I got to Tri harder
Topic: On the way to Triathlon
Not true to form of this "no fear here" blog, I am indeed afraid. A friend wants me to sign up for the international distance triathlon. I am having some trouble doing it. I am afraid.

I don't do the whole open water swim very well. I have endurance. I just mentally lose it when it comes to the open water. Apparently I do have a fear, and it's completely irrational. When I am in the pool, I know in my head that I can not drown, so long as I'm conscious. I can always just lay there and not move. I have a lot of fun in the water. I learned the "dolphin" over the fall months, and really enjoy swimming. I've got the endurance to roll out of bed and jump into the water and swim 3 miles or maybe more... I just can't do the open water deal. And in the races, people climb over you, splash you when you are taking a breath, and bump you accidentally, and may injure you. What then? Some races, not this one in particular, have few lifeguards, so there is a reasonable lack of full safety. But not in this race. There are a ton of people to help me out. Why is it that just typing about it makes my stomach turn? Why is it that I can't handle just doing it? I'll probably do it, but I make myself sick just thinking about it. I guess a lot of open water swims all summer might help cure some of it. I also guess that I am mostly afraid of losing my access to surface and air, and they allow... A snorkel. Come on, how can I be afraid of that? I am also embarrassed to try and swim with a snorkel, no one does that. It's allowed, but no one does it, no one seems to need it. Except for me. I am also afraid because I can't see without my contacts. When I'm swimming, if I lose my mask and my contacts come off, then I'm screwed. that's one thing that drives me nuts. If my mask comes off in the pool, I practically half drown myself every time! I need to overcome this fear. Fast.

The good news is that though my knee still hurts and is still swollen, a month later, I am back to running, and boy did I lose my endurance in that in 3 months. But not to worry, I know what to do and how to catch up.

1st day of training...
Topic: On the way to Triathlon
I said to myself - okay, March 1st, time to start training officially.

I didn't get very far. Will find out in 2 days if it's broken.

Then on Friday I had a biopsy and just got the results. I'm all clear :). There was more pain and discomfort from the knee then the biopsy, which is good.

But enough about me. I'm more concerned about my friends.

A family member is about to go into a dangerous back surgery.

Another, who might as well be a family member is going through a lot of pain because a loved one has passed away. This led to some revelations and a painfull decision. I'd trade my second knee in if I could, for making a friend who is in a lot of pain right now start feeling better, which only time can do :(. I feel that I should be there to comfort the person, in person, but that is not going to help the person right now. Sure, it would make me feel better, but it wouldn't make the person feel better, and that's all that's important right now. Of course, that's getting more complicated by the minute.

Well, it's a new month, so hopefully it's just off to a late start, and going forward, all will be okay.

The year of the dragon has been dark so far, hopefully there will be some sunshine in there somewhere soon.

Storing Race Memorabilia
Topic: On the way to Triathlon
Since it's the off-season, I've spent some time looking at the past year. What do you do with all those race numbers and race photos/results?

I devised a scrap-book like system minus the pain of scrap-booking. I bought a binder and sheet protectors, and just simply filed all the race numbers into the sheet protectors, along with other race memorabilia. It's neat, it's nice, and it's a way to keep all those race mementos tidy instead of having a junk drawer full of them.

back to the pool
Topic: On the way to Triathlon
It's resolution time, so I was back at the pool today for the first time since October. Nice to know I can still be put in the best lane :).

I still haven't sat down and given this year any thought. Shame on me.

The plunge pix - see I really did it!
Topic: On the way to Triathlon

Polar Bear Plunge
Mood:  caffeinated
Topic: On the way to Triathlon
What's the best way to ring in the New Year? Well duh, the Chicago Polar Bear Club Annual Plunge! I've been thinking about doing that for a few years now... (This is something I did it by accident when I was 6...)

So... What better way to start making resolutions then to resolve to go into the icy lake and then go through with it? That's like instant gratification - if I can do this, then I could do just about anything, no matter how difficult the task!

And really, there couldn't be a better day for it - it was a high of about 40+ degrees, and the lake didn't have any ice on it. So it wasn't a big deal at all. I mean, the lake doesn't get any colder then about 40 degrees, and there was no wind.

The trick about this, the only rule about this, is that you have to go completely under the water, head and all. Of course, that part sucks - who wants to be in the cold with wet hair? Since I've had to go into pretty cold waters for some of my swims to practice for the triathlon, and since my very first triathlon actually had patches of 40 degree water, it wasn't that big of a deal at all!!! How sick is that? Is this what I have to do to get my thrills now? Is this what it's come to?

Anyway, it was actually much easier then I thought - once you are taking your clothes off, you get so cold so fast that you just want to get it over and done with as soon as possible! And once you are in the water running, you want it over and done with as soon as possible, so of couse, you dive in as soon as you can!

I strongly recommend this to EVERYONE - it's fun, and as I arrived at the lake, I got this goofy grin on my face and I knew I did the right thing by coming because it's so crazy. There was like a 1000 people there and people were having a lot of fun - many people wore crazy outfits and stuff, many people cannonballed in. It was fun to watch, and so I had to go through with it. The things you need to know about it are:
1. Bring two towels
2. Bring dry clothing including a hat and a warm ski jacket that can be washed easily
3. Have a get-away car near so that you can get into the warmth quickly.
4. Bring a thermos.
5. Put your stuff as close to the water as possible without it getting wet
6. Bring a camera!!!!
7. Don't plan on doing anything else the rest of the day besides a hot bath, sleeping and eating - this is like getting beat up - at least it was for me - you get really tired afterwards from the shock of cold water. But not in a bad way!!! Look at it this way - it'll be the fastest workout with the most results - I dunno if it works out you muscles or just fatigues them, but it can't be all bad.

