Perhaps it's just because I'm a computer architect, but I can't help myself by crunching numbers. This time, I took the start time of the wave I would have been in at Miami in 2012 and calculated my current times (or forecast) for the leg of the triathlon. I fudged in some long transition times just so that I had room for error. The good news is that it looks good that already my times would keep me within the cutoff times with a fair amount of margin. It also shows that I've got a long way to improve when I compare against the results from my age group. The biggest section, no surprise, that I need to get faster at is the run. The bike can go faster, but doesn't need a ton of improvement. The swim needs some improvement, but it's also not hideously far from where I need to be.
The exercise could have been demoralizing or uplifting. It could have gone badly if I looked at it and said to myself, "you're going to be one of the last to finish in your age group". Instead I looked at it and said to myself, "you can finish".
Good swim last night. My stroke feels like it's getting stronger and I think I'm finding the catch in the water on my stroke better and not crossing over the center line on the pull. I was able to complete the distances with no issues and I could keep a fairly constant pace for each distance. So the endurance is coming. The stroke will get better - I definitely am going to have to work on it. At the end of the night, I totaled up 2250 yards. I took very little rest in between the sets so it's good to see the distance go by.
Two days into the week and things are looking good, well except for the weather for the run tonight!
Flexibility is also another key and I'm not just talking muscular flexibility (but I need that too)! Unfortunately the swim clinic I was going to attend got cancelled, but on the bright side, I'm doing a group run for six miles (wait, yay?). But it didn't even phase me when the things got juggled around. After doing six plus miles this weekend, I know I can do it and I'm even looking forward to it. Wow, when did it happen that I look forward to a long run? That's a change. I used to fear running. I still do, but much less than I used to.
Someone forwarded me a picture off of the internet with a great quote that I really liked today:
Never throw in the towel. Use it to wipe off the sweat and keep on going.
(Although tonight I think I'll need it to wipe off the rain! :) )
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