Half Way There

Tomorrow night at midnight is the halfway point between the day I started training for a triathlon and the day of the triathlon itself. To say I am anxious about the tri would be an understatement. But my confidence is growing daily.

Last Thursday I went and did a mini-tri with the local triathlon club, mainly to get some experience swimming in open water with a group. The swim portion went quite well, I was third out of the water! My T1 was pretty fast, as I only had to put on my shoes and helmet and ride. I did get passed quite a bit on my bike. Those triathletes who are in shape went past me like rockets, especially on the hills. But I did 8 miles on the bike. My T2 time was fast as well, since I just had to lean my bike against the fence, take off my helmet and run. I only went a mile, and had to do a run/walk. But I ran for a minute and walked for a minute for the whole thing. I forgot to start my stopwatch, so I don't know how my time was. It didn't really matter to me anyway. I enjoyed the experience of tri-ing with others!

Today I was feeling good, so planned to do an 8 - 10 mile bike followed by a couple miles on my feet. I ended up doing 15.25 miles on my bike in 1:08:14 and actually going 2.2 miles in a run walk! I pushed myself a bit more by running for a minute and a half and walking the same. That time was 35 minutes. So my run is still slow, but I'm making progress! I looked back at that first day of training when I went a mile in 18 minutes, and that was all I could do! Today my run/walk time was about the same as that first day, but I preceded it with a 15 mile bike ride, so I'm OK with that!

I found the Couch to 5K website and have been following their method to get someone from being a total couch potato to running a 5K in 12 weeks. Of course, I don't have that much time left, so it's a bit modified. But I'm coming along! I'm coming along! And that is what counts the most.

I will finish this triathlon. I am confident today. Half way there and I'm feeling great!

More Later