I Love My CCR Training Group!

Continuing my freak out session concerning the triathlon, I went to track practice last night with the intention of having people who have experience with triathlons tell me that I can either do it or that I should wait until after the Baltimore Half.  Every single one of my friends from the training group basically said it would be no big deal for me.  Really?  I'm glad they are confident in me but I don't share that same confidence just yet.

There were 2 people who I really wanted to hear their opinion:  Abby and Andi.  Abby is my friend who I've known for about 13 years.  She does ultramarathons, Iron Man Triathlons and numerous other endurance events.  Andi is my friend who I recently put a link to the profile that Runner's World online did on her.  Andi is relatively new to triathlons but just completed the Columbia Iron Girl Triathlon.

So as soon as I mentioned it, Abby got really excited.  In her purely Abby way, she has already planned out how she's going to let me borrow her belt (apparently I need one to put my race number on my back for the bike and on my front for the run), her box (I didn't know I needed this but it's what you put your stuff in that you'll need for the transition from swim to bike and she said you can also sit on it to put on your shoes) and she's already thinking on a suit for me (definitely not a full wetsuit because the swim is so short and it will be a hassle to get it on and off).  Andi was just so excited for me.  Both of them said that I will be able to finish it.

This brings me to the title of my post today.  I love my CCR training group!  I have met some really interesting people, some very supportive people who I think will become long term friends, and some great resources for information on events I am curious about trying.  I also love running with such a diverse group.  I tend to stick with the 2 girls who are my speed...Glenda and Heather...but I also enjoyed Saturday's run where there was a bigger group of us staying together for part of the run.  I love to see the different ability levels and how everyone looks at training differently.

So now that I've gotten some tips from Abby and some encouragement from the rest of my friends at the training group, I've decided that I'm going for it!  I am registered for my first triathlon!  Gulp....

The Hazards of Drinking and Googling

Last night I drank a glass of red wine.  True confession:  it was a really BIG glass of red wine.  When I drink red wine, I feel like I can do things that I wouldn't otherwise feel capable of doing...like a triathlon...in a couple of weeks...

So there I am, drinking my red wine and googling "sprint triathlons".  Turns out there is one on Oct. 6th in Snow Hill.  My friend Matt did it last year.  So I sent him an email asking if he had a good experience and if he was going to do it again this year.  He responded almost immediately and said that it was a great race for a beginner and yes he was considering doing it again this year.  He went on to say that he would probably register in the next day or 2. 

I started to get excited about this sprint tri...so I sent a text to Running Buddy Colleen and ask if she thinks I'm crazy for considering it.  She replies back that she and Michelle were just talking about doing that triathlon!  So now I'm really excited.  I start googling "triathlon suits".

My only hesitation is that it's one week before the Baltimore Half.  But, according to my training plan, I'm supposed to run 6-8 miles that day.  How much different is the effort if I swim 1/2 mile, bike 17 and run 3.1?  I'm thinking (in my intoxicated state) that it's totally achievable.  Plus the course is flat...so it's less effort that riding and running on hills like I do around here.  I start googling "preparing for your first triathlon".

Now that I'm sober and it's the next day, I'm starting to have my doubts.  I can swim 1/2 mile...I can bike 17 miles...and I can run 3.1 miles.  Can I do all 3 activites together?  Will I look like an idiot because I don't know what I'm doing?  Matt said it's good for beginners but will there be people there showing me what to do?  Will I get kicked in the head by the other faster swimmers?  Running races are easy because you just show up, pin on your race bib and run.  But this event requires all sorts of logistical things that I'm not used to...like finding my bike after swimming in chilly October water.  They say the water temperate averages 68 degrees.  That sounds really cold to me.

If I have any readers, please provide your opinions on this.  Should I do this tri?  Is it too close to the Baltimore Half?  If you've ever done a tri, please tell me what to expect!

UGH.  I should not drink red wine on a weeknight...especially when there is a computer involved.

Ouch!

Warning: this post contains graphic details of a painful nature.

Saturday we ran 11 miles.  It was a really fun run.  We stuck with the group for the 6 miles through the neighborhoods then Heather, Glenda and I set out on our own.  We typically run faster than the rest of the group so we did the 2nd half of the run at our normal pace.  It felt good.

EXCEPT for the chafing.  I buy my sports bras at Target.  The cheaper the better.  I'm re-thinking that strategy.  I completely slather any part of my body that touches fabric with Body Glide.  That stuff is miraculous.  However, when I wear the cheapest of the cheap sports bras, I still get chafing nunder my boobs.  By mile 5, I had to hold my bra away from my skin because the chafing hurt so badly.  At the end of the run, I had to walk the last 1/4 mile so that I didn't cry.  I really was in that much pain from my damn bra.

