10.21.2008

My Weekend Triathlon


Optimism: an outlook on life such that one maintains a view of the world as a positive place.

My life is relatively simple, work, train, sleep and play. I don’t have the stresses that many of my friends have to deal with in their every day lives. There are times that I get down with all the small things that add up but this weekend I might have turned over that heavy stone that was holding my training down for the past few months.

I am optimistic that my race will go better with each day that passes. This weekend I did my first triathlon since August. This was not your typical triathlon, the one where you swim, bike and run in that order and you are done once you cross that finish line. My finish line was making it back to Wandermere after a 40 mile ride Sunday morning.

The race began on Saturday when D-Tib and I decided to go for a short run. I really had no idea how this would go or how long this run was going to last. I was going to run completely on feel. It could have lasted 5 minutes or 5 miles. I am happy to say that it was the later. We by no means were breaking any pace records but it really did feel good to get out and put some miles under my feet. I used a patella tendon strap and I really think this might be the trick to finishing at Worlds but only time will tell.

Saturday afternoon I entered my first ever swim meet. This was put on by the Spokane Waves, a master’s swim group I joined at the beginning of the summer. I had actually never even been to a swim meet to watch let alone compete.

I started off signed up for the 50y, 100y, 200y freestyle relay and the 400y freestyle relay. As soon as I arrived I had a feeling this was going to be interesting. Besides the group I usually swim with throughout the week, the other participants were definitely more “masters” than I was. The majority of the other competitors were masters on how to survive the last economic depression we had, the one in the 1930’s. We were by far the youngest of all the swimmers by decades.
Throughout the meet I was pretty excited by some of the times I posted. There was the 26.09 in the 50y freestyle which included one of my best flip turns I have ever done. We also won the both the relays and I almost broke 1 minute in my 100y freestyle with a time of 1:01.25.

Overall it was definitely fun to be part of and it was great to see all my masters teammates get out there and compete. Also, special props to all those swimmers who were out there swimming in the 70’s and 80’s. If I can get out of my recliner when I am their age I will be ecstatic.

To finish off my trifecta of training this weekend I woke up Sunday morning to head out for a 2 hour ride. After dragging myself out of bed I began to feel this might not have been such a great idea. My knee was still sore from running and I wasn’t really feeling to motivated. Slowing getting “almost” all my gear together we headed out to Starbucks to meet up and ride the famous Greenbluff loop. I have to thank the Thompson’s for the helmet rental, since mine was still sitting in my closet at home. Rookie mistake:)
The ride was tough and it took awhile to get warmed up but once we started going my knee was pain free. I still rode with the patella strap and I really think this is helping. Each time we stopped the discomfort came back but once we were moving I was good to go. And since you are not supposed to stop in a race, I might just be able to keep going. Next weekend might actually include a brick workout.

3 comments:

jessithompson said...

I had a blast getting to do the swim meet and the ride with ya this weekend. You are surely smokin' things in the pool. You sprint something crazy fierce. The ride was a lot of fun too... such great people to hang with.

I'm so glad you feel encouraged after the weekend. You're hard core A+ for sure!

Tiffany said...

Awesome! I'm so happy to hear you had such a great weekend of training and little pain! Glad to hear you are feeling optimistic about your race. You are going to have a great day!

LORIE said...

Your training is good. I am impressed. The master's swim competition looks like a lot of fun!!!! Thanks for your cheering on my blog. Look forward to a hug when I see you again!