-48C

Another day, another cycle. To assist me in getting a good workout I wore two pairs of bike shorts and regular exercise shorts over top (for vanity…have you seen what bike shorts look like?) I felt like I was walking around on a saddle, but at least my poor bottom wasn’t nearly as sore during and after the spin class.

I should mention that wind chill is making this week hit temperatures of -48C. 48 DEGREES BELOW ZERO. The kind of day where the tears froze in my eyes as I walked the dog around the block and I refused to pick up the mail in case my fumbling with the mailbox key resulted in me losing my fingers to frostbite. All I wanted to do was curl up inside with a blanket and a mug of hot chocolate. It hasn’t exactly been a motivating week to trudge out to exercise. Yet there I am, as keen as keeners can be.  But not keen enough to risk an outdoor run just yet.

Breaking Barriers

The Sunday morning swim has become a favourite of my husband and I.
First, it's morning! Finally a workout at a reasonable time of day!
Second, the pool is 50m (not the usual 25m). Bring on the endurance!
Third, it's usually pretty quiet, meaning we get the lane to ourselves.

I don't know what it was, but this morning I could not get my rhythm. Every breath I took had me swallowing lots of water along with it. My legs kept sinking and dragging my butt down and I felt more like a flopping fish than a swimmer.

650m in I decided maybe I was going too slow to keep my form. I picked up the pace which helped raise my legs up and finally found my rhythm. More or less. I was doing 300m/10min, meaning I was looking at doing a new PB of 1800m distance.l by the end of the hour.

But in the last 10min, that no longer felt good enough. It felt like I would fall short of 2k, rather than swim longer than 1700m (my previous PB).

So I pushed myself up a gear and started swimming a bit faster to get the distance done  before the clock ran out. At 9am I was at my final lap. The lifeguards at the other end of the pool warned me they were moving the bulkhead to shorten the pool length down to 25m.

"I just have 50m to go!" I pleaded and they waved me on. Success!

2000m, done and dusted. I've broken the 2k barrier and did it in 60min. Well, okay. More like 63 minutes. But still, won't be long until I've done it in sub-60!

Footage

I’m starting to like the swim. Pool swim, that is. I’ve been going consistently twice a week in my mind. In reality I’ve probably gone less than 20 times since I started up the swim part of the triathlon club in August. But one thing I have become consistent at is swimming 1500m (minimum) in every 1-hour practice. I even got as far as 1700m once. Woohoo!

The other night when I went to swim practice I got videoed. Ulp! I’m apprehensive about seeing that footage. I know it will be good for me to see how I actually look when I swim, but ulp!

I haven’t reviewed the final product yet so I’m not sure how I will receive it, but hopefully my technique isn’t too shocking.

Tri-ing a New Challenge

I set myself the lofty goal to train for a full triathlon this year. I would have liked to change the word “triathlon” to “marathon” but given the lack of running groups up here and my lack of motivation to train solo, triathlon seems more likely. I say “train” not “race” because I have no idea if the race is a realistic goal. I have picked a race out to work towards: Chinook Race. It’s in Calgary on June 17^th. So I can put that in my calendar and decide if it’s feasible. And as for the marathon, who knows…Maybe I’ll find a poor sucker friend who is willing to run 30k+ with me on the long run days and actually do a marathon this year. Hahahaha!

Day 1: I went back to spin class.

If there is one thing that worries me about the triathlon it’s the bike portion. And the swim portion. Okay, that’s 2/3 of the triathlon sport, but at least I’m confident I can run 10k!

The bike portion is 40k. I figure that will take me two hours to complete at most if I’m conditioned. And if it’s not hilly or bad weather conditions. But what better way to get started on the bike then in spin class! It’s much harder to fall off a spin bike than an actual bike*.

I lasted a grand total of 50 minutes before I threw in the towel and called it a night. My back hurt, my butt hurt, and for whatever reason my right knee hurt. I did a lot of stretches and hobbled home. Not defeated…just taking my time and easing into the training. T-165 days to go.

*Harder, but not impossible. Yes, I have fallen off a spin bike before! And not a graceful fall. I’m talking “lurching-forward-over-the-handlebars-and-knocking-my-water-bottle-into-the-instructor-while-sitting-at-the-front-of-the-class” falling off. I now prefer to sit at the back and away from other people.