Team in Training on 11 alive news

TEAM IN TRAINING NEWS STORY

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inspiration

met our honorary hero, today - Fiona. Fiona is a six year old girl who was diagnosed with leukemia at the age of 2 and completed her treatment in 2007, and is now in remission.

Fiona is a beautiful, young girl with a huge glowing smile fully deserving of her wonderful childhood - and it is thanks to what is done with Team in Training; train to raise money to help children like Fiona.  

Fiona along with her mother and sister were  at training today, cheering the TEAM on as we cycled and ran by. enough to bring goosebumps to your skin & tears to your eyes. your thighs may be screaming, your heart beating out of your chest - but it is nothing compared to what Fiona endured & conquered at a young age. strength.

lets work to ensure no one needs to go through this terrible disease again.

this can be done - this is done.  just TRI

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first cycle

20 miles - not too bad the first time out, and only one spill. beautiful evening, high humidity, ate a few bugs. revitalizing, and for a cause.

interesting though, apparently the 42 mile cycling component of the triathlon is estimated to take about 1.5 hours - so why did my 20 miles take 1.20 hours. looks like we'll need to work towards some speed.

brick training tomorrow, 15 mile cycle and 2 mile run. as for "brick" - the training is adornily called that as a description of how your legs feel for the first 1/2 mile of running after you get off from your cycling. nice.

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a little learning about team in training

for those of you who are interested in what i am doing - or how team in training works, here is a link that you may enjoy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C93dtMl27rQ 

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success

found one, a bike. searched high and low through the weekend and decided. the first bike seen, the second test rode, and after many other rides on other bikes, and other bike shops, the blue competition cycle was the clear winner. it was the winner the second it was ridden - super smooth, aggressive positioning, amazing kit...but of course as a consumer, you are told to shop around, and came back to this guy. the RC4. a lot of time will be spent together over the next few months, so i wanted it to be me and the bike, not me ON the bike, big difference and all accomplished.

so excited.

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TRI-ing to find the right bike

so many bikes, so many needs, so many wants, so many solutions. options. they are funny aren't they. and there is always a better one, and option to trump all options. there is a lot of truth in the saying that too many options can paralyze you - can cause you to make no decision at all due to the overwhelming amount of options. true.

lets lay this out shall we. suddenly goals are needed to be set, committed to all in the effort to decide on a bike. what level am i? what are my goals with this bike? how will i use this bike? will i grow out of this bike too soon and have to upgrade, and be stuck with a bike that i can't use in a couple of months? seriously - just give me a bike. i will ride it, and will continue to challenge myself in competition; that is just my nature.

well, training for a TRI is certainly something that will cause a desire for a comfortable, lightweight bike that has no trace of vibration against your joints for the long rides. so there we go, that narrows it down to an overall carbon fiber bike. great. these bikes, if they were rated on the dollar signs in the restaurant business, would be a $$$$$. not sure that option weighs well on both sides of the spectrum.

next - aluminum frame bike with carbon fiber fork and seat post. Ok. more in the $$$, getting better.

Lets TRI - off to the bike shop.

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TRI-ing to fundraise. have you donated, yet?

aside from the intense training that is involved with this triathlon, fundraising for the TEAM IN TRAINING's cause is just as important. we train to save lives, to raise money to help to stop blood cancers such as leukemia and its related cancers, and improve the quality of life for patients and their families. team in training is part of the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, and has trained over 380,000 people, and over 40,000 participants nationwide to successfully accomplish both there personal goals to do endurance sports, but also to accomplish the fundraising goals we are tasked with as being part of the TEAM.

here is the link to my personal fundraising page - every mile, every dollar counts towards helping to save lives. help the most important part of the TEAM - the patients we are training for.

