Finished a Triathlon . . . kind of?

OK, so tonight Teri and I went to the Y. We were supposed to just sit in the hot tub, but Teri wanted to run on the track. I wanted nothing to do with running, or anything else for that matter. I just wanted to sit in the hot tub. BUT I took my goggles into the pool area anyway. And I swam 1,000 yards. I did it slowly . . . just kinda casual, but 1,000 yards none the less. So technically today, I completed a Triathlon. I'm pretty sure that starting the swim 10 hours after finishing the run doesn't count, but in one day I did a 20K bike, a 3K run and (almost) a 1K swim. I was pretty dang dizzy tonight when I got home, so I'm sure I am/was dehydrated or something. But pretty cool me thinks.

Surprising . . .

Last week I was lamenting about trying to get below 311. It seemed that I would do OK for the week, then blow it all on the weekend and start all over on Monday. Well, it kind of happened that way again. I did OK through Saturday lunch. But then as I expected, the food at Rick & Annette's was so good, I just couldn't stop eating. I think I had 4 helpings of this tofu dish they had. It was amazing. Then Dave & Ang stayed Saturday night and on Sunday we cooked breakfast. It was official, the weekend was toast.

On Monday, I ate nearly nothing all day, then Teri and I fixed dinner. I pigged out at dinner. (Yes, I know this isn't good, 6 meals a day and all that) On Tuesday the scale made it official. 316.0. FIVE pounds gained since Friday. SIGH. I skipped working out Monday and Tuesday. However on Tuesday I made a very concerted effort to eat better. I had a bowl of cereal for breakfast, a Zone Perfect bar for a snack, A Taco Time chicken soft taco for lunch (no soda, no tater tots) and Teri and I had left over Weight Watcher chicken chili for dinner. I did eat a lot of the chili and I made mini burritos out of it with cheese and sour cream.

I woke up this morning dreading what the scale might say. When I stepped on, it showed 310.0. HUH? No f-in way. So I stepped off and stepped back on. 310.5. OK? Well now I GOTTA go to the gym. So off to the gym I went. My plan was to ride the bike for 12.4 miles (20K). So I hopped on the bike. Scott had said that Steve and Erick were completing the 20K in about 25 minutes. I know (or I think) there is no way by Triathlon day that I'll be doing 20K in 25 minutes, but I wanted to crank up my intensity none the less. So I warmed up at level 6, increased to 7 . . . then 8 and finally 9 . . . I alternated between 7 and 9 for the whole 20K averaging between 17 and 21 MPH. It hurt, but it was a good kind of hurt. I finished the 20K in 40:45, my best time thus far.

After I got off the bike, I decided that even though my but hurt and it was tough to walk, I should hop on the treadmill and see what I could do. I started out at a slow walk (3MPH or so) just to get the kinks out of my stride. I cranked it up to 4MPH and at about .2 miles decided to see if I could do a light jog, so up to 5MPH (12:00 mile pace) it went. I held the 5MPH to the 1 mile mark and slowed back down to 4 . . . 0.2 miles and back up to 5MPH for a tenth. I went back and forth between 4 and 5MPH for the remainder with the last 0.2 at 5MPH. My final time for 1.9 miles (3K) was 25:20. Not too shabby. I'll be delighted if I can finish it on Tri day in under 24:00.

During the workout, I drank two large bottles of water. My shirt was soaked with sweat and I wanted to throw up a couple times, but I pressed on. I think with 10 - 15 minutes of rest, I could have done the pool too, but I was running out of time and didn't bring my goggles. I'm going to be sore today, but it was worth it.

So when I got home, I stepped on the scale again. I know, twice in one day is a bit OCD, but I really wanted to see it. I wanted to see the zero move over a slot. I wanted my mini-milestone. I stepped on, the scale settled in . . . 309.0 . . . I did it! MINI-MILESTONE ACHIEVED! If I can eat right today, I should be able to hold that for tomorrow and with another workout tomorrow morning, might be able to sneak another pound off. SWEET!