Just a few thoughts!

So I haven't been blogging much!

The reason is that I haven't wanted to share my thoughts on whats going on.

And it really upsets me. Part of the reason I chose to do this (blogging) is to actually express my thoughts, concerns, hopes, dreams, etc . (Obviously) I am not particularly good at it. But, I consider this blog a journal for my family as well as a means of reaching out to friends, creating new friends and the greater community. Blogging about my new venture into triathlon is only the beginning. I guess you can say that it's the start of an ethical will. So I will keep plugging away until I get it right.

Ok, I'm nervous. Tomorrow is my first endurance race of any kind, ever. I chose the short course for my first race because well, it's short! When I signed up for it in the beginning of May I wondered if I should have signed up for the Olympic but told myself that I should be patient. I also told myself that by easing in I can also be free of the nervousness and pressure.

Wrong!

I still don't know what the right decision was. The problem with the short course is that it is expected to be finished rather quickly. Quickness is not something that I have been able to achieve or work on at all. My goal has just to be able to complete the distances. Especially the running. And I have! I can now run 6 miles without stopping and with only a little discomfort. And I run those 6 miles at the same rate (albeit a slow 10min/mile rate) that I ran when I could only run 1 mile with lots of pain. But even more importantly, I have really worked on technique and core strength, which especially shows in my running! For those of you that have not run since phys ed in school, did you know that you actually have to learn how to run? I have worked on my technique enough to feel being propelled forward when you slide your feet toward your butt as they leave the ground. Once you gain the strength to do this, its absolutely amazing.

Let me also say something that I was unwilling to admit. Triathlon is hard!

Finally for the sake of practice, I went biking 15 miles then ran 3 miles. Something went wrong.

First of all, I realized I have not been biking enough, so the 15 miles pretty much took up an hour. Then I loaded the bike on the car rack, changed shoes and ran, and walked, and ran, and walked. I was so out of breath. When I finally finished, 30 minutes later, I took a moment to figure out what went wrong. The first thing I realized is that 30 minutes was pretty good considering all the walking I did. Hmmm, I ran too hard. I didn't know my legs because of the biking just before. I didn't pay attention to my pace. Man, its so different running right after biking. So, on Wednesday, I practiced (I believe that it is called a brick) again by biking then running and it went much better because I paid much better attention to my pace. I decided to only run 1.5 miles to save myself for Saturday. It has only been lately that I have found that I can run and bike more than once a week. Doing it more often was just too damaging with shin splints, back/hip pain, etc. I needed lots of rest and regeneration between sessions. So I did, and I think its paying off.

We will not talk about swimming ;-)

I mentioned on my last post that this whole year is base training for me and the more I experience it, the more that I see it is true.

I am so excited about racing, finishing and nervous too! I kind of feel foolish. It's a short course. I read about others competing in 1/2 Ironmans and Ironmans and wonder what the h*** I should be nervous about.

Right now, I will be happy to finish in 2 hours. And this may be unrealistic as I really don't know how long the swim will take me as well as T1. I do know that if I don't finish in 2 hours on this short course, it will be the only time.