Marching Onward

March was a good month. No, not because my decimated bracket still somehow has a chance at 2nd place in our pool. There's no prize anyway! But March was a good month for plans and for progress!

First off, I am now OFFICIALLY signed up for the Rev3 Knoxville Olympic race on May 9th. This will be my third Olympic tri, after Sufferfest '08 and Impromptu '09. This isn't my big target race for the season, but I think a PR might still be a strong possibility. The course will be a little tougher than either oly I've done, but I think I'll be coming into it with better fitness than either prior olympic tri. And that elusive sub-30 swim is still lurking out there...

Next! I got to retest my running fitness last week. I'm pretty happy here. My last run test was in January, and I'm not sure what was up with myself, but it was terrible. Stomach felt bad, heart rate was out of control high, and my pace was all over the place. This time? My mile paces were a whopping 0:02 apart, my HR recovered like it should, and my pace was almost a minute faster per mile! Now, I don't think I ACTUALLY improved that much in two months; I think a lot of it was a bad day during the first test. But it was nice to see my feelings about the January test validated along with the work I've put it. The best part was comparing it to last year's test, which was about the same length of time before IMCDA as this year's test is before Rev3 Cedar Point. I've cut 0:13 off per mile! And that's legit pace gain - same track, similar HR, and all.

I also got to retest my swimming. While this one wasn't as big an improvement as the run test, it still showed some growth. It seems like every time I do a swim test, I tell myself not to go out too hard. I then proceed to go out too hard, and am dying by the end of the test. This time, I reeeealy told myself to hold back, and actually did. Over the whole test, my pace per hundred only varied by 2 seconds! I managed to tie my swim test PR, but I think this one was a stronger effort overall since I didn't have one super-fast (for me) 100m artificially making my average look better.

And finally, in the biking world, spring has finally sprung in the midwest, and I got to do a 2:45 ride in the great outdoors. It's funny how much your race calendar affects your training - this time last year I was busy doing 10 5 (Really? Only 5? Seemed like more) hours on coach's computrainer. Meredith came along for half the ride, and boy did she pick the wrong half. We fought our way through a deceptively strong headwind toward home, and when I rode back to the car, I reaped the benefits. Mentally, I've sort of had a block with 20 mph on the bike. I figure if I'm cracking 20, I'm probably working too hard and I back off. With the aid of a tailwind to get me started, I just decided to see how long I could hold it on this ride, and began to realize that my bike fitness might just be improved over last year. Funny how that works, huh? I'm excited to see if that can translate into some good bike splits. This weekend is supposed to be super-nice in Columbus, so I'm looking forward to a good day, and cracking 3 hours for the first time this year.

So, it's on to April... One month till the outdoor race season kicks in, and I can't wait!