August 29, 2007

Accenture Chicago Triathlon

After sticking my toe into the deep and swirly waters of triathlon last summer with a super sprint event, I decided that I liked it enough to commit to an Olympic distance event this year. Choosing the event was a no brainer - I work for the title sponsor of the major tri here in town and as such was able to enjoy a significantly reduced entry fee. Why travel to an event I'd have to pay full price for when I could do the local race on the cheap? Sometimes, working for The Man has its benefits.

Shortly before running El Piggy (which, oops, I never wrote a report for. Bad Dawnie!), I started researching tri training plans online. I was assuming that they'd be about 18 weeks long, much like the standard marathon training plan, which meant I'd get a week off after the race before jumping into full time tri training. In my plan-ahead mind, this meant I needed to have a plan ready to go before I ran the Pig. In all of that digging, I wound up finding Max Multisport - a local company that offered full multisport coaching for a ridiculously reasonable amount. I signed up, met my coach and worked out a tentative plan in the weeks before the pig, and then once I was moved and recovered we hit the ground running. And biking. And swimming.

Throughout the summer, I kept waiting for the training to build into Big Huge Workouts, like it does with marathon training. Except it never did. Sure, I was doing 1.5-2 hour rides and/or runs every weekend, and I was working out 5 or 6 days out of the week (instead of 4-5 days), but I just never felt like the ass-kicking that I expected arrived. And while that certainly made maintaining a social life easier, it just felt... weird. Two weeks out from the race, I didn't feel like I was two weeks out from the race. I didn't feel like I'd put enough work in. I didn't feel like my training had really ramped up at all, even though it had (the increase was mostly in intensity rather than time). Couple that with your typical taper angst and I had a complete and total "OH MY GOD I AM SO NOT READY FOR THIS I AM GOING TO DIE" freakout.

As a result, I went into the race with fairly low expectations. I knew I could finish the run in an hour or so, and I was pretty sure I could get through the swim in slightly under an hour, but what about the bike? 26 miles? Ummm.... an hour and a half? Maybe? If everything goes really well? Maybe closer to 2 hours? So that would give me a finish time of under 4 hours? Eh, OK, I can deal with that.

Race day arrived and I woke up bright and early, even though there is nothing "bright" about 3:30 a.m. except for the blinding light from the bedroom lamp. I got the last few things together, got changed, packed my breakfast, and by 4:30 was heading out the door. When I got to the lakefront, I was only mildly surprised to see a whole slew of people riding on the path. Clearly, they were all going to the same place I was. I got to the transition area with plenty of time to find my bike rack, set everything up, and then scope out my best routes to and from the various entrances and exits. Once I felt comfortable with the geography of it all, I grabbed my "pre-race" bag, waved good-bye to my bike, and headed out.

As I walked down towards the swim start, I passed the swim finish, and I was surprised to see just how far apart the two were... and that was for the sprint swim! My swim would have an extra little loop south before heading north to the finish. I tried not to think about it. I met up with the rest of the sponsor employees and smiled in the group picture. Then I had about 3 and a half hours to kill before my wave would start, so I parked myself along the swim course and watched the sprinters swim on past. With 2 hours to go, I ate my breakfast. With 90 minutes to go, I hit the port-o-lets. With 45 minutes to go, I began the task of putting my wetsuit on, which I would stretch out until I zipped it up just before my wave hit the water.

Standing in the start corral, the familiar feeling of complete and absolute fear crept over me. It doesn't happen with every race, but with a new racing experience (such as My Biggest, Longest Triathlon Ever?) I can pretty much count on it. Sunday morning, I was focused on the fact that the swim had a deep water start, which meant I was going to have to jump in the water. With lots of other people watching. I had visions of needing to jump down from the concrete shore we were standing on, a good foot above the water level. I was nearly dizzy with fear as my stomach dropped to my feet. Swimming 1500 meters? No problem! Jumping down a foot into murky lake water with hundreds of witnesses? Hell no. Thankfully, when my wave got to the front corral I was able to see a set of steps that led down from the concrete to the water, so I just had a wee little jump off the last step. Whew. That? Was totally doable.

