Training

OK I am signed up for a triathlon.  This is serious.  I think we need a countdown on the side bar of this blog.  Anyone know how to make that happen?  Iceman?  We have approximately 4-1/2  months to completely heal my knee so I am confident of the run, master faster biking and learn to swim.  At least learn to swim more than one lap without having to stop to catch my breath.  I am certainly motivated to get in my workout each day.  Right now I am doing body pump 2 days a week followed by 30 minutes of elipticle, cycle class once a week and running 2 days a week.

Here is a break down of my thoughts on each area of the tri:

Number one:  Running.  I am really only running 1-2 times a week at the moment because I am trying to let my knee continue to heal.  It is definately improved over last fall when I was in quite a bit of pain after 1 mile but still gets sore.  I asked the personal trainer who reminded me that no blood goes to tendons like it does to muscles so while it is healing it will take significantly longer than a muscle.  In the mean time I have been rolling out my muscles and tendons every time I go to the Y and before and after my runs.  Definately seems to be helping.  My friends are laughing at me that I seem obsessed with rolling my muscles.  Whenever I have a new pain I tell them I will roll it out.  I am trying to figure out how to roll my tricept muscle at the moment.  The right one seems to stiffen up more than the left when I work them.

I also am running quite slow right now.  I have decided for the rest of the winter to simple focus on maintaining running fitness rather than speed.

Biking:  I am taking a spin class which I am loving.  As I speed down the flat roads or push up the hills I think about kicking my sisters butt on this triathlon.  Ha ha ha.  Actually I fully expect her to kick mine because she is far more intense than I am but it does motivate me during class so I will take it.  It will be hard for me to get outside on a bike much before the race since the roads will be slushy until about a month before.  However, I do have a master biker in my husband who will hopefully push me as we do some biking around town.  I will say that I did ride my bike to work a couple times last year with Isabelle in a trailer behind me which included a killer hill near our home and I did great.  Riding without that extra weight should seem like a breeze in comparisson.

Swimming:  I am currently doing nothing about this.  There is a triathlon training group that starts in April at the Y that I plan to join but I am wondering if I should sign up for a swim lesson before then just to get started.  I did some lap swimming with Iceman several years ago and we both discovered that fitness in one area of your life does not translate to fitness in swimming.  While I do feel like I improved during our weekly meetings I am wondering if I will need more than a few weeks to work up to the 1/4 mile I will have to swim.  I do anticipate this being the event that takes me the longest.  I can make it up on the bike or run.

The big question...How long will it take me?  What should my time goal be?  Part of me wants to say 30 minutes per event but reality tells me that isn't likely.  Can I say under 2 hours?  I think that is where I will start.  Once I am outside on the bike I will have a better feel for how long 12 miles will take me.  And once I start swimming I will have a better feel for if I will survive 1/4 mile of swimming.  I already know how to run and while I know I could do 3 miles in 30 minutes I am thinking of saying I will do that in 40 minutes because it is last and I will be tired.

How about Goose?  What are your goals? She has already informed me that she will not be by my side through the race encouraging me and letting me encourage her.  She is competitive and will be self motivating to the end.  I do have a friend who did a tri with her sister and the two of them stuck together the entire time motivating one another and accomplishing a goal together and even though they weren't in the same age group the younger started back with the older so they could go together.  But Goose doesn't have to do that with me because I will just be happy to be there (having driven all the way across country to do this "with" her) and to accomplish this goal I have desired to tackle for a couple years now. (Just a little passive agressive guilt to keep it real.  I am in full acceptance of doing it on my own and feel fine about it.)