Time to get to work.

It's the last week of February.

I'll let that sink in for a moment for those of you like me.

Holy crap, it seems like racing season just ended and now you're telling me I'm just over a month away from my first big race of 2014? It always sneaks up on me, and of course now it has me questioning whether or not I've been straight and true to the training path, or whether I've let myself get soft. Time to pour over some data and try to find some light at the end of this tunnel.


The first and most pressing issue is my run. Since the Knoxville Half Marathon is the first "A" race on the schedule (I hate that term but it gets the point across) it means the run is what's most important. Here's a spread from last Sunday's run (4x5' at tempo) which ended up pretty well. The week before I had a longer (80') run at mostly tempo (with an easy mile in the middle and cooldown) where I got 11 miles in. Those are both pretty promising runs for what I'm hoping is a better than 1:30 race. Considering this time last year I was not running due to injury and managed to get a 1:31:xx out of the deal, I expect that my goal is within grasp, considering I have an ok day.

A not-as embarrassing as most- run.

Of course then it's moving on to actual Triathlons (and at the end of the season an Aquabike) so it's not all about running.

As for the swim I've been putting in my time, although not quite as much as last year this time (due to the lack of running I was doing.) I did a benchmark 10x200 (30" rest) last week and I'm holding ~10" a set faster times across the sets. That's nothing amazing, but it's definitely a tangible upgrade. I was fairly happy with how my swim had developed by the end of last season, and I'm 100% sure I'm faster than I was then, so I'm still pretty pleased. There's certainly still a lot of room to grow, but I am able to have a slight sigh of relief when I look at my swim lately... I'm not going to be on the back foot from the start.

Unfortunately that leaves the bike. Last Thursday was my first power test since around October. As you may remember I was doing a LOT of cycling specific races last year and I was just riding a lot in general. Lately I've been riding 2x/week in Sufferfest classes with my LBS. You can probably guess how that turned out.

For reference, my last test had a 20' peak power of 303w.

Uhgg... That's not good. (sorry if it's too small... 20' - 278w)

Around 25 watts dropped off. Now don't get me wrong, I think that's probably better than it could have been considering the amount of actual cycling I have been doing... I mean it's hard to imagine holding steady going from ~10 hours a week to 2... but nonetheless it means it's time to start getting back on the bike and hurting more often. Fortunately that is something I'm looking forward to! (I'm admittedly also looking forward to making the 45minute commute to the pool a little less frequently.)

So all in all I think things are moving on in a positive direction. With any luck I'll be able to put up some good results and NOT embarrass the Cobb Mobb. Speaking of which, check out the sweet running top and t-shirt.



Sweet Swag!

So it's time to get back to some serious training. I'm excited, it's always this way before the first big race. I hope all of you guys are ready (or like me, getting ready) for race season. Maybe we'll get some nice weather for a change to ramp up the motivation!

Thanks as always for reading! I really Appreciate it!

- Christopher Morelock