So, I am one week away from the event AND.....I am sick. What I thought was allergies is apparently an ACTUAL illness. Damn this spring cold! I guess better this week than next.
I am really not looking forward to the swim portion of the event since the water temp is expected to be 70-ish degrees. I have rented a wetsuit and I planned to get in a practice swim or two using it to make sure I can get myself in and out of it without issue. We'll see if this happens before Thursday or not given that I can barely breathe right now even when I'm not exerting myself.
Ok...enough complaining.
I am VERY excited about this adventure, especially since I found out my dad will be coming to see the triathlon. My sister (the one I am honoring with this event) is going to support me and play "race mom" for me, but having my dad there will be amazing, too. All-in-all, I am more excited than nervous. I just hope that my expectation dovetails with reality on Saturday.
I am officially 2 weeks away from triathlon day and I have to say that I am starting to freak out a little bit!! You train and you get your miles in, but can't really know what to expect until the morning of the event actually comes around. For this, with 3 events in 1, I think I won't realize the magnitude of the undertaking until I cross that finish line.
I am headed to Wilmington for the day tomorrow and I am hoping to simulate a "race day" swim in the ocean. I'm not really sure what the water temp will be, but I know I want to get an idea of what I'm up against, so I'm going to attempt a decent distance swim. I want to wrap my head around an open water swim when it's the ocean (not a lake) that I'm up against. I particularly want to see how well my freestyle stroke & breathing translate to rougher-than-the-pool waters
Finally, I've received a LOT of support lately from friends and family over these past few weeks regarding my training. I even just found out that my dad is going to come watch me compete (in the broadest use of the word). I can't thank you all enough. While I don't have any misconceptions about going out in 2 weeks and posting an awesome time, I appreciate having people around me who can remind me that the cause and the journey are where my focus should be.
So, I am about a month away from the triathlon and I realize I have not posted as much information here as I would have liked. Life is like that, though. You think you have all the time in the world to "get to" something you meant to do. Then, before you know it, you realize you are out of time.
That's a perfect example of why I am looking to support the LLS in its battle against blood cancers. How many people out there think they have time to be mothers, or husbands, or sisters? How many dream of becoming fire fighters, or police men, or ballerinas? These are the type of people who get cancer. Some recover, but some never do.
While my posting has not been on par, my training is still going well. The weather change has come at a perfect time. I have gotten in some great road cycling, allowing me to get much more comfortable with my bike. The other day, I even did a half-n-half on my cycling and running. I biked 14 miles (roughly half of what I will bike on race day) and then ran 4 miles (a little more than half of what I will run on race day).
The run after the biking was interesting. My legs didn't quite "work" in the beginning. I found my stride a few minutes in, though. I can only imagine what race day will be like once I throw adrenaline into the mix.
So, as the title of this post might suggest, I have been doing a LOT of swimming over the past few weeks!
The way my schedule is set up, I swim on Mondays and Wednesdays (Wednesday being my looooong swim session). I am avidly researching waterproof mp3 players as I find I would like something to break up the monotony of swimming for an hour at a time. Plus, I have always been extremely motivated by music!
I thought swimming was going to be my real challenge, but now I am starting to believe that having to do my bike training on a stationary for now is the biggest obstacle I am facing. I am having to stream movies on my phone to distract from the fact that I am sitting in one spot and pedaling FOREVER. I can't wait until the weather will consistently allow me to cycle outdoors.
I am getting more and more excited at the prospect of completing this event, so I hope all the training time I am putting in leaves me in good shape come May.
So...That Just Happened!!
The weather cooperated and I decided to take my bike out for a short ride (6 miles) to begin to acclimate to the "clip in" system. I have to be honest and say that I got off to a rocky start. Please feel free to interpret this as, "I fell over within minutes of getting on the bicycle."
While I was not able to capture either of my falls on video (yes, sadly, there were 2), I may follow up this post with pictures of the bruises that are developing nicely on the heel of my hand and on my hip / buttock area. I'm just not sure yet.
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Here is the promised picture of the bruise from my hip area!!
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