Single Digits and Reflections

Today is officially 10 days until Nation's, and it blows my mind that we're almost in single digits. I feel like I'm finally getting a handle on the season and the fundraising and TNT and the season is winding down! Don't get me wrong - I'll be happy to have my weekends back, to not have to bug you all for money all the time. But I've really enjoyed this season, and I've loved the program. There will be a lot about this program that I'll miss when it's done. But luckily, I can do it all over again next year! (Speaking of which, I'm considering the San Diego Marathon in June, 2013 - want to do it with me and TNT? Let me know!)

This weekend we had a long bike ride, run AND a long open water swim, and this meant a lot of time alone with my thoughts to reflect on this past season, and how far I've actually come.

One of the things that's surprised me is how gradual the progress has felt. At the start of the season, a 400 meter continuous swim was an overwhelming proposition. But I kept at it, stuck to the workouts, and then one day I swam a mile (1600 meters). And then a few weeks ago, I swam a mile in open water. (For those that have never swam in open water, I'd liken it to the difference between running on a treadmill and then running outside. In theory it's the same exercise, but actually very, very different in practice.)

That's a huge difference in just 12 weeks. When I started in May, I had no idea how I'd handle the swim. And now, I'm not too worried about it. I'll chalk it up to hard work, great coaching, tons of support and a really well thought out program. I truly don't think I could have made this much progress on my own.

So now I've got 10 days left. Almost all of the work is done. I've got a one more hard workout this weekend, and then I'll start tapering into race weekend. I've never felt this ready for a race before, and I know that's a direct result of Team in Training, our coaches and our program. I feel ready and I feel excited. And hey, maybe I'll even have some fun out there!

Two weeks and counting!

I'm seated in the front - blue shirt and blue visor.

Aren't we a good looking bunch of triathletes? And this was AFTER a 2.5 hour workout - a 90 minute ride followed by a 40 minute run. It was our last big workout before the race, and it was great. The course was beautiful - rolling hills (and some not so rolling hills) in the Maryland country side past farms and houses and a lot of green. The run wasn't as hard as I expected it to be. I've never trained this hard for a race, and all the preparation is definitely paying off. When I think about how I'm feeling about this race, three words come to mind: confident, ready and excited.

I'll keep today's post short - I've got to get ready for another open water swim practice this morning. But thank you again for all of those who have been there for me this season. It's been an amazing few months and I'm excited for the next two weeks!

Milkshakes and beer, all for a good cause!

If you've been keeping up with this blog (and thank you if you have!), you know that I've put a lot of work into the physical part of my training. I've had my ups and downs, but I'm proud of how I've stuck with it, and how I've been able to keep pushing myself. And I've been seeing the results. I've been consistently swimming longer and longer yardage, setting a new distance record for myself almost every week. This past weekend, I biked 33 miles in 2 hours, meaning my pace was somewhere near 3:40 miles for the whole two hours. It's felt good.

But there's a whole nother aspect to Team in Training that hasn't been so easy for me. The fundraising. No one likes to talk about money, myself included. As a result, the fundraising has been rather difficult for me. I'm getting better at it, and have had a great push in the last two weeks, but I'm still pretty far from my goal. 47% away from my goal to be exact.

To try and close in on this gap, I've got two fundraising events in DC this week that I'm excited to invite you to. They're my favorite kind of fundraising events - ones that involve delicious drinks of 2 different types:

1) Potbelly's Milkshake Fundraiser 8/20/12 - 8/26/12 
Stop by the Potbelly's at 1445 K St, NW (McPherson Square) any day next week and buy a chocolate milkshake (yes, only chocolate). For every chocolate milkshake they sell throughout next week, 50 cents will go directly to LLS. Come early, come often and bring friends and co-workers!

2) Sign of the Whale Fundraiser, 8/23/12
If you are more interested in delicious drinks of another sort, come to Sign of the Whale at 1825 M St on Thursday, August 23, from 6 - 9. A $10 cover will get you $2 rail drinks, select beer, house wine as well as food specials. We'll also have some great raffle prizes. All proceeds from the door and raffle will go directly to LLS! Once again, come early and bring friends and co-workers - the more the merrier!

If you can't make it to either of these events, I hope you'll still consider supporting me and LLS's lifesaving research. Thank you again for your support, and I hope to see you at Sign of the Whale this week!

This past weekend was chock-full of Team in Training, and I loved every second of it! Between training and fundraising I've had a few very busy weekends.

This past weekend started with a mini-tri set up by our coaches, mentors and staff. It's not just the physical part of a triathlon that's a challenge...switching immediately from swimming to biking to running is not an easy thing to do. Especially when all of those transitions should only take you about 5 minutes total. There's a lot of planning that goes into it, and prepping for that is almost as important as the physical preparations. So this weekend, we practiced. Complete with bike racks, wetsuits (more on that later), and a "swim", bike and run.  It was great to have a chance to set this up and do a dry run, pre-race day. Major lesson learned: the two seconds it takes to make sure your socks are all the way on before you start your run are well worth it... blisters are no fun, my friends.

My transition area, all set up and ready to go!

 
After practice, I went down to the mall with a few teammates for a very, very simple fundraiser - we sold water on the National Mall. We went into it having no idea how it would go, and were a little afraid we'd get kicked off the Mall for not having a permit. But, surprisingly, it was super effective! We sold 100 bottles of water in about 2 hours, and even had a ranger compliment us on a good idea halfway through. So successful in fact, that we're doing it again this weekend, with even more water. I guess there are some perks to living in a tourist town!

The signs make us legit, right?

To add to all this, we had our first open water swim on Sunday afternoon. Swimming a mile in a pool is one thing. The water's clear, there are lanes, there are black lines on the bottom of the pool to keep you straight, and you get to turn around every 25 or 50 meters. Swimming in open water is different, to say the least. And, as I learned, so is swimming in a wetsuit.

Neoprene's a GREAT look for me.

 As it turns out, wetsuits are tight. Really tight. And for someone who still hasn't really gotten the hang of that whole breathing and swimming thing, adding in a tight suit on top of it is not the best idea. The first few 100 meters of the swim were not pretty. I didn't know how I was going to finish it (we were doing about 1700). Thankfully, I didn't panic, and I had some coaches in the water to talk me through it. I made a few adjustments, kept at it, and slowly but surely finished the whole swim. We 3 laps of a small course, and each lap actually felt stronger and stronger. The best part was that I wasn't totally exhausted afterwards. Which is good, because come Sept 9, when I get out of the water I'll only be about than a third of the way done with the race. So I guess all those early mornings in the pool really are paying off!

Needless to say, after a weekend like that I slept very, very well on Sunday night. It was a busy, awesome weekend, but I'm not done yet. With just under 4 weeks until race day and 50% of my fundraising goal left, there's plenty of work to be done! That includes two fundraising events in here in DC, so if you're in the area, stay tuned for details!

Time Flies When You're Having Fun

And all of a sudden, it's one month until race day. Sitting in kick-off in May, September felt so far away...and now it's right around the corner. Usually at this point in training, I feel a lot of different things - anxiety, excitement, doubt, confidence, fear. But this time around, I'm proud to say that I've put a lot of work into my training, and I mostly just feel ready. I've got a few weeks of training to go, but I've also reached some major milestones. I never thought I'd be able to swim MORE than a mile, or bike for 90 minutes straight (especially considering I didn't even know how to ride 6 years ago). But I've pushed myself, relied on the support from my team and my friends, and gotten there.

I've got a lot of exciting things coming up in the next few weeks - fun fundraising events, my first open water swim, my first wet-suit practice, a mini-tri on Saturday, and of course, the race itself. It won't be easy, and I'm sure the anxiety will come when I get to the starting line - it always does. This season has been a lot of work, but I can honestly say that I don't think I've ever felt more ready for a race. I must say, it's a very nice feeling.

The Power of Your Donation

Whenever I make a donation, the biggest question in my head is how much to give. I'm not in a position to give a lot of money to anyone, even the causes closest to my heart. But then, what does a small donation actually do? Surely in the fight against cancer, $25, $40 or even $50 is a meaningless sum, right?

