Time flies when you're slacking

I have a countdown to various events of note on my refrigerator   It has the number of weeks until Trinona, Big Woods 1/2 marathon, that sort of thing.  Strangely, I elected to NOT put the first tri of my season on the board, which is currently biting me in the rear.   Somehow, I am less than a week from my first tri (albeit with a kayak leg in place of a swim leg), and I have done nearly nothing to prepare.   Fantastic!

Having recognized this fact, I decided today would be a good time to try my first brick workout, as I have been warned several times of the perils of the bike-run transition.   As it was a gorgeous (relatively speaking) 44F and sunny, I figured it was time to strike while the iron was hot, so to speak.   Besides, I had oodles of new things to try out and even I know that a race is not the time to do that.   So, I and my new tri-suit (hidden under real clothes), my newly realigned bike cleats and newly relaced running shoes headed out the door.

The ride was pretty good, up Rose Street to Rice Lake State Park.  It's got some moderate hills and in general kicks my butt, so I like to use it as my "workout" ride.  I swear, sometimes the gentle hills are the worst...at least with the monsters you can just put your head down and grit it out.   The middling hills seem to sneak up on me, and I blow up going to hard on the first half, only to have the rest to go.   I thought the bike ride would be pretty much 14 miles on the nose, but it turns out the street signs lie, so it was closer to 16.  I pulled  a decent average for that portion.

I got home, hiked my bike up to my apartment and swapped shoes.   Run time.  My usual short route takes me straight up a hill first thing.  So, that was fun.   I think I understand now what people were telling me about how brutal the switch from ride to run can be.  At first my legs were wobbly, and I thought that that wasn't so bad.  Then, well, I can't really describe the next phase, except to say that if I didn't have forewarning I probably would have thought I hurt myself.  That didn't last too long, though, and I kept going. I did my loop and felt pretty good, all in all.   Not my fastest time, but I kept running throughout, and I'm feeling a bit less apprehensive about next Saturday.

My spies in Winona tell me that the lake is still 80% ice.   So, that should be interesting.  It is supposed to warm up this week, though, so maybe that will resolve itself before Saturday.  Either way, I'm sure I'll have some chilly toes.   I haven't had a chance to paddle (for obvious reasons), but I'm pretty confident I can bang out a couple miles without too much trouble.   The ride and run routes are a bit more...vertical...than I would like, given my current state of fitness.  Still, this was mostly intended to be a shake out for me, where I could get a sense of what a triathlon would be like without the press of a thousand people around me.   Hopefully it will translate to a less stressful day at Trinona come June.

So, for the next week, I'm going to focus on running.  I have (once again, sigh), stopped due to a) weather b) work and c) not wanting to wait on a treadmill.  I'm not thinking I'm going to make any great strides, but I definitely need to get a few more miles in before Saturday.  

Mind over matter

I may have been a bit premature on the whole winter being gone, what with a late season snow storm in the process of bearing down on Minnesota.   We did have a few good days for being out and about, though, and I got a good number of miles in my legs.  As expected, my few days of hanging with the fast kids has been replaced my falling back in the group.  I'm certainly faster than I was last year, regardless, so I can't really complain.

That rather leads into my new "thing" of the moment.   I was reading an article in Runner's World about the role of mental strength in endurance activities.  It seems obvious, but at the same time, I think negative thinking is one of those things that creeps up a on person.  For myself, as I was reading the article it started a spark of thought that coalesced while I was out on my long run for the week.  I am, in general, a fairly (some would say over) self-confident person.   However, when it comes to athletic activities, for some reason that swagger doesn't come naturally to me.   So, I've decided to borrow a bit of my confidence in other parts of my life and apply it to my athletic endeavors    We'll see how it goes, but from now on I pretty much kick ass at everything, if you ask me.

I did end up purchasing the Foundation DVD, so look for a follow-up on that after I've had a while to let it work.  First impressions are pretty good, though the guy leading the beginner workout has the personality of a serial killer.

This weekend, I hope to log a run or two in Michigan.  Fingers crossed for good weather and timely flights!