Friday, August 17, 2007

Feeling Good

What a day yesterday was! I am proud to report that I ran for the first time in 3 weeks, and not only did it not hurt (that much) during my run, but I also felt like I had plenty of gas in the tank! Woohoo!!!

So, let's go back to the beginning. It's a beautiful late evening at the beach. The smell of charcoal wafting through the air at the fire pits, Divas squeezing into their wetsuits, and a bevy of different colored-swim caps representing a multitude of triathlon training groups entering the water. The children playing in the surf are in awe: "Are you really swimming out to the buoy? That is SO cool!" (It's crazy, little girl, not cool, so don't even think about it in your cute little pink tankini) Coach tells us to partner up, so I choose ??? (can't believe I can't remember her name!), who I've never formally met before and have no idea how fast she can swim. We're supposed to do our 1/2 mile loop without stopping, sprinting back to shore after reaching the final buoy, then run to our transition area, walk up the hill, and run 30 minutes. So, out we go, my mysterious swim partner and I. She kept up well, and at times she was even inching past me, although she never quite got away! She got smart at the 1/4 mile marker and proceeded to draft off of me for the rest of the swim. We managed to get in and out of the water in 20 minutes, so that was okay.Transitioning at the beach just isn't fun. It helps that I was wearing my tri suit, but sand, water, and socks are just a deadly combination. My poor, poor little shoes now smell like sea water!Anyway, let's just say that my transition was slow and I just gave up on being clean, dry, and sandless. Off I went on the run, and the first 5 minutes were tough. I was sucking wind, hating life, and thinking it would never end. But then my 1 minutes of walk started, and I decided to slow it down a bit since this was my first time back. So I rambled along, running down the PCH and taking in the sites and sounds as the sun went down. I ended up running 2.7 miles in 27 minutes, so I was quite comfortable at my 10-minute mile pace. It tells me that I can turn and burn a little faster, too, which is encouraging! But baby steps....Coach stressed the importance of taking it slow and steady NOW so that I actually have the opportunity to do it later. Reinjury at this stage would be horrible, with the race next weekend and the big one in site.

This morning, I'm a little sore, but my right knee (troublemaker #1) is silent. Yes! Left knee is slightly annoyed, but not so much that I feel it constantly or when I'm walking. Just a little tender when touched, but 100% managable. I've got a session with McTherapist tonight, so I'm looking forward to reporting on my progress.

I had a small scale victory today!!! 149.5. Wham! I've been stuck at 152 for so long that I just had to report this. This past week I've been at 150, but today I finally inched down even more. I hope it continues. :)

DH is coming home this evening for 2 days, so it'll be nice to catch up with him and hang out while we can. The next few weeks of his training will be intense and he won't be coming home, so I'll take what I can. I think at this point my poor cat misses him the most. I came home last night to a federal disaster area. He'd decided to ransack the house and play with ALL of his toys because I had been gone for 14 hours. My poor, poor furbaby.

Sunday is the mock tri, so I'm a little nervous. We're doing 20 minutes of swimming, 45 minutes of biking, and 30 minutes of running. Since I can finish the full sprint distance in this time, I'm thinking it'll be a fun day!

So, that's my scoop! Hope everyone has a fantastic weekend.

4 comments:

Jynell said...

HOORAY!! The knees, the SCALE!!! :D Awesome!! I'm so excited for you about next weekend!! AND I totally agree with your coach- slow and steady now, ease back into it & save your knees for RACE DAY!!! :D

Amanda said...

I'll 2nd Jynell's HOORAY!!! The scale moving is AWESOME!!! And your knee feeling good too. Sounds like you are well on your way to having a good race! I'm so pumped for you!!!

Unknown said...

YEAH on all counts!! So happy about the knee, the run, the scale and hubby coming home for a little bit! You are just rockin' it!! I'm so excited for you! Have a great weekend!

Superjayman's Battle of the Bulge said...

Yippee on the loss. How great it would feel to be in the 140's. I wish I could have as much motivation to exercise like you do....you are my hero in that dept!!!!

Keep it up!