Triathlon Training: Week 5

Yeah, I'm a bit behind on the training update. Blame it on me battling allergies. They really knocked the life out of me the last few days.

Let's see, what'd I do during Week 5?

Monday: 1,400 yard swim
Tuesday: 3.5 mile run followed by a 4.5 mile bike
Wednesday: 10.5 mile bike
Thursday: Rest
Friday: Rest
Saturday: 13.5 mile bike
Sunday: Rest due to allergies

Not the best week, but also not the worst week. I think I need to start running more. I'm OK with just the one weekly swim because I think the swimming's going OK, but I really feel like I need to log some more running miles.

And just a warning, Week 6? It's scary. And not in a good way.

Gulp.

Even if I had a road map, I was still Lost

I'm not a big TV watcher.

My Must See TV Schedule? It consists of two shows. Count 'em. Two. Grey's Anatomy and 24. Not hard to remember. And this season? It was only one show since 24 never even started due to the writer's strike.

I used to watch more TV, but then I realized there were so many other things that I could be doing with my time. Things I enjoyed. So I dropped a few shows. One of them was Lost.

I used to watch it religiously. But then they did a crazy thing and went on something like a three-month break mid-season last year. And I was confused about what was happening on the island. So I decided to give up my weekly dose of Lost.

But now? I've found myself flipping through the channels and stopping when I get to an episode of Lost. And I find myself wanting to watch it. But I've missed so many episodes, if I wasn't confused before, I'm definitely confused now. And if I wanted to start watching it again? Realistically, I'd probably have to go back to the beginning.

Then I remember. It's summer now. I have a little bit more time. And the episodes? All four seasons of them are available online. So I could technically catch up in time for the new season to start in the fall. And then it would be like I never left the island.

So I'm toying with it. I printed out an episode guide tonight so that I can make sure I'm watching the episodes in the right order. I'm not aiming to finish watching all four seasons in the next two weeks or anything. I'm thinking a few episodes a week might be doable.

Because I never stopped watching the show because it stunk. I stopped watching it because it took a really really long break. And I got confused. And forgot what was happening and was just too darn lazy to refresh my memory.

My memory's calling for a refreshment though. And I think Lost just might be what I need to keep me occupied through parts of this summer.

The sneezes turned into sniffles. And I couldn't breathe.

Other than the month of December, which I don't remember due to the massive head issues I dealt with, I went the entire winter without getting sick.

No flu. No cold. No strep throat.

Just headaches and a minor runny nose that never really went away.

I was happy.

But now that it's the end of May? Now I'm sick.

Stuffy nose. Funky feeling ears. Runny nose. Headaches. A barking, phlegmy cough. All the signs of allergies. Which I could deal with since it's that time of year and they usually go away in a few days.

But this time? It actually got worse after a few days. And since my doctors tell me I have very little immune system, I ended up going to the doctor today. Just in case. And what'd I learn? It's all viral. And I'll just have to dope myself up on Sudafed and cross my fingers it all goes away soon. Because being sick stinks to begin with. But being sick at the end of May, when the weather's finally getting nice? That really bites.

There's been a change in plans

Mental note to self:

Unless you're carrying a map with you, it's probably not the best idea to make changes to your bike ride mid-route. Because it'll tack on miles. And in most cases, that's not a bad thing, but today? It probably wasn't the smartest idea.

Being the weekend reporter, I wasn't able to fully enjoy the absolutely beautiful Saturday we had here. I had some work-related stuff to do early today, but then I had a chunk of time to myself. And I was determined to take advantage of it.

So after finishing up the work stuff, I headed home, changed clothes and set off for a bike ride. I was only planning on going 8 to 10 miles, since I had limited time and I would have to sneak in a shower and pack up the stuff I'll need for my trip to my parents' house, where I'll enjoy the rest of the weekend.

I set off. And the ride was going good. And then I got stopped by a train. And I started thinking, about a road that I knew of that I could probably hook up with. Now, I've never actually been on this road, but I figured it must eventually come out at an intersection tha'ts kind of by my apartment. So when the train passed, instead of turning right, I decided to go straight to the road.

Guess what. The road? There was no hooking up. Instead I was faced with a big "Dead End" sign. Which meant I had to backtrack and take an alternate route. One that was about 5 miles longer than I initially planned on biking.

While I was biking those extra miles I was thinking. And I should have realized from the beginning there would be no hooking up since that would require crossing an AIRPORT RUNWAY.

Yeah, I kind of forgot about the whole airport thing. Not quite sure how I could forget about the airport. That I live by. And drive by. Everyday.

Like I said, changing up the pre-planned bike route in mid-route? Probably not the smartest thing today. Although I did manage to finish the 13.5 miles in an hour and still have enough time to shower, pack and eat dinner before heading back into work. On time.

The green flag drops and they're off!

There was dust. And fencing was torn down. At times the cars were so loud you could barely hear yourself think. And by the end of the night, it was so cold you could see your breath.

Welcome to the beginning of race season at WIR.

Now, I admit, I'm not a huge race fan. Granted, I developed an appreciation for it during my stint as a sports reporter in Indiana, where if you would be tarred and feathered if NASCAR didn't appear on some page of each day's sports section.

But WIR. That's different. Maybe because I have a connection since my cousin races a limited late model car and my dad works on his pit crew. So Thursday nights at the race track? It's kind of a family affair. The boys down in the pits, the girls up in the stands. And after the last checkered flag is dropped on the Figure 8 race, we all head down to the pits for food, drink and socializing.

It's kind of fun actually.

And last night was the first race of the season. It turned out to be an exciting one too.

I think some of the drivers forgot how to drive during the off season, since the yellow caution flag was pulled out pretty often. My cousin's feature race? The cars didn't even complete an entire lap before a wreck sent one car flying down the track on its hood, resulting in a big pile up and a chunk of the safety fence being taken out. Luckily, no drivers were injured. Just cars. Including my cousin's, who ended up hitting the Styrofoam soft wall with the rear end of his car. Looks like the boys will be busy at the garage this week.

But at least the wreckage happened after my cousin left the rest of the field in the dust and won his semi feature.

The only downside to last night? It was chilly! Since I wasn't originally planning on going to the races (I was going to head out to Waterfest instead with friends), I wasn't properly dressed. I had on a short sleeved T-shirt, jeans and a pair of flip flops. The shirt was an easy problem to fix since I had a hooded sweatshirt sitting at my parents' house. It was the flip flops that caused a headache. I didn't want cold feet and with gas at $4 a gallon, I didn't want to drive home and then back to my parents' house. So I headed out to the store with the intent to get some cheap shoes to wear. Not so easy. But I eventually found some. And my feet stayed toasty warm.

The rest of me? Yeah, I got chilly. But what do you expect when you can see your breath?

It was a fun night thought. And I'll probably make it back up to the track for some more Thursday nights throughout the summer. Because even though I'm not a huge race fan, it's a fun way to spend the evening.

The score's now tied

YUCK!

I swear. Those things I saw flying around in the air on my drive home from work? I thought it was little pieces of cottonwood. Because it's that time of year. And the pieces that I did see up close? Actually were little cotton bits.

So I didn't think I'd have a problem when I headed out for my bike ride.

Needless to say, by the time I got out of my parking lot and on the road I realized I was wrong.

Those weren't pieces of cottonwood.

It was the pesky lake flies. I thought they had left. After all, they've been here for almost two weeks. They're supposed to be dead at this point.

I had good reason to believe they were done for too. Heck, I didn't even see a lake fly yesterday. And today? Today they're back.

And not just a few. SWARMS of those pesky critters. And when you're riding your bike, keeping up a nice 15 mile per hour pace and you run into a cloud of lake flies? Not pretty. It's like little kamikaze bullets hitting you in the face, head, arms, legs and any other body part imaginable.

