Tri- minus 5 weeks

The countdown is on to August 8th!

We went back to Blue Spring Monday for me to get some swimming and biking in.  Like last time, I had to swim upstream for, oh, forever, then turned around to come back.  

I'm really hoping the swim in the river is downstream!

After the swim, I did 12 miles on my bike in just under an hour.  There's so many hills out there!  We ride out of the park and onto the Beresford Trail- out and around and back is just enough distance.  On a whim, I decided to try running after I finished the bike ride.

Oh.  No.

A typical Florida thunderstorm hit just as we finished riding so I ran around the parking lot in the rain.  100 yards.  And I felt like I was about to die!  That run was harder than a 4 1/2 hour marathon!  WTF was going on?  My legs felt like jell-o and I felt like I was moving in slow motion.  I lumbered around the parking lot before collapsing back into the car, dazed and confused.

What was going on with me?  Am I broken?

So, I did what any concerned athlete would do- I asked the Internets.  More specifically, the Run Disney Facebook group people.  Why are my legs not working?  Several people told me that it was perfectly normal, that I'd have to "run it out" and my body would adjust after a mile or so.  But I wanted to know WHY, so I did a bike ride followed by a run (these are called "bricks," back-to-back training events...I learned that in my triathlon packet I printed off the Internets).  I did a 7 mile ride, then stretched for a minute while my GPS watch looked for a signal, then attempted to run a 5k.  Again, I felt like I was moving in slow motion and I realized that- uh, yeah I was!  Technically.  I mean, I'd just got done doing 12 MPH on a bicycle, and now my legs are doing pretty much the same movement at half that speed!

Ohhhhh.....

It was totally all in my head because my pace wasn't any slower than normal (considering a hot and humid Florida morning!), I just felt like I was crawling compared to the bike speed!

Whew.

I ran my miles, did my intervals, and felt perfectly normal after about 10 minutes.  Nice.  I think I'll get back in the pool this week- with all the rain and the heat we've been having, it turned a lovely shade of nuclear-green this week so we've put so much chemicals in there the whole backyard smells like the indoor pool at the Y.  I'm afraid to get in it at the moment.  My hair might fall out.

Oh!  Once more piece of good news/obligatory wedding info: My mom is coming in August to look at our venue (once we pick it) and to talk to caterers and planners.  Which means... she'll be here for my triathlon!  Scot has to work that day so I was gonna be up there on my own originally, but this will be better!