Summertime is tri-time

I will be the first to admit that I am incredibly lucky to have my summers off.  Yes, teachers work their @$$e$ off all year long, and deserve this time to recover (mostly mentally).  For me, though, in addition to needing the mental time off, the sport of triathlon would be utterly impossible if I worked full time during the summer... at least distance triathlon would be out of the picture.  I have no idea how others do it!

With not having a job to focus on, I am able to do two and sometimes three workouts a day.  I don't have to wake up quite as early (at least not every day) to fit in my workouts.  I can do "bricks" (back-to-back workouts such as swim-bike or bike-run).  I also have time to recover physically and mentally during the day, since I have very little to worry about (other than playing chauffeur to my kiddos and their summer activities).  

I am still working with my run coach, George, for tri season.  I have found his methods to suite me, and things continue to go swimmingly.  My training schedule changes almost weekly, but typically I swim twice a week, bike 3-4 times a week, and run 3-4 times a week.   Everything is based on minutes (instead of miles), which has been a great thing for me mentally.  I don't worry as much about how far I'm going or my pace when I am just trying to get the minutes in.

The past two weeks have been big ones, training-wise.  In addition to my other workouts, I had 135 running minutes (about 15 miles) a week ago Friday, followed by a 140 minute (40 mile) bike ride on Saturday + 2 miles of running.  This past weekend I ran 130 minutes (14 miles) on Saturday and biked 160 minutes (45 miles) + 2 miles of running on Sunday.  My body is holding up, but I am always more than ready for my Monday rest day!

Coming up this weekend is the Mingoman triathlon.  I raced in the sprint distance last year, intervalling the run as I was still in recovery mode from my stress fracture.  I also had a horrible bike leg, likely due to mechanical issues that I was unaware of.  This year, I am stoked to be back at the race, and I am doing the Olympic triathlon this year.  The swim (0.9 miles) and run (6.2 miles) are both twice as long as the sprint that I did last year, but the bike is just a few more miles.  I am most concerned with the run leg.  After a less-than-stellar 5K at the end of my sprint triathlon just over two weeks ago, I am wondering how my body will do with a 10K.  

Goals... after analyzing each part of the race, I have the following goals:

A Goal: under 2:50.  This breaks down as 28 min on the swim, 84 min on the bike, and 55 min on the run, plus 3 total minutes of transition time.  I know that the swim and bike (18 mph) are totally possible... again, it's the run that worries me.  

B Goal: under 3:00.  I got this time by saying to myself, "Well this gives me an extra 10 minutes from my A Goal" LOL.  

C Goal: Finish with a smile.  Anything can happen in the world of triathlon. ANYTHING.  Finishing is never, ever a given, and I will be grateful when I do.  And hey, it'll be a PR regardless!