Fresh Intentions

Today is a big day! I’m beginning a 12-week training plan to prepare for a sprint triathlon. I’ve got two races on my calendar for September.

Earlier this week Angela told me she was considering a women’s-only sprint triathlon in September at the same venue we raced at last weekend. I was thrilled to hear she wanted to go back for more so I immediately – well, almost immediately, after I checked to make sure the dreaded Sixth Line hill isn’t on the route – told her to count me in!

Last September I completed my first sprint triathlon but the hardest part for me was sticking to a training plan. I had just moved into my new house and had weddings or wedding-related events nearly every weekend that summer. I skipped a lot of workouts and didn’t always eat the best fuel for my body. My fitness still improved but I wasn’t really prepared for my race.

The dreaded open water swim

I started the race in a really bad foot – or stroke, as the case may be. When I did my try-a-tri in June 2009 I completely surprised myself by being one of the stronger swimmers in the water and coming out towards the front of the pack. I went to the sprint race with less pool training (and no open water training) thinking I could do the same thing.

The Rocky theme is playing in my head as I strut to the swim start for my try-a-tri in June 2009.

I was wrong. When the gun went off, a wave of panic came over me like I’ve never experienced. I was overwhelmed by how far the swim was (2x farther than the try-a-tri) and couldn’t get my breathing under control. You can’t swim very effectively unless you breathe evenly and put your face in the water. I eventually completed the swim unassisted but I was very slow. My transition from swim to bike took forever because I was feeling defeated and exhausted.

The rest of the race went okay and I felt great when I made it to the finish line. I came back after a rough start to finish in better form than I started but I knew I was capable of more.

My mom and I after the my sprint tri in September 2009.

Fast forward to June 14, 2010: Day 1 of my 12-week sprint triathlon training plan. I’m determined to show up on race day feeling strong and confident. I’m thankful that Angela is training for the race too because it will help keep me motivated and give me someone to commiserate with. I’m still plugging in the workout details but this is what the next few months look like:

I have based my plan off a training plan in Triathlon Training Basics by Gale Bernhardt and my 10K Running Room Clinic. I should be running 4+ days a week for the running clinic but I don’t think I’ll be able to squeeze them in with the other training. I’m trying to find balance covering all the disciplines and preparing for my first 10K race without burning out along the way.

To kick off my training, I’m following a two-week detox plan to cut out some of the bad eating habits that have been creeping back in lately and to get my body in top form. I’ll share more about that soon!