It was time to face the truth: tonight was the first swim session. Agh. I've been dreading this. It's been years since I swam 'on purpose' and did more than splash around with floaties! But I had to start somewhere; it's 16 weeks or so until the race, and I need to get into condition to swim 1/2 mile, in a lake, with fish and seaweed and other unknown aquatic life.
Luckily, the Y's pool was sparkling clean, no fish or seaweed to be seen! Into the water I went, and splish splash, I was swimming! Hurray! For about 5 strokes and then all of a sudden I realized, whoa, this is tough! I made it to the end of the pool, caught my breath, and then back I went. My form is not great, but Brook, the coach, gave me some good pointers. After that warmup drill, we did 25 yards with kickboards, and then 25 yards with a float between our legs, so we could focus on our strokes. I was really fatiguing at this point, so I took a breather while chatting with the other team members. Next up was a 50 yard drill, and I have lots of opportunity for improvement on that distance, if you know what I mean!
I did another 50 yards breaststroke and then called it a night. A quick 'cool down' in the hot tub, and then home to wind down. I'm TIRED. Swimming is a full-body workout and I know that I'll sleep well tonight - it's hard to believe that in 4 months I'll be swimming...then biking...and then running. All on the same day, on purpose!
Tomorrow is a rest day, and then Saturday is a run day, and Sunday is a "brick" workout; that's two sports back to back. In this case, a swim, followed by a run. Guess I should rest up!
Thursday, April 29, 2010
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
Personal Best
Yesterday was the first 'official' team workout - a 30 minute walk / run. I was a little nervous as I headed to the Y, and was happy to see that there were 6 members of the team there, as well as two of the coaches that I met at the 'meet and greet' last Sunday. I was worried about slowing the team down, because I could tell that I was the most out of shape person there! (Wait, I'm in shape, round's a shape, right?) The coaches told us the plan - the goal of the workout was to try to figure out where we were on the running spectrum and not to worry about speed at this time. We'd follow an 'out-and-back' route along familar Puget Park Drive. I've walked and run along this road before so I thought ok, let's go! So off we went.
The group pretty quickly broke up into two groups - the speedy group, led by the amazing Ron (a more 'advanced' in age marathon runner who reminds me of my Dad) and Mike, a great runner who was tasked with bringing up the rear - with me! So my friend Deborah and I were jogging along, doing ok, running uphill, me breathing hard, Deb seeming to do ok and Mike was chatting away - do you know how hard it is to answer questions when you're gasping for breath? - and before you knew it, 10 minutes had gone by! I needed a break at that point and walked for a few minutes before starting up again. We got to the halfway point, and turned around and my legs were getting heavy but I pushed on. Mike was pacing me and giving me pointers and encouragement and it worked. Pretty soon we were very close to the Y - the finish line, or so I thought - but no, we had to run for 30 minutes. So Mike lead us past the entrance, down to the corner, back up the parking lot and then, finally - we were done! Yay!
The team regrouped and Ron and Mike started reviewing the stats on their heart rate monitor watches. My group (ie Deborah and I) did 2.38 miles (!!!) at about a 13 minute per mile pace. Not record breaking, but pretty darn good for not having done much serious training in the last 6 weeks or so. I felt pretty good!
While we were stretching, the subject of competetivness came up; I brought up a fear of mine, that I would be dragging the team down with my (lack of) speed. I was reassured that this is not a competive sport - the goal is to see what your body can do, and then try to beat your personal best. I thought, well, I don't HAVE a personal best yet...but I will after the race! So that's my goal, to establish my personal best, in more ways than one, at the Danskin Triathlon this year.
Today's workout: 30 minute bike ride. I'm missing this one, and as soon as I figure out how to get my bike downtown, will most likely do my bike riding at lunch time around Lake Union.
