Much better run today.  Maybe my leg turnover is coming back for the shorter stuff.

Off to a conference in Memphis in the morning.  I will be there through Wednesday - UGGHHHH.  We will see what kind of training, eating, drinking, running I get in while I am away.  :)

I just couldn't help myself.  I registered for General Smallwood OLY today.  Looks like MCM will be for fun.  Beer on the course anybody?  :)

Nice, easy run.

Decent swim tonight.  1500 meters, plus drills.

So, here is today's reason that I am an IDIOT!  I went to put the date of the Smallwood TRI in my calendar when I realized the race is on a Saturday.  UGGGHHH!  You see, both my daughter's play soccer on Saturday and I don't like missing games.  Never mind the fact that my X would never let me hear the end of it, I really enjoy the games!  So after telling Paul earlier in the week that he should skip his TRI this weekend in favor of his son's football game, I am going to do the same thing at the end of the month.  The good news is Smallwood has a decent refund policy.

Back to the drawing board..........

Got an email last night confirming my registration and entrance in the Odyssey HIM this weekend.  I registered last Spring before I knew my Fall schedule. Unfortunately I will be on plane during the race.  :(  I really want to do this race.  That being said, without any firm racing plans I don't really have any mojo this week to train.  I better figure something out.  MCM just doesn't seem to be proper motivation for me right now and I am still unsure whether my schedule will allow for General Smallwood.........

MCM #5618 - I have no idea what I put for a projected finish time. 

Ok - no training today, but I did stay at  Holiday Inn Express last night.  :)

RR (LONG) from Sunday is finally up. 

http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/discussion/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=54858&posts=1&start=1

The next week of training is going to be sporadic with work and travel schedule. Anyone know any place to run or swim in Memphis??

I am leaning toward doing the General Smallwood Oly at the end of the month.

OK run at lunch.  However, it felt faster.  If I want to run MCM for time, I better do some of that fun speed stuff to work on my leg turnover...............

Decisions, decisions - another TRI this season or properly train for MCM - Hmmmmmm. 

Easy recovery run tonight.  I am still feeling yesterday...........

Results are up from yesterday.  Reposted actual times.  I was 2 out of 7 in my AG - not bad.  I will get a RR up tonight or tomorrow. 

Somebody learned to swim.  :) :) :)

Some thoughts from today's race:

The swim was awesome!  I started right in the middle of the pack to get the full experience.  During the swim I was kicked in the face, had my goggles knocked off, swam freestyle 100% of the time, drafted, passed numerous people, finished with the second pack of swimmers, could have easily kept going much longer, and loved every minute of it!  The swim was actually my best leg of the day.  Can you believe it!  My only issue was during warm-up.  I jumped right in and was shocked by the cold water.  I lost my breath and started to panic a little.  I just said to myself 'cut the crap' and started breathing properly.  It was all good from there!  :)

The hills on the course were killer!  This is not a stand-alone statement as people who train on hills agreed.  The hills shredded my legs - uphill on the bike and downhill on the run.  I really need to find a way to properly train on hills if I want to enjoy CDA. 

My bike hates me!  At times, I was having a hard time keeping in the middle gears while going up hills, even though I just got a tune up.  In addition, around mile 35 I noticed that the tire I changed out last night was getting low on air.  Of course I did not have a CO2 cartridge as I used it last night, nor did I have a spare tube (used that as well).  This was the first time all summer I rode without my tire repair kit - I will never do that again!  Anyway, I nursed the tire until mile 37ish where it was almost completely flat.  I ended up riding on my rim for the last mile or so and ended up walking the bike the last 1/4 mile +.  This probably cost me around 3-4 minutes and 6+ finish spots.  It might be time to upgrade to a nice TRI bike.   

And yeah - I took home hardware!  Actually it was a certificate.  I took 2nd in my AG.  You gotta love small races!  I'm not sure how many people were in my AG, but I know it was more than 3.  :)  I know all the fast people were racing other races today, but today's performance would have been good for a solid MOP finish in a large race.  That is all I am looking for in this sport. 

Total time was just shy of 3:30 - exactly where I thought I would be.  I will post a full race report and times as soon as they are posted.  Times are guestimated very much for the log.  

I've also decided that I can now use the term 'triathlete' (loosely) when referring to myself.  That is something I would not let myself do until I felt like I earned it.  I also feel I earned the right to put my TRI sticker on my car.  All-in-all a very good day! 

I just need to figure out what is next next.  I really want to do a true OLY or HIM soon, however I don't think my fall schedule will allow it.  I will have to figure it out over the next week or so.