As the wave jumped in, a cloud of profanity arose from the group: the lake was cold. I'd missed the official water temperature announcement, but I'd heard that it was around the mid-60s. Um, no. I immediately felt sorry for the few people that weren't wearing wetsuits. Even in a full suit (which I was so very glad I had), my hands and feet were cold enough that I was feeling chilly. I moved to the back and side of the group, got my goggles on (very tricky when you're treading water, even with the extra floatiness of the wetsuit), and waited for the start.

The horn went off, and I had plenty of time to start my watch while the front of the wave took off. It took me a bit to get into a rhythm, but I took it nice and steady until I did. I discovered that back- and/or sidestroking in a wetsuit feels very strange if you're not used to it. Strange enough that I flat out didn't want to do it, and only did when I really needed to catch my breath. Before I knew it, I'd covered the 375 yards to the turnaround and was heading back north. This stretch seemed to last forever, but I realized something: for the first time in a tri swim, I felt calm and collected in the water. My heart wasn't racing, I wasn't gasping for air, and I felt pretty good. It was awesome. Sure, I was getting run over by the faster swimmers from the waves behind me, but I expected that. I stopped apologizing mentally for being in the way, and just worried about not hitting people in front of me. As I got closer to the end I could finally see the orange buoy by the water exit, and I picked it up a bit. I had absolutely no idea how long I'd been in the water, and I didn't really care. I was almost done, I felt good, and I wasn't going to be totally winded for the first part of the bike. Awesome.

At the swim exit, there were more stairs (we were swimming along shore in the harbor, not at one of the beaches). The stairs were full of volunteers helping us out of the water, and I was surprised by how much I needed their help. Getting my butt out of the water was tricky, and I was so dizzy that I needed help from the volunteers on the higher steps to keep from falling back in the water. This never ceases to amaze me - even if I don't feel dizzy in the water, I always feel dizzy when I stand up afterwards, but it only happens when I swim in the lake. Go figure. The jog to transition was super-long, which I'd been warned about. I'd placed a pair of old running shoes near the swim exit so I wouldn't have to do the 1/4 mile over asphalt in bare feet, but I couldn't find them when I jogged past the spot. Rather than spend time searching for them, I just said "screw it" and made a run for it. Not. Comfy. The asphalt was bumpy and broken up in places, and I was so, so glad when I got to the transition area and could jog on grass for a little bit.

Total swim time (including the long-ass jog): 46:06

When I got to my bike in the transition area, I got my wetsuit off as quickly as I could, threw on my shoes and socks, wolfed down some Clif Bloks and stuck the rest of the bag in the pocket of my jersey. Helmet and glasses went on, race number belt went on, I took a big swig of water while I surveyed myself and the transition area to make sure I hadn't forgotten anything, and I was off. It was kind of a trek to the bike exit, but not too bad. I could have placed my bike closer to the other end of the rack, but that would only have saved me 30 seconds or so. My bike, while placed nicely for the swim in and run out areas, was not in a good spot for bike out/bike in. Woe.

T1: 5:03

I got out of transition, moved over to the side to get on my bike, and then headed up the ramp to Lake Shore Drive. I would have to bike up to the north end of it, turn around, and then do that loop one more time for a total of about 25 miles. As soon as I got going, I realized that my stomach was not feeling good: it was crampy and hurty and I was not a fan. Thankfully, since I was sitting down and bent forward, it didn't bother me too much. I figured I needed electrolytes and fuel, so I started by drinking down the Gatorade I had on my bike. When I got to the first turnaround, I sucked down a Gu. As I was heading back south, I thought that maybe, if I stopped at the bathroom, I might feel better. Luckily, there was a port-o-let at the turnaround at the south end of the bike course. Let me tell you: using a port-o-let in the middle of Lake Shore Drive? While there were cars on it? (The left 2 lanes were closed in each direction for the tri, but the outer two lanes were open to regular traffic.) Was something of a bizarre experience. On the plus side, after all of the Gatorade and water I'd chugged down, I really needed to pee. On the down side, my stomach didn't feel any better. I got on the bike, turned back north, and decided that even though I was hurting, I still needed something solid. I reached for the Blocks in my jersey pocket, since the idea of an energy bar was completely unappealing, but they were gone. Nooo! It had been a tight fit to begin with, so I wasn't entirely surprised. But I was saddened. This meant I'd have to choke down the Luna bar I had. Ugh.

