New Experiences

It's getting close to my first triathlon race day and I am getting very excited about it. I will leave Jackson next Friday and go to Hattiesburg for packet pick-up that evening. The race will be next Saturday morning at 8AM. I hope to finish the race in less than 2 hours. I wish I could say that a faster goal is likely, but my slothiness (yeah, I made that word up!) on the run cannot be overstated. I have had a few new and interesting experiences lately that I should share.

First, I did my first brick workout last week. For all of my "non-triathlete" friends, a brick is basically a simulation of a portion of the race involving two discliplines. My first brick workout was an 18.5 mile bike ride followed by a 1 mile run. It's an interesting feeling getting off of a bike and running immediately afterward. It didn't feel like I thought it would. I expectef heavy legs (as the name of the workout implies). My legs were more numb than anything else...they actually felt light. I had some trouble with my heart rate on the bike after a couple of hills, but overall, I averaged about 17.5 mph, which is great for me on a solo ride. My run was about 12 minutes, so about the norm for me (see, I told you I a "snail's pace" was giving me too much credit when describing how fast I run). Overall, it was a good experience. I will be doing another brick tomorrow, a 13 mile ride and 3 mile run, which is a little closer to the actual race distance.

The second new experience for me was a wetsuit swim. I recently bought a wetsuit to swim in because of a great promo offer. I got an offer for a $300 wetsuit for $99- an offer I couldn't turn down. So, in preparation for the race, I took the wetsuit to the pool to try out in case it would be legal to swim in it for the race (depends on the water temperature on race day). It was definitely a different experience swimming in a wetsuit. Someone told me it feels like you are in a canoe when you are swimming and I can't think of a better way to describe it. I know it's a hard concept to grasp, but when I started swimming I understood what they were talking about. I was much faster with the wetsuit while expending much less energy; in fact, I cut almost 2 minutes off of my best 800 yard swim time. It was a cool experience and I hope I get to wear it on race day.

Lastly, I ran just under 7 miles Saturday evening after I got off of work. It was a slow run and I may have walked a total of about a mile, but it was my first longer run of marathon training. I ran from my house to the other side of the causeway bridge on the reservoir and back. The sunset over the reservoir was great to watch and got my mind off of my aching legs. I felt good for most of the run, but got some pretty heavy legs at about mile 6 which didn't get better until midday the next day (can't wait to see how my 18 miler at the end of December makes me feel). It was a big accomplishment and I look forward to running 8 miles this coming weekend.

Anyway, those are a couple of the new experiences I have had lately getting ready for my race next week. This is my last week of the bigger workouts (relative term) before my race, then next week will be light workouts every day.

Looking forward to race day!

"Sometimes winning has nothing to do with being first across the finish line" -John Bingham

.....Uphill both ways.....

We've all heard the old saying. In fact, I bet your dad said it to you at least a thousand times when you were young. Most people write it off as fiction, an impossibility that defies the laws of physics. How can you start and stop at the same point and travel uphill when traveling both away from and toward that point? Well, I will attest to the fact that this is no impossibility and that we should all rethink that old saying. Maybe dad DID walk 10 miles to school in 10 feet of snow uphill both ways...OK, maybe the part about 10 miles to school in the snow is a bit far fetched; but, after my bike ride 2 days ago, I now believe that uphill both ways is a completely realistic possibility in my version of reality. No, I don't live the theoretical universe contained in the pages of a Stephen Hawking book. I am now a believer in the possibility of uphill both ways and if you let me take you on a bike ride, I'll bet I can make you a believer, too (well, at least those of you who are novice endurance athletes like myself).

The ride was the day before yesterday with a good friend and riding partner who is much more fit than I am. I pretty much knew within the first couple of miles that it was going to be a tough day. I had worked a 12-hour shift in Forest, MS two days before the ride (1 hour drive each way) and a 12-hour shift in Meridian, MS the day before the ride (1:50 minute drive each way). On top of that, I swam at 5am before driving to Meridian and I only ate once that day. So needless to say, I was behind on nutrition and sleep and could feel it in the first couple of miles.

So, back to the subject of defying the law of physics. I started wondering if we'd ever see downhill about 4 miles into the ride. It just seemed like I was spending a disproportionate amount of time climbing, but I guess that's to be expected since you get down the hill faster than you get up it. It always makes sense until you're actually on the bike doing the climbing. Then cam Kickapoo Hill, a beast of a hill that I knew was coming; but, I was not prepared for it. I'm never prepared for it the first time. I made it up Kickapoo Hill. My legs were fried by the time I reached the top, but I made it. On the backside of the hill I reached 33 miles per hour without pedaling. The whole time down I was thinking how much fun (or not) it was going to be coming back up this hill.

