Hosting a Triathlon

Volunteer T-shirt from Monterey Bay Triathlon

In addition to training for the upcoming triathlon, Joe and I are preparing to host it at our place. Joe is acting as race director so is doing the bulk of the work. The primary responsibility I've assumed is getting the t-shirts (and, of course, serving as advisor to the director).

From the Historic T-shirt Collection
(It lasted this long since it has long sleeves and
doesn't get worn very often.)

Joe is an experienced triathlon director. In the early '80's he founded and directed the Monterey Bay Triathlon, a swim/bike/run event with half Ironman distances. It was a fundraiser for Friends Outside for whom he worked. After he got it started other volunteers took over the director responsibilities. Joe continued to help until we moved from the area in '89.

Joe has also competed in 7 different triathlons including the Monterey Bay. Four of these were swim/bike/run triathlons. Three times he completed Eppie's Great Race in Sacramento. This is a unique river triathlon which is run/bike/paddle on and along the American River. Eppie's claims to be the world's oldest triathlon with the first one in 1974. Joe was on a relay team twice and did the event as a triathlete once.

As wife of the director, I could hardly avoid getting recruited as a volunteer. My speciality was timing.  Being in the computer business this was a natural fit for me. I worked timing for both the Monterey Bay and Wildflower (in southern Monterey County) triathlons over a span of about 8 years.



A More Recent Addition to the Collection

Preparations for our Ackley Lake Triathlon are going well. The registration deadline was this past Wednesday. We have 9 triathletes and 1 relay team who have registered. So far we have 2.5 volunteers who've signed up. (My youngest sister will be caring for her granddaughter while her parents do the triathlon so can only give about 50% of her attention to volunteer responsibilities.) Time to recruit a few more volunteers!! We need volunteers to be out in boats during the swim, monitor the turnaround points for bike and run, and document order of completion and total time at the finish line. It would also be nice to have a race photographer and someone at the end of our driveway to watch for traffic. They do get a t-shirt which is going to be awesome so I'm surprised we don't have more response. 

Some of the items we have to borrow, purchase or make are orange cones to mark start, finish and turnarounds; flag for the post on our dock to make it more visible from the water; and medals for the winners. (Joe has guaranteed that everyone will win their age group!) He just ordered some spray chalk. We'll be going out early the morning of the event spraying the directions and encouraging messages on the pavement. Since we've been watching the Tour de France this week I'm tempted to write "Allez, allez" on the most challenging uphill of the bike segment.

Tri-sport Week



Driveway Home Stretch
 We Go to the Right of the Teardrop for the Finish Line

This is the week when I put it all together. Even though the event is two and a half weeks away, I've got to plan my training around some significant interruptions. Members of Joe's family are coming to visit this coming weekend to celebrate his birthday and we are going to a conference for 4 days the following week. During those times I plan to do 30 - 40 minutes a day of a least one sport but there won't be enough time to do all three or a lake to swim in at the conference. When I put together my training plan I knew to schedule around these 7 days of interruption.

Lawn Transition Setup for Me and Joe

This past Monday I did the three sports in sequence for the very first time. Big day! I officially became a triathlete. I was smart enough to do only a short distance of each one and it went very well. My transitions are down to 5 minutes swim to  bike and 1 minute bike to walk which is acceptable to me.

Fortunately, Joe was doing the whole triathlon in his morning workout. That gave me the opportunity to see how it goes when others are on the same routes. Even though I didn't see him a lot, his presence triggered thoughts about where I would be likely to encounter others when we have more participants. 

Joe Starting the Swim on the New Route

As I discussed before, during the swim I expect to be the slowest so will have to watch for others in the first half but not much after that. There will be boats (canoe and paddleboat) to go around so I will need to be watching more. During the breast stroke that's easy but when I back stroke it's a challenge. Update on the swim: Joe has decided to change the route and have us swim to the east of our dock rather than west. The weeds to the west are really nasty and getting increasingly worse, so the new route is better. It does make it harder to judge distances without the three docks for reference.

