Tri training

One of the things I love about being outside training for the Ohio's Women Tri for the Cure is being in nature. And learning from awesome athletes. We ventured as a family to Alum Creek on Wed. night for a gorgeous night of open water swimming. My first ever. We grilled hot dogs, swam and had a great time.

Our friend Heather was there coaching me on how to swim in open water with the waves, murky waters and my small fear of open water.

Ok. Alum was a lot better than I thought it would be--the swim was even refreshing! I swam and Heather, who has completed Ironmans, coached me on how to position my head (further in water) and to relax my shoulders. The hard part for me was learning how to breath without sucking in water and sighting (spotting distant tree or landmarks). She let me know that doing the breaststroke to sight works for her.

We had a great time and I am going back more to work on my swimming. Heather's next Ironman is in September. Thanks friend!

On Monday I ran at Glacier Ridge and had a great run. The weather was pretty hot - 80s at 7pm, but it got better as the sun went down. I ran around a 9:15 pace since I was going seven miles and haven't ran that far for awhile. That's almost 40 sec/pace faster than I was doing in the spring, which made me feel great. And I wasn't bursting at the seams running fast either. It was just a solid, steady pace.

At the end the sun was coming through the trees and it was so beautiful and holy. Like devotions in the woods. I always love those runs when it's just this experience of seeing the beauty of God in nature.

My first "brick"

I have been wanting to try a "brick" training after reading a couple of blogs on tri-athalons. It's on my bucket list so I did a run through tonight.

Workout:

Bike-7 miles, 29.55 minutes

Run-2 miles, 8:15/mile or 16:?? something- on my garmin.

I took Brandon's Trek hybrid and went for seven miles. I loved biking, but it was right after the rain and the road was slick so I played it safe. I would like to get this under 26 or 27 min. I also had to stop at all of the stop signs and make turn signals and whatnot. How do triathletes train? Head to the country? Our "country road" is beautiful and deadly. It's a state route so it's not the safest.

I came back and time my transition time to get my bike put away and the helmet off --13 sec. And then forgot I didn't have water and ran in the house for some water and then trotted down to the trail to run 2 miles. My legs, really quads, were sore. Very fatigued after biking up the last hill. But I started running and was at a 8:03 pace and was like, "hello?" I thought I would be more fatigued, but the biking really made me go faster, which was not what I thought would happen. I stopped twice to unload my phone and fix my falling ponytail (note to self: bring bobby pins) and ended the run at a 7 minute something sprint. It was a really fun workout and nice to change it up.

Would you ever do a tri? Have you ever done one? What would be your fav. part? My fav. part would def. be the running followed by the bike. Swimming is def. my weakest area.