Articles written by Lainey Titus, First-time triathlete

Blog 6: Where is my blue line?!?!

The week after our Mock Triathlon, we took another big step towards preparing for race day: the open water swim. Now, after the Mock Tri, I had been feeling so great about my swimming and my ability to get in the zone and kill the swim portion of the race…even if it was at a snail’s pace. Getting in the open water brought me right back to square one and the thought of, “What the hell am I doing?!?!”

In the pool, I had a nice little blue line that I could follow. I could swim along the edge of the lane, turn at the end and go back to the other end. It was so easy to get into a rhythm and swim for long periods of time. Oh, and the water in the pool was nice and clear and clean.

But in a pond? Ug. First of all, I have never been a pond or lake girl, having grown up on the ocean. To me, they are so small that all of the bad stuff just collects and multiplies until it is a giant hole of muckiness. I am sorry if I am offending pond and lake lovers but I am sure you have some bad things to say about the ocean. Plus, it’s fresh water so there isn’t salt to purify everything. And the bottom is seriously squishy. Who knows what is lurking down there? Well I do because I got the book “Creature from the Black Lagoon” from the library when I was a kid, and I don’t want to run into any of those creatures why I try to relax into my swim.

Our open water swim was in a pond just North of Boston and it was also our first group experience with our wetsuits. I can’t imagine what the fellow pond visitors thought of us all, helping to yank and jump each other into our suits. We made our way to the water and after all squealing and jumping a bit when our feet touched the bottom and our legs got tangled in branches, we noticed two incredible things…you really don’t feel the cold of the water in the suits and, for those who had fears of this, we would not drown in the Tri with our wetsuits on. They are as good as having an inner tube around your middle! Now we knew that if things got scary or we got really tired out during our swim, we could take a break at any time and we would float. Having that back-up plan, even if we didn’t need to use it, was really nice.

We were all having a great time floating around until our coach told us to put our goggles on and start to swim. Great, swimming is my favorite, I am a water lover, this will be fun! I slide down my goggles, stick my face in the water and instantly freak out. It is green-like the green of green eggs and ham green- and I can’t see anything! We all start swimming together and not only can I not see anything, but I am hitting people and being hit and kicked. All of a sudden, my confidence on the swim part of the race had sunk down to below the muck and was hanging out with the creature from the black lagoon.

I kept swimming around the section of the pond that was our course and was out of breath way too quickly-partly from trying to swim as fast as everyone around me, who were faster swimmers, and partly from being panicked by the, for the lack of a better word, openness, of the water. We got back into the shallow section of the pond and our coach started teaching us some tricks. First, we all grouped together and she told us where to stand if you want to be aggressive, swim fast and turn close to the buoy, and where to stand if you want to take it slow, stay away from other people and make a wide turn at the buoy.
The slower option was to the back right of the pack and that was the spot for me. She explained that you would actually swim a little farther that way since you will make a bigger loop but it was the best place to be to avoid getting kicked and to be able to swim at your own pace.

We tried starting in a pack and swimming the course a few times and luckily, the creature slowly released its grasp on my confidence and let it start coming back to me. If I took it easy and stayed to the side and back of the group, I would still get kicked a bit but I could get into a rhythm and swim at my own pace. We also practiced sighting because it is really, really hard to swim in a straight line if there isn’t one to follow on the pool floor below you! So I chose the first of the two sighting methods, which was to occasionally throw in a breast stroke to get your bearings and make sure you were heading towards, and not away from, the buoy. For me, this was also helpful because it let me take an extra breath or two, which I found I needed when swimming in the constricting wetsuit.

Although it freaked me out at first, I am so thankful that we did a few open water swims. I cannot imagine going from the cushy swimming conditions of an indoor pool to the open water swim course of a triathlon without some outdoor practice, but I am sure there are some people that do that, whether it is because of lack of access to an outdoor swimming area or not realizing how important it is. While all of the other training got my body ready for the race, the open water swim was a giant tool in getting my mind ready for it. There is so much you need to do to adjust your swimming from the pool to a lake or ocean that you can’t expect to do it all on race day.