Last Hill Coming back up the Driveway
Tough on the Bike due to Gravel

During my bike segment, I don't expect much traffic early on although some speedsters could be coming back up the driveway when I am just leaving. Once on 33rd Street, I'll be the only one going my direction except maybe for my sister. (New development: in addition to being a triathlete, I will also be the relay team swimmer for my sister who plans to do the bike and walk but not the swim.) The final part of my bike segment could be quite congested as the runners/walkers will be on the same side of 33rd as I am going the opposite direction.

Yesterday I did longer segments of each sport and had a rough time. It was in the upper 90s and windy. The wind set up quite a bit of chop on the lake which made the swim tougher. The wind also made the biking harder in some sections. By the time I did the walk it was really hot and the walk took me about twice as long as I have done it in other workouts. I did take my water bottle with me which helped but in the heat I really struggled to keep going.

Joe Passing Me on the Run/Walk Segment



My plan is to work my way up to the full triathlon distances by the end of this week. The temperatures are predicted to be in the 80s which will help a lot. Today is an extra rest day for me as we have a Byrne siblings meeting all day. I think that's a good thing after my fatigue of yesterday. Also, my knee is hurting so it could use a rest. 

Dual Sport Success

Dock Transition Area

A quick report today, my last day of "dual sport week". I am very jazzed by my progress. Yesterday I did the complete bike portion of the triathlon followed by the complete run/walk. Today I did the complete swim and complete bike. Both days were tiring but went better than I expected and I'm a day ahead of my original training plan.

Path up from Dock to Lawn

Bike/walk combination - My times were comparable to the time it has been taking me to do each segment individually. The transition time was only about a minute. It was really hard to get my legs to start the walk. Joe says that's because biking and walking use your leg muscles very differently. The good news is that once I settled into the walk it felt good. I even tried doing stretches of elongating my stride to pick up a little speed.

Swim/bike combination - Again my times were comparable to the individual sport workouts. I mostly use my upper body swimming so the start of the bike seems relatively easy. My transition time is down to about 5 minutes and I'm satisfied with that.

Bottom line is my performance so far is exceeding my expectations! I started out thinking that the whole event would take me about an hour and a half. Now I'm beginning to think that it will be less than that. Next week is tri-sport week so that will let me know more clearly how I'm doing overall. Stay tuned!

To Eat or Not to Eat...

Pasta, pasta....

I got all excited when I began to believe that I could do the whole triathlon. I've heard so much about carbo-load dinners the night before a big race. How perfect, permission to eat all the pasta I want! When I mentioned it to Joe he immediately laughed and said something about glycogen levels and our short race. Drat, carbo-load dinner is definitely in the "not to eat" category.

Then I had an the experience of digestive discomfort while biking. It may not have been a coincidence that I had a larger breakfast than usual that morning. I'm sure there are numerous graduate theses in sports medicine that address the relationship of the food we put in our bodies and sports performance. Since I don't have time to look for them I went to my local expert. "Joe," says I, "what do you recommend that I eat or not eat the morning of the triatlon?" After all, he reads about this stuff all the time and has actually done triathlons before so knows more than I do.

According to the aforementioned expert, there are lots of different opinions but the advice boils down to eat lightly and avoid fatty foods. Aha, maybe it was the bacon that bothered me the other day. My current plan is some whole grain cereal, skim milk and banana. Joe approves; definitely in the "to eat" category.

Triathlete's Breakfast

Just for kicks I googled "exercise and eating". Bingo! Mayo Clinic offers 5 tips about eating to maximize your workout. Number one is eat a healthy breakfast. Guess what they recommend. Yup, whole grain cereal, skim milk and banana. They also add juice to the list but I generally like to chew my calories so don't drink juice. Maybe I should add some citrus to the meal though. And, thank God, they say coffee is okay if its what you normally have in the morning.

Number two tip, in case you are wondering, is to adjust the amount of food to the amount of time between your eating and your exercising. For triathlon day with 2 to 3 hours between breakfast and start time, I should eat a small meal. Sounds good.