Coming back, I prepared myself for the climb back over that hill by letting my legs rest with an easy spin for a mile or so before the hill. I stayed seated for the first part of the climb and thought it was not so bad when I reached the top....or what I thought was the top. The hill levels out about halfway up, curves to the left and the hill starts again after about 30 yards of level ground. I did not notice that it leveled off on the way down. So, for the second half of the hill, I spent most of my time out of the saddle grinding away. Near the top my HR maxed out at 196bpm, which is above my theoretical Max HR of 187 (based on my age). Basically, my legs were toast, but I made it to the top. It's always a great accomplishment when I get to the top of one of these nasty hills. Maybe soon I'll go try to tackle the military park in Vicksburg.

The plans for this weekends workouts are up in the air. I'm going to be home with a sick little girl all weekend. Jenna has had fever for 24 hours now, so I will be home with she and Parker this weekend while Amanda goes out of town. Maybe I'll be able to fit in a group bike ride Sunday night.

"We must all suffer one of two things: the pain of discipline or the pain of regret or disappointment." -Jim Rohn

Bring on the cool weather!!!

"Motivation is what gets you started. Habit is what keeps you going." -Jim Ryun

I've done a really terrible job keeping the blog up recently, but let me assure you that I am doing a much better job keeping up with my workouts. In fact, waking up at 4 AM has, surprisingly, gotten a lot easier and the pre-sunrise workouts have gotten a lot more enjoyable as of late. I never thought I would ever say that!

One of the best things about doing this training so far, besides of course raising money for two great charities, is seeing the world in slow motion. Although I am riding hard on my bike, actually being out on the bike allows you to view the world through a different set of eyes. It slows everything down. Instead of seeing everything through a windshield at 50 mph, being out on the bike allows me to immerse myself in my surroundings and see things that I would not normally see sitting behind a steering wheel. I can't tell you how many times I've seen wildlife that I would not normally have noticed (although some of it is roadkill that I might rather I had not noticed). It happened again last Sunday when I went out for a ride with a friend of mine who was actually out on his first big ride (> 20 miles). I had just finished telling him how many times I had seen deer and other wildlife that I wouldn't normally have noticed. Not very long after I said this, I noticed some rustling in the woods on the side of the road and saw a doe step out towards the road. She just looked at us as we passed within 20 feet of her on our bikes. This is about the 5th or 6th time that has happened this summer, although this was the closest encounter (if you'll remember from a previous blog I had a deer run out in front of me). It's little things like this that can turn a tough workout into something completely different. In fact, I've considered trying to do some trail running so that I can experience the same kinds of things while running.

Overall, training is going very well right now. I was a bit concerned about a setback after being sick, but I am pretty far ahead of schedule and have, for the most part, abandoned my training plan when it comes to swimming and cycling distances. It's gotten to where those portions of the plan have gotten too easy. I still stick to my schedule in terms of what days I swim, bike and run; but, as far as time in the water and on the bike, my workouts are much farther, longer and faster than originally planned. I have stuck with the run part of the plan because, as those of you read this blog know, running is not a strength of mine and injury avoidance is a top priority.

So, here's where my progress has brought me.
1. My swim workouts in the 1200-1300 yard range and I have done 1000 yard (40 laps) straight swims twice. My first swim workout was 8 x 25 yards (one length) with about a minute rest between each lap. So, technically I can swim 40 times farther now than when I started.
2. On the bike, most of my rides are about 17 mph for 25-30 miles and can ride faster if I have someone else riding with me to push me harder. My first bike ride was about 2 miles. When I finished that ride, I was out of breath and, boy, did that seat hurt my butt. Now, it seems my bike rides are limited only by the amount of time I have to spare.
3. On the run, I won't say that I have made much progress in the way of speed and endurance yet. I've really just been trying to solidify my base before the marathon plan begins in order to avoid injury. My runs are typically in the 3-4 mile range.

Speaking of running, I will be switching over to marathon mode very soon - about 2 weeks in fact. I will not be running full time until after October 12th, but the marathon training plan officially starts on September 22nd - just under 2 weeks away. I'm getting pretty nervous about the program, especially the 20 mile run I have scheduled on December 19th. But, I've said it before on this blog, I chose to do the full marathon because it would not be easy. I just hope the fundraising picks up soon.

So, as far as the race schedule goes, my calendar looks like this.
October 10th....Heritage Eagleman Triathlon- Hattiesburg, MS
My first triathlon- 1/3 mile swim, 16.5 mile bike, 3 mile run
November 7......Monroe Parks and Recreation Half Marathon (13.1 miles)- Monroe, LA
My first half marathon
January 10........Walt Disney World Marathon (26.2 miles)- Orlando, FL
My first full marathon

So, that's my progress and my plan. I'm headed out for a run!



Visit these links if you're interested in donating to my charities

Children's Heart Foundation (Congenital Heart Defect Research)

Special Operations Warrior Foundation (College for Children of Special Operations Soldiers Killed in Combat)