Since our open water swims, I have had the chance to bring my wetsuit into the ocean. Since my race will be in the ocean, this was a big help. And the best part? The water was not green! Of course, I did worry a little about looking too much like a seal in an ocean that somewhere, although probably very far away, contained sharks. But I do think the clarity of the water and the grooves in the sand will make it easier to navigate. Now if I can just get someone to figure out how to spray paint a blue line on the bottom of the ocean, I will do great!

I am training for the 2010 Hyannis Triathlon to help beat cancer with Team in Training! Please support me!

Blog 5: If I complete a Mock Triathlon, am I a Mock Triathlete?

As part of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society’s Team in Training (TNT) program, our coaches and TNT put on a Mock Triathlon to prepare us for the main event. About a month before the Mock Tri, I felt really ready and was excited to give it a try. Insert here a disastrous trip to Nashville with resulting illness and recovery time and spending the five days prior to the Mock Tri in Washington, DC for work- not exercising, not sleeping, eating hotel food and working at least 15 hours a day- and I got to the day of the Mock Tri with lots of nerves and trepidation! But I ate a good meal on Friday night, packed my bag of swim, bike and run equipment and got a good night’s sleep…it was the best I could do with what I had!

We started the day very early on Saturday morning, arriving at the site of the day’s event at 6 am. I guess this would be good preparation for the early morning starts of most races! Some of our mentors, who have all done triathlons before, helped us set up our bikes and transition areas. Even though we had plenty of room, we used up very little space because that’s what we’ll get on race day. They showed us some handy little tips, like flipping your helmet over with the straps hanging over the sides…anything to help make the transition that much quicker. I left a big towel out to dry off after the swim and before the bike, and had a fuel belt to throw on for the run that was stocked with Gatorade and some sport beans so I could refuel a bit when I got off the bike and started the run.

For our Mock Tri, we swam in a pool, doing a certain amount of laps before jumping out and heading outside to get on our bikes. Probably the most nerve-racking part of the day was waiting by the side of the pool to go in. With only three lanes available for our purpose, we had to swim in waves so most of us waited around while a few people started off. It stressed me out because I know I am slow, and this felt like it was going to make me even slower. Of course, my time didn’t start until I got into the pool, but it just felt like I would already be starting behind other people.

When my number was called I was so excited to get in the pool and start going. At that point, all I could think of was getting in the pool and wasn’t thinking of the rest of the work I had to do once I was out of the pool. So I got in and started swimming away….two people asked to pass me at some point during my swim but I still kept my rhythm going and was swimming faster than my normal, slow two minute laps! I finished my six laps at almost ten minutes and was excited that I had gained some time there. I started kicking a bit more half way through the last length of pool to prepare my legs for the bike, and got out of the pool dripping wet but so excited to be a third of the way done!

I quickly made my way to my transition area, half running and half walking. I had been so concerned with having my towel but besides wiping my hands, feet and face a little, I was barely concerned with drying off and more concerned with getting on my bike and onto the road! Next time I will just bring a small towel. I threw on my socks and sneakers (I had invested in “yankz”, the little elastic laces that allow you to put your sneakers on without tying them) and my shirt and jumped on the bike….to be yelled at instantly by our mentors, playing the role of the race officials. In all of the excitement I totally forgot the rule they taught us about not mounting your bike until you were out of the transition area. It seems as though what they warned us was true…it is really hard to listen to directions when you are participating in a triathlon!!

Once I was out of the transition area I started cruising on my bike and had the biggest, silliest grin spread across my face. This was really fun!!! Unlike the half marathons I had done where I wonder, from about mile 2 to mile 12.5, why the hell I ever thought this was a good idea, I was actually really enjoying myself! As a kid, I always loved the Nickelodeon Show “Double Dare” and the obstacle course the contestants had to complete. Although there was no green slime, I think some of the same things appealed to me about the triathlon. You were constantly moving forward from one thing to the next and had to complete a variety of things before you were done…there is no getting bored in this sport!

