Lindsey Jerdonek
March, 2013“The Training Diaries” is a monthly series of posts by Lindsey Jerdonek, a DC Tri Club member, and third-year professional triathlete. In January 2012 Lindsey quit her day job and made the move to racing as a full-time pro triathlete. This is the eigth installment of her epic journey through triathlon awesomeness.
“The Training Diaries” is a monthly series of posts by Lindsey Jerdonek, a DC Tri Club member, and third-year professional triathlete. In January 2012 Lindsey quit her day job and made the move to racing as a full-time pro triathlete. You can follow Lindsey’s Blog where she documents this new endeavor.
In my last post, I talked about my decision to move to Boulder to train under a new coach and with a training group. Training is in full swing in my fourth month here and I have already raced several times: two draft legal races in Florida, the St. Anthony’s triathlon in St. Petersburg and the St. George 70.3 in Utah (an event not quite in my wheelhouse, but it was fun and… scenic).
My home life, since moving to Boulder, has been pared down. The one bedroom apartment my boyfriend and I moved into, while cheap, came unfurnished. The decor at move-in:
Our furniture consists of a futon, dining room set, an area rug and a $15 bookshelf from Walmart which functions as my dresser. We haven’t pulled the trigger on such luxuries as a TV or microwave, but a girl can dream. Our simple living meets our needs and has created, at the very least, a distraction-free environment. Kevin recently won second place and the US pro title at the Ironman 70.3 in St. George, so the benefits of our relocation are being realized for him already!
Having touched on the living arrangements, I’ll give you a glimpse into a normal training week. I swim four times with my training group and twice on my own. For the coached workouts, each session has a focus and varies in intensity and duration. The shortest group session is 3k and the longest one is around 7k. THAT one requires a gel in order to maintain a pleasant demeanor the entire practice. Our group always swims outside and you can see that coach has a nice view. Also notice the presence of water bottles on deck. No bans in Boulder.
As a group, we also do a weekly track session and a very HARD ride together. Even when the weather is poor, which has been the case the past few months, we do the ride session in a CompuTrainer cycling studio. It will be nice to shift this one outside now that spring has sprung. These grass fed guys must also be happy:
Another aspect of my training has been to take part in the bike racing scene. So far I’ve done an individual time trial and two criterium races. A crit is a short course (~1 mile) on which you do multiple laps for a set amount of time. I am racing as a Category 4 rider so the crits I’ve done have lasted 30 minutes. These efforts are worked into my long rides. My goals are to improve my pack riding habits and increase my comfort level, both essential skills in ITU draft-legal races. I think that if YOU are at all interested in bike racing, it’s worth checking out. I wish I had explored this more when I was living in DC. While there are risks involved, the race experiences can boost your confidence on a bike and will carry over into triathlon. Here I am in my first crit, rolling out on the neutral lap (hence the smile) in the yellow PowerBar kit:
Things are humming along in the new training digs and I’ll keep you posted as my season unfolds. All three disciplines have improved this year and I’m working on stringing them together and executing on the day. Til then!
