Lazy Loretta and Goes-for-it Gus

It's me. I'm the Lazy Loretta.

I have only bad excuses--I was busy, I was out of town, it's just warm enough to be mucky outside, I haven't gotten my bike tuned up yet... All these and more are the reasons I have been slacking this month. Amazingly enough, June 6 doesn't care. Triathlon is going to just keep getting closer and closer until it's here, regardless whether I'm prepared.

So I've been developing a new training strategy for April and May: I will train intentionally rather than whimsically. I will make sure that I'm devoting appropriate amounts of time on each event (instead of avoiding swimming because it's really hard). I will keep records to track my progress (instead of assuming that I must be progressing because that's what happens with practice invariably). I will track of outdoor workouts as well as indoor ones (instead of being tricked into thinking that 10 minutes running on a treadmill is the same as 10 minutes running along the river).

I'll be bigger, faster, stronger. Or...at least two out of the three.

The Goes-for-it Gus in this story is my dad. I learned recently that he did a sprint triathlon (a more intense one than we've signed up for, but back when he was around our ages) and took third. Third. Only two people were faster than him on that course that day. While not at all a realistic goal for me, I'm pretty impressed that it was not only a realistic goal but an achieved goal for my kin.

lauren: week two round up

This week was almost a total disaster, in terms of keeping up with my workout schedule. It took a lot of effort to pull through this weekend and keep things going.

This is a hard thing for me. I get super pumped about a project and then burn out on it if I don't plan out every little thing and make myself do it in steps. If I start to miss workouts or change my schedule too much, I know I will start to fade in enthusiasm. So, when a busy week strikes and a busier weekend caps it off, I have to start making decisions that aren't super popular.

In order to shake a headache and what I thought was a super bad cold coming on, on Friday I called in sick to one of my lessons and took a nap instead. I had a gig that night and work at 8 am the next morning, and it felt right. That meant that on Saturday I had to make a choice: a rehearsal I really didn't need to go to, or my week-end run.

I made the choice to run and I don't regret it. I'd been feeling so sluggish and gross by the end of the week that sweating out some of that crap and getting blood flowing again was exactly what I needed. I meant to swim too, but as usual, the HIlton pool on a Saturday afternoon was full of little kids and sulky teenagers. No dice.

This means I only missed one workout this week, and swimming at that, which I find easy to make up since I always love getting in a pool. I'm not worried.

Meanwhile, though, the spring that Kate spoke of has ended prematurely with 10+ inches of fresh, drifting snow, and so biking and outdoor running are now again distant dreams.

Le sigh.

lauren: the plan

So, hi folks.

Here's the deal. It's been a goal in the back of my brain for a few years now that I've wanted to do a triathlon. Nothing in particular has held me back, besides a general dislike of running and time frames that somehow excluded me from doing any local events.

But this is the year. This year, I have the terribly important motivator of a friend committed to the same goal, and it's our hope that with a collaborator, we'll each have the focus and drive to keep going even when things seem difficult or grim.

This year, I leave in July for six months aboard a cruise ship as an orchestra musician, and I'd like to be, frankly, kinda smokin' hot for the men of Europe. And also for myself, ahem, of course.

This year, winter's got me down, big time. Cabin fever has reached an all time high and I often go down to the basement to just sit by my bike and talk to it in a slow, soothing voice.

Kate and I are still in the process of picking exactly which tri we'd like to do. Our time frame is anywhere in June, basically, minus a weekend or two, and our distance is Sprint (1/4 mi swim, 14 mi bike, 3.3 mi run) We have a few picked out but if any fellow Minnesotans want to throw in their two cents, we'd listen. Promise.

I've set up my training schedule using this website: Beginner Triathlete. Basically, it's given me a 17-week schedule with increasing distances on the three events, and allowed me choose the number of workouts per week and where I want to place them. I work three jobs, and at one of my jobs I have access to a hotel gym with a pool, treadmills, and stationary bike, as well as weights and various machines. I've tailored, at least for starters, my schedule around my hours there.

I'm a strong swimmer, an obsessive but very slow cyclist, and an ungainly and cranky runner. I need to regain my swimming prowess, speed up my bicycle times, and basically just learn to get through a run without thinking my world is falling apart around me. Here goes nothing.