www.davynextdoor.com

Yes, just like the title suggests, things are about to get a little nuts.

February 10th - I’ll run my first 5k (3 miles). This is really to get an idea of how fast I can run a 5k as well as to get a better grasp of how much pain I can withstand during a race. It would be a shame to go too hard during the 5k section of my first triathlon only to burn out within the last mile or, on the opposite spectrum of things, to feel like I hadn’t paced myself properly and could have gone faster.

February 16,17 - I’ll be in 2 collegiate bike races here at NCSU. 1 will be a criterion race where you circle around a .25 mile loop over and over again for 20 minutes and the person who is ahead at the end wins. The other will be a standard 20ish mile race. Again, this will be good experience to figure out how much I can push myself.

February 29th - March 8th (not compleeeeetely sure about the dates) - I’ll be going to Ecuador! This is spring break here at NCSU. I signed up last semester to go to Ecuador with the alternative spring break program here. We’ll be building houses for Habitat for Humanity. Can’t wait! Continent number 4.

March 14th - 17th - I’ll fly up to NYC Friday morning, fly back Tuesday. I got jealous that Jason went to NYC and plans to go again so I figured it would be a good chance to go to NYC while I still have some friends in college there.

March 22nd - Cary duathlon. Another race that’s still not quite a triathlon yet. This is going to be really quite rough. Run 5 miles, bike 30 miles, then run 5 more miles.

March 29th - Canton (near Asheville) triathlon. Finally, my first triathlon! It’ll be a sprint distance so a 300 meter swim, 10 mile bike ride, 5k run.

April 6th - Wilmington triathlon. Another sprint distance triathlon, this one in Wilmington.

April 13th - Raleigh triathlon. Yet another sprint distance triathlon that starts in a lake on campus here at NCSU and ends in downtown Raleigh.

April 26th - Riverwood triathlon. Yet anooooother sprint distance triathlon, this one also located close to Raleigh.

Goals: A couple things I’ve got my eyes set on.

October 4th - Pinehurst Triathlon. This is an Olympic distance triathlon, so it’s a 1.5k swim, a 25 mile bike ride, and a 6 mile run.

September 14th - Duke Triathlon. This is not a sprint anymore. This isn’t even an Olympic distance. This is a half-ironman: 1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike, 13.1 mile run. I have over 7 months to ready myself for this. If I am in a location during the summer where I can swim regularly I’m fairly certain I could pull this off. I want to do this one reallll bad.

It appears I’ve lost 9 pounds over the last month or two (a record high 165 at the end of last semester to around my high school steady average of 156 as measured today). At this rate I could be nonexistent in a year and a half.

I’ve been training about 8 times a week: 3 times biking, 3 times swimming, 2 times running. I overlap a few days and take a day off when it seems appropriate to let those muscles have a little time to regrow before I pulverize them again. For those truly curious you can click the link below to see some more detail.

Here’s how I’ve been training:

January

10 - Biking – 13.3 miles – 44 minutes – 18.2 mph average – Went at night with Chris to centennial campus where we biked the criterion race circuit loop that the bike club races around. Rode around that in circles for 44 minutes. The little hill on it killed me, standing up to pedal up it was rough right from the beginning. A really different workout than a stationary bike, or even biking up to craggy.

11 – Swimming – 45 minutes.

12 - Running - 4.5 miles, 8.2 min/mile. Merideth.

14 – Swimming – 10 50s, 100, 10 50s, 100, + extra = around 1400 yards.

15 – Biking – 13.2 miles – 45 minutes – 17.7 mph average – 30 degrees outside, should definitely wear more clothes next time. Went around the loop at centennial over and over again. The little hill didn’t kill me this time, but I took it a little easier than the previous time.

16 – Swimming – 6 50s, 100, 6 50s, 100, 6 50s, 100, 6 50s = 1500. The last 2 times have been pretty encouraging. Really enjoying swimming.

17 – Running - 4.5 miles around the indoor track at the Gym.

18 – Swimming – 6 50s, 100, 6 50s, 100, 6 50s, 200, 4 50s = 1500. Swam the 200 really slow as I didn’t want to push myself, just wanted to do it: 4 minutes, 10 seconds. Also took it easier as I was going on a bike ride later in the day.

