Triathlons and Training

Well it is now May and my swimming training is coming along rather swimmingly!  I have completed several 1 mile distances, which is several more than I managed last year, prior to the events.  My freestyle/crawl continues to improve and I am finding it gradually more natural to breathe to the right, as well as to the left.  I read somewhere that it is worthwhile persisting with bi-lateral breathing, and yes, it most certainly is.  (It used to come naturally to me when I swam crawl in short, sharp bursts, but things are slightly different now I have slowed my stroke down and do it over longer distances.)

I have been keeping a closer check on the clock and I have completed the 1 mile distance in 47 minutes, twice in the last fortnight.  So close to my goal of 45 minutes - frustratingly so!  I have been swimming at the Aquatics centre in Leeds and this allows me to swim 50 metre lengths, rather than 25 metres, which is much more satisfying.  I have been swimming 5 lengths of breaststroke, 5 lengths of crawl, so doing 3 sets of this, with an additional 2 lengths at the end to take me to 32 lengths, or the 1 mile distance.  

I have noticed my breaststroke settles into quite a powerful, consistent stroke almost immediately, but I struggle with my breathing on the first set of crawl lengths.  By the time I do the second set of crawl (by which time I have swam approximately 750 metres) I feel stronger and focused and can swim crawl without too much of a struggle.  I assume this is down to me warming up and into the stroke, but I could do with this happening a little earlier!  But overall I feel things are gradually improving and I felt like I could have continued today and done a few more lengths.  I am contemplating setting myself a distance goal of 2km, just because I feel like I could, but also because I have never swam that far before.  But I want to focus on increasing my speed over the mile, and I am not sure swimming further will necessarily help with this. 

In other news, Dylan competed in his first triathlon of the season last weekend.  He took part in the Tadcaster triathlon, which is a sprint distance tri (500 metre indoor swim, 14 km bike, 7km run).  He did really well and finished it 6 minutes faster than last year.  I was there, taking a few photos:

 Dylan came 51st out of 310.... HOW AMAZING???  Very proud!  It actually inspired me to start thinking about entering a triathlon, but I can't get passed the fact that there is running involved.  I don't want to run, thank you very much.  BUT.. BUT... big BUT!!  I will hopefully be involved this year in one of my favourite triathlons;  the Leeds triathlon allows you to enter a relay team, where three people compete in the three different disciplines.  There is a 1 mile open water swim, and after that the baton is passed to a cyclist and later a runner.  I have started to put a team together with a couple of friends, and hopefully this will become a reality in Leeds, in September :-) 

Triathlons and Marathons!

We've had a busy couple of Sundays here as Dylan (my husband) was competing in the Tadcaster Triathlon and then the Leeds Half Marathon.

The triathlon was a sprint distance triathlon so the swimming part was indoors which made it simpler as there was no wetsuit to negotiate and this was a distance of 500 metres in the Tadcaster Swimming Pool. After that there was a half mile sprint up the road to the Molson Coors Brewery which housed the transition area. The bike leg was a 14 km ride on road around the surrounding villages, then back to transition and a run for 7km.

It was a lovely day to be spectating at a triathlon, with my camera and without the children and Dylan did a really great time of 1 hour and 15 minutes, which was 15 minutes faster than the time he did the Leeds Sprint Triathlon last year, which is a testament to the hard training schedule he has completed in the last 12 months.

There were 207 triathletes who took part and finished, including the elite. Dylan finished:

• 90 overall out of 207
• 39 out of the 108 his category (age 18 to 40 - not bad considering he is in the upper age limit!)
• Swim: 96 out of 207
• Cycle: 43 out of 207 (WOW!)
• Run: 110 out of 207

Highlight of the day was when he ran he half mile from the pool to transition across the town, barefoot! He is interested in barefoot running and decided to do this after making an informed choice and it gave him an advantage over other swimmers exiting the pool who stopped to get socks and footwear on. Many of the spectators thought this was amusing, shocking or downright weird... everyone was pointing and whispering as he ran past with a grin on his face and his goggles in his hand! I heard one woman say "He must be really hard, or completely insane"! Made me chuckle!

Here are a few photo's I took:







The Leeds Half Marathon took place the week after in the city centre. It was the first running event that Dylan has taken part in and at just over 13 miles, it would be the furthest distance he has ever run, including training sessions.

The atmosphere was very different to that of a triathlon. It was a huge event with 1000's of runners of all abilities, shapes and ages taking part. It was very well organised and very official-feeling compared to a triathlon and I have to say it wasn't as enjoyable as far as spectator sports go! Still we had a lovely day and Dylan did really well.

He completed the course in 1 hour and 51 minutes which is an amazing time for his half marathon début. This placed him 1195 out of an approximate 5000 runners. I am not sure how this places him in his category (he ran as a 35-39 yr old male) but to finish in under 2 hours at his first attempt is just amazing!

Here are a few photo's, including one of a friend's husband; A, who we met up with and who made his début half marathon too. A also ran a fabulous time of 1 hour 54, so very similar to Dylan and he is planning on running in his first full distance marathon later this year: