Survived OWS

Today was the 2nd Annual Open Water Swim for DFW Tri Club and my first for both with the group or by myself.  First time to actually be in the lake water with the intention of swimming for sport.  Got there later than I wanted which is sad since I only live less than 6 minutes from the location we were going to meet.  So I get there sign in and go to get my wet suit only to find out that all the ones with sleeves were gone and only sleeveless ones were left.  At first I thought this is going to make this a long day but it ended up being the best thing that happened for me.  Because I got a lot more comfortable with the water and its temperature without the sleeves and that ended up helping me get more comfortable with the water quicker.  But still the open water is completely different that the pool water.  I knew it would be different just not this much different.  Once you are in the water you can barely see more than a few inches away.  It was completely muddy and sight was just thrown out of the equation for the swim.  I did do a lot today.  But what I really saw myself doing because of the murky water was not breathing like I was in the pool or from what I learned even this past Thursday.  I breathed a little but very little.  I do not know if that was due to the water or the temperature of the water or maybe even a little anxiety from everything above.  I think my group was only in the water for about 30 to 45 minutes because they were going over important things to remember when you are swimming during a race plus other tips to help us get better times, where and when to enter the water during a race and many other tips.  It was well worth the time for me to attend.

After the open water swim I went on a 21 mile bike ride.  For the first time I felt good throughout the ride.  I only had one very short period of time when my legs felt weak but outside of that the ride was completely successful.  It was an extremely great ride for me but I know I am still a little slower than all the other riders.  I got passed a couple of time but the speed will come.  Today my main focus was keeping my legs going at a constant pace without going too fast where it would wear me down quicker and not too slow where it would probably wear me out at the end of the ride.  I found myself staying right at that 3:58 to 4:09 per mile pace.  It was very consistent and I was glad to see that my focus on one thing worked for this particular ride.

Today I conquered one more hurdle when it was all said and done.  I got my shock over with in the open water.  I now need to find myself becoming a stronger swimmer so I can find myself swimmer further away from the shore.  I would love to see myself real soon reach that first buoy and conquer yet another wall that is preventing me from achieving all my goals for the triathlons.  But one step at a time.  Learning patience was never a strong part of myself.  I always believe that once I get my mid onto something and I could achieve it immediately.  After all I have always been a quick learner when I am thought from doing something.  I learn from doing.  But even after I learn from doing in the swim it is still not something I am able to just achieve.  It is now patience I must learn in this process.  And who knows that might be something that in itself will benefit me more in my life as well.

Water is my friend

Well I had a swimming lesson on Tuesday and then another one today.  Tuesday was very good for me more because we only got to swim about 1/2 the time due to a class so we worked on my core exercises the rest of the time.  So I got some really good core exercises to do during the week and got a little bit of swimming in as well.  But today it was all swim.  I didn't use the snorkel once during the full hour.  I got more confidence in one hour than I have had the whole time I have been swimming.  Granted that whole time is still only about 2 months.  But hey it still counts.  I for the first time managed to get 25 meters straight without stopping.  And I did that even a few times.  So I am ready for the next few times of practice to work on these steps.  He taught me things I haven't ever tried before and it worked as well.  So while I am still wondering how this will all work for me at The Caveman Sprint Tri when I look down and see the never ending bottom but if I can swim I am thinking I can swim in even those conditions.  But needless to say I am excited that a change is a coming in my swimming game.  It is by far the weakest part of my game but I will be damned if it will not become one of my strongest parts of my game.  I will not allow this to keep me back.  I want this to become something that propels me to higher levels, keeps me in the front of the pack instead of the back and lastly I want people to know that what was meant to be a torn to my side will become the thing that I step over and say what was that...

This weekend will be fun.  Will get my first chance to get some open water experience.  I know I will be with all the other beginners for open water people but I can't wait to break that one and conquer yet another mountain in my life.

St Patrick Tri Sprint Recap

Sunday comes and I am up and ready to go at 5 am.  I get over to the course around 6ish or so in the morning.  Had to wait for them to get ready for the athletes before they would mark us and allow us to find our spots to get setup for the actually race starts.  Get into the pool area and find out that they are starting the swimmers at a pace of one every five seconds.  Okay I am # 685.  So I got a LOT of time to wait until I am in the pool.  Good thing is that while others are in the pool I am able to hit the john.

