tri

so as i mentioned below and as i've been twittering frantically about, i signed up for a triathlon. i'm still hazy as to why i did this. it wasn't like i was under pressure to. nobody said, "hey catherine, i will pay you $100 to do a triathlon." no friend was nagging me to do one with them. i have no particular fitness goals as i do plenty of other working out as is. I DON'T REALLY KNOW I GUESS I'M AN IDIOT? and now i'm terrified. (actually i can think of a reason; i am too scared to do another marathon. too scared of stress fracturing myself again, that is. and i am in fact prone towards wanting some sort of goals. and this was new and shiny and whatever. also did you know that two people, including jewel, had to drop out of dancing with the stars before it even started because they injured themselves from overtraining, in jewel's case stress fracturing both her legs?!?! i learned this from my mom this weekend as i was telling her how i was easing back into running. thanks for the info, mom.)

in fact i am so ill-prepared for this all that a) i don't even know the distances involved and b) i DON'T EVEN KNOW WHICH TRIATHLON I'M DOING. i hear it's in new jersey. what. the. hell.

i signed up with the dc tri club for their new triathlete program. these folks seem very nice even if their new web site is slightly difficult to navigate. but today they posted the training calendar and oh my god? there is so much? like, all this swimming. you're working out six days a week, doing at least 30-50 minutes of either running, biking or swimming. well, you are saying, catherine, that's what you get when you sign up for a freaking triathlon, doofus, you don't triathlete your way to the finish line on your couch with a big of cheetos. though, wouldn't that be awesome.

anyways, i'm not particularly worried about the running (as long as the leg is okay and i take it a bit easy) or the biking. but the swimming scares me, loads. i don't know how to swim properly. sure, i can fake freestyle my way across a lap like anyone, but i can't SWIM SWIM. i'm nearly always gasping for breath by the time i get to the end of a lane, and i don't think it's because i'm out of shape; it's just because i'm sure my technique is terrible and i'm not breathing properly.

anyways, if anyone wants to teach me how to swim, i'm game. if you would also like to outfit my bike with aerobars, whatever those are, i'd be eternally grateful.

man. the next few months are going to be interesting.