Crutches or Aids?

Before I started training for triathlons three years and three months ago, I probably would have sniffed disdainfully at people who use bike trainers, swim fins, pool buoys, treadmills, and the like. I’d have thought they were cheating or at least using crutches. They weren’t being “pure” about their sport. What a crock!

By now I’ve found out that, during training, any aid that keeps you moving toward your goal is not only legal but also highly to be desired. You just don’t race with any assistive devices (unless you’re in a special wave of paratriathletes or something like that).

I’ve also learned that many professional and elite amateur athletes do the majority of their training indoors using pools, bike trainers, and treadmills, especially in the winter or in the heat of the noon-day sun. They train just enough outdoors that the change in environment doesn’t throw them off their stride, so to speak.

Indoor training provides several benefits over outdoor training, including privacy when you’re having a less than stellar day. Who needs to see your grimaces, curses, and tears anyway? In your own house, it’s easy to hide the ugly truth, but even in a gym, not many people watch you. Of course, I’m not young and sexy enough to watch, so consider the source.

Another advantage of indoor training is using videos or music to get you over the humdrum routine and to stay motivated. Also, you’re never far from a bathroom or a source of water, so it doesn’t take as much planning to train indoors. It’s probably safer, too.

Although I much prefer to train outdoors, I’m already trying to psych myself up for next winter, typically a low point in my motivation and my training. I hope I never again take the winter off until I’m ready to stop racing. The come-back is just too danged hard!

Despite having to take a nap today, I think I’m just about over the congestion difficulties of the past few days. Just in time. I have running practice tomorrow night and a speaking engagement on Wednesday. Thursday calls for my practice aquathlon before the Danskin on Sunday. Should be a busy and interesting week.

Training log: 1.5 miles of running and 1.5 miles of walking.
Motivation log: Ran to Zilker Park, rang a cowbell for friends racing the Capital of Texas Triathlon, and walked home. It’s inspirational to see others fighting through obvious problems and not quitting.

Sweat Therapy for a Not-so-Sick Day

When I was growing up, my parents were firm believers in sweating to break up congestion. Of course, they meant lying in bed covered with quilts and drinking hot liquids. For me, sweat therapy means exercising in the heat. I tried to get my sweat on this morning by starting out on a bike ride around the Danskin course, but I was too weak, tired, and wheezy to get comfortably up the first tiny little hill. Bummer! I went back to the car, logging only about 1.5 miles.

This afternoon, though, I had to cut the grass, which was pretty high. After I got a good sweat going, I felt better. It’s great to be on the mend. Maybe I’ll dodge the summer cold mess this time. Tomorrow I need to run. Believe it or not, I want to run. So I'll run.

Training log: Rest day.
Motivation log: Read more of “Talent is Overrated.” Interesting book!

Bike Fit + New Saddle = Bliss

Yesterday I finally did something about the bike discomfort I’ve been experiencing for two years. I bought a new saddle. I also had an expert (Zane at Jack & Adams) adjust the bike to me, not the other way around. It’s amazing how much difference a few centimeters can make! My aerobars were too low and my old saddle was too far back. No wonder I wasn’t able to balance in the aero position and couldn’t ride more than 10 miles or so in comfort.

I had hoped to get out to the veloway this morning for a test ride, but I woke up with allergies and congestion so I took a rest day. Or rather, a rest day was forced upon me. I should have used my netti pot after swimming on Thursday and Friday, and I should have put in eardrops of vinegar and alcohol. Next time!

Training log: Friday – 500 meters of open water swimming at Lake Pflugerville. Saturday – rest day.
Motivation log: Friday – Finally did something about discomfort on the bike. Saturday – Started reading “Talent Is Overrated.”

Seriously?

OMG, I'm out of shape. I had planned to do a full aquathlon distance today but had to cut off the last part. Running 1.5 miles on the treadmill felt fine, but I began to tire after about 700 meters in the pool. It was tough to make it to 1000. Then I just couldn't hop back on the treadmill. Next time!

Training may be hard, but the more I do, the better I feel. One big pro of training for the Aquathlon and Sprint Triathlon Worlds is to keep me motivated. If I don't have a goal, I sit and eat chocolate. My bad! With a serious goal or two, I do a lot better.

