T-minus 3 weeks until the SPRINT TRI!!!

So, we have a cause (raise money for 9-yr old Kallie who is fighting cancer) and we have a challenge (complete an Olympic triathlon). The question then becomes how do we get from point A to point B? The answer, my friends, is the right gear, a TON of training, and a fun friend to join you for the ride (no pun intended).

GEAR
There are a few essentials that you need to prepare for your tri training and race:
1. A pool or some body of water - Luckily I have a membership to a gym with a 25m heated pool.

2. A bike & helmet - While I could have easily used my dainty little commuter bike to train and race, I felt that it was necessary to invest in a lighter, faster road bike to do the job. So after weeks of scouring Craigslist for a good cheap bike, I found this little dandy... 

It's old school, but she's fast AND pretty, too (except of course, when she has a flat front tire)

3. Running shoes - I think this one is self explanatory.

Now this is just the bare minimum. However, I have had to invest in quite a few other "incidentals" along the way including but not limited to a tire pump, tubes, numerous CO2 cartridges, water bottles, padded seat (this one is almost an essential for this flat-butted Asian), fluorescent yellow bike jersey, biking shorts, clip less pedals, cycling shoes & cleats, tire levers, flat repair kit (very important), cycling gloves, swim goggles, a bright fluorescent swim cap so that I can easily be spotted in the event of drowning in an open body of water, swimming suits (plural, because the chlorine wrecks them pretty quickly), and tri racing shorts.

There is one other item that I invested in recently that could very well be my best friend on the tri course: THE WETSUIT. At first I wanted nothing to do with it. I have a hard enough time swimming without being stuffed like a sausage into a tight-fitting, constrictive hunk of rubber. But the more I read and researched, I learned that the "wettie" can actually be your ally in the water. Not only does the smooth surface make you more streamlined in the water (streamlined = faster) and protect you from the colder water temps, but it also makes you more buoyant (buoyancy = floating = not drowning). WINNER!!!  I'm all about not drowning, so I took the plunge and invested in a sweet Xterra wetsuit.


TRAINING
Got the gear, so the next thing that I needed was a plan of attack (aka - a training plan). Since I knew that  swimming was going to be my biggest challenge, I focused my search on swim-intensive training plans. After some tweaking here and there, this is a peek at the training plan that I finally decided on:

The little snippet above shows the final month of my training for the Sprint which is where I am at today.

NOTE: A word about the pink shaded sections of the training table above. These shaded blocks are called bricks and are generally introduced in the last weeks of training leading up to the race. A brick is simply a combo workout - one activity right after the other. Most often a brick is a bike-run workout that simulates the bike-to-run transition of the race... when your legs feel like bricks for the first part of your run!!! Oh joy, can't wait for my weekly brick workouts. :)

PARTNER IN CRIME
Last but certainly not least, let me introduce you to the crazy little chica that has agreed to join me for this great challenge: CRYSTAL! When I look back at the past few months of training, she is one of the main reasons that I've stayed on track with the training. It really does help to have a training partner who motivates you, keeps you honest and accountable, and just makes the whole journey a little bit more enjoyable. Crystal, I am so thankful that you agreed to take on this challenge with me... we are gonna ROCK!!!  Now if only you'll consider doing the full with me in the fall... pretty please?!?!?!!!!!!!

Taken shortly after a grueling 4-mile climb up Usery Pass in Mesa