It's been real and it's been fun...

Actually, it's been real fun! :)

Ok, I know I've been slacking here but it's been super busy... familia, training, work, etc... but it's all good.

BALLWIN TRIATHLON (07/20) .-
Ok, so last week I did a sprint tri, very short one: 300 yard swim, 7.4 mile bike, and a 3 mile run. It went great, had a lot of fun and it was excellent transition practice. This was my first time running (in a tri race) with no socks. I was pretty shocked how smooth it went; I only got a tiny blister in the back of my left heel at the very end... and this was with no bodyglide, vaseline, nothing. Surprisingly enough I finished 4th in my age group... that was cool since I didn't really race it 100% Later, looking at the results I saw the guy who got third beat me by exactly 30sec... D'oh! Oh well... no biggie.
It was very hot and humid too!

Men 30 - 34
Place Name Bib No Age Overall Time
4 P CORDERO 203 34 22 53:38
(AG: 4/14 - OA: 26/248)


Yesterday afternoon I decided to learn and practice leaving the shoes on the pedals and putting them on and off while on the bike. I watched a couple of videos on youtube and iTunes (podcasts) about this and went out to try. I probably did it 25 - 30 times and it worked really well. So I decided to do it in today's race. Worked just fine!


TOUR de KIRKWOOD (07/27).-
Today's race was another sprint one, quite similar as the one I did last week. TdK was 400 yard swim, 12 mile bike, and 3 mile run. This tri is a non-competitive race, so basically you get timed but there is no awards; the race lets new athletes experience the thrill of a triathlon. Another cool thing about this tri is that they donate 100% of all registration fees to charities. This was my very first tri last year.

Had a really good race, everything went just as planned.... with the exception of me getting lost..... TWICE!! I'm an idiot. Ok, the first time one volunteer goes: "Right!" and the other one a few feet away from her waves like, go straight... so I went straight.... about a block and a half I was getting close to a highway, yeah so.. wrong way! Turned around and saw the guy getting in his car to go get me...LOL.... too funny! The second one, was after the 2nd and last loop. I go: "which way to transition area". Lady volunteer: "yeah, 2 loops". Me: (kept going). So I'm like, OMG! I need to get baaaaaaack!!! Turned around and found my way to TA. I know, I know... you're probably thinking: "dude, get familiar with the course!!" and you my friends, are absolutely right. I need to be better that and avoid stupid mistakes like those.

Crazy thing is, after all that: 3rd place! First time I place evah (and of course, it had to be in a non-competitive race.. so no awards...LOL) Still... I take 3rd proudly dammit!
Weather-wise: perfect!

Men 30 - 34
PL No Name Swim min/100yds Bike MPH Run min/m Total Time
3 43 CORDERO, P 6:00.4 1:30.1 43:22.2 16.6 21:58.2 7:19.4 1:11:20
(AG: 3/16 - OA: 14/224)


And this coming weekend I have my third olympic distance tri ever. It's the Ultramax: "Who Tri's Harder Quartermax Triathlon" in Innsbrook, MO. We'll see how that one goes.

PC

Not a whole lot to say...

... other than training has been hard work. Coach has been kicking my arse big time but I'm loving it.

Since I started running (a little over 2 years ago) and then with the tris (last year) I always trained by distance and by pace. Coach has me doing everything by time and heart rate zones. It's actually really interesting and I'm learning a lot about it. I've always read about HR zones and that in tri magazines and books but never really applied it to my training, until now. My swims are usually by distance and sometimes by time.

Another new thing is I don't or haven't gotten a day off since I started working with Coach, which is fine... so far! I guess she goes by my resting HR which I need to get every morning before I get out of bed... that lets her know my level of energy and fatigue.

It's been really awesome, she's fantastic. We've been emailing each other quite often and she checks on me and make sure things are going fine. We've talked on the phone a couple of times and we're actually having lunch tomorrow, I'm looking forward to that.

This weekend I have a SUPER short sprint tri: 300 yard S, 7.4 mile B and 3 mile R, never done a tri this short, it'll be good transition practice. I've been biking with no socks on thinking I'll start taking my shoes off in the bike and leave then clipped on the pedals but I haven't gotten there yet, one step at the time. Next weekend I have another sprint tri 400 yard S, 12 mile B, and 3 mile R.

Happy training to all!

PC

The Tri-phabet

It's so interesting how you learn all these new terms, acronyms, expressions, and slang. At least in my case, before I started training I had no idea what a few of these meant.

I bet you I can find 3 (for sure there are more) terms, acronyms, slang or expressions for every single letter of the alphabet. Let's see what we find in the Tri Lingo:


A - AHR, Aero bars, Age grouper

B - Bonk, Brick, BQ

C - Cadence, Carbo loading, CD

D - Drafting, Drill, DNF (hate this one!)

E - Endurance, Expo, Electrolytes

F - Fartlek, Finish line, Family

G - Goal, Glucose, Goggles

H - HIM, HR, Helmet

I - Intervals, IM, ITU

J - Jammers, Jersey, Junk miles

K - Kona, Kick board, Keel tube

L - Lactate threshold, Ladder, Lottery

M - Main set, Mdot, Mary

N - Negative split, Nutrition, Natatorium

O - Overpronate, Oly, Over training

P - Pace, Peak phase, PR

Q - Qualify, QR, Quick-release wheels

R - Racing flats, RR, Registration

S - Sprint distance, Split, Strides

T - Tempo-run, T1/T2, Taper

U - USAT, Ultegra, Ultra marathon

V - VO2 max, Volume, Vélo

W - Wave, Wetsuit, WU

X - Xterra, X tool, X-treme....lol.... sorry, I ran out of ideas for this letter.

Y - Yoga, Yards, Y tool

Z - Zone, Zipp, Zip Tie

..... the list is endless.

PC