5k HR Test

I completed base training block #1 with a 5K HR Test. The week leading up to it, Dan and I were discussing whether or not my fragile and delicate legs (my injury) would be able to withstand that kind of running, and although I agreed to it, I was terrified. Yes, I had been putting a lot of time and effort into my physical therapy, but it doesn't mean I'm totally confident that it will hold. During my Christmas holiday I was doing PT and yoga nearly twice a day, also praying that my knee would hold out.

Come Sunday morning, I was up at 6:45, although we weren't running until 8am. I did some PT and stretches, drank half a bottle of Salted Caramel Infinit, ate some gluten free pretzels and two clementines. I had no idea what to eat before running because in the two weeks leading up to it, I hadn't identified anything that was compatible with my GI tract.

At 8am, Julie and I left my parents house and began my ZR plod warmup. If you don't know what a plod is, it's the speed of a walk but you look like you are running. Julie walked beside me because she hadn't left her pride at the door. We got to the service road where we were going to start our run and I did a few 100meter strides to get warmed up, then we were off.

Julie held my watch the whole time and didn't tell me anything about my pace or my HR, but I was able to hear the bing of my Garmin, alerting me to when I reached new mile markers.

Mile 1: 7:50, Average HR: 178
Julie kept telling me to slow down. It'd been the first time I ran that fast and smooth since before my injury and it felt good, even though Julie kept telling me to slow down. I then found out my first quarter of a mile was about a 6:00/mile pace. It was great having Julie run beside me, to hold my watch and keep me motivated. If I was the one holding my watch, my eyes would be on it non-stop and that wouldn't have ended well. I heard the noise of my Garmin, notifying me it had been one mile, well 2.1 to go!

Mile 2: 8:52, Average HR: 187
Well, I'd describe that second mile as the third 50 of a 200 freestyle. You're just thinking "when is this going to be done?" Then I thought, shoot, I would still have 12 miles at this point left in my race, glad it's several months away. Julie kept telling me that my heart rate was good and my goal time was still going to be shattered. I remember asking Julie what pace this would be for her, when she would ever run whatever pace I was holding. She told me, super easy run on a 100 degree day. Awesome, thanks Julie.

Mile 3: 9:13, Average HR: 190
As seen by my pacing, I lack in that department, but it wasn't about my pacing, it was about my HR. It hurt like hell, that last mile. Julie was singing to me, and saying motivational things to me, and yelling at me when my HR dropped. I don't think I could've done that last mile without her. At about the 20:00 mark, my knee started getting uncomfortable but Julie told me to focus on other things, like running hard between the telephone poles and focusing on my breathing. However, we rounded the bend and I heard her say something about when we get to the tennis courts we're in the home stretch. I kicked hard because I thought when I reached the tennis courts I'd be done, I was wrong. So I exerted all my remaining energy, and Julie let me know I still had half a mile left. She told me to count down from 20 and when I got to 0, count again and she would tell me how many more times I needed to say that. After about 5 times of counting backwards, she told me to sprint to the light pole. I sprinted, she lied and said the next one, I sprinted, she lied and said the next one and finally I was done.

Total Time: 26:42, Average HR: 186 
https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/993845240
I learned a lot about myself during this 5K. Yes, it was ugly but it was my first hard effort in nearly nine months. It was the first time that I felt like I could do a half marathon, even though I died after 3.1 miles. I tried to cool down and I couldn't, so I just walked home and walked the dog around the block. Good things that came from it was the confidence of my knee, defined run zones, hope that I can get back to running and motivation to continue trusting the process that Dan creates.

