tuesday 10/2: i went to my first ever OSU triathalon club meeting with kelly. they handed out some paperwork outlining everything the club has to offer, which sounds pretty sweet if you have all the time in the world to devote to the club. there are practices every day (including weekends) except tuesday, but you probably could do something on tuesday if you really wanted to knock yourself out. all the races are on weekends. and dues are $35 which is cheap. apparently a kit (jersey / shorts) runs around $70-80. and you get mega discounts on gear things. but you have to volunteer for 2 full day race events (beaver fever and beaver freezer) in order to reap all the benefits of the club. which is that you get coaching every day, sometimes multiple times a day if you choose (except tuesday), and you get all your races reimbursed, if you choose to go to them.
the practice schedule is:
swim practice: mon-wed-fri 6am
run practice: wed-thur 5:15pm, sun 8am
bike practice: sat 9am, hopefully some spinning classes sprinkled in during the week
i leave the meeting and decide i'm going to give this a try. or a tri, as it were.
wednesday 10/3: run practice http://goo.gl/maps/bJkpq
was supposed to start at 515pm. i went early to sign my waiver and met up with my housemate alex, who may also join the team. the team congregated. and waited. the coach came running up at 530pm. i had mapped the run we were going to do. i figured it was 4.5 miles or so. since i'd been running at 10 minute mile for 2 miles sort of regularly for the last few months, i thought it would take me 45 minutes, and since practice was supposed to be an hour, i'd have 15 minutes left to do whatever other "drills/exercises" they had in store for us.
the coach is cool and there's a group of maybe 15 of us. he assures us that no one will be left behind and that people will loop back. we take off from the gym and i start in the middle of the pack and quickly - i mean within a few blocks - am at the back of the pack. as the last 2 people go by me (2 older guys) one of them says, "come on sweetie!" and i say, aloud, "i can't run faster." so we cross over to brooklane and it's a curvy road, and at some point i realize i can barely see the 2 older guys in front of me. at this point the coach comes back for me, makes sure i'm ok, and then goes back to meet up with the 2 older guys. and after awhile, i can't see anyone on the team. so i think, surely they will double back for me.
then we start up a hill. i am the first to admit that i am no good at hills. i'm just not. i feel my legs turning to lead weights and i can barely move them. but i do. and as i'm coming to the top of the long hill, the coach comes back to check on me again. i say, "i mapped the course, i think it's 4.5 miles. i've been running 2 on a semi-regular basis." he says, "well this will just be double that. so i'm going to run ahead and catch back up with the others so i can tell them about drills." which i take to mean,"they are going to finish before you but i will come back for you to make sure you are OK."
and then i'm alone again.
FLASHBACK: i think about elementary school. i was never chosen last for a team. i must have been at least good enough.
i curve through this beautiful part of town that i've never seen before and i'm enjoying that aspect, though my legs are tired and i know i'm not going at 10 minute/mile pace. OK i say, this is all you can do. you are doing your best (thanks ruiz). you will finish this and you will not walk - that will be your goal for the day. i crest the hill and come down, wind around some more. i'm completely alone.
FLASHBACK: when i played on the travel soccer team, i was never really that good. and when i played college volleyball, i wasn't that good either. i was on a team but didn't fit in and often felt left behind or left out, with the exceptions being isatta and kyra. and when they were gone, i didn't feel like i had any further connection to the team.
i come to 45th st and think maybe i'll see someone ahead, but it's too curvy. i power on. then, kelly (who i went to the meeting with tuesday) pulls up on her bike! and she's cheering me on and it's super sweet even though i can't really talk. she lives out there somewhere, and was on her way home. then she goes home and i have to figure out how the bike lane fits in up here. somewhere. i see it. i run along there for awhile, pretty sure that i'm on the right path. then there's a point i remember some of the other team members talking about, with a little bridge to the right. do i go that way? i hesitate for a second and think, "nah" so i keep going north. i eventually wind around and get shot out just west of 35th and think, "ok i know where i am now. just 10 more blocks to 26th."
and my legs are feeling it. i realize i have been curling my toes for some time and they are sore and maybe have blisters. my legs are throbbing. my right ankle is hurting. and i'm tired. and i'm hungry. and i realize i'm going to be late meeting up with danielle for dinner but maybe she'll understand. by now i still have some inkling of hope that someone is going to double back for me. (no one does.)
and then i have this mini-epiphany. this is 100% completely an individual sport. there is no real team spirit. it's every person for themselves. it's up to you if you win your race. your training is your own. and i think the national race is coming up and maybe people are getting serious about their training for that.
but i have always, my entire life, been a team player. and i thought about rugby at davis and how, even when we went on semi-long runs, that someone would always run back and make sure the last people were OK. and the team aspect of rugby, where even if you're slow, you have a place and a purpose on the team.