On the plus side, I was absolutely flying through the course despite my discomfort. Every time I looked down, I was moving along at 19 or 20 mph, except for when I was going up some of the steeper inclines. I couldn't believe it. I was way ahead of where I'd expected to be and completely thrilled about it. Visions of a 3:30 finish were dancing in my head, although I tried not to think about it too much until I got through the rest of the bike.

One thing I learned? Lake Shore Drive is not flat. It's not mountainous terrain by any means (this is Chicago, after all), but it's got one overpass or another every mile or so, so it was just constant rollers. I was completely surprised by it, and I was also surprised by my surprise. I mean, I've driven or ridden a bus down LSD a million times over the past few years - how did I not notice the hills? Apparently my powers of observation leave a bit to be desired. The good thing was I was ready for it. My coach had me riding loops around one of the beach parking lots by me that had the same pattern of overpass after overpass. It was on a much smaller scale, of course, but I think it did me a lot of good. More so than if I'd spent all my bike time on the perfectly pancake-like lakefront path. Before I knew it, I was heading back over the river and down the exit ramp to transition. The bike was done, and I still had something like an hour and ten minutes to get to a 3:30 finish. I could totally run a 10K in that time. As I ran into transition, my legs felt good, I had tons of energy left, and I was ready to rock it. I found my spot with no trouble at all, changed my shoes and my hat, grabbed another Gu and some more water, and headed out for the run.

Bike: 1:26:18, Avg speed: 17.6 MPH
T2: 4:51

As soon as I started jogging out of transition, my stomach spoke up to let me know that it was not feeling any better. It was, in fact, still crampy and angry about something. Gah. I ran most of the first mile, stopping to jog/walk when I had to, but it just wasn't happening. It hurt. It was the kind of pain that, had I not been in the middle of a race, I would have lied down and curled up into a little ball until it went away. Standing up straight was painful enough, and running was just about out of the question. I got myself to the next set of port-o-lets, convinced that if I could just get something out of my system one way or another, I'd be fine. Except nothing wanted to leave.

I. Was. Pissed. My nearly perfect race was being thwarted, and I didn't even know how to fix it! More Gatorade was making me feel worse, so I laid off the fuel for a while. I walked down the course belching like a frat boy, but that didn't help, either. I couldn't believe it. However, as I felt myself getting upset, I took a deep breath and tried to calm down. I told myself that getting upset now wasn't going to help me. If I wanted to be sad and angry, I could do that afterwards. For now? I had a job to do, and that job was to figure out how to feel better so I could get to the finish line as fast as possible.

A small ray of light shone down around mile 3, though. I wasn't feeling any better, but I looked at my watch and realized that even if I kept walking, as long as I kept up a decent pace, I could still finish under 4 hours. That gave me enough motivation to try and run anytime the pain let up even a little bit. At first, I'd only make it a few steps before I had to stop. But little by little, the run intervals got longer and longer. Somewhere around mile 5, I realized that even though I was a little uncomfy and wanted to stop running, I didn't have to. I started out just making to the next light pole, or the next curve in the road, and before I knew I was going pretty good. I didn't feel great, but I was running. As I wound my way from the lakefront path to Columbus Ave, I was going strong. I was almost done, and I was going for the big finish. I crossed the line right at 3:54 by my watch.

