All you can do is tri

So today started out with a visit to the pool for the first time in months since I’ve been swimming in the lake instead.  300 wu, speed intervals 25 x 4, 50 x 6, 25 x 4, 200 cd.  The speed intervals were hard for me since I’ve not really ever done them before.  They did get easier the more that I did them, but I did notice that I would start to fatigue towards the end of each 50 and had to focus on form.  And so starts my voyage to becoming a faster swimmer. 

Then I hopped on my bike and rode to Seattle (20 mi) to meet my friend Lisa for dinner at a yummy mexican food joint next to Green Lake.  Hopped back on my bike and rode home only getting 14.5 miles.  For the last 5 miles of the portion back home my chain kept skipping and not catching onto the intended chain ring.  It also came completely off 4-5 times before the end of my biking journey.  Completely annoying.  At 14.5 miles, during the ride back.  The chain had come off once again as I shifted and forced me off only to find that part of my rear derailleur had come apart.  Thankfully most of the parts were under the bike on the ground.  After trying to fix it for 5 mins, unsuccessfully, I contemplated my options now that I was 5.5 miles from home with a bike that would not be taking me the rest of the way.  I could get a taxi or I could run home in my socks….  I chose the latter since I was feeling pretty good and was unsure if a taxi would even be able to find me since I was in a funky location.  I would have called friends to pick me up, but it was 12:30 at night.  I didn’t want to bother anyone.  Besides, I’m a triathlete.  I can definitely run it.    I hid my bike, left unnecessary items with it, including my shoes, grabbed my water bottle and began my barefoot adventure.

Running in socks wasn’t too terribly bad.  Stepping on rocks definitely hurt like a mother, but that happened maybe less than 10 times.  The run, although slow, felt pretty good despite my previous training today.  The balls of my feet hurt the most and my socks are ruined and there is one blister that came out of it.  But all in all, not too bad for my first barefoot run.  The carpet in my apt felt soooooo nice and soft on my feet.  It was like heaven!  My calf actually seized up on me after I put on my running shoes once I was home.  With running shoes on I jumped in the car and went to get my bike, which was still there.  Again, I was in a remote spot so I wasn’t too worried about leaving it behind.

And that is the story of my random, unintended triathlon.

Ran six miles tonight.  Felt okay.  Definitely need to run more to improve my form and breathing.  The run seemed to go pretty fast, which was interesting since it took me 70 mins to complete.  It must have been the dark streets I had to run through.  I was too distracted by what could possibly lie in the bushes or the shadows.  Not the brightest thing in the world to do, but when I have to stay up all night in order to sleep all day so that I can work the next night, there’s not a whole lot to do.  Might as well train…  or have the mystery of the night speed me along my session.    My back was a little annoyed with me, but nothing I couldn’t handle.  I need to find a nearby track to do some intervals on next. 

Today I conquered my issues involving my wetsuit. I got in, breathed every other stroke and did really well. No hyperventilation. No swallowing water. No swimming with my head above water, except to sight. It felt good. The swim area I went to was 60 yards wide. I probably swam 50 yards each way since I didn’t go all the way to the logs. Then again, there were a lot of waves from boats so maybe I swam more?

For a couple weeks now, I’ve been telling myself I should run down to the local park, swim for a while and then run back. Rather than continue to talk the talk, I chose to walk the walk. Gotta start some time, right? AND I really needed to deal with my wetsuit issues. See if it was the wetsuit itself (too constricting?), the excitement of the race start, or the fact that I really did need to put my head under water to get past not wanting to put my face in.

I ran about 1 mile to the park down the road where there would be less people to gawk at the wetsuit girl.   I live across from a large park where there are tons of people walking, sunning, playing volleyball, BBQ’ing, etc.  I’m not courageous enough for that yet. Took it slow on the way there, since it was my first run in two weeks. Then began the wetsuit tango. Made extra sure I had the wetsuit up enough in the legs, then the torso and finally the arms. I think this was the best suit up I’ve done so far. All the other times have been moderately rushed and I probably didn’t pull everything up enough.

Turns out the wetsuit is fine. Limits my range of motion in my arms, as expected, but that was the only thing I could find.

I think the adrenaline of the start does get to me. Everyone around me jumps in, starts thrashing for space in their quest to find their groove and I guess I get caught up in it and take on that energy to be my own. Maybe it’s the word “race” too. What do you think of when you hear the word race? I think - fast, speed, quickness, run for you lives! Gets my heart beating too rapidly to be endurable. At least with a wetsuit on. Today was the opposite. Calm (except for the water), serene and MY pace. And to test the face in the water theory, I dove right in to get past that part.

All in all, today was a confidence builder. I didn’t swim for long since the swim area was only open for 30 more mins once I got my wetsuit on. I’m pretty sure I got laughed at by some young guys, but I wasn’t out there for them and they don’t know what I’m all about. One of them did ask what I was training for, so at least one of them had a clue. Another asked if I was going to go scuba diving. “No I’m practicing swimming in my wetsuit.” No pressure now!

Afterwards, I ran the mile back home, nice and easy.

Little steps is what it takes. Just gotta keep putting one foot in front of the other and it will all come together eventually.

I’m not sure if those two words are actual words in the dictionary, but they best describe my morning today. 

First off, let it be known, that I was voted most accident prone my senior year of HS.  So the rest of this should not come as a surprise. 

