In Training

Distance: 5.3 miles (longest mileage in 5 weeks!)
Song of the Run: Band on the Run by Wings
The original - back when Sir Paul was just the cute Beatle (sigh)

So I have signed up for a triathlon which takes place on September 11.  Half mile swim, 12-mile bike ride, and 5k run.  I thought training for this would be a good thing to occupy my time as my daughter leaves for college. If I am busy I won't feel her absence as much as if I were unoccupied. Little did I know what I was getting myself in for.

I started this adventure back in May and was making some progress. I ran into a time crunch with my daughter's graduation from high school, which meant visiting in-laws visiting, and then I started working 12-14  hours a day with the Festival. On top of all that I caught pneumonia! So I was out for the count.

My real training started about 3.5 weeks ago.  After being sick it seemed to take forever to just run a mile.  The first week my legs felt like concrete slabs. I was seriously rethinking this whole triathlon thing.  I mean running should be the easiest thing and it definitely was not.

Second week I added biking and swimming.  Still the running thing was not happening.The swim made me feel light as air.  The biking was okay, I have never been a big biker but I went on a couple of easy little rides with my husband.

Third week, my legs finally felt like they were doing what they were supposed to do - Run!  It felt wonderful to have my body back.  So I celebrated by doing a "brick."  I had never heard of this before, but it is a combination of two of the three activities you do in a tri.. so I rode about 15 miles and swam a half mile.  Not too bad.

This past weekend I did another brick - rode 18 miles and ran 3 miles.  Wow did that kick my ass!
So far this week I have finally pushed my run to 5 miles.  Quite a milestone for me anyway.  Hard to believe I once was running 12-13 runs on a regular basis.  For now I am happy where I am at.  This triathlon might just be a possibility after all.