Ok, that’s the best I could do for a pithy heading. After all, my first title of choice, Slow Fat Triathlete, has already been taken by Jayne Williams, who wrote a pretty funny book about her experience as a triathlete who actually weighed quite a bit more than I do (and she’s shorter!) when she started doing them.
I don’t expect anyone to read this, though feel free if you’ve got a surplus of time and nothing better to do. Basically, I believe that by posting this for all the world to see (not that the world is looking... but... it might), it will keep me honest. It’s much easier to slack if you’re quiet about it, you know?
So here is a recap of week one of my triathlon training. In addition to buying Jayne’s book, I also got Sally Edwards’ Triathlons for Women. Edwards spoke briefly at a special breakfast for "Team Survivor" members at the Chicagoland Danskin I did back in 2004. What really impressed me about her, though, is that she has finished last in more triathlons than probably anybody. She’s a world-class athlete who has won gazillions of them, too, but she intentionally finishes last in every Danskin triathlon so that none of the women doing it has to fear that they’ll be the last one across the line. I don’t usually go for that kind of, dare I say, touchy-feely empowerment, but I have to admit I think that’s really cool.
So, anyway, I’m following Edwards’ recommendations for a training program, which includes spending the first couple weeks working on base skills rather than gunning all out for distance, speed or duration. In many ways, this week was actually harder than "normal" working out for me because I held back and focused on form and pace and all the tedious technical stuff. I’m hoping that by laying the foundation of proper technique now, I’ll be less likely to get hurt.
Sunday 13 May: kicked off Tri Again 2007 training with what I do every day... an off-leash dog walk of about two miles through the hilly wooded park near me. While Wiley took a post-walkies nap, I then did a fast walk of 3.3 miles, just slightly longer than I’ll be doing at the triathlon.
Monday 14 May: I did my morning Pilates intermediate floor routine like I do every other day. As a sidenote, I recommend Pilates very, very highly to anyone who is no longer a spring chicken and would like a stronger back, better posture and flatter stomach. The routine lasts less than 20 minutes, wakes me up without getting me sweaty and really does give one a stronger core, which helps me do everything from walk backwards as a campus tour guide ("we’re walking... we’re walking") to lift 50 lb. bags of flour.
But if you do try Pilates, try to take a free intro class at a local studio to learn proper form and then get a real Pilates DVD, not those crappy hybrid yogalates or taebolates or whatever. I got Classical Pilates Technique: The Complete Mat Workout Series a couple years ago and recommend it very highly. The reviewers on Amazon.com slammed it for having no music or production value (it’s just the person doing the routine with a voice-over by a Dutch guy with a funny accent), but quite frankly, if I want production value, I’ll go see a freakin’ Jerry Bruckheimer movie.
Oh, also today, in addition to doing a mile or so dog walk, I ralked for 2.5 miles on the indoor track at school. Ralking is my sport, and I have every confidence that one day it will be an Olympic sport. Ok, maybe not, but it works for me. I walk one lap, run one lap, over and over. I think that in the running world it’s called fartlek, but that sounds even goofier than ralking.
Tuesday 15 May: a "rest" day with just a 30 minute dog walk through the hills.
Wednesday 16 May: morning Pilates and dog walk. I also had a meeting with the personal trainer they have on staff at the school gym. Sitting in his office, surrounded by framed photos of all his finishes at the New York Marathon, when I told him I was training for a triathlon, he gave me the look one might give a very dumb but sweet child who has just declared her intention to be a brain surgeon. "Oh, uh, good for you," he said. Actually, he was very nice and supportive, especially after I explained this was my second one, having done the first one without training for it. He also said that he wanted to do one, but that the swimming portion would kill him.
It amazes me how many superfit people I know who say that... why is everyone afraid of the swimming portion? That’s the easiest part. That night, in fact, I swam for 35 minutes in the pool at school, with very few breaks. My two problems when swimming are my irrational fear of sharks (yes, even in an indoor pool) and the way swimming completely mellows me out, to the point that I stared at the shower curtain in the locker room for at least ten minutes before remembering I was supposed to shower off all the chlorine.
Thursday 17 May: a mile dog walk in the morning, and a 2.2 mile ralk on the track at school, really focusing on my form, starting at the top of my head (head up, eyes ahead, neck and shoulders relaxed, elbows at 90 degrees, arms back and forward not side to side, hands loosely closed with thumb touching middle finger not clenched, abs in, hip flexors forward, knees soft throughout stride, ankles doing what they can to keep my feet from flopping outward, heel not striking too hard, eight strides per breath, four in, four out). Then I take a tally of what hurts (everything... damn, I hate running) and start again checking form from the top of my head.
It’s especially torturous because I decided that, at least for my base skills weeks, I would train without music. I can’t have headphones on race day, after all, or when I swim or cycle. Running to begin with is hell, but doing it without Rob Zombie, Rammstein, Seether, A Perfect Circle and Beyonce is, I have come to believe, nothing short of masochism. And yeah, I have Beyonce’s "Check Up On It" right between my beloved angry boys on my MP3 player... got a problem with that?
Friday 18 May: crazy blowout training day! Well, not really. 1.5 mile dog walk in the morning. Then after class, I did another 2.2 mile ralk, half an hour of upper body weight training per the plan the personal trainer wrote out for me on Wednesday, and then an easy 20 minute lap swim, again focusing on form. I am actually a terribly inefficient swimmer, but thanks to my, er, natural bouyancy, I can flail about and still get where I’m going. The aquatics guy they have on staff at the gym is on vacation until Memorial Day, but when he gets back I’m signing up for a lesson.
Saturday 19 May: Pilates and a dog walk that I’m not counting since it was on-leash (too many other dogs in the park to let Captain Chaos go free ranging), but otherwise nothin’. All part of my plan. I will ramp things up a bit this week. I did go to the bicycle store the personal trainer recommended. Although it was a Very Serious Bike Shop, they had a couple bikes in my range.
