Journey to IM Tahoe Weeks 13-14

March is here, and I've taken the bike outside! I had a great 27-mile ride on Sunday the 15^th, and on Thursday the 19^th I got out for an hour despite the brisk weather.

Let's go CAPS! Never mind the helmet-hair. J

This is the start of my first big "Build phase" – 3 months where I go from the general-fitness training I have been doing to the race-specific training. I'll be building up the distance in all three disciplines – by the end of March, my scheduled "Key" or "Mandatory" workouts look like this:

Swim: 3 workouts, 3750 meters per session (That is going to be about 75 minutes in the pool, and about 750m more than I get with the Masters swim – so I'll have to get to the pool early or stay late)

Bike: Key 1: 90 minutes easy

Key 2: 85 – 90 minutes, Hills

Key 3: 40 miles, including hills. (About 3 hours riding, depending if I ride from home or put the bike in the car and drive to a better starting point)

Run: Key 1: 0h35 Tempo (Not quite race pace, but not slow)

Key 2: Hills

Key 3: 12 miles, negative split by thirds (Second 4 miles faster than the first, third 4 miles faster than the second)

I'll be adding 250m per session per week to the swim until I am regularly getting 4500m per session.

On the bike, I'll add 10 miles per week to the long ride, and the other two rides will extend out towards 2 hours, with harder intervals.

On the run, I'll add 1 mile per week to the long run, and the other workouts will get more intense as well.

I'll race in April to test my fitness – an "Olympic distance" race, not long but it will help me tune up my transitions and its fun to race! I'll try to make it to Boot Camp, but Boot Camp kicks my butt and makes it hard to get the big miles on the weekend. I'll definitely be down once a month, in any case. If you have any questions or are interested in learning more about triathlon, drop me a line!