Dear Elderly Pedestrian

• 2 • Triathlon

Dear Elderly Pedestrian,

Thank you, for diving out of my way.

I know I am supposed to yield to you.

I wanted to yield.

I am not a bad, malicious or even negligent person.

I inconvenience myself to do the right thing all the time. To a fault, sometimes.

But I saw that oncoming car. I saw it obliviously hogging the road, close to the yellow line.

I heard the car coming up behind me.

I saw you in front of me, walking in the center of the breakdown lane.

I didn’t know how close that car behind me was.

I didn’t know if they could see you, the pedestrian. If they’d connect in time that your presence meant I needed to veer further into the street.

That they’d have to make more room.

It all happened so fast.

I was afraid if I looked over my shoulder to see how much room the car was giving me, I’d collide with you before I looked back.

I wasn’t even sure I had time to crash off to the side. I thought if I veered across the breakdown lane aiming for the side, I might hit you.

I would gladly have taken a fall to avoid you, I promise.

But in that split-second of panic, you looked up. You saw me. You saw the car behind me. You rushed off the pavement into the dirt, and I went safely coasting by, palms sweaty, heart thumping.

You prevented me from having to decide between veering into traffic or attempting to get off the road to the side without hitting you.

Thank you.

You might have saved my life.

I know it’s my job to avoid you, and the car’s job to avoid me.

But it’s hard to trust a car you cannot even see, a car that you know doesn’t have room in the other lane, a car that might expect you to be riding straight.

When I see an oncoming pedestrian I’ll move into traffic sooner, now.

I feel guilty that you had to move, but I am so, so grateful.

There were four of us, two cars, a cyclist, and you, all using the same cross-section of road at the exact same moment.

And you were the one who made it safe. You made the road wider for all of us.

I yelled my thanks as I passed you, and I wish I had reacted soon enough to stop. To turn around. To go back on foot and thank you. To tell you that I’m a new cyclist, and I would have crashed in a heartbeat rather than collide with you but it all happened so fast.

I hope you don’t think I was rude.

I hope you know I was terrified, that I had nowhere to go.

Thank you.

Thank you for moving.

You’re a lifesaver.

-Kelly

img_3172.jpg

Maine – Biking Progress

• 0 • Triathlon

img_3074.jpg

All right, I’m figuring this biking thing out.

I’m up in Maine for April Break to be near family and the ocean, and having a great time riding on less trafficked roads, gaining confidence in a safer area than suburban Massachusetts.

I can shift up and down, and I understand that the left hand controls the 3 big cogs (which I think of as like changing the “10s” place) and the right hand controls the larger number of small gears (which is like changing the “1s” place).

I figured this out from watching a YouTube video on changing gears (searched for the brand name listed on the bike) and from reading “The Everything Cycling Book” all about how gears work, and from having Greg hold up the bike and show me the gears changing while  we pedaled by hand.

I have gone for two 5 mile bike rides where I didn’t fall over, lose control, or ever really fear for my life.

Current challenges:

Clipping in: It still takes me too long to clip into the bike (clipping out is easy, just lead with the ankle). I can circle the parking lot 4 times just trying to clip in. This will need to be addressed. More YouTube videos perhaps.

Looking over my shoulder: I need to practice this in a driveway or empty lot; I’m scared to practice much on the road here because if I lose my balance it could be really dangerous.

Signaling: I’m scared to let go of the handlebars to signal. This is currently fine since the 5 mile loop I do is straight with no stops until I get to a dead end, where I circle around and head back. It’s also 25 miles per hour with a steady police presence… couldn’t ask for better cycling for a beginner! But not being confident enough to lift a hand and signal is not acceptable long-term.

Shifting: I’ve got it figured out, but need to gain experience and finesse at being in the right gear to cycle more efficiently. I also need to shift better in advance of hills; there was one hill where I didn’t shift in time, and it was only thanks to spin classes at CycleBar that I made it up the hill without falling over, it was so hard to pedal. And shifting when you’re barely upright didn’t seem like a good idea, so I just powered through rather than risk falling over into the road.

So… progress.

A little at a time.

I’m used to that.
img_3073.jpg img_3071.jpg img_3072.jpg

Embracing Being a Novice – Biking

• 3 • Triathlon

I have no idea what I’m doing.

I’m going to ride until I fall over! Well… that was a fun 4 minutes.

I’ve fallen off my friend’s bicycle twice now, going less than 1 mile per hour, trying to unclip and trying to shift gears respectively.

Brian at FastSplits in Needham was super nice and showed me how to switch the gears… but I forgot. I get that one side does big changes, the other side does little changes, and you have to pedal while you switch gears. I can’t figure out how to upshift vs. downshift, and I still have very little mechanical understanding of when I should be in what gear. This isn’t such a huge problem right now, because I’m only riding up and down my street, but eventually I’m going to need to figure this out.

