Photo Recap - With Commentary

What? Is this the poster of Bo Derek from the movie "10"? No - it's me finishing the swim!







Leaving Transition 1.
I keep hearing the theme from the Wicked Witch of the West here. I feel like I am on a Sunday cruise here on my cross bike while everyone else was hunched in the aerodynamic position on their $5000 Tri Bikes.

Notice how I totally just blew by the guy on crutches! Yeah - and he was doing the Olympic distance. But I caught him!!

Feelin' strong. Almost there......

And the big finish. While I find this picture a tad bit revealing, I'm posting it anyway because hey, that's life. I can't be concerned with making sure my shirt is pulled down in the proper control top position. The shorts are very unforgiving with the muffin top I found out also. But as I said. I was finishing in the zone with a final burst of juice. So all I see is focus and determination and a big fat heart!

There. Now I think I am done reliving the moment.

The final stretch

Well, here I am in the final week before the race. If by 'taper' they mean put on a few pounds, skip your last combo workout and completely rest then I got this last week nailed. GAH! Terrible, horrible, horrible, terrible week! Apparently I love hot dogs as much as I love fireworks.

Tonight is pretty much a colossal waste (in the workout department), but tomorrow. Ah, tomorrow. The sun will come out tomorrow. I'll run and bike and maybe swim, but I'll space it out so's not to work too hard. I am tapering after all.

Should I be nervous? I don't think so. Just because I haven't been following the plan to the letter doesn't mean I won't finish. Confidence not regret is the key.

Prepatory Swimming

I went swimming in the lake today. Wowza. If I had a nickle for every time I said or thought "How hard can it be?"......well, then I would have hired somebody to type this for me while I dictate. And as many countless times as I have thought "How hard can it be?" I have followed it up with "I'm sure it will be challenging, yes, but how hard....." I digress. As my friend always says with a shrug "She'll learn."

Swimming in the lake is different. There is no place to rest. This is the major difference. And I think the hardest part. I learned from a guy also doing the tri that there are people with noodles every 50 feet or so that way you can rest if you need to, you just can't swim with them. But it was FUN! I think that I am going to be pretty pumped coming off the swim and hitting the bike, that should last me a good 3 miles into the ride. It was a pretty windy day today and the waves didn't seem all that bad and the water ceased feeling cold as soon as I dunked my head. These are the things I was worried about. The only thing left to experience is the other swimmers all trying to get to the same place as me. But how can I practice that. Somethings you just have to experience baby.

I think my strategy is something like:

1. Just get through the swim.
2. Get onto the bike as fast as you can. Ride out the downhill and push hard on the uphill. I'm gonna try to make up some time on the bike if that is at all possible.
3. Slow and steady with the run (not win as in WIN, but win as in don't die)

It's getting close. I'm feeling good.

All it takes is a little heart

I feel like I have finally gotten into the real meat of swimming. The plan has been calling for swimming 400 yards as fast as you can while keeping good form. I can swim 100 yards in about 3 minutes so it takes me about 12 minutes to finish. And that's about 1/2 the Tri swim. What's fun is that I can swim this semi-continuously. I don't do flip turns but I only rest at the wall for 3-5 seconds before turning. I know I can swim 100 yards faster - in fact I did my last one in 2:30 but I know I couldn't keep that up so I want to be consistent and keep a strong stroke. The swimming is coming around. Still much improvement and practice to be made, but for the time I have, I'm pleased. I'm really excited to try my new suit in the lake sometime soon! As soon as the bottoms come in.....

And as far as biking, I feel that is going well also. I can say with certainty that my legs are getting stronger, and the transition between biking and running is getting smoother. The course is slightly hilly so that could add some challange. I should bike that route one of these days just to feel prepared.

That leaves the running. Lately, even getting a 5k in seems like a challenge. And on the 12th I'll have to do it after swimming and running. I kept thinking on my run last night "You think it's difficult now....It ain't gonna get any easier". I also was thinking "Slow down, but you don't stop". I was all about encouragement in my thoughts yet I was still struggling to push. Which made me think, I've got it in my head, but do I have it in my heart? Yes, I believe I do, I just need to trust myself that I do.

Like my new favorite quote "What lies before us and what lies behind us are small matter compared to what lies within us." I kept thinking, it's going to take all my heart to do the triathlon in a time I can feel pleased with. Whatever time that is, if I feel like I brought my A game, I'm happy. Anyway, then on my run I kept telling myself "It's gonna take heart....It's gonna take heart". I've got to get my heart in the game. Then, and only then will I feel like the force I want to be.

What's On Deck

Sometimes the best way to keep myself in check is to put it in writing. For all to see. To hold me accountable. But then if I subscribe to the “Don’t take anything personally” mentality what do I care if everyone knows or not? Which means I can only be accountable to myself. Even if I do good, I have to believe it. And if I do badly I have to deal with it. So the whole accountability thing should not work in theory. But then should is a great word. It comes right after “try” on my list of most irksome word. Do or do not. There is not ‘Try’. Yoda said that I believe. Anyway, it helps to write things down I think. And there is no more room for reorganizing this week so it’s got to play out like this.

Tonight I need to run and do some strength training.
Thursday I need to bike and swim then go to kickball
Friday is biking and strength training
Saturday is biking, swimming, the Kentucky Derby, a green expo, and travel…..yikes!
Sunday I will be walking the MS Walk and then swimming

Luckily I am just starting training so the time commitments are no more than an hour each day, save Sunday.

I’m also writing this now because I am cranky at work and at least I can control my workout. Unlike this program I am creating that keeps failing which clearly has nothing to do with the user……I wish this day would quit me. How do I get some kind of sponsorship so I can get paid to train? Since I’m not the fastest, maybe I can convince some company that I am the most inspirational. That’s a good angle.

Swimming, biking and running oh my!

Why is it that when you are on a bike you are always going into the wind no matter which way you turn? Ug. Today was the first official bike ride. It was only 20 minutes and supposed to be at a high cadence, but I'm not sure what that means so I just tried to go fast. Fast=15 mph. I ended up going about 5.2 miles in about 22 minutes. It was alright I guess. I can see where biking for an hour and then running for a 1/2 hour is going to be a challenge. Well good - I didn't sign up for a cake walk.

Yesterday's swim seemed easy enough, but I am headed back to the pool tonight to try some technique drills. Without an instructor this is going to be kind of hard to really improve on my efficiency, but it's worth a try. I am hoping to just be able to increase my endurance for swimming and get stronger.

My run on Tuesday wasn't really worth mentioning. 3 miles - eh done. Thursday I am going to do some interval training on a hill. I would like to keep my weekly mileage between 15 and 20 miles per week. Actually, I probably won't ever hit 20 but I'll pretend I am being restrictive for training sake. As if I didn't have a ceiling I would go hog wild and accidentally run 60 miles one week. It could happen.......

This is a side note: I never, not ever spell 'challenge' correctly. I always spell it challAnge and good ol' spellchecker always corrects me.