This morning I resisted the temptation to hit the snooze and swim at the pool, and ventured forth to Lucky's Lake. I must say that I have missed my once a week open water swims at Lucky's. I just didn't realize it until I got there to see the sun rising up over the tree line making beautiful pink light emanate from behind some fair weather clouds. Definitely not the sights I get to see doing my workouts at the LA Fitness pool.
And then there were the buddies from Team in Training and my Coach. It was so nice to see them in person and chat before the swim. Hannah the Dog, barked us to start in her usual fashion and off we swam. For me, this time around I needed to do 2 full crossings - each full crossing is 1000m, if you stay in a straight line... a little more if you get off track with your sighting.
The swim itself was fabulous. I was pretty speedy, which was nice because it made me realize that I can be speedy outside of the pool too. I love swimming at Lucky's Lake because when you breathe you see amazing things, like birds flying in formation, trees, the sun and the blue sky, a bird swooping down for a breakfast of fish. Not to mention that even on days when there are a good number of swimmers, like today, the people are friendly and smile or chat a bit at the ends of the lake. Today, though I only stopped long enough to re-orient myself for sighting on the next leg and to make sure I wasn't going to crash into anyone as I started to swim. Then I was off again for the next leg.
I was speedy, and even felt speedy. Unfortunately, though, I pulled something in my right arm that now makes straightening my arm out (which is rather important in a good swim stroke) a bit painful around my elbow area (but on the front side of my arm). So I'll ice it and take some advil in a bit, try to rest it as much as I can, and try my best on Sunday to swim like a speed demon.
Yes, Sunday is a race day. I'm racing the Olympic Distance triathlon at the 6th Annual Moss Park Triathlon Festival. Not really sure why it's called a Festival, but I'll definitely be one partaking in the "festivities" if that means a 1.5 km (0.932 mile) swim, a 40km (24.856 miles) bike, and a 5.15 mile run. I haven't started getting truly nervous yet, but I still have time. It's only Wednesday, after all.
The course is a nice one for the most part. The lake is gross. The color of coffee and smelly... not to mention that you can't see in it. Yes, this is the lake that I had my first open water swim and my first freak out in the water (but pulled it together by yelling at myself "You know how to F'N swim!"). The run from the lake to the transition area is longish (about 1/4 mile) through sand, a parking lot, and messy pine needles. But the bike is through the neighborhood surrounding Moss Park, which is nice and you even have people who live in the neighborhood that shout encouraging things to riders as they pass. (And there are no gigantic hills involved.) Finally the run, which is in a relatively shaded area of the park itself. The thing is that the Olympic Distance is merely the Sprint Distance but with 2 laps of everything. I have noticed that I dont' really like repeating a lap I've done in a race. I had to do it in the Olympic Distance in Miami earlier this year, and I have this funny thing where I finish the 1st lap and my brain says "yeah! We're done! Oh, wait. I have to do that again, don't I?" It's almost like my brain is happy to reach the "finish" before it's really the finish.
I even have to trick myself sometimes while I run in the neighborhood. I avoid passing the house at all costs because my brain just wants to stop because well, the house is the end, right? As Angelfish and Ladybug would say, "that SILLY BRAIN!"
So, I think that's my 1st challenge for Moss Park. The 2nd one is the distance of course, especially with my newly pulled arm muscle and my lovely back situation. The 3rd is just mentally packing it all up and not caring about the pain I am in while doing it. The 4th is making sure that I do my nutrition right. I do not want a duplicate of the Miami Olympic Distance where I basically remembered to drink on the bike but forgot about eating. Uh, yeah. Not pretty for the run or my brain during the run.
