Week 1? Day 1 Natalie

Do I have to start all over again? This afternoon I got over my fear of the rec center pool, and headed over for a swim. I didn't swim for a particularly long time, but man, i can already feel it in my muscles. All of those little muscles that don't get used running, biking, doing ballet, pilates, yoga... yowza. I hate to even think what it's going to feel like tomorrow. At any rate, it's good to be back. Missed y'all! Oh, and week 18 I did ride my bike once. ha!

Week 15, Conquering Fears, Herpreet

Is that right? Is this week 15??

Barton Springs is a 200 meter long pool that is spring fed. It is a natural environmet - you can see the rocks at the bottom, plant life, fish. It is beautiful and clear water, and it has a constant, year-round temperature of 68 degrees.

Yesterday, we swam there. I was a bit terrified. We had to swim the length of it - no stops after 50 meters at the end of a wall pool. I started out okay. I dipped my entire body into the water to acclimate. When she said "go," I went. I was stunned that I was not feeling nervous or anxious or getting worn out. And THEN, the solid rock bottom four or five feet below me dropped off 17'. I had a vertigo sensation, seeing the bottom fall out below me do dramatically, and I freaked out. Happily, I didn't panic in the way I did in the bayou last year. I stuck my head out of water and treaded. Remembering my instructor's words (in a triathlon, any forward movement is good movement), I treaded forward until I calmed down a little, then I flipped over and did backstroke. Eventually, I worked my way back to free style. Then I alternated between free style and backstroke and treading. At the end of the pool, I paused, rested at the wall, tried to conquer my fear of having to swim back over the deep water, and eventually, I made my way back over the 200 meters.

I saw a big fish at the bottom, schools of little fish, and plants that stunned me, plants I had not at all expected to find in the water. It looked like gigantic aloe plants were growing at the bottom of the pool.

Once I did an entire lap, I practiced swimming from the shallow end over the drop off a few times with the ambition to lose my panicky feeling. Eventually, I practiced swimming with my eyes closed and feeling comfortable knowing that 1) the water is DEEP and 2) I can't see the bottom, because, indeed, during the event, it's not at all likely that the water will be clear like Barton Springs. I tried swimming with eyes closed, opening them only when I needed to see to make sure I was swimming in a straight line.

Week 14!!! Herpreet

Today was a run. We have a new triathlon coach, and I sort of miss our former coach. It takes a while to get used to someone new, and I was finally used to Shellie O, and sort of loved her. But she had to leave us for a 9-5 office kind of job. Which, I know she's lucky to have landed, given the economy, so I wish her well.

I also know that I'll come to love our new coach. She is a grandmother. She is in her early 60s, and she started doing triathlons a few years ago. She's been training with Shellie O. ever since. She just got her USA Tri certification. When she first started training, she did not know how to swim at all.

So, clearly, there are already a lot of reasons to admire her. And I do. But she's definitely a quieter sort of person than the former kick-ass coach, who had competed, not one, but TWO iron mans. And she'd competed in three of them. She's also been doing these events for years and years.

Okay, I guess I need to move on. I just needed to mourn a bit.

Like I said, today we ran. I did just fine. I am a fine runner. I have no fears about running, pacing, endurance, etc. (Now if I was doing more than a 5K, I'd have a different story to tell.

On Friday, we bike. One good thing about my new coach is that I think, since she could not swim when she began, that she'll pay extra attention to my swimming (which I told her I am scared about).

WEEK THIRTEEN, Herpreet

Yesterday I got back to it. I'm mostly over this miserable sinus infection I've had, and also beginning to feel panicked about my event in May.

We started the week with a swim benchmark. When I heard we were doing that, I was a little freaked out because benchmarks mean we just swim and swim endlessly while she times us. In the past we have done 400 meter benchmarks, but yesterday was an 800 meter benchmark - the distance of the swim for my event.

I was last to finish. Slow, determined, not the greatest swimmer, but on the other hand, improving in some ways. I could not swim free style the whole way. I alternated between free style and back stroke. I have really REALLY got to learn another stroke, because back stroke, while it helps me recover my breath, SLOWS ME DOWN. I don't want to be the last finisher in the swim in May. There. I said it. I do not want to be last.

Week 12, Day 1, Herpreet

Hooray!!!!! We are at the THREE MONTH Mark girls 'n boys!

Today I swam, swam, swam! I was so worried that I would not do a good job today after the week of Spring Break. BUT. It was like the fish in me came out to play for the first time! Amazing. I realized that I am so mentally tired usually, and today I had no mental exhaustion coming into the water with me.

