I Swam

First time this season. I’m woefully behind in my swim prep for the June 1 triathlon. The good news is I swam 500 yards this morning and it felt great to be in the pool. Now that the temps are warming up and Spring is really here, getting out of bed at 5:30 a.m. and [...]

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Unlike Forrest, Running Is Not My Thing

In training for a triathlon, there are a few things you just gotta do. Swim, bike, run. These are the legs and the training has to support event day. So I swim, bike and run.
Of the three legs, running sucks the most. I’m 6′2″ and I still carry with me about 15 extra pounds of [...]

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“Brick” Training for Beginners

Even novice triathletes know about the phenomena of brick training. These are back-to-back activities (usually cycling followed by running) that often wreak havoc on the legs.
What does “Brick” stand for? I’ve had this question posed to me on several occasions…and I’m a novice. Truth be told, it doesn’t stand for anything in particular. Some think [...]

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Training Update

After working diligently through January (missing only a handful of days without a workout of some kind), I tested my efforts this morning.
First, to set the stage, the roads and trails in Minneapolis are still ice and snow covered – especially the trails.  Last weekend we enjoyed 40 degree days, followed by sub zero temperatures [...]

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Training

I completed my first indoor BRICK this evening, spinning for 40 minutes (15.5 miles) and then running two miles in 20 minutes. I’ve got a long way to go on accelerating my running pace, but hey, it’s all progress at this early base-building stage. Swimming will start in another 30 days. Until then it’s just [...]

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Exercise Commitment: A Daily Allowance

Seven days into 2008 and, proudly, I can say each day has included exercise. Just 14 more days to go and I’ll have my habit back in place. How many times have I gone through this cyclical thing?
Exercise and fitness become more and more important to our health as adults age. Conversely, it becomes easier [...]

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An Updated Look

In the past week I’ve gotten new furniture.
The old, cheap black leather stuff just never felt right – either when sitting on it or trying to nap. And there certainly wasn’t room to partner up on the sofa side by side with someone special and watch a movie comfortably. That meant the floor was more [...]

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Biking Gods

Before Lance Armstrong ever won his second Tour de France, I picked up road biking as a hobby. Yeah, I got a little bolder with my biking habits when the Lance phenomena took off in the early 2000s. But I was still ahead of the band wagon joiners.
The year the Live Strong craze took off, [...]

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My First Tri

It’s in the books.
On Sunday, June 3, I took to the water, the saddle and the running shoes, completing my first-ever sprint distance triathlon. What a sense of accomplishment! What a realization that putting in the time and effort to prepare for something can pay off in a multitude of ways. Most importantly, I finished [...]

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Three Days to Triathlon

Three days until Triathlon. You can learn all you want to know about the Buffalo (Minnesota) Triathlon here: http://tribuff.com  Don’t you just love the play on URLs? The answer is “no,” registered triathletes won’t be competing in the buff. Buffalo is a small town of 10,000 inhabitants just west of Minneapolis. On Sunday, June 3, [...]

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