The other tips are all in line with what I'm doing: snack well, eat after you exercise, drink lots of water. They list suggested foods and more detail about quantities. If your interested check out http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/exercise/HQ00594_D/NSECTIONGROUP=2

Okay, now I'm feeling good about my approach to food and exercise. If Joe and the Mayo Clinic support what I'm doing it must be right.

Hydration

A funny thing has happened for me on the way to this triathlon. I seem to be more in touch with and happier about my eating and my body. I keep finding myself enjoying the healthy food and, perhaps, craving the unhealthy stuff a bit less.

There may be several reasons for that. I started the triathlon training just after I got back from Europe. Like many folks after a vacation, I reminded myself that I couldn't continue to eat and drink at home like I did on the trip. Somehow this is especially true for me after being in Italy. How many piattis does a person really need after all?

The other influence on my appetite and attitudes toward food is acupuncture. My niece, the Chinese doctor, is treating me for several things so I told her to poke a few places to help me lose weight while she was at it.

Never the less, I'm sure the exercise has contributed to the benefits I'm feeling. I have lost a few pounds. I'm more satisfied when I eat healthy food and I think my posture has even improved a bit. I seem to be more in tune with what's happening in my body. This exercise stuff is really good for you!

Dual Sport Week - Bike/Walk



Lawn Transition between Bike and Walk



Today I worked the bike to walk transition and it went well. As with the swim/bike combination I worked yesterday I started out with shorter distances - about half the length of the bike route and a third of the walk. I set up the lawn transition area as it would be at the end of the biking - pretty simple; just my hat and water bottle. After I thought through what I would be wearing when the bike portion starts, I realized that it would be a wet bathing suit. So I got my bathing suit wet in the lake; put on my biking shorts, shoes and socks; and set out to do part of the bike route.

I wasn't sure how important the hat would be and thought I might forget about it in order to spend up  my transition. Turns out that won't be necessary. I was able to put my hat on as I started the walk. This Tilley Hat is one that has gone on several trips with me including one to Ireland and Italy last month. It carries many great memories and feels right on my head when I'm walking. I often decorate it with feathers I find along the way. I'm glad I'll be wearing it for the triathlon.

The other discovery I made is that I can drink water with one hand and take off my helmet with the other. Two hands, what a wonderful body we have! I was even able to unfasten my gloves while drinking water (I was very thirsty). The end result was a transition that took somewhere between 1 and 2 minutes. Not bad, I can live with that.

My biggest challenge was my wobbley legs after the biking. Both my knees and my ankles felt like rubber. And that was after only half of the bike distance. This is of considerable concern as I have a history of turning my ankle and falling in the most benign of situations. A couple of years ago I even broke an ankle bone that way. Conclusion - I need to pay close attention to my footing when I start out on my walk.

As I started the walk I was also feeling a bit winded. I immediately started using the double breathing technique I've learned for high altitude hiking. You inhale twice and exhale once. It forces you to fill up your lungs which gets more oxygen into your body. It seemed to help. Just a few months ago my doctor tested my lung function and informed me that it is a bit below normal. This indicates that I have some mild asthma or severe allergies or both. When following up with an allergist I was given an inhaler to use when I do extensive exercise. Well, duh! I guess I should be using it now. Another item for my pre-race checklist.

My "Tri-suit"

When I first decided to give this triathlon a try (hee hee), Joe teasingly said maybe I needed a tri-suit. You will probably not be surprised that such things are available. My reaaction was scornful amusement. I find it disturbing that our culture seems to think you need a different outfit for each sport and/or combination of sports. Just for kicks, I googled women's tri-suits and found that I could get a nice one from Speedo for $325!  The dirt cheapest one I found was $60. I suspose if you are a professional triathlete they make sense. I'm perfectly happy to assemble my own thank you very much.

