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Winter Water Woes

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Ah, alluring alliteration! (Sorry, I had to)

By far my biggest struggle with winter training is the swimming. Unfortunately there is an extreme lack of public year-round pools in my vicinity, a large total of 2. One is indoor while the other is outdoor.

The indoor pool is nice-ish and 25 yards in length. However, their hours do not work with my schedule at all. I use to be a member but, because of the scheduling issue, I cancelled it.

The outdoor pool, whose facility I am presently a member of, is very nice. Couple of drawbacks are its length, which is 18.5 yards, and the fact that it is outside. Now, this pool is heated to 85F. However, that does nothing for the cold air one will be exposed to upon placing any part of your body out of the water.

I haven’t done any swim training in 1.5 months and it is killing me. I know I am losing progress so I really want to, and need to, get back to training. It’s definitely more will power than anything, at least until the air temps get into the 30s. I don’t believe a wetsuit is needed and honestly, based on my scuba experience in very cold climates, they don’t do much to prevent coldness once you are out of the water.

I have seen various versions of warm changing robes that could alleviate this problem but I haven’t decided if I want to pull the trigger. Based on reviews they are great when transitioning out of the water, whether it is on race day or training. In particular I am looking at the USWE Robe (Not affiliated in any way, shape or form). It’s currently on sale thanks to the holidays so I may just bite the financial bullet. If I do I will post an update and review here.

So, dear readers, do you have any thoughts or recommendations on this?

I’m Back

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Ok, I know it has been a long while since I posted. No real excuses for this, I simple became distracted by several other things. Fully focused, I’m back and will be posting more frequently. My goal is two posts a week. I’m working on a full, substantive post for later this week about my first triathlon!

Also, I love these AI generated images. They are ridiculous.

First Brick Session

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Today I did my first real brick session of my triathlon training, but not 100% the way I hoped.

A brick session is when you work two disciplines back-to-back. Today it was cycling to running. The cycling was on my Kickr Core indoor trainer, which was my second choice. I would have preferred to have cycled on my new tri bike for the first however the large amount of rain we have been experiencing put a stop to that.

To prepare for the session, and I may have went a little overboard, I ensured to have the right nutrition before and during it. I took a Gu gel 5 minutes before starting and during the ride I slowly drank Tailwind Endurance Fuel (Blueberry Lemon, which is FANTASTIC!). On the run, primarily because I sweat a good deal, I had a water bottle with Mortal Hydration. I never felt dehydrated or tired during the session. Afterward I had a serving of Tailwind Recovery mix, chocolate flavored.

Even though I did not get to ride my new bike it still went well, riding a little over 13 miles over 50 minutes. A little slower than I wanted but there was a decent bit of elevation than what I will encounter on my first triathlon. What I was surprised about was how my legs did not feel like jello when I started the run portion of the brick session. I figured it would an unsteady first couple of minutes but it did not go that way. The run was pleasantly smooth and, overall, I was happy with my pace.

I will say that my legs were definitely NOT happy later in the day but I made sure to gently stretch and massage them. As a result there was very minimal soreness the next day.

Little less than two weeks to the triathlon!

Why I’m ‘Trying to Tri’: Starting My Triathlon Journey

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Never did I think, in a million years, that I would voluntarily sign up for an event where I have to swim, cycle, and run all together, but here I am. I have spent more time in the last few months looking up gear, nutrition, and how to prevent chaffing in that one sensitive spot than I ever thought I would.

My name is Jason, a late-30s husband and father who decided to compete in a triathlon. From an athletic perspective my background is very “meh”. I played baseball when I was much, much younger (think 12 and under), and I was not very good at batting. I don’t think I actually ever hit a ball from a pitching machine more than once (I promise I have since improved and do enjoy visiting batting cages). I played tennis for my high school and then recreationally throughout college, then that is kinda it for a while. I have done the occasional 5k here and there, I’ll start a random exercise program for a few weeks before drifting off, but never really took anything serious.

This isn’t the first time I have wanted to do a triathlon, I started “training” for one back in my mid-twenties, I just was not very serious about it. This time around however, I have taken the training much more seriously. I’ll document my progress thus far in a separate post.

My first triathlon is this October and I’m currently registered for the sprint distance. I am more than confident in my ability to complete that distance so, based on how I feel the day of the race, I may upgrade to the Olympic distance. HOWEVER, my big goal is the IRONMAN 70.3 in Panama City, FL for May 2026. That is ultimately what I am training for.

So, please join me on my journey as I document my training for my first triathlon, the realization that I did not know how to properly swim freestyle, and confusion on how much and what I should be eating.