The Fast ApproachingTriathlon

I woke up on Sunday morning excited to read Caitlin's blog about her triathlon that was happening on Sunday.  It's weird to feel like I know someone who I have never even met, but after following her triathlon training on her blog for the past few months, I was really excited to her how her race went.   I am happy to report that she did GREAT!

It was also interesting to me because I have signed up for St. Anthony's Olympic Distance Triathlon, which takes place on April 25th in St. Petersburg, Florida (which is about 30 minutes from my house).  I signed up for this race back in December because it always sells out fast.  I knew the 0.9 mile swim would be challenging for me, but I like to push myself and have new challenges, so I decided to sign up. 

At the time, I was training for the Gasprilla Half Marathon, which was on February 28th (read about it here), and my theory was that I would already have the running endurance needed for the 10K during the triathlon, so I would just have to spend March and April focusing on the biking and swimming portions of the race.

I didn't do a very good job on allowing myself time to rest and recover from the half marathon, so here it is, mid-March, and I am trying to decide whether to do the race.  Decisions, decisions.  Really it's just the swim that scares me.  I know I can get through the bike and the run ok.

After reading Caitlin's post yesterday about her triathlon and facing her fears, I suddenly became super-motivated to start training for my triathlon!  I decided that the weather was nice and it was the perfect day to hop on the bike and go for a short ride.   My husband even came along for the fun.

Thanks to the Garmin Forerunner, I know that we did 11.57 miles in 1:02:53.   We went at a very leisurely pace, but it was still nice to get myself out on the bike.  The bike path near my house was packed with people today due to the nice weather and the start of "spring break season", so I know that slowed us down a bit too.

I was actually feeling really good during the ride, and I am looking forward to my next ride when it's less crowded to get a feel for what my race pace could be.

There was one last thing that I did this morning before making my final decision on whether to do the triathlon....I went to the pool to see how far I could swim doing breaststroke.  I am not very good at swimming freestyle, and I get tired really quickly.  I know breaststroke isn't as efficient, but I feel much more comfortable doing it, and I wanted to get a feel for what I could do currently, and if I thought I could work up to the 0.9 miles in time.

I am happy to report that I was able to swim one whole mile doing the breaststroke in about 45 or 50 minutes.  I definitely have some work to do because I did stop a few times, and I put my feet down on the bottom of the pool each time I turned, but overall I am very happy with my swim today. 

I came across this quote today, and find it to be the perfect for my current situation: 

It is hard to fail, but it is worse never to have tried to succeed.

-Theodore Roosevelt

Do you have a favorite quote or motivational saying to keep you motivated?