Steve in a Speedo is holding a voting contest for the best ‘Tale of a Virgin Athlete’. My entry made it through the first voting and is now in the Top 10! Vote for my story and who knows, maybe I’ll make it as one of the winners!

I haven’t abandoned running, I’m still regularly training at least once a week, with an average of twice a week. Things are going fine, it’s just that I’m so incredibly slow, that I wonder if should even dare show up on race day in a few weeks. At least last year I was faster, fitter, lighter and just better in general. I was comparing last spring’s stats with these week’s stats, for the same training and… wow… I was speechless. While I could hold on with an average speed of 7.5km/h (average made of my running AND walking speeds) in April and May of last year, I make it barely over 6km/h now. I feel so ashamed, unfit, untrained and well, fat.

I’m not giving up, because I want to get better, and I know that I will get better. Eventually. As much as I love races, I think I’m going to skip the one I have planned for next month. It’s just not worth it. I know it takes someone to finish last, but I’d prefer it not being me… At the pace I’m running I think everybody would have just gone home already by the time I cross the finish line. So I’m concentrating myself on the coming summer’s triathlon – for now I’m building up a bit of endurance with running, then I’ll work on speed work. By July I should have regained a decent pace. Maybe not as fast as last year’s, but still decent.

I’m still not into swim training though, even if I know I really should. I live a short walk away from a great pool complex, the only problem is that it’s barely never open for ‘lanes swimming’. I’ve been checking for another pool in my area, but not having a car AND having a super busy schedule really doesn’t make it any easier. I’m working on the car thing, I hope I can get my license before the summer  

So back to running only. Today’s training should contain bits of 7 minutes. I’m curious to see how I’ll do and if I can speed it up a bit!

After last week’s debacle, I am proud to say that I completed 3 running trainings! Well, all right, 3 jogging trainings, but who cares… I did it! And it makes me feel so much better, about myself and just in general. I had forgotten how running helped me keep my sanity in difficult times last year.

Here’s a recap of my trainings, lessons 11, 12 and 13 of the Start to Run program (the link opens an Excel file with the details of the program):

03-02-2009
Training: 8 x (2/1) (running/walking)
Time: 25:25.45
Total distance: 2.59 km
Avg. speed: 6.1 km/h
Max. speed: 9.0 km/h 
Avg. heart rate: 152 bpm 
Comments: Yeah, I went pretty slow on this one. I really didn’t want to get too tired too quickly and I wanted to feel good during the run, in order to be more enthusiastic about running again 2 days later  On top of that it was snowing at that time and the sidewalks were getting slippery. The last thing I needed was to slip and injure myself!

05-02-2009
Training: 1/1, 2/2, 4/3, 4/3, 5/1 (running/walking)
Time: 26:00.77
Total distance: 2.57 km
Avg. speed: 5.9 km/h
Max. speed: 8.8 km/h 
Avg. heart rate: 145 bpm  
Comments: Yep, I went really slow during that one. I got scared of the 4 and 5 minutes running bits and made sure I would hold on! 

08-02-2009
Training: 2/2, 3/2, 5/3, 5/3, 5/2 (running/walking)
Time: 31:39.94
Total distance: 3.36 km
Avg. speed: 6.4 km/h
Max. speed: 10.3 km/h 
Avg. heart rate: 151 bpm
Comments: Much better! Even though I was terrified of the 5 minutes bits, I managed to keep a comfortable (snail)pace. DH survived it too

I’m definitely looking forward to tomorrow for the next training. It won’t be easy, but I’ll get there. My race is in less than 5 weeks and if I keep it up, I should be pretty far in the training program when it’s time to race! 

Not much time to go for a swim this week, but it’s definitely in the planning for next Monday, whether I like it or not! As for cycling, that’s another story. Hopefully spring time will arrive soon and I’ll be able to commute to work by bike (that’s a total of 52km folks!) on a bright and sunny day.