Run: 1:32:04
Total: 3:54:24

Now that I was done with the race, I was allowed to be upset about the horrible awful run. However, I just wasn't that annoyed by it anymore. Yeah, I was annoyed. Yeah, I would have been much happier if I'd finished closer to 3:30 than 4:00, but I still came in under 4 hours. Which is what I'd been hoping for anyway. More importantly, I felt good at the finish. I didn't feel wiped out or beat up. Sure, the race didn't go exactly how I'd hoped, but I'd finished and lived to tell the tale. I can always get that 3:30 next time.

You heard that right - next time. I had so much fun with this race, that there will definitely be more in the future.

Posted by Dawn at 02:21 PM | Comments (3)

August 27, 2007

Post-Race Ouchiness

I survived the tri yesterday, and while there's a full report coming soon (promise!), the short version is that some parts went much better than expected and some parts didn't. However, I'm feeling pretty good today. I'm a little tired, still a little dehydrated, but while my legs are tired they're not tight and sore. This makes me happy.

I did, however, learn one important thing: Having the foresight to set sunblock out in your transition area is great, but to take full advantage of your genius, you need to actually put the sunblock on. Otherwise, you'll end up looking like this:

Posted by Dawn at 09:15 AM | Comments (3)

August 25, 2007

Ready to Roll

Today, I took my bike out for a quick spin to make sure it was ready to rock and roll tomorrow. I headed down to the expo where I got race stuff and picked up a pimpin' new transition bag. Everything fits in it, which is awesome. Especially since there's no way I was going to fit my wetsuit in the backpack I've been using as a transition bag (at least not if I want to put anything else in there), and I could probably pack myself into my new bag if I really wanted to. In addition to my wetsuit. And everything else.

Tonight, I'll get the new bag all loaded up with everything for tomorrow, have a good dinner, and generally rest, relax, and take it easy. The "resting" part is especially important, since I've got a 3 a.m. wake up call. I don't start the race until 9:17, but transition closes at 5:45, and because it's such a huge race (7,000 people!) I want to make sure I'm downtown when they open it up at 4:15. Yes, that makes me die a little inside which is why I'm simply Not Thinking About it. When it comes to pre-race wake-up calls, I find it best to paraphrase Yoda: "There is no thinking, just do."

Anyhow, the way this race starts is a little strange - instead of having the pros go first, they go last, starting at 11:00 a.m. I figure I'll finish the race around 1 or 1:15 p.m., shortly after the pros do. This means that at some point, the pros are going to have to pass me up. Rather than being depressed about the fact that I'm going to be passed by people that I had almost a 2 hour head-start on, I'm looking forward to it. I'm thinking they'll probably pass me somewhere on the run, which means I'll have a front row seat when they blow past me.

You have to admit, it's pretty cool. I've never been so excited about being passed in a race before.

The boy is coming down to watch, and I've got a few other friends who will be out on the course. It's going to be good. I'm ready, I'm excited. Let's rock and roll.

Posted by Dawn at 03:51 PM | Comments (2)

August 20, 2007

Athlete Tracking!

The tri on Sunday is offering athlete tracking via e-mail, SMS, or voice messages. To sign-up and get alerts when I cross the swim finish, bike finish, and race/run finish, go here.

You'll need my last name to configure the alerts - if you don't already have it, just leave a comment and I'll get it to you.

Posted by Dawn at 02:11 PM

Mmm... Tapery Angst

Last week was, to put it mildly, not a good week. I ran a horribly slow 5K on Tuesday night during which I got eaten up by every single bug in the Chicagoland area. My legs felt dead, heavy, and slow. I followed that up with an equally horrible swim on Wednesday night - the water was rough, I was getting dizzy and overheated in my full-sleeved wetsuit, and I was considering it a success if I made it more than 50 yards before inhaling a mouthful of water. This was, of course, after I had to exert a Herculean effort to even get my butt down to the beach for the swim. We won't even talk about the confidence booster that came from the fact that, once again, I got dropped within a minute of the group starting the swim, or the fact that by the time I dragged my sorry ass out of the water everyone else had dried off and changed out of their wetsuits. I know I'm not a speedy swimmer by any stretch, but I just didn't need that reminder that night that I am still that much slower than everyone else.

