Tri-ing to stay young!

Just 5 days to go til the Sylvan 1/2 and true to form, I did not do the 100 km ride I had promised myself. Since Stoney Plain, I have managed to get out for two lake swims at McKenzie lake and do 1 set of bike hill repeats to get used to the back half of Sylvan.

My swims have been good. The first swim was 1h2m for 2000m and the second 53m for 2000m. I then finished my second swim with another 600m for a total time of 1h18m for 2600m. Amazingly, I did not panic during either swim. Maybe I’m finally getting used to lake swimming? My goal for Sylvan will be a 50m swim.
Today I’m heading out for a ride to Cochrane with  hill repeats at the end for a total of about 50 km. This will be my last bike ride til Sylvan. I hope to do a quick 1400m swim on Thursday and a couple of treadmill runs this week. I have been using the hill by our house for repeats. It has (by my car’s GPS) an 185 ft. rise over 0.75 km. It doesn’t sound like much but my old legs can sure feel it after the 3rd or 4th repeat.

I have been trying to use more chi running technique in my running style and have been barefoot running on the treadmill whenever I get to the gym. My last barefoot run was 30m. I then ran the next 30m in runners and was amazed at how soft and inefficient they felt. I’m convinced that I am losing the better part of 20% of my forward momentum to absorption in the runner. I have also noticed my much improved running posture when barefoot. I’m sure this is a result of more careful foot placement and relaxing the foot and ankle more during the roll over to avoid bruising. After the barefoot session, I notice once my shoes are back on, I tend to not relax my foot as much as the shoe’s internal softness compensates for the foot’s rigidity. I’m sure that over time my heal soreness problems will disappear as I learn to properly relax my feet. My long term goal is to run for 1h30m barefoot and then to change to a less padded running shoe.

Well, the time has come to get on the bike and do my last ride. Talk to you soon.