Sunday, March 8, 2009

Calming my nerves

While I’m happy to have an event on the horizon, I’ve been troubled because I feel like I’m much farther behind in my training that last year. And this quirky triathlon is in six short weeks! Funny how quickly I transitioned from excited to anxious.

Thanks to wonders of modern technology, specifically my Garmin and Blog archives, I found a way to do an objective evaluation to try to calm my nerves

RUNNING - This time last year, I posted about a 7 mile easy run at 12:28 pace. This year, I completed a 6 mile easy run at 11:16 pace. A little behind on distance, but my easy pace has picked up. Another data point is the sweetheart run 5K. Last year I ran the 5K in 30:14 uninjured vs. 30:08 this year with a hammy injury. I’m probably right where I need to be with running at the moment.

SWIMMING - This time last year I was swimming regularly, and doing about 1600 yd structured workouts including a lot of drills. This year, I’m just barely back in the pool and doing 800-900 yd unstructured workouts. For example, I went to the pool this afternoon and accomplished 900yds. That was enough to make my shoulders sore. I’m definitely behind in the water. This event has a short 300M swim so I don’t really need to be focusing on distance at the moment. I’d probably be better off focusing on form. Also, Sunday afternoon is a good time to swim, but I need to figure out one other day during the week when I can show up at the pool reliably. Once a week isn’t going to cut it! I’m thinking Tue or Thu morning.

PUSH-UPS - This time last year I couldn’t do a single “real” pushup! I’ve slacked off a lot on my pushups recently, but my upper body strength is much improved. I’m way better off today compared to last year. I had no problem doing 15 “modified” ones on Friday. If I simply add these into my regular strength work at the gym, I should be in good shape for this portion of the event.

Conclusion – I’m doing okay with running. I’m much better with push-ups and have a plan to work them into my strength work 2-3 times a week. I just need a plan for swim training and I should be fine!

28 comments:

  1. You're going to do just fine. You're kicking butt this year! I can't wait to read the race report on this wacky tri.

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  2. Thats awesome progress with the push ups! Keep it up!

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  3. shoot you are going to blow your own mind with how great you do!

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  4. Oh, I think we all transition from the excited phase to the anxious phase! You are so ready for this triathlon... for reals!

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  5. I think you are going to do great! You've sped up nicely in the running arena!

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  6. Sounds like you have it all figured out quite nicely. I know what you mean though, about feeling nervous. I have a 30K in two weeks and suddenly I'm scared I over committed myself. I bet we'll both be fine. ;)

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  7. You certainly are doing much better than last year. A minute improvement on pace is terrific!

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  8. You are doing GREAT! I admire your drive!

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  9. You'll be fine. I love looking back over old races and seeing how much I've improved, it's such a good feeling.

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  10. having the blog to check back and look at your progress is great, and has now renewed your confidence! You'll do great :)

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  11. I'm so impressed that you are doing a tri. I would like to but they scare me. I figure if I can get this running thing down then I may branch out.
    Congrates on your improvments. I love having an easy way to track my progress.

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  12. I think that chucking a minute and ten seconds off your running pace in one year is AWESOME!! So glad you had a way to compare. Yay you!

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  13. All of the extra push ups will help you in the pool, even if you haven't had as much time there as last year.
    You'll be great!

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  14. Classic example of the benefits of tracking your training. Well done. I totally agree with your assessment. I think you'll be fine either way :-)

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  15. Awesome progress! I think you're going to have a strong event.

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  16. It sounds like you are making progress to me. Especially with the faster 'easy' run time. Good job.

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  17. I would say you are doing awesome with the running! And those push ups really will help. I hate push ups when I am doing them but they are a really good workout!

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  18. I know I'm behind but I'm so glad you decided to sign up for this baby! Whooo Hooo!

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  19. Push-ups are a great indication of fitness, and it sounds like you're doing great.

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  20. Great work! Push ups are a great picture of your fitness so you should be very proud.

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  21. You will rock this Lisa!!!

    No worries and don't be anxious!!! Get the excited feelings back OK???

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  22. Glad you can go back and look at the cold, hard facts to see that you ARE improving. Your race will be great!

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  23. I like how you've quantified things to be able to deal with your anxiety about the race. Really, I think you'll be fine. You've never done one before so it'll be a PR either way, right?

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  24. Your running has shown great progress!!

    You'll be great :)

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  25. Way to take a look back to gain some perspective! You have made huge strides and once you have your swim plan figured out you'll be good to go!

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  26. you are doing GREAT!!! just keep up the good work for the next 6 weeks and you will be good to go :)

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  27. A bit of anxiety is good for the adrenalin rush!

    It's great looking back the year and seeing such great improvement! Well done! :o)

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  28. Lisa, I am betting you will do just fine. You have to look at your cumulative fitness over the past two years. You may not have the race you think you should have compared to old results, but keeping things in perspective even if you are slower, you may end up feeling better when done, and I still look at that as a measure of success.

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