What a Weekend!

Wow! This weekend was just packed with training. We had an intense brick on Saturday, with a 25 mile bike followed by a 5 mile run. This is the closest we will come in our training to the actual distance of the triathlon. We were instructed to "Push it like we would in the race", so we could know our limits and learn how much is too much or not enough. I shared a "mission moment" before we took off. Our team dedicated the workout to Zack and Elisa, our two friends with leukemia. Elisa is now officially done with her treatment, and Zack still has a ways to go, but both are doing well. I wanted to acknowledge them for all that they have endured so far on their journey, and was especially moved as I recalled Zack's difficulties last summer and his long stint in the PICU at Doernbecher. I decided that I really must name my bike Zack, because for me the biking is the hardest part, and I always think of him and how my struggles to ride the thing pale in comparison to what he has endured. So I got to wear the vest with the names of all the people our teammates know who have been affected by blood cancers, and I have to say, it helped me so much! There was some magic in it: I felt strong and powerful, like a superhero!

Sunday morning found our team reassembled at the Nehalem Bay State Park boat dock in our goofy wetsuits. It was our first cold water ocean swim, and it, too, was awesome. There was something about the cold salty water that was so refreshing, and I imagined our group as a school of dolphins slicing through the water. We did have an adventure, though, that dolphins could have conquered much more easily than we did! We were instructed to swim to the green buoys, either the first, second or third, along the shoreline. If we got to the third and turned around it would be about a mile. That was not considering the tide coming in though! A group of us somehow got a bit farther out into the channel where the tide was really pouring in, and as we passed the first buoy and continued on towards the second, I kept noticing as I sighted ahead of me that the darn thing just never got any closer. At first I thought it was an optical illusion. But then I looked towards shore and saw how quickly I was being carried backwards to where I had just come from. We were basically swimming in place!! So though we barely made it past that first buoy, we difinitely swam the distance! And we even managed to not be consumed by any great white sharks to boot!! After that experience, I finally got the internal confirmation I had been waiting for: I CAN DO THIS TRIATHLON! If I could complete Saturday's brick, and then successfully navigate the ocean in my wetsuit, I can put it all together on Sept. 12th! Yippee!!

First Open Water Swim

Yesterday evening, I did my first open water swim at Clackamette Cove in Oregon City with my team. Getting into the wetsuit is no easy task. There is lots of greasing up that happens. Some use body glide, some use Pam cooking spray (for real!), and we do this all in a GROUP! 3/4ths of the way into my suit, (no easy feat), I looked down and noticed that the zipper was in the front....OOPS! I had put it on backwards! As my teammates laughed at me and grabbed for the cameras, I hastily peeled it off and started over. Once in, I realized that with the swim cap it's actually not a very attractive look. I am reminded of bullets, or perhaps sperm, or something along those lines. The neckline was also quite high and I felt like it was choking me. Getting into the water, I discovered something else, which is that a wetsuit it like your own personal raft. Too bad we weren't there to crack open a beer and float around the lake together. Instead, Coach Julie made us swim! It was harder to stay on course with 1.) no black stripe on the bottom and 2.) no ability to see anything anyway. So swimming out to a buoy may seem like a simple task, but I believe my course looked rather z-like, as in zigzag. I also clocked a fellow teammate in the head, ran a few people over, was run over myself. In general, mayhem! It was kinda fun in some respects, but the choking feeling was exascerbated when I exerted myself and I felt very out of breath. Later in the swim, Julie informed me that I was kicking way too much and that the extra exertion probably contributed to the breathlessness. We are not supposed to kick much in the swim part of a triathlon in order to preserve out legs for the bike and run, but if you've swum much at all in your life, it can be a hard habit to break. So now my wetsuit is sporting a soccer ball in the neck to try to stretch it out, and I am hopeful that our swim in Nehalem Bay this weekend will be smoother. I am so glad we are practicing this stuff ahead of time!!!

Thank God for Chris!!

I REALLY did not want to get up this morning and do the stupid 2.5 miles uphill group run to Pittock Mansion along the Wildwood Trail from Lower Macleay Park. I was fine with the concept of the 2.5 miles back down, but the uphill thing at 7:15 am was enough to make me self-pitying and stubborn. When my alarm clock went off at 6am, I repeatedly hit the snooze enough times to wake up Chris, who then went downstairs and brewed me some coffee to entice me out of bed. I whined, "I don't want to go work out." He countered, "You'll feel better afterwards." I whined again, "But I had such an intense day at work yesterday, and I'm sick of working out. It's hard...." He said, "Drink your coffee. You'll feel better, and then you can just go." I tasted it, and realized it had a funky flavor and that it was, through a coffee bag labelling fault of mine, all decaf. He brewed me another with some caffeine in it. Does this man love me or what?? It worked! I also thought of my teammates who are injured and can't run right now. They'd be thrilled to be able to run the distance. They helped, too.

As expected, uphill sucked. I've never related to those types of people who say that uphill is easier because of your footing and all that. Uphill is always harder and those people are WRONG! They shouldn't be allowed to spread such lies. Thankfully, my teammate Cindy went with me the whole way. So we talked a bit, and that helped it go by a bit faster. And we commiserated, which helped a lot. And the scenery in Forest Park was so beautiful, and that helped, too. We sucked wind together. At the top of the hill, we heard the telltale cowbell, and refreshed ourselves at the big water cooler that teammate Andy was staffing for us, and then it was sweet, heavenly downhill for the remainder. And then the endorphins. I absolutely love those free drugs. So this morning, when it's all said and done, I am grateful: for Chris, for coffee, for my teammates, for my coaches, and for endorphins.