Monday, March 26, 2007

Sprinting vs. Long-distance

This Saturday I did a very sprint triathlon. It was a 500m swim in the pool, 8km on the bike, and 3km on the track - no transitions. Overall it was great, but I really noticed how different it feels to do short distances as opposed to long-distance training. It's funny because I felt like I was hitting my stride at about lap 8 of the swim, the last kilometre of the bike, and about lap 11 of the run (although I was getting tired for the last lap because I sprinted trying to keep up with the girl in front of me - thanks for the race, Chantelle!). My times were as follows:
500m swim: 9:07
8km bike: 16:44
3km run: 16:14

However, afterwards my neck was KILLING me. It created a very bad headache. So bad that I actually went and purchased some ibuprofen, which I never do. It helped a lot and the next day was not as bad. I just kept on stretching out my neck in hope that it would go away, which it mostly have. Upon doing some reading, apparently triathletes are more likely to have back and neck pain because they train a lot for this multisport.

On Saturday night, I went curling at L's work social. It was great, but I sure haven't used those muscles very much! So I'm a bit sore in my upper back and my hip flexors. It kind of feels good to be sore, though.

Sunday was kind of a bad day and I kept a low profile. My neck was sore and I had a headache and decided to suffer through the day. It ended not to badly and I just kept stretching it out.

This morning I decided to skip swimming because of my neck and went for a nice 5km run. I have to sign up for the marathon at the end of May, which I'm pretty stoked about. I have never run just a running race (since high school) . It will be a good experience, I think. Either that or it will scare the crap out of me for Ironman. Either way, it will probably be beneficial.

Food Diary for the Week
Monday
*
run for 5km
Breakfast
: Smoothie
Snack: Clif bar
Lunch: 2c. pasta with tofu and veggies (leftover)
Supper: Tempeh burgers with home fries from regular and sweet potatoes

Tuesday:
* a short 30 minute run
Breakfast: smoothie
Lunch: leftover pasta (AGAIN)
Supper: a wonderful stirfry made by my parloqual!

Wednesday:
Breakfast: smoothie
Snack: oatmeal
Lunch: leftover stirfry
Supper:

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