Open Water Mystery

In less than two weeks, I will be swimming in an open water triathlon.  For. The. First. Time...EVER. Sure, I've swam in the ocean but in those cases, there was a snorkel involved and I had tons of personal space and likely, visibility too.

My mindset about this has been to just find my inner peace.  Breathe and draw on those meditative moments from yoga.  Focus on getting in, around and done.  Stay on the outside, towards the back...don't panic.  Go slow, don't be afraid to flip onto my back for breath.  It'll be over in less than 15 minutes.  I can do this.  That's it. End of thought.

I left it at that.  I had really put this race in a drawer in my brain to deal with next week because I just haven't the time to think of it now.  Until, they posted the current lake temperature on the race facebook page, that is.  Now, my mind is racing.  Should I have practiced this?  Do I need a wetsuit? Can I just rent one?  But won't my arms feel heavy?  My noodle arms are not strong enough! But wait, what about a sleeveless one?  Where do I go? But I don't have time. Ahhh!!

So.  I'm gathering the wheels that momentarily fell off the bus.  Reading a few articles from both experienced open water swimmers (that still feel the same as the first time) and newbie reports of their first time learnings.  Lots of tips and guess what?  Panic over.  It'll be fine.  I also found that I can pick up a rental next week and worst case, practice in the pool with it the day before.  That's all I got.  I'm going back to my initial zen strategy.  The tips I picked up are pretty much aligned with my game plan so I am sticking to it.

The whole OWS (open water swim) concept seems to be the one piece of the triathlon puzzle that gets most people every time.  Luckily, it's the shortest part of the deal!

As with everything else, practice and going out there and DOING it are the only things that will remove the veil of mystery.  So...stay tuned, I'm sure I'll have lots to say when it's all said and done.

Happy hump day!

Valerie

Vacation and Workout schedules, an ugly but drinkable cocktail.

Ha! (random caption)

If you were here for my last update, you may or may have not been betting on whether I'd be getting my workouts in on Spring Break travel south of the border.

Just as suspected, it was not easy to peel myself away from the pool or sand (or my pina colada, for that matter) to get a workout in. I "planned" every night by setting out my workout clothes but those early sunrises and waking babies made it hard to "escape" for a workout.  I hate to leave hubby with the chaos when he'd much rather snooze.  I figured each day I'd just get away while babies napped but lo and behold, they never napped at the same time.  So without further ado, here's how it turned out:

M 1hr bike - do I get credit that the Sunday workout on the bike ended on Monday?  Eh, I didn't think so.  Travel day so working out was furthest on my priority list.
T 1:10 run - Yea...that didn't happen today either.  More rest.  :)
W Xtrain - Was going on a full day excursion so decided to head out for yesterday's run.  I couldn't get very good service so the MapMyFitness routes I was going to use was unavailable.  This meant I was just going to wing it.

Start of the run, leaving the resort.  Breath taking!

I ran through downtown and while looking around for my next turn, I stepped into a hole in the sidewalk and twisted my left ankle. Ouch! Then a few steps later, trying to run the pain out, twisted the right (which I had hurt on the TM last week) ugh!!  I put the pain aside and ran all the way to the highway and back then decided to go uphill to explore the neighborhood (cause I'm a glutton for punishment?).  I ran back down towards the resort and still had some time and distance to cover so continued around the marina and on to the end of a pier.  The pain was just now a dull ache and everything else felt so good, I honestly wanted to keep going but the bus was coming for me soon!

from atop a hill in the neighborhood

Cabo Marina

from the fishing pier

Ran 6.4 miles and little did I realize that the day's workout was JUST beginning!  We went on a zip-line adventure tour with Cabo Adventures that was absolutely jam packed with exhilarating fun.  We hiked to the top of a mountain and proceeded to zip line, some single, some upside down, some tandem and an amazing Superman at the end.  We also rockclimbed, rappelled, walked across the river on a tight rope, climbed a rope ladder up the mountain (41 deep squats!) and finished with a heart pumping ATV race through the mountain base.  I'll have to post those pics later, they were amazing and the GoPro video is pretty hilarious too!  All in all I think this qualified as the Xtrain workout for the week.  My arms and calves were toast the next day (oh and the throbbing ankle...yea, that was a little uncomfortable).
The fresh quesadillas they gave us at the end were devoured within seconds!

TH Rest - Hubby and I took the babies for a stroll through the marina after breakfast and later me and the ladies did a fun Water Aerobics class while the guys played beach volleyball.  We finished first so I decided to take what ended up being a loooooong walk on the inclined soft sand beach to the rocks and back while holding my 18 month old and towels.  If yesterday didn't qualify for Xtrain, today topped it off!! What was I thinking? I mapped it out and it was about a  mile and half (that kid's about 30lbs!)  No wonder I was pooped! I love the ocean and the sound of the waves so really, I was in my happy place.  I even got some great photos to last me a lifetime thanks to my oldest daughter.  :)

F 1hr run - travel day followed by unpacking and laundry. Fun! :/
S 1 - 1 1/2hr bike Oh, Houston.  We were welcomed with gloomy, rainy weather ALL. DAY. LONG.  Booohoooo!!!  We took the babies to a birthday party early in the day and the girls to see Cinderella at the movies later in the day.  That's all I could muster.  I felt a sinus infection (thanks Houston allergies) coming on so thought better of jumping on the bike.
S Rest  Making breakfast, cleaning, laundry and housework should be considered a workout.  Ugh. Happy homemaker I am not but it must be done.   Also, I casually looked at my calendar and like a smack upside the head, came the realization that I have my first sprint tri NEXT WEEKEND!? Wha? How did that slip my mind?  Good grief!  So, in a panic, I'm thinking I MUST get a workout in today!!  I had to get back before the Real Madrid/Barcelona game so hubby could watch uninterrupted but who knew I'd get to the park and have to untangle my chain and put it back on my bike?!  Ugh...just call me a grease monkey.  On wheels.  I got it fixed and jumped on for a 20 mile ride and 20 minutes late.  Oops!

I was so grateful the weather cleared up because riding indoors seemed like punishment.  Houston apologetically gifted me with the first sign of Spring on this beautiful day...bluebonnets!!

Warm Texas homecoming...bluebonnet sighting!

I think I was short a run and a bike but all the other activities got me pretty close.  And I really doubled up on the "Rest".  Haha.

So this week entailed about 11 hours of training but since I have the sprint on Saturday, I am just going to try to keep myself in check so I'm not at burnout by race day.  I'll flip the weeks and train more next week.  I'll plan on doing some light workouts in each of the disciplines and work on getting the gear ready and my nerves in check.  My friend told me to just look at it as another workout and forget the "race" aspect of it.  This helps because the distances themselves are totally doable.  300/14/3  so what's my problem anyway?

Stay tuned as I post on my first "official" sprint tri experience (and why I'm not counting the other I did as official).

Happy back to work Monday! 

Valerie