The bike ride was a loop that I had to complete twice and that also went through part of the run course. This was nice because the second time around, I could prepare for how much longer I had to go and when I had to start transitioning my mind from the ride to the run, while also giving me an idea of how far I had to run and what it would look like. Being familiar with the course was a big help, and I will definitely drive the course of the Hyannis Triathlon the day before our race.

I dismounted in the parking lot next to our transition area and finally felt the “lead leg” phenomenon that our coaches and mentors warned us about. This had never happened when I went from the stationary bike to the track at my gym so I was experiencing it for the first time. I felt like I would never get my legs moving right and that the run would be painfully slow! I walked my bike to the transition area, put it and my helmet down and grabbed my fuel belt.
As I started to walk towards the run course, I clipped on the belt and ate some of the sport beans I had stashed there. I was definitely feeling the need for a little jolt of energy to get me through.
However, what was really getting my through was the knowledge that I was most of the way there, and even if I had to walk the whole run course, I was going to finish!

In the end, I did walk most of the run course with stints of jogging for a bit. I was fine with that….between my recent illness and lack of sleep and nutrition the week before, I told myself that that was fine.
Our coaches and mentors kept telling us that this is our race and we need to do it in our own way and at our own pace. We don’t know anything about the other people on the course. The guy that just passed you on his bike? He could have been in the Tour de France last year for all you know, and it would be crazy to try to keep up with him! We don’t know anything about the other people on the course, their fitness levels or how much training they have put in so we shouldn’t try to compete with them.

Of course, that explanation was great and all, but I was still having visions of me alone on the race course, having been passed by every last person, and finishing up an hour after everyone else. That is why I am so glad we did the mock triathlon, because what they had told me became completely true. It was fine if people passed me because they might be a better cyclist or runner than I am. But I am a better swimmer, cyclist and runner than I have ever been before, and that is what matters. Unless of course you are competing to actually win the race, you are only racing against yourself and challenging yourself, and that little bit of hokey advice became real for me during the Mock Triathlon.

When I rounded the last corner of the run course, crossed the non-existent finish line and high fived with my best friend, I was SO proud of myself! When I started training I would occasionally sit up in bed in the middle of the night and think, “What the hell have I done?? I can’t do a triathlon!!!” But I had trained and now I had done a triathlon, no matter how small it was or that is was only a Mock triathlon…I still completed three sports in succession, which never would have seemed possible a year or so ago. And the best part was that I was now confident that I could take on the real thing in less than a month in Hyannis!

I am training for the 2010 Hyannis Triathlon to help beat cancer with Team in Training! Please support me!

Entry 4: Uh oh, I didn’t plan for this!!

Some people wonder how I find the time in my already hectic schedule to train for a triathlon. Apparently, the training isn’t as hard to fit into my schedule as writing a blog posting about that training has been!

So where did I leave off? Oh yes, I was following the training schedule, getting better at biking and swimming and hating running.
Well, I am nothing if not consistent because that is about where I stand now, although with much more knowledge and many hours of pool, road, ocean and lake time under my belt!

My training was going along great and I was keeping up with the six trainings a week until one thing got in my way: butter. In April, I visited Nashville, Tennessee to participate in the Rock and Roll half marathon and listen to some live country music at a honky tonk…the dream of every girl from the North Shore of Boston, right? My friends and I flew into Nashville on Tuesday, which gave us plenty of time to sightsee before the race on Saturday.
The other thing flying in early allowed us to do was sample Southern Cuisine. For a girl that eats turkey sandwiches and salad every day for lunch, this was quite the experience and one I knew I had to be careful with. Just like someone that will never touch tequila again after one bad experience with too many Margaritas, I knew my limits with fatty food. So I decided I would try it, but take it easy. For example, I would eat the fried chicken, but not the skin. And I would limit some other foods in favor of the Jack Daniels baked apples, which surely can’t be that bad because they are fruit! Until they started to congeal, after my 7th helping or so, and I saw the bright yellow skim of butter on the top of the dish. Oops.

