Things to look forward to

June 9: Race for the Cure, 5K; sign up already!

June 23 or 24: Our own practice triathlon. Through Arielle's friend, we have access to a lake in Pittsboro. Yay! We're planning on a leisurely, get-our-confidence-up, triathlon experience that's two weeks prior to the Triangle Triathlon. Suggestions on how this will work are welcome.

Sun bike, 10am, Lake Crabtree Park

Sorry the swim clinic with Andy fell through for this weekend. I'll try to schedule one for next weekend. In its place, let's do the bike course of the Triangle Triathlon (15mi). I'm up for jogging part of the run course afterwards too. This is a *great* opportunity to familiarize yourself with the bike route. Let's try to beat the heat, and meet at the parking lot near the Old Beech Nature Trailhead in Lake Crabtree County Park (see the map on pg. 4).

Here's the bike route in gmaps pedometer. Big hills!

Fun run times posted -- Great Job!

Great job everyone. They posted our results online.

Don't forget: Duke Family Fun Run TOMORROW, 8:20am

Let's meet at the check in area around 8:20am tomorrow morning. It looks like they have parking set up on the West side of Science Drive. Park there (be sure to follow signs for the Duke Children's Classic, I think there may be some other event happening near Wallace Wade tomorrow too, so don't get confused). Cost is $2. You can sign up race day as well.

Race for the Cure -- open run

So I've heard back from a few folks, and it sounds like we mostly want to do the co-ed open recreational run that starts at 9:15. So that's the plan! Go ahead and sign up already!

Race for the Cure

So it didn't sound like there were enough of us to form a team for Race for the Cure, so I thought we'd just go ahead and sign up as individuals. Now the question is what category do people want to participate in. We could do "competitive" or "open recreational". The difference is that in the competitive section you get a timing chip, pay an extra $5, and the race starts earlier (7:15am vs 9:15am). So it all depends on if you want to be timed or not. Let me know your vote (but of course we can all run separately too).

Race this week! Sat, 5/19, 8:20am, Duke, 5K

Don't forget to register for this Saturday's 5K Duke Family Fun Run/Walk. Cost is $2.

Let's meet near the check in area at 8:20am to give us plenty of time to check in, warm up, stretch, etc. (and be late, ahem). Start time for the run is 9am, but registration closes at 8:45. It's along the Al Buehler trail. When you park, tell them it's for the "Children's Classic".

SUN bike, date change

Yeah, so the weather looks ominous for a long bike ride tomorrow. So we'll postpone til Sunday. I'm not sure if anyone else is able to come. But you can count on Jack and I to be there.

Sunday, 5/13, 10:30am
Eno River State Park, Cole Mill Parking Lot
Biking, 24mi.

See route.

biking Sat -- or Sun??

With it storming outside, it seems prudent to check the weather forecast. Looks like it may rain on Saturday, but the forecast for now is clear for Sunday. I'll change the time if necessary Friday...

Maybe Sat??, 10:30am, biking, Eno River

Let's have a reprise of the Eno River bike ride. We didn't get to do the whole thing last time, so let's try it again. See the old post for details on the route.

Meet at the Eno River Cole Mill parking lot.
Saturday, 5/12, 10:30am
Stay tuned for changes due to weather possibly...

Upcoming Training Sessions

So here's my rough plan from now til the Triangle Triathlon (7/8) (about 8 weeks). Everything except for the races hasn't been scheduled in stone yet; I was thinking of just staging the events some time during the weekend. Let me know if a particular weekly time works better for you (e.g. Sun mornings), or if you prefer weekday evenings. It looks like we've only got 3 swim clinics (including tonight's). If you want more, let me know.
Tue, 5/8, 6pm, swimming w/ Andy
Sat, 5/12, 10am, biking near the eno
Sat, 5/19, 9am, Duke Family Fun Run, 5K
Sat/Sun, 5/26, swimming w/ Andy??
Sat/Sun, 6/2, practice duathlon -- we do the Triangle Triathlon bike course, then run part of the run course.
Sat, 6/9, 7:15am, Race for the Cure, 5K
Sat/Sun, 6/16, swimming w/ Andy??
Sat/Sun, 6/23, Mini-triathlon -- we'll set up our own course
Sat, 6/30, easy run, social at my house
Sun, 7/8, Triangle Triathlon
Not doing the Triangle Triathlon? Don't worry, neither am I, I'll worry about July/Aug's schedule for the Hillsborough triathlon when the time gets closer.

Swimming tonight! (5/8) + new swim hours

Don't forget: swim clinic tonight with Andy at 6pm in the pool.

