Hello Denver!

I need to perform a shout out to my one loyal reader from Denver! I also appreciate his free bike maintenance advice over the phone, yes I am a clueless chic who is easily confused by tire valves - leave me alone!

He's a real bike rider - fancy carbon frame, bike clothes and all :) I will embarrass him now by posting a pic of him and his bike. I'm not sure of the exact model but I know it wasn't cheap. I can only dream of having such a sweet ride one day. Of course I need to spend some quality time in the saddle before I even deserve a new bike. And when the time comes I hope I can find a cute one, cause maybe if I look cool, people won't realize how slow I am.

Swimming - AAARRGH!

Why can't I swim? I love the water, it feels great, I can float around like a kid all day long ... but make me do a freestyle across a pool and forget about it. I can do the stroke, (I'm sure my form is a total nightmare but I can propel myself forward) but the breathing is killing me. If only I had gills because I just can't coordinate the putting my head to the side and breathing part that is unfortunately required to prevent death in the swim portion of the race.

To make myself feel better, I did some laps of breaststoke and back stroke, did a few drills I learned at my triathlon clinic, then forced myself to do four lengths (with rests between each of course) of my Jennstyle.

Of course I need to remind myself that I have been avoiding the pool like the plague so I have practically no experience with it. I need to remember that when I started running I could barely go a minute without feeling like I was going to puke and now I can run a half mile and feel good about it. I need to just keep practicing and hopefully there will be improvement. And the bright side, it's not like I can get any worse at it .... right?

So right here on my blog I will solemnly resolve to swim three times a week - no matter how pitiful it may be. I may never be a Summer Sanders (only chic swimmer I can think of) but maybe I can make it through my 700 meter swim without completely embarrassing myself.

Update on how the training is coming along

This past week was actually a great week for my training. I think that the triathlon clinic really helped me kick it up a notch! I've been loosely following a plan in the book Triathlon Training in Four Hours a Week to get started. I've been scheduling all of the recommended workouts in the book but generally doing more running since I'm still following the Couch to 5K plan (still stuck on week 5!) and hoping to complete a 5K soon. To break it all down ...

Running - I feel that I've made tremendous progress here! In my workouts I'm up to half-mile runs with 1/4 mile walk breaks for a total of 2 miles. I remember the first time I ran a half-mile, I felt like my side was going to explode and the effort required was ridiculous. Now I can do a half-mile and still feel pretty good with controlled breathing and though it's not necessarily a conversational feeling, I could talk in short sentences (or in my case sing along in short phrases to my ipod!) I tried the treadmill a few times but really hated it and felt my equilibrium was off when I was finished, so I'm sticking to the track. I've been out on the trail a few times and liked it, but it's hard to measure the distances I need and I hate running by time and constantly looking at my watch. My body has been feeling great - no aches or pains yet and my shoes seem to be doing the trick. I just am not built to wear running shorts but perhaps I'll make a separate entry for that one of these days.

Swimming - This is my weak spot and I should be flogged for it! I swam once this week but it was a recreational swim with my friend Kristin and her little girl Erin. The second planned swim, I went to the rec with my swim suit, goggles and cap in tow but there were no lanes available. I like to use the 25 meter lanes in the diving well and though the schedule said they were to be open, they were not. So instead there were four lanes open in the 50 meter pool but they were filled already. So I ran instead. This week - I am absolutely committed to swimming laps AT LEAST TWICE! I need to get over that feeling that I look like a fool and that everybody is staring at me. I felt that way the first few times I ran and I got over that, so I just need to (excuse the pun) take the plunge.

Biking- I've spent most of my bike time on the stationary one at the gym riding hill programs. Though it's not the same as outdoors, I can really tell the difference in my stamina and leg strength over the weeks. Last night I did 45 minutes of hills at a high cadence with a small amount of resistance (level 4 of 20) and really felt good the whole workout.

