Now that I'm back in shape to the point where running a 5K or 10K race is feasible, I've been trying to get out and run at least one road race a month. As part of that quest, I decided to join the Atlanta Track Club as they put on a number of races during the year which are free if you are a member. It just so happened that the first event I was able to do was their end of the year Grand Finale 5K. I woke up nice and early that morning with no problems. Naturally, I didn't end up with as much sleep as I had planned and got less than 6 hours of sleep. After...

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Every month, I will try and post an update with a summary of how the past month of training went. As a bench mark to see how the training is progressing from month to month, I'll look at the last Long Slow Distance (LSD) run and bike for the month, as well as any LT test sessions that occurred. The beginning of July saw me enter and complete the Peachtree Road Race. The next week or two were not dedicated fully to training, as I had a trip to NYC and some other scheduled engagements. On July 20, I started Base 1 Week 1 of my cyclocross training plan (which I might get around to posting at some point!)....

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Last weekend, I headed up to Buford, GA for what may be my new favorite cross training activity - kayaking. This was my second time out on the river in a kayak, and I had a lot more confidence getting started this time. I was with a kayak class and somehow we managed to be on a 4 mile section of the river for over 6 hours. This probably had to do with the fact we kept going up and down the same rapids over and over! We were on the Chattahoochee River, on which there are a few small Class 1 rapids and a single Class 2 rapids. The only spill I had was going down the...

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One of the great things about running is that it is a very "pure" sport. Unlike cycling, it's not a sport where you can buy yourself seconds or minutes by upgrading your wheels, or purchasing more aerodynamic helmets or bikes. To compete, all you really need are a pair of running shoes! However, every now and then we put enough miles on our shoes and have to drag ourselves to the store to get a new pair. Even though my shoes have only 150 miles on them (I've read that you should get new shoes after 300-400 miles on average), I've had them for over 4 years, and have been experiencing some shin splints. Since I'm really getting back...

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As a triathlete, it seems we all have an addiction for reading up on the sport, whether it be on the Internets or in those papery substances that historians talk about on the Internets (I think they used to call them "books"). If there was only one book that you were allowed to read as a Triathlete, I think it would have to be the Triathlon Training Bible, by Joe Friel. (He actually just released a new updated 3rd edition this past month. If you already have the second edition, you can purchase just the comapnion edition which is a shorter version with only the new changes.) It contains tons of useful information about the sport, from coming up...

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