Up Coming Race

I haven’t had a chance to blog much lately, but it has more to do with time than will. For the past three weeks I have been ramping up the training to get ready for the Buffman & Squeaky this weekend in Lubbock. Training has been going well and my body feels great. Ultimately, my training routine is to get me ready for the 70.3 in Lubbock at the end of June, but I’m at a point where the mileage that I’m doing is perfect preparation for the intermediate distance of Buffman & Squeaky.

One thing about endurance racing that I still have trouble accepting is the fact that you really can’t speed up the building of a base in your fitness level. A strong fitness base truly comes from several years of training. For someone like me that is just starting year two it can be very frustrating. There is nothing like someone telling you that if you keep it up in a few years you’ll be really fast! A couple years? Really? As I have slowly started to accept this fact it has made training more enjoyable and focused. I no longer train for the immediate results of this year’s races, but instead focus on how this base will allow me to start next year that much stronger. I must say though that I have made HUGE gains in speed this year over last year. Of course, a ton of credit goes to my new bike, but I have shaved more or less 12 minutes off my typical sprint times of a year ago. Twelve minutes is roughly a 20-30% improvement. I fully expect the gains to be smaller in the future, but it is very rewarding to improve by minutes and not seconds!

This weekend should be an interesting race and if I can make it out of the water under 25 minutes I should be able to finish with a strong bike and run. Speaking of the swim, I tried on my wetsuit last night and just think Halle Berry as cat women! I don’t get it, I am at least 5 pounds lighter than last year but the suit fits like it was painted on! I kept trying to get out of it as if I was racing and could not manage to do it without my tri shorts being pulled down every time! Hopefully the shorts don’t come down this weekend or I’ll be blogging from jail for indecent exposure!