Start your swim training early!

As I started out on this new triathlon journey I was given a piece of sound advice regarding triathlon training, advice that remains the best so far……….“start your swim training early”. I knew there were a few things I needed to be successful in a tri but first and foremost a swim coach was in order. I knew how to swim if I was put in a situation that required swim & live or don’t swim & deal with the repercussions. However, I didn’t know how to swim laps or swim competitively, so I searched the globe and found Katie at the YMCA who has become my life line to swimming. The first time I got in the pool to swim I looked like a giraffe trying to swim laps. This land dwelling girl found swimming to be very unnatural. I don’t know how many times I told Katie, “when I bike and run I can breathe whenever I want, but this swimming thing makes breathing a real challenge”. As a bit of comic relief on this balmy 115 degree day I have a video to share with you, I hope you get as many laughs as I did.
Video Coming Soon
As you can see and as I quickly discovered I needed to kick up the lessons and practice because there was a real possibility once I got out into the open water of Hayburn Lake for the swimming portion of the triathlon I might drown. I have been in lessons for 12 weeks now and think I have made some progress. I would still be smoked if Michael Phelps and I raced, but as I think about it anyone that races against an athlete so rare seems to come up a few strokes too short.
Video Coming Soon
Over the next few days I will share techniques I have learned, challenges I have faced, failures I have endured and triumphs that keep me going back to the pool week after week & day after day. In the mean time here is a small checklist of items that you may want to add to your training arsenal if you haven’t already.
Swim Coach: For any of you that are thinking about doing a triathlon non-competitively a swim coach may not be a necessity but certainly a great addition if you are not a solid swimmer.
Good Pair of Goggles: There are many, too many in my opinion, goggle choices out there. Different color bands, different color lenses, different brands, different shapes. Amongst all the differences the main thing you are looking for is fit, comfort, tint (this will help you with glare in open water swims) and NOT leaky. There is nothing worse than a leaky pair of goggles, trust me I am currently dealing with a pair right now. I have been told the best way to pick out goggles is by putting them on without the strap. The goggles should suction to your face, if they don’t then that pair does not fit the contouring of your face and you need to try on the next pair. Keep trying goggles on until you find the perfect pair. Remember you pay for what you get, so spend within reason, but spend at the higher end of reason.
Swimsuit: There are many different brands out there, but my best advice is go for comfort and fit over brand and look. I have a long trunk so Nike tends to fit me best, however your nearest sporting goods store should have a huge selection of swimsuit for women and men alike.
Wetsuit: Wetsuits are not required at most races, although Matt can attest that he was not able to compete in a triathlon this year due to not having a wetsuit. This purchase it totally up to you, but a purchase proven to be beneficial in some cases. A wetsuit will help in dealing with colder water and buoyancy, which at times will help with making the swim a bit easier.
Triathlon-Specific shorts: For race day it’s self, and if I can advice, at least a few swim practices leading up to race day you will want to wear triathlon-specific shorts. I advice wearing this to practice a few times for the simple fact you don’t want to be trying something new for the first time on race day. Triathlon-specific shorts are cycling shorts with thin padding to help cushion your toosh while competing in the bike portion of the race, but the padding is thin enough you will not absorb half the water in the lake like if you were to wear regular cycling shorts. Trust me you want that paddling!! Wearing tri shorts for the swim portion will also save you time during the transition (time you are transitioning between the swim and bike) in that you will not have to change into cycling clothes.
My small, uneducated and inexperienced advice on the swimming portion of a triathlon.
Happy Swimming,
JB

Triathlon 101

As many of you, who have been tuning in once a month to read my disorganized thoughts I so freely share here in this small internet space know, I have been training for my first ever triathlon. As I embarked on this new athletic journey, that I had been tossing around in my mind for years, I thought ‘how hard can it really be….I have run ½ marathons, I can ride a bike, all I really need to know is how to swim laps and that can’t be too hard for someone who is already an athlete.’ Fast forward 3 months, I am here to tell you my friends triathlon training is the opposite of easy, maybe that is why the very few of us that do compete in them are considered ‘crazy’. I have been in swim lessons for 12 weeks, lost 15 lbs most of that from sweating while training in 100+ degree tempts., have amazing tan lines from my cycling shorts, have scrapes and bruises from not being able to unclip my cycling shoes in a pinch which results in humpty dumpty falling off her bike, had 911 called on me once this summer at the TU track workout due to heat exhaustion, and I am in bed by 10pm every night due to total exhaustion. So why am I doing this to myself you may be asking, well because at the end of the day I love it.