What I have assembled is a swim suit for the swim (really!). Adding bike shorts (okay, I do own specialized biking shorts but that is to make it possible to sit on those teeny seats without getting sore) prepares me for the bike portion. My bike pedals don't require special shoes so I am wearing my walking shoes for both the bike and walk segments. I have inserts I need to wear in my walking shoes and those feel weird without socks. For safety I, of course, wear a bike helmet. Lastly the padded biking gloves keep my hands from hurting. Makes for a long swim/bike transition but I think I'm willing to give up some time to be comfortable.

The walking stage requires very little change as I simply ditch the helmet and gloves and don my walking hat. The swimsuit with biking shorts works just fine for walking. Oh yeah, I forgot about the knee brace. It really helps avoid pain when I'm walking and sometimes I get twinges when I'm biking. So I decided to wear it for the whole race. That way I don't use up any transition time putting it on.

Accessories are, of course, my watch and sunglasses. I have no idea if I'll even look at my watch but it might be useful for checking progress. I'm fortunate to have a bike computer that gives me mileage, speed and elapsed time so that may suffice. I suspect during the walk I will have time to look at the watch occasionally. The sunglasses help protect my eyes and, of course, make me look cool.

The outfit and related transition times would be a whole lot easier if I had a younger body. But it is what it is. As I said in a previous post, I'm working with this body and not letting it stop me from participating. All you young folks, give thanks for what you've got!    

Dual Sport Week - Swim/Bike

Dock Transition Area at Start

I'm psyched! Today was the first time every that I exercised in two different sports on the same day. My training plan for this whole week is to work the two sport combinations and transitions. I'm starting out with shorter distances for each sport and will work my way up to the full distances. By week end I expect to be able to do the swim/bike combo and the bike/walk combo with full distances.

Today I began with the swim/bike combination because it's first in the race order. I like to practice things in the order I expect to do them. That way I develop a sense of timing and my brain and body get the feel for the sequences I want to perform. The swim to bike is also the most complex of my transitions so I wanted to try that first. I thought I might need to refine my approach and starting with it at the beginning of the week gives me time for tweeking.



Lawn Transition Area at Start

I did about 5 minutes of the swim (out to the first dock and back) which is about 1/3 of the full distance. I executed my transition to biking clothes and equipment. Then I biked about 2 miles which is 2/5ths of the full distance. It went really well and I didn't feel particularly tired.

The only glitch I had in the process was ending up with only one of my biking gloves. I even read through my checklist twice to make sure I had everything. Guess I need to change my list to say 2 gloves, 2 socks and 2 shoes! The transition did take me longer than I hoped. I wasn't able to time it precisely but from my overall time I estimate it took me more than 5 minutes. I may look at ways to trim that down a bit.

 

Here are some of the transition plans which worked well today:

Wear knee brace at start -  I wasn't sure if I'd like having a wet knee elastic. It didn't bother me at all and trying to put it on when my legs are wet might be a lot tougher.

Dry off with a towel - I decided to do this in order to put on biking shorts, socks and shoes. My assumption is that I need the padded shorts and socks to be comfortable on the bike ride. One way I could cut down on transition time is to ride without shorts. Then I'd only have to dry my feet and put on my socks and shoes. I may try that tomorrow.

Poised to Head out the Driveway

 

Drink water at each transition - Today I didn't take a bottle of water on my bike. Instead I took a big drink of water before I got on the bike. There will be an aid station with water in the transition area so I plan to drink from there at each transition. If it's a really hot day I may take a water bottle with me in addition.

Take the transitions at a normal pace - My plan is to be cautious about racing through the transitions. I can just see myself tripping and falling over an untied shoelace or something silly like that. I hope that I can pace myself to be efficient in my transitions without feeling rushed.

One problem I had was some abdominal pain toward the end of the bike ride. That led me to think about what to eat for breakfast on the morning of the triathlon. I plan to look into that.

In addition to trying out my transition approach, I also had a chance to swim with another swimmer in the water. Joe's workout for the day was doing the full triathlon. We timed it so we would start the swim together. As I expected he quickly passed me and I had plenty of empty water around me for the swim. As I turned around I could see that he was heading back as well. This gave me a heads up that he would pass me as we both headed back to our dock. I was able to manage my stroke alternations so that I was doing breast stroke each time he passed me and it worked well.