When I got home Wednesday night, all I could think was how screwed I was for the race. I haven't swam in the lake enough. I'm still scared of rough water. I don't feel like I've made any speed improvements at all over the past few months, especially in the swim. I have no idea what my race day strategy is, how long it's going to take me to finish the race, or even how I want to handle my nutrition, as I've only done a few workouts that were longer than 90 minutes, and 90 minutes is vastly different from 4 hours when it comes to that sort of thing.

I was hitting new levels of cranky and grouchy, so I did what I could: I went home. I showered and put on my PJs. I had a beer. I had dinner. And I went to bed and got a good night's sleep.

Thursday was a rest day, so I slept in, hung out with The Boy, and tried to not think about any of this race or training crap whatsoever.

Then on Friday, something miraculous happened - I got up at 5 a.m. for a brick workout (run-bike-run), and while I really didn't want to get out of bed, I wasn't overly tired. I got up. I got dressed. I got my bike stuff set up for a quick transition. And then I went out and had a really good workout. Sure, I'm still running a lot slower than I was last year, but whatever. It felt good, which made me happy. Then on Saturday I got up and had a really good run. And yesterday? I had a really good bike workout - the rain pushed me from the bike path to the spin class at my gym, but it was exactly what I needed, as I left there feeling pretty good about everything. Maybe Sunday's race won't be the fastest Olympic distance tri I'll ever do, but it'll be good. I can feel it. And that's really all I can ask for.

So I'm just going to chalk last week's hissy fit up to the tapering, and move on. I've got an expo to go to on Saturday, and a race to kick butt in on Sunday. Bring it.

Posted by Dawn at 07:56 AM

August 09, 2007

Uncle

This week started out well. Monday afternoon, I went in for my massive pool workout and kicked its butt. Tuesday, I ran a 5K XC race at a local park (one of the running stores puts on a 4-week series every August), despite the fact that it was about 4700 degrees outside. That one hurt like a mo-fo, since I haven't been running 5Ks or training for speed this year, but I did pretty well considering I went out way too fast and totally ran out of gas around the 2-mile mark. Wednesday, my plan was to get up and run a nice easy 3 miles before work.

And that's where I caved. See, my coach gives me 1-2 rest days a week, and I need them. My social life has been on quite the upswing recently, and trying to balance that with work, training, and sleep has been a challenge. Lately, sleep has been getting put on the back burner, and I've really been feeling it the past week or so. When my alarm went off yesterday morning, I just didn't have it in me to go for an optional run. I knew I needed that extra 40 minutes of sleep.

So I took it. And I'm not sorry.

Augustathon was a great idea, but for me? Right now? Not so much.

Posted by Dawn at 07:39 AM | Comments (1)

August 06, 2007

Days 4, 5, and The Fudge Factor

I was in Cleveland for 24 hours on Friday/Saturday. My original plan to do my brick workout before heading to the airport Friday morning didn't pan out, but I had plenty of time to do it in the hotel gym that afternoon. No problem. I was actually really excited about my Saturday morning run, and had grand plans to head down to the towpath for it. However, the one thing I forgot to account for was the time zone change. Because of that, when my alarm went off at 5:30 Saturday morning, I couldn't head out quite yet because it was still completely dark.

Grrrr.

That was fine, though. I had a birthday party to go to that afternoon, but my flight landed a good few hours before I had to be anywhere, so I should have just enough time to get the run in before heading out to the party. Or, I would have, if I hadn't checked baggage and then had to deal with the extra traffic from the Cubs game on the way home. That turned my hour-long trip home into a two-hour odyssey and, you guessed it, ate up the time I had slated for my run.

Double grrrrr.

