Whew!

I think I took Thursday off. Is it bad that I can't remember?

Friday I took my clipless shoes (now with cleats!) and did the 45 min spin session with them. It was really interesting to see which parts were easier and which were still hard. I liked it. I still haven't gotten the pedals on my bike, but that isn't the end of the world.

Saturday was the swim clinic. Really interesting and I learned a whole lot. Got some spiffy new tools too. I still had feelings of inadequacy in the pool for lo the water still freaks me right out when trying to breathe. I didn't get into the lane where they were taping, but at some point the camera did pan over to me a little. Good news is I had pretty good form when I was swimming. I just have to work on the breathing thing. Everyone assures me it will get better and I will manage it. I hope so! It was a gorgeous day. When I got home after swimming I looked at putting my new pedals on, but I didn't have the right tools. I did clean my chain though with some new lube. Last time I rode my bike on Easter I was squeaking so I wanted to fix that.

Today I ran 6 miles in 76 minutes. I'm about where I was for the 10k run. Unfortunately I have positive splits, if I understand that correctly. My first mile was 11.5 min, but the time per mile steadily increased until the end. About the only good thing from my perspective was trying out my Tropical Fruit flavored Cytomax. Which is pretty tasty!


My goals for this coming week are to get in the pool as many times as possible, even if I'm not working on any drills or techniques. I will be doing the dry land drills, and possibly that's all I will focus on this week for actual swimming. I think I'll aim to run 3 miles again. If the weather's nice I might skip the spin dvd and just go for a bike ride for the short one. This Saturday has a Rookie Tri Group brick, I think. I like to have my long workouts on Sunday, but I'll just have to get over it for this week.

Swim Clinic

I have a new client who does xterra triathlons. We got to talking about tri stuff, and he mentioned that some of his coaches are coming to Philly to do a swim clinic. From his description it sounds like a worthwhile endeavor, so I am reserved for a spot.

I'm very excited. They seem to take the Total Immersion style and add their own spin to it. I'll get some gear for training on land so I can build muscle memory (which will be super handy since the pool hours and my schedule don't always cooperate). It's only one day and so feels more reasonably priced, and anyway if it's terrible I'm not out too much money (no I haven't decided what I'm going to do about the bike issue yet). I'm not excited about them filming my swim. I'm sure that's something I probably won't be watching over and over.

Go Team Proper Triathlon Swim Training!

Today was not made of win.

I have been having a hard time sleeping lately. I just can't seem to get to bed at a decent hour, or I can't stay asleep, general insomnia issues. I'm fine if I take Tylenol PM, but I don't like to do that too much. This morning I completely missed my first appointment because I overslept. This did not start my day out on a good foot.

One thing that was pretty positive to note however was that my legs feel pretty good; better than they normally do after a run. I'm thinking the biking first actually was really good for me!

I packed my swim stuff last night and did remember to grab my gym bag. (I failed to bring my ipod for work, and didn't know where I put my regular set of keys.) I was a little worried about how I was going to get into the gym, since it's key-card access only. I had a workaround all figured out but then I found my keys in my gym bag! Crisis averted.

This was my first time in the pool where the purpose was to actually swim and not just cool down from sunbathing. Bought a new silicone swim cap, and new goggles too. I was hoping these items would help me magically be able to swim laps, but alas this was not true. I don't know how many times I actually managed to make it back and forth in the 30 minutes I stayed in the pool. I do know it got my heart beat going, even though I don't yet have a HR monitor, as I had to stop for a bit until I could catch my breath several times. Some laps I did freestyle, and some were breast-stroke, or doggy paddling to get from one end to the other. I was really grateful there weren't many people around to see me splashing and gasping like a fish out of water.

There's a swim workshop I would dearly love to do next weekend, but it's $500! At the moment I can think of better things to be doing with my money than that. I am contemplating getting the swim dvd, drill cards, and book package though. I'm also hoping to maybe get some cheap swim lessons from one of the students, or maybe the swim coach can help me out at least once or twice.

There are so many areas I need to work on before July. On the one hand, isn't that what this process is all about? On the other, it's so discouraging to be starting from zero for everything. I need to watch more of those inspiring Iron Man competitions; if amputees and legally blind people can do this I need to suck it up and stop whining!