Lorraine sloowwwly and painfully starts training

So I started a week behind as I was luxuriating on a lovely vacation in Hawaii. To be fair, I strenuously trained for one portion of the triathlon - the part where you run into water. I'm an expert at that.

Lovely Hannah (extremely experienced triathlete!) sent me (never raced before!) a training schedule which has given me a great idea of what I need to do. I'll do a short summary of where I have started so far.

Saturday
Up at 6am, off to the nearby lake for a run. Terrified, seeing as how I haven't really run since before I was pregnant with my first child in 2003. I managed to run for 30 straight minutes and made it around the lake, but it can be called "running" only because my knees stayed bent throughout. I'm pretty sure I saw an octagenarian walking club pass me. At times I was concerned I was actually going backwards. But I made it and was very proud of myself. Upward from here....right?

Sunday
Fed, dressed, and bundled the kids off to the gym daycare while I did 30 minutes on the stationary bike. A lovely bike ride- no big deal, one would think. Except for how I was drenched in sweat afterwards. It was definitely a good workout, plus I got to read some political analysis of the neverending presidential nomination process. Thank goodness for showers.

Step 2 on Sunday was during the kids' nap/quiet times, when I headed off to sign up for a second gym. This gym has 24-hour pool access and I couldn't find anywhere else with lap swim before 6am. I consider 6am practically halfway through the day. I'll just have a month-to-month membership until the triathlon.

Monday
Up at 5am this morning, in the water at 5:30! I swam for 30 minutes, again terribly proud of myself as I haven't swum laps in 12+ years. I kept my flip turns going the entire time (although certainly couldn't maintain 4 strokes between breaths for very long!) and felt pretty good...until I climbed out and almost fell back into the pool. I realized as I emerged that my face was fluorescent red, I was panting, and I could barely walk. Apparently the nice cool water masks symptoms of impending cardiac arrest.

So - I've started! Tomorrow I will probably attempt to run again, although almost every single muscle is now sore.