Day One (Point five)

Well, the bike thing didn't work out yesterday. I guess I need to focus more on time management or just make sure I force myself to exercise in the morning.

This morning was great. I got up early and went for a swim before work. Of course, I now know that I need to wear my contacts in the pool. I mistook a guy sitting at the other end of my lane for a towel rack. Oops! It was from across the pool, but it meant that he had to ask to share a lane instead of me doing it, as I should have. The pool also has the neatest swimsuit drier. I saw one at a woman's only gym before, but now they have it at my gym! It's great. It spins dry your suit for you. No more soggy suits in the bottom of the gym bag all day. To the left is a picture of the machine. (I just realized it looks a little like a garbage disposal or an astronaut's toilet. Hmmm)

I didn't realize how far I am from where I used to be. I guess that happens to all of as we age, but I was tired after on 25 minutes of swimming!! I'm going to have to workout before I start going to workouts! I want to train with the Master's swim program, but I definitely have to be in better shape before I go to one. I'd hate to embarrass myself. I like the club linked above because they are really all inclusive and (I'll admit it) they have a great little welcome video! It's the most dynamic web page I've seen yet. Tomorrow I'm headed out to try a little run/walk. Wish me luck!

PS I've been pushing the blog posts up until now to let you know it existed. I'm going to stop that, but it still exists at this website if you want to check it out. :-)

How it all came to be...

OK. So anyone who knows me is probably wondering where I got this crazy idea to compete in a triathlon. I blame comic strips and books! I figure that they're great things to blame for most of societies ills, and my odd desire to torture myself can rightfully be traced to the web comic strip Unshelved. It's a hilarious look at what goes on in a public library. If you work in a library and you don't already read it, subscribe. Well, they did a couple of strips starting Sept 17, 2007 on a book called Short, Fat, Triathlete by Jayne Williams. Needless to say, it's a book about a woman who is out of shape and runs a sprint triathlon while still overweight and not in that great of shape.

I ordered the book through ILL (inter library loan) and liked it so much that I bought it. A year later after reading it three times and buying a couple of more books on triathlons, I've decided to start training and sign up for the US Women's Triathlon Series San Diego triathlon Oct 18, 2009. Everything I've read says to sign up to force yourself to train. I chose this triathlon because it has something shorter and less scary than the sprint!! Triathlons generally come in the following sizes:

1. Ironman: 2.4 mile swim, a 112 mile bike ride, and a 26.2 mile run
2. Olympic (standard length): .93 mile swim, 24.8mile bike ride, and a 6.2 mile run.
   
3. Sprint (normal beginning or short length) : .47 mile swim, 12.4 mile bike ride, and a 3.1  mile run.
   

So I thought I had to start with a sprint, which is still pretty intimidating if you hate running like I do. But when I was looking at the San Diego triathlon, I found a new size!!

1. SuperSprint (baby bear size): .25 mile swim, 6.2 mile bike ride, and a 1.5 mile run.

I saw that and the fear went away. I can do that now! OK, I'd have to walk part of the run and nothing would be fast, but I could finish. So, I'm going to start training. This blog will hopefully keep me honest, we'll have to see.

Tomorrow I'm going to hit the Exercycle. The goal is 30 minutes. Normally I'd like to be on my regular bike, but the seat sat in the sun and the comfy gel filling is oozing out like some sort of gangrenous wound. No way am I sitting on that!! I've ordered a new seat, so I'll start road biking as soon as I get it. Wish me luck!