Whooya! Together we stand! Between Karen, Deb, and I, that old expression which I can't remember exactly, but goes something like the "sum of the whole is greater than the parts" is so true. All three of us completed Team Survivor Northwest (TSNW)'s practice triathlon last Sunday. We did a 1/2 mile swim, a 14 mile bike, and a 3 mile run/walk. And didn't die afterwards :) Karen and I even went shopping (at REI of course ;)).
There were actually two practice tri's last weekend - one on Saturday with the Kitsap Tri-Babe group that I've been training with and another on Sunday with TSNW. I was going to go to both. No I'm not crazy.
Lisa's Tri-Babe group is who I've done all my training with, and her plans are so well thought out that was a must-attend.
The primary value of the TSNW practice tri was that it was almost exactly in the same location as the event will be next week, and going over to the city afforded us a chance to check out the hotel ahead of time along with the driving route. We weren't sure we were going to "do" that one but we wanted to at least go through the transitions and learn the territory.
As luck have it, I walked too close to a piece of furniture last Monday and did something very, very bad to one of my little toes. I don't know whether it is broken or just badly sprained, but it is still swollen despite eating arnica montana for a couple days. So since I didn't get to work out at all last week except for a session in the pool, there was no way last weekend was going to go as previously planned.
Since Karen and I had plans for Sunday, and we needed to check the hotels to make our final choice, skipping the Tri-Babe practice tri on Saturday gave the toe one more day to heal before attempting to wear shoes. I really think I could have skipped Sunday's practice tri also if I hadn't already made plans with Karen. Deb says she probably wouldn't have gotten up and made the 2-3 hour trip to the city either without us. The city is, well, a city. Lots of traffic, and we're spoiled and not used to it.
First we did a full 1/2 mile swim, which is longer than the 1/3 mile swim for the competition next week... and I'm glad because I ended up doing the backstroke for most of it. I'm afraid I did longer than a half mile too. Thank You to the volunteer guy in a kayak who was nice enough to stop me from heading straight out to the middle of Lake Washington. One of my arms is stronger than the other and I guess I got real confident on the 2nd lap since I had made a beeline for the buoy on the first lap. Coach Lisa says that at the event that the lifeguards get cuter the further out in the lake that you go. We've speculated that is a planned incentive to keep us trucking along.
Deb and Karen both did the crawl and the breast stroke so were done and had time for a break before I even got out of the water. Karen doesn't think she is that fit, but she is, and she is very inspiring. Deb too. Deb swam competitively when she was younger and won races with the breast stroke so she is real comfortable with it even though even she commented that wearing a wet suit changes your buoyancy and makes the kick "interesting". I'm glad not to be the only one making that observation. Next year's goal for me is to get my breathing down so I can do the crawl most of the way. I go so, so much faster with less effort in the pool with the free stroke/crawl, but can't keep it up since breathing is one of those important things to do.
We did a slightly longer bike ride than the real course too - 14 miles instead of 13-something. Except, (cringing) I took the "high road" instead of the "low road" which we were supposed to take. The route was not marked with arrows because most of the other participants know their way around, and there were lots of other people on their bikes tooling around Lake Washington. I could have sworn I heard the trainer say "Lake Washington Blvd" so I stayed on it even when it went up and up and up these winding roads (which were beautiful and went under picturesque bridges) instead of staying down on Lakeside. In self defense that I am not an idiot, my route was actually was marked with city-signs saying "bike route", and I wasn't the only one that got lost, but I think I was the only one that got lost who didn't turn around and give up. Fortunately I was prepared because of all the training on hills in Seabeck and I've finally learned how to shift. I still get butterflies whenever I have to stop and get on or off the bike, so that is a great motivation for shifting and making the old thighs stick it out when the going get tough. We laughed about it when we met up again - Deb and Karen had waited for me and wondered where I went. It's a standing joke between us that since Karen and Deb are formerly from New Jersey, they were born direction-impaired, and so I'm usually the navigator... well, I'll bet next time they don't trust me as well - ha!
We did the walk-run as a threesome. Deb and Karen were so nice and stuck with their gimpy friend... and we finished it! whooya -- getting into slippers / flip flops afterwards never felt so good! So next week shouldn't be too bad.. it might be harder because of the crowd and the chaos, but we can do it!
Actually it turns out that we may have over trained a little last week, according to the info we got later from tri-turtle coach Lisa, but no harm-no foul; hopefully we didn't do anything stupid, and if we phase down like Lisa says, and conserve our energy, we should be able to finish next week with smiles just like this week. I was literally singing as we rode our bikes back to the swim transition from the bike transition after the practice tri was over, or would have been singing if I could remember more than the first 3 words of any song other than the theme song from "green acres".
