"Pre-season" training

At the TNT information session we didn't receive a definitive training schedule, and we were assuming that the official season wouldn't begin until after the New Year. At least I thought I'd have time to get into some sort of shape so that the transition to 6+ workouts a week wouldn't kill me. It's not as if I was super strong in one of the disciplines to begin with, so I was really starting from scratch.

• Swimming: I've always been comfortable in the water. 0.92 miles isn't exactly a comfort distance, though. Free community pools are unfortunately a rarity in D.C. The most convenient to home would be the YMCA, but it's expensive and the pool is perpetually crowded. The University of D.C. is short ride away on the Metro, is free for D.C. residents, and isn't well known. The schedule is pretty good for mornings and afternoon, and most of the time it isn't that crowded.
  
  My first time back in the water was about how I thought it would go: terribly. I couldn't even go 50 yards (one lap) freestyle without getting winded and stopping for air. Form? Who needs form?! I was about as un-hydrodynamic as you could get, a mess of flailing limbs full of turbulence and fury, signifying nothing.


• Biking: Out of the three I figured I was best off on the bike. I had commuted from Alexandria into the city when I lived down there, so longish rides weren't foreign to me, but that was on my heavy commuter bike. Moving up to a proper road bike should make it even better. One of the fun parts about training for a triathlon is that you get to pick up new toys. Specifically, a sweet new ride:
  
  
  Getting a professional fitting made all the difference. I was a little worried about using clipless pedals with my road shoes, but I haven't fallen on my ass. Yet.
  


• Running: Ugh. Running. Jogging. I've always hated it. My frame just wasn't made for long distance pounding. Sore knees and ankles were normal, and the extra weight I'm carrying doesn't help. I started off easy, going for 10 minutes at a time when I could. 3/4 mile. 1 mile. I was still plodding along (plodding being the operative word here), but I was able to at least put some distances together. But I have no sense of pace, so I tend to jump out going way too fast and wear myself out within minutes. After I started figuring out distances from our front door (thank you GMaps Pedometer!) I began timing myself. Yeah, sprinting out of the gate doesn't help. I should have been doing slow runs (12 minute miles I figured based on what I had read), but I was getting out to 8 or 9 minute mile paces and just burning out before the mile was out. Sprint then walk, sprint then walk. It was hard to slow myself down since in the back of my head I knew that faster pace = shorter time I had to suffer on the run. The opposite was actually true.
  
  
  After a couple weeks of that Liz and I made the bold decision to run a 5K Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving morning. I don't think I'd run more than 3 miles since my college days. Early in my college days. I told myself that a 12 minute pace would be great if I could run the whole way without stopping. 35 minutes total and I would be thrilled. It was a fairly hilly course, a couple short and steep ones at the very beginning. According to the race volunteers calling out times at the mile markers I had an 11:07 first mile split. Adrenaline, I guess. 2nd mile had some more downhill, and I clocked in at 9:58! The last mile.1 featured a long hill and I had to walk for two 10-20 second breaks. After cresting the hill I found what might actually resemble a stride (shock!) and finished the course in 32:06. 10:22 pace. Not bad! I really surprised myself, not just at my time but by actually enjoying a run. It was really excrutiating at the end (and my back had tightened up painfully from the pounding the week before), but for the first time in over a dozen years I actually had some confidence in my running. Maybe this wasn't going to be so bad after all.