My Very Own Triathlon

Yesterday was a total bust. I can't even blog about it. I had a very bad half-hour on the spin bike at the gym. I forgot my strap, so I have no heart rate data and I didn't even get one of the computerized spin bikes, so I literally have zero data. You might think that I didn't do anything, but I'm a really bad liar and I don't even think I could do it on the blog. I feel like I can't even count it towards my weekly workouts since I couldn't even really force myself to change the resistance on the bike.

Today, however ... today is a new day! Today was a day to do a triathlon on my own. Although I'm not clear if you can actually call what I did a triathlon. I did do all three sports today, so I'm going to go ahead and count it. I started out with quite a lazy morning watching bad reality TV. I finally got my butt in gear and headed out on the bike. It was somewhere in the low 50s. I debated back and forth about wearing tights or only wearing shorts, but I decided in the end to wear the tights. I think it was the right call.

I wasn't really sure what my bike plan was going to be, except to know that it was too late to go riding in the Park. I decided to head out on the Westside Path and see how crowded it was. Luckily, thanks to the cool and overcast weather, it ended up being pretty decent for a weekend. I ended up just riding to the end of the path and back home.

I tried something new to me on my ride - I downloaded the iMapMyRide app for my iPhone to keep track of the route. That was a total failure. The whole reason I downloaded it was because it says "this app will effortlessly mark out your ride along an interactive map and record essential metrics including duration, distance, pace, speed and elevation." See how it says elevation? Total lie. Unless someone can explain it to me (I'll post it separately in a second post). I keep clicking on the link that says "view elevation" and nothing happens!

The bike itself was really windy, especially heading north towards the George Washington Bridge. At the turn-around point on the bike, I stopped for a few seconds to open up the Balance Bar I had brought along with me and I ate the whole thing while I was riding home. Having a bento box (new to me this year) is very handy! Coming home wasn't nearly as bad wind-wise. I made it home and brought my bike upstairs to the apartment, dropped it off, switched shoes and headed out for a run. All in less than 3 minutes I believe. There was some debate on Beginner Triathlete about how soon you should run after biking to have it constitute a brick, but I did my best and I think it still counts.

The run was really tough. I thought that I wanted to run for 30-40 minutes. Of course, as soon as I started running, I was thinking that I'd be fine with 30 minutes. But, I really stuck it out to get closer to 40. I ran south on the Westside Path for the very first time ever. I just kept saying to myself "only 2 more blocks", which was pretty effective. When I reached my turn-around point (at about 19:30), I stopped for a minute and thought about running vs. walking home. I asked myself out loud, "Do you love triathlon?" The answer was a resounding YES! and that was enough inspiration to keep running and run the whole way home.

The whole time I was biking and running into the wind, I just kept thinking of these two songs. Not too original, I know. But it kept me going when the going got tough. That seems like enough for me.

After my run, I immediately pedometered it and was so happy to see that I had run over 4 miles and was still pretty speedy, even if it was a tough run for me mentally on the first half. I then made a big (late) lunch and sat on the couch for an hour.

Then it was time for the final leg of today's triathlon - a wetsuit swim! That's right, I wore the wetsuit by myself to the pool. I also decided to wear two swim caps, since they recommend that for Alcatraz to see how it would be. I wanted to be as close as possible to race-day conditions (while swimming in a swimming pool). I also wore my watch and my Road ID under my wetsuit, which I hadn't done the last time I donned my new wetsuit. Both worked out just fine and I'm still really happy with the suit.

I did one of my actual swim workouts today, which was a good thing for me. The only thing is that since the pool at the gymnasium is 18 feet long, I have to do some weird amount of yards to make it even lengths of the pool. This was today's workout:

Warm-Up: 16 Lengths (288 yards)
Drills: 12 Lengths (216 yards)
Main Set: 6 x 6 Lengths (6 x 108 yards)
Kick: 12 Lengths (216 yards)
Cool-Down: 16 Lengths (288 yards)

Total: 1656 Yards (instead of the 1600 it should have been)

The pool was actually pretty crowded at 4 PM on a Saturday, which was fairly surprising to me. I wouldn't have expected that, I don't think. As soon as I got my lane I just started swimming and basically didn't stop until I was done with the workout. You only get 30 minutes at my pool, so I had to make the best use of my time and I knew I would feel bad if I didn't get the whole workout in. Luckily, I did it in time to spare. That suit must make me speedier. But I'll take it! The two caps worked out fine, except that it's really hot. But I think that's the point and I'll be glad for it in San Francisco, I'm sure.

There was one thing in common with all three legs of this do-it-yourself triathlon today. Retractable dog leashes and Yorkshire Terriers. As far as I'm concerned, those leashes should be outlawed in New York City and today was just further proof. I think that because those dogs are so small a lot of owners just let them run all over the sidewalk. I have to tell you dog owners in New York -- beware! I will run your dog over if you are using one of those leashes and your dog gets in my way. (As a side note, I do really love animals, I just loathe those retractable leashes).

And, because doing a triathlon isn't enough - here are the stats from this week:


Again, I'm short on the swimming - but not as short as it appears. I should have done 5200 yards and I did 4056. I know I'm going to have to stop making excuses some time soon on that, but my master plan is that will change next week, since I'll be bike-less starting tomorrow (!), I'll hopefully get in some more swimming and running in the next two weeks. All in all, I'm pretty happy with my totals for the week, though. I think I'm definitely on the right track to be building a good base for Timberman.

Biking
Time: 1:28:13
Distance: 17.40 miles
Pace: 11.83 MPH
Calories: 807
Maximum HR: 190
Average HR: 150

Running
Time: 39:23
Distance: 4.20 miles
Pace: 9:22/mile
Calories: 465
Maximum HR: 184
Average HR: 173

Swimming
Time: 28:01
Distance: 1656 Yards (0.94 miles)
Pace: 29:45/mile
Calories: 290
Maximum HR: 175
Average HR: 162