Transitions

The transitions between the swim/bike and bike/run leg of a triathlon are often called the fourth discipline of the sport. You have to train for a long time to shave off a few minutes of your swim, bike or run but if you mess up your transition and add precious minutes to your race, all the training goes down the drain. That’s why triathletes have to practice their transitions. I will do my first brick training today, meaning that I will combine two of the sports in one workout for the first time. My training plan calls for an hour long bike ride followed by a short 10 minute run. This training is supposed to get the body used to consecutively doing the different sports. My living room is going to serve as the transition area where I will set up everything I need for the run. I am also going to get everything ready that I might need during my transition such as a towel and something to drink. Knowing me, I will also have to incorporate a short bathroom visit. Since that extra stop would really add some time to my overall race results, I should probably start training not having to use the restroom for an extended period of time…

Motivation

Clearly I am not the type of person that is motivated to go out and exercise for no good reason. Obviously being fit and healthy is a very good reason but it has always been easy to deny these facts. That way I have been trying for many years to get into a steady exercise routine. But somehow the fit, healthy and skinny argument wasn't strong enough to get me going and I always ended up quitting my exercise routines after a short while. Since I came up with my plan to get into triathlons, things have drastically changed for me. Whenever I feel that it would be much nicer not to put on my running shoes, I think of the race I want to do and I get moving. Before starting a run, bike ride or swim, I always have a distance in mind that I want to go on that day. Pretty much every single time that I am in the middle of my workout, there is a little voice inside my head that tells me to stop running or cycling before I reach my designated goal. "Why don't I do 30 km instead of 40 and get home earlier to start cooking?" The debate goes on but so far I could always convince myself to continue and finish my workout as planned. Being so involved with this inner monologue probably helps me finishing the workouts because I just go on while I am debating. While thinking of me doing the triathlon next to my husband and brother really gets me off the sofa, I have come to realize that working out has become a daily habit just like brushing my teeth. I don't really think about wether or not I will exercise, it's more a question of when I can fit it in. Being active more often actually makes working out easier. Another thing is that I don't stop working out anymore because I skipped my routines for a while. Knowing that it's not a big deal when I am super busy and can't exercise for ten days is a great relieve. I will hopefully have many years to come with plenty of time to work out. No need to quit right away. 

With that said here's some tricks that work for me when I need to convince myself that I should be working out:

• Come up with a goal to be reached by a certain date and remind yourself of it (lose x kg, do 10 push ups, run 10 km etc.)
• Put on workout clothes first thing in the morning/right after work. Once I wear my gear I am more likely to workout later.
• Make a plan and put it up where you can see it. Cross workouts off the plan once they're completed.
• Let people know what you're up to. Tell co-workers, family and friends what you are doing. They'll ask you how it's going and you need to stick with your routine to be able to tell them.
• Do something you would have never thought that you could do. You might not become the best tennis player or triathlete but you can always do your best. It's more fun when you prove to yourself that you can do it!

Bonking in the Alps

I spend the last week on holiday in the german Alps. My parents, brother, husband and I went to the small village of Oberstdorf from where we embarked on long hikes each day. After the many hours of hiking we rewarded ourselves with delicious bavarian food and lots of beer in one of the traditional german restaurants in town. Obviously I didn't get any of my usual training routines in but we all burned tons of calories every day and even tried to fit in some core training during our hikes as you can see in the picture.

Somehow my brother, husband, and I thought that it was a good idea to hike to the top of the highest mountain in the area on the last day of our vacation. My parents opted to stay in town when we started our 10 km (6 mile) long journey to the summit of the "Nebelhorn". Oberstdorf is situated at an elevation of 828 meters (2716 feet) and we had to climb 1396 meters (4580 feet) to the summit. We did basically follow the cable car that brings tourists up and down the mountain. The first stop of the lift is at 1280 meters (4199 feet). There's another station at 1932 meters (6338 feet) before it reaches the summit at 2224 meters (7296 feet). On the sign in Oberstdorf it said that it would take hikers 5 hours to get all the way to the top. Off we went with our semi-professional hiking gear. I was the only one wearing hiking boots while the two guys put on their regular running shoes. The first part of the ascend was a so called "Geological Teaching Path" and it was situated right next to a waterfall. It was misty and wet and we had to jump over big tree roots and climb rocks and ladders that had been installed so that one could cross the  stream. This part of the hike took us up to the station at 1280 meters from where we continued to walk on a well maintained hiking path that was wide enough for cars to drive on.

You cannot see the summit of the mountain in the picture since it's to the left of the frame. The path continued to go straight for a little while before it would then wind its way up in very steep slopes.

