So, without further ado, here are my results;

For the swim, I was able to get in 4 and one half laps or .28 miles. So I hit my goal of more than a quarter mile and I probably could have done a little better, but my timing was a bit off. The pool was setup at 50 meters for one length and I’m used to 25 yards. But I’m still very happy with that, especially given the fact that I’m still rehabbing my wing.

For the bike, I was able to get in 8.74 miles which isn’t bad considering that works out to just over 26 MPH. Although I have to say that it is a whole heck of a lot easier to reach and maintain that speed on a real bike out on the road compared to a spin bike. And given the fact that I have a rather slow cadence on the bike (low 70’s to mid 80’s) and that I was spinning my legs for all I could, I’m pretty happy with that distance.

And for the dreaded run, going into the race I came to the conclusion that if I could make anything over a mile and a half I would be happy. My end result was 1.51 miles and I was extremely happy about that!

Total distance traveled: 10.53

And that was more than enough to put me in first place for my age group. Something that hasn’t happened yet, so given that I was ecstatic about the final result of the race!

Later,
John W.
A Clydesdale in training

So I broke down this morning and signed up for the indoor Turkey Triathlon down in Racine at the RecPlex. Their slogan is “Eat more pie, do a tri” you got to love that!

I know have a 10 minute swim, a 20 minute spin bike and a 15 minute run looming ahead of next weekend. With at least a 5 minute transition between each leg of the race. The end result and finish place is based on total distance traveled.

My swim is getting better and close to being back to normal, so I’m expecting to hit at least a quarter mile or maybe even a little better since I know that I have a long transition time to catch my breath.

As for the spin bike, I’m not really sure since I don’t know for certain how speed on a real bike will translate to distance on a spin bike. Maybe I’ll have to try and get a time trial in this week at the gym.

And the run, well that’s my weakest as I keep saying and I never feel like the treadmill is any where near the same as far as distance is concerned with running outside. But at best I can run a high 9 to a low 10 minute mile. So if I give it all I got, I’m hoping that I might be able to get above a mile and a half. But we’ll see.

I also got talked into doing the “Stroke & Pedal” class at The WAC, so I won’t be having as much down time as I did last year. But that’s probably a good thing since this past off season I gained almost 20 pounds.

Tune in next week for my race results…

Later,
John W.
A Clydesdale in training

Well, I got the Lakefront Discovery Run done and over with. 15k, that is the longest that I’ve ever run.

And let me tell you, when you run as slow as I do that takes a long time! 1 hour, 45 minutes and 38 seconds to be exact, but who’s counting… oh wait, they are, and that’s why they give us that timing chip.

But I really can’t complain about the time; it was a little longer than I was hoping for, but my pace was right on track.

As for training leading up to the race, well I was able to get a 7 mile run in the weekend before.

And while I felt pretty good after that 7 mile run, my quads were and still are killing me after the 9 mile run.

I guess I just need more training. I just wish I enjoyed running as much as I do swimming and biking.

Although I will say that it is starting to grow on me a little bit. But just a little bit!

Next up, 13.1… man I’m going to be running for a long time!

Later,
John W.
A Clydesdale in training

Well, I stepped in it with both feet as I mentioned last week and signed up for the Lakefront Discovery run 15k. And now the clock and the calendar seem to be against.

I’m trying to get a run in every other day. Doing a mix of increasing my distance and also doing some recovery / maintenance runs so that I don’t burn out. So I’ve been running a lot, to the point where I’m focusing almost exclusively on that.

But so far I’m only up to 5.6 miles as of today.

Now I know, there are all kinds of different theories out there about how you can do more than what you train for. And some of them even go so far as to say that you can do double.

But I’ll still feel a whole lot better if I can at least get up to an 8 mile run before the race.

So the goal for this week will be to get a 5k in on Tuesday and then a 7 mile run in on Thursday. Although I will say that at the end of today’s run I still felt pretty good which leads me to believe that I would have been able to go further.

But we’ll see how I feel tomorrow!

I do also want to try and get back in the pool again this week so that I can keep working on the shoulder and getting my swim stroke back to 100%.

Oh yeah, and I was also able to get in a 42 mile ride yesterday. The nice weather is almost gone, but I want to get in a few more outdoor rides before it gets to bad. After that, the remaining miles logged for this year will all have to be on the trainer.

And since I want to do a half-Ironman next year that will mean a lot of time on the trainer. I’m going to have to find some way to make that more bearable!

Later,
John W.
A Clydesdale in training

We have all the 5k races that we do throughout the winter and now Shelly and I just signed up to do the Lakefront Discovery Run 15k. I’m not sure I’ll be ready for that distance in time for the race, but I’ll give it everything that I got.

Okay, I know none of that has anything to do with triathlons and lake swimming is pretty much done for the year. But,

It turns out, I found one more Tri that I want to do this year. It’s the Turkey Triathlon down in Pleasant Prairie at the LakeView RecPlex. It’s an all indoor tri and I figure it gives me a great reason to keep working on the shoulder mobility and my swim stroke.

While I don’t expect to tear it up and set any records for the race, I do feel that I should at least be able to finish my rehab and make a pretty decent showing.

So between that and the 15k that I have looming, I figure I’ll be working out pretty hard until the end of November.

That’ll give me a little time to slack off in December before I have to start getting serious again for spring and all the upcoming races including my half-Ironman. And I’m actually planning on competing in two of them next year.

More on that another time. For now I need to focus on the swim and the run!

Later,
John W.
A Clydesdale in training

By Sunday morning, I was more than okay with it!