Slow week, in all possible meanings of the word ’slow’. My attempt at jogging on Sunday resulted in me huffing and puffing like never before after barely 90 seconds. And I wasn’t even going at a faster pace than my normal pace (which is already snail-pace anyway)! The plan was to make 2 rounds around a small park, for a total of 3 km. No, I was not planning on running the 3 km without stopping, I just wanted to build up some endurance by jogging at a slow pace for as long as I could, then take a walk break, resume jogging until I needed a walk break again, etc. The ‘as long as I could’ ended up being 90 seconds. Needless to say, I was almost in tears of disappointment seeing how unfit I was. 

And instead of kicking myself in the butt and go for a jog on Tuesday and Thursday, as planned, I curled up in a ball and stayed comfortably warm inside. What a wuss. I complain that I am unfit and untrained, but instead of grabbing the bull by the horns and resume training, I just find excuse after excuse for not going.

I am hoping for better times this weekend.

I will get there.

I will train.

And I will get fit again.

… or “Where did my fitness go??”

Okaaaaay. The road to this first mini-sprint triathlon is trickier than I expected. Last year around the same period, when I was 10kg lighter and most of all much fitter than now, swimming 250m really wouldn’t have been too much of a problem. (I’m talking 250m breaststroke here, because front crawl is way, way out of my reach. I can hold it for one length, but for the rest… pffff!)

So today was a bit of a disappointment. I didn’t count how many lengths I did, but it probably was around 25. All breaststrokes. At a slowpoke tempo (approx. 50 sec/length). With 15 seconds breaks in-between. And I was dead tired after only doing 5 lengths or so. Ugh! Where did my fitness go??

Oh I know where it went. It melted away when I hit my personal wall and couldn’t run, swim, bike or do any kind of physical activity anymore last year. And then struggled to get back on track for months. And here I am, 10kg heavier (which just adds up to my current overweightness), totally unfit, wanting to pick up where I left when I was at my ‘best shape ever’. Of course I’m out for a disappointment…

So for now I’ll concentrate my efforts in getting back on track with the running, as some races are coming up and I really want to do well, i.e. not finish last! And I’ll add one easy swimming training per week, along with some core trainings and weight trainings whenever possible. In a couple of weeks I should be slowly getting back in shape. Then, I’ll look into swimming more seriously, along with some cycling. The weather should be better for that anyway.

I’m not aiming at finishing this triathlon at a specific ranking, I just want to finish it. Even if this means finishing last!

Yeah, I call it a jog. Because I’m nowhere near ‘running’ speed according to my Garmin…

I felt pretty good under the circumstances, it’s been almost 3 months since the last time I stepped outside for a run, erm, a jog. My right knee & ankle were a bit annoying mid-way but I’m blaming the 3 hours of shopping earlier today. The pain went quickly away, in any case.

Recap:

Training (run/walk): 1/1, 2/2, 4/3, 4/3, 5/2
Total distance: 2.75 km
Avg. speed: 6.3 km/h
Max. speed: 11.2 km/h 
Avg. heart rate: 155 bpm 

I hope I can go to the swimming pool tomorrow morning. I’m not planning any specific training, I just want to get acquainted with water again and get an idea of how quick I can swim 250 m at the moment, in order to build on that the coming months. If I’m not too dead after my swim, I might go to the gym in the afternoon, for some weight training. One of my resolutions is to introduce core training as often as possible, I desperately need it…

Next jog: Thursday evening!

So I didn’t go to the swimming pool yesterday. I’m a big wuss and I didn’t feel like going out in the rain and the wind.

But this evening, I will go running. And DH is tagging along. I have to make sure that the Forerunners and the iPods are fully charged and ready to use. I don’t want any excuses for not going out for a run! And I’ll prepare the clothes as well. 

So I signed up for another race yesterday, this time a ‘ladies only’ race. I’m curious to see how it will go. If I look at my calendar I’ve got almost a race per week in April and May… isn’t it too much? It’s only 5K’s, but still… And then there’s the big event in July…

Oh and I broke the news to DH: I signed up for a triathlon. I’m quite pleased with his reaction; I expected to be made fun of, not in a mean way mind you, but instead he said that he’s going to go and cheer his little athlete The triathlon’s organisation is going to send a training program for beginners, I’m curious to see what it will made of. Surely some swimming, cycling and running I have a book called “Triathlon made easy“, with tons of tips and training plans for a super-sprint (which is pretty much what I’m going to do), a sprint and an olympic distance races. I’ll stick to the super-sprint for now. Looking at the training plan, I really wonder how I’m going to fit all these trainings in my already-way-too-busy schedule. I guess I’ll have to make sacrifices…

Food for thought for the coming days!

