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katestineDanskin just announced its 2009 triathlon series; I was starting to think they weren't going to have one. Unfortunately, the one at Walt Disney World is May 10, and given how far behind I already am on BNE studying, I just can't do that. There's nothing attractive about going to Sandy Hook, NJ for the "New York City" one or to Webster, MA for the "New England" one. bah. They don't indicate whether the LA one will be in Disneyland, although the preliminary materials seemed to indicate that; that sounds like a better bet for me.
I've been reading John Mora's Triathlon 101, which has been helping my decision making process. For starters, I've been realizing I could do a sprint or Olympic distance - I think I could do the former right now, with no further training, even though it's been pizza month - and the latter takes 10-15hrs/wk of training. I feel kinda bad that the Danskin races are so short (the WDW swim is 400yds) but I like how much support they give - they even have "swim buddies" for the swim bit.
Mora argues that since the swim is so short, (a) you can consider it a cardio warmup for the other two parts and (b) it's not necessary to put in distance into training for it, just working on efficiency. I'll probably con one of my relatives into watching me swim sometime, but realistically, I did all his drills at the pool yesterday morning and my body position is lovely and I'm getting the full extension of my short arms. (Even talentless people can get good form if they spend 1500hrs in the chlorine.) My plan is to do this once a week, alternating between lap swimming the whole time and 10x50 sprints.
The bike part is intimidating: reading through his description (and this is for newbies mind you) I realized that I barely know how to ride a bike. There's all sorts of skills I don't have, not the least of which is, if something goes awry with the bike, I have no idea how to fix it, other than standing by the side of the road and looking helpless. Originally I'd thought I'd go to spin class once a week, con Bm into occasional longer bike rides when it's warmer, and maybe do a few brick workouts, renting a bike for the actual race, but all this talk of body position and not falling off and clipless pedals make me think this is a bad idea. The one cool thing I learned was that the goal for biking indoors is 85-95 RPM.
The running is cake, of course. Originally I was thinking I'd run 3x a week to train, one easy 3.4-4.0mi during the week, alternating sprints and intervals on the treadmill, and a 10K on weekends, figuring that I'd use running to train my body for the endurance part.
While I'm not sure about the Danskin tris, I'm definitely interested in the Napa-to-Sonoma half marathon, if I can work out all the logistics. They're 80% sold out, but I think you can get a registration by raising money for Crohn's research, which sounds like a nice cause and I can run with Godkitty's name on my shirt. woohoo! Speaking of running with my friends' names on my shirt, the MS society is doing a stair climb at Rockefeller Center in March, which is tempting but for my stupid knee.
So yeah, pizza month is over, mostly bc I just noticed I'll be walking around sans sweaters in 3 weeks. d'oh! Swam for half an hour yesterday morning, doing 10x50m w/0:30 rest in 12:02. I'm not convinced sprints make me a faster swimmer, but whatever.
Also went to aerial workout last night. Apparently Mondays are the nights to go, as all the advanced students go then for workout. I walked through the double footwrap to inversion (which has some other name) and the slice through sequence on both sides, but spent most of my time working on dive betweens and knee catches. I was better at them than I was last term with Su- as my teacher :-P Last night was the first time I went straight from a knee catch to a dive between, although R- reminded me that the real trick is going from dive between straight into the double footwrap. In general, I think I've kept up my skills (which probably says more about my lack thereof) and lost only a little endurance, although it was embarrassing that I have to cheat on my pullovers these days. I had so much fun though, I'm debating bailing on ice climbing this Sat and going to workout instead.
I've been reading John Mora's Triathlon 101, which has been helping my decision making process. For starters, I've been realizing I could do a sprint or Olympic distance - I think I could do the former right now, with no further training, even though it's been pizza month - and the latter takes 10-15hrs/wk of training. I feel kinda bad that the Danskin races are so short (the WDW swim is 400yds) but I like how much support they give - they even have "swim buddies" for the swim bit.
Mora argues that since the swim is so short, (a) you can consider it a cardio warmup for the other two parts and (b) it's not necessary to put in distance into training for it, just working on efficiency. I'll probably con one of my relatives into watching me swim sometime, but realistically, I did all his drills at the pool yesterday morning and my body position is lovely and I'm getting the full extension of my short arms. (Even talentless people can get good form if they spend 1500hrs in the chlorine.) My plan is to do this once a week, alternating between lap swimming the whole time and 10x50 sprints.
The bike part is intimidating: reading through his description (and this is for newbies mind you) I realized that I barely know how to ride a bike. There's all sorts of skills I don't have, not the least of which is, if something goes awry with the bike, I have no idea how to fix it, other than standing by the side of the road and looking helpless. Originally I'd thought I'd go to spin class once a week, con Bm into occasional longer bike rides when it's warmer, and maybe do a few brick workouts, renting a bike for the actual race, but all this talk of body position and not falling off and clipless pedals make me think this is a bad idea. The one cool thing I learned was that the goal for biking indoors is 85-95 RPM.
The running is cake, of course. Originally I was thinking I'd run 3x a week to train, one easy 3.4-4.0mi during the week, alternating sprints and intervals on the treadmill, and a 10K on weekends, figuring that I'd use running to train my body for the endurance part.
While I'm not sure about the Danskin tris, I'm definitely interested in the Napa-to-Sonoma half marathon, if I can work out all the logistics. They're 80% sold out, but I think you can get a registration by raising money for Crohn's research, which sounds like a nice cause and I can run with Godkitty's name on my shirt. woohoo! Speaking of running with my friends' names on my shirt, the MS society is doing a stair climb at Rockefeller Center in March, which is tempting but for my stupid knee.
So yeah, pizza month is over, mostly bc I just noticed I'll be walking around sans sweaters in 3 weeks. d'oh! Swam for half an hour yesterday morning, doing 10x50m w/0:30 rest in 12:02. I'm not convinced sprints make me a faster swimmer, but whatever.
Also went to aerial workout last night. Apparently Mondays are the nights to go, as all the advanced students go then for workout. I walked through the double footwrap to inversion (which has some other name) and the slice through sequence on both sides, but spent most of my time working on dive betweens and knee catches. I was better at them than I was last term with Su- as my teacher :-P Last night was the first time I went straight from a knee catch to a dive between, although R- reminded me that the real trick is going from dive between straight into the double footwrap. In general, I think I've kept up my skills (which probably says more about my lack thereof) and lost only a little endurance, although it was embarrassing that I have to cheat on my pullovers these days. I had so much fun though, I'm debating bailing on ice climbing this Sat and going to workout instead.