This kind of news comes with 'exciting' information and a huge vent from me. I try not to normally vent on here since most people read it for my kids information but sometimes I need to share with my friends and family.
Part of this was 'pushed' on from the HST coming out and partly because I really need to vent. I know not a good reason but hey... it works.
1 Month ago I made a choice. Something I tried/wanted to do last year but it just didn't pan out. I really wanted to do it but I just wasn't there. So now I'm going to Give it a tri.
Yes I spelt that right. I'm going to do a "Give-It-A-Tri" on the Toronto Islands this year. In 4 months and 5 days I will be doing a mini or a "Give it a tri" Triathlon. My schedual for August 14th looks like this:
*Get up before the butt crack of dawn and drive down to the Ferry Dock (TTC isn't awake yet)
*Arrive, register and take ferry over to the Toronto Islands around 6am or 6:30am
*Prep and freak out over this
*Race starts at 8am - Wave of Men and Women under 29 years old
*Complete race by 9am (that's my personal goal)
*Eat breakfast and chill with my family on the islands and then go home and crash!
Sounds like fun hey?
For the "Give-it-a-Tri" ones you need to complete:
a 400m swim in open waters [Triangular course off Hanlan's Point. Excellent water quality & temperature ranges from 64-74F.] (see map below)
a 10km Bike around the islands [Fast-&-flat Island roads. One loop.](see map below)
a 2.5km Run near the airport runway [Along park roads and park trails.](see map below)
This will be a challenge but I have been training for a month now and I think I can do it! So far I have managed to go for a walk almost every morning. I'm slowly moving into the walking and running section of my training. Currently it's a 5 minute walk with 90 seconds run and 2 minute recovery. It will get more running eventually.
I have also worked into my schedual, thanks to an incredible mom and her son from school, 2 swimming days a week. I currently go swimming on Tuesdays and Thursday afternoons. From about 2pm until 3pm. But really I get done my swimming in 17 or 18 minutes or less. I am doing about 600m swims (which is around 30 laps of this pool) to prep me for the tri. I only need to do 400m for that but I thought this might help me get up to it. Currently my training program (which will hopefully change next week) is 4 laps full swim, 2 laps legs, 2 laps arms (x 4) which brings me to around 620 meters. I always stop closer to 600m instead. Next week I will be having someone check my strokes and give me suggestions. I got myself a new bathing suit from Costco a few weeks ago and have been using that but it hasn't worked too well... lets just say I gave the guys at the pool a show on Thursday. It is going to need to be replaced soon.
This is where part of my vent comes into play. I went to try on swimming suits last night with Arnold and we tried out about 5 stores, 3 didn't have any or any in my size and 2 that did have them they didn't' work out. One store I could get the size 40 (equivalent to a size 14 clothing) on but I was scared I would have to buy it cause I couldn't get it off!!! (Thankfully I did manage to get it off) and the next place we went to had a size 18 Nike! I was stoked! I tried it on and I couldn't get the swimming suit over my stomach. I know I'm fat but that was so bad. I was almost in tears. I have since been reminded that Nike is SUPER small. Hopefully it makes a difference. I'm now on a quest for a new bathing suit. In the mean time (so my next swimming session) I'll be doubling up with 2 bathing suits.
Then last but not least is my cycling. It has been kind of a hit and miss lately. I have a great bike, thanks to Arnold, and I know it's being kept up so I'm good with that. It won't be as 'pro' as the other bikes but I love it just the same! I started off riding, about 2 times a week around 2.2kms. I upped my route to the "Main 2.5km" that I now do for my walk/runs and my cycling now. Generally I try to do more. So once I did a bit of the 2.2km, I moved to 2.5km and now I do double that. My last 3 cycles have been 6km, 5km and 5km. My best training buddy for this is Quinton! Since we have added his seat to the back (and not the front) of the bike I'm doing great! He adds an extra 30 lbs but I love having him on there. We go cycling on Wednesdays and now Fridays (we used to do Mondays but we have Speech Therapy in the mornings now). Generally I can get in around 5km with Q on the bikes.
I also got me some great cycling clothing back at the bike show I went too. I'm not sure if I had told you guys before but I spent more money at the bike show than Arnold did! I have new cycling shorts (with a padded bum) and a new jersey that helps to wick the sweat and holds my cell phone and my MP3 player in the back pockets (assuming I don't have Q on my ride). It really is alot of fun. I'm hoping to get 'fitted' for my bike but right now that's not happening. We don't have the spare money anywhere to get that done this time around.
There's my big news! Hopefully you guys can give me some encouragement on those days when I feel like I am going to die, and maybe help me out with some suggestions on sites to read, books to get or stores to check out. My first need is prayers :) My second need is suggestions on running shoes. My shoes are on their last legs and I think I will have to buy at least one maybe 2 new pairs before the race in August. Any suggestions?
If you want to check my training page : http://www.dailymile.com/people/mirandamary#ref=tophd
Or you can see my updates on Facebook! I promise to write an update on here once a week (if I remember).
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