Pains, er, Paynes Prairie

We are lucky to have a fairly bike friendly city here in North Central Florida, as many roads have dedicated bike lanes. However, I still am not super comfortable biking on a street, even in the lanes. Just last week, a cyclist was killed at 11pm by a speeding driver.

Luckily, there are dedicated bike paths around town! One is the Archer to Gainesville path, which I normally walk or run. I am going to tackle it tomorrow, I think. The second path is from Gainesville to Hawthorne, running sixteen miles. The path starts in Gainesville in Boulware Springs park, and runs through and next to Paynes Prairie Preserve, a Florida State Park. There are other state and local conservation lands, but I haven't gotten that far! Just a note, it is so super dry here in NCF, that the cypress knees were in dry dirt instead of muck/swamp. I was sad for all the wildlife.

The September tri has a 15 mile cycling portion. I am so thankful Florida is the flattest state in the country! I haven't gotten a chance to scout out the area where the triathlon is being held, but I definitely will before the race on September 30. I really appreciate riding without cars, so Craig and I went for a ride this past Sunday morning while the kids were otherwise occupied. My first thought was to make it at least ten miles. It turns out that when I go all in, I go all in. We ended up riding 14.4 miles in 1:20. There were a couple of stops, because my tire was scraping my brake pad, there was a really tiny baby fawn sans mère on the side of the path, and we needed to catch our breath at the halfway mark. (I will admit to having paused the Runkeeper app during our breaks.) We ended up averaging 10.76 MPH. I was using my trusty beach bike (even though it has 18 gears) and Craig had his hybrid.

I'm hoping to average 15 MPH during the tri itself. I have no idea what normal, amateur triathletes average during the cycling portion. We had someone on a serious carbon-fiber (I'm assuming) bike with thin, fancy wheels zoom by us. There is a small hilly section on the trail, going uphill on the way back, and I felt like someone walking a brisk pace could have beat me up those tiny hillocks. (I can't even dignify those as hills!) I've decided to get Craig's road bike refurbished for the actual race. I figure training on my behemoth bike will make the road bike seem like a breeze.  

Back in the (Bike) Saddle, Again

     Cycling seems to be a sport that is easily picked up after not doing it for a while. You never forget how to ride a bike, right? I'm very lucky that my town is fairly flat. In fact, most of my state is flat. I'm hoping that the 15 mile bike portion is on a fairly flat surface. I will be going to check it out in the next month.

     I have a crazy, enormous beach cruiser for a bike. I hate hunching forward, so I invested in an upright 18 speed bike from one of our local bike shops. It's a LIV Cypress DX W. It has nice fat tires, a nice big seat, and I can sit upright. I'm sure this is not the bike I'm going to be racing on, but it's a nice bike to regain my cycling balance. I've been biking in 3 mile bursts, to and from my parents' house. (My mother had a knee replacement and I'm making breakfast for both parents until she's up and walking.) I hope to start taking longer rides when the kids go back to school after spring break.

Remember, always wear a helmet. I see so many parents who enforce helmets for their kids, but refuse to wear one. It's stupid, hypocritical, and can lead to brain injury. Just fix your hair when you get to your destination. No one cares, anyway.

Here I Go AGAIN

     I seem to stop and start this blog every few years. This time, though, I'm REALLY going to complete a triathlon.

      What's the difference this time? I'm a 45 year old, mildly (?) obese woman. I had a life changing surgery in August, 2016. Some would call it elective, I call it necessary for my continued health. I had a breast reduction! 2.5 pounds were removed from each breast. That's a full five pound sack of potatoes removed from my front! The difference in my ability to move around is amazing. It used to be so difficult just to stand up from a seated position because my chest was so heavy. Now I can run short distances in only a bathing suit top (and bottom.) Before, I used to have to put on a compression bra which made it difficult to breathe, because it was constricting my chest so much to keep me from bouncing everywhere. I still weigh roughly the same, but my movement is so much freer.

     I've actually paid for a tri registration! I'm going to compete in the Crystal River Triathlon Series Race #3 on September 30, 2017. I figure this gives me at least 5 months to train. The 1/4 mile swim should be a breeze. That's about 16 laps in a 25 yard pool, and I can bust out at least 26 without even trying. 15 miles biking on a flat Florida road should be ok. It's the 5k running that I'm starting to dread. I can walk for miles and miles and miles, but running is something I've never done successfully because of my chest. I have a couch to 5k program I've started and abandoned so many times. I'm going to ease into running by starting a 15 second run, followed by 45 second walk to get my blood pumping.

