Well I completed my second ever triathlon yesterday in McMinnville, TN. I did better than I thought really. When I left yesterday I didn’t know my place, but I knew my times so I was a little depressed. I wanted to come in with a 1 hour and 15 minutes time and I came in with a 1 hour 18 min and 17 second time with splits like this:
swim (350 meter)-7:30.00
T1- 2:09.12
Bike (15 mile)-43:49.51
T2-46.06
Run (3.1 mile)-24:03.18

Compared to Old hickory last year:
swim (400 meter)-9:32
run (3 mile) 26:09
bike (12 mile) 40:57

It’s hard to compare race to race since they are different terrains and all, but I think I did improve since last year. Plus the cool thing about this last triathlon, eventhough I was kinda depressed with my overall time not being 1:15 if it had been then I would have gotten 2nd place in the beginner category (done 3 or less tri’s). Still my time of 1:18 and change got me 4th out of the 39 beginner males and one beginner female beat me, so combining beginner male and females I got 5th out of 68. Now I’m very pleased!

I won’t be a beginner anymore come Old Hickory time because of the next triathlon I’m doing in Louisville, so this will probably be one of my best ever places. I do know one thing I have got to get serious in training for the Louisville Olympic because I was winded yesterday after it was complete and the Louisville one will add on another 9 miles in the saddle, another 650 meters in the water, and another 3 miles on the run. Oh well it’s time to buckle down. Congrats to my boy that went down there with me Ricky Bray he came in with a 1:14 and some change time but he was in the Individual category and not the beginner or he would have won my category.

If you want to see the results go here:
http://www.team-magic.com/results/mctagegroups06.htm
http://www.team-magic.com/results/mctoverall06.htm

See ya!
LJ

I guess I just wanted to wake you all up or something since I don’t sleep! Just checking in with everyone. It’s summertime, we have more hours in the day and I don’t see any workouts posted on here. If you don’t sleep like me, then you have 24 hours a day to workout and work.

Well the reason I don’t sleep is because my AC got hit by lightning I guess this past weekend, so my house is hell right now. I summer o all day yesterday and the dance at the wellness center last night (which I use this time to get paid to workot). I got home at 11 pm and finished watching the boys from South Beach take it all last night and then laid down. I finally dosed off at 1 am, but woke up at 3 am burning up. So I stayed up and drank coffee, went running at 4:30 and lifted from 5:15 til 6:15, just showered, checked in with you all and getting ready to wrap summer o up today then hopefully have AC at my house so I can crash for 14 hours.

My workouts this week have been something like this if I can remember. Sunday was a brick (bike 1 hour 15 and run 45), Monday lift and swim, Yesterday I ran in the morning for 30 minutes to get ready for summer o and then last night in the wellness center I did another brick (45 bike and 45 run), and I just got finished with a 30 minute run and lifting session. Thursday will be another full brick, I am going to swim the 350 meters or maybe 1/2 mile, then bike 15-17 miles and then run 3 miles. This should just give me my confidence back for the triathlon this weekend. Friday I’ll take it a little easy before leaving for McMinnville, TN. I’ll probably lift and run about 20 minutes in the morning.

Congrats to my big bro Haines for completing his first Sprint Tri. He sent me a myspace message where he completed a 1/2 mile swim, 12 mile bike and 3 mile run in 1 hour and 25 minutes. He is going to start training for a 1/2 marathon soon.

Well guys are you still in for September? Scott house is the Katy going? Tim, any lifting?

See you all sometime soon!
LJ

Well today was a long swim workout, but I’m not sure how many laps I did. I met up with a professor on campus that works with the triathlon and swimming clubs on campus and helps them with technique. So I emailed him to come watch me and give me some pointers, and he did that today. I was very surprised because he told me stroke wasn’t bad. He gave me about 3 pointers/tips and I worked on them the rest of the time. He is going to start coming in there on my Tue/Thur swim days to work with me and just so he can get back in the pool. I want say that I got any faster today, but his stuff can’t hurt once I work out all the details. That’s the reason I don’t know my distance for the day because I was thinking too much on what he was teaching me and not counting as I swam. I just know I was in the water for 75 minutes.

Well I have a run/lift session tomorrow, bike ride on Friday or Saturday and repeat most of this next week. I have 9 days until my next triathlon. I’m confident but still a little nervous because I haven’t done one in almost a year.

Edit: Well I was kinda bored tonight and not tired, so Rascal and I did our run tonight so we wouldn’t have to get up so early. Man, am I glad we did it tonight because I would have been late to work otherwise. I thought it would be cool to run a route that I never had and figured it would be about a 70 minute route (around 8 miles) well it ended up being an hour and 42 minutes or 11 miles…haha. Tim will know exactly where I went. I left out of bailey, hit poor farm down to airport, right down airport to Coles Campground to Brinn and then right on that down to Poor Farm again and down Poor farm back to bailey to my house. Rascal almost did a 1/2 marathon tonight. I think I should get him a dog biscuit medal.

