Duxford Girl

Back on track today and doing Thursday's brick workout:

http://www.shape.com/fitness/sports/training_triathlon_week_2_thursday

Because of time constraints I just rode around the paths in the park West of our house. This is beneficial as once finished with the bike ride I can quickly park my bike in the garage and get on with the run giving me yet another taste of transition. I wore my running shoes to ride my bike this time so there was no shoe change to be bothered about. Since I don't have a proper racing bike with clip-on shoes there's really no need to have a shoe change between the bike ride and the run.

Yeah, that's right, I swapped Friday and Thursday again. It was another stellar day of winter weather. Weather I was feeling decidedly under. So I took the day off:

http://www.shape.com/fitness/sports/training_triathlon_week_2_friday\

I mean that I really took the day off too. For dinner I had planned to make a freezer pizza and then just add a salad but when I went to get the pizza from the deep freeze I realized that at some point, the freezer had broken and I now had a big box of soggy ruined food. I called ES and told him to pick up food on the way home.

Another thrilling night at the pool after driving through the snow that hasn't stopped falling all day:

http://www.shape.com/fitness/sports/training_triathlon_week_2_wednesday

Okay, I know I keep bringing up the snow but COME ON. I really am sick of this weather and I'm not alone in those feelings. Even Junior seems a bit blah these days because I think he's reacting to the general glumness of the family.

It just snowed all day (again) and even a 20 minute run seemed daunting:

http://www.shape.com/fitness/sports/training_triathlon_week_2_tuesday

However, after dinner, I was reading my latest issue of Canadian Running and there was an article about all the MP's that are runners. It was a well done non-partisan take about the runners on The Hill but all I could think after I finished reading was “if that asshole Stockwell Day can never miss a run then I sure as hell can get out tonight.” It may not have been the healthiest motivation but when I can see my breath in May I'll take any motivation I can get.

It's snowing out and that's just the beginning of the reasons I didn't want to go swimming tonight:

http://www.shape.com/fitness/sports/training_triathlon_week_2/p/page/1

I finished bathing the baby and then changed into the The Ugliest Bathing Suit In The World. Looking at myself in the mirror didn't make me want to swim, it made me want to cry. The problem is, not going swimming would not have changed the situation in the mirror at all. I gave the baby his night time bottle, wearing The Suit as a reminder of why I had to go. Every step I took to get out of the house tonight seemed painful but I finally braved the cold rain and headed to the pool.

Another day on the bike:

http://www.shape.com/fitness/sports/training_triathlon_week_1_sunday

Because I find it impossible to work on things like cadence and shifting while trying to ride in the streets, I loaded my bike into the KIA and headed for the bike paths along Memorial Drive. I did a 10 km ride to get a baseline on what my time is right now. It took me about 30 minutes but I certainly wasn't pushing it. Now I have an idea of what to improve on in the next several weeks.

I'm feeling good about my workout today. It was a brick workout comprised of a 200 meter swim and a 20 minute run:

http://www.shape.com/fitness/sports/training_triathlon_week_1_saturday

However, owing to how much I enjoyed my short ride yesterday I decided to ride to the pool today. It's less than a ten minute ride so it makes sense to go by bike rather than vehicle. I rode to the pool, swam my 200 meters, rode home and then immediately did my 20 minute run. Although not the proper lengths of the tri I've signed up for, it was a good chance to see how doing all three events would feel. Obviously, I didn't do proper transitions today. That too will be something that I have to work on as the weeks go by.

Sometime a day off is the best course of action because today I woke up with renewed energy (actual sun was a bonus too). About a year and half ago, I wiped out on my bike and bent some parts (the bike's parts, I was mostly fine). It was nearly ski season so I parked my bike in the garage where it sat until a week or so ago owing to the fact that I had no desire to ride while hugely pregnant. I got it back from the shop on Wednesday and was finally able to go for a ride tonight:

http://www.shape.com/fitness/sports/training_triathlon_week_1_thursday

It was a quick 20 minutes. Cycling is going to be my strongest event in the tri and if I hadn't had to get home to look after the baby while ES went out to the observatory I would have gone for a much longer ride.

Well, due to the continuing bad weather, I crapped out today. I was supposed to go for a bike ride but instead I took my rest day, which was supposed to be Friday:

http://www.shape.com/fitness/sports/training_triathlon_week_1_friday

I could have braved the crawl space and dug out the stationary bike, but I didn't. There's nothing like crappy weather when it's supposed to be spring to drag your motivation into the gutter. One positive note is that I took the evening to get caught up on some school work.

Moooooo, splash, splash. You guessed it, another swim night:

http://www.shape.com/fitness/sports/training_triathlon_week_1_wednesday

Swimming can sometimes be daunting before I even leave the house. First of all, I don't want to wear my competitive suit right now. It's too tight around my chest and squeezes everything in exactly the wrong way. Even when my weight is down I look stupid in my suit. I almost welcome the fact that I'll have to be in a wetsuit for my tri. I'll know I've finally hit the pinnacle of fit and thin when I can put on a Speedo or Tyr and not look like a giant potato. So for now, it's various parts of tankinis that I wouldn't wear to the beach and don't care if the chlorine destroys them.