Super Tri

Sorry for the hit or miss posts...my name is EmDub, and I'm a Doctor Who addict.  I'll just leave it at that.  

Here are the results of my indoor triathlon:

15 min swim:  900 yards
20 min bike:  7.8 mi
20 min run: 1.23mi


Start time:  In my last post, I said I didn't have a start time, but would probably show up around noon and see where they could fit me in.  Well I got a call at 11 for a 1:20pm start time.  Works for me!  Too bad I had a nervous stomach all morning.

I fueled up on Qdoba's breakfast quesadilla (haha, poor planning on my part) and grabbed a Starbuck's protein bistro box to go.  I got to the Tri early, "checked in", meaning I told the lady in charge of swimming that I was there, I set my stuff up in a locker for easy transition in T1, and I went to cheer on the bikers/runners for a bit.

I half-assed (pardon my French) my pilates class that morning (we NEVER rarely (once every couple of months) do lunges or squats, but of course we did that morning) half due to wanting to feel strong in the Tri, half due to hammies that were still sore from 3-4 days earlier!  I was nervous I was going to have a heat with incredibly fast people in it, but when my heat showed up, I felt good!  Myself, an older gentleman named Bob, and a mom type named Karla who swam with flippers on :)

Swim: I was aiming for 800 yards, as I would have liked to obtain splits that were a little faster than 1 min per 50 yards.  The rule was that if you swam over halfway at your last 25, it would count toward your total.  I started swimming at a nice tempo, focusing on keeping the number of breaths the same in each 25 (5 strokes between breaths, except for 3 or 4 right before the turn).  I lapped my competitors near the 100 yd mark (made me feel fast!).  I was so worried I would have an awful swim like I did earlier in January, but I just told myself to keep going and if I felt really bad (high BP, seeing spots, etc) I could slow down or do backstroke.  The tension kept building in my head and I did a 25 of backstroke around the halfway mark (unlimited breathing...yay!).  That gave me the push I needed, but I had long since lost count, but I took a glance at my watch every 100 or so.  I saw my watch was at 14:20 something so I cranked it up to try to get another 50 in...at least the halfway mark on the 50 so it would count!  I dug deep and barely reached the halfway mark and then slowed down for the rest of the 25.  When I got to the wall, my watch said 15:12.  I heard the young man who had counted for me say "36 lengths" and I tried to do the quick math, but my head felt like I had just got punched in the face!  The lady in charge of the swim and the aquatics director were both standing over me, telling me I did a great job.  I hate compliments, but am getting better at accepting them.  :)  I said "Thanks...ugh, two more things to do???" meaning spinning and running.  I made my way to the locker room to change and grabbed a power bar energy gel, the only one my local grocery store had!  I took that and some powerade and water and headed for the spin room.



A little shopping beforehand...oh that ice cream was for after :)



Spin:  I asked the lady in charge of spin to help me adjust my bike because I had never been on one before!!!  She was very gracious, and my new friend Karla was totally a spin pro so she gave me some tips (don't point your toes!).  The biggest relief:  Fans.  Several fans and almost right in my face.  Felt sooooo good.  My face was still beet red!  I took it easy on the bike.  The resistance was a 10 for most of my 20 min ride, but I bumped it up when I stood and rode for a minute.  The lady in charge of the swim part came in twice in those 20 mins to tell me how good my swim was.  Really felt like I was getting athletically hit on!  (something I never thought I would say!).  The ride went by pretty quickly and I got to 7.8 miles which I felt good about for my first time on a spin bike.  The instructor said most people were getting to 10.

Run:  I had not run on a treadmill in half my life! (Gym membership in Jr. High!)  We were supposed to have 5 mins for T2, but we were the last heat, were ready to go, and there were the perfect amount of treadmills open.  I logged onto Netflix, propped up my Kindle over the treadmill readout, walked for 2 mins and then got to running!  I was doing 2 running, 2 walking until about 5 mins left, I decided to run the whole way and found myself pushing the button to go faster because I wanted to see 1.25 on the readout after 20 mins!  I got to 1.23 and was very proud of myself for that.  (and again, the lady from the swim was by to tell me when their group met for swimming and how she hopes I can join them in the coming week.   Spoiler alert:  I did!

Triathlon completed!

After a short cool down, we were off to one of the community rooms where I was surprised to see water, bananas (very green bananas), bagels and chips.  I had not even thought about them providing some snacks afterwards, but was happy they did.  They also wanted a bit of feedback afterwards because this was their first tri.  I thought it was wonderful and I was very proud of myself!  Part of me wants to run and hide from scary things and I'm trying to overcome that introvert part of myself so I can have fun and meet some people.

This tri gave me some much needed confidence!  Oh, and when I signed up for "non-competitive", I guess that just meant that I got my results and did not see how I stacked up against everyone else - bummer!




Coach Beth, me, Bob, Karla, Coach Jeff

Weigh in:
Last week: 243.6
This week:  241.8

I'm slightly freaking out on the inside because I typically have not lost weight this fast in the last year.  Perhaps it is because I'm swimming more...

I'm just going to touch on this today and maybe save the bulk of it for another post, but:  I may not weigh in every week anymore.  I made one promise to myself when I started this and it is that I WILL NOT sacrifice my mental health/stability to lose weight/get in shape.  Before my Friday AM weigh in, I found myself thinking "oh, if I don't eat a full dinner tonight, I will show a better loss tomorrow".  Dumb, dumb, dumb.  That shit (oy, French, sorry!) will NOT fly in this camp.  If those thoughts continue to creep into my head, I will outlaw that scale so fast!