Yet another Monday has arrived.... this one follows a very full weekend. I spent most of the day Saturday herding 3 1/2 to five-year-olds in and out of the house as Abigail had her first (1/2) birthday party with friends. Needless to say I was exhausted at the end of the day... where do they get their energy anyway? I wish there was some sort of stamina training one could do to keep up with little humans.
On Sunday, as some of you saw on FB, I did my first triathlon of the season. For those of you unsure what a triathlon is it is Swim, Bike, Run. There are four kinds of triathlons (sprint distance, olympic distance, 1/2 ironman, and ironman). I have only completed sprint distance ones so far with one team effort on an Olympic distance race the first year I competed (2007).
I am 3 months and 3 weeks out from baby and started working out about seven weeks out. I did a little strength training, some running, got on my road bike once, and did about one day a week in the pool. So my expectations weren't real high for this race.
I did the same triathlon last year after shortly after moving. I had been ill most of 2007 and worked with a trainer and physical therapist starting in Feb of 2008 to try and put myself back together. I was in much better shape than I am now, but had just moved and hadn't done much training the month leading up to the race. Of course last year I had my best sprint triathlon time of 1:28. This year my race was on the high end of 1:36 so not a horrible change in time but so much more to improve on.
I have found I only have an advantage in triathlons during the swim portion. I haven't had enough time in the pool to get my speed on yet so was trying to just focus on my main goal yesterday of a finish in under 1 hour and 40 minutes. Still it was a little disappointing when I came out of the water behind at least 9 others (usually I am first or second in my wave.) The swim distances in a sprint are usually between 400 and 800 yards of swimming.
then came the bike... since I had only put in nine miles on my bike (and that was last weekend) I didn't have high expectations. Usually I pass as many people as pass me... yesterday... pretty sure I didn't pass anyone and the whole world passed me. the bike is usually 12 - 15 miles... yesterday it was 13.
Finally... came my MOST DREADED part of the triathlon... the run. I don't know what it is about running. There was a window of time right before I got sick where I was running a 25 minute 5k... that seems like many moons ago. Yesterday I ran a 37 minute 5k... I had to walk a little bit to keep my heart rate down to that could be part of the problem. Thank goodness for two or three people who chatted with me while we plodded along that kept me entertained and less focused on how it was sucking.
So onward I go... in an attempt to get back into some sort of conditioning... I know those of you who see me regularly think if me as being fit, but by my standards of previous fitness levels I have a ways to go... so with this I will wander off for today.
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