A big con for the aquathlon in Budapest is my fatigue level. Although I'm still awake at almost 10:00 p.m., I'm nodding off. Can I spell in my sleep? Of course, by September, I could be in much better shape and will be, barring injuries. I'll table my aquathlon dreams until after Danskin. If I do the Thursday aquathlon distance and finish the Sunday Danskin next week, maybe I'll see about competing.

Training log: 1.5 miles of treadmill running. 1000 meters of pool swimming.
Motivation log: Laying out my clothes helped keep me motivated, and so did my new system for counting laps -- I gathered a rock for each lap I needed to do and placed one in a plastic cup each time I finished. The less arithmetic I have to do, the more brain cells I have for focusing on technique.

Mini-Bricks

Last night I was too wiped out to write. My first mini-bricks of the season took more out of me than I could have imagined. The purpose of the workout was to help you push through the feeling that your legs are as heavy as a load of bricks when you switch from cycling to running. We did a warm-up loop on the bike and then two or three bike-run loops. I did only two, and I didn’t achieve the negative splits the coaches wanted. Instead of going faster on the second loop, I went slower. But I think my form was a little better, thanks to the coaches’ corrections to my technique.

Obviously, my fitness level and my swimming, cycling, and running skills aren’t where they need to be for Budapest. What to do – give up, muddle through, or dig deep? Although I’ve quit several things in my lifetime, I’m not the “give-up” type. I’m tired of muddling through and not trying my hardest. Guess I’d better figure out how to dig deep and press on.

Getting serious about training will take quite a bit more time than I’ve devoted to it so far this season. I don’t know how people who have families, work full-time jobs, and train for an Ironman can squeeze everything in. I don’t have a family to take care of or even a pet, and my job isn’t quite full-time, so I really have no excuse. I get the same 24 hours a day as everyone else.

It’s time to cut down on some of my less useful activities – watching TV, reading the paper from cover to cover, and wasting time in general. I’d better start checking off the daily training activities the coaches advise us to do. So far this season, I’ve trained in a hit-or-miss fashion. If I got the work done, fine. If I didn’t, so what? No more of that attitude! Just get the work done!

Training log: Two loops of mini-bricks last night and 40 minutes on the bike trainer today. Teaching senior aerobics and strength training doesn’t really count.
Motivation log: I seem to be in “taking stock” mode today, trying to figure out my fitness plan in greater detail. The aquathlon decision will have to wait.

Rest Days Lead to Thoughts of Aquathlons

Rest days are necessary, but today I really missed those endorphins, my current drug of choice. I’m glad I gave up alcohol and nicotine decades ago and glad I cut way back on caffeine and products with polysyllabic artificial ingredients. It feels good to go off sugar for fairly long periods of time. But I don’t see how I can ever give up endorphins. Maybe I won’t have to, since there are exercises for all medical conditions in case I develop something unfortunate.

Next rest day, though, I’m going to plan something more fun than watching an hour of TV finales. I don’t have to be completely sedentary on a rest day, just careful not to train hard. Maybe some walking or kayaking would be easy enough for a rest day but active enough to stir up some happy molecules. A little more planning would be a good thing.

If I’m not active enough, I get into trouble, and I might very well have done that today. On the Team USA site, I found a link to the Aquathlon World Championships and learned that this race takes place on September 8, also in Budapest. To obtain further information, I sent an email and found out that I might indeed qualify for this race because I’m the only American woman in the 70-74 age group who did at least three aquathlons last year. This type of multisport race combines swimming and running. At Worlds, the distances are a 2.5K run, a 1K swim, and a 2.5K run. Although I’ve never done that exact combination before, I’m considering whether to apply for a position on Team USA. I’ll post some pro and con ideas tomorrow.

Training log: Day of rest.
Motivation log: I’m trying to decide whether or not the Aquathlon World Championships would be good motivation and preparation for the Sprint Triathlon World Championships.

A Two-Stop Ride

The Danskin bike course may be only 12 miles long, but there are several hills that eat my lunch. Little Tard, with the stop sign, the sudden right turn, and the short steep climb, always defeats me early in the season. Big Tard, with the long, slow, steady climb late in the course, seldom bothers me, but it did today. For both, I had to get off and push my bike and myself up the hill. I wasn’t the only one walking up LT, but I was the only one I saw on BT.

These dismounts are additional evidence that I need to train all year, as if I didn’t already know. I think that one of the reasons come-backs are so hard is that you have to eat the ashes of your cremated former glory, using the "glory" loosely. And yet, come-backs are easier than starting from scratch. Not only do you have greater knowledge of your sport and yourself, but also your starting fitness level is a little bit better and returns a little bit faster. Let’s just hope I can get everything back and then some!

