OK, so it is officially 19 days until the Olympic distance Triathlon here on Kwaj known as The Rustman (a play on words referring to Ironman... on Kwaj everything rusts... hence Rustman). I started training in January, but as you can see, took a month off to travel in New Zealand. I hiked and did an occasional run, but coming home and getting in the water showed me how much I had lost in that month. Hopefully I will be ready in time! The Rustman is an Olympic distance tri, that is: 1K swim, 42K bike and 10K run.
April 30th. Start time 4:00pm. Just thinking this makes my stomach flip. Lately I have been feeling the nerves of a first timer. The sheer unknown and inexperience is what stresses me a bit. Also the fact that I am inherently competitive and don't like to "not do well".
My roomate is also racing this year. Last year was her first triathlon and she did quite well. This year she has an indepth training schedule with "bricks", intervals, rest days etc... I am not quite as organized. I run 2-3 mile 3-4x a week all year long, so my running is fairly consistant. I traded my roomate for her racing bike (my 8'6" sufboard for her bike. I have a 9'0" board and a 7'6" board and rarely use my 8'6" board so it was a good trade).
I finally got on the bike the other day. It was more fun than I expected. I went 4 laps around the airstrip (the race is 6 laps) and my lap time was approximately 12.5 - 13 minutes. Each lap is about 4miles. My bike racing friend said that was a decent time, so that makes me feel better. Then the swim. hummm... I can swim, have been doing it my whole life. Competitive swimming though is going to be tough. Today I went out and did 1K (the actual race route) in 24 minutes. I am afraid on race day I am going to start the swim too fast and burn out. Steady pace. People have told me "no one wins a triathlon in the swim" so no matter how late I get out of the water, I might still have a chance to make up time on the bike and run.
So, I'll try to keep you posted on the rest of my training. I am trying to just alternate days and every few days (days off from work) do two events such as swim/run or bike/run. I am on night shift now, so mostly my workouts on workdays have to be single events or I will be exhausted for a 12 hr night shift.
Yesterday: Run 3 miles
Today: Swim 1K
Tomorrow: day off to Scuba dive (no exertion after diving... )
2 comments:
I like seeing your training schedule. If I ever decide to Blog, I'll probably do the same... although right now I'm training for "nothing in particular." Maybe another marathon in December or whenever it cools off here. Care to join me?
Anyhow, don't worry too much about the competition. You'll probably surprise yourself at how well you do!
Go girl! Everyone likes to win, but just training and competing in a triatholon is laudable. You will probably suprise yourself with how well you do!
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