My big race is 5 months away. On Sunday, September 28 I'll be in Augusta, Georgia competing in my first half iron. It's a 1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike & 13.1 mile run - 70.3 miles total. Gulp.
I'm legit training now. I think. I spent February & March getting ready to train. I had to build a base (& lose a little Christmas weight) - lots of rides on the trainer, a couple of pool swims a week and Sunday long runs. So I built my base, "lost a few pounds in my waist for ya" and now I'm working on technique.
I'm taking a masters swim class, which is equal parts helpful & humiliating. This summer will be my third summer of doing triathlons. I thought I could swim. I mean, I've never drown. But I get in my first masters swim class & nope, can't swim. I have vastly improved over the past 8 weeks, but I still have a looooong way to go. Thus far, my goal while swimming in races has been to simply stay alive, but now I'm realizing I may be able to swim fast! And efficiently! Who knew?
My weakest event in triathlon is the bike. I am terrified of the bike. I'm scared to clip-in, I'm scared to clip-out, I'm scared to descend, I'm scared to go fast, I'm scared of people being too close to me, I'm scared of animals running out in front of me, I'm scared of dying. You can see where this is problematic. Luckily, I spent the winter doing one leg drills where I pedal with one foot clipped in & the other clipped out, resting behind me. So now what happens is, I'm riding my bike in traffic, panic, can't get clipped-in/out, & ride through intersections furiously pedaling with one leg while the other leg is sticking straight out, perpendicular to my body. This? This is why I laugh uncomfortably when you tell me how impressed you are with my training. You've clearly never been sitting at Eastland & 14th & seen me barrel across that intersection with one leg sticking out and my mouth wide open as I silently scream in terror.
Running, no surprise, is my least stressful event. Whatever happens during the run, I can stop & walk - not drown, not crash, just walk. I ran a half marathon 3 weeks ago, so I'm pretty set on the running. I run with East Nasty on Wednesdays & run a longer run by myself on Saturdays. I have to run pretty early to make my 8:30am yoga class. Shockingly, no on wants to meet me at 6am on a Saturday for a long run. The hardest part about this is running by myself. I'm also solely responsible for making a route, which I am terrible at. I have to run 7 miles this Saturday & I'm possibly just going to run around Centennial Park 7 times to spare myself the agony of creating a route in Map My Run.
Right now, I'm swimming twice a week, riding 3 times and running twice. I'm also doing 2 days of strength training & 1 day of yoga. I'm working out about 9 to 11 hours a week. I'd like to bump up the yoga to twice a week & maybe figure out a way to not have to run at 6am on Saturdays by myself. I'm also real soon going to need someone to do long rides with me on Sundays. Oh, and open water swims. I don't even know where to start with that. If you're reading this & you have a wetsuit I could try-on for size &/or borrow-rent, let me know. I feel like I can't start open water swimming until I get a wetsuit.
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