This happened a few weeks ago too...I thought I had just missed a spot with the Body Glide.  This proved to me that I didn't miss a spot.  It had to be the cheap bra.  I had to breathe through my teeth as I drove home.  My chafing hurt so badly that every bump I hit was so painful.

I got home and showered.  OWWWWWWWWIE!  When the water hit the chafing area, I got dizzy from the pain.  It's hard to believe how physically debilitating a little chafing can be.  If I'm going to survive the training for this half marathon, I think I need to invest in a good quality sports bra that doesn't give me this kind of chafing.  It's now 3 days later and I'm still slathering up with Neosporin and wincing every time I hit a bump in the car.

Running is an inexpensive sport.  The only "equipment" we need to buy is our shoes and our clothes.  Based on the number of races I've run, I have a lot of tech shirts that I can use for running.  I really like this one kind of running shorts so I just buy a ton of them in black so they match with anything.  I buy really good shoes.  It's time to get out the debit card and pay for good quality support.  I think my poor tatas deserve that much.

Mystery Track Workout

At the beginning of every week, Meghan (our training coach) sends us an email with the week's plan for runs.  Wednesdays are always track workouts and at the bottom of the email she always includes what the workout is for the track...except this week.  The only thing she said in the email was to show up at the track without our watches, i-pods or anything else that we can be "plugged into". 

So of course this instilled instant fear in me.  Running without my watch was OK...but not knowing the workout was driving me crazy!  It would be fine if I never knew the workouts ahead of time.  But since I normally know what I'm in for as soon as I get the weekly emails, I've gotten used to having that knowledge.  Fear of the unknown!!!

I went to the track without my watch but my gut was full of butterflies about what torture was ahead of me.  I love track workouts...so I really should not have been so scared.  But I was really nervous with all the secrecy.

It turns out that the workout was pretty brutal.  2 laps easy, 1 lap hard, 1 lap easy, 2 laps hard, 1 lap easy, 3 laps hard, 1 lap easy, 3 laps hard, 1 lap easy, 2 laps hard, 1 lap easy, 1 lap hard, 2 laps easy.  Add in the warmup and cool down and we ran 6 miles.  I ran with Heather who is a really good match for me and my running pace. 

So in the end, Meghan just wanted to remind us to listen to our bodies when we run.  She said that so many times we are slaves to our watches and don't think a run is successful unless we hit some arbitrary number on the watch.  She said that sometimes we need to remember just to run...and enjoy it.  That part was a good reminder for me.  It's also a lot of the reason that I never run with music.  I feel like that distracts me too much from the enjoyment of the run.  I can't even believe I'm making a statement like "the enjoyment of the run" because such a short time ago I never would have thought that there would be any enjoyment in running.  But here I am...enjoying running! 

Biker Chick

So I picked up my new bike on Friday.  My friend Daryl's friend Colleen is letting me borrow her old bike since she just got a new bike.  So I will refer to her as Biker Colleen so as not to be confused with Running Buddy Colleen.  So Daryl acted as the middle man.  I met him for lunch on Friday and got my new bike! 

If I'm being honest, I'm a little scared of the bike.  Well, not really scared of the bike...just scared to ride it.  I don't like going downhill.  When I was 11 or so, my mom sent me to ride my bike to the convenience store down the road from our house to get some milk.  It was Thanksgiving.  I was going downhill with the milk resting comfortably on my lap secured by one hand.  The bike got going very fast and when I saw the rock, it was too late to avoid it.  The bike went down and so did I...and I cried over spilled milk.

I'm also scared of traffic.  Drivers are idiots to begin with, but they really get stupid when there is a cyclist.  So being so nervous, I gladly accepted my friend Abby's suggestion to go to the Gateway Business Park on a Sunday morning.  I knew there would be little to no traffic...which is good for a nervous biker chick like me.

So Sunday morning I got all my gear together, filled my water bottle, got in the car and headed out.  It wasn't until I got to Gateway that I realized that the water bottle that I filled was still sitting on the counter.  OK, one big rookie mistake...but not big enough to cancel the ride.  I did a loop around the parking lot just to check out my seat height and my gears. 

Another honest confession...I have no idea about gear selection.  So I just set it on a gear that gave me sufficient resistance and went with it.

