Casa Cabeza: Triathlon Week in Review: Getting Ready for the Boogie

After three solid weeks of training, this week is a Rest Week, thank God.

I haven’t been putting in quite the same level of total aerobic training this year that I did last year, but it’s felt like more because I’m doing a lot less swimming this year, and that’s put a lot more stress on my legs and lower body. As a result, I’ve had to rest more to recover. But I feel like it’s paid off, and I’m settling into it, finally. I’ve been through three complete four-week training cycles, and at some point during this last one, Ifinally started feeling like myself again. I’m riding better, running comfortably, and swimming at a level that I can live with, especially given that this season calls for a grand total of three hundred yards of swimming in competition.

Brian’s Beachside Boogie is this weekend, and as always, I’m looking forward to it. I’ve run it twice, and every time I do, it ends up being one of my favorite races of the year. The race is a duathlon—two-mile run, ten-mile ride on trails (fat tires mandatory), two-mile run—and as such, my expectations are low. I just head out there to do what I can do, and that’s what makes the race awesome. Plus, it’s short, so it’s not like it’s gonna kill me.

Last year I came in at an hour and seven minutes, netting 38^th overall but still 7^th of 14 in my age group, and that was okay but obviously not a standout performance or anything. This year, the weather calls for significantly more wind, so I doubt I’ll be faster. As for placing… it’s hard to have goals for placing without knowing who’s going to show up. On the other hand, Sally’s doing the race with me again this year (she skipped it last year), and we’re taking our kids for the first time, so that promises to be fun. Plus the race is out at Hammonassette State Park, one of my favorite places in all of Connecticut.

Beyond prepping for the race, it’s been a quite week, tri-wise. I finally got my folding bike back from the shop on Monday, which meant that I had to ride it back home in thirty to forty mile-per-hour wind gusts, and then I ran a little yesterday, but I was taking it easy. Still, it was a nice day, and I ran the southern loop in Central Park, and there were a bunch of cute girls out there. It gets worse than that.