Pocket Pigs

asthma

I haven't been writing about triathlon training since the Hawk Island Triathlon because there hasn't been any training since the race. When I finished the race I was wheezing and coughing quite a bit, but I didn't think much of it since I've felt like that after running in the past. I figured it was just more of the same and it would pass pretty quickly. Wrong. The day after the race I was still having a hard time breathing, so I called my dad's allergy/asthma doctor to see if I could get in. They were able to squeeze me in that afternoon, so I hopped in the car and headed down to Ann Arbor to find out what was going on. When the doctor listened to my breathing she asked how I was able to go to work that day. Not a good sign. She had me do a breathing treatment while I was there, but I was still wheezing after that. She gave me some steroids and an inhaler to take home. She said I should avoid exercise for a few days until the steroids could get my breathing under control. Unfortunately the steroids and inhaler didn't do the trick. Sunday night I laid in bed until after 2:00 am feeling like I couldn't breathe. I finally fell asleep, but I didn't sleep well. I called the doctor Monday morning and they said I should come in to get checked out again. I didn't want to drive to Ann Arbor again, so I went to the urgent care in Lansing. The doctor said I had a slight wheeze and she gave me another breathing treatment. She also wanted to do a chest x-ray just to make sure there wasn't anything else going on. The x-ray was clear, so she gave me a new steroid inhaler. This one seems to be doing the trick. I haven't had any problems since then and I'm feeling pretty good again. I'm scheduled to go back to the doctor in Ann Arbor for a breathing test to officially diagnose my asthma and to get a full allergy test (skin pricks and all). I'm hoping that I'll be able to get this under control so I can start training again. I was thinking about running a 5k later this month, but I don't see that happening since I haven't been able to run for almost 2 weeks. Mandi's dad is bringing her bike over tomorrow so we'll be able to start riding together and I think I'm going to try to join the Playmakers team ride on Sunday.

1:42:39

I'm officially a triathlete! I finished the Hawk Island Triathlon in 1:42:39, good enough for dead last in my age group and 590th out of 700. I did the swim in 15 minutes, the bike in 40, and the run in 38. My transition from the swim to the bike was kind of slow (5 minutes), but my transition from bike to run was much better (2 minutes). I ended up doing most of the swim on my back. The water was a little cold (~65 degrees) and I had a hard time catching my breath. I felt pretty good on the bike, other than the sore butt. My new tri shorts don't have as much padding as my regular shorts so I got a little sore around 6 miles. I felt pretty good about the run. I walked about 12 minutes of the 38. I'm a little sore right now and I have a feeling I'll be hurting pretty bad tomorrow. I had a great cheering section. My parents joined Mandi and Nicole and Megan were there to cheer on a few people. Plus Tina was there as a volunteer and cheered me as I came out of the water. And the coaches from Team Playmakers cheered us on and there were volunteers all along the route cheering people on. Overall I feel great and I loved the race!

swim progress

Even though I haven't been working out as much as I probably should, I think I'm making progress in the pool. I only swam 1 day last week (forgot my stuff on Thursday and was recovering from a bachelor party on Saturday). This week I made it to the pool both Tuesday and Thursday. On Tuesday I did 7 lengths of the pool, 1 more than I had been doing. Granted, 2 of those lengths were with the kickboard and I still had to rest at each end of the pool, but I still consider it progress. Today the pool was busier than normal and I had to share a lane with someone. I didn't mind sharing space, it just made the water a little rougher than normal. I suppose that's good practice for race day when there will be lots of people in the water and lots of wave. I started with 2 lengths without a break and then did 4 more lengths with breaks at each end. I struggled toward the end of a couple of those, but overall it felt good. Sadly I don't think I'll be able to swim on Saturday because I have an awards thing to go to and then we're heading up to Frankenmuth. I also need to get in some more running. My last run was up to 10 minutes of running with a 5 minute warm-up walk and a 5 minute cool-down walk. I felt pretty good after that. I think if I can start running more consistently I'll be able to improve pretty quickly. I'm also hoping that the weather has left the cold crappiness behind so I can get on the bike more. I want to ride with the group rides for the tri club. Sadly I misplaced my bike rack so I won't be able to join them until I find it.

