Gear review: UR Sportswear

A friend recommended UR Sportswear running shorts, so I picked up a couple through a daily deal website.

I started running with them this week and love them! They stay in place really well and are so comfortable. Instead of pulling at my shorts the whole run, I actually just forgot about them.

When I first pulled them out, they looked really really short, but when on, they are a reasonable length. I ordered two pair in different colors, in eggplant and jade. The colors are bright and attractive.

Based on the size charts, I ordered a size large. This is the only thing I'm not perfectly happy with. I probably could have gone with a medium, but the larges aren't way too big, so they'll work. Check them out at UR Sportswear.

I'm the fast one?

The first week of swim class has gone well. My body remembers much more than I expected it to, and the instructor even called me the fast one and even suggested I check out the masters swim class! I did 250 yards Tuesday and 400 on Thursday. Not amazing, but it's a start.

Thoughts on a training plan...

I have been thinking about how to set up a training plan for myself, and I think I've decided to keep it very loose with a few main goals through the end of the year, and then devise a more structured plan going forward from there.

Here are my goals for the remainder of the year:

• Be able to swim for 45 consecutive minutes
• Complete a 10k running course
• Continue biking up to an hour or hour and a half at a time

At this point, I can bike an hour to hour an a half without any issues, so I will simply be maintaining that level while increasing my running and swimming abilities.

I am placing no emphasis on speed. I simply want to be able to put in a reasonable amount of time in each discipline. I believe this will give me a good base in all three disciplines to build on. Starting with the beginning of the year, I can work on speed intervals and increasing distance.

When did I last swim?

Hopefully tomorrow (if I'm well enough), I will go swimming.

I've said before that I haven't swam in a couple decades. When I was a kid, I was in the Grand Ledge Swim Club. I looked up the plaque they gave me the last year I was in the club for Most Improved Swimmer and found that it was in 1994. So basically, it's been 18 years since I have swam.

By the way, most improved is a really relative concept. When you are as terrible as I was, there's only one way to go - up!

Book Review: Fearless Swimming For Triathletes

I purchased Fearless Swimming for Triathletes: Improve Your Open Water Skills thinking that it would contain tips and tricks for open water swim and thought I'd read it before I start my swim lessons in case there are any habits I should develop early while still in the pool.

It was a quick read - I completed it in an evening, but I should have read it much faster, by skipping the whole first section and starting on page 82. If you don't already have a fear associated with open swim (sharks, cold water, deep water, dying, etc, etc, etc) and don't particularly want one, SKIP THE FIRST SECTION!

While the title really should have warned me that the book would be about getting over fears, I guess I assumed it would be tips to not be timid or nervous, not tricks to get over all out panic, including a run down of every reason you could be panicked.

I think I have more anxiety about the swim now than I did before I read the book!

There was some helpful information in the second section, but probably not anything you couldn't find on a website.

Being sick is no fun...

I caught a cold while in London that quickly because bilateral sinus and ear infections on the 8 hour flight. Hopefully I will be ready to train by Saturday, but in the meantime I'm doing a lot of sleeping.

I'm not gone!

I haven't posted in a while, but I'm not gone! I took my grandma back to England to visit family for a couple of weeks. However, in great progress for me, I actually went running three times while on vacation!

Now that I am back from vacation, I am ready to start really training and figuring out a plan. My first steps today were to order some books from Amazon and sign up for a gym with a pool. When I signed up for the gym, I also signed up for swim lessons that begin next week.

Stay tuned for swim updates and book reviews.