And once again.. my motivation has steered me head first in a new direction:
Triathlons
Whatt?
I haven’t competed in anything serious in a long, long time. Even longer for something physically demanding. And up until this point it’s always been a group thing, I’ve never competed in any personal sports. Being on the cycling club here sophomore year made me pretty envious towards the competitors. But it’s intimidating. I couldn’t muster up the motivation to get myself to bike regularly then. Partially fueled by the fact that I’m uncomfortably out of shape, and jump started by another triathlete physics major, I’m feeling motivated to do this now and I think (I hope) I can sustain this motivation for an extended period of time.
I intend on exercising 6-7 times a week, probably running twice, biking twice, and swimming 3 times. It started out with just jogging, then the triathlete from my physics class, Dave, showed me how to swim (along with Chris), and finally we also went to the gym to bike today (I left mine in Asheville). I’ll still study Japanese everyday.
I intend on doing my best, and not being disappointed whatever the outcome.
Chris said he’ll compete in the triathlons as well, which start in March. He just bought a road bike and he’s come out with me to exercise quite a bit recently.
A couple “firsts in my life” have been involved in this process already: My first time running a couple miles, and my first time swimming for exercise. Yes, I’ve got a long way to go. I’ve posted a log of this below in the thought that it might give me more incentive having to post that I was being lazy sometime.
In other news: next week is exams which means: 1) I will have to study a lot and 2) Very soon I will not have to study a lot. I should be in Asheville sometime around the 17th driving my brand spankin’ new transmission…powered car. Oh, yeah, the transmission on my car broke. It’s being fixed right now, for a prettttty considerable amount of duckets.
Jogging
November
24 – 3.5 miles, sslow. Kimberly. It was pretty painful at times, especially in my calves. My lungs/breathing didn’t hurt at all though. Had to stop a few times because my lower back hurt quite a bit. My legs hurt for a few days afterwards. Was insanellly tired when it was all over.
27 – 4.7 miles, slow. Merideth. Not so painful at all, except for a couple killer cramps I got on the way back. I think I should run faster next time. New goal set today: Run every 2-3 days. Lower back did not hurt.
29 – 4.7 miles, 9 min/mile. Merideth. All righttt, this is getting better! Controlled the cramps today so I didn’t have to stop once except for when I discovered my pants had a hole in them and my keys had fallen through the pocket. My ipod appears to die every time I jog as well, I should do something about this. Happy!
December
2 – 6 miles, 9 min/mile. Merideth. Went with Chris/Geoff a bit hung over after Saturday night. Felt really good still though, almost like I could run indefinitely. Yet still calves hurt pretty bad the next day. Been warned by Dave about training too much so I read some stuff on the internet about it and, in fact, have decided to take it a bit easier.
5 – 4.7 miles, 8.4 min/mile. Merideth. No cramps, no lower back pain, and I could have carried a conversation the whole way which is about the intensity that I should be shooting for, I believe.
8 – 4.7 miles, 8.3 min/mile. Merideth. Probably a little harder than it should have been. Got a cramp that almost stopped me.
19 – 3.5 miles. Near the rose garden. Went on a run with Dan Entmacher up a lot of steep hills. Thanks dood
21 – 6-7 miles. In New Jersey with Michael.
22 – 5-6 miles. New Jersey.
26 – 3.5 miles. 8.2 min/mile. Kimberly.
January
1 – 3.5 miles. My body wasn’t in the best of shapes from the previous night so I ended up feeling like I was going to die and stopping towards the end.
5 – 3.5 miles. Went on a jog down Kimberly with Jean. Thanks for cominggg
Swimming:
Nov 30 - > 1 hour, 24/23 second half laps. Learned breast stroke and free style. Making it down and back was a difficult task, especially keeping good form with free style (which I don’t have anyways). Am still in considerable pain the day after.
December
4 – 45 minutes. Still pretty damn difficult for me to make it down and back at a decent pace with freestyle.
7 – 45 minutes. Swimming will definitely be the event I need to improve the most. My body still isn’t used to this yet, although it’s getting better. Dave pointed out that I’m kicking about twice as fast as I should be which is part of the reason why I’m getting exhausted so fast. Goal: 100 m freestyle sets
12 – 75 minutes. Slowed down the kicking which helped tremendously, enabling me to do 50 m sets without toooo much difficulty (as compared to the last couple times). Dave came later and gave me a lot of tips on balance. My biggest issue now is trying to keep my butt/legs up in order to glide across the surface more. Once I corrected that 100 meters became easier than 50 meters had been 5 days ago! Thanks Dave! Still have a lot to work on, but am happy about any sort of progress. 50 meters in 48 seconds.
14 – 60 minutes. 50 meter sets. 50 meters in 41 seconds when I really tried my hardest to haul ass.
17 – 60 minutes. UNCA pool. Thanks for getting me in, Mom.
29 – 60 minutes at the YMCA pool with Luke. Was hard to concentrate as I was crammed into a lane with another person for the first time and tried my best not to bump into them. Thanks for taking me, Luke.
January
6 – 60 minutes. UNCA pool.
9 – 60 minutes. Dave helped me more with the ole stroke. Did a lot of 50 meter sets with buoys, paddles, nothing, and all combinations of it. Felt better about my stroke than my previous 3 fairly discouraging attempts by myself during break.
Biking:
Dec 6 – 45 minutes. Carmichael Gym. Upright bike. As I didn’t have my bike with me I went to the new addition to the Carmichael Gym here at NCSU with Chris. Was pretty dang huge, with maybe 80 something machines in one ginormous room. Really pretty nice, actually. Rode an upright bike and put hill climb on level 14 and tried to keep a good pace. Not too baddd.
Dec 9 – 45 minutes. Carmichael Gym. Upright bike. Hill climb on level 15.
Dec 16 – 45 minutes. Carmichael Gym. Upright bike. Older bike. Did the hill climb on this machine around level 14 which for some reason has a 21 minute time limit. Then put it on manual at level 15 and kept it around 83 RPMs for 20 more minutes.
Dec 18 – 45 minutes. Country Club Gym. Recumbent bike.
Dec 20 – 1-1.5 hours. Biked with Dan from Devin/Dan’s house on Elk Mountain Scenic Highway, up onto the parkway, up town mountain, down Kimberly, and back to my car at the YMCA.
23 – 20 miles. Biked to Craggy with Michael. 10 miles uphill, 10 miles back downhill.
27 – 20 miles – Biked to Craggy with Chris.
30 – 20 miles – My aunt and uncle came and, together with Michael and Chris, the 5 of us biked up to Craggy.
January
2 – 20 miles – Up to craggy with Michael.
7 – 20 miles – Craggy.
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