34 days to go and I have collected $5052 so far!

Predawn ride, I pass my neighbor on a run. "Why are you riding a bike?" he asks. "Running gets you in shape faster." It's not about that. It's about how riding makes me feel. The speed. Leaning into gentle curves. Charging up hills. How strong my legs feel. Riding gets me fit. But thats just luck. I don't ride to get fit.
-R. Todd Barker

37 miles. That's about how far I rode today. Took me a little over 2 and a half hours. That works out to about 14 miles an hour. 37 miles is about two-thirds of the 56 miles I will be riding for the triathlon. Yesterday, I rode about 25 miles. I felt strong after both rides, although I did feel a little stronger on yesterday's ride since I had rested the day before. I was planning to go for longer yesterday, I stopped a little early when I could no longer feel my toes. The temperature for most of the week has been in the low 30's so I have not been able to ride for more than an hour and a half on any given day. Today it got into the 40's and I had planned to ride for longer but decided not to push it to the point where my legs got too sore. I will probably shoot for the 56 miles next weekend. Looks like it will continue to warm up. It is, officially, spring afterall!

My legs seem to have fully recovered from the 12-13 miler I ran almost 2 weeks ago. I have been using "the stick" to massage not only my calves but my quads as well. This seems to have done some good.

My strategy continues to be one of gradually building up my mileage for the bike and for the run. I have, maybe, two more swimming workouts I can go to. I think the swim will take care of itself. I will have to prepare myself mainly for the bicycle and running courses. Tomorrow will be a day off since I will be travelling to Florida for the coming week. I am looking forward to "warm weather" runs while I am down there. I will try to add one or two longer runs as well.

Since the triathlon is only about 1 month away, I will also have to prepare for the trip. I got a box for my bicycle which will have to be shipped to California in about 3 weeks. I will also have to shop for a mattress to go with my sleeping bag. That will be an experience, trying to get enough sleep for the triathlon while camping out for the weekend. So much to think about - so little time. :-)