Race Report - Indoor Tri #2

Asphalt Green pool.

On Sunday, January 23 I participated in an indoor triathlon, sponsored by Jack Rabbit Sports. This was my second indoor tri, and this one was being held in Asphalt Green, on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. Since my first one, a few weeks ago (on 1/9/11), I had started a swimming class, and therefore was looking forward to a better swim. I also was looking forward to going faster on the bike - I had averaged 30mph on the spin bike (not the equivalent speed as outside) and was hoping that I could just eek out a couple more miles per hour. It was a matter of having the highest cadence rate in order to get the highest mileage. I was not expecting to do very well on the run. I had just run the Manhattan Half Marathon the day before in Central Park (in 14 degree weather no less!) and was fairly tired from that.

That's me in that race picture before the start of the Manhattan Half. That's the pool for the Indoor Tri.

I knew I couldn't pull off a very fast 2o minute run on the treadmill. 'Fast' for me is of course, relative to myself. My fast is fairly slow relative to most other triathletes.

We got a tour of the place, in order to know how to go from the pool thru the locker room to the spin room and then the place where the treadmills were. I was very excited, felt like an earnest student following closely behind the tour guide while everyone else was slacking behind, chatting with eachother.

I set up my mini-transition in my locker. Keep my sneakers with the socks in them, and my outfit in a plastic bag separate from my clothes and coat. After changing into my bathing suit I go out to the pool. Everything changed right then.

The side where we were starting in was on the side where the diving boards were. Hence, the pool was very deep. I got vertigo just looking at the pool's depth, and then when I jumped in I felt I was going down, down, down. I came back up and realized that I hadn't put on my cap and goggles. I usually put those on in the water, because I am usually standing up in the pool. Here I was, floating... It's hard to put a swim cap and goggles on when you are not touching the floor!

So I put the cap on, and then the goggles. No matter how I tried to adjust my goggles, I felt like I looked like a nerdy scientist with coke bottle glasses that were slightly askew and foggy. I tried to make small talk with the guy in the lane next to me. He mentioned that since the pool is big, it has a lot 'more pull' than smaller pools. I didn't know exactly what or how that was, but I figured I'd be able to go faster. Even though the swim is the least important time wise in a triathlon, I've been worried about it and focusing on it in my training these past few weeks.

The countdown starts and off we go! That first length, I feel great. I think about all the drills that I've done to improve my stroke and I go down the length of the pool feeling like I am really swimming. I notice that my lane mate is going faster, so I try to go a little faster. I had been finding her annoying in the locker room, and then in the lane with me - so casual about this tri - 'it'll be a nice 1 hour workout'. She was so slow getting ready, following the tour guide around, not taking it as seriously as I was, and then here she was going faster than me.

Needless to say, that was the beginning of the end. Actually, it was just plain the end. I had gone out too fast, and I could no longer breathe. I usually like to take 3 strokes and then breathe; I pride myself on being able to alternate sides - breathing to the right, and then breathing to the left. Now, I was breathing so hard, that I had to breathe, stroke, breathe, stroke. But even that was not fast enough for how out of breath I was. I kept trying to do this, but as I progressed without being able to catch my breath, the worse my swim stroke got. My newly refined swim stroke just fell apart and I was now swimming like a drowning fish. Flailing arms, flailing head, mouth in the shape of an 'o'. I noticed the wife of someone that was there in the triathlon, videotaping me instead of her husband. I was still so out of breath that I could not tolerate having my head even one second in the water, so I turned on my back. I was so downtrodden at this point, that I couldn't really do the back stroke, and so I just kicked and had my arms to the sides. Meanwhile, I was still breathing very fast and hard, and coughing all the while. I told myself that I was done and had the thought to get to the end of the pool and just leave. But then I started thinking about all the race reports that I have read, and motivational ironman videos that I have seen, and I had the thought to 'just finish'. So I continued a couple more lengths of the pool. The guy that was watching my lane was very encouraging, yelling 'you're doing great!' each time I got by him. Even though I knew it wasn't true, as I kicked my way away from him one more time, it felt good that he was saying this.

The 10 minutes were up, finished 10 lengths of the pool and I was now on my way back to the locker room to change into my tri suit. I already had my plan. Finish. I did the spinning bike and I averaged 25mph on the odometer, not the 32mph that I had hoped for. My speed was slow enough to have the coordinator come up to me to tell me there is no extra credit for resistance on the bike - meaning I should be spinning a lot faster. I was still coughing. I finished my Gatorade in the first 15 minutes, and just kept pedaling in a daze until the 30 minutes were up. We then went to the treadmills. I thought maybe I could run really slowly, so I started out at 4.5 mph, but right away my heart rate went up and I felt I couldn't breathe, so I went back down to 3.3 mph and kept it at that for the 20 minutes of the 'run'. I was so wiped out, that I just put my clothes on over my tri outfit and left the building.

