Post Race Training

Monday 6/15 – Recovery Day

Tuesday 6/16
PM Bike
I couldn’t find my legs this afternoon. I planned on biking up at Oak Mt. for 65mins and then doing some 20sec 5k pace sprints. I ended up just biking for about 35 minutes. I got 9.5 miles in with an average speed of 16.28 (no, I didn’t go all the way up the mountain today) on the bike and no running.

Wednesday 6/17
AM Swim
Masters was pretty good this morning. I only stayed for about ½ so I can get off work early to work on getting Lucas’ room ready for painting.
WU: 300
Drills: 200
Kicks: 8x50 (free down; fly back) on 1:30
Main Set: 4x175 free on 4:30
CD: 100
Total: 1700m

PM Run
I went for a run up at Spain Park today. I’ve decided to try and not run on the treadmill anymore. I need to work more at varying terrain and temperatures. Today, hot just doesn’t describe the weather. It was awful. All I did was a 45 minute workout and I was soaked to the bone. I tried to jogged most of it, but had to walk some to get my HR back down into my target zone.
Time 45mins/Avg HR 144/Max HR 165/Min 94

Thursday 6/18 (aka worst training day ever)
I left work around 415 to head up to Oak Mountain for a brick workout. The plan was to ride an hour and then run for 25 mins. I parked at the boat pavilion and started airing up my tires. Rear tire, check; front tire, che….what the crap is that bubble in the wall of my tire? I let the air out and made sure that the tube wasn’t slipping outside of the tire. I had no clue what to do so I loaded the 4Runner back up and headed to Cahaba Cycles there on 119. The dude that helped me wasn’t too sure what was going on either. We would pump it up; let the air out; try to work the tire in a little more; pump it up & repeat. The bubble would go down just bit every time we inflated it. Apparently, I would have to do this every time I put air in my tire….thanks, but no thanks. I opted to upgrade the rubber on my bike. Twenty-five minutes later, my bike is ready and I’m loading it on the rack to go back to Oak Mt b/c I was determined to get my training in (Chatty in just over 3 weeks). So, I rolled back into the park and stopped at the pro shop to unload. I don all my equipment, get the bike off and start pedaling. About 20 secs later the chain pops off! Since everyone knows just how patient and calm I can be, I coasted back around to the car to do a “quick fix” and keep on riding. Well, 20 minutes later I finally get the chain seated back on the teeth. My hands are COVERED with grease. I hop back on and start riding. A few minutes later, my chain starts slipping. I decided that it just wasn’t in the cards for me to ride today. I headed back to the car and started my journey home. I got to Oak Mountain at 430, the clock now showed 630. Two hours and all I have to show for it are greasy hands, a lighter checkbook, and a sweat soaked shirt. Not a great day, but it could have been worse. I’m going to run my bike by Cahaba on Friday and drop it off so they can give it a quick tune-up and check out the chain/gears (keep your fingers crossed it’s nothing big).

Friday 6/19
AM Masters Swim
Today was our Coach’s last day, so it was a little laid back which was nice. I left about midway through so I can take care of my bike troubles and get home to start painting.
WU: 300 swim
Drills: 200 (over rotate, single arm L&R, fist)
Pulls: 200
Kicks: 6x50 on 1:20
Pulls: 4x75 on ???
Main Set 6x150
Swim 100 rest 20 secs
Swim 50 rest 50 secs
I headed out after 1 set
Total 1450m

I took my bike into Cahaba this morning. I’m not going to be able to get it back until Tuesday (booo). I’m just going to focus on running this weekend.

Eric's Quote of the Day: "Courage is being scared to death but saddling up anyway." ~ John Wayne

Buster Britton

Well, my first “A” priority race is in the books. Overall, it was a great experience. I finished 12/14 in my division (hell yeah not last!) with a time of 1:44:08. Not exactly my goal time of 90 minutes, but I’m not too disappointed. Here is how it all played out…

Friday night, Heather and I went up to the park so I could go ahead and get my registration packet. I checked my race number, 138, and thought it was a little weird that I was up towards the front of a field of 500 people. What the crap did I put down for my swim time!?! No way am I going to swim faster than half the flippin group! I’m going to get run over out there. I finally settled down a little and decided just to go out there and do my thing and not worry about everyone else. I can’t control what they do; I only have control over myself
Saturday (Race Day)
5:40 Me and my buddy Jeff rolled into the park to help with body marking before the start of the race. It was a lot of fun getting to chat it up with a bunch of fellow racers before the start. You could tell those who had been racing for years and those who were racing for the first time.

