Do Or Die Tri-Ing: Double Brick - in my new Fake Tri Suit

So I felt really ridiculous trying this thing on even in the privacy of my bedroom! Ha! I was reminded of The Incredibles, when the guy squeezes his aging body into his new spandex superhero suit - I felt just like that! And I'm NOT going to post a picture of me in this suit, not yet, I'm hoping to have this improve a bit over time.

I felt funny thinking about going into Bally with this thing, but honestly, people wear some pretty funky stuff, and for the most part, I believe no one is really paying attention.

The main reason I tried on the fake tri suit "FTS" (Fake cuz I got it for $24 from Korea) is because I've been swimming in my Expensive Cycle shorts, which work well -- but after reading that you shouldn't use your nice tri suits in chlorinated pools because it will break down the fabric -- I noticed that the fabric on these cherished shorts is actually breaking down! So out came the FTS.

Enrico, in his post on Bricks, suggested having your gym set up a stationary bike next to the pool for you. I wasn't ready to try that, but it got me thinking in different ways. Instead of going back into the locker room to change, I imagined a different routine, where I have my sneakers and a shirt and shorts next to the pool, jump out, change, and head straight into the work-out area through the other doors (instead of into the locker room). It seemed more like an actual Transition area scenario to me...

Also I actually got some goggles (Speedo - $9.99) and new swim cap ($3.00 on sale at Big Five) so I struggled into my superhero spandex which felt wonderful, like a second skin, and wasn't scandalous or offensive, I don't think, and headed off to the gym!

Worked on John 17:24b ὅτι ἠγάπησάς με πρὸ καταβολῆς κόσμου. Not hard because I already know πρὸ καταβολῆς κόσμου from Eph 1:4

500-yard swim, threw on sneakers, Nike shirt and shorts, and brick-stumbled into the gym. The two bikes nearest the pool doors seemed occupied, so I kept stumbling my way to the stationary bike section at the front of the gym when I realized there was a Spin Class in session! 9:30 -- it would be half-way over.

I decided to spin for twenty minutes, which wouldn't result in a mile reading, but at an average of 12 mph (what I averaged during my century training) should be about 4 miles, which was my goal.

Jumped on a spin bike in the dark and tried to catch up with the class momentum. I couldn't understand a single word the leader screamed: but people in the class seemed to change what they did when she shrieked out her unintelligible commands. Coming out of brick-brain-fog, I started to grasp some of it and tried to imitate. Still not sure what "Back to Push Point!" means... Either way, trying to follow her helped to distract from the tiredness, rising up to meet the "40-second Sprint GOOO!" and "Stand UP"" ultimately helped more than not. As with swimming, breathing is the biggest problem. Cannot get enough air into my lungs.

But after 20 minutes I slunk out, a good thing, because I was almost completely spent! I brick-staggered onto a treadmill and tried three times to get a quickstart before I succeeded. Had planned to do an itsy-bitsy quarter mile, just for the transition's sake.

Felt great! Cranked it up to a 12-minute mile, much faster than I can do a mile right now, but then again, I was only going for a quarter mile! Felt so good after a quarter mile that I decided to hang in until the half-mile mark. As I continued, the biggest challenge is trying to breath enough. I had a funny feeling while I was striding and fighting to breath enough; I believe I felt my lungs struggling, expanding. I felt I could hear the internal dialog, my lungs were saying, "WTF, is she going to keep coming up with this crap??? Fine!! Whatever!! We'll increase capacity (swearing under the breath) OK GUYS MORE AIR!!!

I had a vague memory of doing "wind sprints" in high school track. Instead of running the entire distance, short segments at fast pace, building up. It seemed right regardless.

I jumped off after a half-mile, quite out of time. Headed off the change and go to work, and the awesome endorphin rush, the sweet euphoria kicked right in and lasted a very long time!