Finally after only one plus hour of waiting I am next in line to go into the pool.  Got my snorkel and googles on and without fail I get into the water with no worries just trying to get over to the other side.  But that quickly changes as I am now seeing the bottom, seeing other swimmers in front of people that could cause me to stop and zero chance of me just being able to stand up and wait as the water is deeper than the Indian Ocean.  It was so deep I swore I saw an Russian Submarine down there.  Now not slowly but quickly I start forgetting how to breathe under water, my fear of swimming hits me and a full fledge panic attack hits me.  This caused the rest of the swim to be extremely long and very much out of my control as every time I got the courage to start swimming that fear or panic instantly hit me and I was looking for the nearest rope to hold onto.  After what seemed to be days I am out of the pool.  BTW I was not the last person in but I sure as hell was the very last one out.  This by the way will be the first and last time that I will allow my panic attack get to me in a way that I am last out of anything.  I got the pills to take.  Fool me once H2O and shame on you.  Fool me twice and shame on me.  So I will be prepared both with better swimming techniques and the right pills.

Ok what is good about an panic attack you ask?  Well lets just say that leaving the pool and exiting the pool area and walking to my bike in 20 plus winds and freezing temps I felt nothing.  I was completely unaware of the wind and temps because I was still trying to get myself calmed back down to finish the other two parts of this race.

Change and hope unto my bike and rode off.  The wind was so strong that it literally almost push me down on my bike twice if not three times.  And for the life of me I have no clue how no matter what direction I was riding the effin wind was right there in my face.  Seriously how?  Second loop was a little better as I knew what to expect from the strong winds to the hills to the wet spots.  Finish my bike ride only to see must people either already drinking their finishing beer, heading home or doing whatever.  Yet I was just finishing only the second of three sports in this race.  I still had the 5k to run.

Feeling disappointed by that fact I finally did see some runners ahead of me.  Finally proof that I would not finish dead last overall.  So I took off with the determination that I was not going to allow whoever was in front of me to beat me in the run.  After all this is my strong point.  Finally while meaningless due to how long it took me to get out of the pool I was facing people and knowing that I can make up ground and beat them.  Confidence I had on this part of the race.  Time I did not have.

Finish the race, got my medal, my beer and then headed home.  Took something to relax me to hopefully rid myself of the anxiety that I still had from the race.

Final results were:

Swimming 20:56 for 300 meters.  Which will bad was actually one minute shorter than I thought I would have done.

Bike 58:57 for 16 miles and a 12.2 mph pace.  Slower than what I trained at but then again I had the effin wind hitting me face on for the whole 16 miles.  So not too disappointed at it now.

Run 32:42 for 3.1 miles and a 10:33 pace.  A lot slower than I would have liked but again for my second brick I was actually happy with that.  And remembering how my first brick ended up I am very happy.  Because my first brick attempted ended in me feeling like I could throw up from start to finish if I attempted to run any further.  So first brick last a horrible 1 mile.  At least this time it lasted the full 5k distance and that will only get better.

Overall it took my slow ass 2:00:20 to finish everything.  And believe it or not my goal was actually 2 hours and no matter how bad certain segments may have looked for me by me it ended right where I wanted to finish for my first tri.  It just didn't go as planned from start to finish for me because I was expecting more from myself than what I saw myself doing on Sunday.

Now it is back to training for the Caveman in April and hoping and praying that this time my swim will be a lot better.  The good swimmer swam 300 in about 4 minutes and I did it in 21 minutes.  So if I can just get myself down to 10ish minutes I know I can complete for real in the next race.

That is it.  I couldn't post this yesterday because I was still in the effect of feeling extremely anxious and I had thrown out more f-bombs during my bike and run to make even a sailor blush.  I will work on that.  Like I always say I am not perfect no matter how much I believe I can be.  But perfection doesn't just stop with me it continues to my abilities for running, swimming and biking.  And because of that I will have my perfect race soon that I can guarantee anyone here.

30 + 1

Well today I reach new highs for my early cycling career.  I rode with the DFW Tri Club today and my actual first group event other than beginner swimming that I have taken part of with the club.  BTW great people that is for sure in the club.  But then again it is hard to find people who aren't great in the running and tri world.  Just something about people getting out there and doing those events that makes people happy and friendly.  But today I rode with them and while I am still slow compared to the rest of the riders I am thankful for Coach David for him having patience with me as he hung back to ride with my slow ass.  While giving me a bunch of great tips for me going into next weekends tri-sprint race.  While I may still be slow I am also getting more and more comfortable with my bike and finally getting confidence riding it as well.  Today I reach two new highs.  I went 20 miles straight without stopping to rest my legs and overall went 30 miles.  The last 10 miles I did by myself.  I kind of told a little "white lie" and told Coach David that I was only going 20 miles.  But in reality I didn't want to hold him up and let's face it my legs needed me to stop peddling and just stop and rest and I wasn't going to get that with him.  So after a few moments of rest and drinking my ucan  energy drink I was off a different direction to finish those last 10 miles.  It went great and the weather was great as well.