Today's swim got Joe thinking about changing the swim route. The current route goes through a thick bed of weeds. By August 5th they are likely to be even higher and thicker. You have to swim quite a ways out into the lake to get around them. When we swam toward the west instead of the east a couple of weeks ago there weren't any noticeable weeds. So he may change the route to go in that direction. This will make it harder to practice as there aren't convenient docks to mark the distance. But I'll be happy to do it if we can avoid weeds. They're oogie! 

Resting

The Sunday Paper in my Favorite Chair

I am a genius and I know myself pretty well after living in this body for 66 years. When I put together my training plan I scheduled Sundays as a day off each week. I mean if God needed a day off from creating the cosmos who am I to argue with that philosophy!

Partly I knew that planning to exercise every day was a big change and invited a rebellious response. I have a history of not wanting to be told what to do even if its me telling myself. Also, Sundays are busy days for us because we spend the morning at our Quaker Meeting attending an adult class and then worship. I typically exercise in the late morning which conflicts with our usual Sunday schedule.

Today is one of those rest days and I am really appreciating it after the really hot week we just had. I'm proud that I didn't give up on my workout schedule when the heat offered a perfect excuse. I figured out how to work around the high temperatures as much as possible, mostly by exercising earlier in the day. That's a struggle for me; morning is not my most together time. I also combined any outdoor chores I had with my workout time. I figured one shower a day is enough so I'd do all the hot and sweaty stuff in sequence.

For example, yesterday was a walking day so I scheduled a walk with my sister at 8 am. After that I checked on the currants in the garden. They were ready for picking so I did that and then came inside for the rest of the day. The day before that was my bike workout which I did a bit earlier than usual. Even with the wind generated by biking the heat was brutal and enervating. Afterward I watered (no built in sprinklers in Michigan like we had in California). While watering I occasionally doused myself with cold water from the hose to cool down. The day before that I worked in the yard and vegetable garden in the afternoon and then hopped into the lake for my swim. Unfortunately, the lake temperature has risen so it wasn't as refreshing as I had imagined. The thermometer we have by the dock showed that the water is now 90 degrees. Still it did cool me off, especially getting out of the water and sitting on the dock.

Taking today off feels like a reward for good behavior! Yesterday the thought struck me that I wouldn't have to get myself up early or get hot and sweaty today. It was a great thought which I've been savoring. You might think that after a day off it will be harder for me to get going tomorrow. I don't think so for two reasons. This coming week is dual sports week in my training plan. I'm feeling excited about trying a transition for the first time tomorrow. I plan to ease into it by doing shorter distances of the two sports at first and working up to full triathlon lengths.  Tomorrow I start with the swim to bike transition. The second reason I am looking forward to my next workout is that the heat wave broke today and temperatures are back in the 80s. Believe me that feels cool after the 100s of the last few days.

Joe has advised me that the last couple of days before the triathlon should be rest days. I've worked that into my schedule. I can see the wisdom of that as I am feeling refreshed today and more rested. Those two days won't be completely restful as I will be helping Joe set up for the event. Also, we may have some out-of-town family members staying with us. It's getting exciting as more people are saying yes to the invitation.  

Single Sport Training - Run/Walk

Sister Randy Walking North on 33rd Street

Today is a walk day in my training schedule. Since there's an excessive heat advisory posted for the day, I opted to get out early for my workout. I was delighted that my sister joined me. She's training for the triathlon too. I love having someone to chat with while walking. Plus, she tends to go faster than me so she pushes me a bit which is good.

I've opted to walk the run segment as my history with running is mixed to say the least. In high school I remember the newly initiated President's Fitness campaign which included a test to assess fitness levels. My results were mediocre as I expected (I really sucked at situps!) except for the longest run of the set. In the '60s "long" runs were a lot shorter than today. I don't remember the exact distance but it was more than once around the track. I was really surprised to learn that I scored well on that. I concluded that I wasn't a skilled runner just stubborn enough to keep at it. I don't think I was giving myself enough credit but by then I had a pretty poor body image.

