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Showing posts from July, 2011

Race day recap it was another good one.....kind of

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Last weekend I went to California to compete in the Strawberry Fields Olympic Triathlon.  It is in Oxnard,CA just North of LA.  We left Saturday with the race being on Sunday.  I did this race last year and loved the flat, fast course.  I wanted to beat my last year time of 2:22.  This is not one of my "A" races this year so I did not put a lot of pressure on myself.  The weather and water conditions were going to be great.  Last year the ocean was a little rough and the water was really cold.  This year 1 foot swells was all that we had and water temp. was great.  Just a little wind for the bike and that was it.  This bike course is super flat and only 24 miles.  Last year I did the bike course in 1:01 and this year I did it in 58 minutes!  I got caught up in competing with two others on the race course.  Let me be clear......this is usually not something ANYONE should do.  You need to always race your own race and stick to your plan!  But I know how hard it is to fall into

Swim with Swimmers, Run with Runners, and Cycle with Cyclists to become a better triathlete!

I must admit I am a person who trains a lot by myself when I am training for a long event like an Ironman.  Some people seem to prefer to train with other triathletes in a group.  I have always thought whatever works for you is best.  Everyone is different when it comes to what motivates you.  But when you hit a plateau you need to make some changes.  I recently felt this way with my swimming.  I am a good swimmer and love swimming long intervals.  I hate doing anything fast. I do incorporate some speed work into my training but I am not getting any faster.  I even swim with other triathletes to motivate me and push myself.  Last week I decided to go swim with Viva Las Vegas Masters.  This group is made up of some really great swimmers (not just triathletes).  We did a variety of strokes and I really pushed myself in the pool.  I thought I was getting quality swims until I went to swim with them.  We did a variety of strokes which for any triathlete is really great to do but many nev