Sunday was a really fun swim class. We did our normal drills, breaking down the stroke and focusing on each aspect of it. I realized that I was not "pulling" properly under the water. As soon as I made the minor modification, I noticed that I was going faster with no additional effort. YAY!
So we started doing some drills where we were sprinting. Now, being the competitive person that I am, it was very important for me to know how I measured up in this class. Keep in mind that this is the intermediate class and the first session made me feel very slow...but I've made some pretty big improvements since then.
So the first sprint, I touched the wall and immediately looked to my right where the "faster" lanes were. I'd estimate that I was about the 4th to touch the wall (out of about 15 swimmers in the first group). Each subsequent sprint was about the same. I was anywhere from 3rd to 5th...definitely in the top group every time!!!
I know that swimming in the triathlon is going to be significantly different than swimming the drills in the pool. But this class was exactly the confidence booster that I needed.
Read along with my blog as I discuss weight, schedule and life challenges as I try to get my triathlon training back on track. I will also discuss what I've learned along the way and what new goals I'm setting for myself.
Tuesday, March 19, 2013
Monday, March 11, 2013
Sunday Ride Recap
The weather this weekend was amazing! I am so excited for spring and this weekend was a sneak preview of how awesome spring is going to be!
Saturday I ran with the running group. It was still cold at 7:30 am when we met. I was slow and had no endurance but it was good to run with the group again. I'm sure that the endurance will come quickly now that I'm running twice a week again.
I met Lisa J. through my cycling class. We were chatting after one session and realized that we live in the same neighborhood. She invited me to ride with her and a few of her friends on Sunday morning.
Now Daryl had also invited me to ride with him in Crofton. I know Daryl reads my blog so I'm going to explain why I chose to ride with the ladies...NERVES! Plus I had my swim clinic Sunday afternoon. I knew that the ladies would be much less challenging than if I rode with Daryl's group. If I pushed myself to try to keep up with Daryl's group, I knew that I would be worn out by the time swim clinic started. So the ladies won out this time around.
Sunday morning was a bit hectic because of the time change. I got up in plenty of time, but for some reason it seemed like the morning flew by. Before I knew it, I was running late to meet the ladies. Now, you have to understand something about me...running late is something that I absolutely HATE. I am always on time...if not early. Running late stresses me out. So I was already starting the day stressed out...not good...especially considering that I was nervous.
I've mentioned my nervousness a few times. Let's talk about that...yes, I was nervous...anxious...even a little intimidated. Why you might ask? Well in a word...clips. I have been riding my beautiful new bike indoors for 2 months now. I can clip in and out like a champ when it's being held in place by an indoor trainer. I have never ridden outdoors with clips. I have heard stories about how everyone falls with clips, but it still doesn't make me feel any better. I'm terrified of road rash...and convinced that these clips are a sure way of getting some.
So I'm nervous about the clips, stressed about running late, and working myself into a mini panic. This is supposed to be fun, right? Tell that to Stephen who was trying to help me but ended up feeling the brunt of my panic attack. (sorry)
Finally I get out the door. The ladies were meeting at Lisa J's house, which is on the other side of my neighborhood, about 1.5 miles away from my house. I decided that it made sense to ride over there instead of driving. This way I could get a little practice with my bike before anyone else sees me. I clipped in and out of the pedals the whole way to her house. As I rode into her driveway, I was gaining confidence.
The ladies were all super nice and very welcoming. They had ridden together before and from the conversation, I gathered that they had all known each other for awhile. We did a casual ride through the neighborhood since some of the more seasoned riders knew that Lisa J and I were newbies on our clips. (so nice!) 2 of the ladies dropped off when we decided to go out of the neighborhood.
We rode out onto Marriottsville Rd and took a left on 99. I know that there are a lot of bikers in this area of the county, but the cars still made me nervous. I am definitely getting a mirror. That will make me feel much better. As we turned onto 99, there was a pretty decent sized hill. I noticed that I was getting up the hills a lot faster than the other ladies...ego boost! We said that we would meet up at the high school, so I rode ahead of the group a bit. At this point there were 4 of us, Lisa J, the other Lisa and Lynn. I was the only non-L name.
At the high school, the other Lisa commented that she was worried that they were holding me back. Of course they were, but that's kind of a good thing at this point. I was looking for a ride where I wasn't challenged too much but where I could prove to myself that I've made significant progress from my last big ride. Check!