To give you a little perspective, I wanted to share some figures a teammate recently sent me (thanks, Cem!), with some comparisons to what a similar amount of money would buy in my life, and perhaps yours.

• $25 - Covers the cost of one prescription co-payment.
• Three or four drinks out at a bar, including tip and tax - a typical Happy Hour for many people.
• $35 - Provides transportation expenses for a patient living in the DC area to a comprehensive cancer center for treatment.
• Fairly standard dinner out for 1, including a drink, tax and tip.
• $40 - Covers the cost of sending a comprehensive support and informational packet to the family of a child with cancer.
• 1 tank of gas in a compact car, like my Honda Civic. 
• $50 - Covers the cost of one (potentially life-saving) CT scan.
• A new sweater, skirt or pair of pants.
• $75 - Covers the cost of one tissue typing test that is used to become a bone marrow donor.
• 1 month gym membership.
• $100 - Helps supply laboratory researchers with supplies and materials critical to carrying out their search for cures
• 1 ticket to an arena-level concert, like Coldplay or Jay-Z.
• $150 - Provides for 5 patients to make a First Connection with a trained peer volunteer patient/survivor.
• A new Amazon Kindle and case. 
• $200 - Provides funding for a Family Support Group Program for one year where comfort can be found and experiences can be shared among patients and family members mediated by a trained facilitator.
• A plane ticket from DC to Boston, Chicago or Vermont. 
• $500 - Provides a patient with leukemia, lymphoma or myeloma financial aid to support medical treatment and travel to medical appointments for one year.
• A new TV or PC computer.

Of course I don't expect anyone to sacrifice a trip to see a friend or a new computer to support my efforts and LLS. But hopefully this helps you realize that your donation, no matter how small, can have a positive impact on the life of someone fighting this disease. 

Registered & Recommitted

This won't be a very long post - just a quick note to mark two related milestones in my first Team in Training season: recommitment and registration.

This week we were given a choice: if, over the past few months, we realized TNT wasn't for us, we were given an out, no strings attached. Or, we could sign on the dotted line and commit to the training and fundraising for the remainder of the season. You'll all be happy (but hopefully not surprised) to know that I've chosen the latter. I sent in my paperwork late last week and registered for the race this afternoon.

There are 57 days left until race day, and I've got a lot of work to do between now and then. But I'm confident that I'll be ready. I've got some great people around me and plenty of determination left. What more could a girl ask for?

Overcoming A Slump in 4 Easy Steps

When we last met, I was in a bit of a slump. Training was getting overwhelming and exhausting, and I was just sort of tired. It was a rough week, but I'm happy to report that I've gotten over it and I'm very much enjoying training again. It's still hard, it's still tiring, but I'm enjoying the challenge again. 

There wasn't any one particular event or realization that helped me get over my funk, but more of a combination of factors and realizations, all taken together. I'm sure there were other factors that came into play as well, but for me, I can point to four major factors:

 

1. A great support system – So far, one of my favorite things about TNT has been the support system. The group as a whole is made up of the type of people who enjoy pushing themselves and are fairly competitive. Yet no one is ever made to feel like they're not fast enough, not strong enough, or are holding anyone else back. No matter what level you're at, everyone is there for each other - teammates, coaches, staff, mentors. It's a strange but wonderful balance. I'm also lucky enough to have an amazing group of family friends who were to encourage me and keep me motivated. This is not the first time I've seen this side of my friends and family (I couldn't have made it through Peace Corps without everyone's support), but I'm thankful for it at every turn. 

2. A great training system - I don't think it's a coincidence that our first recovery week came right at the peak of my first slump. Just as I was feeling overwhelmed with training, we stepped everything down for a week and gave our bodies some time to rest and recover. It may seem counter-intuitive that scaling your workouts down will improve your performance in the long run, but it really does work. I came out of the recovery week feeling strong and well rested, and haven't had been that exhausted since. 

3. Small victories - The idea of a tri is overwhelming, and I think I was a bit caught up in the overall goal. Breaking it down into smaller pieces and small victories helped get me back on track mentally, and helped me realize that I am slowly but surely working towards my the overall goal. Most of these milestones have come in the pool - swimming is by far my weakest of the three, and there are still days where I'm not sure how I'm going to pull off a mile open water swim. But almost every week I've been swimming longer and longer distances than I ever have in my life. I recently swam 700m without stopping or ever touching the wall, and 1100m in one workout. That's not exactly race distance, but they're distances that I've never reached before. So something must be working, and working well. 

4. Endorphin-induced epiphanies - One of the things I love most about running is how a good run can clear my head, calm me down and bring on a few good aha! moments once in a while. After a good run, life just seems easier. It seems better. For one of the first times ever, I had one of those aha! moments in the pool (a good sign in and of itself, regardless of the actual thought). Somewhere in the middle of my 800m swim, I realized that the hardest part of any endurance race is mental. Convincing your body to keep going, no matter how tired you are or how appealing it may seem to stop is a really hard skill to develop. Motivating yourself to run or swim or bike through those inevitable walls, and trusting yourself to know your limits is not easy. The hope is to rely on good technique and good training to get you through race day, but if that fails, you better be able to put mind over matter and keep yourself going. And that is something I've perfected in my 10+ years of running. I know my limits, I know my boundaries, but I also know how and when to push myself. I've become really good at just keeping myself moving forward, one step at a time, until I cross that finish line.   

So that, my friends, is how I beat my first training slump. I may or may not see another one before September 9 (hopefully not, of course), but there will definitely be more victories, epiphanies and stories to share, so please stay tuned. 

Sometimes, training sucks.

A challenge, by its very definition, will have its ups and downs. We all know this. But it's something that we don't always remember when we commit to a challenging endeavour. We focus on the largely on the glory of overcoming some difficulty, and not so much on the difficulty itself. Which is probably for the best. If that weren't the case, we'd be a society full of nay-sayers, and wouldn't be where we are today as a society or as individuals. But, the difficulties are still there whether we recognize them from the start or not. Because a challenge, by it's very definition, will have its ups and downs.

After reading that paragraph, this next sentence may not come as much of a surprise. But...I've hit my first training slump. Now, before I go any further, let me say this: I know I'll get over it. I've trained for races before. I've taken on challenges before, both physical and otherwise. I'm not one to shy away when something gets hard. But this week has not been easy. It's week four of training. I've gotten up at 6:30 (sometimes 4:45...yes, 4:45AM) almost every day for the last 3.5 weeks, including on weekends. It's starting to catch up to me. I'm tired. My legs are tired. My arms are tired. I'm hungry a lot. And tomorrow, I have to get up and do it again. And the next day and the next day, until September 9.

So what's been getting me through? There are a few thoughts I've been cycling through to keep myself going. The first is that I know on race day I'll be thankful for every minute I spent training. If it's going to make race day even a little bit easier, it'll be worth it. The second is that I know this is just a slump. Slumps come and go, and I really do love being getting out and running or biking, and sometimes, I even enjoy the swimming. So I know next week will be better.

But, and I swear this is the truth, the biggest thing that has gotten me through has been all the support I've received so far. Thinking of the everyone who has donated or sent me words of encouragement really does push me to keep going. I owe it to each of you to get myself across the finish line. And I will. It won't be easy, and this probably won't be the last slump. But I'll get there. One day at a time, one workout at a time, one donation at a time, and I'll get there.

TNT Kick-Off and My First Sprint Tri

I love me some shwag!

This has been an exciting few weeks in my budding triathlon career. Last weekend was Team in Training's summer season kick-off breakfast, and it was such an awesome way to start the season off. There are TNT teams doing two different tris, training for the Marine Corps Marathon, the Nike Marathon/ Half Marathon, as well as a few different 100-mile bike rides. There were probably about 500 athletes at kick-off, and the energy in the room was awesome. Running, swimming and biking 6 times a week won't be easy, and neither will the fundraising. But I'm excited to be doing it with such an awesome group of people. I met some of my teammates, and am excited to get to know them better, and to meet the ones who weren't able to make it. 

Our first group training session was this past weekend, but I actually wasn't able to make that. But, I swear I had a good reason...and I even have the pictures to prove it:

Starting the run, about two thirds of the way through
 my first tri! That smile is all endorphines, I promise.

