Difficult Workout And Another Race Week

You read that correctly, tomorrow morning marks the start of another race week. Next Sunday morning I will be competing at the Bluff Creek Triathlon at Don Williams Park near Ogden, IA. The Olympic Distance bicycle course is an out and back course that is mostly flat with the exception of a very large hill leading down into and back out of the Des Moines River Valley. The run course is similar to what I faced at the Accel triathlon with 2 laps of a 5k course.

Although I am very excited for the race, it is not my A race this year, so I do not plan on going all out for the entire race. I have not yet decided what my strategy will be but my focus will for sure be on a solid swim, efficient transitions and not getting hurt.

This week of training was quite interesting. Although I have not had issues with allergies in the past, this year they are really causing me some issues. With extreme nasal congestion all week, I was not able to get good sleep which is vital to train hard. Luckily for me, I was able to figure something out by the end of the week (I'll save you the details) and I'm breathing much better and sleeping better too.

This weekend was a hard one for training. It started with a run/swim workout at Raccoon River Park yesterday morning. I really enjoyed spending time there and am planning to return for more workouts soon. I started with a 4 mile pace run around the lake and followed up with a mile open water swim at the beach. Erin and the girls met me at the park after my swim and we had fun playing on the playground before heading home for lunch.

Of course, that workout was nothing compared to the brick workout that I completed today. In preparation for my Legend 70 race in September, I've been ramping up the distance of my brick workouts. Today I completed a 30 mile ride followed by an 8 mile run and it was HARD. With the longer workouts I've been playing around with my fueling and nutrition as well and learned a valuable lesson. I need to fuel a little more before and more frequently during my workouts. In addition, I thought I could get away without taking water along on my run, which I regretted around mile 6.

Solid, but not great pace on the bike

Went out a little too fast and faded late, but still a good pace on the run

All of that said, I made it through and learned a few things, which is really the goal of these workouts. With only 4 weeks until the race in Lawrence, I still have a long way to go, but I'm getting better one day at a time.