Me Walking South on 33rd

In later years when I tried running as a fitness activity I always had problems with side cramps. As I watched friends and family tally up their running injuries I decided that my choice to stick to walking was a wise one. Walking the run segment seems wise also as this is not the time in my life to introduce a new physical challenge that might damage my joints.

I walk fairly frequently especially if I can find someone to go with me. On our property here in Paw Paw we are blessed with a set of paths through the woods that make for wonderful walking. The only down side is the pull to stop and look at birds and plants when I need to keep my heart rate up.

Run/Walk goes Out our Driveway

The triathlon run route is out our driveway and north on 33rd Street with a turnaround at .8 miles. The whole loop is about 1.6 miles which is a little less than my usual walk. I probably go about 2 miles as I go farther up 33rd before turning back. It is gently rolling terrain through farmland. I can currently walk the triathon distance in just under 30 minutes.

The only concern I have about the triathlon walk is my right knee. It has almost recovered from the abusive Glendale hills of last winter. However, I still get occasional twinges so plan to wear a knee brace. I'm still debating whether I will wear the brace for the whole event or put it on for the bike and/or walk segments. I'll be testing that out when I get to multi-sport workouts.

Overall, I'm feeling confident about the walk segment. Since it comes last in the sequence I'm expecting to be slower than usual. It helps me to have some expectations of how it will all go. I am cautioning myself, however, to be ready for surprises. Expectations can sometimes color the experience and keep me from being present and enjoying what unfolds. I don't want to set myself up for negative feelings if what I thought were realistic expectations turn out differently than I imagined. After all these years I'm still working on the "be here now" philosophy!

Single Sport Training - Bike

Bike/Run Start and Finish is our Driveway Going to the Right of Teardrop

Today was a biking day. I rode the triathlon route clocking the 5 miles in 29 minutes and 20 seconds. The route differs from my usual resulting in a longer upgrade than I've been doing. I actually got into my lowest gear coming up the final hill. Also forgot to wear my gloves which convinced me that I do want to wear them in the triathlon; hands got a bit sore. All in all the bike training is going very well even though I consider myself somewhat of a novice at the sport.

When we bought our current home from my sister we were the third family member to own it. Mom and Dad built it in the mid-'80s then sold it to my sister in '92. Meanwhile my sister moved next door into the house Mom and Dad built in '92 - keeping it all in the family. As she and I sorted out all the various bicycles in the two garages, I discovered my English racer, the three-speed bike I had as a teenager. Mom and Dad had kept it all these years.

This inspired me to think about taking up biking again which I really haven't done since I left home for college a goodly number of years ago. As with many sports, I felt that my abilities were so far behind other folks (like Joe) I knew I could never catch up. So I avoided failure by avoiding the activity entirely. Looking at the flat land around us in Michigan and not wanting to waste what might be a perfectly good bike, the time seemed right to give it a try.  

Joe cleaned up the bike and determined that a) it worked and b) it was safe to ride. So during the month of August 2011 I did a few rides around the neighborhood. Ah yes, I remembered the feeling I loved as a child of freedom and speed! It has always reminded me of flying.

My New Specialized Dolce Bike

It didn't take long for me to decide I wanted to continue biking which led to wanting a better bike with more gears. After all, if Joe and I were ever going to do rides together I needed to have a bike that could keep up with his fancy-shmancy road racer.  So he helped me shop for a lovely Specialized Dolce bike which is configured for women. (The old English racer was passed on to my soon-ro-be niece-in-law who will probably ride it in the First Ever Triathlon. Good to know it is still in service.) 

I can't say that I've done a lot of biking since then. One challenge was finding a saddle that was comfortable enough for me to last more than about 20 minutes. I'm on my third one now and have finally found one (The Seat) that doesn't hurt certain delicate areas. I also discovered that our winter home in Glendale is in a neighborhood that's just too dang hilly for me to succeed in biking very far. While there this past year, I only managed a few rides, mostly along the river trails in the area.

