Yeah yeah yeah. It shouldn’t be a shock that I have done very little training. Which is pretty scary considering my “A” race, Michigan Titanium is only 76 days away.
I had a “big” training week and I think I needed it to affirm that I could still finish the race. Now finishing well… Thats a different story.
My Race calendar as awesome, but in the last couple of weeks it’s crumbled. The two 70.3’s I had are no longer happening due to unavoidable scheduling conflicts. I even took a gamble and asked WTC & Ironman if I could transfer those entries to another race. It wasn’t a surprise when they said no.
I’ve replaced those with local olympic distance races in Wauconda & Lake Zurich because hey… something is better than nothing.
Luckily my running races are still on track, but regardless my focus is on MiTi. To help get back on track, I went up to Michigan with my family and did a whole active weekend. I kept to the program designed for my by Optimized Training Labs with a few modifications to make it more family friendly. We biked through the Sleeping Bear Dunes park, Ran & Hiked around the paths and trails and even got a little recreational swimming in… Like I said, something is better than nothing.
Last Wednesday I hit up the LITH Wednesday night swim & stride group. I’ve now customized this my Wednesday group workout in my OTL plan. I have to admit I wasn’t as pumped as I wanted to be to hop in the lake. But thanks to some peer pressure I got “my ass out there” (as written on my Facebook page).
It was chilly and rainy on Wednesday but I got a mile in and lived to tell about it. I really felt like these group open water swims really helped me prepare for Racine 70.3 and IMWI last year, so I’m glad to be a part of them again.
This Sunday will be my first Tri this season. I’m getting very late start compared to last year when Ironman Florida 70.3 kicked off my season. So Sunday I will kick off Father’s Day with a sprint tri. It’ll be my first TT swim start. I have to say, that makes me a little nervous.
I hope to use this race as somewhat of a gauge as to how out of shape I’m am. In the past I’ve always felt that once I get going, I get back in to shape fairly quick.
The next 76 days will really put that theory to the test.
Phil Castello 