Smallwood approaching

A week away from my last race for two months.  Gonna try and hit General Smallwood really good next Saturday. 
I know the bike and run are a lot flatter than my first few races so that is a confidence booster.  On top of that, it is a smaller race with less entrants than a big name race like Columbia.  The training is in there and the times are good.  I am just hoping I can put them all together for a good race.  I felt good last week about hero's and still came in 8th.  I'm not upset about that but was really hoping to get to the podium again.  If it happens, great...if not just make sure I give 110%.  I plan to take a couple months off to focus on life in general.  Spend some extra time with family and just unwind as September and October are going to be busy ones. 

September 8th - Nation's triathlon
September 15th - Philly half marathon

October 6th - Half/Full triathlon (olympic)
October 12th - Waterman's Half Ironman!

Those two months off are also to prepare specifically for those four races.  :)

Working the Swim Drills

It's always a good thing to mix up routines when it comes to working out.  Your body gets to used to the same thing over and over again so that is never good.  This week with only 5 workouts on schedule I decided to focus on one day of long run, one day of row/bike/run and three days of good swims.  I started using hand paddles and have noticed already they are helping, at least with my form.  I was trying to keep my arms to straight before and that was limiting body rotation.  Using the paddles helped me see how much more rotation I can get (and with that momentum) if i curve my arms under my body.  Lesson learned...don't always trust that it works for him...it will work for you.

Mid-Atlantic Heat

So I remember why when I was doing 2-aday training that I changed it up to swimming at lunch.  Holy cow it was hot out today.  Ran a 5k out from work then did a nice 5k training run on the way back (sprint work and station work  along the trail).  I hit the pool yesterday and did a nice 2500 yards of random work with hand paddles and lots of kick work.  The hand paddles are going to work out nicely I think.  I was never a fan before but now that I know a proper form for swimming they seem to really help focus on turning and rotating in the water.  Not to mention build up that endurance.  Holy cow they will tire your arms out in a hurry if you use them correctly.  I think tomorrow is going to be another swim lunch :).  2-adays again next week up till Wednesday then will slow it down again as I have General Smallwood Olympic on Saturday.  Be a fun way to spend a couple hours of a long holiday weekend.

Celebrating Hero's Update

Sunday was one that I really enjoyed! The race went about as well as I planned for.  I decent swim...middle of the pack which is where I like to stay.  A decent bike which I was happy with since it was the first race since changing the whole system around.  I definitely felt a lot better with the new areo set up.  I pushed harder on the run than I have in the past and it paid off.  Overall I finished 8th in my age group and I can be happy with that.  At the time when I checked the results on site before  leaving they had me 8th out of 48 in the 35-39 age group.  I know I passed two in my age group on the run and with the way I was riding I am not sure how many I passed on the bike.  It was a good race to gauge if the training has been paying off and I would say it has.  I have been focusing more on my run lately and realizing it isn't the ability to do it holding me back but the mental aspect of knowing I can go harder.

The results are not working from Tri Columbia right now so I can only go off what my watch says.  T2 was messed up as I forgot to hit it getting off the bike but that isnt a big worry.  It was  a good transition.  So the times were as follows.

Swim; 20:33
T1: 2:09
Bike: 48:41 (about 47 due to forgetting to stop it for T2)
T2: :23 (not quite, more like 1:30)
Run 25:48

For an overall of approx 1:37:36.
When the official results are released I will repost if they are that off but I think that is about the right amounts of times for the most part.

All racked in

Bikes all set up in Columbia.  Didn't feel like it had been a month already since Columbia Triathlon.  It's supposed to be gorgeous weather for it tomorrow so hopefully that holds up.  Water temp is 80 so no wetsuit bit that hot of water will keep ya nice and loose anyway so lookin for a good swim.  This bike and run are just short enough that I am going to push as hard as I can the whole time.  If I blow out before the finish then I know I should have held onto reserves better.  Haha

Check it out!

http://www.gofundme.com/3clwes

A goal met

So I was checking my email while waiting for the train this morning.  I saw a no reply email from USA Triathlon and figured it was the weekly here are your tips to thrive off of and events we have going on email. I then started reading it and it said....

Congratulations Evan Zilliox. You have qualified for the Olympic-Distance race at the 2013 USA Triathlon Age Group National Championships on August 10 in Milwaukee, Wis., after finishing in the top 10 percent in your age group at the The Westfields Sprint Triathlon. 

I was sorta shocked and kinda in awe of it.  To say I didn't plan on qualifying for nationals my first true year doing triathlons would be an understatement.  Not really planning on being able to go but at least with this I know I can do it if I set myself to it.  Next year I will definitely be trying to repeat this and maybe plan on going up there and see how I can do against a field of the best in the nation!