And We're Almost Done

With spending, I mean. We still have 2.5 weeks to go on this tri dealeo. I panicked when I realized that with that little time left, I still have not gotten some of the most basic necessities for the event. These include 2 towels for the transition area and an extra pair of goggles (just in case). I mentioned the towels to Marc thinking surely he'd share my urgency. No. He already HAS his towels. Yikes!

So today I went back to my supplier, SwimOutlet, and got hooked up with the last few swim items on the list. The books we read said to get some crazy towels so you can easily spot your area (which is often demarcated by your towels). This being the case I got a crazy tie-dyed towel. I also bought a chammy towel (in pink, of course). Now I will know how my car feels (well, not MY car; it goes through the car wash).

Now all I need are a few things for the run portion, and I am set. I just can't believe it's almost here. Has it really been almost 10 weeks?

And now the new total: $556.99

Swimming Lessons

Marc and I are really reaping the benefits of lessons. I finally got around to getting some pictures of us with Steven. Steven is a trainer at the HealthPlex that we pay to work with us as a swim coach. It has completely been worth the money.

Tonight we started working on backstroke. Front crawl is going OK, but we both get tired too easily, so Steven says that by alternating we can still work the same muscles and build up endurance. We just don't have to fight the breathing as much on our backs.

Brick #3

Today's brick went great. No locked up bikes today! Of course I still struggle peddling up the hills. I can only hope that the triathlon is just a straight downhill ride... but I somehow doubt this is the case. It was a beautiful morning though. A bit nippy at first but very sunny. The best news is the run though. We finally remembered to time it. So today we posted a 16:50! This is good news because it feels like we're running at about a 12 min pace. The legs, they just don't move.

Only 3 weeks to go. I'm 5 weeks clean now. That would have seemed impossible 6 weeks ago. And yesterday we had a church potluck and the amount of sugar on the dessert table was just overwhelming. Of course someone brought rice krispy treats. This of course is a fatgirl favorite, so it was hard to watch people around me happily munching on theirs. But I ate my fruit; thought about smiting.

I Turned Left!

Ok, well, I didn't turn so much as breathe, but I just love that Zoolander movie. Anyway, swimming is going good. The breathing is the issue. I am getting to where breathing on the right side is pretty automatic, but the left side... I will almost drown trying to do the left. I am always just so tired. So then someone made a suggestion that somehow never occurred to me. I was talking about my "drills", and by that I mean the order in which I do repetitive tasks in the pool. I always do stretching first, then stroke work without breathing, then I start with the right side, then the left, then alternating. By the time I get to left, I am already tired, so my friend says, "well, why don't you just start with left next time." Yeah, I'm a Ph.D. student... that doesn't always mean I think like one I guess. Or maybe I do... since I hate left so much, I just put it off. So today I tried out this new method of left, then right. Turns out it works! I did left just fine. And since I'm so much better at right, the fact that I was tired didn't slow me down. Woo hoo, no water guzzling for this chica today.

Brick #2

This morning we tried the brick again. It looked a little bleak at first because my bike was locked in the garage. Two tries with a butter knife and I was in. I should probably tell Katie and Travis to get that lock replaced because I didn't even know what I was doing. Or perhaps I am just that good and am only now discovering my hidden talent for B&E. Once that was out of the way, things went fine. I am still pretty iffy at this biking thing, but we managed to ride and run the full distances today. The running seemed to get a little easier. The ride went so bad I needed the victory. And there was a funny moment this morning too. My slick riding shorts didn't grab onto my pants very well, so half way into the run I discovered my pants were down past my rear. I know that's the style and all, but I wasn't pulling the look off.

4 Weeks to Go!

It's hard to believe, but there's only a month to go. Today was the Old Cotton Mill 5K. It's a run they have every year in Starkville. It's very hilly. Today it was raining so that was even more challenging. Marc and I didn't do as well as we would have liked, but oh well. It took a long time to walk from the truck and we discussed that we could have ridden our bikes and turned it into a brick... but then we thought not.

Registered? Yes! Ready? Maybe!

Yesterday was the cut off for early registration for our chosen tri. As this is already a pricey endeavor, it's good to save the $5. Plus, now we're committed in a whole new way. It is kind of scary because I think Marc and I are both realizing that you can't stop and hug the wall on the open lake, so we have to be able to swim in more than 25 yd. chunks. I think we can do it though. We need to spend the next month building up swimming endurance though.

Now that I've registered. Time to check the total again. Also need to add in some more costs from our swim lessons. The old total was $440.00. Registration was $45, and swim lessons add another $40. A new total of $525.00. It seems crazy that it has cost this much. At least the next one will be cheaper! Here that - the next one. I think I'm hooked.

She's a Brick (pause) House

Today we did our first brick. We have been meaning to start these on the weekends, but have just found other things to do on weekends like 5Ks, and well, sleeping. So today was the day. We started by riding around the neighborhood twice. That went OK. It was our first trip out on our bikes with our new helmets. So we did our laps, then we ditched the bikes and decided to run for 20 min.

I only managed to make it by telling myself it was only for 20 minutes. I don't know how those Ironman people do it. I assume that after a set amount of miles your legs finally give up the fight and start to cooperate. It is apparently at some point after 2 miles though, because this didn't happen for me this morning. I'm not sure if you do the bricks so that you can train yourself to get loose while you run or if you do the bricks so you can just get used to running with rubber band legs. Perhaps I'll know better in 5 weeks.

Overall, I thought we were going to be able to take this thing, but now that I've tried the brick, I see we have a long way to go. I hope there's time.

Week Off

It being Easter week, I went home to see the family, but not before another swim lesson. Marc and I are getting better. Even our trainer thinks so. Although it's not as if he's going to say we're getting worse; what would that say about him? After the swim lesson I packed up my stuff to head home to Oklahoma. It was a long drive on Tuesday, but it's always worth it.

There's no pool at home, and I didn't bring my bike. I didn't pay $50 to have it cleaned, only to ride it on sand roads. What I love about running at home though (when the weather is nice anyway) is the solitude and easy feel of running in the country. On my two six-mile loops I just relax and look at the beautiful scenery. On the first run I saw about 7 deer cross the road during mile 2. Deer are everywhere at home though, so this is nothing new. Just today driving back to MS I saw 10 deer, and 1 pheasant. It's near a wildlife refuge, so there tend to be frequent sightings. Consequently, I run in bright yellow to keep from getting shot. The only drawback to country running, besides bulls and snakes.

I am also proud to report that after tomorrow, I am three weeks "sober". Even during the holiday season I have resisted Easter brownies, dump cake, and Cadbury eggs. Yea God!

And More Expenses

Swimming is getting to be great fun. Fun comes at a price though. Marc and I are still doing our lessons, and they are well worth the money. It just adds to the expense. I also had to get another swimming suit because we are doing so much swimming that one is not enough. Fortunately, work took me to Gulfport this week, and there's an Academy Sports there.

So let's take our previous total of $362.56. Add $40.00 to it for swimming lessons, and an additional $37.44 for my cool new red Nike swimsuit (now with extra skin showing) and the new total is: $440.00.