Step 1: Find an awesome group to train with, and even better a group that has a coach! Sigh*** I love coaches, they just make me feel so warm and fuzzy on the inside, like everything is going to be ok! I imagine my affinity to "coach" comes from a decade of competitive swimming. I'm thrilled to share my group with all of you (it's not to late to join, all levels welcome) On facebook look up Mommy's in motion/Babe's in motion and the website is http://secondwindconditioning.ca/. I loved when they introduced themselves and then told us that we would be split up in two groups on the first day of training, groupA - been around before groupB- S (squared) - aka. scared shitless
Step 2: Find a bike (and make sure you have a helmet), and get on that bike... NO FEAR!!!! Ok so realistically I can ride a bike, I know how to use the gears, I know most road signals for turning, and I'm not afraid to bike in the bike lanes on the road, I am however nervous as hell to ride around other people. You know the Tour de France epic crashes, well I get antsy when I'm biking with my 6 year old because she could crash into me. I am also irrationally afraid of "curbs", not the big ones, the ones that are only about 2" high, those are the ones that freak me out because I've fallen off my bike trying to get up on one while I was biking. And now I've just learned about another "potential" hazard... Grates!!! Apparently your road bike tires can get caught in it. So right... No Fearrrr!!!suuurrre...
Step 2.1 Buying a bike. Oh lord, will someone just take my money and find me an appropriate bike, and by money I mean like 150$, which apparently you can only find a "ok" bike if you add another "0" to that number. Sheesh. So let me tell you what I've learned from two days of road bike research and shopping. Bike stores want you to buy "their" bikes, new ones of course. And the base model, or entry level model will be about 800-1000$ (but then you still need shoes and clips), these bikes have lower end parts and the bike is mostly made of aluminum (which is heavier than the carbon frame ones). The better version would be about 400$ more and that will get you better components but still not a lighter frame. When you get into the 2K range then you are looking at a carbon frame (which weighs all of 2-3 lbs less). So for an extra thousand dollars you get a bike that is a few lbs lighter. Wow!
I am not buying a new bike, I've scoured kijiji and pinkbike to find something more in my price range (next to nothing) that will suffice for this summer (and possibly next). Again the range for used is basically 100-750$ (that is for an entry level model). I've managed to locate, a bike that is going for 75$, but I'm not sure the seller will sell to me... Hello Kyle! please rsvp to me...sending out my intrawebnet-tellapathy vibes... He has responded once to my reply to his add, but nothing since. Ugghhh I am so impatient. I have actually checked my email 3 times since starting to write this post. I will let you know as soon as I get an actual road bike, it will be very exciting and interesting!
Step 3: Get in the water, so simple and yet still ridiculous. Today is supposed to be my rest day, but at about 8:50, while I was lying down beside Patrick trying to get him to fall asleep, I remembered someone from the training group mentioned that Tansley Woods Rec centre has lap swimming mon-thur from 8:30-9:30. So what the hell, if I decided something on the spur of the moment, then I don't have time to physch myself out, I jumped out of bed, put on my old training suit, stuffed a towel, some underwear, shampoo and goggles in a bag and ran out of the house. The rec centre is about 5 mins from my house, so I made it there by about 9:03, they didn't charge me but told me I could hop in and swim. COOL! free swimming, I need to remember that! So I just walked on deck, stripped off my pants and sweater, grabbed my googles (my hair was in pig tails because I don't have a cap) as a side note, did you know swim caps melt with age. Seriously gross! I walked up to the 'medium speed' lane, but noticed that the slow lane only had one swimmer, so instead of joining a group of 5 swimmers I had my own lane. The thoughts that raced through my mind as I hopped in, dunked and started up a rhythm of strokes.
1- wow I feel good, this isn't that hard, 2- don't forget to kick, don't just drag your legs and 3- WTF... why is my bathing suit nearly falling off!!!! Like we are talking butt billows here, and I'm sure a few times the girls came out, and I tucked them back in during a flip turn. I need a smaller bathing suit, oh great Mark is going to love the next expense to this venture. A suit that fits is pretty important. Even though I had no physical problems swimming 800m (the sprint tri distance is 750m) I was extremely distracted by my suit being too big. It never really occurred to me when I was putting on my suit that I needs to be tight (really tight) When I've worn it before it was tight, which was 6 years ago. I'm about 40lbs lighter now.
So if nothing else, when you buy yourself a bathing suit make sure when you are trying it on, it feel like you are trying to get into something that is way to small, drag is good for training but not good when you want to "feel" the water.
So these are the first few steps of my journey towards a triathlon.
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