LJ

Well I have been training like crazy of course, but I have kind of let the food slip up some. I haven’t weighed in a while because the mirror looked good, but I decided to jump on the scale this morning. I’m either pissed at my scale for being ignorant or myself for putting on a few pounds and the bf % being up. This morning it said 161.5 and 15.5%. I just can’t believe. I eat normal except for the jars of peanut butter. Like I said the mirror looks better this year, but I guess the scale doesn’t lie. I wish I could get really tested, because I expected the weight to be up a few pounds because I know I have gotten stronger but I didn’t expect the BF% to be up as well.

Anyhow, I know if I buckle down for the next 4 weeks before my big triathlon this year that I could drop 8 lbs and some of that will have to be fat for sure.

Yesterday I did 80 minutes riding around Murray and 40 minutes in the pool. This morning I ran for 45 mintues and will lift before leaving out of town for Owensboro for work. Tomorrow I have my long swim session for the week, 70 minutes, and I’m going to get a professor on campus to give me pointers. He is the advisor for the triathlon club at MSU, and he has agreed to come look at my stroke and give pointers. I’m kinda nervous that he is just going to say quit while you are ahead, haha.

Anyhow, time to cut out jars of peanut butter and just train. I think that should be a shirt, like the one, “Shut up and Train!” Mine needs to be, “Say no to Peanut Butter and Train!”

LJ

Well Scott, our hometown is getting big on us http://www.active.com/event_detail.cfm?event_id=1333963 I can’t believe they are having a full and 1/2 triathlon in Cadiz this year. Well I know one thing, I’m not ready for either yet. I’m going to have to pass, but I may look into volunteering as a helper or at least going to watch this year.

I did my 60 mile Supertrek in Metropolis this past weekend. Man it was hot, but it was pretty good fun. I’m still sore. After the the supertrek I headed to the lake with some of the guys and hung out, and that was hot too. I pretty much slept all day yesterday until about 7 when I went to the gym to lift and such.

Well that’s all I have today, just keep training this week.

LJ

Well I didn’t want whoever reads this to think I have quit training since I’m not doing the Owensboro triathlon this weekend. My training has still been as intense and right on schedule this week. I’ll try to think back over the days. Monday was a lifting day and then 30 minutes of hill intervals on the treadmill. Tuesday was a 40 minute swim (around 1400 meters I believe) and then a 1.5 hour bike ride (28 miles). Wednesday was a lifting day and 64 minutes of steady pace running. It ended up being a little over 7.4 miles. Thursday was a swimming day, 64 minutes and new personal best for me. I swam the 64 minutes non-stop which ended up be 71 minutes because I went for 2 miles and didn’t look at time til I made my 128 lengths or 64 laps. So I did 2 miles in 71 minutes, decent pace for a bad swimmer. Today I got up at 5:30 and did an hour run, probably around 7 miles, before work and then I’m headed to the gym this evening for a lifting session.

This afternoon I’m headed to Paducah after lifting to go stay with Goody so I can get up at 7 am tomorrow and head to Metropolis, IL for the Superman Supertrek. They have 3 bike rides, 15 miles, 31 miles, or 62 miles. So I have met some guys on the net that are doing the 62 and since I had a 2 hour ride scheduled for Saturday anyhow, I figured it would be more fun to pay $20 and do a 3.5 hour ride with these guys. Then after the ride I’m meeting some brothers at the lake for some boating fun.

I met some other guys that are doing a triathlon in McMinnville, TN so I think I’m going to do that with these guys on the 24th of this month. Scott, I have put my name on a mailing list for the Katy Trail. I saw where in a week and 1/2 they have a 4 day ride planned with a big group of people. They ride like 50-60 miles a day, then camp and eat and socialize together. Too late of notice this year for me, but I got on their mailing list for next year.

Well I wanted to edit and update that the McMinnville tri is a go now. I’ve officially registered and booked the hotel. Man this gets expensive!

Here’s my predictions for myself for that triathlon…350 meter pool swim, 15.25 mile bike, and 3.1 mile run.

I assume the pool will be quicker, but again you have to turn at walls and climb out for transitions. So here we go:

swim-7:50
T1-2:00
Bike-50:00
T2-2:00
Run-24:00

Total: 1:25:50 which would put me in like 30th compared to last years race of beginners. One of the guys I’m doing it with, who I think I can beat and will strive to beat that day, came in with a 1:23:25 time last year. So I’m hoping to come in faster than that and he probably is too, so those times above are what I should do but my goal is to come in at 1:20 and that would put me in around top 15 compared to last years numbers. My swimming sucks…ugggh!

I’m out!
LJ

Well I’m probably not going to do it. I don’t have anyone to go up there with me, so that is the first thing. And I’m now in the house shopping mode. I went and looked at a place yesterday out in the country on 2 acres of land and with a stocked pond in the backyard that is the bomb. I’ll keep the internet world posted on this.

I’m still training for the Louisville tri, but new priorities now with the house made my final decision on the O-boro tri.

LJ

The folks over at Multisports.com have started podcasting some interviews with some star triathletes. It looks pretty interesting, and it will be nice to get some insight into the folks who do this professionally.

Check it out here.