they aren’t going away. I don’t think they’d want to deal with that. I know… Gross.

That’s all I’ve got time for. Time to hop on the bike trainer.