* shudders *

And riding while looking down at the pavement in an attempt to avoid getting a big ole lake fly in my eye? Probably not the smartest idea. Even if I was wearing my helmet. Because of course they road where the swarms were the nastiest? It's also the busiest road where traffic flies by at 50 miles per hour.

I may have won the battle against the lake flies last week. But I think they won today.

Bikers beware, wind can be scary

I took my run outside today.

It was nice after work. The sun was still shining and it was a decent temperature. So instead of the YMCA, I headed home to throw on some shorts and my running shoes before heading out.

The 3.5 miles I covered? It was the same route I took last week. And actually it wasn't too bad. I only took two short walk breaks. Granted, I'm still slow (I averaged about an 11:30 minute mile), but I happened to look down at my watch when I finished. And I was excited. I finished the 3.5 miles almost two minutes quicker this week. That made me happy and reminds me that 10 minute miles are possible for me again. Someday.

Afterwards I headed out on my bike for a short 4.5 mile bike ride. I didn't really need the bike ride, my training plan wasn't calling for it, but I didn't want my bike to feel neglected. And it was still sunny outside. It was windy, but it was sunny. I can deal with the wind, unless it decides to try to blow me off my bike, which it tried to do midway through the ride today. But I didn't let it. I kept biking on.

Now it's time for a shower. Because I'm still kind of sweaty and gross. And afterwards? I'm debating between settling in with a book, "Public Enemies: America's Greatest Crime Wave and the Birth of the FBI: 1933-1934" or in front of the TV to watch 27 Dresses. I'm not sure what I'll choose yet.

There was a road block in my lane

The swim schedule said two lanes were open for lap swimmers while the other two lanes were for swimming lessons.

But apparently the lesson kids don't care about following the schedule.

I went to the YMCA after work for my Monday night swim session. The training plan told me I was supposed to do 1,350 yards in the pool followed by a 10-minute "transition" bike. I knew the swimming would get done, but the jury was still out on the bike.

So I got in the pool. And things were going swimmingly. I was doing my laps. Swimming up and down the length of the pool. And amazingly, I wasn't losing count where I was. I just kept swimming. Because 1,350 yards? That's a lot of laps - 54 to be exact. And also the farthest distance I've swam so far.

I'm swimming. And swimming. I had a pretty good rhythm going. And it was kind of nice because there was another girl swimming laps next to me, so it gave me some incentive to keep up a good pace. Because I wanted to stay ahead of her.

Pretty soon, I'm touching the wall and turning around and I realize I've hit 1,250 yards. Yeah! Only four more laps to go and I could get out of the pool. Because at this point. I'm starving. I put my head in the water and start my crawl. And I'm almost to the other end of the pool when I notice this little boy swimming in my lane.

What? Where'd he come from? And more importantly, why was he in my lane?

Turns out he's diving for some ring things that he'd thrown in the pool.

I had to stop swimming briefly, just so I didn't swim over the kid. I was eventually able to get to the end of the lane, turn around and swim away from the kid. But by the time I get to the other end of the pool? He's back in my lane, looking for that darn ring again. Apparently there were two rings and he couldn't find the second one. His teacher's on the pool deck, trying to help him find it. Because from what I could understand, he threw it in the wrong lane.

And me? I'm sitting at the end of the pool, with two laps to go before my workout's done. But instead of swimming the last 50 yards? I'm waiting for a little kid to find a lost ring. Grrr.

He eventually fished it out of the pool and got out himself. And I got my lane back. But still. I was in a groove the entire workout until the end, when he decided to throw in a ring in a lane that wasn't even next to where his swimming lessons were taking place!

I know I shouldn't be too upset. In the end, I got my swim in without swimming over the kid. It just reminds me why I like to go to the pool when no swimming lessons are taking place. So stuff like this doesn't happen.