Here was the itinerary of my next few days: getting so sick that I couldn’t even keep down Gatorade, thinking I was recovering but still not being able to eat, developing a stabbing pain in my stomach that only allowed me to walk about 5 feet at a time, ending up at the Vanderbilt University Medical Center ER, getting a few bags of fluid and an ultrasound that told me I had “sludge”  in my gallbladder, and experiencing my first tornado warning! Needless to say, I didn’t get to participate in the half marathon, but did get to go to a honky tonk for a couple of hours, sipping half of a Jack Daniels and Ginger Ale, because that was clear fluid, right?

So what does this have to do with my triathlon training? A lot!
Besides the first day we got to Nashville, when I was able to do laps for 45 minutes in the hotel pool, I didn’t exercise at all. And forget about exercising for most of the next week because I still couldn’t eat much and was getting limited sleep….not the best condition for your body to be in if you’re training!

But what I learned from this is that sometimes life gets in the way of training. You can’t plan that for the 3-6 months you are training, you will not get sick, injured, busy, exhausted or overwhelmed by other things going on in your life. So what I did was let myself get better and try not to stress too much about it.  If this training has taught me anything it is to listen to my body and push it when I can, but also know when I need to be kind to myself and give myself a break.

The best part was that, because I had been so consistent in my training before the great Nashville debacle of 2010, I was able to get right back into my routine without losing much ground. Which was a good thing because about two weeks later, I would be doing a mock triathlon!!

I am training for the 2010 Hyannis Triathlon to help beat cancer with Team in Training! Please support me!

Entry 3: "What the heck is that??" 

This week of training has me wondering if other fledgling triathletes experience the "What the heck is that?" syndrome? Since my training began, I seem to be asking myself that question a lot...when noticing a giant bruise that has sprouted on my thigh, the sunburn-like streaks across my cheek bones after a swim in an over-chlorinated pool, or the sore muscle where, in my 32 years, I have never known a muscle to be. I'm sure the question will keep coming up as training continues but I don't mind-- every little battle scar just reminds me that I am really doing this!

This past weekend, I was in Virginia Beach, Virginia to do the Shamrock Marathon 8k. As I mentioned in my first post, I do a lot of road races and my friends and I have started combining our trips with races in different cities. It's a great way to see an area you've never been before, although at some point in every trip, I wonder why I decided to ruin a perfectly nice, relaxing vacation with an intense period of exercise. But this weekend, it was worth it!

Prior to this race, the last race I did was at the end of 2009. While some of my friends run, my sister and I do the races as walkers and have walked everything from 5ks to half marathons. The last race of 2009 was the Jingle Bell run in Somerville, Massachusetts in early December, a little less than a month after our Dad passed away after a ten year battle with a brain tumor. Combine the emotional and physical exhaustion after such a loss with the massive amounts of pasta and baked goods that are plied on to a grieving family and forget Grandma getting run over by a reindeer....we could have been run over by Grandma! We were passed by a guy in a 15 foot foam snowman costume and ended up doing over 20 minute miles. Yikes. 

So really, we could only get faster from there. A few weeks into my training, I was pretty excited about the idea of running for part of the race and convinced my sister to try it with me. The 8k in Virginia beach goes down the long main street then back up the parallel boardwalk. The numbered side streets are basically equidistant apart and made the perfect unit of measure for our walk/run experiment! We decided we would walk two blocks then run one and alternate that for the entire 5 miles. This might not seem like a lot, but for girls who only run down hills during long races, it was huge! And for the most part, it was great! My sister managed not to slap me when I started spouting inspiration sayings when she was getting tired and even humored me when I quoted the back of a t-shirt we had seen on a fellow racer a few minutes before--"Pain is just the feeling of weakness leaving the body". 

