Week 10 Summary...Quad City Triathlon Club (Team Tri Fit)

Week 10 was a tremendous week of training for me due in part to two days off school no thanks to a huge ice storm that rolled through the Quad Cities on Wednesday and Thursday. Combine that with a 1/2 day off for MLK day and I only had 2.5 days of work. That allowed me to get in 24 hours and 15 minutes of training time. My totals for the week were 51 miles running, 180 biking, and 14,100 yards swimming. I also lifted weights three times, did core work six times, speed drills, strides, and lunges three times, and plyometrics twice. I'm feeling really great following what turned out to be my 5th highest volume of training in a week ever (my highest ever during the school year). The results of the MRI on my achilles came on Monday and I was informed that the tendon is in perfect condition. I have a bone near my heal that is slightly larger than it should be. That causes extra strain on some fat tissue near the tendon when I go up on my toes. Too much repetition of this causes the swelling around the tendon. The doctor informed me that I will have some swelling from time to time and we will be okay to inject cortisone twice a year to get rid of the swelling. I've had no pain since the cortisone and thanks to work from Dr. Kaminski at Kaminski Pain and Performance Care I'm back to running at a level I was hoping to be.

For my best workouts of the week...on Wednesday I escaped the ice by running 2x 3 miles at tempo pace on the treadmill with a mile easy between. My first one was 18:00 (6 min. pace). I followed that up with a 17:17 on my 2nd tempo run (5:45 pace). I'll try to get to Augustana this week to work out with the track team on Wednesday. In the pool I had my best set ever on Saturday morning. I swam 10x 100's on 1:20 coming in on each one between 1:15 and 1:17. This added up to a faster 1,000 time than I've ever swam even counting the breaks between 100's. I had 2 bike interval workouts that have me feeling very strong on the bike. Next Sunday I will be competing in an indoor triathlon at the YMCA in Muscatine, IA. Last year I set the event record but tied another guy in a different heat. Hopefully we'll be in the same heat this year with a chance to lower the record. The event is swim heavy with a 900 yard pool swim followed by the ever famous 7 mile bike ride on the legendary Schwinn AirDyne. For those who are unfamiliar that is the bike where you use your arms and legs together. It really measures nothing about biking ability and is a pure test of pain tolerance. I have woken up numerous times throughout the year to nightmares that I am back on the Scwhinn AirDyne. I'm looking forward to that once a year challenge. The event finishes with a 2.5 mile run with 40 laps around the 100 meter track featuring banked turns. It sounds aweful but it's actually a very fun run around the banked track. I'll be able to measure my swim improvements and compare where I am at running without near the mileage I had at this point last year.

I'd like to finish by putting in a plug for the local triathlon club that was started in the Quad Cities last year, Team Tri-Fit. The club was created by director Steve Meek and I was thrilled to help promote this great sport in the QC. We ended last year with over 50 members and have already had over 40 sign up to join the club this year. We have group training opportunities, free clinics on triathlons, free club dinners, great sponsorship discounts and team get togethers that are always lots of fun. Next Saturday the club will be hosting a "Train Your Brain" seminar in which we view one of legendary triathlon coach Mark Allen's training videos followed by a question and answer panel discussion in which I am on the panel with local Ironman Hawaii finisher Jen Foley. This is a great opportunity for beginner to advanced triathletes to gain some useful knowledge on the sport. The cost of the clinic is free to club members and only $3.00 for non-members. The clinic begins at 8:00 a.m. at Heritage Church in Bettendorf, IA. You can find more great information on Team Tri-Fit at http://www.teamtri-fit.com/ The cost for joining the club is only $25.00 this year. Optional team jersey and dri-fit shirt are available for additional purchase to club members. I'd love to see Team Tri-Fit continue to grow. We are very community oriented. Last year many members of the club volunteered at the Hy-Vee Youth Triathlon. We also were active in helping a club member with bike repairs and meals after a serious bike injury in the summer. Other times club members brought meals to those who had additions to their families during that busy time. If you live around the QC and want to be part of a great triathlon club Team Tri-Fit is right for you. E-mail me if you have any questions. I'm finalizing a race schedule at this time. I'll release that later this week with additional sponsors. Thanks for reading! DREAM BIG!