After the ride I got a protein shake, water and went to start my run.  One thing I have learned is that Colleen, Sakina, Nick and a couple of others were ol so right on this next thing.  The transition is so important and so hard.

So I get my protein shake, change into my running gear and parked by the lake.  Started my run and was so sore.  But that ended up being the best part of the run.  About only a 1/2 mile into the run my stomach didn't feel too good.  I was kind of having that feel of if I go any further expect somethings to start exiting the body and quickly too.  I really was not feeling good at all.  This was the first time I have ever done the transition so I expected some issues but never thought it would come basically within eye sight of my car.  So disappointing to me to get sick or have the feeling of getting sick.  I mean I never got sick in training for my two marathons and I hear all the time of people who would throw up and then continue running but I never got to that point in any of my running days including the marathon training and actual marathons at time.  And for the Cowtown I did see a poor girl doing exactly that in the middle of the race.  But I have been a beast at avoiding that.  BUT not today.  Granted 30 miles is almost twice as far as I will actually have to ride in my first two sprint races so maybe tomorrow I will keep my biking at 20 miles or a little less and try the running after that as that would be more the actual race distance for the cycling part of it.

Tomorrow I am first hoping the weather improves as where in the heck did this cold weather come from.  I do not follow the weather but wow this was not something I expected.  

Were are now down to the final few days until the sprint race.  Excited but still so much to do before next Sunday.  Still got to practice my swimming without the snorkel more as my goal is to go into the race without using it.  I would not be disappointed if I did use it but I would not be completely satisfied either if I had to use it.  

Countdown to St Pats Tri Sprint is officially starting tomorrow when it would become T-seven days till my first and not the last tri event.  And my days as only being a runner will officially be over because after that race I can finally call myself a triathlete with goals of doing more and hitting the 70.3 in 2015.  And I can also tell the people who said I couldn't do it or shouldn't do it where to stick their opinions about me and my goals, beliefs and activities going beyond running.  

As Phil Dunphy would say "Bring It"

Just breathe

Had my latest swim lesson and I am starting to see in the future that I might actually be a swimmer.  Although Coach Lyndsi also tried to kill me as well.  Right after we said hello she tells me to swim 200 meters.  And that was a killer for me but I did it.  After that we went between swimming with the snorkel and swimming without it.  I am starting to learn and have the base to learn from when I practice on my own after tonight's lesson.  Tonight we started the process of me getting myself able to breathe without the snorkel.  I am still thinking way to much about it.  It involves a lot for a person who is still less than 2 months into his swimming career.  When to turn your head, what direction to turn your head and what angle do you turn your head.  It is like my head is going to explode.  I get it then I lose it.  I think I am improving then I am drinking pool water.  Coach Lyndsi is so good as a coach.  She had me swim a couple of strokes, breathe, stop and then repeat.  We did that for a little while then we extended it to a couple of strokes to couple of strokes, breathe, couple of more stokes, breathe again and then stop.  We did that in a hour.  I am going to be practicing this all coming week. My goal is to have my decision of whether I am going to use the snorkel or not on the day of the race.  My real goal is to really swim the race whether I am ready or not without the snorkel.  I want this so badly.  It is something I am aiming for and it would be nice that my first race is also my first long swim without the snorkel.

Tuesday I also did my first spin class and it will not be my last one either.  I found it very difficult yet pleasing as well.  I know my legs need one hour of hell at least twice a week through a spin class.  This will only benefit me in the long run.  It and my bike training will help me reach my goal of increasing my speed and distance on the bike.  Plus I would love to see myself finding my distance increase in such a way that come the next Hotter'N Hell Hundred I will be able to do it with my boss. Which is in Wichita Falls which my grand-dad would always say it is the hell hole of all creation or something like that.  So where else is the perfect place for the Hotter'N Hell Hundred.  That is in August I believe.  I have gotten myself up to one 26 mile ride and a bunch of 16 or so mile rides.  So all I need to do is just increase my endurance and distance by say 7 to 10 miles a week and come August I would be ready to take it on.  I am not saying I am going but I am saying that I would like to see myself be able to ride that far if that chance ever did come up.  But I still have no interest in traveling to Wichita Falls though.  Talk about a boring ride there is nothing between Fort Worth and Wichita Falls.  And you do not get to Wichita Falls by accident I tell you that.