The guy suggested I might like the aluminum frame Giant Cypress that they had at their other store instead of the steel frame Giant Cypress ST I took a shine to, and since it was pouring rain all day (with more in the forecast for the whole weekend), I saw no reason to get the bike that day.
So I’ll be going back this week to get the bike, the rack and the helmet, followed I’m sure by the Band-Aids, the anti-anxiety medication and the OxyContin to ease the pain of broken limbs. When I explained to Mike at Bikeway that I have a lot of Issues about bike riding (it’s high on my list of Things I’d Rather Not Be Around, bested only by cows and sharks), he said I wouldn’t need to worry about even trying the whole toe clip/clipless pedal thing right now. Then he explained to me how to shift on the 24-speed bike I’ll be getting, which was actually the most helpful 30 seconds I’ve had in a long time.
I really don’t feel I need all those gears, but nowadays, that’s the bare minimum, at least for me, as I am too tall for the Huffy SpongeBob SquarePants kiddie bike that I’d probably be happiest with. I may still put streamers on whichever Giant bike I get.
And no, Giant is not the size. It's just the brand name.
Reading this over, I’m reminded of something a classmate said to me when I ran into her (not literally) in the gym. When I explained I was training for a triathlon, she expressed great surprise and asked: "Are you a good swimmer?" I said no. "Are you a good cyclist?" Definitely not. I hate even the thought of the cycle portion. "Do you run?" As well as a bear recently roused from hibernation, only with more growling.
"Wow," she said. "Now I’m really impressed. I could never go out and try to do something I was no good at, just to do it."
Yeah, well, that’s pretty much how I roll. And ralk.
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6 comments:
OK, as much as I love, love, love your newly coined term "ralking," what you're really doing are intervals. Normally when a person runs intervals, you run at a pace faster than your race pace, but at much shorter distances (200-1200 meters, sometimes 1600 meters for long-distance running), do a few reps, and then walk or jog in between. And so sometimes they're called "speed intervals" You're just doing slower intervals.
A fartlek, meanwhile -- which means "speedplay" -- is all running, but with bursts of speed. And then there's the tempo run, in which you maintain a just slightly faster than normal pace for a sustained distance.
Then again, "ralking" will do just fine. :) It's actually what I did to become a runner -- I'd run a minute and then walk a minute for 30 minutes one week (3-4 times a week), then 2 mins/2 mins the next, until I slowly built up to running the whole 30 minutes over the course of 10 weeks. It's the training plan for beginning runners in "The Runner's Handbook."
And I'm not sure you really can change your biomechanics -- how hard your heel strikes, whether you roll outwards, etc. -- the important thing is to get the right shoes for your gait, to compensate for that. (I recall you finally did get fitted by a running store, right?)
i don't think the word "speed" belongs in any intervals i'm doing :-)
as for ralking, to me it sounds vaguely scandinavian. always a plus.
re: biomechanics... i know i'll never have the perfect footfall of *some* people (ahem...), but i also know that regardless of what shoes i'm wearing, when i'm moving fast, or at least less slow, i have to make a conscious effort to keep my ankles from rolling, probably because, out of the six ligaments i was born with, i have a total of three still attached. the rest have gotten all detached-like and bunched up into scar tissue that hurts when a thunderstorm approaches. lovely image, i know.
and i've yet to find a running store that doesn't try to make me buy a guy's shoe because they don't carry my circus freak size. i still have (and love) my saucony hurricanes (i especially love that they are called hurricanes!! maybe i should blame them for when i get stalled over the atlantic...), on my second pair, actually. they do help a lot with the pain. i couldn't even ralk before. but i got them through trial and error try-ons at the local outlet mall.
yay hurricanes!
If Edwards is at this triathlon you're doing, you must challenge her to a "last-off." The two of you will hang out at the back of the pack, giving words of encouragement to the slowest participants, all the while strategically jockeying for last place. As you approach the finish line, this will evolve into a violent struggle in which each of you attempts to fling the other over the finish line first. Last off... it's like a triathlon and a cage match all in one! And make damn sure someone's there to get video of this!
Well, I know why *I* wouldn't want to do the swim portion of a triathlon -- I hate the way I look in a bathing suit! ; ) Actually, I just bought a couple of decent (and wildly expensive) suits from Land's End, but before that I was seriously thinking of looking up that website you sent me a while back -- the one where they sell Amish-like, extremely modest swimsuits that hearken back to the wool ones w/long bloomers that they wore at the beginning of the last century.
tommy: thanx, but i came in last often enough in gym class and was not only mocked by classmates for it but also punished by my sadistic gym teacher. i gots me too many issues about finishing last... quite frankly, i don't think i would have done the first tri if there had been a chance of being the last one across the line.
llqool: that's all the more reason to do a triathlon! especially the danskin. trust me, when you're standing at the edge of the lake wearing a hideous neon swimcap, surrounded by thousands of women of all shapes and sizes, all of them in their swimmin' suits, about to plunge into a freakin' icy lake at 0630, the last thing on your mind is what you're wearing.
i swear, one of these days i'm going to get you to do a danskin tri with me. they have one at disneyworld, you know.
and i believe the web site you're referring to is the super-stylin' www.wholesomewear.com ... i'd get a suit from them only the drag when swimming would be ridiculous and i'd be even slower. i am, however, anxiously awaiting my aquatard, a purple knee-length unitard thingy that should be faster than my current maillot and swim shorts ensemble, which i ordered last week from Junonia.com. i fully expect to look like McDonald's Grimace in it, but like i said, how i look will be the last thing on my mind...
Saucony rocks.
Or ralks.
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