Sunday morning, I got up and found that it was too wet and rainy out to do my scheduled ride, so I headed to the gym for a spin class instead. The class turned out to be quite the killer - no one told the instructor that it was a 45-minute class and not a 60-minutes, and he had us doing climbs the entire time. Ouch. Sunday afternoon, my legs were feeling a little stiff and I figured that would be a good time for me to do Saturday's scheduled recovery run, even if it was a day late.

So out I went. I did a nice, super-easy hour of running. My legs felt better, I felt better, and since I was still at 5 workouts for 5 days, I think we can pretend that I'm still hanging in there for Augustathon?

Posted by Dawn at 10:55 AM

August 03, 2007

Days 2 and 3

Yesterday was another swim workout, but this one was in the pool. I can't even tell you how good it felt to not be in the lake, even if I did reek of chlorine for hours afterwards. No horrible waves! No washing machine! No gulping water when I try to breathe! And, of course: no screwing with a wetsuit for 20 minutes before getting in the water only to have to wait around for another 10 minutes absolutely boiling while everyone else gets ready to swim! Perhaps someday I will learn to love the open water, but for now I simply tolerate it because I have to. The fact that I've gotten to the point where I actually really enjoy swimming laps in the pool certainly says something, though.

After I went through my warm-up (and even did all of the annoying technique drills my coach prescribed, despite the fact that I sometimes really hate that crap), I hit my main set. 6 x 100 in 2:15 on 10 seconds rest, followed by 4 x 50 in 1:05 on 10 seconds rest. I honestly wasn't sure if I could hit those numbers, especially since my shoulders were feeling tired from fighting the currents the night before. But I wouldn't know unless I tried. So I took off at a fast but sustainable pace, finished my first 100, looked at the clock... and I'd done it in 2:15 on. the. dot. I couldn't believe it.

The 10 seconds rest between each interval was super-quick and didn't feel like it was long enough to be restful at all, but I kept going. And I kept hitting my target time right on. When I was done, I was out of breath and tired, but I'd done it. Every rep had been right on the prescribed time. I couldn't believe it. I enjoyed my cool-down and then met The Boy for a delicious sushi dinner. Where I shocked and amazed him by putting down a considerable amount of sushi and then agreeing to ice cream for dessert. I don't know why, but swim workouts make me feel like a bottomless pit afterwards - more so than running or biking.

Today was a run/bike/run brick workout. My original plan was to get up early and do it before I caught my plane to Cleveland. Sadly, I didn't get enough packing and such done before turning in last night so that plan went right out the window. Instead, I got stuck doing it in the hotel gym this afternoon. The good news is that since the runs were just 15 minutes each, those flew by without a problem. The 40 minute bike in the middle was a little challenging, but at least I had Billy, Mandy, and Grim to keep me company.

Only 3 days into August, but so far so good. Even if it did involve a treadmill and stationary bike (ugh).

Posted by Dawn at 03:54 PM | Comments (1)

August 02, 2007

Day 1

Last night's workout, the first of Augustathon, was an open water swim in the lake. The past couple of times I've hit the lake, I've been able to finish the whole mile. However, since I donated blood yesterday afternoon, I was thinking that I'd just settle for a half-mile last night. Then I got to the beach and the coaches talked me into trying for the entire mile.

It was warm, but I got into my wetsuit anyway. Partially because I want to swim in it as much as possible so I can get used to it, and partially because I'm a little afraid of swimming in the lake without it. We got into the water and while it was "calm" by lake standards, it was "ridiculously wavy" by Dawnie standards. Apparently I've just gotten lucky and had incredibly calm waters when I've been swimming in the lake. The good news is I naturally float on top of the waves and don't fight them or try to bust through them. The bad news is the constant moving up and down makes me dizzy and freaks me out. I'm also not a fan of looking up to sight or turning my head to breathe and being greeted with a wall of water. No good.

I was swimming with one of the coaches, which was good since he helped me a lot with sighting and swimming in a straight line. However, I kept swallowing water, I was getting dizzy, and, to put it bluntly: I was not having a good time. I hung in there for as long as I could, but when I got about 650 yards or so out from the shore, I had to turn around. I'd had enough. Enough dizzying waves. Enough eating lake water. Just enough.