From that point of the hike on it was nothing but up up up. We would soon be above the timberline and I fell behind my husband and brother.

It was a tiring walk but it didn't feel different from a run at first. I was sweating and my heartrate went up and as usual I was slower than the guys.

We got higher and higher and our first goal was the second station of the cable car that you can see in the picture below.

As we got higher up I started taking rests after each serpentine to catch my breath for the next slope. And then something that I had only read about to this point happened to me. I was bonking. When an endurance athlete bonks the glycogen stores in her liver and muscles are depleted. This condition causes sudden fatigue and loss of energy. That is exactly what I experienced- the key-word being "sudden". My legs started to shake and I felt the need to just sit down. By that time we were about 10 minutes away from the station where they had restaurants and shops. I knew that I couldn't just stay at the side of the road and I also knew that eating something would fuel me up again. I obviously made it to the restaurant and in record speed ingested a pretzel, an apple, two candy bars and an energy drink. Another record was the prize the mountain-restaurant charged for this snack... Before we left in the morning all I had was one bread roll and I had really underestimated the strain a hike like this would put on my body. After this much needed food break (the boys ate something as well) we continued our trip to the summit. By now we were on a rocky road that took us all the way up.

Despite our break it only took us three hours to reach the summit and the beautiful view was well worth the effort. Since we came back from our tour and descended the mountain by cable car, I have researched a little online and I found out that they do a run up the mountain every year. It took the winner just under 53 minutes to get all the way up in 2011. Now that is impressive! 

Distances

Friday night I went to my brother's going away party since he's going to move out of town to go to college. The cool thing was that a lot of people at the party came up to me and asked me about my training because they had read about it on this blog. That gave me plenty of opportunity to talk about triathlon and I was a happy girl : ). One of my brother's friends said that he had to look up triathlon distances when reading about my goals so he would know what I was actually trying to do next year. I am sorry for causing confusion and having people second guess what an "Olympic" distance triathlon is. So here's the stats for everyone:

Sprint distance:
Swim: 0.75 km (0.5 miles)
Bike: 20 km (12 miles)
Run: 5 km (3 miles)

Olympic distance:
Swim: 1.5 km (0.93 miles)
Bike: 40 km (24.8 miles)
Run: 10 km (6.2 miles)

On another note: I had mentioned that exercising makes me sleep like a rock here. Well, I had a few drinks at the party and mixed with my post-training fatigue that made me fall asleep in a deck chair that night. My brother transferred me to his bed which I don't remember and the next thing I know is that I woke up when it was light out. I was fully dressed next to a strange man and it took me a second to figure out where I was. It turns out that I slept through the whole rest of the party and when my husband wanted to wake me up to go home I didn't respond at all. Him and my brother decided then to let me stay there. Of course my brother was the strange men next to whom I was waking up. I then walked home at 7:30 am in the morning and was pretty well rested. 

Note to almost 30 year old self: Make sure to closely watch what you drink when you haven't had a lot of alcohol due to increased physical activity lately...

Expectations

As I entertained the thought of taking up triathlon training, I expected my daily routine to change. I knew that I needed to make more time to work-out. I figured that I had to focus on what foods I take in. All these things I had read in books.

Here's a few things that I did not anticipate:

1. I sleep like a baby- or better: a rock. Since I started training my bed time went down from around 11 pm to between 9 and 10 pm and I fall asleep the second the light is turned off. Oftentimes I used to wake up before my alarm goes off in the mornings but now I am literally catapulted out of my dreams every morning by my wonderful cell-phone alarm.
2. Body lotion is my new best friend. It turns out that skin gets somewhat dry from taking two showers a day and swimming in chlorine water all the time.
3. Any type of sport seems so much more interesting to me. When I come across other people playing soccer in the park, I stare at them as if I was trying to find an endangered species. I even caught myself watching a Darts tournament on TV the other day.
4. I know what numbers the sports channels are on.
5. There's always tons of laundry waiting to be washed. Bike stuff, running stuff, towels... It never ends. Especially if you don't own 10 sets to change for each sport.
6. I have a more realistic understanding of what it takes for a woman to be muscular. When I see a toned and fit woman I won't think of her as a freak of nature but I respect her for the hard work that stands behind that look. That also means that I have not excuse anymore. Unfortunately I have to stop claiming that "I am just not that skinny"...

1st Morning Run

Training for a triathlon I have to make time to swim, bike, and run plus I do strength training and stretching. When I go to work in the mornings I do leave the house shortly before 7 am and I usually return home between 2 and 3 pm. That gives me enough time to do my workouts in the afternoon but lately I have been skipping other chores by always putting my workouts first. Right now I am staring at a huge pile of laundry that needs to be ironed just to give you an example. I figured that I have to fit in some of my workouts before I leave for work to get all the things done that won't just disappear because I am into exercising. Well, I wouldn't say that I necessarily am a morning person and I have been hesitant to set my alarm earlier just to go running. But yesterday was the day that I gave a morning run a shot. To be honest I must admit that I didn't have to go to work normal time. I did have to leave the house for a meeting at 10:30 am. So I wanted to be back from my run by nine to be able to shower and eat before leaving. I decided to just go for a very short 3 km run down by the Rhine river. When I left the house at around 7:50 the streets were busy with people rushing to work. School kids were everywhere and I felt great because I was on my way to do something nice. I got to the river and settled in to a nice slow jog. There were just a few other people in the park. Some were running, others were walking their dogs. I would say that I definitely have to get used to be working out so early in the day but although this was just a very short run, the overall experience was great. I even stayed down there for my stretching which I usually do at home because I don't feel comfortable stretching in the park around all the other people but yesterday, I was pretty much alone and having a great time. What I hadn't expected was that the whole rest of the day I felt great because I had already gotten a workout in and didn't have to worry about when I would be able to do it.

It was a great start of my week and I am sure that I will be slowly trying to do more of my workouts in the mornings. Even before I have to go to work.

Ironman

A lot of people seem to associate triathlon with the Ironman. The so called Ironman-triathlon is a long distance event consisting of a 3.86 km (2.4 mile) swim, a 180.2 km (112 mile) bike ride topped off by a marathon (42.195 km/ 26.2 miles). It was first held in Hawaii in 1978 and was still called the Iron Man back then. By now Ironman is a trademark and only races licensed by the World Triathlon Corporation are officially called Ironman. All other races covering the same distance are not "Ironman" races but long distance triathlons. To be able to participate in the Ironman World Series in Hawaii one has to qualify by placing high enough in their age group in one of the other Ironman-events that take place worldwide. Many more athletes try to get into the prestigious race in Hawaii each year than will actually be able to start there. The German triathlete Andreas Raelert holds the world record over the long distance with 07:41:33. However, he established that record in a race (Challenge Roth, Germany, 2011) not licensed by the World Triathlon Corporation and subsequently did not qualify for Kona (triathlon-slang for the Hawaii Ironman) that way. I am sure he's not too worried about it since the professional athletes plan their seasons according to the races they want to do and if he plans to do Hawaii this year (October 8, 2011) he probably has his act together and knows what he's doing.

Coming back to my opening sentence, I will take you through a typical conversation I've had with co-workers, acquaintances, friends etc. since I started telling them I was attempting to do a triathlon next year:

Me: "I've been pretty active lately and hope to be doing my first triathlon next year!"

Other person looking me up and down checking out my waistline and overall physique: "Really?! That's insane! I am really impressed. But don't you have to train like A LOT for that?"

Me: "Yeah, but I think I can do it. I mean I need to see how I like it but I want to start off doing a sprint distance first..."

Other person somewhat confused: "Wait, you mean there's other races than the Ironman?"

Me: "Of course! There's all kinds of distances and I want to get my first experience doing a..."

Usually by that point I notice a very, very sharp decline in interest in the conversation. It seems that a lot of folks seem to think that any other than Ironman-distance triathlon is somewhat boring and for sure not the real deal. Sometimes it seems like a "why do you even bother to tell us" type of deal. Of course I am exaggerating a bit here, but you would be surprised to see how many people give me that reaction. I am not trying to talk about people not knowing the technical details of triathlon race distances. What I find funny is that my attempt of getting off the couch and doing something seems not worth mentioning to some. In fact it would be sensational news if I trained for the 140.6-mile race (and subsequently probably killed myself), but a mere sprint or Olympic distance tri is really nothing to brag about.

What I realized in pondering about this reaction I have received is that exercising is a very egocentric thing to do. You take time just for yourself. Household chores, errands, social gatherings may all come short because you decide to invest time to reach your personal fitness goals. It's about you, your body, your mind. Do you feel like getting out now? Is it too warm or cold for you? Have you eaten enough before? Should you wait and digest a little longer before you go? Do you go for an hour or two? How do your legs feel? Does your shoulder ache? In this microcosmos everything revolves around the person exercising and that's the perspective one has to take a step back from when talking to others. Nobody else is so wrapped up in the training and goals to be reached. That's why a short race like a sprint triathlon might not seem as interesting to the athlete's social environment. (That could be a reason for an "athlete" to write a blog.) 

