Training week 1

I’m planning to do the Buzzard’s Bay spring triathlon. It’s 1/3 mile swim, 14.7 mile bike, 3.1 mile run. 14.7 miles is not a long distance for me, but my time is slow. Wednesday night I rode from my house to the end of the bike path and back, which is a 15 mile trip. It took me 65 minutes, which is something like a 14 mph page. I wasn’t trying for speed, but I also wasn’t dawdling. Cycling is my strongest area, so my goal will be to get much faster. Running? I can run a 5K, but it’s still work. I haven’t been running with any regularity, because I’ve been focusing on cycling. I figure if I get my running miles up, both by running more regularly and by running longer distances, I should be good for the run. Swimming? Hah! I don’t swim. As a kid I took swimming classes every summer, and we lived on a lake, but I was never very good. I don’t think I ever got out of the advanced beginner class. I don’t like putting my face in the water, I could never get the breathing right, my strokes were weak and uncoordinated. As an adult I’ve never really tried to swim. I splash around with my daughter (who doesn’t swim), and enjoy the water but that’s it.

I consider last week my first official week of training, because last Thursday I met my triathlon guru AK for a swimming lesson. We spent an hour in the pool and she really helped. She worked with me on breathing and strokes and how to kick. I really felt it the next day. I’ve got a lot to learn, but I think I can get there. At least well enough to get through the swim. I can worry about my swim time for the next tri.

I think part of what I have going for me is my stubbornness. When Dusty is feeling good about me he calls it grit. (When he’s irritated, it’s my damn stubbornness.) Swimming was tiring, and it’s a lot to put together, but I pushed through for the hour. Then the next day when I took the girls to the res to swim, I spent a little time practicing again. My breaststroke isn’t terrible, so if I can get my free stroke even halfway decent, and get my breaststroke stronger, I should be
able to push through the swim portion. Right? suuure.

Training week one, starting on June 21: 1 hour swimming (I’m not going to track distance until I can actually swim!); 18.52 miles biking (not good, that was just one ride to work), 11.28 miles
running. Total time spent: about 5 hours. Not a really inspiring first week. On the other hand, one of my biggest challenges is going to be finding or making the time to go. Life happens, and it’s always been my way to let other things, particularly the girls, distract me. One of my goals is to learn how to keep myself focused on a personal goal.