Tri training update
Last week was tough. Every Monday is a recovery day but I also took last Tuesday off. Therefore, I trained 5 days in a row. It started with 200 yds of swimming & 20 min of running/walking. I discovered that I can't maintain a run/jog for more than a minute at a time. Not very encouraging. Thursday was a 6 mile bike ride which went ok. I still hate hills - even the teeny tiny ones we have here. Friday (which would have been an off day if I hadn't screwed around with my schedule) was a 300 yd swim followed by a 30 min walk. The swim was my best yet. I did mainly side stroke & back stroke/float, but I wasn't really out of breath at any time and I didn't have to take any extra or longer rests than my program calls for. The walk ended up being for 55 min. It was a beautiful day & I didn't have anything going on at work so I decided to walk the entire path through the forest preserve rather than turn around after 15 min. Saturday was horrible - a 30 min run/walk. Like I said, I can't seem to maintain a run/jog for more than a minute & my legs were extremely sore from the previous day so I did much more walking than running.
Sunday was supposed to be a 10 mile bike ride which ended up being closer to 15 miles. I went to Busse Woods & thought that where I parked, I was right by the main 7.7 mile path through the woods - I was wrong. I went one way for a couple of miles & turned around when the route seemed to want to take me across a very busy street. I figured no big deal since I needed the extra mileage anyway. I then "found" the red path & did the complete circuit. That part was wonderful. It was mostly deep in the woods with little exposure to civilization. At one point, I heard something off to my left so I looked back. No more than 3 feet off the path was a small deer ~smile~. Other things along the path were a very nice overpass bridge, going by the elk herd, and a couple of bridges over Salt Creek where there were lots of people fishing. Nearing the end, I had to cross Higgins Road from the south. That made sense since I had assumed (correctly) that the overpass took me over Higgins & I needed to get back to the other side. By this time, I'm very tired & I want to end my ride. Ok - I haven't left the path so the parking lot with my car should be coming up soon; after all, it's just a big circle. I pass by one fork where I can either continue on the red path or take the black path. Since I'm exhausted & not thinking too clearly, I figure I must have to stay on the red path. After a mile, I'm convinced that something is terribly wrong & I'd only end up going around the 7.7 mile path a second time. I turn around & see in the distance the plethora of cars parked so I know I'm now headed in the right direction. I turn on the black path & sure enough, about a mile down is my car. YAY!!! I didn't need to call Kris & tell him that I can't find my car & that he needed to come to rescue me :)
Yesterday was a recovery day that I desparately needed. Today I start out the week with a 300 yd swim & 20 min run/walk. Hopefully, the swimming will continue to improve (at least my perception of it) and I'll do better with the running.
I have about 8 weeks left before my race. At this point, I'm starting to wonder if I made a good decision. I don't really enjoy the training especially the running - I've often said that I found no reason to run since I wasn't being chased. And considering that I'm having a really, really hard time with it, it's at best something that I just want to get over with and at worst, something I try to avoid altogether. The swimming is starting to worry me. I'm fine in a safe pool, in a lane by myself, where I can grab the wall or touch the bottom when I need to. But the race is going to be in Lake Michigan with at least a couple hundred other women and either not being able to feel the bottom or having all those people around me may end up with me panicking. There are open swims coming up starting in June in Lake in the Hills? and Ohio Street Beach. I'm hoping that by attending a few of these plus swimming in Lake Superior when we go visit friends, I'll be ok for the race. What I considered to be my strong leg was biking and even that's not where I'd like it to be at this point. I wish this was 20 years ago when I could bike for 30+ miles with no problem whatsoever. What was I thinking?!?