It’s going to be ok.

Probably I should be worried, and I am, a little bit. It’s a scary feeling when that bike starts going over sideways. I’m terrified that I’ll crash into another cyclist taking corners in July because I’m an amateur, and ruin their race experience. I’m worried about getting hit by a car.

I’m duly impressed by the task at hand.

But I’m also like “ok, great… the next steps are pretty obvious.”

I need to learn to shift a bike and understand the gear system. So I took out books on cycling from the library and I’m going to ask my neighbor for help.

I need to work on clipping in and out of the bike. I can do that once a day, ride up the street and back, and it’s less than a 10 minute time commitment.

I should check my bike shoes because the clipping process seems overly difficult: maybe that time they got stuck in the pedal at CycleBar was a warning sign that I should get the screws checked, that could be part of my clipping problem. I can look up youtube videos on adjusting bike clips, or take it to a local store or ask an instructor at CycleBar.

I need to learn to take corners. There’s a cul-de-sac in our neighborhood. That’s a good next step.

I’ve got this.

I’m just going to break it down and keep plugging away at it.

I have until July. Things will click. In the meantime, I’m having some good laughs at myself. It’s easy to laugh at where you are now when you have faith in where you’re going.

People learn to do this.

I will learn to do this.

It might take longer than I originally expected, but I am convinced that between now and July I will get to the point where I can finish the race safely with a smile.

After the race, I’ll walk away with the ability to swim freestyle and ride a road bike. Hello, awesome.

Thanks to this triathlon, I’m gaining two amazing life skills that will expand my horizons in terms of my ability to exercise out in nature.

And that’s enough to keep me clicking into that bike and riding up and down the street.

 

Swimming – it’s a skill.

• 2 • Triathlon

The post below is going to talk about some of my swim doubts.

In honor of learning something new, here’s a special link to a post I wrote about running my first 5k. As I’m training for my 7th half marathon and my first triathlon, reading this post gives me more than enough courage to throw on my swimsuit, grab my goggles, and jump right in.

Today’s Post:

4679568089_db9890a450_z
photo credit Brian Cantoni // CC 2.0

After over a month of swim lessons, I’m starting to really appreciate how much skill is involved in swimming.

With running, and even biking, sheer persistence will get you to the finish line. Sure, there are ways to train smarter, shift gears better, and improve your form… but you can finish the bike or run section of a triathlon without having to learn much.

Not so with swimming.

I could show up to the pool, practice for 45 minutes, and make no progress if I’m not doing the drills right.

I have to pay attention to where my legs are in the water, how high my head is, how much I’m bending my knees, if I’m bringing my head up too far out of the water.

It’s not just one foot in front of the other anymore. No more “just keep spinning, just keep spinning”.

I’ve got to make sure I understand my swim instructor’s directions before I go practice on my own in between lessons, so I don’t form bad habits. I have to make sure when I’m doing something better, I know why and how so I can replicate it again.

It’s exciting, but it’s also a bit scary. When I was training for my first half marathon, it was pretty easy to see how things were progressing. One week, I was running 6 miles as my longest run. A month later I had managed a 9 mile run. I was steadily getting closer to the 13.1 mile distance. I was doing it half asleep. (Literally, for some of those 5 a.m. runs.)

Suddenly, how mentally focused I am makes a big difference on how quickly I make progress with my training. The better I pay attention, the more mindful I am of exactly what I’m doing in the water, the better I communicate with my instructor, the faster I’ll make progress.

I have an extra swim lesson today. My instructor had a cancellation and offered me the slot. After I accepted, she texted me back saying that was great, she thinks an extra session will really help, and to double check just how long the triathlon swim is in July. Ummm…. you’re not worried, are you?! Please tell me you’re not worried. As long as she keeps faith in me I feel like I’m making sufficient progress and things will be fine.

I swam the entire length of the pool last week. That’s 25 yards. I only need to make it 586.7 yards.  I’m like almost there.

I had a dream last night that Greg’s grandmother was at the pool and I showed her what I’d learned, and I was flying down the pool, breathing perfectly, pulling the water, and swam so hard I ran into the other end of the pool because it came so fast. She was really proud.

Then I woke up.

I want to be clear here – I’m not worried. I’m learning. Once I get the stroke down, I’ll use the endurance I’ve been building for the past couple years to build up distance quickly. It’s going to be like a switch; things will click, and I’ll keep adding and adding pool lengths until I get there. I’m used to working hard for extended periods of time; long runs, endurance spin classes. It’ll translate to the pool.

And I can’t wait until it does.

In the meantime – THANK YOU to everyone who has donated to my Tri for a Cure fundraising page. I love seeing messages from readers, friends and family. You can donate as little as $5.00 and leave a message on my fundraising page, and I hope you will! It helps fight cancer, and it brightens my day 🙂 I feel so happy when I get a new donation; it’s amazing to feel someone believes in me and this journey, and cares about this important cause.

