Learning lots

The last two days have been busy ones. Yesterday began with the gym, a bike ride, lake swim, and concluded with some core work at the gym while Grant had Karate and Spencer had his workout. Then I was back at it, at the pool at 6 am. I ran into Jim at the end of my swim and he offered some encouragement as well as a desired critique. The best news was that he said I "looked like a swimmer". Wow. Considering at the beginning of the summer I felt like anything but, that was the highest praise I could hope for. That said, I have to work on hand entry in front of my shoulder, and not on or over the midline, especially my left arm, which is always the problem child in all I do.

Later we met for transition practice. Jim set up a temporary bike stand and then demonstrated his setup and his transitions for me and another master athlete, Anne. Then it was my turn!

Left foot on left pedal on top of shoe, grab brakes and hop on the bike while coasting, eventually get feet in shoes and straps attached. Then reverse the process with a "flying dismount" which doesn't involve much flying in my case, but it is fun! Then a run back to the bike rack and a donning of the running shoes. I learned a great deal and if anything this helped simplify the process for me.

Afterward Jim ran my strides workout with me and after claiming I could run no problem without socks, a quarter-sized blister proved me wrong. So now I will be wearing socks in the triathlon.

No surprise I am very tired and perhaps coming close to overtraining? I need to be careful and get some R&R the next few days. The most important thing is to keep it together for the next 18 days, to stay healthy, focused, and happy. I also need to get caught up on work and other obligations. That is a major goal for the remainder of the week!

I'm still very much looking forward to the triathlon. It'll be an adventure and another opportunity to find out what I can do!