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to breathe or not to breathe?

how exactly did this happen?

i suppose it is like when you have not played tennis for a while, and you remember how you USED to play. you are on the court, you envision the shot you want to make (and used to make in college, although it has been a LONG time) and you go, you swing, you look across the court hoping to hit that perfect corner shot you saw in your head, and the ball seems to have magically disappeared. apparently the moon is where you were aiming and our mind just did not make that connection to go for the corner. or maybe it was the racket - so lets take a look shall we. no, nothing wrong there. hopefully that mom walking her child a mile down the road won't mind being bonked on the head with a tennis ball falling from the sky.

really though, i competed in sprint swimming in high school and did really well. yes, high school - a very long time ago (and lets not go into years). but again, that is how i remember my swimming. strong, smooth, powerful, soothing... - not gasping for air, wondering when to take a breath, and thinking how i can get across 50 meters free style without taking a break.

it starts out so good. one lap is 50 meters. smooth, great stroke, good breathing. something happens at that 25 meter mark when the lungs suddenly go from i am good, i can do this, to all out panic mode like air has not been provided for hours. can i breathe every stroke - everyother stroke, how many miles, again? when and how did this suddenly become so difficult?

slightly concerned. so lets do the math. the swim part of the triathlon is 1.5 miles. so 1 mile is 1609.344 meters. that means the swim is roughly 2414.016. great. that is just 49 laps. pause. i am not sure that made me feel more confident.

lets just choose to ignore the math, and listen to the trainer you can do this.

it is interesting, too - how much you rely on breathing. yes, silly i know. but not just to survive, oxygen, etc., but for mental focus and clarity - for relaxation, for strength. during running, cycling, weight training, yoga - breathing is rhythmic, aids in relaxation , feeds the muscles so they can work. swimming will just need to be worked through a bit. it is just the first week, after all.

was the seasickness mentioned that ensued after the practice - and veered its head upon the ride home. really - seasickness from swimming. apparently it is similar to vertigo - just an imbalance in the nervous system with something new. that too will pass.

i sail in 20 knot winds, and 6 ' swells - no seasickness...i swim in an indoor pool- seasickness. who knew.

slight concern, but strong dedication.

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TRI

received the training schedule today. 6 days on, 1 day off. endurance it is, and endurance it will be for the next 4 months. phew.


sore and slightly creeky from the 4.39 run, yesterday -but up and ready to go. off to the stadiums it is. 3 miles to go.


it is always so funny how your body just does not want to move, and you are so tired you just can't image the physical activity at that moment. but the body is really an amazing thing. it is not meant to be tired and sedentary, it wants to move, be active, be awake. it is realized as a result of pushing past that exhaustion that it is recognized how good it feels to have done that. the muscles are no longer sore, but limber and ready for the next lap. it is just in knowing that, that you can mentally get through those first few tiresome laps, to attain those energized ones.


so glad i did.


tomorrow is the first swim practice in chamblee. 7:30-9:30 pm. phew.


commitment.


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just TRI

a TRIer in training.

this has been in the back of mind for some time now. a triathlon - how cool would that be, really. the thought would come forward, then go to the back burner, but never left completely. recently i have been reintroduced to team in training and there the idea comes again - triathlon. now the idea is not just staying in my mind, but i am actually materializing it by talking about it, inquiring about it, researching...learning about the different tri's that i could participate in.

so here we go, saturday morning and off to the first trial run of the group training session for team in training. the group is great, so friendly - all working towards a personal goal that is two fold, to gain the accomplishments of training for endurance sports; but more importantly to raise money for the leukemia lymphoma society to save lives. click here to donate: pages.teamintraining.org/ga/tugtri09/cahumada

we had motivational talks, group training breakouts with the various groups - the triathletes, the marathoners, and the cyclists. Then we were off for our run. There were maps for 1-4 milers. i was put with the group of the 10 minute milers or less, and thought - well, i guess i will do 2 miles and turn around, later to find out my group was running the 4. Ok - i am not going to be the one to turn around. so we made a wrong turn on the 4 miler and ended up doing 4.39. ouch.

needless to say, i signed up feeling on top of the world, bending over to sign my forms, hamstrings screaming from the hill in the last part of the run. then the question on the forms asked - what are you training for, and there it was - in writing THE TUGALOO OLYMPIC DISTANCE TRIATHLON, and i checked it off. it is official.

0f course there were some smaller ones, the sprit triathlons they are called - but why consider those when you know they have a big brother called the olympic distance, the younger brother to the ironman.

on top of the world.

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