Day 4

Completely unmotivated today. Need to pick up the running - not so much for the tri, but definitely for the half and full marathon's coming up. Planned to run tonight, but thinking of nixing that idea to hit the bed early and wake up tomorrow for the run. Then again.... I have at least a 10 miler scheduled for Saturday (day 6) with the running group, so may hold out for that . We'll see. A little sore from the bike/swim yesterday, but overall feel pretty good. Wish this weather would cooperate - but rainy and muggy lately.

Day 3

The leisurely bicycle ride and swim lessons went better than expected yesterday. We did the short-route which is only a 6-miler with no hills, but we did some endurance training in the pool and my body is feeling it today. Definitely tired today - never seem to sleep well when I work out at night, which I KNOW not to do, but swim lessons end at 8pm so it's a little hard to avoid that now. Luckily our last lesson is tomorrow, and my work hours will change to 10-6 when school starts, so I'll be able to get my workouts done in the morning instead.

Felt great last night, which I knew I would after I got going. Think I'll take the night off tonight however - have the bike, swim tomorrow, then a 10-mile run on Saturday. Ugh.

Day Two - ZZZZZzzzzzz

So after my first day of training - doing the bike and swim in the afternoon, and then the 3 mile run at 9:30 p.m., I had a really hard time sleeping last night. Might've been the adrenaline pumping through my veins when I finally layed down at 11:30. Needless to say, I think I got about 5 hours of not-so-great sleep, and am not looking forward to swim lessons this evening. Not to mention, it's raining and muggy out and the last thing I want to do is put on a bikini and drive or bike to the swimming facility. This is a perfect example of the entries into my boyfriend's "excuses why Connie can't run/train for the marathon" book that he's been collecting.

You see, I have a slight motivation problem. I WANT to participate in all these events (half-marathons, marathons, triathlons, etc.) but my lack of wanting to actually train is what gets me in trouble. I don't understand why, when 9 times out of 10 when I'm doing the training or even after finishing, I feel great about it! I even think to myself "Man, I need to do this more often, it feels awesome!" Less than 24 hours later however, when another training event is on the schedule, I think of every excuse known to woman-kind in order to avoid it. "It's too early, too late, too hot, too cold, raining, snowing, I don't have my ipod, I didn't bring my running clothes, I have gas." You get the picture.

Seeing as how Alicia, my triathlon partner, is on her way over as I type this, and the boyfriend will be pulling in any minute, I guess my want to avoid a guilt trip from either party is enough to just get me out the door. Whatever works! Not sure what they have in store as far as the lesson tonight, but my goal is to swim at least 200m if we get there early enough.

First day of triathlon training!

Since I am still on vacation from last weeks trip to Chicago, and it's the first day of a brand new week, I thought what better way to spend it than to actually start my triathlon training! I went to a bike store to check out road bikes (pricing, size, etc) and am 99% sure of the one I am getting - a 2009 Gary Fisher ARC Super GS. Yeah, I know, this information meant NOTHING to me either as of 10:00 this morning, but after spending an hour with the guy at the store, and many more hours researching this brand on the internet at home, I've found that this is a good brand, with a good reputation (it comes under the same umbrella as Trek which, if you know bikes, you know Trek), so I feel pretty confident about this upcoming purchase.

Afterwards, I got on my $250 Costco-bought Schwinn Hybrid which, no offense to Schwinn, was a little like going to McDonalds for an apple pie dessert after just having eaten an expensive steak dinner. The difference between the GF road bike and the Schwinn is unparallel - just unbelievable.

After my 4.5 mile bike ride to the swimming pool, I swam my first non-stop 400m swim in 16:13, took a little break to work on my freestyle form, then gave the 400m another go and came out with a 14:08 time - not bad. This at least gives me a baseline to work from so I know what I need to improve on. It also proves that I WILL be able to actually swim 400m during the actual triathlon without dying!

I got back on the bike for the 4.5 mile trip home and am feeling pretty good about my workout for the day. However, 6 hours later, the fact that I am scheduled to do a 3 mile run tonight is slowly creeping up on me. After my dinner of penne pasta with green tea I'll hop on the treadmill to knock that one out as my marathon training runs concurrently with my triathlon training - something that I've also been procrastinating on.