Looking back at 2016 Triathlon

The WIN for KC triathlon proved to be much harder than I anticipated. A month before the triathlon I had pretty well psyched myself out of it and was praying for torrential rain that would cause the race to be cancelled.

However, I ended up with a GREAT coach - Julie Frost - who worked with me individually on the bike portion. She gave me great coaching advice on how to ramp up for the 10 mile bike ride and, more importantly, gave me the mental confidence I needed to believe in myself and do the race.

There were really no surprises with the swimming and running, but it turns out that biking on a stationary bike is COMPLETELY different than biking on a real bike, in nature with real weather and gravity elements. I honestly didn't know if I had it in me to complete the bike ride. Before the day of the race the furthest I had ridden was eight miles. Julie assured me my adrenaline on race day would give me the power I needed.

My goal was to finish the race is 2:10 and I had not taken into account transition times. My planned breakdown was a 12 minute swim (500 meters), 1:10 bike ride (10 miles) and 45 minute run (5K). The actual was a 00:13:30 swim, 50 minute bike ride and 55 minute run. The rolling hills on the bike course did not allow me to stop pedaling. So, I came in much faster than anticipated. However, my legs were shot for the run and I ended up having to walk (slowly) the 5K portion. Of 615 races I was finisher 602. My finish time (with transitions) was 02:13:11.

As my coaches said, better to be a DNF than a DNS. I was a finisher!

Double the Fun!

Due to Holy Week and Maundy Thursday commitments I only did the running portion of yesterday's workout. So, today, I did the assigned four mile bike ride, the 300 yard swim and added the 300 yard swim from yesterday. I didn't swim the entire 600 yards at one time. I swam 300 yards, rested for a few minutes and then swam the next 300 yards. It felt good.

I am averaging the following:
- five minute mile on the bike
- 15 minute mile running
- two minutes for 100 yards swimming

Yesterday, I mixed up my running from what I have been doing. Prior to yesterday, I was running as long as I could (usually four minutes) and then walking for about a minute. However, my runs were really slow. Yesterday, I ran two minutes and then walked for about four minutes. My running pace was faster and overall I covered the same distance in the same amount of time.

This has left me wondering if it's better to run longer times and slower or run shorter times and faster. Which way leads to the strongest, fastest running in the end? If anyone has any insight to this I would appreciate you sharing it with me.

Super Day!

I missed my Sunday bike ride. So, today I doubled up my workout to include both yesterday's and today's activities. I ended up running for 30 mins (about a 15 minute mile), biking for four miles and swimming for 300 yards. It was challenging, but it felt really good! The full tri will be a 5K run, 10 mile bike ride and 600 yard swim. So, today's was close to half of that. Pretty awesome!

I was thinking about the calendar and I believe I have 17-18 more weeks to train. It seems like a lot, but at the same time July 30 doesn't seem that far away. I worry about what type of shape I will be in, but I know I shouldn't dwell on that. My goal is to finish the race in under two hours. So, if I keep working hard like I did today, then I am well on my way to meeting that goal.

Running is Fun

So, I got back on the exercise wagon, today, after a four day absence. I decided to start back on last Saturday's schedule since I have an extra week built into my plan and am trying really hard not to push myself too hard. I don't want to get injured or burnt out. The only difference in my training was last Saturday was a 25 minutes walk and I decided to make today's workout a 25 minutes run/walk. I ran about 16 of the 25 minutes. Again, slow running, but it was running. I missed the distance results on my Fitbit, but I believe it was about 1.5 miles.

I am listening to Serial Season 2 while I run. It's a good program and it makes me stay away from the little voice in my head that tells me my lungs are burning and my legs are tired. Listening to the program really does seem to make the time go faster than when I am listening to music. It will be interesting to see if, once I am finished with Serial, I go back to listening to music or if I decided to download podcasts of things like The Moth Radio Hour.

I don't believe I've lost any weight, yet. Although, I must admit I'm not trying very hard. I haven't changed my diet at all. I need to be drinking more water and eating fewer processed foods, but mentally I'm not there, yet. I'm trying to do this whole thing with gradual changes so it's not a shock to my body and my mental fitness. One thing at a time.

Good Week, Bad Week

The beginning of this training week was awesome. I got some biking, swimming and actual running in. The weather was beautiful and so I ran - real, actual running, but very slow running - on the Trolley Trail. My running sessions were for 30 minutes and I ran on and off about half of those minutes.

An odd thing happened to me Monday. I am in physical therapy right now for my right arm for an injury stemming from a fall I had in May.The therapy is mostly for my elbow on down. I went to PT Monday morning. After work, I went for a 30 minute run on the trail. At the end of the run I noticed that the muscle on the top of my right forearm had completely seized up. There were no spasms or real pain - just a very hard muscle that did not want to move. I massaged it for several minutes to loosen it up slightly before I got in the pool for my swimming session. Fortunately, the issue did not affect my swimming, but the arm was sore for the next couple of days.

The ending of this training week has been fruitless. Life got in the way and I missed training Wednesday, Thursday and today. Fortunately, I knew this would happen from time to time and so I've got some cushion built into my schedule and will start back, again, tomorrow with a good, full length workout.

Feeling Good

I got my workout in over lunch due to having plans this evening. It was just a three mile bike ride and 250 yard swim. I feel good. I can definitely tell my swimming is improving. I think it's a combination of getting endurance back and just feeling more comfortable in the water. Also, although I'm not happy with the way my body looks right now, I am feeling less like I don't belong in the pool with the fit swimmers. I am learning to appreciate my body and what amazing things it does for me and worrying less about how I look while I am performing. It's a good feeling. I like the way this attitude fits my skin.

Weeks 1 - 3a

I've started training for a triathlon. I've decided to use my blog to write about the challenges and successes of said training. The WIN for KC triathlon is July 30, 2016, at Smithville lake north of Kansas City. It's a sprint-tri - 600 meter swim, 10 mile bike ride and a 5K.

I'm sorely out of shape - 5'11" and weigh 275 as I type this. The training program I found is for beginners. It's a 22 week program and began with a very basic 100 yard swim, 20 minutes walk and two mile bike ride. If I follow the plan I will be doing distances further than what constitutes a sprint-tri before the race gets here. That being said - I expect to be in excellent shape for the length of triathlon I signed up for.

The first two weeks of training were pretty tough for me. Not really hard, but they tested my endurance. And, it was frustrating because I wasn't even doing that much. It just showed me how horribly out of shape I am. Even the swimming part was challenging for me - and I was a competitive swimmer for 12 years.

Week three began Monday (today is Thursday). Tuesdays are my rest days. So, today was day three of exercising this week. I feel like I had a breakthrough, tonight. Not a huge "a-ha" moment, but for the first time I didn't feel like I was struggling and I swam 250 yards without having to stop and catch my breath.

To top it all off, on my way back to the locker room a complete stranger complimented me on my swimming form.

Anybody Remember Me?

I had a blog, Did I Say That Outloud, from 2006-2011. In the process of getting rid of some old Google accounts I somehow "deleted" my blog - meaning, the blog was still out there somewhere, I just couldn't access it or find it. After a little determination, recently, I found some archives for my old blog and recovered 105 pages of posts. Pretty cool.

Today, I begin my new blog. Not sure what I'm going to talk about, but i hope it will be a positive and fun experience for my readers. Blogs aren't as popular since Facebook and Twitter have become our go to tools for quick communication. I find myself doing brief narrations of my life via status updates. However, I like the longer posts that a blog affords.

So, here's to starting over.