Over the mountain

I've done it.  Finally done it.  I'm actually making progress with my run. 

I usually bike on weekends, but this past Sunday I traded my usual bike session for an extra run session, and it truly did help.  We had a rare July weekend - high temps only in the mid 80s, and it was pleasantly in the 60's in the morning.  BEAUTIFUL!  I got up early Sunday and helped out with the kids triathlon (that was a lot of fun and so amazing to see over 100 kids out having a blast and racing).  I was done by 10:00 am, and it was still very nice out, so I went for a run instead of a bike ride.  Outside!!  I did my longest run yet - 21 minutes straight.  And I walked for 15 minutes after that and ended up finding a circular route through my neighborhood that is 3.1 miles - a 5K distance.  I felt pretty good after that - I have never, ever run that long in my life. 

Instead of swapping the run and bike (logistically hard to do since I don't have a sitter to watch the wee one), I did my usual run workout inside on the treadmill today.  I didn't have a plan in mind, except to go 3.1 miles.  After a brief warm up, I ran for 15 minutes straight, and then alternated walk/run for the remaining time.  I sincerely didn't push myself too hard because I wanted to see where I would be if I were to try a 5K today.  I finished the distance in 36 minutes 20 seconds.  I have a lot of room for improvement, but I feel like I'm finally making progress in this discipline.

So why exactly am I doing a triathlon if I've never even done a 5K race before?   What on earth would posses me to jump into something like this?  To be honest, I've tried to do the couch to 5K training program before, and I usually would crap out somewhere around week 3 or 4ish.  I wouldn't feel like I was progressing, I hated doing it, I didn't want to do it, I had no motivation to keep trying.  I really do enjoy doing the biking and the swimming - I'm really loving getting back into the swimming especially, and I'm looking forward to spending quality time with my husband doing long rides in the future.  I know that pushing myself in those two sports has increased my overall fitness level so that I am finally seeing results beyond where I'd always stopped before.  Two of the three disciplines keep me going, keep me sane, give me hope.  But I know that accomplishing all 3 will be a personal triumph.