My running is going but I will admit it has kind of been put on the back burner this past week.  While resting after the Cowtown I kind of let it slide while trying to improve my other two activities.  Main reason why is because my first two tri-events only requires me to run a 5k.  Heck I can do a 5k while getting out of bed without any warmup.  So that reason is allowing me to let this slide.  I am still going to keep my long runs over the weekends but I might lower my mid week runs to just a couple a week instead of 3 or 4 times during the work week.  Still running at least 6 miles per run so I should still be good there in the end.

This weekend the weather is supposed to be awesome and I cannot wait to have my 4 or more hour workouts both on Saturday and Sunday.  Saturday I am now debating between going to White Rock and riding with the DFW Tri Club there and end with a long run or go to Plano and ride with the DFW Tri Club there as they are doing hill repeats and do my long run there.  I would doubt if I did hill repeats that my long run will be easy that is for sure.  But it might help build my strength even more and possibility even faster as well.

That is it.  Countdown to St. Pats Tri Sprint is heading into less than 7 days.  Come Sunday it will be right at a week till race time.  I am reading articles, training as hard as ever, asking questions to my tri friends and preparing myself for the excitement of that coming day.

What the...

Ironic that I read an article of preparing your mind for the cold water if you can't before a race get a chance to do a pre-race swim.  I was thinking Sunday, oh yeah, I can prepare myself no problem.  How are can it be I mean water being cold is just that cold and you move on.  Well not so fast.  I found out tonight what extremely cold water feels like and how it takes the air out of you as you are swimming.  Holy Cow I thought this is going to be impossible because my body just can't get itself to accept that the water is indeed cold.  So tonight's swim was sponsor by the letters W. T. and F.  Because once my body hit the water the first thing out of my mouth was probably not something you would tell a little child.  Yes I am a sinner and yes when my body hits water that feels like it is in the 40s I can only tell you that this little Christian boy will commit a sin or two.  Deal with it I know I have.  Plus it is not like I really said it out load.

I swam and swam and swam and then realized that I was only swimming a few meters because the cold made my mind go crazy.  I kept thinking I was swimming further than I actually was.  A very good training I guess on this one.  Because now I know what the magazine article meant by you need to prepare yourself for cold temperatures before a race if you can't do a pre-swim first.

Swim overall went decent.  I did get myself into the water and then completely in the water before finally getting myself swimming probably only did 200 meters tonight because in the end the temperature did win out this time around.  Nice time... Oh heck it will probably win out then too.  Let's be honest.  I will be seen wearing a sweatshirt when the temperatures outside reach mid-70s to high-70s because I am so cold natured.  But eventually I will win that battle just probably not now.  Only if I was honest with myself.

The weekend that wasn't

Well this weekend really did not turn out the way I needed it to be.  What I needed was 4 hours of biking, running and swimming on at least one of these two days and neither of them happened for me.  I did get a decent swim in on Friday night and I got a good bike ride in on Saturday as well.  But with church and other things on Saturday my day just didn't work out.  Now with that said I also wouldn't have changed a thing on Saturday either.  Becoming a member of Gateway Church was something very important to me and I wasn't going to delay that process for anything.  And I will also not miss the 4 pm service if I am available and in town.  Using training as an excuse will not work for me when it comes to getting to church on Saturday.  Some things are just more important than training.  And God is it.  Well okay maybe family too.

Sunday well lets not go there.  I went to my coffeehouse Ascension in the morning hoping it would warm up a degree or two when I finally got to White Rock.  And let's just say that didn't happen.  It was still freezing as it was in the morning at the coffeehouse except now I could add in the wind coming off and around the lake.  Put that factor into the mix and you got one hell of a cold day.  My hands were pretty much frozen from the moment I got out of my car until the moment I got back into my car.  The bike ride was horrible and didn't last long.  Anything you cannot feel your fingers is not going to be an enjoyable event.  And this by far wasn't enjoyable.

So here I am less than two weeks away from the sprint and I missed 48 hours of possible training.  Granted I know I can run a 5k in my sleep but what I don't know still is if I can run a 5k after finishing a bike ride of 16 miles.  That was my goal today and now it will have to be my goal next weekend instead.  I know I can ride 16 miles on my bike granted not in my sleep yet but again what I do not know is if I can ride 16 miles after I got out of the pool, wet, pants I put on will be wet and I hate being wet for too long.  So that should be interesting to see.

I did read some great articles on doing your first tri-even and what to expect and what you need to know so you do not make common mistakes.  Those were so great reads over a couple of cups of coffee today.  BTW if you have never been to either Crooked Tree Coffeehouse in Uptown or Ascension in the Design District what are you waiting for.  These are two great places to drink coffee without going to those franchise places like Starbucks.  These are real coffeehouses and you support the local community in the process.

Here's to hoping the rest of this week is profitable for me in my training.