This has renewed my confidence for the event. I have a solid 2 weeks of summer break prior to the event. So I'm going to use those 2 weeks to REALLY focus on improving my swimming.

Week 9, Day 3 Herpreet

SWIMMING. Is. My. FRIEND. This is the mantra I am trying to teach myself. On Friday, for my traith. class we cleaned our bikes and then watched some videos on how to transition between events on race day and also on open water swimming and swimming in general. That evening, I forced myself to go to the Y and swim. I ended up doing: kickboard (100 yards), pulls (100 yards), side kick (100 yards - this drill is damn hard btw), and then I swam 100 yards freestyle. I ended with a 50 yard kickboard cool down. So, 450 yards all together - mostly of drills.

I was feeling lame about doing all these drills with so little swimming, but once I got home I was famished, so I figured I did get a work out in. Also, I'd been writing for 4 hours before I swam - and I get moody when I write. I end up sort of adopting the attitude and psychology of the characters, and that can make for a manic-me. The swimming really helped kick those angry adolescent boys out of my psyche. I decided I always need to exercise after long stretches of writing. For my mental health.

I am awfully terrified of the swim portion of the race. 800 yards. 1/2 mile. This feels like an impossible feat to me - no end of the pool to stop and take a breath at before I continue on. Just a big, deep lake. I'm trying not to be scared and trying to remember that I've still got 2 1/2 months to train and work up to the proper endurance. And also reminding myself that 1/2 the battle is being psychologically prepared. The mantra. SWIMMING. Is. My. FRIEND.

Week 9, Days 1 & 2, Herpreet

On Monday, our class did a swim. We always swim on Mondays. Last week I was in the depths of despair. Missing my friends. Missing familiar places. Familiar plants. Familiar food. Everything. I had also been working on a story ALL WEEKEND. And that does not make for a healthy-minded-herpreet. In fact, when I hole up and write like that for days without stopping to see the sun, I turn into a low, low creature. So that Monday, I was not in a good place. And I couldn't finish our swim. And that made me feel even lower.

BUT. This past Monday, we swam a total of....1400 yards!!!!! Amazing. Last week I couldn't even do the 600 we did, and this week I pushed through a whole 1400!!! (1600 yards is a mile! -So think about swimming the mile you run. Not bad, right?). Just to be clear, this was not 1400 strait swimming. We did a lot of endurance building exercises. For instance, we swam 100, did a 20 second rest and then repeated for a total of 400 yards. Then we did a longer rest. Then we broke it down into doing 50 yards with 10 second rests in between, etc.

Today, we are running at Barton Springs. I am happy about this because a) I'm starting to really love running, and b) it's nice outside - yesterday I noticed wisteria growing and it made me feel incredibly happy!

Week 8, Days 1 and 2, Herpreet

MONDAY. I. had. a. terrible. swim. I don't even know if you could call it a swim. I DID NOT feel up for my class. Then I got there, and we were supposed to swim 400 meters (8 laps/16 pool lengths) off the bat (after a short warm up). And we were supposed to swim them at race speed. I had to stop in the middle. We were trying to bench mark our time. I stopped at the end of the pool and said to my instructor: "I can't benchmark today. I'm sorry. I just know that I can't." And I was glad to admit it, but also felt really crappy about myself, on top of the fact that I've generally been feeling moody and homesick and have been missing my friends terribly. It made me feel worse. I did still get in a little swim and feel better for it than I would if I hadn't gone at all.

But it also put me into a panic about the triathlon. I started feeling like maybe I'm going to have another anxiety attack in the water on event day...

Today, I'm still feeling kind of blah and homesick. Friend-sick is the real problem. But I go on a run, and strangely enough - running has become the sport I'm best at of the 3 triathlon events. So hopefully, the run will help build my spirits. It's a beautiful sunny day here. So being in the sun will also hopefully help...

Week 6, Days 1, 2, and 3! Herpreet

Hola bloggercisers! On Monday, I did a swim at the Y with my class. We did a lot of swim drills that I was really bad at. And this frustrated me. I also swallowed water. I did not care for that. When I got home, I had to pour a mix of vinegar and rubbing alcohol into both ears to get the water out. Make, of the tone of this, what you will.