     My little secret is that I am, in fact, insanely competitive. I like winning. I used to swim competitively as a kid. (Shout out to Flourtown Swim Club and Plymouth Whitemarsh Aquatic Club!) I am entering this tri as a novice, although I could also qualify as an Athena. Athena is a nice term for heavier than 150 pounds. Since I am heavier than 150 pounds, AND it's my first time, I decided to compete as a novice. Will I win my category? Let's hope they take age into consideration when awarding novice medals!

     Thanks for following my journey. See you next time!

New Shortie Wetsuit

I finally was able to find a shortie wetsuit (short arms and short legs) to wear when pond swimming this summer. The weather for the past couple of days has been in the 50s and rainy, so no training for me! I would like to start swimming tomorrow, but it depends on both the weather and the availability of my mom to watch the boys while I swim. Ideally the boys can swim/wade at the same time, but we'll see how high it gets tomorrow!

Permission to Heal

My left achilles tendon is killing me. Yesterday, Thursday, I woke up to the cool Cape air and wriggled into my new Vibrams, intent on continuing my C25K program. I took about two steps and realized that my left achilles tendon couldn't take running. It really needs to heal. I worry that the nice British lady on the C25K app will suddenly turn into Dolores Umbridge and start yelling at me because I need to take some time off.

Instead, I've immersed myself in Cape activities. Going to story time at the Library (hi, Zoe!), swimming at Princess, going to the Cape Cod Museum of Natural History, playing at the Lifecourse playground with my boys and eating at Sundae School. Twice. (Shark's tooth has to be the BEST FLAVOR EVER - black raspberry with white chocolate chips. YUM.)

We did the Lifecourse truly barefoot, and I think I will attempt to run that come Monday when my parents come back and can help with the boys. For now, I'm going to the chiropractor, icing, and putting arnica gel on my heel. Hopefully I'll be better by Monday.

Research Time Again

I just read two books to learn new techniques. The Barefoot Running Book by Jason Robillard and Triathlon 101 by John Mora. (I read the first edition by Mora - I have no idea how it's been updated).

I've decided not to be a true barefoot runner at this point. I'm going to stick with my Vibrams and be a "minimalist" runner instead. I think I'm too chicken to run barefoot, but I might try it at the Lifecourse on the Cape. I went for a walk barefoot near my house, and boy howdy is the asphalt uncomfortable! Both super hot and rough. I am planning on running the tri in the Vibrams, so I have to practice putting them on wet!

What I gleaned from the second book is that I really need to practice my transitions from swimming to cycling and cycling to running. When I get to the Cape I will have to start doing two sports a day, to work on building up endurance. I'm thinking about getting a little shammy for the post swimming transition. I also looked through my clothes last night I have all the clothes I need - I found some bike shorts and two different biking shirts (complete with pockets for sports gel). I'll have to play around with the shirt, but I plan on swimming in my Enell bra and a swim bottom, them throwing on the shorts, shirt and vibrams.

I took two days off the heal my achilles tendon - it feels much better and I'll be up and out early tomorrow to run...

Swimming and Cycling

I haven't written much about the two other sports in the triathlon, swimming and cycling. I plan to start swimming when I decamp to Cape Cod. There is a great pond for training and hopefully I'll be able to swim this summer. I'm hoping to be able to steal away from the kids and leave them with my parents so I can swim. The swim portion of the tri is only 1/4 mile, not too bad. I swam competitively year round in childhood, up until about age 14. Not an issue, form-wise. Could be an issue of endurance, but that's where training comes in. I'll have to purchase a shortie wetsuit as the ponds in Massachusetts are colder than Florida ponds or lakes. However, advantage Massachusetts, because I don't have to keep an eye out for alligators! That is one thing I'm a little nervous about - the tri itself is in a lake in Orlando. Do they sweep the lake the day before? I probably won't be the fastest, and the first time triathletes go second, so if there's a gator bite, it'll probably be in the early round...

Cape Cod has a fantastic bike trail close to my parents' house. I'll most likely have to buy a trailer for Noah. Nathan will be in camps for part of the summer, so I'll bike when he's gone. Noah's a bid more accepting of long journeys - he'll love looking for chipmunks and birds during the rides. Maybe this will spur Nathan to learn to ride a two-wheeler without training wheels - he hates being left out but I don't want to go so slowly that I don't get significant mileage!

Another run tomorrow. I think my Vibrams are pressing in to my achilles tendon funny - I've read that some people cut them, but it's hard to do that to something that cost so much...