The goals I've been kicking around for this race, are: A) Finish in 3 hours and 15 minutes or less, in an upright position with a smile on my face; B) Finish in less than 3 hours 30 minutes, in an upright position with a smile on my face; C) Finish in less than 4 hours, in an upright position with a smile on my face; D) Finish in an upright position with a smile on my face; and E) Finish. I think my A goal will be a challenge for me to make, and may even be a stretch to make... but I am making an attempt to throw the gauntlet down for myself. Especially in light of the fact that I pretty much completely forgot about this race after registering for it a few months ago until this past Sunday when I saw it on my calendar. But as I often remind myself, all I can do is my best. So stay tuned.
Other than that, it is pretty much life as usual in our house. The girls were fun last night "ballerine" dancing in their underpants and socks since they deemed that they couldn't properly "ballerine" dance in their shorts and shirts. It was fun watching them and their dancing antics, slowing down at points and wanting applause or praise for their graceful dancing (which sometimes looked more like an attempt at kung fu), while I cooked dinner.
Mr. Darcy arrived home late because he stopped at Sports Authority to try to buy clothes for his slightly modified (shorter swim) sprint triathlon. I had to explain the concepts of friction and compression and express my concerns that the swim shorts he purchased were great for swim training but perhaps not especially what he would like to bike 12 miles and run 3 miles after doing that initial 400 meter swim. Padding, compression and Body Glide. It's hard to remember not understanding the importance of those concepts before my first tri but I learned too. I just hope to impress upon him their importance so he doesn't learn the way I learned - the painful way. So I am hoping that dear Mr. Darcy will go by the bike shop and pick up at least some tri specific shorts for the race sometime between now and Saturday, which is when he races. In the meantime, I will stock up on frozen peas should he decide not to heed my clothing advice.
The many uses of frozen peas. They're great for shin splints too. Molds right to the leg. Anywho.
After a nice day of work where I'll be focusing on preparing for a seminar I teach this coming Tuesday, I'll head to chiropractor where I'll chat with him about the need to fix my back and fast so I am no longer in pain. I'm sure this is his aim too, but I just want to make sure we're on the same page. Maintenance to me is not I get back in pain every 2 weeks. It's no pain and I come in once a month to make sure I maintain my spine stability so that I can remain pain free. I just hope that is realistic. My old chiropractor felt the same way, but I wasn't training for triathlons then either. So keep your fingers crossed for me!
Showing posts with label 1st triathlon. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 1st triathlon. Show all posts
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
Sunday, February 1, 2009
It's official! I'm a triathlete!! WHOO HOO!
Yes, it's official folks... I completed my 1st triathlon and can officially say I am a triathlete! WHOO HOO! I don't know my time yet because they were a little disorganized and this was supposed to be a more "laid back" triathlon for people new to the sport. We are supposedly going to be able to find out our time once they post them on their website... hopefully that will be soon because I'm curious to know how long it took me. They don't have split times because they didn't use chips, and I forgot to push the buttons on my watch (despite remembering to put the watch on) to do my own splits. 
I have to say I am proud of myself and that I need to learn how to use the gears on my bike because I'm not sure I was in the right gear for getting the most speed out for the amount of pedaling I was doing. 
1st: I'm proud of myself! I finished the entire thing doing exactly what I was supposed to be doing the entire time. I swam great (and passed a good number of people in the pool - including people who were younger than me and a few on swim teams... the old dog still has some tricks) although it was not one of my "tear up the pool" days, it was still a good one. I biked well and even passed a few people (and admittedly was passed as well), but like I said I need to learn about the gears on my bike because I think if I was in the right gears I may have been able to be more efficient - I had lowered the gears to make it "easier" for pedaling during the race, but I'm not sure that really translated as much as I had hoped to my speed. And I ran the entire 2.3 miles at the end... sometimes a rather slow pace, but I ran it all. But, I know I also ran slower than I should have because at the end I felt like I could have run a good bit longer... and I need to learn how to visually judge distances because when they said that I only had 100 feet left I should have picked up the pace right away but decided to wait and before I knew it I was crossing the finish line without getting to get my final sprint/digging it out in. And, I need to stretch more at the end because my quads are a little stiff and I think it's because I didn't stretch enough because I was too caught up in not having people wait on me and seeing my little girls, my hubby and my parents. I also need to work on my transitions, but I learned a few things that will help with that too.
