The Cutest Triathlete Of Them All

Anyone who has talked to me in person lately has probably become aware of my obsession with having a matching triathlon outfit for the race in August. I bought tri shorts off Bonktown a while ago, and I have been searching for a top ever since. Well, today I hit the jackpot! I randomly searched for the matching top on google shopping this morning, and instead of zero results, as have appeared in every previous search, I found one this time! One, sole, remaining matching tri top, in a size small on some random website in Texas. If anyone has ANY idea of how hard it is to find small sizes on sale, this fact alone should make you understand why this made my day. Normally, my disdain for Texas would prevent me from supporting the state in any way, but I had to put my personal feelings aside in the name of triathlete fashion. 

Even better, the tank top was on sale AND I found an online coupon for another $10 off. The combination of savings on top of savings nearly blew my discount-loving mind. In 5-7 days, the two pieces will be combined to create one super-amazing Captain Planet-like power field that will get me to the finish line!

"Watch out for lake rats"

My first open water swim didn't go so well last night. It began when we arrived at Cedar Lake, and Jihone pushed me into a patch of algae, yelling "Get started!" Things only got worse once I started walking to the edge of the swimming area and felt unknown substances and possibly lake creatures underneath my toes. I'm not going to say that I was scared, but I will say that I had a mild panic attack when I put my face in the water and realized I couldn't see anything, even when using my goggles.

Once I had actually calmed down enough to contemplate swimming, more disasters ensued. My stroke broke down completely. I'm used to swimming four strokes, then turning to breathe. In the pool this isn't a problem because I can see through the water at all times. But in the lake, I found myself swimming in complete green darkness for four strokes until I finally took a breath and sighted.

After a brief coaching session, Jihone and I agreed that I needed to take a breath more frequently in order to see where I was going. Once I started taking a breath every other stroke, things got a little better, and by the end my confidence was back up again. If nothing else, now I know I need to do a lot more open water swimming before August 22nd. 26 days until race day!

The Road to Recovery

All you readers out there have probably been anxiously awaiting my blog posts and concerned with the lack thereof. Sadly, your favorite triathlete was stricken with a bout of strep throat earlier this week and has been out of commission since Tuesday.

Being unable to maintain my training regiment has been very disappointing over this week, but the good news is that I am nearly 100% again and ready for action. Yesterday, I did one of my favorite bicycle rides to Hopkins with Erin. We took our time to enjoy the beautiful weather, and it was a good way to get back into the swing of things without going overboard the first day. If things go well today (meaning I leave the office at a regular time), then expect a post about my first lake swim very shortly!

Me: "I got mosquito bites last night on my bike ride." My boss: "You weren't moving fast enough."

Bike ride, schmike ride, my bicycling skillz are off the chain. Two recent bike stories for all you loyal readers:

After working 12 hours at the office on Monday, yes I said 12, I went on a long bike ride to work out some of aggression and manic feelings that had built up after sitting at my desk for so long. I did my typical ride to Hopkins, MN, home of beloved Cargill, and then looped back into the city via the Greenway. On the way home, I decided to do a bit more, and circled Lake Calhoun and Lake Harriet before heading back to my apartment. Of course, once I reached my apartment, I ran into the infamous Larry, whose car btw, is no longer abandoned on the side of the street. I'm secretly dying to ask him about the engine fire, but don't care enough to get into a 20 minute discussion on why cars from the '80s randomly implode. Whenever I see Larry after a bike ride, he usually says something really intelligent like, "Looks like you missed the rain," (it hadn't rained in the past 48 hours and there was no future rain in the forecast), or "Looks like you went on a bike ride" (umm yeah thanks, Larry), or the all time classic where he says nothing at all, attempts to hold open my apartment door to "help" me inside and then proceeds to strike up a conversation about how I should go into elder law.

Which is a perfect lead-in to my next story. On Thursday, I was on the West River Parkway trail, heading from school to Erin's house. This trail is massive. It's super wide and is always in great shape, which is why, when I pass slowpokes, I do not feel the need to shriek "on the left." Flash forward to halfway down the trail, I pass Mr. and Mrs. Old People pedaling along without a care in the world. With no one else approaching, I glided by unannounced. THEN, 10 minutes later, at a stop sign, Mr. Old Person breezes through the requisite stop (illegal btw) and yells "On the left! This what you're supposed to say when you pass someone!!!" I only wish I had been able to explain to him that the "lesson" he was trying to teach me was completely overshadowed by the fact that he almost got hit by a car during his instruction. But judging from how he swerved uglyass recumbent in the face of near death, I'm guessing he knows that already.

Tacos: Triathlete Super Food

I swam laps today, and once I was in the pool, I realized I hadn't been there in a week. So what, you might think, one week, stop crying about it already. Well, I'm not crying, but my legs are, because this workout kicked my butt. I wasn't in the water that much longer than normal, but my workout consisted of longer sets with shorter resting periods. It's exciting on one hand, because it means I am a lot closer to the actual race. But on the other hand, I was in the water swimming laps for about 45 minutes and by the time I hauled myself out of the pool, my legs felt like jelly and I was as hungry as Michael Phelps.

I'm starting to seriously consider buying some of those awkward gel packets to squeeze into my throat during the swim/bike transition during the race. They are kind of like Go-gurt, but energy and not yogurt... I have been trying to avoid looking like a real big weirdo in this race, and staying away from high tech energy foods may or may not fall into that category. I haven't decided yet.

As for tonight, I pushed the thoughts of drinking vitamin Gak out of my head, because I already had dinner plans with great friends, Adam and Rachael, and I quickly devoured three tacos at their house in quick succession. Yum! Maybe I can patent my own taco flavored energy gel and pay off my law school loans?

#1 Reason Why I Couldn't Train for a Triathlon Indoors

I am really lucky to live in such an awesome city like Minneapolis where bicycle trails are abundant. The trails are all well groomed and maintained (even in the winter months) and provide ample amounts of rides with interconnecting trails to facilitate longer rides. The only potential downside to the trails are the number of rollerbladers that hog up space on the trail and always seem to be listening to their music loud enough that they don't hear the annoying "on the left" alert from me when I try to pass them. Or maybe they're just ignoring me. I'd probably ignore me too.

As my time on the bike increases in training, I realized how much I would hate having to be on a stationary bicycle in a gym for over an hour. Talk about boring! Instead I have been on some great rides lately. My new favorite, a little longer ride of about 90 minutes, takes me around Lake Harriet (photo above), out to Hopkins, MN, and then back on the Greenway to wrap around Lake Calhoun and Lake Harriet again before heading home.

The best part is ending the ride on a beautiful evening like last night and seeing this sunset (photo below) over Lake Calhoun. Tres belle!

Even Independence Day Can't Stop this Triathlete

Over the weekend, I traveled back to the land of my ancestors to partake in 4th of July celebrations in one of the original colonies. Yes, of course, I am talking about the Keystone State, without which, this entire nation would crumble. Literally. That's what a keystone does. It was a great weekend, full of small town Americana. Local baseball games, fireworks, Pittsburgh accents, and some good old fashioned bug bites on my legs to round out the experience.

I was hesitant about working out while on my four day vacation. I have never worked out at my childhood home, nor did I belong to a gym of any sort growing up. Our house is located 25 minutes from the local Y, and I didn't know how my parents would respond to my taking the car and disappearing for a couple hours. But all my reservations were pushed to the side, when my number 1 fan, insisted that I maintain my training regiment. In fact, I was even treated to a new pair of running shoes!

I picked out another pair of Asics, because I was very happy with my old pair. So far these have been feeling great, and they are definitely giving me more support and shock resistance. I tested them out around the track of my old stomping grounds: the intermediate high school. A little under 35 minutes and 3.5 miles later, I was still pleased with my shoe purchase. The following day, I swam laps at the Y and successfully evaded paying the $3.50 visitor charge they attempted to push on me. Umm, I don't think so man-with-a-mullet-at-the-front-desk. I was supposed to bike the following day, Tuesday, but seeing as how Golden Eagle Jr. was in Minneapolis, and the bicycles at the Y were used to power Orville Wright's airplane, I decided to run on the treadmill instead. Thus, a very productive, yet relaxing trip. 46 days until race day!