Mock Triathlon

Saturday was a mock triathlon for our team. We completed a full triathlon but with shorter distances than our actual event will be - a 900 meter swim, 16 mile ride and 4 mile run. 

Naturally the day dawned cloudy and POURING down rain. Not just a drizzle - we're talking jungle type rain. But since we were going to be jumping into a pond anyway, it's not like we had to be concerned about getting wet!

Getting suited up and waiting to get in the water was brutal. Cold, cold, cold!

But once we got in the water, it was actually warmer than outside. The swim went well - it still took me half the distance to get my groove on and really start swimming. But we completed the distance and headed for the car to change into biking clothes. 

Still. Pouring. Rain.

The biking was probably the most miserable part. We got absolutely soaked. My shoes literally had puddles of water inside them.

We returned from the bike ride and, again, jumped into the car to change into drier clothes for the run. At this point the rain had almost stopped. 

It only took about a mile and a half for the feeling to return to our feet and after that it was smooth sailing! We crossed the finish line to the cheers of our coach and the folks that came down to support us - way beyond the call of duty on such a rotten day.

So what's next? We think we just might go do it all over again tomorrow morning. The forecast shows a high of 75 and zero percent chance of precipitation!

-- JAM

Vacation!

Last week we made our annual trek to Cannon Beach, Oregon to spend time with our extended family. The weather, as usual, was perfect - sunny and reasonably warm for May. 

The night before we left we went for another swim in the pond. Dan’s family came along to watch and also be available in a canoe in case we needed any help. I got a little more practice with the front crawl this time, but it still was a real struggle. It’s much harder to breathe out there and I don’t know if it’s the wetsuit constricting my lungs or the cold or maybe both things combined. Dan discovered that he tends to head left when he swims. So I’ll stay to his right out there. We did probably half our race distance and I was just exhausted when we were done!

At the beach, we enjoyed lots of good food, karaoke and other crazy games, a visit to the tide pools, shopping and even rented some cool three wheel bikes to ride on the hard sand. We all enjoyed doing cookies and racing each other along the beach!  

Dan and I went for a 10k run along the beach one morning while the wind was calm.  It was absolutely beautiful and if felt great to run at sea level!

But we’re back to reality now. The kids are finishing up school, we are back to work and hitting training HARD! Just over 4 weeks left to go until our event! And I still don’t know about open water swimming. We head for the pond tomorrow evening to get in some more practice. 

-- JAM

OPEN WATER

Just when I thought I had things kind of wired with this swimming thing ...


Last night we had our first open water swim. I'll admit I'd slept badly the two nights prior and had woken up with a sore jaw from clenching my teeth during the few hours that I did sleep. I was wondering if Valium was a bad thing to take just before swimming.


Naturally, Thursday was the coldest day of the week. The wind was blowing like crazy. And we decided to jump into a cold pond.



The wetsuits we received are nearly impossible to put on. In the house, I would be exhausted before I even got the thing up to my waist. Wetsuits become harder to put on when your body is wet, so the fact that I would be sweating like crazy from the struggle didn't help at all! But since it was barely over 60 degrees with a cold wind last night, donning the wetsuit was a snap!


Fortunately it was not as cold as I had feared. I think all the ice baths I've taken after long runs really got me conditioned. The pond was nowhere near as cold as ice!


But then we were told we needed to fill our wetsuits with pond water. Open up the neck and let the water flow right on in. Nobody told me THAT before! Brrr! 


After getting our faces used to the water a little, we headed out into the pond. I could barely feel the cold of the water through my wetsuit. Thank goodness! 


However, I felt like everything I'd accomplished the last few months had just disappeared. Front crawl? What's that? How about side stroke, doggie paddle, back stroke... I did get my face down in the water a few times and take a few strokes, but not for long. It was exhausting trying to breathe easily in the chilly water, but the wetsuit did make me float almost effortlessly. I could tread water with just the smallest effort.


Overall, it was a good introduction to the world of open water swimming. I didn't drown - but then that was not my fear. I didn't freeze to death - that wasn't my biggest fear anyway. I didn't see any creatures or other murky looking shapes under the water - THAT was my biggest fear. Looking down was just a cloudy, green haze. Not too bad.


We will miss next week's swim since we'll be out of town, but hopefully I can catch up the following week. We will be swimming twice a week from now until our event. Good thing - I'm going to need the practice!


-- JAM

Counting to Seven

Last week's swim workout had us complete 1700 meters. Many thanks to our coach for making us go beyond the distances that we have to complete for our event. We should be well prepared for the triathlon in June!

The workout plan was a warm up followed by ladders. To complete the ladders we swam 1 lap followed by a 1 minute rest. Then we swam 2 laps followed by another 1 minute rest. Next came 3 laps followed by a 1 minute rest and so on up until 7 laps. 