Walking up the slight hill to where my car was parked, I felt the tightness in my chest and was totally out of breath. I had to walk really slowly to my car, and had visions of going to the ER with a heart attack. I sat in the car and cried on the phone to my partner who said it was my asthma and to come home. I got home and took two puffs, no, actually 3 puffs of the asthma pump and slowly started to feel better. No heart attack.

Results: there were a total of 23 women in the race, I came in dead last. I was surprised to see however, that I was not last in the swim, nor was I last in the bicycling. (second to last, but not last!) I was last, though, in the running. I swam a total of 10 lengths of the pool; 12.35 miles biking, and 1.13 miles running. Like my partner said, it can only get better.

Another Day in the Journey

Physical: This morning I ran 6 miles; I had two layers of pants; two shirts plus my jacket; balaclava, hat and gloves. It was a very slow run (>12mm), but I was happy that I did it. Yesterday I was able to swim despite being asked by my boss at the last minute to go with her to a meeting in the city. I googled how to get to the pool from this meeting and was able to do my 30 minute swim ( a little faster than Monday I might add!)

Mental: I was happy with the fact that I had gone out to run. The most difficult part for me is actually leaving the house. The first part of the run I spent the time ruminating about the fact that I felt so slow. I also spent time changing and re-changing my plan for the run as well as for the week. This is something that I have struggled with in the past - making a plan and then not following thru: either not going out to exercise or pushing past what I'm ready to do because I feel strong at the time. More shall be revealed.

-- lemmefineout - Brooklyn

Back on track - for today

With my trainer in the apt, I am now able to ride my bicycle in the evening and I don't have to worry about the weather. This past Tuesday I had to miss my Computrainer class because there was freezing snow/rain on the ground. I felt insecure in the morning, asking myself whether this was a 'reason' or an 'excuse'. I did get on my trainer tho, that morning for 20 minutes and then 30 minutes in the evening. This morning I did my Ana Caban 'express workout' - a Pilates/core workout that lasts slightly less than 20 minutes.
Showing up for myself in a daily basis is difficult. It's difficult because my stinkin' thinkin' gets in the way. My thinking always wants to do more than what I can do at a particular point in time - so 20 minutes is not good enough, and so then I don't do it at all. I put 'for today' in the title after 'back on track' in order to remind myself that it is only one day at a time and there will always be ebbs and flows in my training

-- lemmefineout - Brooklyn

My plan for this week

Monday: run on treadmill in the morning
swim class at 6:30pm

Tuesday: computrainer bicycle class
Wednesday: swim
I signed up for a nutrition workshop in the evening
Thursday am: run 5-6 miles
pm: bike?
Friday: swim
Saturday: Manhattan Half Marathon 13.1 miles
Sunday: indoor tri at Asphalt Green: 10" swim; 30" bike and 20" run

Crossroads

My training is falling apart. I am out of money and it's way too cold to bicycle around the park. I've been running and swimming, but have not been able to pull it together for the biking. I am thinking about buying some bicycle rollers but am hesitating. I recently folded my credit cards to make them unusable, but didn't destroy them or throw them out. I could still use them for online purchasing...


Really, my training is not falling apart. I definitely would like to ride more , but the fact is that the amount of hours that I have spent exercising the past 2 weeks is much greater than the first 2 weeks of December - I now have, in fact, the same number of activities as of 1/15, that I did for the entire month of December.

So, right now, I'm feeling like a loser, or at least quite uncertain about myself. On the one hand, I understand that there are ebbs and flows in training. On the other hand, I know that I can make excuses for myself and one down day becomes weeks. This definitely is a character flaw of mine.

At the beginning of this month, I became overwhelmed at the thought of my training schedule. I couldn't figure out how to make it. I was helped a little when I bought a training log, where I could hand write my training, in addition to the website/iphone logs that I use (Ontri and Runkeeper). I have since signed up for a couple of workshops thru the triathlon group that I belong to - one on nutrition this coming week, and another on 'how to plan your season' - scheduled for next month in February.

My aim for right now is to keep on moving forward. However imperfectly I may have done my training up until now, remorse will not help me move forward. I just need to keep looking ahead. Keep an open mind and learn from my mistakes and be open to learn from others.

Am I a Lemming?

Last night, I went to my first swimming class, coordinated thru Jack Rabbit Sports store. It was a very good class; there were excellent directions on how to get to the pool - except they failed to mention one little detail - that it was in the projects. I walked down Delancey Street, checking and rechecking my email on my phone, making sure that I was going the right way. When I saw the projects looming ahead of me, I located the address with my GPS because something did not seem right about heading into the projects. It was very odd to experience this - a lone woman, walking thru the projects looking for a pool. Anyway, being a city girl and very familiar with 'bad' neighborhoods, it was fine and I got to the pool along with probably 15 to 20 other people.