18 – Biking – 22 miles – 75 minutes – 17.5 mph average. Biked with David from physics class out to Cary and back along pretty much the only bike route we know. Note: David and Dave are 2 different people.

20 - Running - 4.5 miles. Merideth. With David from physics class.

21 – Biking – 60 minutes – Was pretty dang dong cold today combined with the fact that the gym was closed made me check out craig’s list for a trainer. Lo and behold there was one posted the night before which I purchased and rode on for 60 minutes while enjoying some crazy Heroes. Now I have no excuse not to ride.

22 – Running - 5.5 miles. Indoor track at the gym, which I have quickly grown to love.

23 – Swimming – Tried to keep up with Dave and do his workout. Exhausteddd

23 – Biking - 55 minutes on the trainer

25 – Swimming – Maybe still exhausted from Wednesday… not sure. Had a frustratingly poor workout today. Oh well, pick it back up again on Monday.

25 – Biking - 60 minutes on the trainer

26 – Running - 5.0 miles. 8.3 min/mile. Merideth. Didn’t really push myself on this one, felt good.

28 – Swimming – 3×50 swim, 2×100 One-Arm Transfer (OA), 2×100 Catch Up (CU), 5×100 swim with 15 second rests, 100 OA, 100 CU, 100 swim = 1350. Have a blister on my right foot that is preventing me from wearing flippers during the drills which killed me about as much as the 5×100 set. Slow as hell, each 100 was maybe 2 minutes or slower. 100 by itself is maybe 1:50 without killing myself.

28 – Biking - A new experience: Took my trainer to the inside of a parking garage on centennial campus where I met up with some members of the triathlon club and we did some interval training together.

29 – Running - 4.5 miles. Went with a couple guys from the triathlon club.

30 – Swimming – 4×50 alternating fins & normal swim (200y set), 100 swim, 200 set, 200 swim, 200 set, 300 swim, 200 set = 1400 yards total. 100 time: 1:50s, 200 time: 4:10s, 300 time: 6:30s. Slow. Could have pushed myself harder on the 300 but it was my first time ever swimming that distance nonstop so I just wanted to get through it.

31 - Running – 3 miles. 6×800 meters (800 meters is around half a mile) at a 5:40s mile pace with 400 walking recovery between. Did this with the tri club, about 10 people altogether. It was a good timeee, not particularly difficult except when he made us race the last 400 meters.

February

1 - Swimming - 450 yard ODS warm up set, 100 w/ just paddles 100 free swim x5 = 1000, 450 ODS set again. 1900 yards total. Still not breaking any speed barriers but realized a couple problems with my stroke that I should fix. Don’t fake the body rolling, it should be from the power of the stroke. Don’t turn my head so much on the left side, keep it closer to the body. Don’t start my stroke too soon. Keep my kicking in a tighter radius.

1 – Biking - 60 minutes. Took my trainer/bike to the Triathlon club president’s place where a group of us did a trainer exercise from a DVD that Lance Armstrong’s coach made. Was pretty dang dong hard and involved a couple 5 minute full intensity parts that were murderous during them. He kept mentioning how Lance does these things all the time and how key it is to his success. When it was happening I kept thinking “How could you get yourself to do this twice a week? Hell, even once a week! This sucksssss” but now that it’s over I really want a copy of that DVD. It was way more painful than just getting on a trainer for 60 minutes but I know this type of interval workout is important and I trust that Lance Armstrong’s coach knows what he’s talking about.

3 – Biking - 34 miles. 2 hours. 17.3 mph average. Yarrrrrr… Went out Sunday morning for the 10 am cycling club group ride. It was supposed to be 2-3 hours at 18-20 miles an hour (a lot easier to achieve during a group ride with drafting). It turned into me and only 1 other guy. It then turned into only me when that guy dropped in the first mile due to a bike malfunction. Sooo I ended up riding by myself again. Oh well. My first ride longer than 20 miles in a really, really long time. I definitely noticed it for the last 10 miles. Going to start extending my weekend ride every week.

4 – Swimming - 2400 yards of drills drills drillllls.

4 – Running - 9 miles. 8.6 min/mile. First time in Umstead park. One of those places that’s nice enough to make me wonder how it’s taken me this long to discover it.