Did a 1500m swim test today and set a new personal best of 34:17, shaving another 45 seconds off my previous best. To put that into context, top pros swim 1500m in open water for the Olympic Distance Triathlon in about 18 minutes. So while that is probably outside my reach, getting down to 30 minutes seems like a reasonable goal, with a 25 minute time a stretch goal. Today, after watching my wife swim a couple of laps, I as able to better visualize what I was feeling in the water. Sine we are both starting out, we are making allot of the same mistakes. After my 1500m, I swam a couple of laps where I forced myself to go slow, and really try to focus on my technique. To my surprise, even though I thought I was going really slow, I was doing 25m in 30 seconds, which is the pace I need to hit my 30 minute goal.

You read allot about technique over raw speed, but most of the time (at least for me), I don’t believe it until I have some first hand experience, which I think I got today. It’s a fairly large psychological breakthrough, and I believe it will help me focus during future workouts. Some key points in my technique that I was able to put together for the first time today were: Full extension, shoulder rotation, smooth hand/arm entry setting up for my s-stroke. The pool is closed on Wednesday (my usual swim day along with Sundays), but my parents have an indoor pool at their condo and I’ll be on that side of town anyway. It’s probably closer to 10-15m, so I’m thinking of technique drills followed by lots of short sprints for the intensity component. Maybe I’ll swim around the edges to get more of a feel for a long distance instead of laps, as I always touch and stop at each end (still haven’t learned the flip turn).

Biking and running are coming along nicely as well. While I had a DNF during last weeks two hour endurance training (had to stop at 1 hour 47 minutes), I was averaging 227 watts. This week was a little better, as I finished very strong, but I had to stop at the 1 hour mark to use the bathroom. I’ve slacked off a bit on the intensity component for biking, while training to squeeze more running in, but I think I’m going to limit my running to one time per week until these shin splints clear up. Even though the shin splints are annoying, I was able to set a pretty good pace on Thursday, running on the treadmill for 30 minutes covering 4.5 miles (6:40 mile, 9 mph average). I would do 1 minute of 9.5-9.6 mph followed by 30 seconds of rest at 8.1 mph. This worked out really well, and I think I’ll keep working with this format to build up my speed and endurance.

I’m really looking to getting back outdoors for biking in the spring. I didn’t do any biking last winter, and my workout routine was sub-par compare to what I have been doing since April. I remember getting on my bike the first time and taking so long to bike to work that I was really disappointed (although it was maybe 50 out, and I had a strong head wind). I was able to build myself back up during the summer, but still couldn’t do much better then 21 mph average over my 12.5 mile route from my office to home. I’m really looking to a 24 mph average over that 12.5 miles in the early spring, and then keep that pace for 24-25 miles for the triathlon. I don’t know if that will be possible without more aero tires and at least clip on aero bars, but I’ll give it a try.