Another excellent week of training, in spite of staying up later than I should playing Need for Speed Underground. Very addictive! I'm trying to beat the kids to finish the game. I'm on race #103 out of 111 races.



On Saturday I went to a running group that a friend of mine coaches. They're getting ready for the Vancouver marathon in May. I ran 9 miles with them and felt great. I stuck with their 2 min jog / 1 min walk through about 5 miles and then felt good enough to take off and run my own pace. I ended up running the 9 miles in around 85 minutes.

I felt like I could have easily run a half marathon. It's got me interested in running a half marathon or full marathon later this year instead of shooting for a olympic distance triathlon at the end of the year. Doing a triathlon (in May) and a marathon this fall sounds cool. Get both experiences and see which one I like better.

We'll see...

Here's last week's activity log:

MON - 4 mile run (occasional walking) 60 minutes including warm-up/cool-down walking

TUE - nada - late night working

WED - 4 mile run (occasional walking) 60 minutes including warm-up/cool-down walking

THU - nada

FRI - 30 minutes working out with weights. Did the full circuit and got a nice burn. Feels good!

SAT - 9 mile run (occasional walking) 100 minutes including warm-up/cool-down walking.

This week I decided to just try to run straight through instead of doing the jog/walk. I also started running 4 miles, since that will be my distance for the run part of the triathlon.

Here's last week's activity log:

MON - 55 minute walk/jog (3 min jog/1 min walk)

TUE - nada - late night working

WED - nada - late night working

THU - 4 mile run (occasional walking) 60 minutes including warm-up/cool-down walking

FRI - nada

SAT - 4 mile run (occasional walking) 60 minutes including warm-up/cool-down walking

What a great week of training! In spite of straining my hamstring a bit on last Saturday's brick, the weather has warmed up and I got a full range of exercise.

I ran my fastest practice 5k on Wed - a 28:30. I'm anxious to run another 5k or 10k to see if I can get closer to the 25 minute mark.

I also checked out the location of the Napa Valley Triathlon on Lake Berryessa. It starts at a place called Putah Creek Park.

You can also see more info about Lake Berryessa.

The course is not flat, which is a bit of a problem. Most of my cycling rides are a lot longer and have more climbing than the 17 miles in the course, but I'm not in a race when I go out with friends or on my own. It would be very easy to go out too fast in a race and really get hammered.

If the course were flat, the cycling would be a piece of cake. With the climbing, I'm going to have to focus more on my riding and practice a lot more in the hills.

Here's last week's activity log:

MON - 55 minute walk/jog (3 min jog/1 min walk)

TUE - 30 minutes lifting weights

WED - 55 minute walk/jog (3 min jog/1 min walk)

THU - nada

FRI - 65 minute walk/jog (3 min jog/1 min walk) Increased my distance to 4 miles. I usually was running 3.

SAT - 30 minutes lifting weights. 20 mile ride covering the cycling course for the upcoming triathlon.

Here's last week's activity log:

MON - 55 minute walk/jog (3 min jog/1 min walk)

TUE - nada

WED - 55 minute walk/jog (3 min jog/1 min walk)

THU - 35 minutes lifting weights. Did a lot of curls!

FRI - nada

SAT - Did another brick session this morning. IT WAS COLD! 27 degrees, which is cold for Pleasanton.

I only rode 8.5 miles in 28 minutes (avg. speed 18 miles an hour), had a transition time (put on running shoes, grabbed a Cliff bar, took a few swigs of water) of 2 min 30 seconds, and then ran a 5k in around 31 minutes.

Overall time was just over an hour.

I don't know what the problem was, but the ride hurt and my legs and feet felt frozen by the time I started my run. Both the ride and run were the most difficult ones I'd done so far, at least by feel.