I set out this morning to do a trial run of my triathlon. I wanted to see what it would feel like - minus the proper transitions since I wouldn't be able to set up my station. I haven't had the chance yet to swim in my tri shorts and shirt and then jump right on my bike while I am still wet, or run right after biking.
So, I left my house and noticed there was quite a wind. I knew that would be somewhat bothersome, but aside from that the day seemed perfect. I got to the park and threw on my swim cap and goggles and jumped in the water. Believe it or not, the water was so rough from the wind it could have been mistaken for the ocean! Who knew that there could be such a current and so many waves in a little gravel pit lake! I think I probably swallowed close to a gallon of lake water, and got water up my nose several times. Those two things are my least favorite part of swimming, and they both happened a lot today. I suppose it was good to train in the water when it was choppy like that since it is possible that with everyone swimming around me on race day it will just as bad, if not worse.
Anyway, I made it through the swim in 20 minutes and ran out of the water back to the bench where I had left my items. I started to feel a little nauseous because of all of the water I swallowed - I wasn't exaggerating about how much I swallowed! So, since I had to keep everything but my towel and flip flops in my car (so no one would steal it) I rinsed my feet off, then ran to my car - about 1000 feet away. Then I put on all of my cycling stuff, and jumped on my bike. The bike went fine - I didn't really have a planned route, so I ended up shorting the bike portion by a mile, but I figured for my first test run, 13.8 miles was fine.
I did start to get tired by mile 10, so I will have to work on my biking a little more than I had originally thought. I got back to my car again and checked the time and noted that the bike took me an hour and 4 minutes. I took off my helmet and gloves, took my tire off so I could lock my bike back into my roof rack, changed my shoes and started out to run the 5K.
My quads and gluts were already burning from the bike, and as I ran, they started to hurt even more. The first mile was pretty rough, but then I started to loosen up a little bit and the last 2 felt better. I am not going to lie, it didn't feel good and I felt pretty tired. I will really have to work on biking, then running right away. It was harder than I thought it was going to be.
All in all, I felt pretty good with my performance. I finished all three disciplines in an hour and 58 minutes, even with my ridiculously long transitions. I am hoping that for race day I can keep it under an hour and 50 minutes. I would be happy with that.
I am looking forward to the next time that I get to do a trial run of the triathlon. Hopefully I can improve my time. I also plan to take a few hours to just to practice the transitions, so that will hopefully help me to streamline them on race day. It is getting so close - only 26 days until race day!! At least I know I can do it.
Sunday, July 13, 2008
Wednesday, July 9, 2008
it's just never enough
Today I thought I was running pretty fast. I actually felt fast - not like I was pushing hard and my slow pace was too fast for me, like I was really going fast and it actually felt good. Anyway, as I ran along thinking this to myself, some guy who didn't even look like a runner went flying past me like I was just standing still. Sometimes it drives me crazy to think that I will probably never win a race no matter how hard I work. At the same time though, I keep getting better than I have been in the past, so that is always encouraging.
Sunday, July 6, 2008
it's getting a little old
The people across the street from me keep setting off M-80s - one or two every 10 minutes or so. My poor cats are petrified and sought refuge in the closet. I am not going to lie, I am getting pretty irritated and wish they would stop. Lovely...there goes another one...and another.
one sick kitty
Yesterday I was about to head to work and I noticed that my cat Paco was sitting in the same place that he had been pretty much all day. That is not normal for him at all. I started to pet him, and suddenly noticed that one of his back feet was about 3 times its usual size. I had no idea what was wrong, but I instantly felt terrible for the little guy. It makes me so sad when animals are injured in any way. I think it is because they can't speak up and tell you what is wrong, or how much it hurts. I started to panic, calling everyone I could think of that could come and sit with him while I was at work. I could not get a hold of anyone, and I had to go to work, so I left him by himself. I felt terrible all night while I was at work. I kept wondering if he had fallen somehow and broken his little foot, or if he had been bitten by something, or what had happened. I of course kept thinking the worst, and imagining that he was going to be dead when I got home. (Yes, I know I am ridiculous!)
One of my friends called me back around 11 pm and told me she could go check in on him in. That made me feel so much better. She went to my house and found him and said that he was doing really well - running around and chasing my other cat. She told me that he let her look at his paw and it looks like one of his nails is infected in some way.
Anyway, I got home from work at around 2am, and took him in to the 24 Hour Animal Hospital. Um...yea, they might as well call it the "We Will Take All of Your Money" Animal Hospital. I mean, it was going to cost $170.00 just for the vet to look at him, and any procedures performed or medications given would be an additional charge. Even though I knew these outrageous prices, I just couldn't deal with letting Paco suffer on with his club foot.
When we arrived, the waiting room was packed. There happened to be a lot of pet emergencies last night and that meant a 2 hour wait. Paco was not happy sitting in the waiting room in a cage, and he was letting everyone know how he felt with loud and pathetic meows.
I asked the employee who checked me in if I could leave and come back when they weren't as busy and she told me that I could. She told me that she would take a quick look at the paw to see if it merited our return later. She took us to a room and looked at his paw, and said that there was certainly something wrong with it, but she didn't see any puncture wounds or anything that would really justify me spending the $170. She said that she thinks it can wait until Monday. She did tell me to wash his paw and try to ice it. I felt so much better, and took a tired and happy Paco back home to rest.
So, has anyone ever tried to ice a cat's paw? I don't really recommend it.
Hopefully Paco will be fine all day today and I can get him in to the vet tomorrow morning.
One of my friends called me back around 11 pm and told me she could go check in on him in. That made me feel so much better. She went to my house and found him and said that he was doing really well - running around and chasing my other cat. She told me that he let her look at his paw and it looks like one of his nails is infected in some way.