The loop around Gateway is roughly 2 miles.  One side of the loop is uphill and the other side is downhill.  My first time the downhill, I was on the brakes the entire time.  By the second lap, I decided to see how fast I could go downhill without totally freaking out.  The computer on my bike said I was going 22 miles per hour.  It was scary but definitely necessary to get past my fear.  The uphills were hard and very humbling.

So I realized that I'm not as good of a biker as I had hoped, but it definitely gave me something to build on.  I can see that there's a real possibility of finishing a triathlon.

Step Down Weeks

So this week is a step down week. I've never followed a plan that has a step down week so this is a new concept for me.  Our track workout last week included over 5 miles of speed work.  This week we did only 2 miles.  Last weekend we ran 8-10 miles for our long run and this coming weekend we are running 5-7. 

I am really enjoying the "break".  I need to hit this next phase of the training plan with full force.  I want to be well prepared for the Baltimore Half.

The other big thing for me this week is that I am picking up a bike on Friday!  I have to do some training rides to see how I am as a cyclist.  Triathlon here I come!

Solo Run Success

It has always been a struggle for me to get a run in when I'm on my own.  So this Saturday my training plan had me scheduled to run 8-10 miles.  I was again in Betterton so I had to run on my own.  Last weekend I ran 8 miles so I decided to just add in a little more mileage but keep the same general route.  This was my view before taking off on my run.

I felt good on the way out to Still Pond but I kept having struggles with my pace.  I have been frustrated that if I want to finish the half in under 2 hours, I really need to pick up my pace on long runs.  My track work has been good, but my long runs are too slow. 

On the way back I kept thinking about that 2 hour goal.  Is it realistic?  Am I really the kind of runner that can hit that?  Right now the answer is no.  But I will work hard until the answer is yes.

The reality is that I ran 9.2 miles on my own.  I finished it and I felt good.  That deserves a celebration...whether the pace is at a breaking 2 hour pace or not!

Blisters Suck

The title says it all...I've been dealing with blisters on both feet and it sucks!  I have tried a couple different shoes and finally have decided to go back to the shoes I ran in when I first got back into running.  Charm City Running Store has been awesome in working with me!  They special ordered the shoes that I needed.  I am so hopeful that the new shoes come in quickly and that they ease my blisters!

I am scheduled to run 10 miles on Saturday.  I hope to be able to do it pain free by wearing an older pair of shoes that didn't give me problems. 

Running is never easy!

It Was a Good Weekend

I was without Internet access this weekend, so that's why I wasn't able to post in a few days.  So this post might be a bit longer than my normal entries.

Saturday I had to do a long run.  Being in Betterton meant that I was not able to run with my training group.  I've always had a very difficult time running alone.  Knowing that I was scheduled to run 7-9 miles ALONE was weighing on my mind the whole trip down.  I mapped out a run that was just over 8 miles.  Because of the busy day we had on Saturday, I got up at 6 and headed out.

It was a sticky, humid morning and several areas had quite a bit of fog.  I did well until I got into the town of Still Pond.  I had planned a break for water and taking in some fuel.  I couldn't seem to get myself back together.  I struggled mentally and physically for the next mile or so.  I gave in an walked for quite a bit.  There was even a point where I considered calling someone to come pick me up.

I'm not sure what changed, but at some point I started running again and didn't stop.  The rest of the run felt good.  I noticed that my breathing was good...I was in the zone!  What a great feeling to get through a mental challenge on my own!

I've recently been talking with some friends about doing a triathlon.  Any of my long time readers know that this is not the first time I've toyed with the idea of a tri. So when I was talking with my neighbor Maureen Saturday evening, I asked her if she would swim with me Sunday morning.  She is part of a group that regularly swims from the public beach to the cottages...a swim that she has been told is a mile.

Sunday morning I was questioning this decision, but I put on my bathing suit and went to meet Maureen.  She handed me a swim cap and off we went.  I was very tentative at the start...I didn't even put my head in the water because I was worried about where I was going.  But about halfway through I relaxed and tried to enjoy the swim.

It was physically challenging.  I could only do one stroke for a little bit before I switched to a different stroke because I was tired.  I could tell that Maureen was swimming at my slow pace but she was encouraging me the entire way.  Here's a photo of us at one point in our swim...I'm the one attempting to do a crawl stroke while Maureen is doing an energy-saving breaststroke.  I couldn't seem to get the breaststroke to work for me so I mostly did the crawl or the backstroke.  I think I would be laughed off the course if I did a backstroke in an actual race!

So I've realized that if I am going to do a triathlon, I have a long way to go!  But my first "open water swim" is under my belt and I feel good about that.  Now to conquer my fear of the bike...