Less than one week....and other updates....

So while I've been totally slack on generating content for this site, I haven't been slack on the training! I've been doing something triathlon related at least 5-6 days a week. I can now swim up to (and possibly over) a mile without stopping. I've been consistently riding 10-14 miles several times a week, and while I haven't been focusing too much on running (since I hate it, it's hot and humid, my back's been out of whack, and oh did I mention I hate it?), I've managed to cut 2 minutes off my 1 mile time since I started this journey. (Which I realize is still slow as hell, but huge deal for me in terms of fitness and in terms of my body healing from the pain it was in!)

A few weeks back I went up to MD and did the swim trial of the triathlon...there were over 900 women there to do the same thing and while the lake smelled (and possibly tasted???) like duck poop, I managed to swim 1200 yards in 22-25 minutes. (C's mom had a watch on but didn't start looking exactly when we started, so an estimate). On race day it should only be about 1100 yards, so hopefully I can be under 25 minutes on the swim. (is that good? I have no idea...the first girl back from the 19 and under age group on trial day took 18 minutes. under 19= in their prime, so I think I might be middle of the road for swimming). I was relieved to see that many of the swimmers didn't just use freestyle....all types of strokes were going on, and there were literally women of all different skill levels.
C and I then "ran" the course....more like walked until the last half mile and then jogged. ( hey, we were engaged in good gossip)The course is more hilly than I thought and I got a huge blister b/c I tried out my new orthotics without removing the shoe liner. Genius. It still kinda hurts!
The next day we met up with my cousin and her hubby and rode the full bike course. It took us an hour and 40 minutes! yikes. I need to shave some of that time off! we stopped a few times for some training tips from the pros, and the hills were MUCH HARDER than anything I've practiced. On a few of them I think my cousin's hubbs got seriously concerned at the sound of the asthmatic breathing coming from my body. Those hills were no joke! We were in the country!

So the past few weeks, I've worked on swimming more freestyle to build some speed (previously I was swimming 10 laps of freestyle and then alternating free style with breaststroke until the last 6 laps). Now I'm doing the first 20 laps of freestyle, alternating the rest until the last 4 laps. I think this has shaved a little time. The thing is that when you get in the lake, you can't see under water, so you have to life your head up more to see the people around you so you don't crash into someone (GET TO THE EDGE!!!)...this seems to be best done while doing breast stroke....a little less effort....so to save energy I think I'll continue to throw it in when I need to.

With the biking, A and I changed up the course we do, to incorporate more actual roads (riding for the kinda first time in traffic was a little nerve-wrecking on the practice day), and more hills. I've also been throwing in some "hill training" and doing shorter rides that involve going up hills over and over. Gotta condition those climbing legs. Hopefully, I'll be better prepared come Sunday.

Last two days have been bricks, bike to run, and last week threw in some swim to bikes to walks. I want to throw in one more big brick this week, and then take it a little easier come Thursday.
I have a TON to do this week (getting ready for the race, the trip to MD, and I started grad school last week!), and I started feeling a little sick today, so need to balance rest with workouts.

Will update later in the week. Also might note that I'm getting anxious and nervous about this whole ordeal. (yeah, there's the will I finish part, but also the "all my family is gonna see me in my booty bike shorts and a bathing suit" part...yeah..)

Finally, while you'd think triathlon training would have caused me to drop a ton of weight, no such luck. But, my fitness has improved, (as seen by my progress in running and swimming alone!), so that counts for a lot. And I've been extremely dedicated (6 am swims, weekends on the bike instead of the couch, and I even skipped a wedding this weekend to train!)

More later....