So we turned around. I made it back to shore dizzy and slightly overheated. I stripped out of my wetsuit as fast as I could - the cool lake water felt great on my upper body and face, but it was uncomfortably cold on my legs. Ugh.

When I got out of the water, I was not a happy camper. All I could think was, "Dude, that sucked. I am so screwed on race day if there's rough water." Then I realized: even with the rough water and the fact that I was down a pint of blood (which, really: most people would have been smarter than I and not tried to swim for an hour in the lake after giving blood. Mental note for next time), I still made it 3/4 of a mile. I only have to go a mile on race day, and I've still got 3.5 weeks. I will be fine. This wasn't a horribly sucky workout - this was a character-building workout.

All the same, I'm ridiculously excited about the fact that I get to swim in a wave-free pool tonight.

Posted by Dawn at 06:42 AM | Comments (1)

July 31, 2007

Uh-Oh

I woke up this morning for my run, and I was hungry and completely unmotivated. So I ate breakfast and went to work instead, putting the run off until this evening.

There's a high of 90 degrees today. I have a very bad feeling that this is going to seriously suck, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it won't be quite as bad as I'm fearing. Either way, I've still got to get out and do it.

Posted by Dawn at 08:08 AM | Comments (2)

July 27, 2007

Oy

I swam another mile tonight.

I am so. darn. tired.

Posted by Dawn at 07:51 PM | Comments (1)

July 25, 2007

Woohoo!

The outcome of the last few swim workouts I've had have been incredibly dependent on where they took place. If they were in the pool? They were awesome. I felt strong and relaxed and like I could swim forever. If they were in the lake? I felt horrible, I was winded and tired after 200 yards and I was seriously starting to wonder why I ever thought I could swim a mile in open water, because clearly it just wasn't going to happen. I was totally up a creek in regards to my race next month, and there was nothing I could do about it.

Then all that changed tonight. I got to the lake. The coach leading asked me if I was doing a mile. I said, "Sure, we'll see how I feel," and told myself I'd swim out to the buoy at the quarter-mile mark and figure it out then.

When I first hopped in the water, the first 200 yards sucked as usual. But then something different happened. I let it go. I relaxed. I found my rhythm and I just kept swimming. I hit the first buoy. I looked out to the second buoy which was a half-mile from the shore I'd started on. It was only a quarter-mile from where I was, but I could barely even see it. I looked back to shore. And without even thinking about it, I started swimming towards buoy #2, like turning back early wasn't even an option.

Eventually, I hit the second buoy. I stopped for a bit to rest and catch my breath but I didn't really need it. I headed back towards shore. And I made it. The entire mile. Twice as long as my longest open water swim before tonight. And I felt great.

It took me every bit of an hour to cover that mile, and I was the last person from our group out of the water (despite being one of the first ones in), but that didn't matter. I'd swam a mile in the lake, and not only did I live to tell the tale, but I felt pretty darn good. Like someday I might be able to string two of those miles together, even.

I know that tomorrow my arms and shoulders are going to be completely dead, if not sore, but that doesn't matter. I made it. The full mile. In the lake. I'm going to be perfectly OK for my race, because I can do this. I know that for a fact now.

Posted by Dawn at 09:29 PM

July 19, 2007

Nature's Interference

Last night I headed down to the beach for some open water swimming. Our coaches were late, so once it was 6:30 and the other girls and I had our wetsuits on we just jumped right in and got started. Not even 10 minutes later, there was a lightning strike off in the distance, a rumble of thunder, and the lifeguards closed the beach and kicked us out of the water. I had gotten in 200 yards. Maybe.

