Amilcar Herrera

This is my favorite Ironman Triathlon video.

The video is from Mitch Thrower from the Ironman Triathlon in Kona Hawaii.

I hope you enjoyed it and got rev’ed up to train!

Amilcar

So I finished my first Olympic triathlon last weekend…and I am pretty happy with the results…

The results are below for the Sanford and Son triathlon held in Sanford, MI on August 16, 2008. I finished with lots of energy left over! You can see my pictures here.

My primary goal was to finish within 3 hours. (My second goal was to finish within 2 hours and 50 minutes). I also had individual goals for each discipline. I always like to have a reasonable goal and a more aggressive goal so I can push myself a little more if I feel good during the race.

My results are below:
I was 39 out of 81 overall.
1,500 meter swim: 36:17 (my goal was under 40 min)
40 km bike: 1:15:04 (my goal was under 1 hr 20min)
10 km run: 45:50 (my goal was under 50 min)

Total time with transitions areas: 2:41:03

So I met my goals

Olympic Tri - Overall Results
Olympic Tri - Results By Age Group
Sprint Tri - Overall Results
Sprint Tri - Results By Age Group

Have a great day and keep on training!

BTW I had lots of FUN

Amilcar

I completed last weekend my First Olympic Distance Triathlon. This event was held in Sanford, MI and it’s called Sanford and Son.

Below are some of my pictures during the race. Enjoy! I had lots of fun

Tomorrow morning I’ll be doing my first Olympic distance triathlon in Sanford, MI. I’m pretty excited and I feel comfortable with finishing well. (I mean feeling well and not to exhausted)

My goal is to finish within 3 hours.

• 500 meter swim
• 40Km bike
• 10km run

My problem is trying to go too fast on the swim and to burn out before the bike. I’ll try to remember to “stay at my comfortable pace” and we’ll see how I do. I’ll try to post some pictures next week.

Have fun training or racing…

Amilcar

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

I have been working on my endurance for the past couple of weeks since I am planning on doing the Sanford and Sun Olympic Distance triathlon in August. I did not do too badly on the Interlochen Music Fest Triathlon but I did the sprint version only. My endurance needs some work for the Olympic Distance triathlon in Sanford, Michigan called Sanford and Sun.

Here is my workout the past couple of days:.
- Yesterday I biked 26.6 miles in 1 hour and 24 minutes - not bad. I just hope I can keep that pace during the Olympic distance tri
- This morning I ran 6.5 miles and then I did HIIT on 1 mile with intervals of 1/8 walk at 3.3mph and 1/8 sprint at 9.6mph. After that, I did 1/4 mile cool down and some stretching. Total distance 7.75 miles in 1 hour and 15 minutes.
- This evening I went swimming for 40 minutes… I need to continue to work on my swimming endurance…

I will be writting at some point some information in regards to the complete training that I follow, developed my myself.. Timing for that is unknown since I’m too busy…

Now, I am not a certified trainer or anything like that, I do this triathlon stuff for FUN

BTW, I finished 35th (overall) out of 323 participants on the Interlochen Sprint Tri. I did my best on the run, finishing 8 out of the 323. Total time: 1:17:14 (running time on the 5K - 20:54 - my best ever). I also improved on my biking since I had just purchased a new bike this year. (I borrowed a bike last year). My biking time: 39:08 on 20k. And I was not impressed with my swimming since I did my worst…. I don’t even want to mention my timing…but it was worse than last year by 2 minutes on 500meters.

Have a great day! Keep on training.

My current weight today was 130lbs (I have lost 4 lbs since I started training for the Olympic distance tri - I started to eat more to replenish my calories becuase I don’t want to get too thin). Maybe one of these lbs was just water loss since I sweat a lot.

Amilcar

This morning, July 4th I went out to do a brick workout. Yesterday I rested. It had been 2 weeks since I took a day off from training or exercising so my body needed some rest.

Here is the workout:
- 16 mile bike. I completed the route in 51 minutes, 1 minute slower than last time. Then,
- I ran on the treadmill 3 miles at 7.0mph (comfortable pace) and I had a small HIIT right after:
- 1/8mile run at 9.6mph and 1/8mile at 3.3mph (rest/cool down). I did this twice so my “total run” was 3.5 miles.

I felt pretty good after the workout with plenty of strength leftover. I’d like to finish my triathlon with strength and energy.

5 days prior to the triathlon I’ll start to taper my training to avoid burnout. You know when your body needs a rest and you better take it before your performance goes down.

The brick workout was done on an empty stomach and that’s the way I like to train (when I train in the mornings).

I had for breakfast a chocolate smoothie with Dymatize whey protein powder, Cafe Mocha flavor, one of my favorites. I’ll publish the recipe later

Have a great day and train hard…

Amilcar

I have been training for my first sprint triathlon this year. The first tri I’m doing is in Interlochen, MI on July 13,08 and I don’t really feel as prepared as last year.  I know I’ll finish but I would like to finish STRONG. I’ll keep training, I’ll push myself a little more in the next few days and I’ll taper the last 5 days before the race.

I have a new bike and I have improved my speed on the bike. I do not know if I have improved on my swimming but I have been swimming longer periods of time compared to last year. My running is not as strong as last year but I think I can still push myself a little on the day of the race…

We’ll see what happens.

Sorry, I have not been able to post my training becuase I have been busy.

Amilcar

I got this video e-mailed to me from a friend and it is tough stuff for Obama, I could not vote for him no matter what. I’m not going to elaborate becuase I rather you see the video. Here it is:

I cannot believe this guy got so far… Is he anti-American??
We all need to vote this year and keep praying!!

Amilcar

I have started my triathlon training. 2 weeks ago or so I started focusing on cardio and I left lifting weights alone for a while. I still lift weights but I do much, much less. After I build my cardio to a good comfortable level, I’ll go back to doing some weight lifting and combining that with biking, running and swimming - the same type of training that I followed last year.

This is what I did yesterday. It was not too bad considering that I have not done much biking for a while. (I would consider this a small brick workout)

• I had 1 scoop of BSN no xplode with 8 oz of water before I went out.
• 14 mile bike ride in 46  minutes. (not too bad. Last time I went biking was about 2 weeks ago and I had done 12 miles in about 40 minutes in a Saturday and then I did 22.3 miles the following day -on Sunday-. I did the 22.3 miles with my brother-in-law and a friend so I had some motivation to go faster…)
• After the 14 mile bike I did a 2 mile run in about 17 minutes. I was not going to fast but again, I have just started to build my cardio.

Total workout time: 1 hour and 3 minutes. I’ll keep pushing myself to get up to abour 1 hout and 20 minute of cardio workout… I know the trick to push my legs for the bike and to push my running up a bit before triathlon races.

I have signed up for 2 triathlon races. One in the middle of July (sprint triathlon) and one in the middle of August (long triathlon). I’ll keep training so I can do well. (I do it for fun but it would be nice to win a first place, eh?) Last year I got a second place on my age group and I only did 1 triathlon. Right now, I have enough time to train well but I need to work on my swimming - it has been a long time since I did any swimming.

 Amilcar Herrera
Here is my video from last year’s race: