Last April Post- I'll do better next month

I'm off to swim again tomorrow. I'm looking forward to it. Last week I swam for 30 minutes and then hit the jacuzzi. It was awesome! Jillian is still kicking my butt. I'm doing the circuits twice and it's exhausting, but it feels so good when I'm done. After being pretty sore last week, I'm not sore at all so far this week (it's only Tuesday!).

I'm trying to learn more about the swim stroke and also RODE MY BIKE FOR THE FIRST TIME this weekend! It was great. I really enjoyed it. I think it was a huge day for me because I was so scared I would crash or get hit by a car. (That's a whole other post.)

Anyway, three posts for April is pathetic. I will do better.

swim update

I survived the swim clinic. It was okay, not great. I didn't get as much one on one attention as I wanted. There were about 15 people there who all seemed to be great swimmers. I admit, I was a little intimidated. I was thinking that there was definitely a time in my life when I would never have attempted to do what I did. I am so introverted that to walk into a place where I don't know anyone in somewhat paralyzing. A few years ago I never would have attempted it. Not a chance. How sad. I was anxious, but much improved from the past.

I learned a lot about stroke mechanics and also found out my kick stinks. I've got a long way to go. I've reflected on a few things in the past days. First- I wish I was on a swim team as a child. My girls are and they are great swimmers. They have great form which will stay with them forever. The guy at the clinic said it's going to be really hard for me to unlearn my kick because it's so ingrained. My girls don't know how lucky they are. Second- when I first got out of the clinic, I was discouraged. I thought about taking swim lessons and how bad I am. I reminded myself that I'm doing a sprint tri. We're not talking Ironman here. I don't need to stress about my swim stroke. Sure, I want to get better, but I think my initial reaction was a little extreme. Reminder to self: I'm in this for the fun.

I'm back!

It is my intent to keep this blog up to date- mostly so I can look back and see where I've been. But.. I just can't do it. It feels like I just started the fitness program, "Making the Cut", but it's been over a month! I need to get a grip!

Now that that's out of the way.... Here's my progress. I made it through the first round of "Making the Cut" and am on my second day of doing the whole thing again. I made some mistakes the first time which I hope to correct. First of all, I only did the full circuit 1x and I'm supposed to do it 2x. My rationale was that I wanted to get in cardio. One time through takes me a little over 30 minutes so two times is tight. I want to try it though. I'll have to find a time later in the day to get my cardio in. (Not that the circuit doesn't count as cardio because I sweat my head off and my heart rate is off the charts!) I need to figure out how to get some triathlon training in. That is why I'm doing this after all! I recruited my friend Barbara to do it with me and I'm excited to have a partner.

Good news! I ran my first 5K of the season last weekend and it felt really good. Even with the limited amount of running I've been doing, I felt strong. I was running 2x a week with a 2 mile run mid week and a 4 miler on the weekend which is not a great amount. I don't know my official time (I forgot to stop my watch at the end), but I'm encouraged! My first mile was 8:30 and my second was 8:24. I had plenty of energy to sprint at the end too. Once they post the results online I'll post tmy time.

I'm off to a swim clinic tonight and am excited to get some feedback on my form. I swam 40 laps last week but it was way too slow!