By the end of the day, we had ridden about 20 miles. Since I rode to and from Lisa J's house, add in another 3 miles for me and I was around 23 miles. Not bad! My legs felt good, my ego felt good...well at least until I fell. Yes folks, everyone falls, including me. As we were riding back into Lisa J's driveway, I experienced my first clip-out failure. I was going very slow (problem #1), I wasn't entirely paying attention to what I was doing (problem #2), and I was trying to clip out both shoes as I was coming to a stop (problem #3). I knew I was going to fall before it actually happened. Over I went and the bike came down on top of me since it was still attached to one of my feet. I didn't hurt myself and I actually just started laughing. Later at home I looked in the mirror and I have a nice big black bruise on my rear end.
It was just so much fun to get out there on my bike. Now I'm ready to meet up with Daryl and his riding friends. I just needed a test session before I rode with the big boys!
Saturday I ran with the running group. It was still cold at 7:30 am when we met. I was slow and had no endurance but it was good to run with the group again. I'm sure that the endurance will come quickly now that I'm running twice a week again.
I met Lisa J. through my cycling class. We were chatting after one session and realized that we live in the same neighborhood. She invited me to ride with her and a few of her friends on Sunday morning.
Now Daryl had also invited me to ride with him in Crofton. I know Daryl reads my blog so I'm going to explain why I chose to ride with the ladies...NERVES! Plus I had my swim clinic Sunday afternoon. I knew that the ladies would be much less challenging than if I rode with Daryl's group. If I pushed myself to try to keep up with Daryl's group, I knew that I would be worn out by the time swim clinic started. So the ladies won out this time around.
Sunday morning was a bit hectic because of the time change. I got up in plenty of time, but for some reason it seemed like the morning flew by. Before I knew it, I was running late to meet the ladies. Now, you have to understand something about me...running late is something that I absolutely HATE. I am always on time...if not early. Running late stresses me out. So I was already starting the day stressed out...not good...especially considering that I was nervous.
I've mentioned my nervousness a few times. Let's talk about that...yes, I was nervous...anxious...even a little intimidated. Why you might ask? Well in a word...clips. I have been riding my beautiful new bike indoors for 2 months now. I can clip in and out like a champ when it's being held in place by an indoor trainer. I have never ridden outdoors with clips. I have heard stories about how everyone falls with clips, but it still doesn't make me feel any better. I'm terrified of road rash...and convinced that these clips are a sure way of getting some.
So I'm nervous about the clips, stressed about running late, and working myself into a mini panic. This is supposed to be fun, right? Tell that to Stephen who was trying to help me but ended up feeling the brunt of my panic attack. (sorry)
Finally I get out the door. The ladies were meeting at Lisa J's house, which is on the other side of my neighborhood, about 1.5 miles away from my house. I decided that it made sense to ride over there instead of driving. This way I could get a little practice with my bike before anyone else sees me. I clipped in and out of the pedals the whole way to her house. As I rode into her driveway, I was gaining confidence.
The ladies were all super nice and very welcoming. They had ridden together before and from the conversation, I gathered that they had all known each other for awhile. We did a casual ride through the neighborhood since some of the more seasoned riders knew that Lisa J and I were newbies on our clips. (so nice!) 2 of the ladies dropped off when we decided to go out of the neighborhood.
We rode out onto Marriottsville Rd and took a left on 99. I know that there are a lot of bikers in this area of the county, but the cars still made me nervous. I am definitely getting a mirror. That will make me feel much better. As we turned onto 99, there was a pretty decent sized hill. I noticed that I was getting up the hills a lot faster than the other ladies...ego boost! We said that we would meet up at the high school, so I rode ahead of the group a bit. At this point there were 4 of us, Lisa J, the other Lisa and Lynn. I was the only non-L name.
At the high school, the other Lisa commented that she was worried that they were holding me back. Of course they were, but that's kind of a good thing at this point. I was looking for a ride where I wasn't challenged too much but where I could prove to myself that I've made significant progress from my last big ride. Check!
By the end of the day, we had ridden about 20 miles. Since I rode to and from Lisa J's house, add in another 3 miles for me and I was around 23 miles. Not bad! My legs felt good, my ego felt good...well at least until I fell. Yes folks, everyone falls, including me. As we were riding back into Lisa J's driveway, I experienced my first clip-out failure. I was going very slow (problem #1), I wasn't entirely paying attention to what I was doing (problem #2), and I was trying to clip out both shoes as I was coming to a stop (problem #3). I knew I was going to fall before it actually happened. Over I went and the bike came down on top of me since it was still attached to one of my feet. I didn't hurt myself and I actually just started laughing. Later at home I looked in the mirror and I have a nice big black bruise on my rear end.