Anyway, I got home from work at around 2am, and took him in to the 24 Hour Animal Hospital. Um...yea, they might as well call it the "We Will Take All of Your Money" Animal Hospital. I mean, it was going to cost $170.00 just for the vet to look at him, and any procedures performed or medications given would be an additional charge. Even though I knew these outrageous prices, I just couldn't deal with letting Paco suffer on with his club foot.
When we arrived, the waiting room was packed. There happened to be a lot of pet emergencies last night and that meant a 2 hour wait. Paco was not happy sitting in the waiting room in a cage, and he was letting everyone know how he felt with loud and pathetic meows.
I asked the employee who checked me in if I could leave and come back when they weren't as busy and she told me that I could. She told me that she would take a quick look at the paw to see if it merited our return later. She took us to a room and looked at his paw, and said that there was certainly something wrong with it, but she didn't see any puncture wounds or anything that would really justify me spending the $170. She said that she thinks it can wait until Monday. She did tell me to wash his paw and try to ice it. I felt so much better, and took a tired and happy Paco back home to rest.
So, has anyone ever tried to ice a cat's paw? I don't really recommend it.
Hopefully Paco will be fine all day today and I can get him in to the vet tomorrow morning.
Saturday, July 5, 2008
not half bad
So, swimming in the lake wasn't nearly as bad as I had thought it was going to be. I did swim mostly breast stroke, as I always do, but I felt almost good. The water was pretty clean and a decent temperature, and the swimming area at Millennium Park is quite large allowing a better training swim than the pool at the YMCA. There were no walls for me to hang on if I got tired, so that was good. I think that I probably swam 1/2 mile all in all. I am going to go again tomorrow. Then I plan to go to the Y to try the pool again on Monday. I really need to keep working on my front crawl because no matter what I do, I always feel completely out of breath when I try to swim front crawl instead of breast stroke.
the olympic superstars
Ok, so I was starting to think that I was a pretty decent runner, biker and swimmer (ok, I am still working on the swimming), and then I started watching the Olympic Trials. OH MY GOSH! Where do they grow these awesome people??
I have of course watched the Olympics before and noticed how great the athletes are, but for some reason it just really struck me the other day. Maybe it is because I watched a woman swim a 300 meter medley in 4:31, and I know that it takes me close to 20 minutes to swim 500 meters. Maybe watching a bunch of women run 5,000 meters (3.11 miles) in 15 minutes when I know it takes me about 30 minutes was what did it. Yes, I feel a little bit wimpy now. I am just in total awe of these people; they are absolutely amazing.
That being said, I am off to try to swim in the lake...
I have of course watched the Olympics before and noticed how great the athletes are, but for some reason it just really struck me the other day. Maybe it is because I watched a woman swim a 300 meter medley in 4:31, and I know that it takes me close to 20 minutes to swim 500 meters. Maybe watching a bunch of women run 5,000 meters (3.11 miles) in 15 minutes when I know it takes me about 30 minutes was what did it. Yes, I feel a little bit wimpy now. I am just in total awe of these people; they are absolutely amazing.
That being said, I am off to try to swim in the lake...
Friday, July 4, 2008
extreme biking
Ok, not really all that extreme...I wasn't biking down a cliff or across a glacier or anything amazing like that. No, I was just in Grand Rapids, but there were severe storms here a couple of days ago, and I don't think that there is anyone in charge of cleaning up random bike trails because they are still littered with debris. There were several times when I had to get off my bike and carry it as I navigated carefully over entire trees that had fallen into the path. The area where I was biking was actually a road with one lane for vehicular traffic and the other lane only for bikers. The trees that had fallen were huge and blocked the entire road. Anyway, that was the first time I had ever been on that trail, and I was bummed because I had to turn back at a certain point due to the amount of debris and fallen trees. It just wasn't safe anymore.
Due to the fact that I could not ride on the path I had originally started on, I ended up finding a little feeder path jutting out from my original path. I had no idea where it led, but decided to check it out. It ended up being relatively short and dead ended at a road. I was about to turn around and go back the way I came, but then I noticed an entry to another little pathway across the street. It was beautiful along this path - there was a lake to my left and some really interesting landscaping. I thought that I must be in some kind of park. I biked a little further, and saw an entrance for vehicles so I checked to see if there was a sign. There was indeed a sign and I saw that I was in Millennium Park. I have never been to this park, however keep telling myself that I need to check it out, especially since that is where the triathlon that I will be participating in will be taking place. What a crazy coincidence that I stumbled upon it.
I was able to look at the lake and the beach, and it looks really clean and like it will be an excellent place for a triathlon. I am excited because I talked to an employee there and they said that people do go there to swim laps. I am going to try to swim there a couple of times before my tri.
Due to the fact that I could not ride on the path I had originally started on, I ended up finding a little feeder path jutting out from my original path. I had no idea where it led, but decided to check it out. It ended up being relatively short and dead ended at a road. I was about to turn around and go back the way I came, but then I noticed an entry to another little pathway across the street. It was beautiful along this path - there was a lake to my left and some really interesting landscaping. I thought that I must be in some kind of park. I biked a little further, and saw an entrance for vehicles so I checked to see if there was a sign. There was indeed a sign and I saw that I was in Millennium Park. I have never been to this park, however keep telling myself that I need to check it out, especially since that is where the triathlon that I will be participating in will be taking place. What a crazy coincidence that I stumbled upon it.
I was able to look at the lake and the beach, and it looks really clean and like it will be an excellent place for a triathlon. I am excited because I talked to an employee there and they said that people do go there to swim laps. I am going to try to swim there a couple of times before my tri.
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