Monday, February 26, 2007

A Change In Weather!

Wow, it’s good to be in the South right now. Despite a short band of thunderstorms that came through Saturday night, we’ve had unbelievable weather for the last week. The temps have stayed around the high 60’s low 70’s in the mid afternoon. Spring is coming, and yes I know it’s still February but we’re close. In fact, I was just reading the other day that Day Light Savings Time has been moved up by 3 weeks! That means in just about 2 weeks I’ll have time to bike after work again. This is huge. I’m lucky to live in a community that attracts a lot of cyclists. This is largely due to the great support of a local bike shop, Homewood Cycles that serves as a starting point for most rides. Every Tuesday night a big group of cyclists head out from the shop for a 28 mile loop. This shop is a mile from my house and work. So needless to say I’m pumped about the change in time and weather over the next few weeks.

So how’s my training going? Well, pretty good as a matter of fact. I set a new PR for a 5 mile run at 34:11. Don’t know why. I just felt good that day. I’ve been feeling really good on the bike as of late. Between two rides this weekend, I logged 58 miles. 28 of that was part of a brick on Saturday. I’m still not in love with swimming right now. I have the most room for improvement here. I really need to work on form when I fatigue and breathing. I’m doing a few exercises to help expand my lungs and improve my endurance which are freaking killing me right now.

A big congrats to Levi Leipheimer who won the Amgen Tour of California this weekend. Levi did the unthinkable by keeping the Yellow Jersey from the first stage to the end. This is a huge confidence booster for team Discovery. Last year’s ATOC champ, Floyd Landis, went on to win the Tour de France.

On another note, Jan Ullrich is calling it quits. The former Tour de France winner was Armstrong’s biggest rival during his stretch of seven wins finishing 2nd to Lance 4 of the 7 times. If Armstrong’s retirement was like Babe Ruth retiring, Ullrich’s would be like Ted Williams.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hey Matt. I'm having the exact same issues with swimming. Form gets worse as you try to catch your breath. As I get tired, I sink which causes my form to suffer terribly. Hopefully better conditioning will help this. Good luck to you. You aren't alone here!

Spokane Al said...

Glad to hear about your success with your running.

I suspect your swimming will get better as well.

I have many of the same issues and just keep plugging along, working on technique and speed and slowly making small steps.

Crash said...

nice work on the run times stud. very impressive.

JeffM said...

Sounds like training is going good. I'm up to 3 2000's swimming a week, but nowhere near as fast as you. Can't wait till the weather breaks and I can ride in 60's and 70's like you.