Coached Run Practice

Giant TNT banner

I arrived at the Griffith Park Los Angeles Zoo parking at 8:00 AM, and luckily there was such a large banner there that I didn't drive pass. The coach went over proper form for running: stick out your chest, loose hands, lean slightly forward with your entire body at the ankles, and mostly important have a quick stride. A quick stride will help keep me from landing on my heels.

What is it about running around golf courses? Griffith park run is around one and so is the Rose Bowl run. Isn't it dangerous with the possibility of wild golf balls?

 Stretching after our run

Teammate, Tracy and mentor, Ilse, in the back

Getting out-randomed at LA Fitness

Workout: Swim 1000 yds. Reduction of drag drills

I went to LA fitness today to work on my swimming since my legs were still really tired from my Tuesday and Wednesday. I shared a lane with a stranger and as I was swimming pass him I noticed that he was rotation his body as he swam. My first thought was that here was someone else training for a triathlon. I could get tips from him. My next impulse was not to freak him out by asking him a specific question like "Are you training for a triathlon?" So I waited for him to reach the wall and I said, "Hey! Are you training for a distance swim event?" I braced myself for his reaction and instead of thinking our conversation was strange. He very casually said, "Oh no, I'm just working out, would you be interesting to going to a bible study?" I was really confused. That was random.

Second Swim Practice

After learning all those drills to be more streamline and working on rotating my body, I spent a few hours at work reading and watching triathlon swimming techniques. They went over additional drills and even explained the rational behind them. By the time I got to swim practice today at Glassell Park, I was so excited to get into the pool that I was running on the deck. Someone yelled, "No running!" and I immediately felt like I was 7 years old again. It was slightly embarrassing but more-so I thought it was funny to experience that "I can't sleep because I'm going to Disneyland tomorrow" feeling.

We did all the same drills as yesterday. I still drank a lot of water but I'm starting to feel how important head position is to keep my legs from sinking.

First Swim Practice

The first swim practice was all the way in Van Nuys and for me coming from Pasadena, it must have taken 30 minutes. I wasn't planning to attend practice here but I felt if I didn't at least come all the way out here to check it out, I wouldn't know what I was missing.

Back of Ruby's jacket, she still owes me a picture

I shared a lane with Ynez, who is a fellow mentee (manatee?) of Irene. This is kinda like that vampire game my roommate, David used to play. Where his strength and prestige was based on the vampire that sired him. Anyways! I digress.

I knew my kick was really weak, but when we were doing out balance drills (to work on being more torpedo-like in the water) I'd kick until my quads burned and my calves wanted to cramp up and I still wasn't moving anywhere. The coach said I was kicking from my knees instead of my hips. I'm going to have to work on that. Maybe watch some instructional videos.

TNT Kickoff

I got to kickoff late, because as I was cutting and pasting the address, I missed the first digit of the street number and I was off by ten blocks. Luckily, some kind strangers were able to point me in the right direction.

At the kickoff, there were a lot of booths with fund-raising and training information. I meet up with my mentor, Irene and took a picture with her. Her booth was about car washes.

Irene, my mentor

The kickoff was in the auditorium and it was really cool to see all the different groups in the same place. There was a section for the marathoners, the cyclists, the hikers and the triathletes. Even the triathletes were split into a east-side and west-side group. It was nice to see everyone there and the energy in the room was really positive. I really hope we have a chance to hang out with the entire group soon.

I got to meet one of my teammates in the auditorium. Her name was Tracy and she's actually done an event with Team in Training before. She took part in a century ride which is a bicycle ride of 100 miles. She was pretty confident that it would be easy to get back in shape of the bike part of our triathlon. I wish I could share her confidence with my own ability.

Meet and Greet

Tuesday night was the meet and greet in Pasadena and I got to talk to some of my teammates, my mentor and the triathlon head coach.

Scott, the triathlon head coach

I found out some interesting things about the triathlon from Scott. I didn't know that this triathlon is really popular with celebrities. They even have a celebrity relay where a different celebrity does each leg of the race. Amanda Beard was there one year. I told him I'd be so intimidated standing next to Amanda Beard and Scott said, "They wouldn't let you compete in the same race as the celebrities."

Training sounds like it going to be really useful. He told me they're going to break down every part of my swim stroke and work on each part. I've picked up a lot of bad swim habits these past few months. Some good news though! I told him that my swim kick actually makes me go backwards and he said not to worry cause we will hardly be using our legs. I was a little surprised when he told me I would be training six days a week.

Irene, my mentor, actually did the Malibu sprint tri last year. She's going to be training with us to do the Olympic distance this year.