Race schedule.....

"The only limits we have are those we give ourselves"



__________________________________________________________

I know it has been a few months since last checking in. Life has been great, training on a consistent basis and work going well. Things are slowly getting a bit more comfortable, but still have a lot of learning to do.

I finally have a couple of races up on the calendar. Looking forward to racing again. It has been almost 2 years since I was “seriously training” to race. I did a couple of races last year after about 6-8 weeks of training, but well under my previous times.

I start off the summer with a bike race, Boise Twilight Criterium here in Boise on July 18th. I love bike racing and thought I should get my first dip back in with a crit. With the TDF on, I had to get in on a bike race. Plus, it is part of the NRC (National Race Calendar) which is the schedule all of the continental pro teams follow. The first tri of the year is an Olympic distance race here locally. It is called Emmett’s “Most Excellent” Tri . Gonna be a gut buster, will be a nice re-entry to racing.

The second race on the docket is the Utah Half held in Provo, UT. Race is August 15th. My last half ironman was September of 2006, my best half performance to date. Not sure how this race performance will pan out, but hoping to get a “grip” on this run thing and have a descent performance. My goal is to run my fastest half IM run split, we’ll see. I am only biking 3-4 days/week right now, so I am sure my run will depend on how disciplined I will be on race day on the bike.

The next race on the “sched” is a race in Sweden on September 6th called Ö till Ö. Ö till Ö is a unique race. Teams of two race together from island to island (Ö till Ö) and Jeff (my brother) is my teammate. The race takes place on the Stockholm archipeligos which consist of 19 small islands. The swim sections are between 100 and 1400 metres long. We will swim between the islands to get to the next one and then run across to the next swim. There are a total of 38 in and outs. The total distance is 64 kms which is comprised of 10 km of swimming and 38 km are running. There is one 16 km section of biking which will be done on a beach cruiser. Should be fun and interesting. We have begun working on the logistics of the race. We’ll see how it works out.

My run program has been very consistent. I have never ran this consistent since I started triathlon back in 2001. After 9 weeks of slow base training, Jeff and I sat down and ”mapped” out a run program that was going to address my run weakness to give us the best fighting chance at Ö till Ö to do well. We have been gradually building with this week totalling 54 miles of running and the last big week hitting 70 miles.

I have been swimming every morning M-F at Masters. Most squad practices usually are 3500 and on most days, I get in early and try to get the total to 4K. It is finally coming back and getting pretty comfortable in the water again.

Not sure what I am going to do after Ö till Ö. My plan is to finish the year off with a couple more half IM’s in October and November. We’ll see.....

Hope training is going well for everyone.
J