gettin' closer!!

The tri is in 10 days! Holy cow!!

Yesterday, I worked out with B. It was a good, hard workout, and I'm sore today from it. We've been talking tri stuff (he's done a few), and it's been good. I'm feeling more and more confident. I know I can finish it — it's just a matter of how long it's going to take me to do it.

I'm going to do another mock-tri tomorrow evening — swim in the pool, go to a spin class, run on the treadmill (or maybe I'll run outside). Lifting on Friday, not sure what's up for the weekend. Training on Tuesday again and after that, everything is light light light.

It's coming!!

bike race this morning

Bike race this morning gave me the opportunity to do a few different things.

First and foremost, ride my bike. It was a good ride. Hit a wall somewhere around mile six. Otherwise, no problems. The sport drink I got wasn't bad, diluted with water :)

On the course for the tri, the point where I hit the wall this morning will be nearing the end of the first loop. I'm thinking that if nothing else, all of the people around and cheering will at least postpone the tired.

When I finished this morning, I hopped off my bike and took a short run, just to get used to the transition. It's not bad.

I also got to try out a test-breakfast, since I very rarely exercise first thing in the morning. I made some frozen fruit into a smoothie and had a Zone bar. It settled well, but it wasn't enough. But I didn't eat all that much yesterday, which would have an impact. In any case, I know I can eat everything I ate this morning and be fine, so that's good.

I also had some crampiness going on this morning, which Advil took the edge off of, but still. No cramps on race day :)

Now, for the first time ever in my life, I was the first person to finish! I pulled up to the school where we started/ended. The volunteers were hanging out chatting. A few spectators were sitting in chairs, mostly reading. It was very anti-climatic. I pulled up to a table, and a lady asked: "Did you do the whole thing?" Yes, I did the 10 miles. "Wow! That was fast! You're the first one done!"

Really, it wasn't that fast. The lead pack for the 65-mile racers came past our corner about 10 minutes or so later, and they had completed 25 miles. That's fast.

Based on how I rode this morning, it's going to take me about an hour to complete the bike portion of the tri. I might be able to go a little faster, with some last-minute training and a bunch of adrenaline, but I think that's about where I'll be.

I wore my skins, of course, because they're UV-blocking and because I need to be used to wearing them. They're funky looking (mine have yellow seams). The same lady who asked if I was done later said, "Look at you with your fabulous body in your fabulous outfit." Besides "fabulous" just being a great word in general, it was a nice compliment :) Especially since I feel kinda bloated and gross.

So bike race was a success! Hooray!

mock tri and open water swim

Last night, I did a sort of mock-tri at the gym. I swam 750 meters, then changed and went to a spin class (55 minutes — I left before the cool-down), then jogged for 25 minutes on the treadmill. I felt great when I was done! Woo-hoo! Happy happy happy :)

I went this afternoon and bought skins.

Tonight, there was an open-water practice swim at the lake. I've decided not to wear a wetsuit (I found it too constrictive in the shoulders — the buoyancy wasn't worth it). The skins were quite comfortable to swim in. I felt pretty exposed — I don't typically walk around in clothes that are all skin-tight — but the self-consciousness mostly wore off (and was not with me at all in the water this evening).

Swimming in a lake is way harder than swimming in a pool. I was surprised. First of all, the lake is kinda gross. I put my head in and could barely see my hand out in front of me. Ew. Otherwise ... it's hard to explain why.

The swim tonight was just up-and-back. On the way out, it was easy to go in a straight line — I swam by the wall and kept my eye on that when I came up to breathe. On the way back, I swam way crooked and ended up swimming quite a bit farther than I needed to. 's OK.

I took off too fast off the line. My stroke was nothing like what it is in the pool. Adrenaline? So it wasn't long before I was completely wiped out. I stopped and caught my breath, but the rest of the swim wasn't great. Now I know and can plan for it. They warned us to start out slow, and I thought, "I always swim slow!" but alas, I did not. I'm glad we had a practice swim :)

Tomorrow is a rest day. Sunday, I am doing a bike race. That'll be good. I can get a feel for it. I've biked a lot, but never in a race. We'll see...

The race is two weeks from tomorrow! Can hardly wait!!

small hodgepodge of stuff

Nothing extraordinary to report. Lifting, swimming the last couple of days. Trained with B. tonight. Planning tomorrow to swim at the pool with my wetsuit. Planning Thursday to swim, then spin, then run a bit. Friday there is a practice swim at the lake. Saturday, there's a bike race I might do. Rampin' it up! Time's a-tickin!

In the mean time, a good friend and my husband are putting together the cheerleading squad :) They're even having T-shirts made!

I'm kind of wishing I had spare cash to get the fancy pedals and shoes for my bike (and feet), but I've never used them before, so I suspect I won't miss them.

I used non-cotton socks tonight at the gym for the first time ever and might not ever wear cotton socks again!

The hospital PR people want to interview me for a "life after cancer" piece regarding this event. I called today and left a message.

I'm super-excited about all that's going on! Now, I just have to do the race!!

bought a wetsuit

My tri mentor was selling a wetsuit in my size, so I went today to meet with her and try it on.

I had never put on a wetsuit before.

I had heard and read that it's hard to put a wetsuit on. That is the understatement of the century! My hands were tired from grabbing and pulling. It was as if my whole body was hips!

Well, between the two of us, we got it on, but it was no small feat.

I did buy it from her, but I'm not looking forward to putting it on in a public space (i.e. at the race). I will practice putting it on, and I'll get my hubby to help, and I'm going to swim with it at the gym some time this week and use it for the open-water swim on Friday.

One more thing checked off the list. The race is three weeks from today!!!

biking!

I decided to bike to tonight's concert, which was roughly an 11-mile ride. It felt great to get out and ride again — it's been way too long! My quads went from being a little sore back to being quite sore as a result, but that's OK.

The plan is to do a small ton of biking in the next few weeks...

ahhhh, back on the wagon!

I was right about being sore. It was completely contained in my quads, but I've had some trouble walking for two days now. That shut down my plans to go to spin class tonight. I did go and swim, and it felt good to be back in the pool. There is something soothing about the water that isn't available through other means of cardio. Also, the hot tub is there afterwards :)

I'm going to find time to go biking tomorrow, and maybe do a little upper body work if I have time. (I have a concert tomorrow night - the last of the season - so time is a little short.)

Saturday, I'm going to try on a wetsuit from someone who is selling one. Hopefully, it'll fit and I can write her a check and be done with that aspect of things. We'll see...

been sick :(

Well, since I last posted ... I had half of an upper body workout in the exercise room at a hotel, I went for a swim, and I've been dancing twice. I had The Crud and it took a while before I felt functional.

Yesterday, I was finally feeling kind of better, so I went to the gym and just did a little elliptical. It felt good to be moving and sweating.

Today, I trained with B. It was excellent :) I expect to be sore tomorrow, and that's OK. So now I'm in hyper training mode, as the tri is coming up fast and I've lost a lot of training time :(

It'll be great.