My Triathlon Journey: Part 2

I have now attended four out of eight of my adult swim classes.  I signed up at a local college and swim in their indoor pool once a week on Tuesday evenings.  Here's my "gear" that I bought.

I bought Speedo Women's Vanquisher goggles.  They are mirrored, and so far I like them.  They do fog up a little bit, but they fit well and don't leak.  They come with 3 different nose pieces so that you can adjust them better to fit your face. 

I bought the Speedo Women's Quark Splice Pulseback Endurance Lite swimsuit.  I'm not sure how many of those words matter, but it is quite a mouthfull!  I had no idea what size I would be, so I made sure to order one from Amazon that offered free returns.  The first suit was purple and black, but it seemed tight in the rear, so I ordered a size bigger in yellow and black.  It also seems to work well for me in the water. 

The first class was basically learning the forward crawl.  (I learned that freestyle is actually not the right term!)  I decided that I was going to breathe just on one side, but my instructor said that my hand was doing something funky as a result.  I also had to learn to keep my head down and look at the line on the bottom instead of trying to look ahead. 

The second class, I worked on trying swim from one side of the pool to the other and then back again.  I was still having trouble with my breathing...I was trying to hold my head up before turning to the side and going back under.  I practiced perfecting my stroke and also learned how to push off from the side and glide so that I can save some energy.  I'm so glad my first triathlon is in a pool.  Open water is a whole different subject that I might try to tackle later.

My third class goal was to do 4 lengths of the pool.  For my 200 yards, I will need to build up to 8 lengths, so I wanted to be halfway by the halfway point of the class.  I did it, and by the end of the class, my instructor asked me to race her 2 lengths, and she didn't finish much farther ahead of me!

Originally I was going to work up to 6 lengths by class four, but I pushed myself and did 8 lengths instead.  It was a great feeling to know that I can actually do this swimming thing, and I still have four more classes to practice!  I think my main issues are making sure I'm not waiting too long to breathe and taking it slow and steady. 

On the bike side of things, I researched and decided to buy a Yakima Sparetime bike rack.

I didn't want to have to climb my car to put my bike up top, and I didn't want a rear carrier that would block access to the back.  This one has a plate that you install under the spare tire and can hold two bikes.  I had my husband help me install it so that I can take my bike down to my parents' house in a few weeks.  I'm also ready to bring it on vacation and maybe to some nearby parks!  Here's what my bike looks like on the rack:

And my favorite feature...

It has two bottle openers on the end of the arms!!  My husband was wondering when we would use them, but I told him for tailgating of course!  Now after triathlon season, we can still use the rack for football season.  Go Falcons!

And lastly, on the running front.  I had a horrible run at the gym a few weeks ago.  I hadn't run since I was terribly sick at the Hot Chocolate 5K in January, so I tried for just a couple of miles on the treadmill.  I was going to lower my pace and hit the emergency stop instead, so I decided to call it a day.  A few of my coworkers and I signed up for a 5K on Sunday, so I made myself run 3 miles at the gym today.  I dropped my pace just a tad and did great.  I also bought some new Saucony Guide 8s to entice myself to run more.  And since I have a Peachtree number, I will have to run up until and after my triathlon in June.

That's all for now!  I'll update more about my progress soon!