Btw, there are new hours for the Wilson pool:
Monday - Friday 10 AM - 2 PM, and 6 PM - 9 PM
Saturday and Sunday 12 PM - 4 PM

Trail info -- from Nathalie

Nathalie sent me some interesting distance info on some of our frequent trails:

• The Al Buehler trail, located around the Washington Duke Golf Course, is a moderate to advanced trail totaling 2.8 miles 2.91 mi or 3.1 miles 3.13 mi if you include the connector to the fitness loop. Here's a map of the trail with relevant distances.


• The East Campus wall has a beginner trail that runs around the inside perimeter. One complete lap totals 1.7 miles.

Also, check out the Google Maps Pedometer. It's a really cool site where you can draw your route on google maps and calculate how far you've gone. It's also got elevation information too.

Speaking of running, don't forget: Tomorrow, golf course trail, 10am.

Swimming workouts -- from Andy

I asked Andy for suggestions on how to structure swim workouts, and below is his reply. The example workout may be pretty long, so please adjust by a factor of .25, .5, etc. as necessary -- don't be intimidated! =) -E

Andy's response:

When it comes to training for distance swimming events there are a few things to keep in mind:

• warming up
  
• stroke technique and efficiency (which includes balance in water, swimming straight, breathing technique, etc)
  
• warming down
  

I would use the following skeleton in designing workouts:

• Warmup: different for different people but this should start with a nice long slow swim, thinking about body position and technique. Start with something like 200yds, a short rest, and then a few hundreds of drill, focusing on one drill aspect per 100.
  
• Long swim: Do your big set here, something around 1000-2000yds. Break it up usually (4x500, 2 X 1000, 8 x 200, etc) and occasionally push yourself into a straight long swim (2000 yds straight, that sort of thing.
  
• Kick set (500 or so of kick.. and switch this up a little now and again too)
  
• Warm down (again thinking about technique and working lactic acid out of your arms and legs with consistent slow swimming. A few hundred yards should take care of this.

An example (3600 yds total):

• 200 slow freestyle warmup
  
• 8 x 100 drill freestyle (2x100 zipper, 2xflip, 2x8kicks right/left, 2xswim with fists)
  
• 800 swim
  
• 600 swim w/ paddles
  
• 400 swim w/ snorkle
  
• 200 swim
  
• 400 kick w/ fins
  
• 200 warmdown

Obviously if people are at a more or less advances stage in their swimming, this skeleton workout can be adjusted by a factor of +/- 1 (ie do 1/2 or 2 times the yardages) just make sure you're nicely warmed up before you start to push yourself in the main set.

Next event: swimming, Tues, 5/8, 6pm, Wilson pool

Come for another clinic with Andy.

Tuesday, 5/8, 6pm, Wilson pool

Other upcoming activities

Some of you mentioned wanting to do some running races along with our training. I saw these two that looked good:

1) Duke Family Fun Run, Saturday, May 19
5K, cost is $2, around Duke Golf Course. Should be fun. Nathalie and I have already signed up.

2) Race for the Cure, Saturday, June 9
5K, cost is $30, race in Raleigh for breast cancer research. I've heard raves about this experience. I think we should totally do it. We need 10 people to form a team, so let's do it!

Let me know if you're doing either of these, especially the Race for the Cure, that way if we have enough people we can make a team.

Potential Triathlons

So I've finally gotten around to putting together an overall plan for the summer. I need feedback on what triathlons people want to do. Here are three choices that looked good to me. Let me know which one you want to do, so I can plan accordingly.

1) Kure Beach Double Sprint (Sunday, June 24) -- 375m swim, 1.5 mi run, 20K bike, 1.5 mi run, 375 m swim
This is located in Wilmington. A little different triathlon format. You swim in the ocean, then the run and bike are pretty flat.

2) Triangle Triathlon (Sunday, July 08) -- 750m swim, 15 mi bike, 5K run
This is located around Lake Crabtree (close to RDU). I know several of us will be out of town for this one. But that shouldn't stop the rest of you! This is the triathlon Alex, Jack, and I have done before.

3) Hillsborough Endurance Challenge (Saturday, August 25) -- 500m Swim, 16 mi Bike, 5K Run
This is located in Hillsborough. The swim is in a pool!

Please take a look at these and decide which one you want to do. Let me know asap.

Running, Sun, 5/6, 10am

Let's do something simple this week. Join us for a run around the golf course trail. Afterwards, we may hit the gym for some weightlifting if people want.

Sunday, May 6, 10am
Meet at Washington Duke Golf Course trail,
Intersection of 751 and Science Drive.