On Friday I actually did my own little triathlon of sorts. I got up in the morning and ran the 5k route. Later on in the day Shelly and I walked down to the lake and got in a 1/4 mile swim followed by an 11 mile bike ride.

I still need a little more rehab before I’m race ready when it comes to the swim.
I can’t quite get the full forward extension out of my arm, so that is making my swim stroke a bit sloppy. And when I do forget and do the full extension it isn’t all that comfortable.

So for right now I can’t even crank out a measly little 1/4 mile swim. But I’ll keep working on it.

As for the ride; it was good to get some hill climbing in again, although you can’t avoid that out there.

And since conditions where favorable, I allowed myself to go for it a bit on the last big down hill and was able to hit 41 mph. But I’ll admit that as soon as I did I sat up straight in the seat and started to brake.

I’m not quite ready to push it any more than that and I also didn’t want to stay at that speed any length of time. Next year!

And in case the swim stroke wasn’t enough reason to be okay with not being in the race, Sunday morning’s weather gave me another reason. It was 48 degrees and raining; not exactly ideal conditions to race in.

Although that is nothing out of the ordinary for this race!

Later,
John W.
A Clydesdale in training

Tomorrow I see the Doc again and hopefully he’ll give me the all clear to start swimming and racing again. If he does, I’ll be back in the pool first thing Tuesday!

I’m also planning on taking the wetsuit with me to Devil’s lake so that I can get an open water swim in over the weekend.

As for racing; we’ll I’m toying with the idea of going for it later this year with one of the indoor Tri’s that we have around the area.

But first and foremost I need to get the go ahead from the Doc tomorrow. I have a good feeling about it, but I’m still keeping my fingers crossed!

Later,
John W.
A Clydesdale in training

It was still just a nice easy ride; 12 miles and we averaged 12mph with a top speed of 27 down the big hill on Swan Blvd. And one small kick during the climb on Center St. to see if the legs could still handle it, but even that was no big deal; just got it up to 20mph and left it at that.

But hey, it’s a start! And overall I have to say that everything went pretty good.

Later,
John W.
A Clydesdale in training

He also won’t clear me to race until he sees me again which isn’t going to be until September 13th. Our last race of the year is September 19th – The Devil’s Challenge, my other “A” race of the year.

So that means that my racing season is definitely over for this year.

But I’m okay with that, or at least as good as I can be any way.

The way I see; I haven’t even been back on the bike yet since the crash. I had high hopes to get on it this weekend, but that didn’t happen. In the interest of full disclosure and to keep myself honest when I look back at this post; I lost my job on Friday, so Saturday was a bunch of running around to do, hitting up some of my contacts for potential leads and working on the resume and Sunday was a recovery day from drowning my sorrows on Saturday night.

But back to the bike – I only have 3 weeks of training before the race and I only barely started working hills before the crash, so there is no way that I could be ready for Devil’s Challenge in that short of time.

Also, the idea of flying down those hills at the speeds we can hit is a bit intimidating right now as well. I figure that will take a little time to get rid of that, but I’m not that worried since I’m a speed junky and once I feel the rush again it won’t take me long to build up my nerves.

Now add in the fact that I can’t even work on my swim until the Monday before the race and that pretty much takes care of things for the year.

But, I’m going to stay focused during the off season and make sure that I’m ready to hit it hard starting with the first race of next year.

And to keep on my Ironman time schedule, I have to do my half next as well. So, even more incentive to keep training.

Later,
John W.
A Clydesdale in training

So my training and racing season were going along quite nicely until the 3rd of this month when everything came to a screeching halt.

I crashed my bike while I was out on a training ride and I took the brunt of all the damage.

All summer long I was making most of my training and racing goals with the exception of running, but then I think that will always be my Achilles heel. But more on all of that in a future post.

On the 3rd my goal for that training ride was to hit 32 miles per hour on a flat. Previously I managed to top 30, so I was pretty confident that I would be able to that night… and I did.

I know that I hit that mark both from my cycle computer and the fact that one of my riding companions told me he was doing 30 and I was pulling away from him.

The problem with that; is that as I was cruising along at 32, down in the aero bars, something caused me to veer to the right a bit and I ended in the gravel on the shoulder of the road. I tried twice to get back on the blacktop, but the lip between the gravel and blacktop was too big for me to get the bike over it.

As I was contemplating what my next move would be my front tire dug in and I flipped.

The next thing I remember was lying alongside the road being asked if I was okay and having my legs completely covered with mosquitoes; this happened on River Road in Brookfield, if you aren’t familiar with that area it is all swamp and wetlands around there.

A huge thanks and shout out by the way to the 2 guys that stopped to help me; Chad Weber who I train with all the time and Brent Emery whose group we were riding with. Chad and his wife Renee along with my beautiful bride Shelly helped me from that point on.

So the bike made it out with only a small ding in the front rim and Wheel and Sprocket (where I got the bike and have all my work done) was able to true up the wheel within less than a millimeter of perfect. They figure I should be good for a little while on it. Good thing since I want to upgrade those down the road.

As for me, I didn’t make it out of that incident quiet as good. I ended up with a level 3 separated shoulder, 3 broken ribs, numerous bruised ribs, road rash on my legs, arms and face, and just to make things annoying a sprained thumb on the good arm side making both hands useless for a few days.

I also busted up my helmet to the point where it won’t even fit right anymore, but after a CT scan there was absolutely no head trauma.

And due to that, I can honestly say that the helmet saved my life!

And one more shout out to everyone else (Ray, Julie, Chad, Renee, Leah, Dave and Andy) that I train and race with for all chipping in together to get me a snazzy new helmet so that my noggin is continued to be protected!

Later,
John W.
A Clydesdale in training