As for the "real" bike, I made some purchases yesterday. First of all, my ride is a 1997 Kona Lavadome mountain bike, the current 2006 version is pictured above and though components have changed over the years, it's basically the same bike. I got it on sale in spring of '98 at a bike shop in Pekin, IL and at the time I was going to become a great mountain biker ..... well that never happened! It hasn't been ridden a lot and has been kept indoors so is actually in good condition. My old roomie was an avid biker and she checked it out and even borrowed it for her boyfriend on at least one occasion. So anyway, I went to the bike shop and first of all got new tires - told them I was wanting tires for the pavement and tubes to match - also got a pump for the garage, and a little bag to go below my saddle. It took some work, but I did manage to change the tires out last night all by myself (much thanks to Chris Palmquist for showing us how to change out a flat at the triathlon clinic!) and get my wheels back on! It may seem small, but I'm not the most mechanically inclined and the old tires had never been off or stretched and they required much coaxing with the tire lever thingees. When it was all said and done it was dark, so I've yet to take her out. I do think I need to clean and oil my chain though since it's been sitting a LONG time so I think I'll swing by the bike shop and ask about that on my way to work. Anyway, this week I plan on getting out on the real bike and we'll see how that goes.

So that about sums up where we are training-wise. I'll fill ya in this weekend on how well I do at getting my butt in the pool!!

Fun Day at a Triathlon Clinic

I just got back from a women's triathlon clinic put on by Ultramax events and I am SO PSYCHED to continue training for my first race! There were approximately 25 women there of various ages and physical abilities all with the goal of completing their triathlons. The three coaches there were women affiliated with Joe Friel's Training Bible program and they were very enthusiastic ambassadors for the sport. The most impressive thing to me was that they have all completed Ironman distance events, all are married, and two have young children. When I heard them describing how they get their training in, including 4:30 a.m. rise times, quick runs whenever someone was around to watch the kids, and hours on the indoor bike trainer it quickly made me feel ashamed at my "I'm too tired" and "I don't have time" excuses. Let's face it , I work and that's about it. In theory, I have tons of time to train, hell I could be training 20 hours a week if I just got off my butt, turned off the TV and quit surfing the internet. This day really made me WANT to be a triathlete, made me crave the accomplishment of finishing a race, made me want to be a stronger woman. Now I just need to challenge that desire into consistent training!!

Another aspect of the day was the chance to see other people's nifty gear. I'm now coveting a road bike (will my '99 Kona mountain bike really get me through?) and fancy race clothes (I'd be so much faster in a cool pair of tri shorts) and kick ass athletic looking sunglasses. Of course, my budget is limited so I'll need to decide what I really need as opposed to want. Of course I did do twenty hours of overtime this week ... I was going to put it all on my credit card debt but maybe I can put $200 away in my "road bike" fund. Enough overtime shifts and maybe I can have a shiny new bike before my race in July. Think of how fast I'll be! I'll actually want to get on my bike! After tri season, I can train for charity bike rides - I could do good for humanity!! (If you haven't noticed I'm really good at this rationalization thing .. it's a forte of mine :)

Of course before I even worry about getting a bike, I need to start consistently training. So far I've run twice this week and completed one strength session (I hate lunges and squats!). Tomorrow I'm going to swim and bike so that way I can say I got all three sports in this week. Next week I need to really commit to my training plan and stop making excuses. I need to stop wasting the time and actually find the time. I finally believe that I can do it, and it's a pretty exciting feeling!

Hi I'm Jenn and I lost my motivation.

So it's been 10 day since my last post and by writing this I feel like I'm going to a 12 step meeting and admitting my addiction. Truth is I have been completely, totally unmotivated the past week and a half and I've basically done nothing. I realize that there's no point in beating myself up, and it's just best to get back on track. Today I met with my trainer for an awesome strength workout that really got me energized! She definitely has a way of making me do things I know that I would never do on my own - can you say push ups? crunches? leg scissors?

Afterwards I met up with some friends and their children for swimming in our rec center's fun grotto area. It's actually quite a workout to swim with children which I noticed as I took turns holding various non-swimming tykes who wanted to experience the lazy river and the vortex a.k.a. toilet bowl. I wish I had pictures to post because it's really the coolest indoor swimming area I've ever seen, they use it a lot for student recruitment when they're touring teens through the University.

One other thing I did today was buy a heartrate monitor. A lot of the training plans I've seen and books I've read utilize heart rate zones so I thought I better get on the bus. I purchased a Polar model online that's not the cheapest but not super expensive either. I figured there's no point in going all out until I see how well I actually utilize the technology. If nothing else, I suppose I'll see how ridiculously high my heart rate spikes when I'm running.

So tomorrow - or more accurately later today (night shift person, 3 a.m. is midday for me!) I plan on keeping up the motivation. Plans are a run today and an easy ride on the stationary bike at the rec. I'll let you know how I do!