But, all in all I am very happy with my first triathlon experience although I wish I had been at a normal triathlon that was more organized, etc. That said, there is something about the sheer joy of realizing that you just completed a swim, bike, run in a competition! It feels great! 
Before leaving for Sarasota on Saturday to celebrate my Dad's birthday (as well as being in town for the triathlon), I went to the Team in Training kickoff. Talk about an inspirational experience! In the past 40 years, TNT has raised almost 1 BILLION dollars for The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society and $600 Million of that has gone to cancer research. So many advances have occurred, but the cure has not yet been found... we need to find a cure for cancer. A young woman (24 years old) got up and spoke about discovering she had the most deadly form of Leukemia at 1 week before her 16th birthday and how if they hadn't gone for the test that day the doctors said she would have been dead in 2 weeks, and she talked about how LLS affected her life and has allowed her not only to survive but to thrive in the life she now has. I don't think there was a dry eye in the house!
My TNT training starts tomorrow with our first swim practice, and I am looking forward to it... and I'm happy to say that my race number (175) most likely won't be worn off by then. It's my badge of honor from this race. And Jack (the nice man who set up his stuff next to me and was very encouraging as a seasoned triathlete), thanks for the tips and the encouragement! I hope to see you out there again sometime!
And you never know, Angelfish & Ladybug might be little triathletes themselves one day! They were very excited about Mommy "doing triathlon" and had fun routing for me. They even pretended to swim, bike and run... unfortunately for their shirts they decided to pretend to swim on the ground in the transition area (which was a roped off parking lot), then ride invisible bicycles, and then run like crazy things. I love it!
Now, for a good night's rest!
I have to say I am proud of myself and that I need to learn how to use the gears on my bike because I'm not sure I was in the right gear for getting the most speed out for the amount of pedaling I was doing. 1st: I'm proud of myself! I finished the entire thing doing exactly what I was supposed to be doing the entire time. I swam great (and passed a good number of people in the pool - including people who were younger than me and a few on swim teams... the old dog still has some tricks) although it was not one of my "tear up the pool" days, it was still a good one. I biked well and even passed a few people (and admittedly was passed as well), but like I said I need to learn about the gears on my bike because I think if I was in the right gears I may have been able to be more efficient - I had lowered the gears to make it "easier" for pedaling during the race, but I'm not sure that really translated as much as I had hoped to my speed. And I ran the entire 2.3 miles at the end... sometimes a rather slow pace, but I ran it all. But, I know I also ran slower than I should have because at the end I felt like I could have run a good bit longer... and I need to learn how to visually judge distances because when they said that I only had 100 feet left I should have picked up the pace right away but decided to wait and before I knew it I was crossing the finish line without getting to get my final sprint/digging it out in. And, I need to stretch more at the end because my quads are a little stiff and I think it's because I didn't stretch enough because I was too caught up in not having people wait on me and seeing my little girls, my hubby and my parents. I also need to work on my transitions, but I learned a few things that will help with that too.But, all in all I am very happy with my first triathlon experience although I wish I had been at a normal triathlon that was more organized, etc. That said, there is something about the sheer joy of realizing that you just completed a swim, bike, run in a competition! It feels great! Before leaving for Sarasota on Saturday to celebrate my Dad's birthday (as well as being in town for the triathlon), I went to the Team in Training kickoff. Talk about an inspirational experience! In the past 40 years, TNT has raised almost 1 BILLION dollars for The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society and $600 Million of that has gone to cancer research. So many advances have occurred, but the cure has not yet been found... we need to find a cure for cancer. A young woman (24 years old) got up and spoke about discovering she had the most deadly form of Leukemia at 1 week before her 16th birthday and how if they hadn't gone for the test that day the doctors said she would have been dead in 2 weeks, and she talked about how LLS affected her life and has allowed her not only to survive but to thrive in the life she now has. I don't think there was a dry eye in the house!My TNT training starts tomorrow with our first swim practice, and I am looking forward to it... and I'm happy to say that my race number (175) most likely won't be worn off by then. It's my badge of honor from this race. And Jack (the nice man who set up his stuff next to me and was very encouraging as a seasoned triathlete), thanks for the tips and the encouragement! I hope to see you out there again sometime!
