Being Monday night, I feel I posted this late, but that is okay. Over the weekend, I tried many things to help myself become better prepared for the upcoming events. After a day at work on Friday, I stopped by my parents and swam a few laps at the pool. This wasn't too much other than a little bit of a teaser swim. The first race is a 750m swim with a 20k bike and 5k run, a typical sprint triathlon.

Saturday morning was the first shot at it all. I got to the pool around 8am and changed into some trunks. Being my parent's backyard pool, it is only 33 ft across. I worked this out to around 76 trips across, which seemed high. I started the timer and ran down the steps into the water. After what felt like forever (but really was only about 20 minutes) I was out of the water and into my "transition." This meant grabbing running shorts, running to the shed, changing inside, coming out, then putting on shoes and getting across the yard to the bike. I was out onto the road after a few minutes and heading South on 93. I turned around at my designated halfway, heading back North into town. As I rounded the corner into the old high school parking lot, I checked the time. I was still doing rather well, it seemed, at about 1:28. I locked the bike up and threw the phone in the bag, then took off on the 5k route that I raced in May. Felt great until I hit the hills in the cemetery, but toughed it out and got back to the school. I was so excited to have finished the whole thing, and so I grabbed my bag off the bike and checked the time.

Nothing was on the screen relating to time. Nothing at all. Just a little phone symbol and a "missed call" screen. Shit...my sister had called. Went into the menu, but no, the timer was back to zero. I have no idea how fast, but I completed it.

Sunday went by without much exercise, just a few races in the pool with my niece. Dylan, my son, was sleeping, and my wife was doing homework, so I decided to go for a bike ride. After some wandering around the house and neighborhood, I headed out on 93 until I hit US 50. Once I got to 50, I turned and headed East. 15 miles later, I came to a rest at the edge of 32 outside of Albany. I turned there and headed back toward town. It took a long time, and the ride West was much more difficult due to the other sides of hills, the bright sun coming down, and the lack of preparation on my part. I had failed to put any water in the carrier or even brought a wallet so I could buy something on the way. I made it back to the house around 7:35 that evening, but since then, my legs have been jello.

Next week, I plan on trying another swim, and maybe a few bike rides, but the swim will be in a lake so I can get used to open water and prepare better.

- brad