Then, on Wednesday, we met at a local highschool's track. Digression: The entire track is made of recycled rubber from running shoes. That is pretty cool, if you ask me. I did a 1/4 mile jog to literally warm up while I waited for the other team mates to arrive. It was a windy day. When they arrived, we all did a 1/4 mile warm up together. Then the real workout began:

1/2 mile around the track (2 laps) - 10 push ups - 10 supermans - 20 bicycle crunches - 10 squats - 10 lunges.
1/4 mile around the track - Repeat above exercises.
1/4 mile around the track - Repeat above exercises.
1/4 mile around the track - Repeat above exercises.
1/4 mile around the track.

Needless to say, yesterday, I WAS VERY SORE. I moved around like a really old lady. Today, I am mildly sore. We don't have class today, b/c it's an Austin public school holiday, and our coach has kids, as do people in the class. We also don't have class on Monday. BUT - I am going to self-motivate.

Tomorrow, for my day 3 of this week, I plan to do a hike with C. I don't know yet where we'll go, but for my birthday, he gave me a book that includes a bunch of nice trails around Austin. So, that will be my day three. I think I deserve a relaxed hike after that crazy Wed. workout.

Week 5, Days 1 & 2, Herpreet

The triathlon training is going really well. Monday, we did a 1000 meter swim - which is just over 1/2 mile! Not all at once, but in total.

Today, we ran 3 miles! Since I usually hit a wall at 2 miles, I am exceptionally happy about this. We did a little game to build our endurance. I'll tell you what it was so you can try it too if you want - you can play alone. We did a nice slow warm up jog, and then someone would yell out, "To the 2nd bench! Moderate!" And everyone had to run a moderate pace to the 2nd bench on the trail. When we got there we'd slow back down, and the next person would yell, "To the water fountain! Fast!" And we'd pick up the speed and go to the fountain, then bring it down and the next person would yell out. We did slow, moderate and fast pace. It really made running the trail move SO MUCH FASTER.

In general, I have to say, that today is the first day I felt really, truly psyched that I am doing another triathlon. I decided that after finishing this one, if I don't panic in the water, and all goes smoothly, I am officially going to be able to say that I am a triathlete.

I haven't begun training every single day. I'm giving myself one more month of only training on my class days, but come March, I'll get going to an everyday routine.

I'm sad to report that the yoga has gone by the wayside. Hopefully, I'll get to it again, eventually.

Week 4, Day 1, Herpreet

Yesterday, I scraped myself up and went to my triathlon training class. We did a 100 yard warm up. And THEN, we did a benchmark. We had to swim 400 yards (16 lengths of the pool, or 8 laps) and she timed us. We were allowed to stop and rest as needed. The whole 400 took me 12 minutes and 45 seconds. (I was the slowest person in my class.) After swimming the 400, I did a 50 yard cool down, swimming backstroke. All in all, 550 yards.

So, I guess I'm setting a goal to build up my endurance and to be able to pace myself so I can do 400 yards in 10 minutes. Which means I'd finish 800 yards in 20 minutes. Have I mentioned that I'm sort of terrified of swimming 800 yards without stopping?

Week 3, Day Two, Herpreet

YO! So, I skipped my yoga and triath class on Wednesday. I'd begun school on Tuesday, and I felt plain old wore out the next day. HOWEVER....Today, I got myself up, ate some food, piddled around, and then headed to yoga. And after? I did my triath class. Which today was a swim. It is the first time I've stepped foot in a pool in EIGHT months. But honestly, if felt like YEARS. And I was feeling pretty nervous about it. We first did a warm up, and to my complete shock, I knew how to swim. I don't know why it never fails to shock me that I know how to swim. But it truly does. We did some drills, which was very helpful. My instructor commented on my form. Also helpful. We did a "ladder" which means we swam 25 yards, rest - 50 yards, rest - 75 yards, rest - 100 yards, rest - 75 yards, rest - 50 yards, rest - 25 yards, rest. All in all, with our warm up and drills and the ladder, I swam NINE HUNDRED YARDS. Eh, hem. That is over half a mile.

Today, I also found out our distances for the triathlon. My last two were called "super sprints," i.e. super - short. This one will be a "sprint" event. 800 (1/2 mile) swim, 12 mile bike, 5K (3.? miles). My last two were 1/4 mile swims and 2 mile runs. SO, I guess I'm moving on up...We all are!

In honor of our progress and also the WEEKEND, here is a little Friday treat. I was going to post the theme song to the Jeffersons, but then I remembered this little... Well, I can't call it a gem. But. It does have considerable entertainment value.