If I had started athletics as early in life as my 13-year-old grandson, I’d be either a fine athlete by now or else all washed up with injuries. He did his first ever triathlon today and finished in the top half of his age group. The kids swam 100 meters, biked 8K and ran 4K. He finished in 36:41, which sounds lightning fast to me. He’s the seventh family member to take up triathlons. I’m afraid I started the whole thing and roped my daughter and granddaughter into doing the Danskin with me. My son and his girlfriend did Couples last summer, and my brother in Seattle did two triathlons last summer and plans to complete three this year. I’m glad not everyone is crazy enough to do seven in a season, as I did in 2008.

Tomorrow is a rest day, and I can really use the break. I won’t even teach senior aerobics because a health fair will occupy the room we use. I’ll just staff a booth for part of the day and will try to interest seniors in becoming more active. That’s a very hard sell. I feel extremely lucky to have made the change from couch potato to active person.

Training log: About 12 miles of cycling on the Danskin course.
Motivation log: Today I used others to motivate myself for a bike ride. Several teammates posted that they would be out at Decker Lake by 7:30 a.m., so I said I’d be there too. I also gained motivation from my grandson, who did his first triathlon today. I’m very proud of him.

On Track

It feels incredibly good to keep my commitments to myself. No more skirting the truth with excuses. I’m building confidence that I can stick to my training plan and gaining hope that this come-back after a winter off will go well.

This morning, I could easily have stayed in bed because I didn’t sleep as well as usual last night. What a great excuse a fitful night can be! I could easily have skipped the open water swim this morning because I swam last night. What a great excuse “been there, done that” can be! I could easily have given up because last night’s swim was horrible – my goggles kept fogging up, I kept going off course, the waves bothered me a bit, and I just never found my rhythm. What a great excuse “I have no talent” can be!

Like a recovering alcoholic declaring five days of sobriety, I’m thrilled to have been on track for five days now. It’s important to celebrate small steps because taking realistic pride in accomplishments is a great motivational tool and one that I use very seldom. I tend to ignore victories instead of using them as building blocks. All too often, I let negative thoughts overwhelm the knowledge that I’ve done something right. No more self-sabotage! The ordinary vicissitudes of life are enough trouble. I really need to stop shooting myself in the foot.

Training log: At least 1400 meters of open water swimming – three 400-meter loops around the buoys and four 50-meter mass starts across the cove.
Motivation log: Training early in the day is much, much better for me than an evening workout. Also, looking back on just five days of success promotes further success.

Pushing Through

No come-back proceeds in a straight upward line. Mine is no exception. Today I felt tired and had to push myself to keep some of my training commitments. The emotional component of today's fatigue was probably caused by disappointment that last night I couldn't find a safe route for biking to work this morning. If I focus on the positive aspects, however, I'm glad I took my bike in my car and rode a little in a neighborhood near work. That's better than nothing.

My open water swim this evening wasn't what I wanted either. I had to stop and clear my goggles several times, and I didn't go as far nor as fast as I'd hoped. Since this was the last activity of the day, I was pretty tired from the beginning. And yet, I didn't give up. I completed the loop I had planned. That's gotta count for something. I'm closing out the day by getting to bed reasonably early and by adopting a positive attitude toward the open water swim at Mansfield Dam tomorrow. I can use all the swim practice I can get.

Training log: 20 minutes of cycling and about 400 yards of open water swimming. I also taught senior aerobics and kayaked for about an hour in support of other swimmers at the lake.
Motivation log: I worked at training and focused on the first five minutes. I chugged along.

Motivation to Train

It was easy to accept the invitation to Worlds, but for seven puzzling weeks, I couldn't scrape up enough motivation for training to fog a mirror. Although I thought about swimming, cycling, and running nearly every day, I couldn't get going. I even started asking friends how to kick my own butt. Two people gave me good counsel.

Last week, a long-time friend approached my question indirectly. He asked me the meaning of "wrought." At first, I thought of "made," but then "worked" sprang to mind. He said that I had worked to change from a couch potato to a triathlete. I've always liked to work. In fact, "work" is one of my favorite four-letter words, right up there with "hope," "risk," "dare," and "love." Therefore, it will be work that gets me in shape for Worlds. With the concept of work in mind, I began scraping up a bit of motivation.