Bike Route on Quiet Rural Roads

How some ever, I currently am poised to do well on the biking portion of triathlon. The five mile route is on roads where I regularly ride so I feel very confident. I usually bike at least 5 miles (which takes me about a half hour) when I go for a ride and that's the distance for the First Ever. I feel that this is my strongest sport of the three. I even had a brief vision of passing other competitors on my bike (if I don't get too far behind on the swim that is).

When trying out the triathlon route recently I decided to push myself faster than usual. This was accomplished mostly by pedaling on the downhill stretches where I'm used to resting a bit. I ended up with a cramp in my thigh muscle. This reinforced Joe's advise to me to stay within my current speeds on the different sports. After my workouts to date I can see the wisdom in that. It will be enough of a challenge for me to do more than one sport in a day and to be at it for a longer period of time. If I try to push too hard I could injure myself. In fact, I'm beginning to realize that the bike portion and, certainly, the walk could well be slower than usual because of the fatigue factor. I'll be able to judge that better after I start combining sports in my workouts (stay tuned for that next week). 

Single Sport Training - Swim

Swim Route - Turn around off end of third dock

I started officially training and keeping a log about a week and a half ago. For the first two weeks I am focusing on single sport training. I'm working one sport each day alternating between swim, bike and walk so that they all get equal time.

Today was a swim day. I view this as my most challenging of the three sports. Now that Joe has decided on the course and the rules, I was able to swim the distance and route that I will do for the triathlon. Fortunately, the route goes past 3 of our neighbors' docks so feels more secure with places to stop if needed.

So far, I haven't needed to use the docks. I did the swim today in 15 minutes which surprised me. It felt a lot longer than that.

Here's how I'm doing on the swim challenges:

Water temperature - I lucked out here as we are having very warm weather. Water temperatures have been running at about 80 degrees in the lake. Very comfortable. I know I like to get wet gradually before I swim. No problem there as we will be having an "in water" start.

Oogieness of lake swimming - Surprisingly this hasn't bothered me much. It seems that once I decided to give this a try I subconsciously also accepted that there would be some oogieness. I've been swimming through patches of vegetation, putting my feet down into gushy bottoms and pushing away floating gobs of algae without feeling at all distressed. As lakes go, ours is pretty clean, the water is clear and it has a relatively sandy bottom. The algae was only there on a really windy day so may not be a factor on race day.

Working on my Breast Stroke

Swim strokes - I'm a bit worried about bumping into other swimmers when I do the back stroke. I'm trying to increase my distance with the breast stroke and minimize the amount of back stroke. I doubt if I can do the whole thing with breast stroke as my neck and shoulders get tight. Also, I need the change of postion to manage another challenge - foot cramps (see below). So I'm hoping that the other swimmers will get far enough ahead of me that I won't be too close to them.  If necessary I plan to steer a course farther out into the lake on the outbound portion to avoid congestion. I figure by the time I turn and head back I'll have the lake all to myself!

Working on my Back Stroke

Foot cramps - I pretty much get at least mild foot cramps if I swim more than a couple of laps. This is a bit frightening in open water. So far, the alternating between the frog kick of breast stroke and the flutter kick of back stroke helps minimize the cramps.  When I've gotten cramps during my training swims I've just floated on my back flexing my feet until they go away. Worst case scenario: If I get a severe cramp that won't go away I'll swim in toward shore until I can touch bottom and walk it off. Since we're never that far from the shore and/or a dock I'm not too worried about this.

Stamina - This is something else about which I'm pleasantly surprised. I thought it would be a big stretch for me to swim this far all at once. Actually, I'm doing okay with it. I haven't been able to get through the full distance without a few rests floating on my back. But I've needed fewer of those than I anticipated and, hopefully, will need them less and less as I continue my training.

