Week 8; Day 4: Thursday (plus catch up)

Daily learning / random notes: As I suspected, I have not had a lot of time or energy to train this week. I have a big creative event happening on Saturday and my energy is going into preparing for that.

I got a whole bunch of books from the library and have been working my way through them. As someone who is training for her first triathlon, some books were less meaningful than others. One of these books, which is more appropriate for someone who is not on her first triathlon, is called The Triathlete's Training Bible by Joe Friel. I did find a great quote in this book that really struck me, "Swimming, cycling, and running reduce life to its most basic elements---breathing and movement." The quote is in a section called "Training to Go the Distance" and is all about why people do triathlons. What it says is that it is less about the races and more about the training. Having not actually competed in a triathlon, I cannot comments on this but it resonates with me.

I signed up for a Master Swim class at my pool. It will be only one of the 3 swimming training days each week. I do think it is exactly what I need to make sure that a) I am swimming correctly and b) I can figure out how to get faster (I am s-l-o-w). This added to the total training cost but I think it will be worth it. It doesn't start for a couple of weeks though. I will report back after it begins.

Total training cost: $198.50

Total distance swum: 11150 yards. (6.33 miles!)

Results of past few days:
Monday - Swam 32 laps, ran/walked for 15 minutes as my partner couldn't go.
Tuesday - Supposed to bike but did not because I had to watch kids for spring break.
Wednesday - Swam 22 laps, ran/walked for 60 minutes. Not motivated today but trained anyway.
Thursday - Today is supposed to be my day off but I need to change my training schedule because I am not getting to work out on Sundays. According to that, I should do a 10 mile bike ride. Ok - done. It took me 48 minutes and 40 seconds. I was in traffic for part of that. And coming home there was a huge headwind. Yuck. This is the first time I have ever timed myself. I really like riding by the river.

Week 7; Day 7: Sunday

Daily learning / random notes: All right...so this is more of a catch up post than anything else. I will say that posting this week is going to be spotty as I have some other stuff going on. I am definitely not biking enough times a week or running long enough. I need to up my training. I am not sure it will happen this week.

Total training cost: $154.50

Total distance swum: 9800 yards.

Results of past few days:
Friday - Swam 32 laps - Personal Record! Did not bike as we went out of town.
Saturday - Ran 20 minutes on beach.
Sunday - Took the day off (due to exhaustion).

Catching up...

Ok, it may seem like I gave up on this whole endeavor. But I haven't, really! I have just had a few obstacles. The last time I wrote was March 9th. Here is an update on what I have been doing since then.

As you may remember, I had fallen on March 8th. This ended up causing all sorts of problems which were fixed (?!?) by rest and chiropractic appointments.

March 10th was a bike ride which I skipped because I had a sprained wrist.
March 11th was a swim and run. I did swim 16 laps (and bought another 10 swims for $65).
March 12th was my day off and I took it.
March 13th I swam 30 laps but did not bike because of wrist.
March 14th and 15th I had no childcare and didn't exercise at all.
March 16th I went to Boot Camp which ended up being a mistake and within that hour I ran for 13 minutes. I also went swimming but sadly I didn't track how many laps I did. It would have been at least 20.
March 17th I was supposed to go for a bike ride but I was too tired.
March 18th I swam 20 laps and walked but mostly ran for about 30 minutes.

Which brings me to today. I definitely was de-motivated in general and more so by my fall. But I feel like I am back. I understand that these ups and downs are a normal part of training.

Week 5; Day 5: Friday

Daily learning / random notes: I am feeling super sick today so I made a decision not to exercise. I hope I get better soon. I know the race is a long way out so missing a few days here and there isn't going to mess everything up but I had been in a good groove I don't want to lose.

Total training cost: $89.50

Total distance swum: 6850 yards.

Activity	Distance	Results
Swim	Warm up, Freestyle 200 yards, Cool down 100 yards	Did not swim.
Bike	4 miles	Did not bike.
Run / Walk	Off	n/a

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Week 5; Day 4: Thursday

Daily learning / random notes: Today is my weekly day off and I celebrated (?!?!) by getting sick. Groan.

Total training cost: $89.50

Total distance swum: 6850 yards.

Week 4; Day 4: Thursday

Daily learning / random notes: Today is my weekly training day off. For some insane reason, I looked up a program some friends were telling me about called "One Hundred Push Ups". And then I did a bunch of push ups. And now my right shoulder hurts. Arg. As if training for a triathlon wasn't enough.

Total training cost: $89.50

Total distance swum: Update: 5450 yards or a little over 3 miles.

Week 3; Day 4: Thursday

Daily learning / random notes: Today is my weekly training day off. Today it is my intention to add a new section which is "distance swum". I do this for no other reason than it seems fun. Perhaps I will add other sections as I go.

Total training cost: $89.50

Total distance swum: 3500 yards or in other words almost 2 miles.

Week 2; Day 4: Thursday

Daily learning / random notes: Today is my weekly training day off. I am still sore from my boot camp class on Monday but it is starting to subside. I know that having a day off is a good thing but I am eager to keep training. I think this is a good thing. I am super excited to try out my friend's bike this weekend. I hope it is a good fit.

Total training cost: $89.50

Week 1; Day 4: Thursday

Today is my training day off. Sigh. I am very sore and happy to take this day off....But of course I didn't exactly take the day off. I wanted to determine what size bike I need. So I rode my mountain bike to the bike shop and then I test drove a road bike. Probably all in all 3 miles - not enough to make me crazy.

Daily learning / random notes: I believe I need a size 52cm bike. They didn't have a 53cm bike for me to compare. I will try out some other bikes at other places so I can get an idea. My friend, N, said she tried 75 bikes before she found her current bike!!!

I watched a bunch of videos on YouTube.com and totally freaked myself out about the transitions. I guess I have to remember why I am doing the triathlon. I am doing it to try it out (and to finish it). I have to make sure my competitive nature doesn't take over and have me looking for ways to shave seconds off my transitions (especially since I know my swimming will be S.L.O.W.).

Total training cost: Same as yesterday = $24.50. I got my goggles and cap! Yay!