First off,
Sweet Baboo is in Phoenix, where he'll be doing Ironman Arizona tomorrow (
You can track his bib number, 1184, here). Several people have asked me if I'm going. I am not. Teachers are only given 2 personal days off (well, not counting summer) and also, I was going schedule to be chaperoning a group of science students to the state fair in Socorro.
But in any case, usually
Sweet Baboo is the one who, at a reasonable hour, flips off the light and turns the fan on high, leaving me in darkness with the realization that it must be bedtime. As a result, I get enough sleep. I know it's time to go to sleep and the white noise from the fan keeps me there.
Since he's not here, I don't go to bed on time and I don't stay asleep and I'm BOORED that is why, at 4 am on a Saturday morning, I am wide awake, and haven't made it to sleep before 11 pm for three nights running.
Secondly, I've decided to get a coach.
No, not
that kind of coach.
Yes,
that kind of coach.
Now that I've satisfied my answer to the question, "Can I finish a triathlon?" and have successfully finished over 20 sprints, 2 Olympics, and 2 half-irons, the question becomes,
"Can I finish it before everyone packs up and leaves?"
I would like to hastily add that
I still. know. everything. but I realize by now that despite the fact that 1)
Sweet Baboo reads voraciously and 2) Barnes and Nobel should honor us with a catered meal each and every fiscal quarter, that just there comes a time when you say, maybe someone outside my head knows what's good for me, too. So I'm getting a coach. I chose
the Jimster because about half dozen people in my area have gone on and on and on about him, including
Pirate, who told me that he listens for, like, EVAR.
This Thursday will be my full initial fitness assessment. Since I can have him watch my run at the track workouts, and was just assessed and fitted for my bike at
Colorado Multisport, I'm going to have him assess my swim form for the initial assessment.
I've done two trackworkouts with
the Jimster that he does on Wednesdays with the people he coaches, including
Pirate, at the 400m track on Academy. The first one, he had me do two laps "easy," to warm up, then a couple of 800 repeats. He did this timing me. The funny part was when he said things like,
"Okay, do this at about a 10K pace"or,
"Okay, do this about your half marathon pace"
Ha. I have three speeds: fast shuffle, slow shuffle, and walk.
And unlike
some people out there, when I say "I'm slow" (Most triathletes I know,) I mean it. I'm not lamenting about how "Oh, gee, golly, I wish I could do a 6 minute mile." I'm lamenting on how I'm nearly always at or near the back of every triathlon run I've ever done. I make some of it back on the bike, but let's face it, that only works on reverse tri's.
Then, we all lined up and did some stretches and sideways running drills, which kicked my ass. I mean, everyone else floated sideways while I awkwardly stumbled sideways, and then when I arrived where everyone else had been for quite a while, their heart rates having alreedy dropped 20 points, I was gasping for air and practically prostrate and then the Jimster would immediately say, "GO!" and everyone would take off again.
We finished off with some ab work.
Muscles that I don't usually use have announced they would like to have a word with me.
NOW.After a brief assessment, the Jimster concluded that my first goal will be a 10:00 mile. I must confess that, secretly, I was disappointed at first; I had this fantasy that he would slap his hand to his forehead and say something like,
"HOLY COW! You're the most natural runner I've ever seen! With work, I think we can get you down to a 6-minute mile in no time!"
But, um, when I asked if maybe he thought I could get down toward nine, he put a hand on my shoulder and said, as gently as I might have, to a struggling student who wants to raise their grade from a D to an A in 3 weeks,
"Well, now, let's be realistic."
In any case, I feel that's doable, since I've done a 10:30 mile in a 5K before. Right now, though, my heart rate shoots up to around 170 at that pace.
Little steps.
At the second track workout, he had me do some intervals. This track is open to the public, and there were a group of young kids there learning to be race-walkers. So, yup, you guessed it - while RUNNING, I had my ass kicked by a neophyte RACEWALKER, who I judged to be about 14. Really. I know I say that everyone younger than me is 14, but I really think he was. Maybe even 12. Not that it was a race. Were just working out. But he beat me. Dammit.
I'll write more when I do my fitness assessment.
I think I'll go buy a Garmin forerunner today. I'm tired of
Nancy having cooler stuff than me, and I need a reason for
Nytro to shoot off some envious sarcasm in my direction. Plus, they're cool and do graphs and lots of stuff. I got a
new triathlon bag, too, which I'll write about when I have a chance to try it out.
..