Why do I think I'm a lemming? Well, the reason is that the pool was brackish - it smelled like stale, old water (the closest smell I can think of is the water you throw out from a flower vase way after the flowers have died) and there was a tiny whirlpool of weird looking foam in one corner of the pool and I just jumped right in. Who am I to make a fuss? I'm new. I don't know. Everyone else is jumping in...

The class was good, I feel I learned a lot in just this one class. Although I didn't say anything at the time, I did write an email to the powers that be this morning. So I suppose I'm only a part time lemming.

Indoor Triathlon

Today I participated in an indoor triathlon sponsored by Jack Rabbit Sports, at the McBurney Y in Manhattan. The tri consisted of 10 minutes swimming; 30 minutes biking and 20 minutes running. When I went out swimming, I went out very fast and quickly had to slow down. I ended up swimming 15 lengths. Then during the cycling, we were on spinning bikes which counted the distance based on cadence, so I was spinning that bike!! I don't think I've ever spun so fast. The run was slower than I would have liked, but I've been having a tense right calf, so I didn't want to push too too much, although it was hard to hold back.

I'm sort of having strange emotions about this tri - both before and afterwards. Beforehand, I wasn't as excited as I would have expected to be. I was also thinking 'it's only a one hour workout' - therefore, not that strenuous. Then afterwards, it turns out it was pretty strenuous, and fun. But I left feeling - why am I doing this? Why am I pushing myself so hard to swim, bike, run? Suddenly I'm feeling fairly detached from the whole idea of triathloning. But then I think - what's the alternative? Play Farmville?

I like the fact that I was able to do this event today; I like the fact that I am getting stronger as I train and like the idea that I am becoming physically fitter. These activities, this lifestyle, is what I have always wanted to be like. It seems that now I have 'cold feet'; I can't 'commit'. I'm not sure exactly what I'm distancing myself from... I suppose more shall be revealed in due time.

Tomorrow I will begin a swimming class. Looking forward to it - I've never taken a swimming class except maybe as a child. I'm hoping to learn how to swim faster/better.

First Time not Last

Physical:
I did my computrainer class Tuesday morning. Slightly over 1 hour of non- stop bicycling. Since it is a new session, there were a couple of guys that have not ridden in a while. I was able to go faster than one of these guys and I felt great! I did 16 miles.

Mental: i couldn't sleep; it was 31 degrees outside; the streets are still recovering from the snowstorm. I was apprehensive about going out in the cold and afraid of how the streets would be. I had to plow through those thoughts and proceed out the door. I had prepared the night before to wear my new tri outfit; however I was feeling insecure of how I look in it. I ended up leaving my short sleeve, looser top on during the class, over my skimpy tri top. I was able to venture into wearing my tri shorts despite my feelings about my legs. My plan is to do arm weights and my Ana Caban core pilates workout to improve my 'physique'. It's hard to believe right now that I could get to look better but I suppose I will try. It almost seems like it would be easier to remain insecure and do nothing. Trying to do something about the fact that I feel/am flabby is sort of strange. It sort of runs counter to 'accepting yourself as you are' - but not really. I have to think about that some more.

-- lemmefineout - Brooklyn

Fear

Today, I'm due to swim. I have a fear that I will not follow through. For some reason I will not be able to make it and thus, ruin my training. This is not an unfounded fear, as there have been plenty of times over the years where I resolve to do something and promptly forget or fail to follow through despite remembering. I also know, of course, that one missed swim will not really ruin anything. The problem however, as with eating (i also have this problem), I can say 'one doughnut won't hurt'; but that ends up becoming a series of donuts; and missing a workout becomes a series of missed events.

I recently read something about 'hope' and 'hopelessness'. The writer spoke about the need to eliminate 'hope' because it is in the future and does not involve any action. It would be better to remain in the present focusing on the 'next step' rather what could or should happen.

-- lemmefineout - Brooklyn

My first half mile swim

It's been a while since I've posted here. To be honest, I even forgot that I had started this blog, although I did not forget the HIM! I have been running and biking; the bitter winter cold winter started earlier this year and so December was pretty tough. I signed up for a weekly Computrainer class - Computrainer is like a treadmill for bicycling - you use your own bike and are connected to a computer that then controls the steepness of the hills, and monitors your speed. I've gone every week except for 2 times. It's a killer class and the screen shows each class participant and shows who's in the 'lead'. I always come in last; and I was only able to finish the whole course once in a little over an hour. The class is from 6am - 7am. Despite my being last, and it being very difficult, I figure it can only help me get better.

So today, I swam 1/2 a mile. I became a member of the Bedford Street/ Metropolitan pool in October or November, but only swam once after that. Now that we hit the new year, I am committed to including swimming into my training mix. My swim lasted approximately 33 minutes. I did keep on losing count of the laps, so I may have swam more, but it was at least 1/2 mile. Looking at the 'swim pace chart' that I got from Tri-newbies online, I am 'off the charts' in terms of speed - in other words - very slow. My plan is to swim 3 times a week - Monday, Wednesday and Fridays. Let's see....