Amilcar Herrera

I trained pretty hard this past weekend to prepare for an Olympic triathlon coming up on August 16, 2008 in Sanford, Michigan. Here is the breakdown by day, starting on Friday - my “light training day”. (I trained consecutive days before that but this is worth mentioning becuase of the intensity…)

Friday (8/1/08 - morning):
- 30 minute swim. Water temp 84 deg. F. (too hot). I would rather have it below 80 deg F.  (I think I get too hot and tired when the pool water is too hot). I swim with an aquatic tether most of the time.

Saturday (8/2/08 - morning):
- 44 minute swim. Water temp 80 deg F. (not too bad - I felt pretty good). Then, I continued with…
- 1/8 mile “warm up” walk at 3.0mph, 6.5 mile run at 7.1mph (average) and then 1 mile of HIIT (3/16 mile run at 9.4mph following with a 1/16 mile cool down walk at 3.0 mph) - 1/4 mile HIIT sessions. Then I finished with 1/8 mile walk (cool down) at 3.0mph. 7.75 mile “total cardio run”

Sunday (8/3/08 - afternoon): I could not get up early in the morning to workout hard so I gave my body some needed rest.
- 40 minute swim. Water temp 82 deg F. (not too bad - I felt pretty good). Then, I got on the bike and I did a…
- 30 mile bike in 1 hour and 30 minutes (I improved my speed - my average on this trip was 20mph). I took a little different route this time and I was only planning on doing about 26.6 miles but with the new route, I added 3.4 more miles… not bad..  

After Saturday and Sunday, I felt a little tired and I knew I needed to rest today from training (Monday) which I am doing.

I think this was a pretty heavy weekend and all was done to build endurance but at the same time, I’m building speed.

My biggest roadblock roght now is swimming and staying hydrated throughout the training / workout.

If you are exercising for more than 30 minutes, make sure you are hydrated and stop when you don’t feel well… I have been exercising “heavy” for 3 1/2 years now so I know how much I can push my body..

Have Fun and enjoy your training!

Amilcar