And you never know, Angelfish & Ladybug might be little triathletes themselves one day! They were very excited about Mommy "doing triathlon" and had fun routing for me. They even pretended to swim, bike and run... unfortunately for their shirts they decided to pretend to swim on the ground in the transition area (which was a roped off parking lot), then ride invisible bicycles, and then run like crazy things. I love it!
Now, for a good night's rest!Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Feeling a Little Lost at Sea
I wasn't quite sure how to put a description on what I'm feeling today, but I think lost is the closest I can come to it. And it's all because I'm cutting back on the workout load in preparation for the training and I'm not sure what I'm supposed to be thinking or doing for the triathlon on Sunday. It's probably how it's supposed to go... especially since I have a need to be in control of things in my life (or at least believe that I am in control of them).
Yesterday I called the woman in charge of the triathlon at the Sarasota YMCA because I didn't see anything online about packet pick-up, etc. Turns out there is no packet pickup. She said other triathlons do this, but they don't for this one because it's supposed to be laid back. But how can I be laid back if I don't have a map to look at for the route I'm supposed to bike and then run? Not that I'll be the first person in the race, but I'm not fond of the idea of just "following the other guy" or walking an entire 12 mile bike course and then 2 mile run to figure it out beforehand. So that's the first thing that set me moving slightly adrift. Then there was re-reading part of Joe Friel's Your First Triathlon last night before bed... he said to get up 3 hours before my race to eat. First, that would be 4am. Second, I tend to eat after I workout. So, I emailed my Team in Training Coach, and she told me I could wake up 1 1/2 hours before the race and that I had to eat before training and racing and that I had to start for the rest of this week's workouts. Happy about the news but then I wonder about why Joe who is the guru of the sport is telling people to wake up so darn early. Slightly farther adrift I went.
Then the fact that today's workout was so stinking easy I felt like a sloth put me at the end of my tether. The workout (also from Mr. Joe Friel) was a 20 minute swim that consisted of a 100 swim concentrating on form, 4X 25 meters at zone 3 (which was fun) and then swimming 25 m at zone 1 for the rest of the 20 minutes.... which for me was about 15 minutes of the 20 minutes. I felt silly swimming so slowly. I don't even swim that slowly during my warm ups. It was nice to focus on form and to catch myself dropping my wrist/elbow every so often during the swim so I could correct it... I only do that every blue moon, but when I do, I always feel it right away. It was so easy it was almost like I was swimming in a dream state. At one point, the song from "Sleeping Beauty" popped in my head. "I know you, I danced with you once upon a dream.." Not exactly kick butt swim music. (It is one of the girls' favorite shows at the moment - I think they like to say how "the mean lady is being not nice to Prince Phillip and Sleeping Beauty" personally. They both repeat it over and over while watching. My favorite is when Angelfish or Ladybug say that the "mean lady need a time out" or "Prince Phillip give mean lady a time out" as they are wont to do.) I actually was a little bored and had to reign myself in to prevent myself from swimming faster or doing speed drills, etc. Maybe its so you end up revved up for the race... like the calm before the storm?
I kind of like that idea. Like right now I'm calm but the day of the race I'm going to take the swim, the bike and the run by storm. Hurricane Kate. I rather like that, provided that I'm a category 5 and not a category 1 (and I don't really harm anyone, of course). I will have to ponder that... and focus on one thing at a time since this week is a little wild in general. Tomorrow I leave for NYC to teach a CLE for work, Thursday I teach the CLE and then fly back home, Friday I work and pack for our trip to Sarasota, Saturday morning we go to the Team in Training kickoff and then drive to Sarasota and celebrate my Dad's birthday, and then Sunday is race day and then driving home at some point and trying to make a special soon to be 5 year old's birthday party. Yes, I will have to take one day at a time and pull that anchor back in!
