Getting schooled

While I'm learning a new sport (trail mountain biking) as a cross-training endevour, Rachelle is literally back at school after a long summer off. She technically started last Thursday, but now that Labor Day is over, school and work are now kicking in. What this means is a major changes to our workout schedule.

Rach is working until 6 or 6:30 each evening, and has class some mornings. Between that and the length of days getting shorter we're going to have to move our workouts to early morning. This isn't a great fit for people who seem to have become extra fond of sleep since Timberman. Normally a night owl, I've been in bed by 10:30 pretty regularly lately but still wanting to sleep until 7. Hopefully I'll be all caught up soon, so Rach and I can start getting up earlier.

Last nights plan for a bike and run took a nosedive when Rach had to work late followed by the discovery that FitRec had their start-of-the-semester open house last night. By the time we got home from dinner, it was too dark to ride outside, and too crowded at FitRec for riding or running. So, we did what any people just getting back into working out post race recovery period would do; we punted. We're riding right after work tonight before dinner, then I can run in the dark. Rach still can't run because of the knee, but cycling is good recovery exercise for her and can still give her a good workout.

I've continued to move ahead with planning and prep even as I start stepping up training tonight. The sprint course was recently updated from a 500 to a 750 yard swim. This adds a little time to my race, but not much. A 750 yard swim should mean I'll be under 20 minutes in the water, and shooting for 35 to 40 minutes on the very flat bike, with an ultimate goal of 30 minutes. The run I'm still working on my goal, and I'll keep updating it as I get further into the couch to 5k. I'm hopeful I can do 3 miles in somewhere around 36 minutes, but it's tough to say that at this point.

Not knowing the area makes things for this race a little more complex, but hopefully I'll be able to lean on Rach's sister Laurel a bit for helping me get around and figuring out where I need to be. Plus, they have some really good course maps to help me figure out what I'm doing.

Lastly, the hard workout on the mountain bike in conjunction with my eating better seems to be paying off. I was down to 318 this morning. A week or so I ought to be knocking on the door of 310. I believe I did Timberman at about 315, so I'm hopeful I can really get my weight down for this last race.