Pictures coming soon as well as a list of goals. (Surveys say - you are like much much more likely to accomplish your goal if you write it down, so write down yours!)

Happy New Year!!! Hope all your goals are accomplishments same time next year.

Related links (ed. 01/02/06):

trib article

Chicago AA pix

Top 25 Ways to tell your girlfriend is a triathlete. (or wife!)
Topic: On the way to Triathlon
Top 25 Ways to tell your girlfriend is a triathlete. (or wife!)

1. You find yourself having to be supportive, as she works out for a few hours a day.
2. Your home decor "style" consists of triathlon memorabilia, posters, medals, and photos.
3. Your dates are always pasta dinners with other triathlete couples.
4. She asks you, do those jeans make my butt look too ripped?
5. Sport-related expense is a not so modest number on your combined budget.
6. You can't TIVO Sunday's football game because your TIVO is full of extreme sports recordings.
7. Your girlfriend always smells like chlorine.
8. Your girlfriend's car smells like chlorine.
9. Your girlfriend's arms are bigger then yours.
10. She's got Lance tattoed on her butt.
11. Your girlfriend belongs to more then one gym.
12. There is a bike rack on your car and it is actually used.
13. She makes you repeat where her insurance information is before leaving the house for a "workout".
14. Her bicycle costs more then your TV and gets used more in net hours.
15. Her favorite web site is ironmanlive.com.
16. Your girlfriend was not home, so you had to sign for the delivery of the 3 pallets of Gatorade.
17. Your living-room table is covered with wet swimsuit, towel, goggles, and helmet.
18. Her bicycle has more add-ons then your car.
19. You are sunburned from waiting at the finish-line
20. You have to designate a "triathlon-free" room in the house.
21. You have to compete for her time with her physical therapist, her personal trainer, her swim coach, her training partners, and her triathlon team.
22. You got engaged, and your wedding registry is full of triathlon gear.
23. You got engaged, and the first thing she asked was, can we go on our honeymoon to Kona, say, some time in mid-October?
24. You are used to calling her beautiful, despite of helmet hair and swim cap hair, and goggle eyes.
25. You find yourself leaving a hotel room in the middle of nowhere at 3 in the morning, carrying about a hundred pounds of "gear" to something called the "transition area".

Some day he'd like to do a triathlon
Mood:  caffeinated
Topic: On the way to Triathlon
It is quite an experience to go to an away game of your favorite hockey team while wearing their jerseys. It is an even more interesting experience to do that when they kick butt and the home crowd goes crazy. So my favorite team sport happens to be hockey. I'll be one of those moms that forces all the kids to play it. And my favorite team is the St. Louis Blues. They have a unique style, work great as a team, and are awesome skaters. Anyway, my friend got us tickets to the Blues/Blackhawks game, and so we were two of three people in blue in a sea of red. It was awesome to go to a hockey game this year after there was no hockey for a whole year! And seeing the Blues win was an extra bonus.

But here's the funny: I bought the "programme" of the game and in it, of course, there were profiles of all the players. Many of them are so young that they are too young to drink! One was from my home town of Park Ridge! But here's the kicker - one said in his profile that he'd like to do a triathlon some day. Wowy zowy - I have something over an NHL player! Sweet.

Couldn't resist posting this
Topic: On the way to Triathlon
this is from the last tri.

the notorious flip turn and the pullup
Topic: On the way to Triathlon
One of my goals for this year was to be able to do a pull-up. Yes, I could not do one for 20 years. And as of this Monday, I can do a pullup. Heck, as of this Friday, I can do 2!!! Little steps.

And, today I took a class on flip turns so that I can turn in the pool and not break my stride. Hopefully by spring I'll be able to show off this new skill in some indoor triathlons. I think about 3 months of practice is what's required to do this without it messing with your breath and streamline.

Little steps. Towards? TBD at the end of the year, when I'll pick some races.

Right now 2006 looks like 3 marathons: New Orleans, Some little one in Michigan, and Chicago.

Triathlons.... Chicago is dangerous. I didn't feel like it's all that safe with that many bikers on LSD. The slow people get in the way as you pass them. They need to teach people to stay on either the outside or the inside if they are slow, and to dock them minutes if they are not passing and are in that lane.

A century? I've yet to do a century. Big shoulders swim?

I don't think I want to do the Lake Geneva Tri again - the course is open to through traffic. While we didn't see many cars, there were some.... And there was one nasty turn where you had to come around a curve downhill only to find out that the curve gets real sharp and that there are cars that are being kept at bay by one guy with a sign. I want to be safe, not dead. Need a closed, safe course that's properly paved. I already took a nosedive when my tire got caught this summer. I don't want to do a race where the surface is not geared for racing. So have to do some research.

Distance-wise... Not sure if I'm ready for the big Ironman just yet, but could probably do the 1/2 if I keep this up.

We'll see, won't we?