training hiccup

I kind of fell off the training wagon this weekend. Friday was my rest day, so that was planned. I was planning to swim on Saturday and maybe run. Neither happened. One of the student groups I advise sponsored a service project on Saturday, so I spent the morning/early afternoon spreading mulch in Lansing parks. By the time we were finished I was beat, so no swim or run. Then Mandi and I went out to watch the game Saturday night. I ate a bit too much and drank a little too much beer, but it was worth it. Sunday I spent the day cleaning the house and working on projects. I really should have hopped on the bike for a bit, but it didn't happen. And I'm not sure I'll get in a workout today either. I didn't get up early enough to get on the bike before work and it snowed a bunch so I don't see myself running tonight. Not to mention we're going to dinner before heading over to the Breslin to watch the game tonight.

I didn't waste my rest day though. The grad student in our office is a swimmer, so I talked to her about some training ideas. She explained to me the kick boards and the other flotation thing that holds up your legs so you can focus on your arms. I'll be spending a good chunk of my pool time focusing on drills using the kick board and the floaty things so I can improve my stroke and get used to keeping my head under water during the stroke.

finding a plan

I've been thinking a lot about my training plan. Like I said earlier, I don't want to go at this without some sort of plan. But I'm also a beginner and the training plans floating around the internet don't really work for me. They all assume a higher run or swim ability that I don't have. So last night I started a draft training schedule so I can make sure to get in enough swim and run workouts. I'm really not as worried about the bike portion of the event. A 10-mile ride isn't that hard for me and I know I'll be able to get in enough rides before May 31 that it won't be an issue. Plus if it warms up I'll be able to bike to work a couple times a week. The swim on the other hand will be a real challenge. After Saturday's swim I realized that I have a lot of work to do before I'll be able to swim 1/4 mile with confidence. I swam again yesterday during my lunch. I was able to swim about the same amount (6 lengths with breaks after each length). The good thing was that I could lift my arms afterward - something I couldn't do on Saturday. My plan is to focus on the same distance until I can do it without stopping for breaks. Hopefully this won't take too long. After that I can start adding distance until I get up to at least 16 lengths without stopping. I plan to swim 3 days a week - during lunch on Tuesdays and Thursdays and Saturday afternoons. I also need to run at least 3 days a week, if not 4. And I want to ride 3 days a week. And Friday is a rest day with no workouts. For those of you keeping score, that gives me 9-10 workouts in 6 days. That's several days with 2 workouts. If I don't get skinny doing all of this there is something wrong with me. Tonight I'm hoping to go for a walk with Mandi and Chester followed by a run. Oh yeah, I bought an iPod shuffle today to keep me entertained while I'm running.

first swim

I survived my first swim. The pool wasn't too busy - I didn't have to wait for a lane and there was nobody in the locker room. I managed to swim 6 lengths of the pool in about 15 minutes, including resting at the end of each length. My first time down the pool was a little rough. I took in a little water while trying to take a breath and had to stop for a second to stop coughing. By the time I made it to the end of the pool on the sixth length I felt like my arms were about to fall off. I even had a hard time holding the steering wheel my arms were so tired. Now that I've been home about an hour they're feeling much better. I did some math and I need to be able to swim 16 lengths of the pool without stopping to be able to finish the 1/4 mile swim. This is going to be tougher than I thought. I need to work on my form so I can breathe better and not inhale water. Now that I've tried out the pool I feel comfortable going during lunch during the week. I'm thinking Tuesday will be my first chance to swim again.