7:00 Headed over to our transition spots to make a few last minute preps before the swim start. I downed a GU and some electrolyte tablets before heading down to the swim start area. The clouds were looking a bit ominous. I saw Heather, mom, and Mo before we started getting lined up for the start. It’s always nice to laugh a little before the start to break the tension. We went and got lined up only to wait for a bit to see what the weather was going to be doing. The lightning in the distance made everyone a little nervous. Then, the rain started to fall. Everyone on the beach scattered like ants. Even people in swimsuits and swim caps ran which I thought to be kind of funny. The rain let up and we saw Jeff’s wife Leslie, their son Max, and Leslie’s mom. It finally looked like we were going to start the race. One of the buoys marking the course came loose and started floating away. So we shortened the swim a little bit (prob more like 300-350 yds). Around 7:45, the first person entered the water and took off. In no time at all, the first 100 people were swimming, then the 120’s, then the 130’s, then it was my turn. I ran into the water and dove to start swimming. I got into a groove fairly easily. I had to lift my head straight up every 10 strokes or so to make sure I hadn’t swam too far off course. Swimming in open water is a big change from the pool. You can feel others swimming around you, but you can’t see them through the murkiness of the water. I rounded the first buoy and headed towards the second still feeling pretty good in the water. By the time I rounded the final buoy, I started to lose focus a little and could feel it in my breathing. I started taking in a little water with each breath. I got a little flustered but before I knew it, the water shallowed up and you could plant your feet and take off towards the swim exit. I exited the water in 7:04; good enough for 11/14 in my division. I would have struggled to hit my 8 minute mark had the swim been a full 400 yds but heck, I’m happy with my swim time.

Missing Scenes from Baywatch


I walked/trotted to the transition area where the rain had soaked everything. I buckled my helmet, put on my gloves, shoes, downed another GU and ran to the transition exit. My T1 time was 4:17 (not too good). I mounted my bike and took off. The roads were soaked and covered with debris from the storms that came through the night before. I worked through my gears and found a comfy cadence to start out at. Everyone quickly noticed the effect of a shortened swim. The bike course started to get crowded. Every 10 seconds you would either say or hear “on the left” meaning that someone was about to pass you or you were about to pass someone. I battled my way up the hill just like the weekend before. I actually lost track of where I was on the climb. I thought I had one more bad climb to make and then the next thing I know we are riding down a hill to the first turn around point. Take that nemesis! The return trip was easy. It wasn’t nearly as crowded so you could get busy on the downhill sections. I made it to the bottom of the hill to on of the only flat sections and hammered on to the final turnaround. I made it back to the transition area in 51:00 which put me at 8/14 in my division. My average speed was around 15.3 (according to the most recent results). I was off my target time by almost 7 minutes.

Quick shot of me biking into transition


I had an awful T2. I took way to long to rack my bike and slip on my water logged running shoes. I slapped on my visor and started to trot onto the race course. I have to say that running is by far my biggest weakness. The three mile run took almost 40 minutes. It was a lot of uphill running. My knee started throbbing pretty good on the way out. I need to start doing more strength training to try and remedy this knee pain crap. The run back in was fun. I just kept telling myself that I only had 1.5 miles left to go. When you run out of the woods and pass the water stop, you only have ½ a mile to go. I started kicking like crazy. The cheers started getting louder, the announcer got louder, and then before you knew it, the final turn to the finish chute was in sight. I could see my family and friends cheering me on in their neon ponchos. I turned and sprinted on to the finish line ending the run in 39:08 which put me 13/14 in my division.

I know, the "theme" of this video is a little off, but it made me laugh...



Overall it was a fun day. The rain was more welcomed than hated because there is no telling how hot it could have gotten. Thanks again to everyone for coming out. I’ve got to give mad props to my buddy Jeff for doing awesome at his first triathlon. He smoked by me at about mile 1 of the run. Awesome race dude!

I know what I need to focus on now…running, strength training, & biking up hills. After wavering a bit, I've decided to stick with my initial race schedule and do Chattanooga in July. The distances are 1500m/40k/10k. I know they are doable. I just need to dig and get myself into a strong training zone. I've got three weeks or so to get in some mad training before I need to rest for the race. Have a great week. I'll update my training later this week.

Eric’s Quote of the Day: “My humility is probably my best quality” ~MH

Day before Race!

Well, my first “A” priority race is here. I feel pretty good about as long as I don’t dwell on the “what if’s.” The open water swim should be interesting. I hope I haven’t become too dependent on following a black line in the bottom of the pool. My goal is 8 minutes for the swim. I think it is easily doable as long as I don’t swim off course any.

Swim Course


The bike should be fun. It is 13 miles of pretty hilly terrain. As long as I remember to save some gears for the hills, I’ll be fine. My goal is to avg 17.5 mph which would give me a bike time of 44.5 minutes. I’m confident that I can make up time from biking up the hills when I fly down the other side (gravity is a big man’s friend when biking downhill).

Bike Course


The run course will be interesting. It is flat for the first ½ mile then uphill for the next mile to the turnaround. Good part is that it is downhill and flat for the return trip. I’m hoping to keep a modest 11 minute/mile pace (33 minute run segment). So far this year, I haven’t been great at the running. I figure I can take the first 3-5 minutes to shake the bricks off my legs and then focus on the run.

Run Course


Adding up the times and shooting for smooth transitions, my goal is to finish in 90 minutes. That might be too lofty of a goal for a beginner, but I know I have it in me. I just need to keep the “can’ts” at bay when I’m on the course. For those of you coming out to cheer, thanks for your support. For those of you racing, good luck. For those of you at home, drink a cold one for me!

Eric’s Quote of the Day: “Pain is temporary; quitting lasts forever” ~Lance Armstrong