Week 1: Jumping back into the water (literally)

I have so much new information floating about in my head from the past few days. (The TNT Kick-Off was on Saturday and succeeded in getting me even more excited to start training than I already was.) There are 119 people on the Lifetime Fitness Triathlon team. I don't know what kind of numbers I expected for the team but I didn't think they were going to be that high.

All of the teams combined are expected to raise over $500,000 for LLS. And even better news than that, the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (with our help) has said by 2015 the majority of patients with blood cancers will be cured or able to manage their cancer and live their lives normally. Today, there's an average of 50% survival rate for those with blood cancers.

First day of team training:
Last night was our first team swim. This is what our main workout looked like:

3 x 100 15 sec rest
2 x 150 15 sec rest
1 x 200 1 minute rest
2 x 150 15 sec rest
3 x 100 15 sec rest

We also did some drills (swim like a knife!) to work on technique. (I need to work on keeping my stroke count low.) For my first day back in the pool, and after swiming 1600 yrds (with warm-up and drills for those of you counting), I'm hardly feeling it.

I didn't realize how much I missed swimming. I hadn't been in the water for a real work out like that since sophomore year in high school (eight years ago now...?). You get to be with yourself underwater - with your thoughts or your own soundtrack - without losing count as to where you are in the swim set.

I need to remind myself that this isn't a race (yet). At the same time, though, I want to push myself and challenge myself in all three events (I think that running after swimming and biking will be a challege in itself but I'll jump that hurdle when I get there).

I asked my dad once about how he gets through these endurance events and training for them when he's in pain (because, let's face it - the average person does not find running 26.6 miles fun). He said he knows it's a temporary pain and minor compared to the pain for those going through treatment. He'll hurt for a day but they have weeks, months, and maybe years of pain ahead of them. So anytime I get tired or hurt in this process I'll think of Tony and of Eric (the young boy who is our honored teammate) and remember why I'm doing this.

So I guess that's all for now. Tonight is my first bike training (Spinning at Bally's!!) so we'll see if I'm able to walk tomorrow.

Namaste


For more information about Team in Training please visit http://www.teamintraining.org/ or to donate visit http://www.active.com/donate/tntmn/evanelson