Year-to-date comparison

So, I did some comparison of my total s/b/r distances for the current year vs. last year. Running, as expected, was not too much different; since I was training for the Austin Marathon both years. It is slightly higher this year (400 miles to 325 last year), due to the fact that I'm still in training for the Boston Marathon - whereas last year I was able to drop off the run mileage after Austin. Quite a bit more biking this year (1200 miles vs 400), since I had decided to start off my ironman training with a good base this year, instead of waiting for the actual training plan to kick in. The winner though, by far, is the swimming. I clearly was not taking it very serious last year, and only had about 16K yards in total for the YEAR at this same point! This year, I am at about 110K yards already. Just a little difference, eh? The interesting part for me will be to see what kind of improvement that translated into for the actual race. Not just the time improvement, but will I feel better the rest of the race?

It's always hard for me to get motivated to bike in the winter months when it is cold, cloudy, windy, etc. What has saved me this year is making more use of indoor bike trainers, especially my new computrainer (see pic of setup to the left). Note the book in the music stand... I find reading to be much better at passing time than watching TV or listening to music. One thing that I really like about the CT is being able to see the power/watts output in conjunction with the cadence and HR... gives you a very clear and constant indication of how hard you are working. There is also a screen display for "spinscan", which gives a visual representation of your pedaling technique. My focus right now is on the left leg being weaker than the right.

Just for grins, here's a pic of the main screen in 3D mode; showing the split screen view of me racing "metal man" (you can set up to race against a pacer, who looks kind of like the Terminator guy...).


In terms of training, just doing my tapering and preparing for this weekend's triathlon. Today I went swimming at Barton Springs. Gotta love Barton Springs, it's a great 200 meter open water spring-fed swimming pool that is a constant 68 degrees. Oh yes, that does mean I wear a wetsuit! :)

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Please see this website to read more about the HFK program and to make donations:
RMI Hope For Kidz Website Link

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Race Schedule:

January 11: RunTex 20 Miler (20 mile run) -> COMPLETED

January 25: Frost Yer Fanny Duathlon (27.2 miles run/bike/run) -> COMPLETED

February 15: Austin Marathon (26.2 mile run)-> COMPLETED

April 5: Lonestar 1/2 Ironman Triathlon (70.3 miles swim/bike/run)

April 20: Boston Marathon (26.2 mile run)

September 19: Redman ironman distanceTriathlon (140.6 miles swim/bike/run)

October 25: Longhorn 1/2 Ironman Triathlon (70.3 miles swim/bike/run)

November 29: Ironman Cozumel Triathlon (140.6 miles swim/bike/run)