Think About the Future, Jack!

Dual purpose blog today, sports fans. Swim Workout first, then planning the future of Dirtbag Fitness.

Swim Day

1 x 200 Warm-up
5 x 100 1:20*
3 x 200 pull 3:15
2 x 300 4:30
1 x 150 Cool down

total yards- 2050

Decent 5am swim. I marked the 100s set because the time is obviously much too fast. I did that on purpose. Right now in my training is called building my base. My swim already has a solid base. The run and the bike need a lot of miles because that's how you get better. Swimming works the same for most people, but my swim is pretty solid. Its not super-fast, but we can build on this. So instead of stacking yards on top of yards, I'll do that when the next tri cycle starts up, I'm working on dropping my base hundred time. No triathlon swim is a sprint, but the faster I can get my pace, the better the swim time. So my plan for base training is doing 100s on the 1:20 until I can make all five. Then up it to seven. Then ten. Hopefully I can get it to 15 100s on the 1:20. If I can do that I'll be a happy Dirtbag. On this particular set I made the first two (ok, and then barely), then spent the next three hitting the wall, checking the watch, and cursing under my breath as I did what amounted to an open turn. Gotta get that average down. The rest of the time standards actually felt slow comparatively though. So I've got that going for me.

Thinking About The Future

I am not done with the triathlon thing. I'm just getting in to it. The Haleiwa tri was the last of the year and that gives me plenty of time to prepare for my next one. I have two triathlons planned right now, one A race (races will be leveled from A-C, A being very important, B being a training race, not going for a Personal Best, C being just for fun) and one B race, as well as a C with the wife (kinda).
My big goal and my A race for the next six months is the Honolulu Triathlon on May 15th. This will be two things: first, it will be my biggest race in terms of number of participants. Second, it will be my longest race. They do a Sprint and an Olympic distance of this event and I plan on signing up for the Olympic. Where as a sprint is a 500yd swim, a 12-ish mile ride, and a 3 mile run, and Olympic is a 1500yd swim, a 20 mile ride, and a 6 mile run. So basically twice as far as what I've done so far. Training will be intense. I'm still looking for a good training plan to use and modify. Pretty sure its going to kick off right when we get back from New Zealand. Registration opens in December I think, and I'll need to be paying attention. I bet it fills up quick.
A month before the Honolulu Tri, though, will be the Lanikai Sprint Tri on April 17th. This will be a B race. I'm going to use it as a tune-up for the Honolulu race the following month. So I'll be pushing it but mostly it will be used as a measure for how training is progressing. Registration has opened for this race and I'm hoping it doesn't fill. Neither of the ones I've done so far have, so I'm not too worried, but I should sign up sooner rather than later.
And my last planned race is also the soonest. That is the Great Aloha Run, an eight mile run from Aloha Tower to Aloha Stadium on February 21st. This wasn't actually my idea. This was Stitches' suggestion. She wants to walk it and I'm all for that. But I don't want to walk eight miles. It will be better for me to run it. This is a total C race. Its going to be in the middle of the start of my training cycle, its two miles longer than my race run will be, and I'm going have fun with it. It'll be good for me. I know I can run that far, I haven't yet though. Stitches is hunting down people to walk with so I don't feel guilty not walking it with her. Should be a good time.
So that's the future of Dirtbag Fitness friends. I haven't mentioned this in a while and this seems like a good time, donations are still welcome and accepted. They will be put immediately towards registration for the Honolulu and Lanikai Tris.
I have another morning swim planned tomorrow before school and getting on a plane to Seattle for Thanksgiving. Happy Birthday Swim to me!