Rechlorinated

This is what I look like when I swim.

Due to the minimal amount of sleep I've been getting lately, my subconscious held me hostage in bed for a full eight hours, despite the best efforts of my not-so-friendly alarm clock. Once I woke up, I headed off with one goal in mind:

Goal: Don't embarrass yourself in the pool today.

Goal not accomplished.

On the plus side, it felt awesome to get in the water again. Apart from the occasional surf session, I really haven't swam more than a couple times since I stopped lifeguarding last summer. And I definitely got a good workout.

Too bad that workout didn't go over 800 yards.


Maybe my standards are too high for the first time I get back in a pool, but I didn't want to get out thinking "This must be what it feels like to have never swam before in your life." But I guess that's what I should expect having lived the past eight months of my life as a landlubber.


Goal for tomorrow: Get back in the pool. Don't die.


Jason

On Cycling

This is what my mom looks like when she rides a bike:

This is what I feel like when I ride a bike (not my picture):

So it's probably no surprise that I started out fairly slow with the cycling training. For now I'm just spinning on a stationary bike in the gym, because I don't have a road bike to try out, but I'm hoping to be able to borrow one by the end of this week. Then again, it's not the bike that needs work.

Cycling really is fun, though. When I've visited home from college, I've gone on a couple of bike rides with my parents, and they're gracious enough to keep from leaving me in the dust.

You see a lot more when you're on a bike than you do when you're in a car. I can drive through an area a dozen times and never notice something that's impossible to miss when I'm moving at a slower pace. Sometimes it's a beautiful landscape, and sometimes it's just a road I never knew was there. Either way, there's this organic experience that comes with cycling that can't quite be recreated in any other way. It's kind of like surfing in that sense. The sound of the wind shoots past your face, and you go faster than you ever could on your own. But you're still connected with the outdoors on such a personal level. 

I love being outside, so I might be waxing poetic here. But if you don't know what I'm talking about, you definitely need to try it. 

Ah. Now I just want to get a road bike!

Thursday (May 3):

• Weights (upper body)

Yesterday (May 4)

• Nothing. This will probably not happen again anytime soon. But a slow start is better than no start.

Today (May 5)

• 25 minutes spin bike: I use cages, since I don't have cleats, and since I had the luxury of a computer, I tried to keep my rpms around 90 and did a couple of minute-long sprints or climbs about halfway through. According to the bike, I went around 7.5 miles, which is the same as a 12k--race distance.

• 15 minutes jumping rope: Sound easy? Then try it! If you're like me and your jump-rope days ended with your 4th grade PE class, let me tell you something: it's harder than you think. I actually can't wait to do this again. 

It's been an okay three days in terms of training volume. I'll give it a 6 out of 10. I'm hoping to work out early tomorrow morning and have a post up by late afternoon. Until then!

Jason

P.S. Speaking of jumping rope, look up some videos of Floyd Mayweather Jr. Not only is the man incredible at it, he's pretty good proof that jumping rope is a great part of any training regimen.

Countdown: 18 Days

So this is what I'm training for.


It's a sprint triathlon, so an 18-day countdown isn't too unrealistic. There are (surprise!) 3 parts to it:


1) A 750-meter open ocean swim. I love the ocean. And as a near-lifelong swimmer and water polo player, this doesn't scare me very much. I even swam the 500 in high school, so this is not too different from something I've done a hundred times. Except it's in the ocean. And I'm way out of swim shape. In the end, it'll probably be my favorite leg of the race, but I need to get some pool time before I'm confident.


2) A 20k bike ride. Both of my parents are passionate cyclists who routinely spend their Sunday mornings riding who-knows-where for hours on end. And that's the extent of my cycling experience. So I may have some work to do.


3) A 5k run. A year ago, I would have grimaced at the word 'run' no matter how many k's sat in front of it. I belonged in the water. But ever since I spent last summer as an ocean lifeguard, I've actually come to enjoy running. Ironically, this may be the easiest part of the race for me.


And that's it! Hopefully I finish respectably and have fun doing so. Now for training:


Today (May 2):


1) 4-mile run. I ran at a moderate pace--about an 8:30 mile average. I don't want to go to slow, but I don't want to jump the gun either.


2) Leg workout. I enjoy lifting weights when I can get around to it, so why not?


That's it for today! A little boring, maybe, but things will get more exciting soon.


Until next time!


Jason

Hello!

The name's Jason. I'm a college sophomore who grew up in a family of athletes and health nuts and carried that tradition on up until this year. 


As college obligations encroached on the calendar space of the rest of my life, I spent less and less time doing one of the things I love the most: exercise. And being a college student, I didn't quite trust myself with mustering the self-motivation to remedy this problem all on my own.


So I signed up for a triathlon.


Two and a half weeks from now.


This blog is a story of those two and a half weeks.