The group pretty quickly broke up into two groups - the speedy group, led by the amazing Ron (a more 'advanced' in age marathon runner who reminds me of my Dad) and Mike, a great runner who was tasked with bringing up the rear - with me! So my friend Deborah and I were jogging along, doing ok, running uphill, me breathing hard, Deb seeming to do ok and Mike was chatting away - do you know how hard it is to answer questions when you're gasping for breath? - and before you knew it, 10 minutes had gone by! I needed a break at that point and walked for a few minutes before starting up again. We got to the halfway point, and turned around and my legs were getting heavy but I pushed on. Mike was pacing me and giving me pointers and encouragement and it worked. Pretty soon we were very close to the Y - the finish line, or so I thought - but no, we had to run for 30 minutes. So Mike lead us past the entrance, down to the corner, back up the parking lot and then, finally - we were done! Yay!
The team regrouped and Ron and Mike started reviewing the stats on their heart rate monitor watches. My group (ie Deborah and I) did 2.38 miles (!!!) at about a 13 minute per mile pace. Not record breaking, but pretty darn good for not having done much serious training in the last 6 weeks or so. I felt pretty good!
While we were stretching, the subject of competetivness came up; I brought up a fear of mine, that I would be dragging the team down with my (lack of) speed. I was reassured that this is not a competive sport - the goal is to see what your body can do, and then try to beat your personal best. I thought, well, I don't HAVE a personal best yet...but I will after the race! So that's my goal, to establish my personal best, in more ways than one, at the Danskin Triathlon this year.
Today's workout: 30 minute bike ride. I'm missing this one, and as soon as I figure out how to get my bike downtown, will most likely do my bike riding at lunch time around Lake Union.
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
So what the heck is a triathlon, anyway?
A triathlon is a multi-sport endurance event consisting of swimming, cycling and running. Triathletes compete for fastest overall course completion time, including timed "transitions" between the individual swim, bike, and run components.
Triathlon races vary in distance. According to the International Triathlon Union, and USA Triathlon, the main international race distances are Sprint distance (750 m swim, 20 km bike, 5 km run), Intermediate distance, known as Olympic distance (1.5 km swim, 40 km ride, 10 km run), the Long Course (1.9 km swim, 90 km ride, 21.1 km run), and Ultra Distance aka Ironman (3.8 km swim, 180 km ride, and a marathon: 42.2 km run).
Since I'm only SORT of a glutton for punishment, I've opted for a well-known women's only sprint triathlon: The Danskin. http://www.danskintriathlon.net/seattle.html - 1/2mi swim, 12mi bike, and 3.1mi run. August 15th, y'all, mark your calendars.
First team training run tonight; more on the team later.
Today's training: 30 minute run/walk
Monday, April 26, 2010
Dead Last > Did Not Finish >>> Did Not Start
I had lapband surgery in October 2009, with the goal of losing 130 pounds. As part of my commitment to losing weight, I was determined to start exercising regularly. With my busy life, I knew that I needed to find something that I could do easily and whenever I had some free time. So I started walking, and in December 2009, competed in the Jingle Bell Dash, a really fun 5k walk / run to benefit the Arthritis Foundation. I have a very good friend who loves to run and she inspired me to participate, and that was enough to get me hooked. I started "Couch to 5K" http://www.c25k.com/ program in January, with the intent of running the St. Paddy's Day Dash in Seattle. The C25K program is incredible, and got me to the point where I was running 2 miles (30 minutes!) non-stop. Not a 5k, but pretty awesome for someone who had problems running for 60 seconds before starting the program!
However, I am very goal oriented, so after the St. Paddy's Day Dash, with no races on the horizon, I fell off the training wagon. Early in the year, in a fit of optimism, I registered for the Seattle Rock and Roll Half Marathon (walk), and the Danskin Triathlon. How I'm going to get from here to there is going to be interesting, and I invite you along for the ride.
However, I am very goal oriented, so after the St. Paddy's Day Dash, with no races on the horizon, I fell off the training wagon. Early in the year, in a fit of optimism, I registered for the Seattle Rock and Roll Half Marathon (walk), and the Danskin Triathlon. How I'm going to get from here to there is going to be interesting, and I invite you along for the ride.
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