a brief training update.

I am signed up for the Denver Danskin sprint triathlon which will be on July 15, in a little under three weeks. At the beginning of the training season this year I waffled a bit on this blog regarding my training goals and eventually settled for a triathlon in July, an offroad sprint triathlon with mountain biking and trail running in August, and a half-marathon in September.

My end-of-season goal is to try to break 2:00 for the half-marathon. This is not a lofty goal compared to most of the runners and tri-bloggers I know personally, but then, I live in Boulder which is the world capital of the stronger, faster, funnier, and just plain gooder. So I learned right from the beginning of this whole "let's do a race!" thing to set my own goals instead of being bummed that my top age-group competition is, um, about 30-45 minutes faster at that distance. If I break 2 hours, that would cut about 6 minutes 15 seconds off last year's time, and I'm training longer and smarter with a better base this year so I believe it's an achievable goal.

There have been a few roadblocks to the summer plan in general along the way, not least of which is that the August event appears to have been cancelled. That is, last year's race planner said he wasn't doing it and no one else is picking up the slack. So, I am not quite sure what my August training plan is going to lead to, but for the time being, I have July and the Danskin to think about.

This year's triathlon training has gone better in the water, about the same on the bike, and a bit faster with the running. I may yet do a Stroke and Stride at the Boulder Reservoir this summer--just the one-lap shorter version of the swim and a 5K--if I get my courage up and the temps stay hot so the water doesn't require a wetsuit. (Potential upcoming career change = I am CHEAP about acquiring any new gear at this point and would rather swim cold.) I have slacked a bit on the bike training largely by doing half my training on the trainer, which means I'm always pushing uphill. When I got on the bike for real, this had less negative impact than I expected; I'm faster than I was this time last year by almost 10 seconds per mile average. Hope that pans out on the day.

Anyway, my goals for next month are:
1) To finish the swim faster than last year, and to freestyle the whole thing instead of wimping out near the second buoy and alternating with backstroke;
2) To complete the bike strong and ready for the run, and to have smooth transitions in and out of the bike leg;
3) To run faster than last year's time, which with decent weather should be relatively easy. Last year it was 104 degrees with no shade on a concrete path pretty much blocked by other tired females who had all decided to walk.

I've got a few days left this week, then two more full weeks of training to go. I'll let you know after the race how things pan out, but wanted to post my goals to keep myself honest.