Block by block, we got closer to the finish line and felt great--what we lost in sweat and exertion we made up for in feelings of accomplishment. We ended the race feeling great about our effort and knowing that we really pushed ourselves. With our 2-1 block ratio, we figured out that we ran a third of the race, which was about one and a half miles...more than either of us has run in years, if not ever! The most exciting part was later that night, when we looked up our official chip time...we had managed to shave more than 5 minutes off each mile, with our average pace a solid 15.8 minute miles! For runners out there, that might seem insanely slow. But for two girls who were being passed by 15 feet of foam a few months ago, it was the greatest time ever! 

I am training for the 2010 Hyannis Triathlon to help beat cancer with Team in Training! Please support me!

Entry 2: So this wasn't just a hallucination!!

Two weeks in and I am still going strong....if by going strong I mean doing the required training for the week, not actually being strong while doing it! But that will come, right?

Normally, when I get into a good exercise routine, it doesn't take much for me to get out of it. A few weeknight plans with friends or late work meetings and my workout gets neglected. Exercise has always come last in a long list of priorities, from work, social life, school (when I was in school) and sleep. But I have noticed that this training plan has changed that. I know now that I have to complete my workout assignment each week, so I figure out at the beginning of the week when I will do each activity to complete my six workouts. And so far I am sticking with it! 

I have been thinking of my training plan almost as a syllabus from a college class. The only pitfall I am afraid of is that, like a college class, I will start slacking once I realize no one is checking to see if I read the last chapter, or in this case, swam for 40 minutes. 

This past week, my team and I got on the spin bikes with our bike coach. I hadn't done spinning in years but I instantly got back into it and loved it! Of course, my legs were burning and my face was purple for a solid half hour after the class, but I wanted more. So I went to another class this week at 6 am at my local YMCA. There is nothing like starting the morning with loud disco music and a spin instructor screaming "faster"! I will definitely keep these classes as an occasional part of my training....although I know that I need to get used to moving my bike at a faster pace, there is a certain energy that I get in those classes that I haven't been able to find on the street by myself. And the leg workout is fantastic!

My Y has been the scene of many of my workouts this past week, including swimming. I normally swim at the Y near my office during lunch, but had to get a swim training in on Saturday morning. It was definitely a different world than the near empty pool I was used to, and I was this close to turning on my flip flops and heading to the locker room when I saw the crowd in the pool. But, I knew that I had to swim for 50 minutes and that I didn't have any other time that week to do it, so in I went. Luckily, one of the lanes was just two older women, one with a shower cap on, walking slowly from one end to the other and not doing hardcore swimming strokes like in the other lanes. These were definitely my ladies. Unluckily, they only spoke Russian, but I was able to mime "Can I swim on this side of the lane while you walk on that side?" with success. In my 50 minute workout, I found that I am doing a much better job of swimming with my head down, twisting to breathe and not lifting my head up....except when my shower capped friend almost walked into me mid-pool. After about 20 minutes I didn't know how I could keep going, but I kept switching my strokes and drills and made it the full 50 minutes! Of course, I still have to pause for a minute or so every few laps, but its progress!

My favorite part of training this past week is how I feel after the workouts! My best friend Alison is training for the triathlon as well, and after our team spin class last week, we were giggly and euphoric. My guess was that it was either the endorphins, or the sherbet coolers we got at Friendly's on the way home. Now, I'm just waiting for the day when I enjoy the actual workout as much as the feeling I get after the workout! 

I am training for the 2010 Hyannis Triathlon to help beat cancer with Team in Training! Please support me!

Entry 1: In the movie “Miss Congeniality”, Sandra Bullock’s character, the detective who goes undercover as a beauty queen, says of winning the pageant, “I never thought this would happen to me. Actually, I guess I always hoped it wouldn’t”.

