Day 128: Swim and Brick

JE was quiet this morning as we headed to Los Alamitos for our second swim clinic. He explained later that he was feeling like a "lamb going to the slaughter," and there was nothing he could do about it. He knew that today's swim would be tough, and even wondered aloud at one point if it would kill him. Poor guy. I am not a very sympathetic wife; I laughed, thinking he was kidding.

We did swim our guts out, 700 yards in a 50 yard pool. There were 8-9 people from our training class there. We all jammed into one lane to give us the opportunity to swim in a crowded pool. Apparently, this Tri has a 1,000 person cap. We all start running together, 5K around a tarmac, then back to the transition area to collect our bikes. Then we do 3 laps around a four mile loop on the tarmac, and back to the transition area to prep for our swim. The pool will be set up in four lanes, so at the end of 4 laps (going under the lane dividers) we climb out of the pool and onto the chip reader, ending our race.

During our swim clinic today, the coach had us doing some lunges, squats, frog-leaps, jumping jacks, etc to get the blood to pool in our legs. He then had us do 200 yards, simulating our race (except we were all in one lane). The difference between my training swim and that swim today was blindingly different. My training swim is at night, in a short pool (20 yards), with solitude and focus. I rely on my breathing rhythm to guide my stroke and allow me to move with fluidity. Today, with the noise, the chaos, the yelling to "GO GO GO!" (from our coach--solo), I lost my breathing rhythm. I felt out of sync and heavy. That scares me a bit, knowing that that solo, will become a massive chorus come race day. Eventually, I just rolled over and swam my guts out in a backstroke ( I have a very proficient backstroke). I went a length and a half that way before I was scolded by the coach to get back into crawl mode. But, by that time, I had caught my breath, found my rhythm and was able to focus.

The last 200 yards were tough, but I kept at it. I did not finish last. Neither did JE. He did great, too! So proud of him.

After our swim, there was a clinic on the base about what to expect on race day and brick training. There was a lot to learn, and a lot of great information. Here are some highlights:
Training should include 9 workouts per week. 2 in the strongest event, 3 in the medium and 4 in the weakest. Training should include scheduling, organization, and journaling (including what I eat, how much I sleep and what training is effective). The goal of the race is to finish with a smile and to "try to be competitive." Spectators are allowed on the base but need ID to get on to the base. Treat the transition area as a place to focus on the upcoming events. Walk through the race with my bike and give my body the muscle memory of where to find my bike/stuff.

And somethings that came to light as I sat there: Most of the people who were at that meeting were older than I am. They are first time Triathletes, too (that blows me away! Awesome!!!). The other thing that blew me away was a very real sense that I am really doing this!

We dropped by Five Guys for lunch. 1,100 yummy calories later...

After a couple weeks of cycling on my tour, this past summer, I started to get sick if I ate anything greasy or heavy. It was as though my body had become a machine and required good, clean fuel to meet the demands of riding a fully loaded bike 50 miles a day. This same things seems to be happening again. Lately, when I eat something like a hamburger and fries, I just feel so sick in my gut. I am a machine!

We took our bikes this morning and dropped by the board walk at Huntington Beach. We rode through a lot of crowds of people, all out moving their bodies in the blessed sun. It was still sweatshirt weather, but it was beautiful out. We rode around 18 miles today. Seeing the Great Pacific and the sun makes me miss my long rides. During the past couple years I was unemployed, so I was able to ride up the coast a couple times a week. I miss that, but I love being employed--even just temporarily.

JE and I have plans to plan our weeks events and meals tomorrow. We made a pact tonight to have make up sessions of workouts Saturday if we miss any workouts this week. That would be brutal, so I say no to missing work outs. Hopefully having JE help schedule out training will help him to be more dedicated to it, and help me as well. We shall see. 9 work outs. Do we include our commute? We are going to have to chat...

Poor JE fell asleep at 8:30. Exhausted.