TRI FAN: THE PRE-SEASON

This time of year is generally considered the “off season” for triathletes in North America. For those of us with high aspirations or big goals, like racing at the Ironman World Championships, my coach calls it the pre-season. There is no real break from swimming, biking and running, the focus just shifts primarily toward working on strength and form. The goal is to build on the fitness gained in the previous season, rather than losing it and having to build it all back up again.

My recovery from Ironman Lake Tahoe consisted of one entire week off while also recovering from a cold with an incessant cough. Over the next two weeks I continued to get quite a bit of rest incorporating low intensity workouts, every other day. I really appreciated the luxury of being able to sleep in and to do things I rarely had time for over the past year such as going to brunch on a weekend with my husband. After those three weeks of relative leisure, I got back on a regular training schedule. The first two weeks back into consistent training, I planned some end of week highlights as a treat; a 10K run and a 100 mile group ride.

Last 200 Yards on the Turf

This is a great season for running and there are lots of nearby running races to choose from. For a 10K, I participated in the inaugural "Let's go 5-1-0" 10K which took place across the bay from San Francisco at the Golden Gate Fields race track. It was organized by Brazen Racing and the last 200 yards to the finish were actually on the race track. Brazen Racing does a great job of organizing their races and this one had the added luxury of not starting until 10AM. Of the triathlon sub-disciplines, running is my weakest link. I planned to set a pace between 9:15 and 9:30 minutes/mile. The first 4 miles felt pretty easy with my splits all being 9:21 or under. For the last 2.2 miles I had to focus quite a bit and my pace slowed such that I ended up with a 9:23 overall pace. That was a personal record (PR) for me and put me in 3rd place. I haven’t had many high placements in running races, so I was pretty stoked to get an award. My fastest 10K race which was back in June of 2000 was at a 9:27 minute/mile pace and that was the year I trained for the Paris marathon. I also felt good about beating my previous PR from 13 years ago, proving that just like wine we can get better with age.

Once or twice a year, for the past few years, I've joined a friend and anyone else we can gather together to ride 100 miles from the North Berkeley BART station to Davis and return on the Amtrak train. This year we had a group of 12 riders and the best matched group to date. We stuck together pretty well and the pace was good enough that were able to catch the earlier return train. It was great fun, I met some nice people and it was the easiest time I've had doing the ride.