April already?!

Posted on Apr 13, 2010 under Uncategorized | No Comment

TNT’s recommitment date is bearing down – this Friday! This is the last chance for me to wuss out and decide not to do this mean, nasty triathlon after all. Will I change my mind? No!

Should your young(ish) hero really have such brimming confidence? Is it misplaced? Only time will tell. Stay tuned for the continuing adventures…

To bring you up to date, in reverse chronological order, here’s what’s been happening in training.

Yesterday I had a huge — for me — breakthrough in swimming. I swam two – count ‘em TWO – 25m lengths in a row without pausing for an instant. Never been done before in the History of Mike. Hopefully this marks the turning point in the continuing mental woes that mark my swimming career. Before yesterday, I would swim 25m, turn around at the wall, swim 4 more strokes, and then… stop. Or flip onto my back. Stupid brain. Now I need to repeat & expand.

What was the cause of this aquatic breakthrough? Positive thinking and a mantra. I haven’t had negative thinking at the top of my brain, but who knows what darkness lurks beneath? So I spent a few days obsessing about it, imagining swimming as I walk across the parking lot, the usual things that people do. And I borrowed my TNT coach Glen’s mantra that he uses on the bike & run: “I am strong, I am powerful.” Fits okay with the stroke and kept me going. Hooray!

This past weekend, I missed the team brick at Hagg Lake. So pissed. A 22-mile ride over hills and then a 3-mile run! But I was curled up in bed, and then the couch, and then the bed. The tummy ailment that took down Jenn for most of the week & affected Ty & Kian too had finally found me. I’m lucky to have a wife as nice as Jenn. She took the kids out ALL DAY despite being barely (aka not quite) recovered herself so I was able to get better. Training the previous few days was also non-existant as I ran kids around while Jenn was sick. I’m afraid I wasn’t as good of a nurse as Jenn was…

Tuesday a week ago, I went swimmin’ at LA Fitness for the first time. Cap’n Laura from TNT met me there for a little 1:1 coaching. She confirmed that I’m a mental case. My swimming form is not perfect, but is more than good enough. At least it really made me focus on getting my brain straight.

The team training on the day before easter was a blast: trail running! Forty-five minutes uphill and then 30 minutes down through a rainy, muddy, beautiful Forest Park. Like this picture, but muddy. And rainy. And a lot of fun.

The trillium were blooming, and birds were tweeting.

The week earlier was the Women’s Forum ride: a 23-mile ride from McMenamin’s Edgefield to Women’s Forum and then on to Crown Point. That’s 12.5 miles & a couple thousand feet of uphill — nearly ruined me. But it felt so good when I actually made it to the top. And the ride back down was sooo fun. And fast.