This Week Was All About Triathlon

Another solid training week for me where I completed all my scheduled workouts, including a couple of sessions to see where my fitness is.  I did a tempo run on Tuesday that included 2 miles around the track where I split 6:20/6:10 miles with not too much effort; my legs are coming around. Thursday was a 30 minute time trial on the trainer followed by a steady state brick run where I did my fastest time for a 3 mile loop.  Saturday was a 3 hour ride with about 5000 feet of climbing followed by a 20 minute easy run and a weight session.  Sunday was a 4200 yard swim and a 70 minute hilly run with 15 minutes of hard effort.  When not training this weekend, I was online following Ironman Australia and the New Plymouth ITU race.  But what I'm really excited to write about is the happenings with the Olympic torch debacle [article] and the Beijing Olympics.  I feel sorry for the athletes going to Beijing because of all the places in the world, the IOC had to choose China to host the Olympics.  I'm sure there are athletes who are feeling torn to pursue their Olympic dream but to have to do so by compromising their values or conviction.  If you are not familiar with China and its history of human rights violations, read this article about the current situation in Tibet.  There has been talk of boycott and I think making this decision for athletes is a big mistake.  I think the athletes should be able to choose for themselves. Originally, my stance was that I would boycott if I was an Olympic athlete.  But upon further thought, being the opportunist that I am, I would compete and use the Olympics as a platform to raise awareness about China's human rights violations.  I would have athletes wear something on their uniforms as an act of solidarity and protest.  How cool would that be if all three medalist stood on the podium with some band that represented their disapproval of China's policies.  On a different topic, I just posted an article on triathletes and heart attacks in the Prevention section of my website.  How timely is this article as I am scheduled to undergo a stress test in May to take a better look at my heart.  I've been suffering from lightheadedness of late and with my history of premature ventricular contractions [no, this has nothing to do with pregnancy] and me passing out last month, my doctor thought I should have my heart looked at.  I definitely would like some answers because of late, every time I start to redline during training, this is in the back of my mind and it's a bit unsettling.