Transitions

Here's a hodgepodge of stuff from the week, with no logical transitions to connect them. Been focusing my transition abilities elsewhere:

This week's official organized training was all about making the switch between the triathlon events: swim to bike and bike to run. On Wednesday, we did a run/bike/run/bike/run workout; each run was about a mile, and each bike segment was about 4.5 miles. At the end, my legs really felt like concrete - it was really hard to make the switch from pedaling in circles to running. I guess that's the point of the training though - to get your legs used to it so that it's not such a shock.

Then on Saturday we had a great day filled with three mini-triathlons. Each one consisted of a 300 yard swim, about 7 miles on the bike, and about 1.5 miles running, with a break in between each one. Again, the first two were pretty manageable, but on the third round it was tough to get revved up again. My arms and legs decided of their own accord that they were pretty much done after two rounds. Overall, the training aspects of the day were great; all was not fabulous though - my relay friend had a bit of a crash on her last bike segment. Last I heard (Saturday afternoon) she was doing fine, and her sense of humor was mostly intact, even if her knees and arms and other parts were not. Ouch! Hope she's doing better. I had made some tentative plans to join her and a couple of other folks today in scouting out the official 56 mile Big Kahuna bike course, but we'll have to take a gauze-and-bandaid check on that.

On Friday I swam the official half-ironman distance of 1.2 miles in the pool, just to see how long it would take. 43 minutes - room for improvement? Actually, just being able to swim that far without stopping is a pretty huge thing, considering my swimming shape when I started this whole shebang.

I've been doored! Yup, I learned firsthand why it's not a good idea to ride your bike on the right side of slow or stopped traffic. On the way home from practice Wednesday night, traffic was slow on University, and I was passing on the right when, in the middle of the block, the passenger door opened on a big SUV, and I didn't have time to stop or room to swerve. So. I had a nice meeting with the door, and then a follow-up session with the pavement. It could have been a lot worse - all I have to show for this episode is a gouge in my finger and some bruises. And increased wisdom. I'll promise to limit my right-side passing if folks promise to at least look if they're going to do something silly like open their door, suddenly, in the middle of the block. At the end of the day, though, it's up to the cyclists, right? Because we'll always lose.

This evening I went out cycling with some folks from St. Mark's - they were pretty darn fast and very impressive! After returning home I switched to my running shoes and went for the best run yet: 22 minutes out and 18 minutes back - it's a great feeling to finish at a quick pace.

It's time for the weekly totals! 5100 yards swimming, 139 miles biking, 13 miles running.

And the monthly totals for July: 10.9 miles swimming, 461 miles biking, 52.5 miles running.

Total totals, starting at the beginning of June: 20.4 miles swimming, 929 miles biking, 89.5 miles running. Pretty good numbers for Team Zip, eh?

Finally, I know there are a lot of folks out there who have promised me donations are forthcoming - seize the day! And I'm sure that there are even more folks out there that have promised themselves that they will donate. Go for it! I'm inching toward my big goal, but time is running out quickly! Thanks a ton.