Monday, June 29, 2009

Falling Flat

This weekend: meltdown!

Actually, the weather was lovely, I just almost lost it!

A local bike shop offers weekly group rides (supposedly) for beginners on Saturday mornings at 10am. I figured since the bike has taken a backseat to running (because I love it) and swimming (because I hate it/can't do it), I should give it some love.

With great bravado, I went to the bike shop and waited outside. Since it was a beginner's ride, I figured I would at least be middle of the pack, as I am, arguably, in good shape.

Oh no, no, no. I was met by a LOT of yuppies on fancy bikes with padded bike shorts, clip in shoes, at least 3 bottles of water attached on their bikes, fancy sunglasses...they were intimidating to say the least. I started to feel panicky, wondering if I had come to the right group ride, but no one else seemed to have ever gone to the Sunday ride (which is SUPPOSED to be for intense, crazy cyclists!). However, everyone was really very nice. They were all encouraging, eager to answer my questions and support me in my silly efforts of riding my ancient (CLASSIC) bike through Washington, DC. HA! Victory! I will conquer my fears! I kept telling myself that even if I looked stupid on a bike, even if everyone has to wait for me after a hill or a tough spot, I will still go and do my best because that's how you learn. I'm ok with looking dumb.

So we set off!

And when we got across the street, the group leader pointed out that I had a flat tire already!

So I walked back to the bike store, dropped off my bike, went over to my boyfriend's apartment and proceeded to bawl. Because I am a mature grown up and a tough athlete.

Here's the thing (which I pointed out to my boyfriend several times): I can handle the race being hard. I can handle tough training. I can handle falling off and scraping my leg open. What I cannot stand is not even being able to START my training. It brought me down so low this weekend that I even talked about backing out of this stupid triathlon. I mean, I was looking for a challenge, but I want to be able to actually finish! I guess there's that whole element of, be careful what you wish for. This is a bigger challenge than I realized it would be. Don't ask me WHY I thought a triathlon would be easy, I just thought it would.

In the end, I went out for a run and then came back and got back on the stupid bike. Instead of going for a group ride, I went for a date ride, meaning that my boyfriend helped me get back out on the road. Which was much more fun than a group ride anyway :)

Also, on Sunday I went out to the park by my house and did "yoga in the park." Free yoga! Do you know what a great deal this is?? Yoga at a studio costs anywhere from $15-$20 per session. And it was so much more interesting to do yoga outside. I could let my mind wander a lot more and I didn't really need to listen to the instructor - I just watched what other people were doing and listened to the drum circle playing nearby. I would absolutely recommend doing Yoga in the Park - it is a great way to get introduced to yoga in a non-threatening setting.

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Full speed ahead! (again)

I got back from vacation a week ago yesterday. Israel is a beautiful country! We had a fantastic time. Tel Aviv has a gorgeous beach with a very pedestrian friendly promenade. I was CONVINCED that I would run on in while we were there...and then proceeded to sleep in every single day. It was really hot and we wanted to do touristy things during the day and by nighttime, we had walked about 12 miles and all I wanted to do was eat a bucket of hummus and go to bed.

So I came back last week and didn't even run or bike until Friday. This week I'm starting to feel like I'm actually making some progress. I did about 10 miles on Monday night and another 5 this morning. Tonight I'm hitting the pool (oops, I meant to look up a swim workout...). I have to admit that even with almost 2 weeks off, I still feel pretty good. I know that it can hurt a training schedule to take that much time off, but I didn't stress during my vacation. I can't imagine how that would have affected my time abroad and I'm really glad that I didn't let it worry me.

The triathlon is really starting to nip at my heels, though. It's time to sink or swim (unfortunately that is literal). I need to get my head in the game. I've decided to start twice a day workouts a few times a week. My problem is that my default is to run. I don't like swimming or biking nearly as much, but I need to work on that. Two of my friends are doing bike races, so maybe I'll reach out to them to work out with me! Buddy workouts might be easier on a bike? They certainly seem to be easy while swimming since no one can really talk, but I am still slow in the water.

I need to start a list of "things to buy," so that I won't have to buy everything the week of. Maybe that will be the next post...

No good product reviews, but I am getting a new shoe wallet! I lost it during the Cherry Blossom Run (luckily it was empty!!!) but my mom is getting me a new one at work. Still one of the best buys out there!