As you might have noticed, I switched to English. For various reasons. But anyway, here I am again

I made a few changes to this blog, new theme, new links, etc. So you can see the races/events where I’m planning to participate.

This evening I’ll stop by the swimming pool for some aquajogging. It’s been a while and I really need it. I’m planning on going to the gym tomorrow and go out for a short run. We’ll see how far I’ll go. I’m still coughing from that nasty cold/sinusitis/whatever that struck me during the Holidays but I think I should be able to give running a try.

Je n’ai aucune excuse, sinon que j’ai été débordée. Mais après une si longue période sans courir, j’ai perdu tout ce que j’avais acquis… allez, on reprend du début! J’ai une course prévue le 14 mars, il faudrait peut-être que je m’y remette, n’est-ce pas?

Oh et j’ai eu un moment de folie passagère hier, car je me suis inscrite à ça: http://www.vrouwentriathlon.nl/ Ouaip, un triathlon… J’en RÊVE depuis très longtemps, celui-là est pour femmes et la distance est vraiment minime… En d’autres mots, c’en est un pour débutants Il aura lieu le lendemain de mon retour de vacances alors je vais être complètement jet-lagged, mais tant pis!

Demain, reprise de l’entraînement à la course. Je vous tiens au courant…

J’ai plutôt abandonné l’entraînement à la course ces temps-ci, mea culpa Horaire chargé, météo pas toujours clémente (il fait trop chaud ou il pleut!), fatigue générale… Mais je ne pouvais pas laisser passer la randonnée Leontien’s Ladies Ride, organisée annuellement dans quelques villes aux Pays-Bas par Leontien van Moorsel elle-même, ex-championne du monde et ex-championne olympique. Le plus drôle c’est que par les années passées, je n’ai jamais pu voir Leontien de mes yeux vus alors que dimanche je l’ai vu plusieurs fois et elle m’a même félicitée au fil d’arrivée Je n’en suis pas peu fière…

Randonnée à vélo, donc. Environ 65 km sur un parcours agréable, plat, sans grande difficulté, parfois boisé, parfois à travers champs! Une belle journée ensoleillée avec près de 27°C au mercure, pas un nuage, que demander de plus? Comme c’était ma première sortie vélo de l’année, j’ai surtout eu mal aux fesses Mais pour ce qui est des jambes et du cardio, tout a été nickel! J’aurais dû m’apporter des barres energétiques par contre, je manquais de jus sur les derniers kilomètres!

La prochaine randonnée est dans la région de Rotterdam, mais malheureusement je ne peux pas y participer car je vais être en vacances à l’extérieur. Qu’à cela ne tienne, la troisième et dernière randonnée de la saison aura lieu le 21 septembre et j’y suis déjà inscrite! Cette fois-ci, ce sera un parcours d’environ 69 km mais fait nouveau pour 2008, un parcours de 130 km (!!!!!!!!!) est également possible. Je ne sais pas si je vais me laisser tenter. Ma plus longue randonnée à vie fut 70 km, c’est tout un pas de géant de tenter 130 km!! Mais pour le défi personnel, l’idée fait lentement son chemin… Enfin, j’ai l’été pour y penser et m’entraîner!

Voici quelques photos en attendant:

 

Enfin, mon numéro! Pour la petite histoire, j’ai été une des malheureuse dont l’envoi postal du numéro et des autres papiers a été égaré… Heureusement, j’ai pu obtenir un numéro après avoir montré une preuve d’inscription et de paiement!

 

Quelques secondes après le départ. Quand des milliers de femmes prennent le départ en même temps, les premières minutes se font souvent à pied en raison de la congestion!

 

Au fil d’arrivée, heureuse d’avoir terminé!!