The fortieth Bloomsday is this coming Sunday. It’ll be my third. After completing the last two, I’ve proclaimed “Next year I will be twenty pounds lighter and twenty minutes faster!” Perhaps that will happen with the forty-first Bloomsday… Continue reading →

This week’s long workout was an 11-mile run. I decided to do it yesterday (Friday) to free up all of Saturday. (My mother-in-law is visiting, and I figured we’d be doing an auto tour on Saturday.) I mapped out a new, longer route on Badger Mountain. As usual, the first mile sucked. Continue reading →

I’ve been wanting to run home for a while. I’d hoped we could work it into last year’s triathlon training; unfortunately, a long run never fell onto a day that lent itself to a run home from work. Continue reading →

I have an unfortunate history crashing my bike when the rear quick release comes out of the dropouts. I’ve learned that I absolutely, positively, need to double-check the QR anytime I’ve taken off the rear wheel. It only took me several embarrassing crashes while crossing major thoroughfares (Argent Road, A Street, Court Street) to figure out this important bike safety tip. Continue reading →

I have a 45-minute swim scheduled every Thursday morning. I don’t have to be in court until 9:00 a.m., and the club is across the street from the court. It’s a perfect set-up for me to get in a swim workout. But I still have to get up early (5:30 a.m.) to get to the club early enough to get in the 45-minute swim. Continue reading →

Today’s run workout was supposed to be a 4-mile run with 15 minute “tempo step ups.” I’ve never really understood what that means. With a one-mile warm-up and cool-down, that leaves two miles. Fifteen minutes of a relatively fast pace is more than a mile. I think today is the day I decided to give up on that workout – in the future, when it shows up on the schedule, I’ll do cadence intervals or hills. Continue reading →

I often speak of how much I love cycling. Last season, I had to really throttle back on riding as I was training for my Olympic-distance triathlon. That may seem counterintuitive, as an Oly includes a 40 km bike ride, but the bike is my strong event, and my run and swim needed a lot of work. Continue reading →

I rode my bike home from work today. I may not be the wisest choice. We’re heading out of town this weekend, and I want to leave in the mid-afternoon tomorrow — I could have spent the extra time getting ready. But I haven’t ridden in a few weeks, and it was the warmest day we’ve had this spring, and there wasn’t much wind. I had to ride! Continue reading →