I should have realized how busy my training was going to get.

My normal weekends used to be limited to a run on Saturday morning. I would sleep in every Sunday.

Lately, I’m usually swimming on Saturday mornings, possibly followed by a bike ride. I’m getting runs in on Sunday mornings. If I don’t bike Saturday, I try for Sunday. (There have been a series of 5K races, some Saturdays and some Sundays, which have messed up the schedule a bit. But I’m pretty much done with those.)

During the week, I usually run on Tuesdays and Thursdays. This summer, sometimes I’m adding a swim after a run. Or replacing a run with a bike ride. Or adding a swim on a Monday or Wednesday.

Tonight, a group of us got together for an open-water swim. We are fortunate to know somebody who lives in a waterfront home, on a river. She is also training for Iron Girl and doesn’t like swimming alone. It works out perfectly!

While the river is saltwater, unlike the lake where the race will be held, we do get to experience the murky water. This is my second open-water swim — we also jumped off her pier after one of those 5Ks on Saturday.

I think we got close to our 1K distance tonight. It’s hard to estimate the space between her pier and her neighbor’s, but we think it’s at least 80 yards. Yes, we’re still doing laps — but they’re much longer than the ones at the pool!

This has definitely helped me feel a little better about the swim portion of the race.

The bike part is still scary … but I’m sure that will come around too.
Soon, I hope!

So a few weekends ago, I really kicked off triathlon training.

I’m most concerned with the swimming portion, so I found a gym that offers “lap-swimming” classes. It’s been great — the instructor watches us and assigns drills to help us fix anything we’re doing wrong.

My third session was on Saturday and it’s going well. And even though I rested between laps and did some laps with kick boards and floats, my overall distance was very close to what the race will be (1K — or about 1,100 yards). I’m less worried now.

However, these Saturday swimming sessions are messing with my usual weekend runs. My running buddies went out on Saturday the same time I was swimming. I’m on my own to add a weekend run.

I am not a solo runner. I like my group — we chat and encourage each other. Alone I didn’t think I’d go very far, especially since it’s started to get hot.

I also got a later start this morning, mainly because I got to bed late and wanted to let myself sleep! But I got out of the house a little after 10 a.m. and started plodding along.

I ran to a nearby park, 2 miles. It was pretty slow, but I was hoping I’d be ambitious enough to run 8 miles, so I planned it that way.

The park has a 4.1 mile loop, or I could have turned around at the bathroom for 3 miles. I stuck with the full loop.

And yes, I did let myself walk some of the hills within the park (it’s hot! I’m going far today!), but the one hill I kept running through was the biggest one.

Oddly enough, the 2 miles home after leaving the park were the fastest. I usually don’t do that!

After a shower and a nap (quite common for me!), I made lunch and relaxed for a little while … but not too long.

Because I am crazy. (But we already knew that!)

I packed my bike into the car and met up with a friend to go for a ride. We only went 9.5 miles, but that was about as much ambition as I had for the day!

Last Saturday, after my swim class, I rode 16 miles and then forced myself to run a mile.

At first I thought I felt fine, until I got going. Then ouch — heavy legs!

But I did it, and at a decent pace, too. I will have to continue pushing myself if I’m going to make it through this thing!