Training Update

Since the semester ended and I came home for the summer I've been making the switch to triathlon training. I was a little hesitant about jumping right back into training and even more hesitant about this whole triathlon thing. I tried to get myself excited about it but it just wasn't happening. Not to mention my running for a few weeks was pretty nonexistent and when I did run it was just terrible. Although I swam competitively for 10 years, I don't always love swimming now and then there's biking. Oh, biking. Biking does not come naturally for me at all. I've always known how to ride a bike but besides the basics I have very limited knowledge. Couple all this together and you get one uncoordinated and unmotivated triathlete.

Things have been starting to get better during the last week or so. I was riding and swimming consistently and even started strength training again. Running was still the problem though. Friday night I needed to get a run in and decided to head to a local park to do some trail running. Trail running = no pressure to go fast. This was not an easy run but I felt pretty good. There were a few times I had to walk because the trail got too technical but in general I felt much better than I had been feeling during runs. And I more than made up for the lack of hills I've been running. I'm pretty sure I ran straight uphill for the last half of my run.

Saturday marked another turning point for me. I finally took my road bike outside for a ride. I've ridden it plenty of times on the trainer and had been riding my hybrid until I could bring my road bike back home. HOLYOMG what a difference! I wanted to take the bike out for the first time with my boyfriend since he bikes pretty regularly and would be able to help/answer the millions of questions I had. We drove up to Pinchot State Park, about 25 minutes away, to ride somewhere I felt comfortable. Although there are some decent hills, there are generally not many cars and a wide shoulder making me feel a lot safer.

I should've probably mentioned that biking kind of scares the crap out of me. I have no idea why but it does. Once we got there we rode around the parking lot for a few minutes and then headed out. I couldn't believe how much faster I was going. Especially on the downhills, which still terrified me. And the uphills, which normally would destroy me were not nearly as bad. By the end of the ride (which was only a short 10 miles) I actually felt comfortable on the bike. Now all I want to do is ride! As my boyfriend says, I got bit by the biking bug.

Back when I got my bike. I'm pretty much 

obsessed with it now

I am around 4 weeks out from my first race of the season and am really excited to get to work and see what I can do. I'm still not entirely sure which races I'm doing this summer but I've definitely decided on the York YWCA Women's Sprint Triathlon on June 30. I will most likely do the Culpepper International on August 3 but am not completely sold yet. I also just discovered a small sprint triathlon about 20 minutes away the weekend before the Women's Sprint. I might do both but do the first one as more of practice. The water will be 67-69 and I don't have a wetsuit so that could be a deciding factor.