There were actually two practice tri's last weekend - one on Saturday with the Kitsap Tri-Babe group that I've been training with and another on Sunday with TSNW. I was going to go to both. No I'm not crazy.
Lisa's Tri-Babe group is who I've done all my training with, and her plans are so well thought out that was a must-attend.
The primary value of the TSNW practice tri was that it was almost exactly in the same location as the event will be next week, and going over to the city afforded us a chance to check out the hotel ahead of time along with the driving route. We weren't sure we were going to "do" that one but we wanted to at least go through the transitions and learn the territory.
As luck have it, I walked too close to a piece of furniture last Monday and did something very, very bad to one of my little toes. I don't know whether it is broken or just badly sprained, but it is still swollen despite eating arnica montana for a couple days. So since I didn't get to work out at all last week except for a session in the pool, there was no way last weekend was going to go as previously planned.
Since Karen and I had plans for Sunday, and we needed to check the hotels to make our final choice, skipping the Tri-Babe practice tri on Saturday gave the toe one more day to heal before attempting to wear shoes. I really think I could have skipped Sunday's practice tri also if I hadn't already made plans with Karen. Deb says she probably wouldn't have gotten up and made the 2-3 hour trip to the city either without us. The city is, well, a city. Lots of traffic, and we're spoiled and not used to it.
First we did a full 1/2 mile swim, which is longer than the 1/3 mile swim for the competition next week... and I'm glad because I ended up doing the backstroke for most of it. I'm afraid I did longer than a half mile too. Thank You to the volunteer guy in a kayak who was nice enough to stop me from heading straight out to the middle of Lake Washington. One of my arms is stronger than the other and I guess I got real confident on the 2nd lap since I had made a beeline for the buoy on the first lap. Coach Lisa says that at the event that the lifeguards get cuter the further out in the lake that you go. We've speculated that is a planned incentive to keep us trucking along.
Deb and Karen both did the crawl and the breast stroke so were done and had time for a break before I even got out of the water. Karen doesn't think she is that fit, but she is, and she is very inspiring. Deb too. Deb swam competitively when she was younger and won races with the breast stroke so she is real comfortable with it even though even she commented that wearing a wet suit changes your buoyancy and makes the kick "interesting". I'm glad not to be the only one making that observation. Next year's goal for me is to get my breathing down so I can do the crawl most of the way. I go so, so much faster with less effort in the pool with the free stroke/crawl, but can't keep it up since breathing is one of those important things to do.
We did a slightly longer bike ride than the real course too - 14 miles instead of 13-something. Except, (cringing) I took the "high road" instead of the "low road" which we were supposed to take. The route was not marked with arrows because most of the other participants know their way around, and there were lots of other people on their bikes tooling around Lake Washington. I could have sworn I heard the trainer say "Lake Washington Blvd" so I stayed on it even when it went up and up and up these winding roads (which were beautiful and went under picturesque bridges) instead of staying down on Lakeside. In self defense that I am not an idiot, my route was actually was marked with city-signs saying "bike route", and I wasn't the only one that got lost, but I think I was the only one that got lost who didn't turn around and give up. Fortunately I was prepared because of all the training on hills in Seabeck and I've finally learned how to shift. I still get butterflies whenever I have to stop and get on or off the bike, so that is a great motivation for shifting and making the old thighs stick it out when the going get tough. We laughed about it when we met up again - Deb and Karen had waited for me and wondered where I went. It's a standing joke between us that since Karen and Deb are formerly from New Jersey, they were born direction-impaired, and so I'm usually the navigator... well, I'll bet next time they don't trust me as well - ha!
We did the walk-run as a threesome. Deb and Karen were so nice and stuck with their gimpy friend... and we finished it! whooya -- getting into slippers / flip flops afterwards never felt so good! So next week shouldn't be too bad.. it might be harder because of the crowd and the chaos, but we can do it!
Actually it turns out that we may have over trained a little last week, according to the info we got later from tri-turtle coach Lisa, but no harm-no foul; hopefully we didn't do anything stupid, and if we phase down like Lisa says, and conserve our energy, we should be able to finish next week with smiles just like this week. I was literally singing as we rode our bikes back to the swim transition from the bike transition after the practice tri was over, or would have been singing if I could remember more than the first 3 words of any song other than the theme song from "green acres".
1 comments:
I must admit, I had all but forgotten the triathlon coming up. If it wasn't for me talking to people unloading gallons and gallons of drinking water at the Lake Washington side of Genesee Park, I wouldn't have remembered.
What a great report on your training Ms. Allen!
You galls are totally, totally amazing. I hope you're eating more than chocolate these days?
For Saturday I wish you all "toi-toi-toi" the thing you tell dancers before a show, since you don't want to say the other thing.
And if you want to eat some hearty Italian food after the tri, the Italian Cafe opposite PCC just west of Seward Park will serve you Maw-maw's best.
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