If I reach the $1,500 fundraising mark, I get an automatic slot in next year’s race!

And by then… I’ll DEFINITELY know how to swim 😉

 

What’s in my swim bag

• 1 • Triathlon

That’s right. I’m writing an entire blog post about what’s in my gym bag. Half of me is like, Kell, no one cares what’s in your gym bag.

The other half of me would love to know what’s in your gym bag, because I love bags and snacks and packing things and little bottles filled with delicious smelling shampoos.

I’ve written some packing lists for running on vacation and packing for air travel to a half marathon and they were popular posts.

So…

Here’s what’s in my swim bag now that I’ve been half a dozen times and gotten things figured out.

  • Bag with shower supplies; shampoo, conditioner, bar soap, wash cloth and salt deodorant stone. Everything I want while I’m still in the shower stall goes in here. The wash cloth helps get the chlorine smell off. (Note, it doesn’t get the chlorine smell off, it just helps.) Keeping this separate from the cosmetics I want after showering made things much more efficient.
  • Bag with post-shower supplies; moisturizer, tinted spf, concealer, mascara, comb, hair gel, blush. I cleaned out my cosmetics drawer and had plenty of “second choice” cosmetics to populate this bag without a trip to the store.
  • Goggles
  • Swim cap
  • Credit card, coins, and cash. You can call your credit card company and request an additional card; they’ll usually send one for free. I keep a duplicate in my gym bag so I can still run errands on the way home without subjecting my gorgeous Matt & Nat wristlet to the inside of my gym bag.
  • Snacks. I never thought I’d be the power bar type, and I’m not, but it takes a while to shower and get dressed and drive home… too long for me to wait to replenish calories after a swim. I like to keep raisins, nuts, and oatmeal Munk packs in my bag so I don’t get hangry. I’ll often eat a large handful of raisins right before I hit the pool to fuel my workout if it’s been a while since breakfast. Yup… I’m the weirdo in the locker room standing around in my bathing suit eating raisins.
  • Lock. I always bring my phone, so I use a combination lock. It’s worth an extra 30 seconds to make sure no one walks off with your iphone and car keys.
  • Dry clothes. I go to the pool wearing my swim suit and shower flip-flops under “gym to-fro” clothes that I thought I was going to lounge in eternally but am shocked to discover I’m actually using to go to and from the gym. I put my dry clothes underneath the bag with shower supplies and above the post-shower supply bag so I don’t have to dig around with wet hands to find my shampoo. I don’t bring socks or shoes, I just wear my shower shoes to the pool and home again. If I’m going somewhere, I’ll throw footwear into the car but not bring it into the gym since it takes up a lot of space in the bag and I find it easier to slip back into my flip flops than to try to put on socks in the shower stall without getting them wet.
  • Towels: As soon as I get to the gym, I grab two towels. One to bring to the pool with me so I don’t drip all over the floor when I go back to the locker section to retrieve my gym bag before showering, and one to tuck into the gym bag for after I’ve showered. I hate to use two, but the one I use directly out of the pool is covered with chlorine so using it post-shower would kind of defeat the purpose.
  • Wet bag: I use a reusable wet bag to stash my swim suit in. It’s never that wet because I use the cool spin cycle machine in the locker room, but it contains the chlorine. You can search “wet bag” on Amazon and get tons of options. They’re machine washable, and the ones intended for cloth diapering are extremely reliable. That way you don’t have to use a plastic bag every time you go for a swim 🙂

My bag itself is an L.L. Bean adventure duffel. It doesn’t have a lot of fancy compartments, but it gets the job done and I’ve had it for years.

Here are the munk packs: I try to go for less individually packaged snacks, but sometimes the oatmeal and fruit combo really hits the spot.

Shampoo & Conditioner – I’m currently using some by Aubrey made specifically for getting chlorine and sweat out of hair. It’s sold at Whole Foods, and is a pretty neutral (if any) fragrance. I’m not sure it completely removes the chlorine smell, but my hair definitely smells less than my skin after showering. Whether that’s the swim cap or the shampoo I don’t know.

New addition – Scented soap! My skin smells like chlorine no matter how much I scrub, so I decided to grab a scented soap. Yes, I’d rather remove it than cover it up, but doesn’t a scented soap attempt both? Just hedging my bet here.

img_2776.jpg

Wish list: I need to find an amazing leave in conditioner to protect my hair from the pool. I’ve been growing it out, which means the ends are more vulnerable to dryness than they might be if I cut it more frequently.

I mean, I don’t mind looking like a triathlete… I’d just rather it was noticable in the upper arms and not the split ends.

Also, I do mind smelling like a triathlete. I’m going to figure this chlorine removal thing out, probably before I master the crawl.