Of course, deciding to complete a triathlon is not being forced on me as part of a career as an undercover FBI agent, but it’s come as a surprise to me all the same! If you had told me 5 years ago--even 1 year ago--that I would be training to complete a triathlon, I would have advised you to seek therapy.

So how did I get here, 3 months and 4 days from my first triathlon? I have never been an athlete and when I think of myself as a child, the best word to describe my physical state was “rotund”. Sure I exercised, if the occasional game of “Mother May I” or using the power pad with my Nintendo counts. I wanted a new bike whenever my neighbors got one, but my parents quickly learned that I only wanted it because it was pink and had ribbons on the handlebars, not because I would ever actually ride it. And my swimming career ended when a teenaged teacher didn’t notice I had fallen off the ladder at the side of the pool during my lessons and my Dad had to jump in the pool to save me.

Fast forward to 1999, when I graduated college after four years of eating, drinking and driving to class, even though the campus was about a half mile long. My friends and I were close with the Domino’s delivery guy and never let a “Two-for-Tuesday” go unattended at the local Subway. I left with a Bachelor’s in Communications and the need to buy clothes in a special store. While at my first “real world” job, one of my co-workers mentioned that she was joining Weight Watchers the next week so I took that as my cue from the universe!

Over the next few years, I started changing my way of life and started losing weight. When just eating right stopped working, I realized I had to start adding exercise into my regime. Walking was, and has always been, my standby and I shed lots of pounds by pounding the pavement.

Luckily, I have never gained back the weight I lost after college but my weight has fluctuated and exercising was something I always thought of as a way to lose weight. But over the past couple of years, I have begun to think of exercising as more than that--as a way to be strong and healthy. I know that I will never be a size 2, and I am happy with myself as I am, but I would love to be stronger! So when my friend stopped by over Christmas to tell me about the triathlon she was doing, and share “Slow Fat Triathlete” book with me, I didn’t immediately recoil.  I also didn’t immediately say, “This is for me!”, but the ability to think about it at some level was a big step for me.

The more I thought about it, the more the concept appealed to me.  I like to be busy and get bored easily, so what better than an event that allows you to do three different things at once? It certainly won’t be boring! So I tried a few things, just for fun. I got into the pool at my local YMCA and swam a few laps. I got on my bike and I tried to jog a few times around the track. If I was going to do it, I needed to do a lot of work, but I didn’t absolutely hate all of those things. So that’s a start, right?

From where I was, I knew it would take a big commitment to get me in shape for a triathlon this summer. And since I do get bored easily, I was afraid I would sign up, let my training fall by the wayside, and then want to die on the day of the race. I have always wanted to do an event with the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society’s Team in Training (TNT), both because my aunt died of Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma when I was younger and because they always seem to be such a motivated and supportive group when I have interacted with them at different road races (I have walked two half-marathons and countless smaller races). So when I heard that they participate in the Hyannis Sprint Triathlon, I was sold!

I officially signed up about a week and a half ago, and the moments when I suddenly panic and think “Holy crap, what am I thinking!?!?!” are becoming fewer and farther between. This past weekend, I alternated a minute of walking with a minute of running on Friday night, had swim training in the pool on Saturday, walked 6 miles on Sunday (did I mentioned I had previously signed up to walk a half-marathon in April?) and almost cried when I coughed this morning because my abs are really upset with me for making them work this hard! But I still went to the gym at lunch and was able to increase my running to 2 minutes for every minute of walking. So in my book, that is a pretty major victory!

I read somewhere that if it were easy, everyone would do it. I don’t remember if it was about triathlons, marathons or bringing kids under 5 to a nice restaurant, but I think it definitely applies here! I hope to update as much as I can on my progress and hope that hearing about a total novice’s training will help the rest of you know that you can do it too!

I am training for the 2010 Hyannis Triathlon to help beat cancer with Team in Training! Please support me!