So, I guess I just thought it was funny that I triggered the initial thought in many people that I want to do an Ironman in  just a few months from now. Imagining the thought process evoked in peoples' minds during the split second after I mentioned my goals makes me smile. Other people with a stronger will to reach the unthinkable might set their goals as high. But for now I am sticking with my plan and am happy to be getting off the couch everyday!

Inspiration

Q: How do you come up with doing triathlons if you're a person like me? 

A: You need to spend time watching your younger brother racing!

I would assume that not many people just go out and say "I am going to do triathlons!" if they have never done endurance sports before. I think that I wouldn't if it wasn't for my brother who did his first marathon in 2010 and has been racing in triathlons since. He is actually 6 years younger and contrary to me seems to just have that gift to be very good at endurance sports. Of course he is training hard and our mom always worries about him going a little too crazy with the running, cycling and swimming.

This season he did two Olympic distance tris. He finished his first one in 2:30 in July and last Saturday he came in 14th in his age group and 64th overall (out of over 500) in 2:18. It was a really hot day and his wave started at 2 o'clock in the afternoon. Poor triathletes! 

Before the start

Off they go

It is so much fun watching him and I am always very very nervous when I am at his races. My husband tells me that he's doing fine, which - of course - he is, but I just wish I could be out there and make sure everything is a-ok the whole time. When he came into T2 on Saturday (transition from bike to run) his calf was cramping and I think I had bigger issues with this than him.

Cramping

T2

I was such a wreck that I ended up taking pictures of a fence when I was trying to capture him. 

Happy finisher!

What is great about him being so involved with the sport is that I always have my personal go-to guy for any type of questions and concerns. He is more experienced with all aspects of the sport ranging from nutrition to stretching and I am extremely happy to have my personal advisor. He is also tremendously encouraging and patient with his older sister. He would never tell me that I am too slow or doing bad. I am looking forward to being in races together with him next year. It will be great to have him standing by the course after he finished to see his sister do the rest (read: major chunk) of her race. So this post goes out to my favorite little brother! I am so proud of you and I love you more than you think! 

Lessons Learned

As you probably know I did my first run yesterday. It was a so called 'company run' and one could only sign up as a team of at least three from a company. 61 people from my company did it but I only knew one whom I never saw because it was so crowded and crazy at the place.

So here's the stats:

Course length: 5.78 km (3.59 miles)

My finish time: 00:37:56

Minutes per km: 06:54

Km/h: 8.70

My finishing places are as follows:

• All racers: 2972 out of 3727
• Women: 588 out of 1030
• Women in my age group: 85 out of 146

Positive Aspects:

• I reached my goal of staying under 40 minutes.
• I ran a steady pace and felt pretty good throughout the run.
• I was not nervous or intimidated.
• I met two women from my company who run marathons and do triathlons.
• I got a medal!
• After the run I congratulated a girl who was running right in front of me the whole time. I tried to catch her in the end but couldn't make it. She was really happy that somebody acknowledged her accomplishment.
• The run showed me that I seem not to be a naturally gifted runner (I kind of knew that before) and that really encourages me to train more and do better next time.
• I thought it was fun being in a more competitive race situation.
• I did this after only two months of running.

Something that really bugged me:

• A million people passed by me during the race.
• The people that I ended up running by didn't look as athletic as I had hoped. I was part of the *funny* crowd.
• It was freaking cold! That wasn't a problem during the run but right before and after.

Lessons learned:

• Don't live in Germany if you want a real summer.
• Train more if you want to be faster.
• Make sure there's a bathroom close by right before the start!
• Check on your camera before leaving!

Freestyle Swim

After I decided to pick up triathlon-training I realized that I had to learn how to swim Freestyle. An instructional book was purchased, many videos were watched online, and of course I went out and got myself a fancy Speedo swim suit, a pair of goggles, and a swim cap. After all, that was what the people in the videos were wearing. Since I always felt pretty comfortable in the water, never had any issues with diving or breast-stroking longer distances, I figured it wouldn't be so hard to learn how to do the Freestyle stroke. Before I hit the pool on my first training day I looked up three specific exercises that I was going to do that were supposed to get me used to the stroke. My plan was to start off with one part of the technique and add more and more components until I had it down before starting actually attempting to swim longer distances. I had read that a good command of the technique is key to achieving speed and distance goals later.

