I smell like a pool!

When Paul notified me the other day that the triathlon I'm planning on doing is only 15 weeks away, it opened my eyes a little. While driving home from Denver last weekend, Paul told me he thinks that I need to be getting in 3 swims a week, 2 bikes, and 2 runs to be ready for this thing. I, of course, argued with him saying, "I'm not trying to win the race, I just want to finish it with a little grace!" But to humor him (and myself), I've scheduled 3 swims into my week... and therefore, I've smelled like chlorine for the last 3 days. It's a good thing I don't color my hair yet!

So I swam on Monday morning and this morning (Wednesday) and I'm happy to report, that suddenly, swimming is easier than it was 2 weeks ago. I think I finally just decided to relax. Up until this week, the longest I could go without stopping for a long breath, was 3 lengths of the pool (it's not a big pool). But this Monday on my own, I was able to swim for 15 minutes straight! Then, today after warming up, I swam another 15 minutes (20 lengths of the pool or 500 yards), rested a little, then swam another 14 lengths. The race I'll be doing ends with the equivalent of that 14 lengths.

I don't know what happened overnight, but I'm very relieved that I can actually DO what will be required of me, at least where the swim is concerned. Now I just need to figure out how well I'll be able to do it when I'm absolutely exhausted after running a 5K and biking 10 miles. I'm still worried about the biking. One week with my bike has not yet improved the sore rump situation! I'll just have to fight through it, I guess! We've got a trainer that allows us to ride our bikes inside, but I'm already itching to ride it on the road again... but with all this snow, it may be a while. I'm actually really excited about the whole thing. Much more than I ever thought I would be.