A few months ago, my friend Audrey told me about a sprint tri she was training for in Richmond. May sounded like a long time away, and I knew I wanted to run a tri, so a little bit on a whim, I decided to sign up myself. I wouldn't say my training went fantastically well, especially in the last few weeks. I was running often enough, but hadn't swam enough and had only practiced one bike-run transition, and no swim-bike transitions. I had many thoughts of backing out, and even emailed the race director to see if I could get my money back. Thankfully I was three days too late in emailing them, so I decided to tough it out and do it. How bad could it be, right? 

I was surprisingly un-nervous the whole weekend. I think mostly because all I wanted to do was finish, even if I had to do so crawling. But the race went surprisingly well. The swim sort of kicked my ass, but thankfully I got that over quickly and was able to shake it off for the rest of the race. The bike course was gorgeous, and I realized on many occasions that I was smiling for no real reason in particular. The run was a fairly easy 5k, and before I knew it, I had finished my first tri! Now, I know that 1 tri does not an expert make, but if this race is any indication, here are the top three things that I'm going to like about this sport (in no particular order):

1. It's humbling. I consider myself active and relatively fit. But I finished after all sorts of people at this race, including senior citizens, people who wouldn't strike you as physically fit, and most notably, a woman with one leg. Yes, with one leg and one of those curved prosthetic legs. If that doesn't put your life in perspective, I'm not really sure what would.

2. It's uplifting. And somehow, this isn't contradictory to #1. I'll say it again - I was passed by all sorts of people. And I passed a good number of people too. But there wasn't a single person who made me feel bad about being slow, was angry about me passing them, or made me feel like my 12-minute swim time was a bad thing. In fact, it was just the opposite. Almost everyone who passed me, and many of the people I passed, made it a point to share some words of encouragement. It's an individual's race, but I really did feel like there was a great sense of community, and from what I've heard from other triathletes, that's not at all unique to this race. 

3. It's fun. No, really it is. Having three different sporting events to complete in a row may seem daunting, but changing it up that often makes the race a lot of fun. It's a mental challenge in a very different way than a running event is. You're constantly thinking about the next leg, and it breaks it down into manageable pieces. Aside from the 12 minutes I spent in the pool, I truly enjoyed every minute of this race. 

Audrey and I, now official triathletes!

I know I'll have a lot of training to do between now and September, and specifically a lot of laps to log in the pool. But if it's anything like this race at all, it'll be an absolute blast. 

Why a tri? And why TNT?

Yes, why indeed? Why did I decide to swim in the Potomac, bike past the beltway (and back) and then run 6 miles around Haines Point and the Mall? And why did I decide to do so while also committing to raising over $2,000 for the The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society? Well, to be honest, after writing it out like that, it doesn't sound so appealing... But! There are plenty of reasons that I signed up, and I'll share a few here. Hopefully this will give you a better idea of why I decided to take on all of this.

I like a challenge. This one is pretty straightforward, right? Give me a goal and a challenge, a benchmark to meet, and once I commit, I'm in.

I have no idea how to train for a tri. I am actually running a smaller sprint tri in about 2 weeks, and my training has not gone well. I have no idea how to efficiently and productively train to swim, run and then bike all in a row. I'm excited to learn how to do all that in an effective way.

It'll be fun. Well, sometimes. If study abroad, rugby, CBC, Peace Corps, and, well, my life, has taught me anything, it's that I like community as much as I like a challenge. Even though early Saturday workouts will be challenging, I'll be doing them with a great group of people. I'm excited to meet my teammates and I'm sure there will be plenty of laughter to get me through the long miles and early mornings.

and, most importantly...

It's a good cause. We all know I'm a sucker for a good cause. My life, as well as the lives of most of the people I know, has been touched by cancer. And while LLS supports research into a very specific type of cancer, working to cure any type of cancer is working to make the world a better place. But don't take my word for it. Just take a few minutes to read through some of these stories.

Admittedly, none of these reasons make swimming in the Potomac seem any more appealing. But even that seems a small price to pay for such a great cause.

My season officially starts this weekend with a kick-off breakfast, and training starts the week after that. I can't wait to get started.