Oh, and at least as of yesterday, Ladybug was back on board with potty training. She didn't have one accident all day and slept with underpants on last night (at her insistence) but didn't quite make it all the way through to this morning, but did use the potty this morning and wore underpants to school. Let's hope it sticks! Angelfish was back to wanting her pullups... some day, some day.
Well, for now...Ahoy mateys!
Yesterday I called the woman in charge of the triathlon at the Sarasota YMCA because I didn't see anything online about packet pick-up, etc. Turns out there is no packet pickup. She said other triathlons do this, but they don't for this one because it's supposed to be laid back. But how can I be laid back if I don't have a map to look at for the route I'm supposed to bike and then run? Not that I'll be the first person in the race, but I'm not fond of the idea of just "following the other guy" or walking an entire 12 mile bike course and then 2 mile run to figure it out beforehand. So that's the first thing that set me moving slightly adrift. Then there was re-reading part of Joe Friel's Your First Triathlon last night before bed... he said to get up 3 hours before my race to eat. First, that would be 4am. Second, I tend to eat after I workout. So, I emailed my Team in Training Coach, and she told me I could wake up 1 1/2 hours before the race and that I had to eat before training and racing and that I had to start for the rest of this week's workouts. Happy about the news but then I wonder about why Joe who is the guru of the sport is telling people to wake up so darn early. Slightly farther adrift I went.
Then the fact that today's workout was so stinking easy I felt like a sloth put me at the end of my tether. The workout (also from Mr. Joe Friel) was a 20 minute swim that consisted of a 100 swim concentrating on form, 4X 25 meters at zone 3 (which was fun) and then swimming 25 m at zone 1 for the rest of the 20 minutes.... which for me was about 15 minutes of the 20 minutes. I felt silly swimming so slowly. I don't even swim that slowly during my warm ups. It was nice to focus on form and to catch myself dropping my wrist/elbow every so often during the swim so I could correct it... I only do that every blue moon, but when I do, I always feel it right away. It was so easy it was almost like I was swimming in a dream state. At one point, the song from "Sleeping Beauty" popped in my head. "I know you, I danced with you once upon a dream.." Not exactly kick butt swim music. (It is one of the girls' favorite shows at the moment - I think they like to say how "the mean lady is being not nice to Prince Phillip and Sleeping Beauty" personally. They both repeat it over and over while watching. My favorite is when Angelfish or Ladybug say that the "mean lady need a time out" or "Prince Phillip give mean lady a time out" as they are wont to do.) I actually was a little bored and had to reign myself in to prevent myself from swimming faster or doing speed drills, etc. Maybe its so you end up revved up for the race... like the calm before the storm?
I kind of like that idea. Like right now I'm calm but the day of the race I'm going to take the swim, the bike and the run by storm. Hurricane Kate. I rather like that, provided that I'm a category 5 and not a category 1 (and I don't really harm anyone, of course). I will have to ponder that... and focus on one thing at a time since this week is a little wild in general. Tomorrow I leave for NYC to teach a CLE for work, Thursday I teach the CLE and then fly back home, Friday I work and pack for our trip to Sarasota, Saturday morning we go to the Team in Training kickoff and then drive to Sarasota and celebrate my Dad's birthday, and then Sunday is race day and then driving home at some point and trying to make a special soon to be 5 year old's birthday party. Yes, I will have to take one day at a time and pull that anchor back in!
Oh, and at least as of yesterday, Ladybug was back on board with potty training. She didn't have one accident all day and slept with underpants on last night (at her insistence) but didn't quite make it all the way through to this morning, but did use the potty this morning and wore underpants to school. Let's hope it sticks! Angelfish was back to wanting her pullups... some day, some day.
Well, for now...Ahoy mateys!
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