Now I've been enjoying swimming very much now that I kind of have the hang of it - or at least can get from one end of the pool and back pretty easily regardless of how ugly the form may be. But it's still incredibly boring. There's no iPod. There's no one to talk to. There's no TV to watch. It's pretty mind numbing actually. And to keep count of laps is nearly impossible because my mind just wanders all over the place. I get to about 3 or 4 laps and I've already lost count. 

I talked to Gabe prior to our swim and he suggested making up a story with numbers in it. That got me thinking so what I did instead was think of songs with numbers in the titles and lyrics. So the first lap I thought of the songs "One is the Loneliest Number" and "One Fine Day." The second lap I sang in my head "Love Me Two Times." It started to get difficult very quickly, so I moved on to songs with words that rhymed with the numbers. Instead of two it was shoes or lose. The third lap I thought about "Knock Three Times" and words like be and see. 

This technique was just the ticket. I never once lost count even all the way up to 7 laps! 

So, I am taking suggestions for songs that I can sing in my head while swimming. Five is particularly challenging since alive is about the only word I could come up with. I can only think of ELO's song "I'm Alive" for so long...

Thanks for your help!  : )

-- JAM

Robie's Got Faith

Last Saturday we went for a 29 mile bike ride followed immediately by a 3 mile run. This was the first time my legs kind of worked after a bike ride. I was still pretty tired, but at least I felt like I could get one foot in front of the other without stumbling!


Sunday we participated in Robie's Got Faith. This was a 10k run in Boise to benefit a little girl named Faith who is battling leukemia. It was incredibly hot for April - upper 80's - and the heat combined with a bad night sleep made for a very difficult run for me. Dan was feeling pretty good, but I really struggled. We finished ahead of just a few people and the chocolate milk, bananas and bagels at the finish line were much appreciated!


I got to meet Faith too. She attended the event with her family and friends, participated in the one mile kids run and got to meet some of the BSU football players. One of the players put her up on his shoulders for pictures and Faith got to blow the horn to start the 5k and 10k races. She was so darling in her little pink hat. I told her she was a star! There was a great turnout for the race so I hope Faith's family received lots of financial help from the event.


Struggling through this run was a good reminder to me of the difficulties that those battling cancer have to face every day. I was struck again by the fact that people like little Faith cannot just choose to quit when things get tough. They have to continue to fight day after day no matter how they feel. 


-- JAM

Super Swimmer

Thursday night swim - I never know how that's going to go. Some nights are good, others are... well, yeah...


I went to the Y early and got in a 5 mile run outside before we went in to swim. I've missed way too many training days lately because of the craziness of the month of April. I have two kids in track with practices and meets all over the place, sometimes in another state! Also, work has been insanely busy for both Dan and I so in trying to juggle all the necessary things, unfortunately, training has been the thing to suffer. 


There is a light at the end of the tunnel. Dan's crazy schedule will ease up in May and I think things may be starting to settle just at little at my job as well. Hailey is done with track now, so we just have Carson to get through the season. May promises to be much easier to handle from a family and work perspective, but a month of hard work as training really gets serious!


So, back to swim night. The 5 mile run was excellent. I felt great, the weather was perfect and I enjoyed watching the little league and lacrosse games going on in the fields I ran around. The workout for swim night was a 100 meter warm up followed by a 20 minute swim without stopping, then a 100 meter cool down. Once again, I felt great. As soon as I started on my 20 minutes, I got right into a slow to medium groove. The pace was just right and I had no trouble keeping it up for the full 20 minutes. I lost count of my laps after about 3 so I started timing my individual laps. I was at about 1:40 or less per lap which comes out to about 12 laps total. That may not sound fast, but when I started swimming laps I couldn't break 2 minutes! 


I'm not trying out for the Olympic Swim Team anytime soon, but this is definitely a major accomplishment for me! 


Michael would be proud.


-- JAM

A Windy Day for a Bike Ride

Today’s 30 mile ride was just fantastic! We did have some pretty good headwinds, but kept up a good pace anyway. We rode out 15 miles, then came back so that gave us some nice tailwinds on the way back! Today’s route took us up Pleasant Valley Road hill. It was a perfect hill! Just the right distance and slope to give us a good workout, but not make us feel like keeling over.

Of course, then we had to attempt to run after the ride. Coach Jill took us out on a dirt trail and my legs just would not function! Something about how your muscles work on the bike really creates havoc on the muscles required for running. I stumbled along for the short 1.5 miles and my legs never did want to cooperate. That’s something that is going to take some practice.

Unfortunately, Dan had to work and missed the ride today. I'm sure he will find a way to make it up though. He's a rock star!

Next week is a 30 mile ride again followed by a 3 mile run. Here's to hoping the legs will start to get the hang of this transition thing!

-- JAM