As you can see I have had many adventures, learning experiences and setbacks while training for this triathlon, I will be sharing my journey with over the next few weeks as I prepare for the August 21st event.

Well, it is 112 degrees this afternoon, I can’t think of anything better to do than hop on my bike and go for a nice sweat induces 20 mile ride. If you do not hear from me soon, send out search and rescue I may be aimlessly wondering towards a mirage of water in this desert Oklahoma has become.

Helloooooo

Jennifer,

I am writing inquiring about your whereabouts and if you are ever going to come visit me again. I know you have been very busy mending a broken heart, battling record high temperatures, training for a triathlon or two, taking the GRE, looking at grad schools and needing a vacation but I would like if you could come visit more often than once a month.

Love,
Blog

July 1

I am alive, although some days I do not feel like it. Life has been a whirl wind the past month in fact I am not sure where spring went. One day I was running along the trail, my life in order, the tempt around 70 degrees, a gentle breeze on my face the next day my life was anything but orderly, the tempt was over 100 and the gentle breeze was no more. Where did the past three months go?

I am not going to make any promises that I am going to anything daily on this blog, for every time I promise I fall short of that promise by the end of the month. So I am going to say, July is one of my favorite months, I hope that great fun things will happen in my life this month that I can share with you and that I will be here on my blog more often than the past few months have provided.

Until then,
Jen

Tip for the day....Monday style!

A few years ago I bought a mountain bike from an ex co-worker. It was more or less a steal and it has more or less been sitting in storage for the past 2 years. I am sure the news which I am going to share with you all is earth shattering so brace yourself……….if you let a bike sit for too long without using it, the tires go flat. Okay, so maybe not earth shattering, in fact knowledge held by nearly everyone I am sure. Nonetheless, after sitting in storage my mountain bike was beyond the point of being able to be ridden. So I called up my hunky handyman who came to my rescue with a tire pump. After engaging a set of pliers, a lot of muscle and some sweat my tires got some air in them.

Armed with aired up bike tires I set out yesterday morning for a much overdue 20 mile bike ride. It was an amazing Sunday morning…..the sun was shining down on Tulsa and the air was a comfortable 77 degrees and the wind was gusting to 25 mph. Oh how I try to embrace the Oklahoma wind, but it sure is hard especially on good hair days or when trying to take an overdue bike ride. Overdue being a key word here for two reasons:

1) My legs were not prepared to battle the gusty winds.
2) I didn’t think about the need for sunscreen.

My back is a very uncomfortable shade of red today and there is not enough aloe in the town of Tulsa to alleviate the pain. Not to mention I am going to be rockn’ an awesome farmers tan for the entire summer. So my tip for the day Monday style is to always wear sunscreen, for many reason, but one being you will not have to worry about the loss of sleep due to the pain of a burn.

Sleep tight!
JB

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day!!

To all those mamas who are military mothers & grandmothers.

Those that have lost a child.

Those that have encouraged their children to reach for the stars.

Those that are no longer with us today.

Those that lead by example.

Those that love unselfishly.

To all the mamas that if not pillars of strength, beacons of hope and example of perseverance we would not be where we are today.

I love you mama...more everyday!!

The ABC's of Wellness

Wellness has been on the top of my mind lately. With stress slowly eating away at me it has become essential to my mental and physical wellbeing that I begin to truly understand wellness, the components and how to implement them into my life. Yes….I run, I bike, I swim, I row, I lift, I walk, I golf (when I can), I eat healthy (most of the time), but there have to be other elements that make up a life of wellness. So I went in search of what wellness really meant and how I could infiltrate it into my life.

Wellness……..what does that really mean?
According to the Mayo Clinic there are 5 components that make up a wellness:
Aerobic Fitness
Healthy Nutrition
Weight Management
Musculoskeletal Conditioning
Stress Management

I am going to spend some time over the next few weeks covering each of these components in detail……but in the mean time I want to share a quote with you that I stumbled upon today while reading about the healthcare crisis in America:
“A serious competitive runner cannot smoke and cannot be overweight. For those who strive to control our healthcare costs, we offer this simple cost effective suggestion: RUN HARD. RUN LONG. RUN HARD FOR A LONG TIME.”

Get out there and run my hommies!
Love ya!!