Training... Week 1

Week One... SUCCESS and not Scary! :-)

ok, so i have had my first week. Da Ta... and i am still here. just kidding.

it has been great. the coaches are starting everyone off very basic, which is awesome because they are making it fun and not scary.

we technically had "off" last Monday, but i did Crossfit (don't tell anyone), Tuesday was our first swim practice with tons of drills and i am not going to lie, they are definitely not the funnest thing in the world. if you get the chance, swim (1) length of a pool (25m or 50m) on just your left side, both arms at your side, kick from your hips and face down to the bottom of the pool, only turning up to breath... let me know how much fun you are having and keep in mind my first swim was that plus a few others for 1hr straight. i am not complaining, because the technique will make me a better swimmer, but man, not that fun. :-) but there was a little icing on the cake... when i finish, i looked up to see one of my oldest friends, Jeremy Glazer, at the edge of the pool. Randomly, he was there to check out TNT, but deep down, i know it was to see me. :-)

Wed was another off day and Thursday we had our first morning run. Now that was a challenging start for me, but ended up not to bad. I had warned my coach that i am terrible runner, so she started me off on 1:1 (run a min/walk a min)... that was awesome! especially, since our "warm up run" nearly wiped me out. And No, i am not kidding. this running part is going to be awful, but each week i should build up, so this thursday run i will be 2:1 and then 3:1 and so on. so in time, i am going to kill the running part or die trying!

i also did Crossfit Thursday night.

Friday we had a homework pool assignment to do all those drills... so bright an early i headed down to the Culver City pool and knocked em out. it was a "thrilling" way to start my weekend. hee hee.

Saturday was running 101.. which i clearly need. we did a 45min running session and we learned some new drills and running technique in regards to foot placement and cadence and of course breathing. We even had running experts come to tell us about sneakers and so forth... and little ole me got fitted properly and you are looking at the owner of a brand new pair of Brooks baby! my first official running sneakers - after treadmill and street tests!! Wahooo!! i think i am going to have some happy feet...

and then finally, sunday, we had a breezy 7mi ride.

it was great. but ya know what is really great, is having this team through TNT. every other race i have trained for, i have done on my own or through group rides or swims, but nothing official and definitely not my own "team." it is nice to accountable them and to learn the proper techniques to be more efficient in each area. i can truly say, that i think this entire experience is going to be great. going into it, i was exited about the finish line at Cozumel and of course training, but now i am more looking forward to the journey that i am going to go through, mentally and physically to get there. i think it is going to be amazing.

anyway... i know this was a very tactical post about the training week. just so you know, they won't all be like this.

anyway... i am attaching a few pictures from the swim and my morning runs.

i hope to update twice a week.

thanks again for your support.

Love,
Rach