The Sweatology of It All...

In case you hadn't already heard this from me, the Tampa area has been experiencing record highs this week. Of course it has! And of course, this perfectly coincides with when I'm really trying to get into gear for triathlon training, specifically the running portion!!! 

I have run more this week than I have in a long time, but before you tell me that's great and how proud you are, let me put this "more" into perspective:

1. I haven't run at all in at least ummmm, er, maybe about 4 months. 

2. I use the term "run" somewhat loosely...for you marathon/fitness professional types (you know who you are), it might be considered more of a jog

3. My "running" this week has been more of the walk/run alternation situation

4. Total mileage thus far for the week is only about 3ish miles

Clearly, I have a LOOOOOOOOONG way to go with this running thing. If anyone has any ideas on how to not hate running, I'm totally open :)

And on to sweatology (term courtesy of Karin Korb)...the science of sweating:

Sweating or "perspiring" is the other thing I've done more than usual this week. I think sweating is an area of athletic training I totally excel in...possibly the only one I'm particularly gifted in. I know everyone sweats, especially when it's super hot and humid like it has been here, and I'm not talking about sweaty pits. That's the least of my concerns! It's my face/neck/head that are out of control in attempting to cool themselves. I turn all kinds of red, and liquid pours off my face, even when I'm not at all winded or haven't worked out that hard yet. I mean really...ending a 30 minute workout with my hair being completely soaked (and going crazy curly) because of the excessive sweating of my face and neck seems a bit ridiculous, don't you think? Unfortunately, it is inevitable. As is the fact that I must continue to "run"... 

Here we go again!

Well, we've begun again. Becky says that I'm the motivated one this time, but I'm not so sure about that. We'll see...I'm halfway through bootcamp and needing some motivation to keep working out after its over since there's no way I'm spending oodles of money to do bootcamp again and again. So we're back at it, Becky and me. Here goes nothing! At bootcamp this morning I discovered that I can run. Apparently during each bootcamp session (4 weeks), there's one all running workout and today was the day. We ran for 50 minutes and I ran the whole time. I'm told we ran between 4 and 5 miles. I guess that means there's no excuses for me on the running leg of the triathlon, huh? Now on to conquer swimming!

TRI"ing" Again...

Okay folks, it's for real this time...Erin and I are gonna do this: we will complete our first (and perhaps only) triathlon on Sunday, February 7th, 2010. I know, I know - you've heard this before. First it was going to be the Top Cop Triathlon on my 30th birthday (11/2/08) but that plan was foiled: I had to be out of town for work and the event actually ended up being cancelled. Then it was going to be the Lake Louisa Triathlon on September 24th of this year. Then my summer turned really crazy at work and Erin's job got extra crazy, and it was SUPER hot and obnoxiously humid and I MAJORLY slacked off in my training. I confessed to Erin partway through the summer that I didn't think I could do it. Turns out Erin felt the same way and we were mutually relieved that we could let ourselves off the hook.

Somewhere in the midst of all this, Erin got engaged to her fabulous fiance, Daniel, whom she will be marrying in May of 2010. And I'm honored and excited to be one of their bridesmaids. We decided we still wanted to do a triathlon and do it before the wedding (and before it's too hot here in the SE), but I was kind of still in the thinking about it stage, not the committing stage...was just working on trying to get my workout habits back to normal after said crazy summer. THEN Erin goes and signs up for fitness bootcamp. My reaction: so super proud of her and SO super happy that I was not the one being tortured at o dark thirty every morning! Last Friday marked the 1/2 point in Erin's boot camp and she all goes and e-mails me about this triathlon series with one in January, one in February, and one in March. We both agreed that January is WAY too soon. February feels too soon, but is probably doable. March is preferable, but I (of course) will be out of town for work during it. And so, February 7th, 2010 it is...

That is 14 weeks from yesterday. With the holidays in there. I spent $12.95 and bought a 12 week training plan for us to follow from triathlongeek.com. They claim that if you can currently run 1/2 mile without stopping, swim 25 yards without stopping, and bike for 15 minutes NOW (Erin and I can both do all 3 of those things) and follow 80% of the plan that we'll be fine on race day. Allegedly, they actually guarantee it. However, it's not guaranteed for those who hate running (me) or who despise swimming (Erin), so we'll see how that pans out...

The first time around, I was the excited and motivated one and now I'm pretty terrified and un-confident while Erin is a bit more pumped up about the whole thing. Hopefully we can balance each other out and keep each other motivated during the coming months.

We're both starting to train now, but the 12-week plan starts on November 8th. I'm excited I'll be in Atlanta later that week so Erin and I can get in a couple workouts together before spending the majority of our time training alone in our respective cities. This is gonna be quite an experience, I'm sure! Stay tuned our updates: the good, the bad, and the ugly!

Oh, and here's the website for the tri if anyone wants to take a peek:

http://www.stateofmindsports.com/florida/gville.html