From "Swimmer" to "Triathlete"

I have defined myself as a swimmer since I was six; and it was then when I began swimming competitively year round. I have qualified for Junior Olympics, swam in the Ohio State Championships three years in a row in high school, was a four year letter winner in both high school and college, qualified for nationals on a relay, broke four masters records at a meet this year, and still continue my journey in masters swimming. The thing about my swimming career though, which frustrated every single one of my coaches was that I was/am a practice swimmer. For those of you who don't know what that is; it's a swimmer who pulls all their best times in practice and when competition comes, I couldn't pull those times. It wasn't for lack of competitiveness, it was mental, I think, but I couldn't get around it. Test sets were where I shined, whether be 6x100s on 10:00 off the block, broken 200s off the block or holding your best average on 500s, I was your girl to pull out spectacular times, and times that were 90% faster than my meet times. Not only am I a practice swimmer, I am also the most consistent swimmer. If you need someone to swim a 2:00.00 in the 200 free, I'm your girl. If you need someone to hold 1:08s for a mile, I'm your girl. I'd pull the same times over and over again, guess it's better than someone who fluctuates with times so much. Starts are my thing and turns are my weakness, I prefer endurance workouts than speed workouts and the way I feel in the water is like no other. I could have had the worst day possible and the instant I get into the pool, everything gets better and I instantly feel at home.

The hard thing for me becomes the moment when you realize your goals and who you define yourself as are two different things. I'm a swimmer and this season I was an aquabiker, but when I introduced myself to people I said I was a triathlete, but a swimmer first. Always a swimmer first. My past as a "swimmer" will always still be there, and my swimming ability won't go away, it will make me stand out as I progress into the new goals in my athletic career, which requires me to define myself as a triathlete. 

Most triathletes weakest sport is the swim, that's where I take control and start the race off strong. However, the swim portion of the triathlon sets the stage for the rest of the race. If you go out too strong, you risk "blowing up" in the bike or run, but if you go out too slow, you risk not being able to come back. Dr. Amanda Stevens is a very successful and well decorated triathlete. For her, the swim is easy, she has a background in swimming. She mentions what swimmers bring to the sport of triathlon and states, "Luckily for us swimmers, from a technical standpoint, swimming is the hardest of the three sports to learn," Stevens said. "Swimmers develop so many success skills growing up in the pool: hard work, dedication, passion, desire for success, competitiveness, goal-setting, time management and self-discipline."

I think swimming is one of the sports that requires the most commitment and insanity. It's one of the sports that provides the most skills, such as Dr. Stevens stated, but triathlon is similar in that realm. You work as hard as a swimmer, but instead of having just the swim, dryland and weight training, you have the swim, the bike, the run, the rehab, the stretching, and the weight training. You get up before the crack of dawn, just like a swimmer, and you practice then go to work, then you come home and you train more. It takes the commitment and insanity that I've had in my life since I was six. Although I'm moving on from the title of swimmer, I'm still holding on to all the other things that make up a swimmer. I am still apart of a team, I still have a coach, I still workout many hours a week, I still challenge my body and my mind, and I am still a competitive, dedicated, passionate, hardworking, goal-setting athlete who desires success and improvement, what more could you ask for?

Maybe it's a good thing, because if you caught it above, I like starts, not turns and I like endurance, not sprints. I dislike the two things that aren't present in triathlons. Open water was something I was terrified of, now it's something I love; although I still freak out when I can see the bottom, and freak out when I can't see the bottom. Open water offers the endurance swimmer, like me, to eliminate the one thing that brought her down in races....the turn. With the elimination of flip turns, I can swim, keep swimming, and keep going with knowing I'm not losing to the person next to me because my turns suck, I'm losing to them because they're better than me.

I will always be a swimmer. But I will be a triathlete who defined herself as a swimmer because of her successful career in the pool. I will still buy swimsuits and goggles and love watching the PanAms, Duel in the Pool and the summer olympics because I still love the pool. I am a triathlete and I have my own goals which may, or may not, involve being a force to be reckoned with in the water, all the while being able to control that so I can be a force to be reckoned with on the bike and run. 

I am a triathlete. 

Patience

When I think patience, I think of the kids who I teach who test me. I think of the kids, in and out of the pool, who bring a huge smile to my face for learning and doing better. I think of the amount of patience I must have to continue to teach the little ones, after nearly ten years, how to swim even though it's hard. Now, this patience, doesn't carry over to every aspect of my life and I'm not afraid to admit that. It's something I continue to grow and be challenged with but everyone has struggles.

