I have finally registered from some of my planned tri’s for this summer.  I had about 5 or 6 that I was wanting to do, but hadn’t actually taken the plunge and signed up for any.  The big factor in my delay in signing up was figuring out whether or not I should sign up for Half Ironman.  Today, I convinced myself that I can be ready for it by August.  So, I have now signed up for the Grand Haven Tri on July 12th (Olympic Distance) Tri Del Sol on July 18th (Sprint Distance) and then the Steelhead 70.3 on August 1st (Half Ironman).  3 tri’s in 4 weeks sounds crazy, I know, but I am thinking that I will ease back on the Tri Del Sol and treat it as a test run for Steelhead.  It will give me a second chance to practice my transitions and doing all three activities in one day.

The other tri’s I am thinking of doing are the Millennium Tri and the Reeds Lake Tri.  The Millennium Tri is the weekend after Steelhead, so that one will be a last minute signup depending on how I feel afterwards.  It is a really short sprint (500m, 15mi, 5k), so it may be a good excuse to stretch the legs.  Once tri-season wraps up (living somewhere with a year-round warm season sounds really appealing right about now), I’ll focus more on running again with the hope of doing the Grand Rapids Marathon.  I’ve done the half marathon once and loved it; great course, great organization.

Today, despite the fact that I am supposed to be a on taper for Sunburst, I was able to do a little of everything.  The taper according to my training plan had the final two weeks going very light on activity which sort of drive me nuts.  It is hard to go from 40-50 miles a week down to 20-25 miles.  So, in order to follow the training plan, I have added a bit of extra biking and swimming to keep me active yet keep the impact to a minimum.

I started off this morning with a swim up at EGR.  I did 2500 yards for the first time in while; I usually only do 1800 yards so that I can get in and out in 30-35 minutes.  The 2500 yards took just under 50 minutes which included a short break to massage out a cramp in my calf.  It was actually first cramp I have gotten swimming.  I could feel it coming on about halfway through the workout, but it didn’t actually cramp up until about 2000 yards.  After massaging it out, I just had to be careful not to push off from the wall with that leg.

Later in the afternoon, I did my 4 mile run according to the training schedule.  It was very hot & humid at 3:30 when I went out, which was probably good prep for Sunburst as everyone has said that it can be very hot.  I finished in under 32 minutes, so sub 8 min miles.

Right after the run, I jumped on the bike to head to tutoring.  While not technically a workout, I like to use the short ride (6 miles each way) to Cascade and back as a chance to do a little speed work.  There are a couple of good sized hills each way which give me a chance to push it up each of them without worrying about tiring out.  I haven’t looked at the graphs of the ride yet, but I am guessing that I was pushing 20mph pace each way even with the hills.

On another note, I checked the website for Steelhead and there are still openings for the 70.3 in Benton Harbor.  I think that after the marathon I am going to have to seriously consider attempting the half IM this year rather than next.  I am confident that I am ready on the swim and run legs of the race, but I just need more bike mileage under my belt.  I’ll have to go out for a couple long rides after the marathon to see if I feel I can legitimately be ready for it, but I am thinking I very easily could be.