First, thank you so much for the support on my swimming SKILZ yesterday! Where some might not be bothered, I find it rather nerve wracking to post a video of myself scantily clad, doing something that I’m not comfortable doing.
(perv.)
So, I know that I still have a lot of work to do on my swimming, but I’m pretty confident that I will be able to improve both my form and endurance if I just keep practicing 3 times per week. That equates to 20 more swims before my first TRI, so I think I should be good by then. If not, at least I know how to do the back crawl.
The whole concept of having to train for three events (swim, bike, run) at the same time was not lost in the translation for me when I signed up for this whole ‘triathlon’ business. I have always owned the fact that I was going to have to “know” all three events, but the biking and running don’t have me nervous. The swimming is another story.
I’ve actually been kind of excited about the biking and running events; and I haven’t been excited about running for a very long time. However, after spending most of the previous 2 years training for race after race after race, and running longer distances each time, I was finding this strange comfort in the fact that for my triathlons, “I only have to run 3 miles”.
Shortly, I came to the realization that I have that blasted 15K Boilermaker Road Race sandwiched between my two triathlons, which means that I need to be able to run (at least) 9 miles before July 11th.
p.s…who is the nimrod that made this race schedule of mine?
I’d be lying if I told you that I’m excited about training for and running a 15K. However, nothing seems very far anymore, because I compare every running distance to that damn marathon that I did last October. In the face of 26.2 miles, 9 miles seems like a walk in the park. Every single run that I’ve done since that fateful day in October has been weighed against my marathon. Strangely, nothing ever seems even a fraction as bad.
p.s…I’ll probably compare child birth to my marathon. And child birth will seem better.
I began running on a Tuesday/Thursday schedule last week. On Tuesday, I tolerated it. By Thursday, I was bored out of my mind.
This Tuesday, I decided to take matters into my own hands. I love music, and I always run with my iPod, but I was running with a “New Run” playlist that was no longer “New”, nor did it make me want to “Run”.
On Thursday, I ran with the “New and Improved Run” playlist, and I didn’t want to get off of the treadmill. It reminded me of how important it is for me to stay excited about running, and how music actually helps me feel that way.
In my opinion, this playlist is something to get excited about. It’s diverse. It’s quirky. It’s fun. And it made me run fast!
“Sober”-Pink
“Sweet Dreams (Hot Remix)”-Eurythmics
“Seven Nation Army”-White Stripes
“Rock This Party (Everybody Dance Now)”-Boyz Boyz
“Breed”-Nirvana
“Pump It”-Black Eyed Peas
“Take Your Shirt Off”-T Pain (I might have said “Take your mothaf@c%in shirt off!” out loud…while running…on the treadmill”)
“Tambourine”-Eve
“Scenario”-A Tribe Called Quest
“Rape Me”-Nirvana
“Unbelievable”-EMF
“Imma Be”-Black Eyed Peas
“In Bloom”-Nirvana
“Universal Mind Control”-Common
“International Player”-Andre 3000
“Ice Ice Baby”-Vanilla Ice
“Oh Sherrie”-Steve Perry
This playlist is between 30-40 minutes, so it was great for my 3 mile treadmill run. You should try it…but make sure there is nobody around, because it’s difficult to NOT rap along with T-Pain.
What are your favorite songs to run with?
