Over the last week, we've been busy.
More time in the pool. I recorded myself and few fellow folks that were at the pool using my GoPro both above and below the water. It really showed each of us where we needed to work on our swimming form. I feel like I'm inefficient in the water and wasting forward momentum by going side to side.
Things to focus on: Better shoulder rotation and breath control. I get those down and I think I'll feel more effective in the water.
This past Saturday, we did a 35 mile bike ride. My wife fell leaving the parking lot. Uphill, waiting on traffic, and not getting unclipped in time let to her taking a tumble. About 6 miles later, I turned back to where she had stopped to check her wounds (No, I didn't ride 6 miles before realizing she wasn't there! LOL). As we checked her wounds, I had unclipped my right shoe, but my left was still attached. I still don't know what happened, but I fell to the left for no apparent reason. Tore the heck out of my right leg on the chain gear. So I had a nice bloody streak down my lower right leg for the remaining 29 miles of the ride. Looked badass and hardcore and all that, but it cleaned up just fine later. Lots of up and down hills. At the 29 mile mark, we opted for the additional 5 miles, but that additional 5 miles had some very large hills that seemed my Mt. Olympus to us at that point. She chugged all the way up without stopping, but I had to stop a couple of times because my knees were really hurting and on fire. I did ride the rest of the way up though. Eventually! :)
Then for our Monday tri class, we did our first 'brick'. For those of you who know, these are not fun. For those who have no clue what I'm talking about, I didn't finish a house's exterior. A brick is doing one event of a tri (or duathlon), then immediately transitioning to another. This simulates the transitions during a real race. This night, we did a 30 minute bike ride and a 10 minute run. Nothing too major - or so we thought!
I did the 30 minute ride at a really good clip. I covered the first 3.5 miles in 13 minutes, so we did a second loop. After that loop, we had to two circuits of a 1 mile loop, so I figure it was about 9 miles in 32 minutes at that point. I came into the transition area (okay, the parking lot), and unclipped from my bike, coasting to my spot. Well, as I got off, one of my shoes clipped back in. As I got off the bike, I nearly fell, but I was able to twist my foot enough to get it off before I bought it on the asphalt and slammed into my truck.
Got my running shoes on, grabbed my hat, and checked my GPS elapsed time: 32:30. I hit the road running. LEGS FELT LIKE LEAD. The blood accumulates in the quads during a bike ride, but during a run, that blood is usually in the hamstrings and calves. I told myself mentally that I had to keep my knees up. No matter how high I thought they were, go higher. It apparently worked. Our coach said I had great form leaving the parking lot. :) My mile time was about 8:30ish for that run. I had to stop once to address a side stitch I actually got during the ride (go figure), but another runner came along and urged me to continue. So we finished that run together.
It's amazing the camaraderie this group has. Everybody has been so supportive of each other! Truly incredible (I hate to use the overused 'amazing') to see this group come together like this. Come race day, we'll all be competing with each other, but right now, they're all friends and we're doing everything we can to help each other. Whether it is the morale-boosting 'cmon and finish with me' to the 'way to go' to the helping each other with swim technique, this group is truly a wonderful collection of individuals and I'm honored to be training with all of them!
Meanwhile, back in NOBO, we had a 3 mile run last night. 54 degrees at run time, but a good wind out of the northwest. Yeah, it felt a LOT colder. I was in shorts, but a tech shirt underneath a long sleeve tech shirt kept my arms warm(ish). Started the run and 200 yards in, my brain was telling me to walk. HELL NO! Kept on going. The first leg was directly into that wind for about 8/10's of a mile, which truly SUCKED. Made the turn into a neighborhood and things got a LOT better real quick. Then there was a small hill. My cross country running training kicked in and I used my arms to drive my legs up the hill. Hard to explain, but that strong arm/shoulder motion back and forth really does propel you forward, a lot like being on a swing.
Ran past our lead mentor and just didn't stop. I had a surge at the top of the hill and just kept it. The distance between us grew slowly, but it grew. I was NOT going to stop on this one. A few slight rolls then a downhill. Longer legs have fun! Went down it (found out later on the GPS it was a 9.2 mph pace on that stretch) and made the turns back to Fleet Feet. Got to the finish point at 25:30! :) My GPS says it wasn't quite 3 miles, but my wife and I use the same GPS s/w on each of our phones and hers was reading differently. Go figure. So I added a bit of distance to get closer to 3 miles based on GPS readings. Finished that bit of a run and the lead mentor finally got to the finish line, about 2 minutes behind me!!! I knew I felt strong yesterday, but didn't think I was THAT strong.
Now I'm VERY happy with an 8:30 pace. It's nowhere near the 5:09 I could run in high school, but that was 28 years ago and many miles and a few injuries ago. As long as my brain can get out of the way, I KNOW I have the strength to do both the 5K race in April and the tri in June.
It's incredible how you can have a little breakthrough mentally and have it really show in the physical. It shouldn't surprise me. We watch the Biggest Loser and the contestants have the best results when they have the mental breakthrough and realize that YES, they CAN do it.
This training is showing me that my body can handle a LOT more than I thought. Negative thoughts and the mental beatdowns we put ourselves through are our biggest hurdle to overcome. One of our tri trainers called them anchors. Those things that slow us down and keep us from reaching our goals. I always thought that my biggest anchor was my legs or knee. Nope. it's my brain saying, "Your legs are weak or your knee is bad."
Those mental demons haunt all of us in some form or fashion. How we deal with them will determine how far we can go, what goals we can reach, and how we view life. I love how a triathlon starts out with TRI'ing. Yoda has said, "Do or do not. There is no Try." You cannot do until you try to do it. Will you always succeed? No. But if you DO continue to try, you will succeed.
I know I won't have the best time in the 5K or the triathlon, but I don't care. In my head, I have already won. I've told those voices to stick it and their volume in my head has gone way down. They're still there, trying to exert themselves every day, but I know how to beat them now.
A 35 mile ride, a brick, and a run told them who is boss.
