Time for Focus

I feel bad that I haven't posted in over a month. I really need to refocus right now. I have some goals that need accomplishing so I can realize my ultimate goal of a triathlon next year. This summer I really wanted to compete in a half marathon and possibly a bike race as well.
My riding portion of training has gone really well lately. I have done a couple of double rides in the morning, and have felt great. I started in the pool a couple of weeks ago. I really thought I was going to get in the pool and just go. Well as with everything else in this training regimen, I was dead wrong. One kilometer in the pool is a whole lot further than I bargained for. At three quarters of the way I felt as though I might just drown. I have since gotten better but still need to go further and train harder in the pool. At least they have a whirlpool and sauna for me to relax in afterwards. Kind of like a small reward for a hard job done. I also find all my muscles hurt after a swim versus just my legs and back with the run and ride portion.
And as for the running. I am not getting much better in this category. Running in the winter really sucks. Especially lately in the very cold weather. I will blame all the lacklustre performances of late to partying a little too much at christmas. Even when New years is done we go on vacation and it's like the season of imbibing just goes on for another 2 weeks. WEll thats done now and it is the perfect time to refocus and get down to business.
See you out there....

Bad Knees?

So it's 5:45 am and I feel great. Time to get on that bike and go. Starting to feel better in the lungs, and my heart rate isn't going quite as high when I really exert myself. I can feel it, it's going to be a breakthrough day. I even have a nice new pair of running shoes. Totally stoked. Ok time to run. I got through the ride in pretty good shape. Maybe for once I can keep up in the run portion of the training.
3 blocks in I can feel a tinge in my right knee. What is this. It doesn't feel quite right. Two more blocks and it actually hurts. This is no good. I have done everything properly and I have to stop because my knee hurts.
That was 3 days ago and I still have pains every time I take a step. Not good at all. Well PHG ( Ian for those who haven't been paying attention) has given me a couple of stretches to perform twice daily. We'll see if I can get back to it next week. I really don't want to miss any more classes.
Jay

5:30 am

I really haven't ever been up this early. It's dark and cold. But, high ho high ho it's off to spin and run I go. I can say that after a mere three weeks I can feel a difference. My lung capacity has improvede (some might say the ommision of certain extra curricular activities would be the reason here) and my legs are definitely getting stronger.
Ian, my personal health guru (known from here on in as PHG) has me training with a heart rate monitor and keeping my beats per minute in very specific ranges. On Wednesday during the spin portion of our training we did hill day. Until that day I was not able to do all the standing spinning we were doing. I find it really difficult to stand and ride on a stationary bike. It just feels weird. But damn if I felt better after that spin. I even felt strong going out the door (still dark) into the rainy crappy slushy conditions, thinking, hey I can do this.
Quite a moment for me really.
Now they did still leave me far behind, but I persisted. And made it through the entire time of running. My heart rate forced me to slow to a walk a couple of times. But I have been told to stay with the program of heart rat zones even if I have to stop running to get my BPM down.
I now keep all the info on my Garmin watch/hear rate monitor. I should be able to figure out how to get the info off the watch and onto the computer soon. So I can watch my progress and have hard data on how well I am improving (or not).
We'll see.
Hope to get some pictures up soon

Jay

How did this happen?

NO sooner had I said it, I knew I was in for trouble. "I'll compete in a triathlon in my 40th year". It was like a bullet coming out of my lips with no way to retrieve it. I looked around to see if anyone heard me. Or for that matter believed me. Well I was done for. They all heard it. Now with my family looking at me I had to make a decision. Was this just another silly thing coming from the verbal diarrhea pie hole I have, or was this for real.
Well thats the start of my journey. Not being able to temper my thoughts or statements (as usual), I was now about to embark on a journey of some significance. I mean really, I can't even run around the block, let alone the running portion of a triathlon. Not to mention that there are two other portions to this insanity. The last time i swam was..... I can't even remember.
So where do i begin? It just so happens that I have an acquaintance who trains these somewhat mentally deficient, obsessed, and overly eager individuals. This is how I felt a mere three weeks ago when this all began.
Amazing what can change in such a short period of time. Ian Fraser has become my personal health guru, and after just three weeks I can say I have not felt this good or encouraged about my health in a long time. This blog is going to chronicle my successes and failures along a 2 year path to a triathlon. I plan to post all my progress, some videos of my training ( with the approval of the other masochists in my training group). And maybe just maybe encourage more than a couple of fellow couch potatoes to get up and go run, bike, swim, anything to get your ticker going.

Enjoy and please help make this a great community to discuss any and all triathlon related issues.

jason