Jackie D. Week One

My First Ironman - The Journey Week 1- starting Monday 18 September 2006

Well I don't know how often I will add to this journal, but week one seems the most logical place to start. My intention is to just record the normal ups and downs that I imagine will happen as I move forward on this journey, a once in a lifetime experience for me....or so I say now. But, maybe as an introduction it is worth back tracking a few months to explain just how I reached this point. I know when I look at other people's logs I want to know just how they started so I can compare to whether it is possible for me.
........Once upon a time......er no perhaps I should save the fairy tale style writing 'til AFTER the race is done and AFTER the expected pain has dulled but the exhiliration hasn't left.
My road to triathlon started in 2002. A few guys at work were egging each other on and trying to get together a works "team" to do the local sprint triathlon. I foolishly said "I'll do it". That was in January and the race was in May. I dusted my old bike off (at least it was a road bike), bought myself some trainers and set myself off on a self-imposed training plan. I think I went swimming twice beforehand to check I could still swim! My aim was to complete it, preferably without walking. Well I did AND I beat the other 3 guys from work (not that that is important except in the pro-woman kind of way). I loved it and kind of got hooked at that stage but only thought of it as an annual one-race type thing.
Then Fred (hubby) got an opportunity to come to USA so we grabbed it and arrived in Rochester and the next year or so was spent house hunting, house furnishing, decorating and settling the kids in etc so it all got left to the side. In fact my bike didn't' arrive for many months on the cargo ship and by that time there was a foot of snow on the ground. I then hurt my knee gardening, ended up having it operated on and that took us up to 2005.
In the autumn of 2005 I decided I needed to lose some weight and as I love food so much decided that exercise would have to be a factor so I joined a masters swimming club and started running...er jogging...er shuffling. I logged everything (still do) and I managed a whole 9 minutes before I had to walk on that first day in October. (OK Mary not sure you really wanted to know that did you!)
OMG it is not even a year and I have signed up for an Ironman...how did that happen?
Well, I'm kind of impulsive and I like challenges and I like pushing myself and I kept reading Mary's website and..and...and in June I asked to meet her and discuss things. The thing is I wanted to know if I am crazy (yes) but timing would be perfect cos kids now at full time school and I can delay going back to work for another year (OK I know I am making many of you sickeningly jealous now) so I have time to train. Well Mary said that time commitment was half the battle so I found myself logged on typing furiously to sign up for Lake Placid 2007 the morning after the race. Too late now , ha ha ha.
....so back to Week 1.
I remember my discussion with Mary, she said that we would start in October and it would be easy at first with about 4 hours a week, concentrating on strength, flexibility etc.... ha ha ha! My first week started this week. Over 8 hours!!!!!!!!!!! NO Mary I am not having a go at you - I love it (so far) and it makes me feel like a real athlete. Perhaps she feels I need that extra little head start ho ho ho. Having met or heard of a few people in the IMLP team I am a little worried that I am the oldest...... but we will see after our first meeting at the end of September.
So after a fantastic Finger Lake race and a light week I was raring to go and hit the gym with a conditioning class on Monday morning.........and haven't been able to move since! Actually it feels good - it means I needed to do it and it means I am getting stronger.
Even if out on the bike today the ability to turn my legs was the limiting factor not my aerobic capacity,
Even if I couldn't raise my arms above my head without creaking and wondered how on earth I was going to swim for an hour (I did)
Even if I wondered how on earth I was going to get through another strength class on Wednesday (I did that too)
I am getting stronger and it is only mid way through week 1.
OK little bit for novices now. This week I have had my first experience with cycling drills. Now some of them make me feel SO POWERFUL and I wondered how I had been pedalling before and surely if I pedal like this in a race I would be world champion. Then again, some of them feel just plain weird. I feel my whole body tense up and it feels like I am trying to lift myself up off the bike and balance like on a unicycle. Not that I have ever ridden a unicycle but it is what I imagine.........a bit like when you say something tastes like dog food or something when you haven't ever tried it.

Sunday 24 September 2006

Well I finally got round to checking whether my old bike will fit my new trainer yesterday. It does, thankfully. Anyway I set it up in the covered porch out the back of the house which you can see from the family room where Fred was being couch potato watching the golf! Well to my surprise once I had set it up and tested it out for a few minutes he jumps up quite enthusiastically and tells me that we can leave it set up out there (hmm, we’ll discuss the temperature later darling hubby!) and that we should get an entertainment system out there (does a TV work at minus F?) and I can cycle whilst he plays darts (hmm, not at me I hope dear and can you play darts with frozen fingers or are you intending to throw them with woolly mittens on?). By the way I kept these thoughts to myself …..for now. I will take the enthusiasm and recognition of my hobby (OK my passion) and who knows he may even be tempted to jump on the bike himself sometime.