This week, a new friend addressed my concerns head-on. She said that the only thing you need to think about, with regard to motivation, is five minutes. When she really doesn't want to work out, she tells herself to give it just five minutes. Then if she still doesn't want to, she can stop. Since getting out the door is hard for all of us, it makes perfect sense to bribe yourself with a short workout. By the time five minutes have passed, however, you're feeling good and want to continue.

"Work." "Five minutes." Got it. I think I can hold on to those ideas. Thanks, friends!

Training log: 700 yards of easy pool swimming in a variety of drills and strokes.
Motivation log: Packed my gear to make it harder to back out of swimming.

The Invitation to Worlds

The email inviting me to become a member of Team USA and go to the Sprint Triathlon World Championships in September actually arrived about seven weeks ago, but I've neglected to start blogging about this huge journey for a variety of reasons (okay, excuses). I downsized and moved from the suburbs of Round Rock to the SoCo area of Austin, Texas. I had to decide whether I could afford to pay my own way to Budapest, Hungary, and buy the required uniforms. I had figure out whether bone-on-bone arthritis in one knee would cause enough pain to prevent me from racing. I had to find out whether I could make a come-back after taking the winter off from training. Yadda-yadda-yadda.

Mainly, though, I had to get my head around this huge opportunity. After all, I just finished participating in Season 16 of The Amazing Race on CBS, which I thought would be the last big adventure of my life. My granddaughter and I were the second team eliminated (which sucked until I renamed us one of the Top Ten). The brothers, the cowboys, and the models were the first, second, and third to cross the finish line at Candlestick Park in San Francisco. On The Amazing Race, we visited Chile and Mexico, and now I'm going to Hungary? Wow! How did I get so lucky? It's just too bad my granddaughter isn't going to Worlds with me. She's enjoying life in Anchorage, where her parents live.

World Championships! Sounds pretty impressive, right? I'm delighted to be going, but honesty forces me to admit that I didn't have to jump through the qualifying races that younger amateur triathletes do. After thousands of them compete in at least three races per season, the top 16 to 18 in each five-year age group are invited to represent the United States in these championships. However, in our entire nation, only 17 women, age 70-74, finished three or more races sanctioned by USA Triathlon, the governing body. Of those 17, I rank only number 12. My 70-year-old brother informs me with a snort that 82 men in our age group finished three or more races. I predict that he'll get his chance at Worlds pretty soon, but first he has to finish three triathlons this season. (He's training -- stay tuned!) I'm elated to qualify for Worlds but saddened that so few older women compete in triathlon. I hope this blog will encourage some to take up the sport.

Only a day or two after I received the invitational email, I impulsively committed myself to going to Budapest before I finished moving, learning the cost of the trip, getting my knee X-rayed, and discovering how hard a comeback is at my age. Now that I'm settled in my lovely condo, I'm busily fundraising, icing my knee, and working on my fitness, both physical and mental. For the past seven weeks, I've been mucking about with this stuff, but now I feel ready to keep a public record of what it's like to train for Worlds at age 72. This blog will keep me motivated and on task. I know because my earlier blog, Jody's GGTT at the Austin American-Statesman, took me from couch potato to finisher of 15 triathlons and contestant on The Amazing Race. If I'm out there in public, I'm honest and optimistic. If I'm isolated and secretive, it's easy to weasel out of workouts.

So, where do I stand with my training? I'm really just starting. I've raced more than I've trained lately. This past Sunday, I raced the Skeese Greets Women's Triathlon, taking second in my age group in a time of 1:40:34 for a 300-meter swim, a 10.5-mile bike ride, and a 2-mile run. I ranked 389 out of 426 competitors. Last night I raced the Splash & Dash in 1:04:30 for a 750-meter swim and a 1.8-mile run. I ranked last. Both races gave me a huge motivational boost because they were loads of fun and my knee didn't kill me. I rediscovered that I love to race, even though I'm slow. I get just as great an endorphin rush as the fast racers do. I train in a similar fashion, develop similar nutrition and hydration plans, cover the same distances, and consider racing just as much a part of my life as the younger triathletes do. It's no crime to be slow. It's just too bad I haven't learned how to go faster. Yet.

Today, I'm taking a rest day except for teaching senior aerobics and strength training for an hour this morning. Henceforth, I'll post my training and motivational logs so I can keep track of them and make improvements. What you write, you can right. What you hide, you can't abide.