New Westsuit and Race Preparation

Hey Everyone!

Well I finally invested in a new wetsuit. I liked the feel and features of the Orca Sonar Speedsuit. Fits like a glove. It has Hydro Stroke forearm panels that help grab the water for more speed. It also comes on and off much easier than my old Quintana Roo suit. Here are a few pics:





Race preparation is going really well. I did a 12 mile run with a 1 mile swim yesterday per my coaching instructions. Ran nice and easy and did a lot of easy strokes and drills for my 1 mile swim.

I booked my hotel for Saturday night in Galveston. I will be volunteering for the short races the day before mine. I'm really looking forward to it!

Today I will be riding a 60 mile loop for my final long bike workout. It's a beautiful day and it should be lots of fun!

That's all for now.

Tri your best,

Bill

New Triathlon Coach!

Hi Everyone,

I'm pleased to announce that I have engaged with a professional triathlon coach. His name is Kevin Landry and works with Tri On the Run here in Houston.

We've just started working together and are basically feeling each other out. Kevin has been evaluating my current fitness level so that he can provide customized training to meet my specific goals.

I am really looking forward to working with Kevin.

This week I've started performing Kevin's plan. The workouts are very interesting and definitely NOT BORING. I am going to do a two mile time trial on Thursday so that my current fitness level can be measured.

In other news, I had my last swim lesson from Herschel. He said that my stroke and efficiency has improved quite a bit and he thinks the techniques he has shown me are starting to sink in. But I must DRILL DRILL DRILL!!!!

That's about it for now.

Tri your best,

Bill

Stroke Analysis and Training

Boy oh boy was this week busy. Not much time to do a lot of blogging. But suffice to say, this weeks training was great. Sort of a recovery week, not many two a day workouts. As some of you may know, I have been working with a swim coach (Hershel is a awesome coach!), and this week we did video analysis of my swim stroke. Here are some clips below. This video was done in an endless pool and there are two views, one from the top and one from underwater. An endless pool is like a treadmill for swimming. You swim in place against a current. When you see me stop, its because Hershel is yelling at me for doing something wrong and so I look at what I did and then go at it again to correct it. I definitely feel like I am improving my efficiency. I swam 1.5 miles on Friday and it definitely seemed to feel better.

Note that I am trying to keep my elbows high and pulling all the way through the stroke. Unfortunately, I would get all discombobulated and the stroke would break down, but I swear I have some good pulls in there.



Today was my longest workout this week, rode 61 miles with a great wattage average (about 250 watts).

What is wattage you say? Well, think of it this way, the harder you pedal, the more power that is produced. This is measured in watts. So the higher the wattage you generate, the more power you are placing on the pedals and the longer you can sustain a higher level of wattage, the faster you will go!

Tomorrow I will run 13 miles. Can't believe the race is just a few weekends away!

Less than a Month to Go Before Lonestar!

Ola Amigos!

We have less than a month to go before my first Triathlon of the year! As I stated during one of my previous posts, it's the Lone Star Triathlon. It is being held in Galveston, which is right near where I live. This is a half Ironman distance race, so it ain't going to be no picnic as they say, but it isn't the full deal either. I need to get a new wetsuit this week. I'll post about that once I get it.

Training

Training is continuing to go very well. New Bike is working wonderfully. I rode 60 miles today and it felt really great. Tomorrow I'll run a dozen miles or so at race pace. My knee is continuing to improve. In fact it feels so good, that the last time I did a 5k tempo run, I forgot to put on the knee strap! Didn't even realize I missed it till I came home!

That's all for now.

Tri your best!

Bill

Swim Coaching

Hey Everyone. Well I finally realized that my swim needs as much improvement as possible. While I feel I am a pretty strong swimmer (I can swim 10 KM if I had to), there is room for improvement.

So I started working with a senior Olympian who lives in my area. Boy this guy is cool! He has a endless pool in his home. For those not in the know, a endless pool is a treadmill for swimmers. It creates a current that allows you to swim in place at a specific speed. It's actually pretty cool.

My first meeting was on Monday evening and he showed me some things I was doing inefficiently. The whole goal of my working with him is to swim with the least amount of effort at the maximum speed. He said I have a lot of potential and rated me a 8 out of 10 for swimming ability.

So now I have lots of drills to practice and hopefully his advice will get drilled into my brain enough that I can take advantage of it at the next race.

That's it for now.

Tri your best!
Bill

Workout Journal for Week of February 22nd and Run Gait Analysis

Hello everyone! This week was a great training week for me. My knee is continuing to strengthen and my renewed focus on flexibility has helped tremendously.



This week was a week to work on form and drills. Did some mile swims and some high intensity bike and run sessions. On Saturday I rode 37 miles in 1.5 hours and then immediately ran 6 miles (in about 50 minutes). This is what is called a brick workout. It simulates race conditions and gets your legs used to the bike to run transition.



The upcoming week is a recovery week with short and easy sessions until the weekend where I will have a long bike and run session at race distances.



One thing I wanted to note is that on Saturday I went to the Koala Health and Wellness center and had my run gait (i.e. mechanics) analyzed. It was pretty cool. They have you run on a treadmill and videotape you from side and back angles.



They only had me run for a minute or so and then sat me down and showed my areas where I can make my running more efficient.



Things they pointed out:

1. I need to run more relaxed.


2. I need to continue stretching and improving my flexibility


3. My hips are a little out of balance.


4. My stride can be lengthened.


5. I need to lean a little more forward during my racing (about 5 degrees).


6. I shouldn't be moving my arms so far back but keep them swinging in front of me.

Things they thought were pretty good:

1. Legs are moving straight back. That's very efficient.


2. Ankles are not buckling so I am wearing the right kind of shoes.


3. I am planting my feet under me (also very efficient).

I was really pleased with the analysis. They recommended that I get my muscle groups analyzed to see what areas are stronger than the other and would cause an imbalance.

I'll let you all know how that goes when I get that analysis done.

That's it for now.

Tri Your Best!

Bill