On one hand, I was bummed that my workout got cut short. On the other? The swim was not feeling all that great, so I wasn't exactly crying over the fact that I wasn't going to have to suffer through another 600 yards. I don't know what it is, but open water swimming continues to frustrate me. I get in the pool, and I feel smooth, strong, and while I'm not speedy I feel like I'm making good progress through the water. I get in the lake and it's like I forget everything I know about swimming and my legs are flailing around and I just can't get into a rhythm and how am I EVER going to swim an entire mile in 5 weeks without dying?

I'm telling myself that the swim just got off to a bad start because I wasn't warmed up yet. That, and my legs were all over the place because I'm still getting used to the extra butt-buoyancy and the wetsuit provides. And that as long as I keep swimming in the lake as much as I can for the next 5 weeks, I will be A-OK for race day. I keep telling myself that because it's the only way to avoid falling into the despair spiral that starts with, "Why did I ever think I could do this?" And as we all know, that's completely counterproductive.

So, I will swim in the lake. I will get used to the wetsuit. And I will be just fine for the swim on race day. Just. Fine.

Posted by Dawn at 09:20 AM | Comments (1)

July 18, 2007

Long Overdue Update

Man, it's been a while. However, I'm pleased to report that I'm still training for the big tri in August. I'm not doing a whole lot of running, but I've been cycling and swimming like a maniac. I had my bike fit adjusted the other week, and they made two small changes (moved the seat forward a wee bit, put the handlebars at a more downward angle) that have made a huge difference. I couldn't believe it, since the changes were so small. I'm pretty happy with it, though. Now I just have to learn to feel comfortable eating and drinking on the bike (and to keep pedaling while I do that!) and I'll be good to go.

The other exciting thing is I took the plunge and bought a wetsuit. It really does make a pretty significant difference when you swim in it, so that'll be nice. Also nice is it totally insulates you from the chill of the lake, which when you live in a place like Chicago? Is huge. I definitely need to get more open water swimming in over the next month before I feel totally comfortable in the lake, but I think I'll be OK.

Hopefully I'll be able to get back into updating this a bit more regularly - things have just been so busy lately, it's been ridiculous. The important thing is even if I'm not always blogging about it, I am getting my workouts in (even if I have to wake up at 5 a.m. to do it).

Posted by Dawn at 08:06 AM | Comments (1)

June 21, 2007

FYI

If the water temperature is 60 degrees, you will need a wetsuit.

Sure, you could try to tough it out and swim without one, but trust me: That's not a thing you want to do, because that water will be [insert obscenities here] cold.

Posted by Dawn at 08:14 AM | Comments (1)

June 19, 2007

To Feel My Butt Again

Back in April I went and hired myself a triathlon coach. The rationale for it was pretty similar to why I hired the running coach last year - I could spend the summer trying to figure out how to train for an olympic-distance tri and be hit-or-miss about it, or I could pay someone who knows these things to tell me how to train for it. Really, it was a no-brainer. I found a good deal through a local company, which gives me the added bonus of in-person sessions every now and then. At our first meeting, we talked about my history and whatnot, and she said, "Well, we know that you know how to run, so we'll focus your training on the bike and swim."

She wasn't kidding. In the past 6 weeks, I've done almost no running. I had a few tempo-type runs in the couple of weeks leading up to GMR, but since then? Very little. If I do any running, it's only 15-30 minutes, and it's after a longer bike ride. So, really, the main part of the workout is cycling with a wee smidgen of running at the end to get me used to running off the bike. I honestly don't think I've spent this much time on a bike since I was 14 when my friends and I would ride all over town since none of us could drive yet and we were bored with everything within walking distance. It's good, though. For starters, I'm getting much more comfortable with how my bike handles. I'm taking turns faster, braking less on the (wee small) downhills and no longer pray for my soul when I have to ride through a crowded area. These are all good things, and I'm starting to notice that my average pace in the same heart rate zone is slowly but surely increasing. Like I said, all good things.

There is one bad thing, though, and that is that I may never feel my butt again. Oh well. I suppose it'll be a small price to pay if all this riding now means I kick major butt in August.

Posted by Dawn at 01:25 PM | Comments (1)