Although I have been a competitive swimmer my whole life, patience isn't something that came easily in my career. For example, the 200 freestyle. I began swimming this event my sophomore year of high school and the first time I ever swam it was a 2:10. Pretty bad, but within that year, I made my way to a 2:00:00. Junior year of high school: 2:00:00. Senior year of high school: 2:00:00. Freshman thru half of senior year: 2:00:00. Now, when I continuously saw those numbers up on the scoreboard, I was frustrated beyond belief. I was training harder, stronger, faster, further than I had ever done in the past and I couldn't break that barrier. I became everything but patient. I was agitated that no matter how much work I put in, I couldn't break it. I was frustrated that my body couldn't bring home that last 50. I was unwilling to think of the race in any other way than what I had in the past. And what do all of these things cultivate? Impatience. The frustration, the agitation, the unwillingness led to tears after tears of disappointment when I touched the wall, looked up and saw another stupid 2 followed by four zeros.

Could I have really been that unlucky, or did I just lack the patience of the sport to develop into the swimmer my coach always knew I could be? Maybe it was a little of both, but when conferences came around, my coach put me as the anchor on the 800 free relay. I'd never been the anchor, because the anchor is for your best swimmer. The swimmer who can bring victory home. I was always number two or number three...the weakest of the relay but still a solid swimmer. Knowing that my coach, and me team believed in me, believed that I could bring a W home for the team was the biggest confidence booster ever. It made me realize that this race had become such a mental game. I lacked the patience to grow and alter my mind into believing I could break that barrier. Instead, I believed I was a 2:00:00 swimmer. I stepped up on the block and knew I had a three second lead over our rivals, the sure winner of conferences that year and I thought about my journey in this event. Patience. Having patience both mentally and physically will lead to success. I not only dropped five seconds in that race, I also touched out the swimmer next to me, giving us our first win of conferences, and leading to our tenth consecutive MIAA Conference Championship win.

The 200 free remains a great example in my life of how I have to trust the process and have patience that things will improve and be great. Which makes this next part quite ironic. I don't know how Dan puts up with me sometimes, but I am so thankful he does. That man must have patience built up like titanium because I challenge him and I put up a fight and I don't have patience in seeing the end product which he is all about. I'm part self taught, part coached and part observed from my sister in the world of triathlon. I haven't ever had the 100% guidance of a coach and people don't realize that.

A lot of people think I have been in the sport for a long time. The truth: I've been around the sport for a long time. This season was supposed to be my FIRST EVER Olympic distance triathlon. Heck, it was going to be my first ever over sprint distance triathlon. I've been a swimmer my whole life, I went on endurance rides with my dad during the weekends and I barely made it through running. I coached my sister through transitions, panicked in open water and dreaded the run. I've seen so many races and having seen that has amplified my want and my drive to be a triathlete. I'm driven and I'm a competitor and I want to be be great, which tests my patience.

Dan asks me to leave my pride at the door before I go out and do workouts. I'm used to running 7:15-8:00 minute/mile and used to riding 18-21mph, but Dan's process isn't about those numbers. It's about the numbers of your heart and creating those zones and following them to a T. It's so so so hard to slow down and run so much slower than I would like but Dan knows his stuff. I wasn't very good at slow running and Dan let me know in a way that made me understand it real quick and I'm trying very hard now. It's hard to switch from one view to a totally different view of how to train but I know that I have to trust the process and have patience in getting better. Coming off an injury and a great aqua bike season are two conflicting things. I want to train hard to be better than I was this season, but I can't push too hard to re-injure myself. Patience, Margaret, things will pick up and get better. When when you're training 27 hours a week, you may wish you were in this stage again.

Dan tells me leave my pride, trust the process, do the workouts and you'll see results. It's all about having patience. I'm optimistic that my patience will grow and I'll see those results this season. As the words of Dan: "A little less, Giddy Up!"