riding the river trail

Yesterday was an amazing day. I took the day off to balance out some extra hours I had worked earlier in the month. I spent the morning working around the house and then ran some errands. One of my errands was to my local bike shop because I heard they had a sale on bikes and I thought they might have other stuff on sale too. They didn't have too many other things on sale, but I did pick up a pair of sweet sunglasses. Even on sale they were probably more expensive than I would have liked, but they're freakin sweet. During my errands I realized it was a beautiful day and I needed to get my bike out. I got home from the bike shop and went for a 10 mile ride on the river trail. The ride out to campus was great - legs felt good, breeze was at my back, I was moving pretty fast. The ride back was a little tougher - legs started to get heavy, riding into the breeze, much slower. Still, I loved it. Sadly the weather is turning to crap again and I don't see myself getting out on the road again soon. I get so bored riding on the trainer in the basement. My workouts tend to only be 20 minutes - not because I get tired or sore, but because I get bored and can't take it any longer. I even set up my old TV and DVD player so I can watch movies. After my ride I met my friend Larry for dinner and beer at Leo's Outpost on Pennsylvania. They have some great cheese bread. After dinner we were going to head downtown for more drinking and hopefully live music, but we decided to go bowling instead. Mandi and her friend Kim met us there later. I bowled like crap, but I had fun and that's what matters. Today I'm off to the pool for my first swim. I'm a little apprehensive. I don't want to look like an idiot. But that's never stopped me from doing things before.

first run

Last night I went out for my first run. Well not my first run ever. I've tried to get into running in the past. But it was my first run in the quest to survive the Hawk Island Triathlon. When I left work yesterday I realized that it was too nice of an evening to waste on my trainer in the basement. I decided to either go for a walk with Mandi and Chester followed by some time on the trainer or take Chester for a run. I ended up taking Chester for a run. I managed to run for 7 minutes before I decided not to push it any longer. The first 4 1/2 minutes were pretty easy, but after that my shins started to hurt and it was harder for me to breathe. When I got home Mandi convinced me to get on the bike for a few minutes to get the workout up to half an hour total (including walking before/after the run). My time on the bike was pretty good. My legs were a little stiff at the beginning, but by the end I was feeling pretty good. I thought for sure I was going to be sore this morning. Thankfully I'm not feeling it yet. Tonight we're playing floor hockey with friends, so no official triathlon workout.

getting organized

I feel like I haven't really done much yet this week to start getting ready for Hawk Island. In fact, all I've done so far is spend some time on the trainer Monday night. Tuesday was a wash because I had a work function until 8:30. In theory I could be working out in the morning, but I've been having a real hard time getting up early enough to make it to work, let alone early enough to work out. I'm hoping to get on the trainer again tonight. Read: I need to get on the trainer because I haven't been eating all that great lately. I also need to spend some time getting myself organized for the training ahead. Since I'm a bit out of shape and I don't really have a history of running, I'm thinking about using a couch-to-5k program to prepare for the run portion. But I also feel like that might be a little too slow and I'll want to jump the gun on the training schedule. I'll probably end up with some sort of hybrid between the schedule Playmakers recommends and the couch-to-5k schedule. I also need to get myself in the pool. I'm hoping that I'll be able to swim during my lunch hour at least once a week (plus the group swim on Tuesday nights and maybe a weekend swim). Before I start swimming at lunch I want to go to the pool once on the weekend just to get a feel for everything, but before I can do that I need to get myself some goggles. I don't want to jump into the training all haphazard, but at the same time I don't want to waste valuable training days by over-planning. So much to think about.

triathlon training

I've thought about this before and never really followed through on it. But now I have money riding on the decision. For the past few weeks I've been dedicated to losing weight (tracking calories, gave up eating lunch out for Lent, exercising more) and I'm feeling great. I want to keep the trend going and kick the spare tire around my waist to the curb. I saw a blog post on Kick Asphalt about a triathlon training group being formed by a local running store. I went to the info meeting last night and signed up for the Playmakers Triathlon Team. Then this morning I took my commitment one step further and registered for the Hawk Island Triathlon on May 31. That gives me 10 weeks to whip myself into shape. My goal is to finish the race. I don't care if I have to walk part of the run, I just want to cross the finish line. For me that means getting my swimming skills up to par. I grew up with a pool in the backyard, so I know how to swim (more or less). I just don't know that I can swim 1/4 mile in open water. I learned a few weeks ago that as a staff member I can use the indoor pools on campus for free, so I have a place to train. And the team has access to the Mason Aquatic Center on Tuesday nights and there will be coaches on site to help with technique. The team also has group rides on Thursday nights and Sunday mornings and group runs on Saturday mornings. I'm really excited about this and I hope I can keep up the enthusiasm for the the next 2 1/2 months.