Reach

Only 18 days left until my race. I have started to wonder what it would take to keep me from finishing. I was riding my bike yesterday in pretty heavy traffic wondering what would happen if I got hit. How badly would I be hurt? Could I die? Could I still do the race with cuts, deep bruising, a sprain, a broken bone? I am more determined than ever to swim, bike, and run my best race on July 13. I've already overcome a car accident and a virus throughout my training, so 18 more days...I think I'm in the clear.

I hired a personal trainer a couple of weeks ago to help me with my swimming. I am getting better but still not completely confident about my stroke, comfort in the water, and endurance. I've had 2 open water practices. The one with the wet suit went great! And I am going tomorrow to reserve one for race day. My practice without the wet suit was not good. I panicked in the deep lake water, had water in my goggles, couldn't see, swam really crooked, and got really tired. BUT, I finished! Ugly as it was, I did it.

A week ago tonight I actually completed a mini-triathlon! I finished the swim 3rd from last in our group of about 20 and later found out one woman panicked immediately and didn't even do it. So despite my swim being really ugly, I did it, and in surprisingly good time. I swam about a quarter of the race length. I will be much more relaxed with a wet suit and if I can do a quarter of the length without one, I can definitely do the entire distance with one. They don't allow them if the water is warmer than 80 degrees and it was in the low 70s last week, so let's hope it doesn't warm up too much more! But the wet suit is a fantastic thing for a new swimmer...it's like wearing a giant floatie (I can't believe they allow them for the race...it feels like cheating) and swimming is almost effortless in one.

After the swim, I transitioned to my bike and set out for my ride. At first I was just riding along casually and comfortably, enjoying the lake view and the cool night. But suddenly it occurred to me that I could ride faster than this. And this was a race. So i should be riding faster. So I turned it on and passed almost everyone- all but a handful of the best swimmers who still had a pretty good lead. I biked about 9 miles (3/4 of the race length) then transitioned to my run. It was a good transition and I set out with another woman but immediately set a faster pace than her. The run felt good. It was wonderful to feel my feet on the ground and to still have energy left to propel my body forward. And I was able to keep my heart rate at a comfortable level in the 150s. I ran about 2 miles (2/3 of the real race length).

So I am officially a triathlete now and it was good to practice all three sports in a group. I am so excited to run my best race on July 13 and be a part of a group of 4,000 female triathletes, each with her own story and reason for racing.

I'm working on finding an "at bat" song. So far I'm thinking "Reach" by Gloria Estefan (Song from the Olympics) or "Beautiful Day" by U2.

Ooh, and tonight I discovered that chunking my 750 meter (1/2 mile) swim into seven 100 meter chunks plus a little 50 at the end will probably be my strategy on race day. During practice tonight I took 60 breaths/100 meters, and thinking of it as a 450 breath race feels more manageable to me than thinking of it as "swimming across a lake" or "swimming a half mile." And as I improve my stroke over the next couple of weeks, that number of breaths will probably go down significantly.

I am a triathlete
I swim.
I bike.
I run.