FLASHBACK: i remember going back to run with pauline and this other girl whose name escapes me now...ivette maybe. and they were always at the back and i always wanted to make sure that they knew we cared about them. even when i was one of the slowest, people came back for me. when i got a little more in shape, i made sure to go back for the others.
i arrive at 26th and think, "ok, it's just 2-3 more blocks, you can do this." and at that point i realize this is my journey. it has nothing to do with anyone else. it doesn't matter if everyone dusts me for every practice for every activity. i will be the slowest runner, slowest cyclist, and slowest swimmer. i will accept that as my challenge until i get into better shape.
no one ever came back for me. i arrived at the track in 60 minutes. tired, sore, not out of breath but sure that i had run enough. the rest of the team was doing leg lifts and were transitioning into pushups - i'm sure they'd all be back for at least 15 minutes. i caught the coach's eye and made sure he knew i got back OK, then said, "i need to take off," and limped across the street to my bike where danielle was waiting for me. i was, and probably will for awhile, struggling with the concept of the "individual sport" where everyone is working for themselves, on what they need to do. and i take a deep breath and realize, for now, it's just me, alone, at the back of the pack. with myself and my thoughts.
i can do this.
ps. turns out i had the mileage wrong, it was actually 5 miles.
summary: 5.0 miles in 59 minutes
thursday 10/4: run practice http://goo.gl/maps/zShkK
today i knew better. i expected to be at the back of the pack.
i previewed the proposed map and it looked like it would be pretty easy. an out and back, of which an individual could choose their distance. my goal was to do 2-3 miles at most - 1.5 out and 1.5 back. and i thought, if i ran from work to the gym to meet the people, then on the way back i could just run back to work (have to stay late with what i call "the experiment".)
before we took off i noticed there were less people than yesterday, maybe only 8 or 9 total, and before kelly arrived, i was the only girl. luckily she arrived and i thought, "oh good, someone to run with me!"
unfortunately, 2 things happened.
1. the guys in charge of the run changed their minds about where we should go, so it was not an out and back, but a loop that was hard to modify.
2. kelly runs way faster than i do.
one thing i noticed today is that i felt somewhat less pressure/anxiety about the run on the whole because i knew where we were going. even with the modified route, i still knew all parts of the path so there were no places where i had to wonder if i should turn or go straight.
i felt a little lighter on my feet, though still slow paced. my ankle didn't hurt as much. my legs were still sore but not as bad. i had taped the blister on my second toe so it wasn't as bothersome. i found my thoughts drifting to alena, and wondering how she can train/run/bike/ski for such long periods of time alone. i remind myself that this is me doing something good for myself. i did not walk any part of the route. i felt like i did well, though i was ready to be done when i was done. i did turn and walk back a ways to see if any of the other people were behind me; as i'd encountered some of them when i turned onto jefferson; they must have taken a long-way around route. but as i walked back i noticed i didn't see anyone for maybe 1/4 mile and decided, they probably all got back way before me and didn't take the detour the other guys took.
i did find myself pining a little bit for a partner in all this, though. maybe one will appear. i found myself also thinking about how the team isn't very welcoming to newcomers. or at least, they're not that welcoming to me. they say "hi" or ask me my name when we gather before we go, but that's as far as the interaction goes. i wonder if anyone has ever been a beginner at this club before.
summary: 3.7 miles in 43 minutes, several ab exercises, stretching before and after
friday 10/5: swim practice
was able to rise and shine at 5:05 and heard my housemate alex get up a few minutes after. we ate a granola bar each, as planned, and hopped on our bikes at 5:30 to head over to campus. it was pitch black and there were lots of stars. i went to my office because i forgot my swimsuit and goggles there, and arrived at the gym at 5:50 or so (i changed into my swimsuit at work). turns out, they open the door but don't let anyone swipe in until 6, so we all stood around till then. then everyone runs for the lock/towel line, and then you have to change and lock up your stuff and take a shower before you get to the pool. so probably didn't get swimming until 6:10.
here is the workout they put up for us:
warmup: 75 free/25 no free x 3 = 300
kicking: 6x50 = 300
2x150 = 300
3x100 = 300
4x50 - not sure i did any of these
drill 2x through: 11s / catchups / fists (25 each) x 2 / 100 free [i only got through 1 of these, and only 50 of the free] =200
golf: 50 = your time + your strokes x5 = 250 [scores: 108, 102, 110, 114, 115]
cool down; 200 ez [did not do this]
total distance = 1650m
i think that's pretty good for my first day out. i took a lot of breaks, as i realized right out of the gate i had started way too fast. so i was panting by my first 100. after that i did between 50-100 before taking a break. i definitely felt stronger after taking a break as well. i got a little bit of a cramp in my foot and a little bit of one in my left calf. i was able to stretch them while swimming by flexing my foot.
i also noticed that while swimming with 5-6 people in a lane, there's no time to let your mind wander off, or you'll get kicked in the head or grab someone unexpectedly or veer into the return lane or into the lane divider. and i never felt alone. an added bonus was that the 2 people that i know in tri club - my housemate alex and my friend kelly - were both in my lane so we got to hang out, as much as you can hang out by swimming in the same lane and taking breaks to breathe.
got out of the pool, took a shower, realized there were better showerheads scattered around vs the one i had that was pelting me with what could be defined as "pins and needles" and not very hot water. when i got out of the locker room i was semi-discombobulated and dropping things. after i turned in my lock and towel, i realized that i was shaky and thought, "hmm, i haven't eaten in awhile." luckily they have a little food place in the gym so i got a yogurt which i think helped. and i sat down. then i realized i forgot my tea at home, so i went to a different place and got a tea. got to work by 8am, still warm from the swimming, despite it being chilly outside. feels like fall!
summary: 1 hour 10 minutes swimming
things to remember for next time:
swimsuit
swimcap
goggles
flip flops
shampoo/conditioner
lock for locker
towel
look for good shower heads
chocolate milk / protein powder / yogurt / sandwich
tea
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