training

New Year, New Shoes

/ jernst12 / Leave a comment

First, Happy New Years! I hope everyone had a safe and fantastic holiday!

Typically a new year brings fresh goals, new perspectives, and renewed motivation. In addition, my new year brought a new pair of running shoes with it!

With no real intentions of obtaining new shoes, I went to my local running store last week. My then current shoes, Brooks Glycerin GTS 21, had about 320 miles on them. The soles were completely flat and wore down, however I thought they still had some life in them yet. My feet, specifically my toes, had other plans.

My last few runs all started off well but I noticed some interesting pain as the miles started passing by. The tips of toes started to hurt. Very light pain at first but it did grow as the runs went on. I did my best to ignore it and continued the runs, which is pretty stupid if I’m being honest.

When I got back to the house and removed the shoes everything appeared fine. No bruising, pooling of blood under the toe nails, or blisters. The toes ached though, and they straight up hurt when touching them. It actually was painful to walk after a few minutes.

I first decided to buy new inserts, as the current ones were as old as the shoes. I have extremely flat feet and inserts assist with proper pronation. My thought was that, after 300+ miles they were likely flat as a pancake. So I ordered a new pair. They did not, sadly, resolve the issue. So to the running store I go.

The ladies at the stores were extremely helpful. They talked through what I was experiencing. They also discussed what I was training for and how I was training. After a decent bit of conversation I tried 4 different shoe pairs; Saucony, Brooks Glycerin GTS 22, Brooks Adrenaline GTS 24, Brooks Adrenaline GTS 25. Immediately, I did not like the Saucony. They just did not feel right. The Glycerin had a good feel to them but still didn’t rock my world. The Adrenaline 24 was the same, with them feeling just a little too wide. The Adrenaline 25 felt fantastic and natural, so I went with them. Plus they had a nice bright green in them, which is always a good thing.

Eager to fully try them out I went on a short 3 mile run the next day. Aside from the stiffness of new shoes they were everything I wanted. No pain, my running gait felt natural, and I didn’t have pain in my toes at the end. I know I need to log some longer distances, however I am feeling very positive!

Winter Water Woes

/ jernst12 / Leave a comment

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?

New Bike, First Ride

/ jernst12 / Leave a comment

FINALLY got to ride my new tri bike, a Felt B Performance 105, on the actual rode today! Beautiful, early morning weather greeted me as I left the house with my bike racked up and my nutrition next to me.

I woke up a little earlier than I originally planned (my alarm was set for 7am) but that’s completely fine. When I saw it was 6:43 I almost rolled over to go back to sleep but decided I would probably feel worse if I did so I decided to go ahead and get started. I downed a bowl of strawberry protein Cheerios before packing up everything to head to my normal riding spot, mentally running through my checklist multiple times (although I really need a written one as I’m pretty sure the list in my head keeps changing). After assuring myself that I had everything I pulled away, excited for my first session on my new triathlon bike.

My planned session for the day was a one hour ride in zone 2 so I didn’t go heavy on nutrition. I always have two water bottles on rides; today one contained Tailwind Blueberry Lemon Endurance Fuel (hands down my favorite flavor) and the other had Mortal Hydration’s Salty Margarita. The endurance fuel is because I knew the cereal I ate really wouldn’t cut it for a good ride, the Mortal Hydration is because I would sweat even if I was in an igloo so I always need electrolytes.

Overall it was a fantastic ride! I need to get more comfortable riding in the aero bars as the handling is more touchy than I am used to. About halfway through the ride I finally felt my tension start easing up as I started learning how to handle the bike while in aero. While I currently do not have any way to measure my power I absolutely felt that my output was higher but I cannot quantify how much.

The only real bump in the ride, which ironically came from an actual bump, was one of my bottles being launched when I went over what I thought was a small bump. It did not feel small in the least. When I heard several loud clangs immediately after the bump I thought there was some major damage to the bike, so I was extremely relieved when I looked back to see my bottle sitting in the road.

I can’t wait to get back on it and keep pushing! My first triathlon is less than two months aways so I definitely need to get comfortable on my triathlon bike.

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

/ jernst12 / Leave a comment

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.