I came off the night shift this morning at 7:30a at the hospital (3rd 12 hour shift in a row) and progressed toward the fitness center at the hosp.  Planned to do a short run and short swim in preparation for my first tri of the season tomorrow morning.  Ran for 15 mins on the treadmill, incline of 1.5.  Hopped off to get a towel before I did my 5 min cool down walk.  I left the treadmill going when I hopped off.  Accident # 1 - stepped onto the moving belt at the end, fell down catching myself with my hand, hurting my wrist and seriously tarnishing my pride and ego.  OMG!  Too bad no one had a video camera to capture it.  Two older men were there and they asked if I was okay and if I needed help.  They were nice enough not to laugh, at least on the outside…  I cut my cool down walk short and headed off to the pool.  Accident # 2 - As I was on my way to the shower to rinse off before going to the pool, I slip on the floor and end up jamming my big toe into a randomly placed tile molding on the floor.  YOWCH!  It still hurts.  Sometimes I can’t believe that some of these things happen when they do.  They definitely make me laugh, which I did a lot of today.  But now my toe hurts to stand on and I may end up having to walk the 5k portion of the tri tomorrow.     I’m icing as I type.  Hopefully that will help. 

Sometimes I wonder if things like this are meant to be a message or sign that I shouldn’t be working out or doing what I’m about to do….  Wish I knew.    I might not be so accident prone then.   Guess I’ll have to look forward to laughing more…. 

Didn’t do as much as I would’ve liked this weekend, but did get some training in. Didn’t do anything Sat since I got off of work at 7:30a that morning.  I take that back.  I commuted by bike to work the night before and back home that morning.  Almost forgot about that.  

Went to the swim clinic on Mercer Island with a friend yesterday.  Seems I lost some of my technique in the last month from not swimming.  I found out I’m putting my head under water when I swim which makes it harder in several ways - turning to breathe and going forward efficiently - and angling my hand upward after it enters the water, before I bring it down to pull.  Funky swimmin’.  Easy fixes though.

Today, ran 3.67 miles in 40 mins.  Slow, but not bad for not having run much lately.  Followed it up with a 10 mile bike ride over 48 mins.  Not as fast as I thought I was going.    I tried working on the uphills by actively using my calves to crank the pedals and increase my cadence.  Even though I was trying to spin up the hill, I think I ended up mashing up the hill due to the extra effort of the calves.  That was tough.  There were a lot of bugs out today.  Swarms of them.  Thankfully, I wore my sunglasses.  Definitely ate a few, spit one out and collected the rest on my shirt and shorts. 

I’m having to admit to myself that I’m constantly dealing with my inner demons.  I try to trick myself that I’ve dealt with them once and they won’t return ever again and I can move on (hence some of my posts), which is extremely naive of me.  This is not the case in any way, shape or form.  I have to deal with them in everything I do on a daily basis, as I’m sure everyone does.  Waking up.  Getting out to train.  Doing anything all the way rather than half fast.  Etc.  Today, it was getting out of bed.  So tired today.  Got to the bottom of an uphill on the bike and tried to talk myself into turning around and going home.  Why??  Why say no to getting stronger, faster, fitter?  Why say yes to not becoming the athlete you want to become.  This was my inner dialogue during the ride.  Even before I left for my run, I had to tell myself to not think, just do. Just get dressed for the run.  Don’t think about anything else.  Focus on getting dressed and out the door.  It worked, but sheesh.  I’m really amazed and disappointed that it takes this much to get me out of the house.  I’m fine once I get out of the house, but it’s almost as though the house is magnetized and I have a hard time getting away from it’s pull.  I want to get out and train and know that I should, but I get stuck. 

If you’re reading this, sorry about the rant.  I guess I just needed to get all of that out of my head and into some concrete space where they can swim bedsides in my head. 

Besides going to the kick a$$ lecture on Saturday.  I also biked for 2 hours with my local tri group.  We kept our HR’s low and I think only went about 25 miles.  Got to meet some new people and talk about training, races, and ethics of sport.  It was a good time.  After the lecture I gorged on a new recipe of Four cheese tortellini with Alfredo sauce, ground turkey spiced with worstershire, garlic, and salt, and then added broccoli to it.  YUM!  So good!  Perfect carbo loading meal for my 13 miler the next day.

After a late start and finally deciding to turn the Seahawks game off (they were winning before I started to watch and then began losing…), I got on my way to my 13 mile run.  Ended up running most of it in the dark along the Burke-Gilman trail in the pouring rain.  I felt really good for the first half.  It was just sprinkling during this part.  Had lots of thoughts running through my mind, occupying it. 

As soon as I turned around to head back, it started pouring.  Yes . . . I know I live in Seattle, but it doesn’t rain like it has been lately.  It’s typically a tolerable drizzle, with maybe a pour down once a month.  It’s been raining so much that Western Washington has been deemed a Federal Disaster area due to the flooding.  Anyhow, my legs began to feel heavy and sort of cold.  Of course I was wearing rain gear.  And of course it didn’t hold up it’s end of the bargain.  This made my run harder due to the extra weight of the water, but I utilized the skills taught the day before.  Rain, darkness, cold - out of my control.  Legs, energy, outlook - in my control.  I reminded myself about my committment.  Telling myself that I’m strong enough and fit enough to get through this.  After that my attitude was very positive.  I chose to feed the athlete, not the monster. 

Towards the end, about the last half mile, I envisioned myself running the last half mile of my HIM next June.  Envisioning my family being there and how excited I would be to have completed the first step in my mission towards IM Canada ‘08.  Then I brought it back to the present and near future and envisioned running up that last hill of the Seattle Half Marathon and running across Memorial Stadium field to the finish line and smiling the whole way.  Maybe it’s cheesy, but it got me to the end of my run and excited about my future races and mental training I practiced.