Jun 1, 2008

One Week.

In one week I will officailly be a triathlete. Holy cow.


I am in the final countdown to my first ever triathlon.


Question - am I the ONLY person who hears the song when they hear the words "FInal Countdown"? Because every time I say those words I hear the song... odd.


This particular triathlon happens to be the longest sprint distance around Michigan, so I feel lucky that I have overtrained my bike and runs.


Yeah me

My race next Sunday is a 800m (half-mile) swim, 20K bike, 5 mile trail run to finish. That is around 18 miles total. My time will be anywhere from 2.5 - 3 hours depending on how the swim goes.


So yeah.


I am nervous of course. But I feel good knowing that I am well trained. Well trained for me at least. To my credit I have trained a LOT and I have grown a LOT in this sport. So yes. I am well trained. Not for speed - defrinitely not - but for finishing strong. And that is my goal. To finish. Strong.


My bike is getting better every time I saddle up - hills seem smaller, my cadence is rising and my speed is picking up. My run is consistent. I have cramped up on my last two runs (except for today's brief 2 miler) and cannot afford that pain in the 5 miels of trails I will be running - so this week is all about potassium consumption and water. My swim is still weak - but I am new to swimming in open water and wetsuits, so no shocker, really.


I am feeling more confident that I can finish the half mile swim, I just know that I will have to breast stroke a little bit when I fatigue. And do you know what? That is absolustely OK! I just want to save my energy for the bike and run - this swim is just to get me to the bike. It is simply a warm up. I just have to remember to swim like I do in the pool - sight every 10 seconds or so, and take my time. The speed will come next year. This year is my year to finish. Next year is my year to race.


This week it is important for me to taper a little (which means to get in a lot less miles to allow my legs and body to go into the race fresh), but to still move forward.


  • MONDAY - Swim
  • TUESDAY - Brick (20 mile bike, 5k run)
  • WEDNESDAY - Swim
  • THURSDAY - Open Water swim (700m), 12.5 mile bike
  • FRIDAY - REST
  • SATURDAY - 20 minute open water swim, 20 minute bike, 20 minute run
  • SUNDAY - Race day!!!
  • MONDAY - Leave for Northern Wisconsin.

All of this training. All of this hard work. Holy cow - I am going to do it!


:)


Well I hope that you had a good weekend!


Take care and keep on running!


})i({ JennFur


PS - I went blonde. :)
Photobucket

Photobucket

8 comments:

Mike said...

Good Luck with the tri ... you're gonna love it! :)

chia said...

You're going to rock this tri :-)!

Great hair!

Marcy said...

You've got this!! ;D ;D ;D

Love the hair!!! Looks awesome!

Doug said...

EE has always done these slightly off lengths for their races.

You will be way faster then 2.5 hours. Come on, two hours, tops!

You'll win it on the bike!

What is going on in Northern Wisconsin?

Oh, I had a great weekend, 35 mile bike Saturday after sleeping in until 10:00, 40k TT on Saturday with my coach and his power meter.

You went blonde (roll eyes), did they come and take away your master's degree :)?

After the tri you ego will grow |--------- this much -----------| more :).

Doug said...

Here is what you will hear when the swim starts :)

http://media.battlestarwiki.org/images/4/48/Condition1.mp3

Doug said...

You know what, I am going to take both of those pictures, print them up in our graphics lab on 11x17 paper on a very nice color printer and put them up in the server room on the wall behind my desk :).

What do you think?

Doug said...

Wow, you have 564 image on photobucket.com, cool, lets see what we can find and send to the color printer :).

Kim said...

i heart the blonde! we do have more fun!!!!!

i cant wait to hear about your tri!! you are going to kick butt!