Run / Bike Equality (not a great thing, in my case)

I have to admit that in the absence of a major race goal to shoot for, I've been having trouble stay motivated to train to the next level. I'm still putting in a good 60-90 minutes of training 4/5 weekdays, and training both weekend days with long bike rides whenever possible, but my previous hardcore attitude to never missing workouts has definitely gone by the wayside without a big race goal. On the bright side, I've reached a level in which training 6-8 hours per week is pretty standard, even for off-season, so I certainly have achieved a new plateau level of fitness and dedication to training, even if I'm not in racing mode.

My running hasn't improved much at all for the past few months. Most of this is my own fault, as I haven't been keeping up with the Pfitz 12/55 plan that I'd set out to complete a month or two ago. This isn't because of laziness, but rather, my desire to continue improving on the bike and swim. I'm still logging at least three runs per week of 12, 8, and a sprint session of some sort, but getting over 40 miles per week has been challenging with weekends taken up by cycling, and spending 3-4 hours on top swimming. With 30 miles per week on average, you simply can't get a lot better on the run! I have a half marathon and a 10 mile race in March, but I will likely only race the 10 miler, as I'm having enough problems as is doing 13 mile training runs. It's sort of depressing to see how far my running has deteriorated after my injury, but it also is a strange comfort to also see that I really worked hard to get that fast, and that it's definitely NOT just talent that allowed me to put up some good times.

My bike performance has probably reached parity with my run performance. I feel fairly strong on the bike now, and I am confident in my abilities to go both fast and far. My performance in the recent triathlon seemed to confirm this. This past weekend, I joined a "bike trainer session" sponsored by the LA Tri Club at a local bike store, and got to spin it up at sprint intensity with 10-11 other cyclists of all different levels, male and female. I was surprised when during the warmup, the coach warned me that I was going too fast, as I had accumulated a tiny puddle of sweat below me, but it really did feel like an easy ride (equivalent to a 10min/mile for me on the run.) When sprints began, the buckets really began pouring, and by the time I was done, there was a good 4-6 foot pool of water around me. In contrast, not one of the other cyclists had accumulated more than a few drops of sweat. Come on folks, this is a SPRINT session! Actually, the coach didn't think I'd make it after the 2nd set of 8 - he actually turned down my gearing to an easier gear, but I promptly cranked it back up, and banged out not just 8, but 10 total sets (nearly dying in the process - in a good way!) Suffering is something I seem to be good at.

I think I still am a lousy swimmer compared to other triathletes, but I'm looking forward to doing a lot of open water swims to get my confidence up for races later this year. If I can successfully swim 1-1.5 mile distances in open water in training, I am definitely signing up for a half-ironman race later this year. With my bike/run endurance, I think I would excel at this race so long as I can survive the swim. Swim training has been holding steady, with small incremental improvements that I'm hoping will add up to substantial gains later on. My latest technique improvement is to minimize my head motion during breathing. By trying to breathe at the lowest point in the water, and not disrupting my hydrodynamic streamlining, I seem to be able to cut off nearly one stroke per pool length, so I think I'm onto something here.

As far as time available for training, I am coming to near the end of my weekend call commitments for my radiology residency. It's not a particularly heavy load off my back, but for sure, it will be pleasant to consistently have both Saturday AND Sunday off again. The last time I had more than a month of both weekend days off was during the first 6 months of my radiology residency (2 years ago), and before that, it was probably during my PhD years (5 years ago!) I'm secretly hoping that with all this new time on my hands as a senior resident next year, that I will be able to complete an iron-distance race, but that's still a LONG ways away.

I'll be looking for the next sprint or Olympic distance triathlon to enter in the near future to keep my motivation up.