Manuel ‘Manny’ Huerta after clinching an Olympic spot at the 2012 ITU World Series Triathlon in San Diego

Express your fitness—Simon Whitfield

So I was pretty frustrated with this week considering I had a pretty substantial block of training before that. But, the realities of work and extra hours meant that it wasn’t realistic for me to get in extra hours over the weekend. A 2:37 marathon seemed near impossible. But, while I was driving into one of those extra work days, I tuned into Competitor Radio interviewing Simon Whitfield—two time Olympic medalist and one of my favorite triathletes of all time. Whitfield talked about his motto going into the Beijing games, which was to simply, ‘express his fitness’. No expectations about time, no expectations about place, just run the best race you can and let that sort out where you finish. In 2008, it meant an Olympic Silver Medal.

Monday 4/30: Easy 4.5 mile run—still nursing the sore Achilles. Nothing crazy.

Tuesday 5/1: AM-Easy 4.5 mile run; PM- Easy 4.5 mile run. Skipped a track session to rest the Achilles again. I think it’s OK, but I didn’t think getting up on my toes for a mile repeat session was going to be the smartest thing for it.

Wednesday 5/2: Easy 5 again. Achillies still a little sensitive.

Thursday 5/3: 20 miles ride

Friday 5/4: 5 mi as 1 mi w/up, 5k tempo (17:20), 1 mi cool down

Saturday 5/5: Off (work)

Sunday 5/6: Off (work)

Week Two and post Whitfield interview—workouts started getting better.

Monday 5/7: 25 mile ride, few reps with some bigger gear work

Tuesday 5/8: 12.5 mile easy run

Wednesday 5/9: Easy 5 mile run

Thursday 5/10: Track session with DC. 5x 800m @5km goal pace: 2:34, 2:34, 2:34, 2:34, 2:33. Easy 200m jog recovery. Dave did 4x hurdles on each lap for the steeple. Moving!

Friday 5/11: Easy 4 mile run

Saturday 5/12: 15 miles run through the mud and muck w/ Mike

Sunday 5/13: AM—15 mile progressive run w/ DC and Kye—averaged 6:30-ish pace, but closed last 5 miles in close to 6 min pace. PM—Easy 6 miles