Mission Accomplished (a simul-blog)

After months of hard work and preparation, it finally went down. The Findley Lake Triathlon came and went. I did it, and it was awesome. I've never felt the amazing sense of accomplishment and tired all at the same time.

I met my time goals which was nice. Actually, here a recap of the events of the triathlon:

- Got in my tri-suit (think wetsuit with no sleeves) and looked like a goof.
- After the race instructions we were herded directly the water for the swim. The lake was completely disgusting. Good news is that I only got kicked four times and I only kicked one person.
- Solid time out of the water. Grandparents cheering (that was especially cool).
- On the bike after a decent transition.
- Mile 4 on the bike, GOT STOPPED BY A TRAIN!! ARGH!!
- Really cooked on the bike. Really cooked...
- Run was the hardest 3 miles EVER. (probably overdid the bike) The run was on a trail in the woods at the park. Very, very tough. And this is coming from a former cross country guy, and I've seen just about everything. The rain made is crazy slick and the number of hills was flat out mind numbing.
- Finished drank some water and the boy came over and just looked at me and said, "I'm proud of you, daddy." (my favorite part of the day, in case you wondered)
- Caught my breath and started thinking about the next one... ;)

It was fun, and thanks to your generosity, Matt and I were able to raise $2400 for Team Jared. (It's not too late if you still want to give :) )

That's the best news of all...

Today...

I was almost a quitter.

I had almost talked myself into thinking that I 'felt sick.'

I sucked it up and kept on pushing.

Jared won't quit.

So, I won't either.

In all my life...

...I have NEVER sweat as much as I did this morning on the bike.

15 miles in the country, and it was muggy, muggy, muggy!! Fortunately, I had plenty of fluids along, so I wouldn't cramp up, but overall, it was really tough today.

I am hoping that it won't be quite so muggy in September.

dude, it's hot

The heat has been taking its toll on my training. I've had to stay indoors at the Y. Not my preference, but I have to try to be smart about this whole thing. Still very much on schedule.

By the way, the race is one month from today!!

Freaking Yeah!!

off schedule

Our youth group service trip knocked me off kilter a little bit. I hope to get back on track soon. I was in the gym this morning, but had little gas in the tank.

So, back at it...

:)

past two days

Yesterday and today were good workouts.

Wednesday was in the pool for 29 minutes. I got 3/4 mile in, which all in all isn't that fast, but I did each quarter in 9.5 minutes which is 30 seconds under my goal for the race. So, that was good.

Today was pretty good too, I went to the reservoir to run and finished with some hills. I'm starting to plateau a little bit, so I'm going to have to start mixing in some weights and more speedwork. Hills today maybe the track later, but I have to do it.

Mini goal is coming up in a couple of weeks: Up, Up and Away 5K in conjunction with the balloon fest. We'll see how things go...

I had to try it...

...so I did.

I had to try biking for a spell and then running. It was crazy. I didn't know that my legs could feel like that. I didn't know my body could feel like that. It was all herky jerky and I didn't feel like I could get any rhythm. I was also undecided as to how far I'd be jogging, so any resemblance of a normal pace was out the window. I'd try to pace it out, then I'd have to run harder...

...it's going to take some time...

I'm now about 5 weeks out from the race and I'm also heading out of town all next week. This is going to be tricky.

All in all though, for the bike, my pace was right on. 3:30 mile and the run was just over 8 per. I'd really like to get that run down to 7:30 or so, perhaps some speedwork or hills this week and for the rest of the weeks leading up to the race?

We'll see...