Race ready?

I signed up for the Metro Triathlon  at the end of last year.

January came around and I began my training, especially for the swim.  Every week for the past 4+ months I have spent many hours in the water.  I started off barely able to swim 50 yards without passing out.  After a few weeks I had to learn all over again because I was breathing on one side only, every second stroke.  It felt like I was a beginner swimmer.  Finally I was able to swim 100 yards, then 200 and 500 yards.  The day came when I swam 3 500's with just a 30 second break in between.  I was on cloud 9.

A month ago I went into the lake with my wetsuit for the first time.  It was 52 degrees.  When I put my face in, I instantly got brain freeze.  I don't think I swam with my face in the water that day.  It took a couple of trips to the lake to swim with my face in the water.  I remember the first day I was able to do it tho, I felt wonderful.  Week after week, the water was getting warmer and warmer - 54, 56, 57, 58.  I was getting very comfortable with my wetsuit and could go further and further each time, without stopping. 

Last Monday I went to swim in the lake and had a horrible day!  I could not get more than 100 yards without stopping.  I could not get my breath under control.  I was so frustrated.  I had less than a week until my triathlon, where I need to swim 1500 yards and I can't even go 100 yards without stopping and treading water?  This sucks!  I went again on Wednesday and had a great swim.  I was able to do the entire distance.  I went again yesterday and when I was done swimming, I was very excited for my triathlon tomorrow.  I told my friend that I no longer had anxiety about the swim.  I felt very positive about it.

Then this morning came.

I woke up extra early so I can go to sleep early tonight for my 4:00 a.m. wake up call tomorrow morning.  I checked my email and see that the swim portion of my triathlon has been canceled.  No swim!!!  The water conditions are unhealthy.  I am beyond disappointed.  I have trained SO hard for this swim and dedicated SO much time to it. 

Now we will be doing a 1 mile run, 40k bike, and the 10k run.  Not ideal, that's for sure but I will make the most of it and try to have a fun time doing it.

I have other triathlons in the works for the year but this was the one that I was training for, the one that would show me I am prepared for the rest.  Oh well, at least my transition area will be a lot easier to set up and I get to ride my bike without a wet head. 


Until later.............

Open water swimming. Help!!

I was very happy to get two nice trail runs in this past week.  My beloved Garin is turning green (finally).  Look at this beautiful single track trail.  Aaaaah - heavenly!

And Boomer was having a great time on the soft ground, shortly after one of the light rains we received.  

Last week's Cinderella training went remarkably well.  There were 11 of us on the ride and we completed 50 miles with a little over 1,200 feet of elevation gain.  There weren't a lot of hills but the ones we did have were pretty serious.  Each week the rides either get longer or have more climbing.  This coming Saturday we have less miles (45) BUT twice as much climbing (over 2,400 feet).

I've been starting some double workout days.  So far they consist of swimming in the morning and a spin class at night.  I've done this twice now and then throw in a "rest" day the next day.  Yesterday was one of those days.  I swam 2,850 yards in the morning, mostly 200's.  I used my buoy and I used my paddles.  I really worked on pulling a lot.  I love that feeling!  I am working up to (as I said before) 100 lengths without stopping.  A couple of weeks ago I was feeling good about completing 8.  Yesterday I could do 20!!!  That's 500 yards folks.  Little by little, I'm improving.

A very special someone GAVE me her full body wetsuit (she's upgrading).  She GAVE it to me.  I am so blessed to have such great friends in my life.  I don't know how I got so lucky.  Now I just need to get into the open water.  I was looking at doing a sprint triathlon (in the bay) at the end of this month.  I am just too scared of the open water.  I thought if I had a wetsuit it would be easier to think of getting in.  I'm still so scared.  I have two friends that are willing to take me out, it's just a matter of timing right now.

Does anyone have any advice or hints on how to get over the fear of open water? Please share with me, even if it's something small. 

On the baby front (as of last Friday):  At 14 weeks, Sara is now in her second trimester.  Her baby can now squint, frown, grimace, and possibly suck his or her thumb!  Baby is 3-1/2 inches, about the size of a lemon.  Sara is actually starting to show a little bit.  :)

Until later.............

Riding, running and swimming. Oh my!

The Bay Area has had a very unusual dry spell this winter.  We have had perfectly beautiful weather for months.  So beautiful that I still have a tan line on my legs from wearing shorts on my rides and runs! 

This nice weather came to a complete halt, however, once my Cinderella training began yesterday.  We had very gloomy skies when we started out at 8:00.  The sun threatened to come out but never really made an appearance.  It was cold and windy but not unbearable.  Just a drastic change from what we've been having. 

There were 12 girls and 3 ride leaders for our ride.  We began at Club Sport and rode out to Alum Rock Park in San Jose.  We had a couple of very good hills to climb and I am happy to report all my girls did awesome!  I love their spirits.  On one hill that I was afraid they would have trouble, Ewa was the first one up.  I was thoroughly impressed with her.  One girl had to stop half way up but I think that's because she was in a very low gear, spinning too fast, before she even started climbing.  I talked to her about it on the return trip and I think she will be better next week.  One girl ended up dropping from our group, saying it was too fast for her and she didn't want to hold us up.  Unfortunately, we were almost half way through the ride so one of the other ride leaders stayed with her while the rest of us went ahead. 

We stopped for coffee in Milpitas and had to make it short because as we were all standing around I could feel myself getting too cold.  I was concerned for the other girls so made a 15-minute limit and gave them a warning when we had 5 minutes left.  The way back was into a horrible headwind.  We tried to stay as tight as we could though and everyone was pretty quiet as we just tried to hold on to the wheel in front of us.  At one point, mile 26 of 35, the rain came.  A hard, cold rain.  We were getting pelted.  We pulled off onto a side street under a tree and let the cloud pass over.  After a few minutes we took off and finished our ride.  It was slow going into the bad headwind though. 

We all finished strong and I could tell they all felt good about themselves.

I am beginning to get into the triathlon training even more now.  I make sure to do one of the three disciplines every single day.  This past week I was able to complete 3 runs, 2 bike rides and 1 swim day.  And to my credit, I tried to get a 2nd swim day in but one pool was closed for maintenance and the other one had a bad accident near it that closed the road in and out.  So, that day I just ended up with a long walk with Boomer. 

I'm mainly concerned about the swim for my upcoming triathlon.  And actually, it's not "the swim" I'm concerned about.  It's the open water part of it.  So, my focus for training is really getting my confidence in the swim. 
My swim work out consisted of 16 50's, 8 100's, and 4 200's.  I rested 20 seconds between each set and did not let myself "push" off walls.  My goal is to be able to swim 100 lenghts without stopping by March 1st.  Swimming 3 days a week is what I'm shooting for.  Since the pool I go to is indoor and available nearly 24 hours a day, I have no excuses.

One of my runs was a trail run with Kristi which was FUN!  The other two were flat, on the road.  It's nice to know I only have to "work up" to 6.2 miles on the run.  I'm not going to train for anything more than that, what I am going to do is work on getting faster for the 6.2 miles.

On the baby front - now at 12 weeks, the baby is 2 inches long, about the size of a lime, and weighs half an ounce.  I went to Sara's sonogram appointment Friday and saw the heart beating again and this time we were actually able to hear it.  :)


Until later.............