It was just so much fun to get out there on my bike. Now I'm ready to meet up with Daryl and his riding friends. I just needed a test session before I rode with the big boys!
Sunday, March 3, 2013
My Own Worst Enemy
Today was my first Intermediate level swim class. Apparently I was nervous about moving up to Intermediate because I had a bad dream about swim class last night. I dreamed that I went to class and was completely unprepared...I had forgotten everything except my swimsuit...no goggles, swim fins or even a towel! Then everyone in the class was going so fast and I couldn't keep up. It was a very stressful dream.
So when I was getting ready to go to class, I double and triple checked my bag to make sure that I had everything. I got to class with enough time to leisurely braid my hair and chat with Abby. Then I took a deep breath and headed into the pool area.
Kind of like lunch on the first day of school, everyone was a little unsure about selecting a lane. The lanes are typically divided slowest to fastest. I was hoping to find a spot in the middle lanes, but by the time I got there, the middle lanes were filled. So I took a spot in the 2nd slowest lane. I was sure that I shouldn't go into the 2nd to fastest lane!
There were 3 of us in the lane. When we do our drills, we go in groups. So the first swimmer in each lane is group 1, the second swimmer in each lane is group 2, and the last swimmer in each lane is group 3. When we started our drills, another woman in my lane asked to be in group 1. I was fine with being in group 2 until I realized that on every drill, I was catching her. Finally we realized that it would be better for both of us if we switched.
So being in group 1 was an interesting challenge for me. I am definitely my own worst enemy when it comes to my competitive side. So we would swim our drills and I would gauge my performance against the other group 1 swimmers. I was not the fastest of the group 1s. I wasn't even close to being the fastest. So I started to feel badly about how I was doing. I kept thinking "why can't I keep up with the other group 1s?"
What I should have been focusing on was the fact that the critiques I was receiving were minor. Overall, my breathing and my stroke were great. The group 3 swimmer in my lane had an asthma attack and she sat out of the pool for awhile while she tried to get her breathing under control. She commented to me that I made swimming look so easy and natural. What a nice compliment! Unfortunately the response in my head was "yeah but I wasn't as fast as the other group 1s".
I talked a little bit with Abby about this after the class was over. Abby was exactly right. She basically told me that I'm focusing on the wrong thing. It's not about being fast in this class. It's about learning how to perfect the technique of swimming and that speed would come once that happens. How true! I am really going to try to keep away that competitive side of me when I'm training. Let's worry about fast after I have some more experience!
So when I was getting ready to go to class, I double and triple checked my bag to make sure that I had everything. I got to class with enough time to leisurely braid my hair and chat with Abby. Then I took a deep breath and headed into the pool area.
Kind of like lunch on the first day of school, everyone was a little unsure about selecting a lane. The lanes are typically divided slowest to fastest. I was hoping to find a spot in the middle lanes, but by the time I got there, the middle lanes were filled. So I took a spot in the 2nd slowest lane. I was sure that I shouldn't go into the 2nd to fastest lane!
There were 3 of us in the lane. When we do our drills, we go in groups. So the first swimmer in each lane is group 1, the second swimmer in each lane is group 2, and the last swimmer in each lane is group 3. When we started our drills, another woman in my lane asked to be in group 1. I was fine with being in group 2 until I realized that on every drill, I was catching her. Finally we realized that it would be better for both of us if we switched.
So being in group 1 was an interesting challenge for me. I am definitely my own worst enemy when it comes to my competitive side. So we would swim our drills and I would gauge my performance against the other group 1 swimmers. I was not the fastest of the group 1s. I wasn't even close to being the fastest. So I started to feel badly about how I was doing. I kept thinking "why can't I keep up with the other group 1s?"
What I should have been focusing on was the fact that the critiques I was receiving were minor. Overall, my breathing and my stroke were great. The group 3 swimmer in my lane had an asthma attack and she sat out of the pool for awhile while she tried to get her breathing under control. She commented to me that I made swimming look so easy and natural. What a nice compliment! Unfortunately the response in my head was "yeah but I wasn't as fast as the other group 1s".
I talked a little bit with Abby about this after the class was over. Abby was exactly right. She basically told me that I'm focusing on the wrong thing. It's not about being fast in this class. It's about learning how to perfect the technique of swimming and that speed would come once that happens. How true! I am really going to try to keep away that competitive side of me when I'm training. Let's worry about fast after I have some more experience!
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