Biking

I went for 5 miles on the bike today. I could have gone more, but I went without water and my wrists were killing me. I actually felt like I could have done another 5, which is a good thing. That means that next week I will be able to 10 miles, no problem. I need to put an arm leaning bar on the bike, cause riding kills my wrists. I guess I lean too much on my hands, but I'm not sure what else I am supposed to do. You would not believe how chicken I am when it comes to riding a bike. I hate going fast down hills and will put the brakes on. I'm scared I'll hit a hole and fall over. And I'm terrified that someone is going to run me over with their car. So all of these make for such an enjoyable ride:) At least where I ride there is a bike lane and people are used to the bikes, so they pay attention and it's pretty safe. Maybe by the time the race is here, I'll be over all my stupid fears:) My butt still hasn't gotten used to the seat, I think I may need to get some actual bike shorts, you know, the ones with gel pads, or a seat that has gel in it. Something has to be done or I'm never going to make it 11 miles.

Running with the dog

We now have a Great Dane that I can use as a running partner. He's great. He loves being outside, and actually has started to enjoy going for a run. There are just a few problems with using him as a running partner. One would be his being out of shape. The girl we got him from was not an exercise person, her version was a walk around the block. So, while he's getting better, I still don't want to run him a full 2 miles yet. Needless to say this may put a crimp in my running schedule. But I think I can work with it. Another problem is his dislike of other large dogs. He's the sweetest dog in the world, lets the kids crawl all over him, is really lovey dovey, but show him another dog and he turns into an idiot. I run at the nearby park and people walk their dogs there all the time, all day long. So there is seldom a time when there isn't an encounter. Just this morning we were running and someone with a Golden Retriever was coming the other way. Oy, what a pain. Luckily he has a choke collar on him and he listens pretty well. Does anyone have any idea what it's like to stop 130 pounds of dog. I'm just hoping that the chain doesn't pop one of these days when he's ready to attack someone. I must say though, he's getting better. I don't have to fight with him near as much as I did when we first started running. He's nothing like my Yellow Lab that would run right next to me and wouldn't leave that spot, unless he spotted a deer or a squirrel, and then he didn't really try to go very far. I'm hoping that as I increase my distance Riddick will be able to go with me, so I won't get too bored. Since the rest of the people training for this thing seem to be otherwise occupied when I want to run.

Getting started

I've decided that I need to document the trials of training for this triathlon I signed up for. What the heck was I thinking? Somewhere near the beginning of May a few women from our ward/church decided that they were going to be doing a triathlon at the end of August. So we have all summer to train. I said, "Sure, I'd love to try that!" I've never tried anything that crazy before. For the past couple of years there has been a group from our ward that does the triathlon at the YMCA. It's not too strenuous and it's usually pretty fun, from what I've heard. It's always been on a weekend when we have had plans and I haven't been able to go. So I feel at a distinct disadvantage since I have no idea what I am getting myself into. We'll see how things progress. The race is a 330 yd swim, 11 Mile bike, and a 5K run. The running and biking are not going to be a problem. i already run at least 6 miles a week already. Granted, they are usually in 2 mile intervals, but pushing it up to 3.5 isn't going to be too difficult. The bike riding is harder than I thought it was going to be, I must admit. But, it's not going to be as hard as the swimming. I'm up to 5 miles on the bike. A few of the reasons that I have only gotten this far are; 1) I'm not as familiar with the bike as I'd like to be, it doesn't shift when I want it to, to the gear I want it to. It can be a real pain. 2) While I am athletic, I haven't ridden a bike for any length of distance consistantly, um, lets say never, shall we?! Bike riding WAS just a fun thing to do with the hubby, yeah, not anymore. And reason 3) My butt can't handle the sudden increase in bike sitting time. Can I just say OUCH?! But I'm getting used to it, so I'm hoping that by next week I can be up to 10 miles at a time. As for the swimming, well, I live in a cold place and it just now got up to 75 for 5 days in row. Yeah, not cool. I don't have a membership to the YMCA, so that won't work. So I must wait for the neighberhood pool to open. It will open in 2 weeks. We are getting a family pass, which my step daughters think is great. We'll see, when we go to the pool for the 4th week in a row. They tend to spend a lot of their pool time playing in the grass under the trees, which I really don't understand. But, eh, whatever makes them happy. The swimming part really is going to be the death of me. I used to coach D1 basketball and everywhere we went, well there was a pool in the hotel. So I would swim laps. Yeah, that was 3 years ago. I haven't done any laps in that amount of time. We've taken the kids to the pool, but that really doesn't count, since we don't actually swim! So I can honestly say it's been 3 years since I have been in any kind of swimming shape. oh, this is going to be fun.