I felt very fancy getting into the water at the local community pool with my gear on (btw: the swim suit colors match the bike). That fancy feeling didn't last for so long. Doing the individual moves was pretty easy and came natural to me, but whenever I tried to put it all together and attempted to swim a whole lap I was totally spent. I was gasping for air and felt  incredibly slow. After about one hour I left the pool and was completely demoralized. I couldn't fathom being able to be swimming any type of distance that way. Although I know that professional coaching would be a tremendous help with my biking and running, I knew that the swimming would be going nowhere without a trainer. Again, I went online but this time I didn't look up "how-to-videos" but personal trainers that would help me with my swimming. I found a coach who is a triathlete himself and he offered to meet on a Sunday morning at 8:30 for an evaluation of my capabilities. I was honest with him and told him that my Freestyle stroke at that point resembled a paddling dog in the water but he was cool about it and said that he has seen a lot and wasn't going to be shocked very easily. So we met up and he made me swim a couple of laps to see where we would be starting. Of course this guy looks insanely muscular and fit and when he moves his pinky-finger ten muscles twitch and show all over his body. Needless to say I felt pretty awkward performing my Chihuahua-Freestyle in front of him... I don't know if he was just being nice or if he was honest but he said that my swim didn't actually look so bad and he started coaching me by giving me one movement to focus on and then swim a lap with that move in mind. I have since had two lessons and will have three more consecutive meetings with him. After this initial intensive coaching phase he suggested a check-up meeting here and there until I will actually be racing next year. So far, these two tiny meetings have made a world of difference. I cannot believe what an impact it had to have him evaluate and coach me! I have since completed a 1,25 km (0.8 miles) Freestyle swim (remember: I initially was barely swimming two laps!) and I feel confident about what I am doing. Of course I am far from perfect but I know what problems to tackle and how to go about it. It's unbelievable and in my early stages of this whole endeavor gives me confidence that I can improve my performance in all disciplines. The work with a coach in this particular area also shows me that it will probably be a good investment to incorporate professionally supervised training units for all three disciplines. It's so easy to spend money on gear and gadgets while in many cases just a few hours with a coach would be 1000 times more beneficial!

Goals

By now you know that I want to participate in a triathlon next summer. I figured that I should specify what events I want to do. This list might be expanded but in posting it here, I am also trying to hold myself just a little bit more accountable for what I am trying to accomplish!

1. 5,5k run this upcoming Thursday. The run is going to be my first "official" race! Am very excited! Anything under 0:40 minutes will be a good result for me.
2. A half marathon next spring.
3. A sprint distance triathlon just to get a feel for competing in a Tri.
4. Participating in a Olympic distance triathlon in early July 2012.
5. If that goes well and I didn't break my leg by that time and I find that I enjoy the sport, I would like to do one more Olympic distance race later in the season.

Now it's official. I better get going...

Bike Anxiety

One of the first major investments I made after deciding to pick up triathlon training was a road bike. In fact, this is the first bike I ever bought since the ones I had before were city cruisers that I got from my parents as a child or that were somehow passed on to me. It was pretty exiting to go to the bike store and tell the guy that I wanted to do a triathlon but figured I would start cycling on a road bike since they are cheaper than the actual tri-bikes and I didn't know if I was going to stick with the sport. After the guy measured me an told me about the different sizes of bikes I ended up purchasing a basic road bike from the German company Cube. It is in fact a "Cube Aerial" with an aluminum frame.  Additional purchases that day were a bike helmet, pedals, spare tubes, a pump, bottle holders and bottles, a bib and bike pants,  and after my first ride on the bike a saddle that would allow my sit bones to actually fit on it. The funny thing is that the saddle is more like a mountain bike/touring model but it's really comfortable and I figured that for somebody like me who is just learning to handle a road bike it's not going to have any negative effects as far as speed and performance goes. So here I go, all proud of my new bike and ready to ride. Well... what I've since figured out is that I am uncomfortable riding the bike around the many other bikers out there. I mean the guys (I rarely see other women) that just look so professional in their gear and on their crazy bikes. I always feel very intimidated like I don't belong out on the road with them. I am really still learning the basics such as properly shifting my gears and I don't wear the clip-on-pedal-shoes yet. The fastest I ever went on the bike were 34kmh (21mph) and it makes me feel anxious and awkward to be out there. It's not actually a fear of riding the bike itself, it's more of a fear of making a total idiot of myself pretending to be road biking... I have talked to people about it and everybody said that I shouldn't worry about it but somehow I can't help myself but feel a little lost on the bike. Although I am not a swimmer and runner either it just feels more natural to be in the pool and the park. A big difference is that I can actually see what the other people around me are doing since they are not just passing by me in lightning speed which gives me more of a perspective on their and my abilities. This bike anxiety is not going to stop me from learning to handle and race my bike but so far it makes the riding the hardest part of my triathlon experience. I will keep you posted on my progress and hopefully will be able to overcome this unique condition!