I’ve been really busy with a couple of freelance projects, two of which drop, separately, on Monday (you can bet I’ll be plugging them then) and also with my Ironman training. It’s worked out oddly well to not have a full-time job* while I’ve been spending all these hours training (I mean, it wouldn’t have been terrible to have an understanding full-time job, that let me take off all this time, but c’est la vie).
The Paris trip juked around with my training schedule, but not too bad—I’m in a section of the training where we’re focussing on each of the three sports** for a week and I just switched it around to focus on the run in Paris, since that was something I could bring all my gear for. I missed a couple of short swims and bikes, but I got in several nice runs down along the Seine and hit the long-run on the weekend by doing 13 miles out along the Promenade plantée and through a tiny corner of the Bois de Vincennes (a route I got from a NY Times article, of all things).
When we got back, it was supposed to be a swim-concentrated week, but I had fresh tattoos, so I thought it would be smart to wait a few days and so I swapped things around again and did a bike week, which I finished off with the LATE Ride. It might not have been the perfect training ride, but I rode it pretty hard (a group of about 10 of us even got lost together, because we were ahead of the general pack and volunteers and so we missed a turn and had to back-track about a mile). And I think it was good practice in continuing to push even when you’re tired, especially around 3 am as I headed home from downtown.
So this week was finally swim week. Today I did a fun variation on the usual training: a reverse-triathlon. You all may remember my important safety video:
What Order is the Triathlon in, Anyway?.
Today I ran then biked then swam (a little over Sprint triathlon distance for each). I am happy to report that I did not drown.
Tomorrow I swim the full Ironman for the first time. Ever. I know I can do it, but it’s a little daunting. Just a little. But hey, I don’t have to bike 112 miles after my workout tomorrow, so what am I complaining about?
* I continue to be available for freelance web work, video editing, all sorts of IT, acting & hosting, voiceover work, et cinema, et cinema?
** Erika Hall on the business law/endurance sports podcast Running from the Law delightfully said (and I’m going to have to paraphrase here, because I can’t remember what episode it was in): “Triathletes get to be insufferable about three sports.”