In conclusion, I'm feeling really good about my swimming. One realization that has come to me is that I am now thinking of ways to manage the triathlon adapting to what works (or doesn't work) with my body. Its accepting my limitations but not letting them stop me from making progress and achieving a challenging goal. It feels a lot better than my past "I could never do that" thinking. Way cool!

First Ever Ackley Lake Invitational Triathlon

Ackley Lake from our Dock

Never in my life have I ever thought of myself as a triathlete. In fact, quite the opposite, I have considered myself a different species from those folks who do them (like my husband Joe). You know, I'm from Venus; triathletes are from Mars type of thing. Watching triathlons and even helping to conduct them occasionally has always seemed a fascinating glimpse into the lives of those other beings who thrive on physical challenges. Me, well any thrive I ever had (probably not much) was totally suppressed in school PE where I was the last picked for just about every sport.

Lucky for me I have a husband who finds ways to entice me into physical activities I would never choose myself. Through observing his pleasure in such things and wanting to spend time with him I've found myself (over the almost 45 years of marriage) backpacking, cross-country skiing, snowshoeing, seeing places like the top of Mt.Lassen and the bottom of the Grand Canyon, taking up bicyling again, etc.

Still a triathlon was the farthest thing from my thoughts until Joe came up with the idea for the First Annual Ackley Lake Invitational Triathlon. He has planned it for family and friends who live near us in Paw Paw and defined the distances to be about 20% of an Olympic triathlon. The routes for the three sports are all right around our house on Ackley Lake. His thinking is to make it attainable and fun for all while still being an opportunity to stretch a bit.

When he sent out the invites the younger generation immediately responded enthusiastically. Those of us in the older generation of the Byrne family took it under advisement and said very little. My immediate thought was: "I'm just now getting pretty comfortable with my biking, I could do the bike leg on a relay team. I'll talk my two sisters into doing it with me." That met with mild resistance. The primary problem was that none of the three of us wanted to do the swim leg. We seemed to view open water swimming as oogie and/or life threatening.

Okay, I thought, I can probably do the swim even if I don't really want to. That way it would encourage my sisters to participate and we'd have fun together. To start out I talked with Joe about the distances and how they map out in the lake. While swimming in the salt water pool at our Tuscany B&B (nice vacation but a different story) we paced out how many laps of that pool it would take to add up to a 200 yard swim. Turned out to be about 12 -  6 going away from our dock and 6 coming back. I counted my strokes and figured out that I could probably do it with some practice.

When we got back to Paw Paw I got myself into the lake and started swimming. Not too bad! I didn't panic about being in open water since I could swim parallel to the shore so was never far from shallow enough water to put my feet down if I needed to.  Okay, so I wasn't thrilled about that as I couldn't tell whether the bottom would be gooshey. But, at least, I wouldn't drown if I got a panic attack.

Our Dock - Start for the Swim Leg

I gave up on swimming a crawl years ago when I couldn't get goggles to fit right and couldn't take getting water in my eyes. My swimming since then has consistented of a few laps of breast and/or back stroke alternating with some water aerobics. So the lake swim would have to be the strokes I was used to. I successfully swam what I thought was the triathlon distance in the lake with a combination of the two strokes and a few rest stops of floating on my back. So far so good.

Wow, I thought, I just might be able to do this swim leg after all. But, wait a minute, the swimming is my worst skill of the three. I already do some regular biking and lots of walking. (I'd already decided that running was unattainable in the time I have to train so I'd settle for walking if I did that leg,) And then it happened, the thought I never dreamed I would ever have. I actually found myself thinking that maybe I could do the whole thing myself.

Well, things have snowballed since that thought broke the dam (to mix a few metaphors). Pretty soon I was timing my workouts and planning how I'd handle transitions. Meanwhile, I opened the topic of a sisters relay team again and one sister said she wanted to be a volunteer this time and not a participant. When I mentioned that I might do it all myself, the other sister said she was thinking of that too.

So here I am, in training for a triathlon. It's gonna take place on August 5th at 9 am EDT. I'll keep  you posted about how things are going along the way.