Week One, Day One: 40m Run + 40m Swim

Today was the first day of my new Triathlon training program. It is one of the many programs available from my favorite Tri website: www.BeginnerTriathlete.com.

This plan is a little different from plans I have used in the past because the training is done by time as opposed to distance. It also uses RPE to gauge the intensity of the workouts. This is cool by me since a lot of my bike training will be done on the indoor fluid trainer which I cannot track distance anyways.

My plan for day one was to wake up at 5am and get my 40 minute run in. After not falling asleep until maybe 2am I moved the alarm clock up to 6am a few minutes before it went off at 5am. Still plenty of time to get my run in. Well, yesterday my car battery decided to die on me. It is a company car and we have a leasing company that handles all repairs and roadside assistance. I spoke with them last night and let them know the car seemed to have a dead battery. I told them I would try to jump it. Well, that did not work so I figured I would try the booster box I bought last year before Hurricane Ike. It was drained of power so I figured I would let it charge and then "boost" the battery in the morning. So, I got dressed for the run and figured I would try the booster since I was already outside in the rain. It didn't work. The battery was fried. To make a long story short, I had to wait for a tow truck and then wait for a new battery to be placed in the car. No run happened in the AM.

I got home from work around 6pm and ate a Subway 12-inch turkey sub and then drove down to the gym. I did the 40 minute run on the treadmill first. This was my first attempt at running since the 50k Trail run. My legs still are not 100% back to normal. Very sluggish and some minor pain in the knees and ankles. I decided to run in the RPE 2 zone like my training program suggested and this was good because after about 2 miles I did begin to loosen up a little. I ran for 40 minutes and only did 3.70 miles. It was killing me not to crank up the speed on the treadmill but the plan calls for an easy, base building run and I still had to swim.

After the run I changed into my jammers and went to swim some laps. The bad news is that I forgot my darn goggles at home. The even worse news is that my gym uses a heck of a lot of chlorine in the pool. My eyes are killing me right now!

Okay here are my baseline times:

100M = 1:52

200M= 3:58

400M= 8:25

Pretty Slow, I know!

Over the course of my 20 week training plan I will compare these times and see how I am doing and if The Essential Triathlon Swimming DVD is working!

I ended up swimming for 40 minutes but only did 1000 yds. The lack of goggles was not fun and the pool was absolutely freezing. I jumped out a couple of times to warm up. I hunted down the manager afterwards to let him know the pool was freezing. He is a good guy and it is fun to bust his balls. So this is how the conversation went:

Jeff: "Dude, I know that you are intimidated by me wearing these Speedos but I am appalled, appalled (with emphasis)! that you would stoop to the level of setting the pool temperature at Arctic levels!"

Manager: "haha..." Weird stare at me ... "What the hell are you talking about ...?"

Jeff: "I know I am impressive in these speedos but making the pool so cold that my boys hide up in my stomach is just mean!"

Manager: *trying to think of something witty to say*, "You could have just asked to turn the heat on...." walks away shaking his head, looks back and says, "ass!"

I am enjoying this gym!

Tomorrow is a 1hour bike in the morning and a 30 minute run after work. Both are to be done at a very easy level. RPE2.

Thanks for Reading,

Jeff