SwimRun, then Ride

The next race I'm doing, tho I'm not yet registered (I'd better send in my registration!), is the Old Hickory Lake Triathlon. This one is unique in that it is a swim-run-bike-run, not just a swim-bike-run. There is not enough room at the swim start/finish to have everyone set up their bikes, so you swim, run up 1.5 miles to the transition area, bike, then finish the 5K with another 1.5 miles. I haven't done many (any?) swim-runs, so I decided to make that my focus for the next couple weeks. That meant that today, I swam then ran immediately after.

The Donelson Y is not as conducive as the MFY is to running from the pool, but I made it work by finding a nice lifeguard (Jack), and asking him to unlock an otherwise-locked gate so that I could do my run right away. He is a swimmer and has been thinking about Ironmans, so he was intrigued, chatty, and cooperative. I was grateful! According to my Garmin (which I swam in for the first time ever), my 500 yds (appx. 0.28 miles) turned into 0.57 miles (1,000 yds). I'm not sure how that worked. Then I did a 12-minute run because that's how long it took the woman who won last year to do the first run leg of the OHL Tri.

I made it 1.55 miles (7:44 pace [6:25 best], 185 cal, 176 HR [198 max]) and will aim for farther next time. I will try Will's advice: Every time you run, run faster than the time before; that's the only way you'll get better. Such great advice, if only I could remember to do it! Jack said just look for him and he'd try to make sure something was open for me to run through--that would be great! I had hoped to have time to get back in the pool and actually finish my swim workout, but that didn't happen because I wanted to run out the entire 12 minutes and then had to run back in the same distance. By the time I got back to the Y it was time to head back to work. Oh, well, the 500+ I did was still work enough!

Tuesday's short Cool Springs route

I rode 9 miles with the group, but at the split on Gosey Hill Road, I broke off and went the short route. I knew I wasn't the only one riding that route, but no one ahead of me turned off, and I couldn't see anyone behind me. So my mission was to not get caught by anyone. I didn't, nor did I even see anyone behind me. It was 37 minutes on my own, about what I think the Old Hickory Lake bike leg might take. When I do this ride next week, I'll aim to ride it faster. Then I'll know I'm getting faster!

• 1:05:37, 20.69 miles, 18.9 avg (34.4 max), 1291 cal, 164 HR (190 max)
• 27:43, 8.81 mi, 19.1 avg, 160 HR
• 37:54, 11.88 mi, 18.8 avg, 168 HR