For the Love of Bikes

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4 More Weeks to Train

August 28, 2011 /

Yikes – 4 weeks isn’t very long to get ready for my 1.2 mile open water swim, plus the 56 mile bike ride. Hopefully, it’s long enough.

aqua_distanceMissing almost 4 weeks of training/normal exercise routine put a hurt on my fitness but I’ve got 4 weeks to crank it up and get ready.

I am feeling close to 100% now – Finally.

For swimming I’ve done one open water swim which went okay. Swam about 2/3rds of a mile, but mainly just practiced sighting and swimming with the fishes in one of our murky Oklahoma lakes. Both sighting and lake swimming are new to me and outside my comfort zone, but the swim went okay.

Two weeks ago I started swimming at the UCO pool. Last Friday I swam 1500 yards in 43:53 – 1X400, 1X300, 1X200, 4X100, 4X50.

My time is slow – and I couldn’t do the distance if I swam faster – but my swim strategy is to swim with economy: Swim slow and steady with an easy but consistent pace. That is the only way I will be able to do a 1.2 mile open water swim in 4 Weeks! Geez, I hope I will be ready.

Today I rode the bike 41.79 miles in 2:41, a nice and flat route and very light winds. I felt good during  and after. I feel fine about the 56 mile ride for the Half Aquabike Ironman. I have never used aero bars but I’m considering getting some this week to see if I would like them. I know I would benefit speed wise, but I’m not that concerned with my speed so I don’t know if I’ll bother.

I’ll swim 3 times this week, including an open water swim. Plus ride at least twice. Knocking wood that I continue to feel good.

aquabike, half im, swim, training

4 Comments

  1. Kim

    Woohoo- glad your training is back on track and that you are feeling good. I think you are going to knock it out of the park on race day.

    Tangent… I ride a Trek hybrid when I’m on the Katy Trail, but I’m in the market for a light touring bike for paved conditions. What bike did you use when you were touring on paved roads? Thanks, Kim

    • Susan (Post author)

      Thank you, I swam 1750 yards today in 49:21, slow by most standards but when your goal is just to survive – as mine is – I’m okay with it. There was another death in a IM event over the weekend, the 4th in recent weeks. All cardiac related, none with known heart issues. Scary stuff. From everything I’ve read and heard the open water swim is much more difficult than doing the same distance in the pool and I have a hard enough time swimming 1.2 miles in the pool. I’ve done one open water swim and will do another this week (practice, by myself) I’m nervous about it as you can probably tell. 🙂

      I ride my Jamis Aurora Elite on paved roads (the same bike I ride on the KATY) and feel it is a good, relatively light frame for road touring. I’ve heard good things about the Trek 560 touring bike and of course the Surly LHT. The tour we did from Vermont to Quebec were on Cannondale road bikes, furnished by the tour company. The tour we’re doing in October is also furnishing the bikes, this time a Scott CR1 Pro, which is what I ride so that will be nice. In both cases the tour company carries our stuff so don’t need a touring bike. Eventually we’ll do a self-supported tour on the road and will ride our Jamis bikes. I like the Jamis Aurora Elite a lot, overall a nice quality Reynolds 631 steel bike. The disc brakes add some weight, but then they also add stopping power so it’s a nice trade-off. 😀

      • Kim

        Thanks, Susan. I’m just trying to gather a little data before I take the plunge for a road/touring bike. I want 1 bike to do the work of 2 bikes, ha. The guy at the local bike shop thinks the Salsa Casseroll would be a good choice for me. Light enough to be a road bike, sturdy enough to haul some gear. I’m trying to get beyond the fact that it isn’t a Trek brand, ha.

        Yes, I’m sure that open water swimming is different than in the pool. If for no other reason than you don’t get to push off the sides. Even if you try very hard to not push off the sides, I just think there is some mental comfort in knowing that wall is there every 50 meters (depending on the size of the pool). I’m such a geek that I’m really looking forward to your race. I can’t wait for the recap. Thanks again for the bike information.

        • Susan (Post author)

          The Salsa Casseroll looks like a very nice bike. Thanks for following the blog and I’ll definitely post a race report so stay tuned! 🙂

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