3 athletic events in 1 day...crazy!Enter away message text here.

Wow...I just realized I haven't posted since January. I mean, I knew it had been a while, but I didn't know it had been that long. I guess it is because I haven't had much exciting to write about, and the things going on in my life that are interesting aren't things I was really comfortable sharing with people. So anyway, here I am, back again with new resolve, ready to share some things.
D and I broke up. This is the start of everything else that is to come in this post. So, needless to say, but I will say it anyway, I have been miserable since this happened. We have been going through this weird talking, no talking, talking limbo since then, and it just doesn't seem to get us anywhere. So anyway, yesterday we took a walk and talked, and again, didn't get anywhere. We decided not to talk anymore. Not neccesarily forever, but for now, until we are both feeling better and are "over" it, if it is possible to be over the person you have loved for so long.
So anyway, after our talk I cried quite a bit, and I called my mom and cried to her. I love that I can always count on my family to be there for me and to never make my feelings seem stupid. She was great, and finally I was able to hang up and stop crying and get out of bed to go on the computer and brush my teeth. This is the point where it gets exciting....maybe.
So at some point last night when I was aimlessly searching the internet, looking for nothing and hoping the past few weeks had never happened, I had a completely random, completely crazy though. I want to do a triathlon. Where this thought came from, I have no clue, and why I would even think of this (I hate running) is beyond me, but I did think it. I started randomly looking up some training plans and looking up what a triathlon actually entailed. I learned alot, such as there are many different types of triathlons. There are the crazy, ironman ones where you run a marathon, bike over 100 miles and swim almost 3 miles. There are the half ironmans, which is pretty self explanatory. Then there are olympic length, which I think is somewhere around 1 mile of swimming, 72 miles of biking and a half marathon. The one that I am going to do is called a sprint. It is 1/2 mile of swimming, 16.5 miles of biking and 3.1 miles of running. This may seem incredibly tame compared to the rest of them, but it is quite an athletic feat to do all three of these things in one day without stopping...or at least it is for me.
I went to bed last night with my mind spinning with triathlon goodness, thinking about all the possibilities, and wondering whether I could really do this. I had alot of trouble falling asleep, my heart was beating really fast for a long time. I know that sounds dumb, but I was really excited at the thought of doing this all for me.
So today I revisited the idea, I did some more research, and then I decided to do it. I looked up some triathlons both in New Jersey and in Massachusetts. Since I think I will be in New Jersey for the summer, I thought that was my best bet, plus then my family can come watch me. I found one that is about 30 minutes from home in New Jersey, so it is perfect, especially since they want me there at 6:30 AM! The race is the Randolph Lake Triathlon and it is on July 11,2010. I signed up for it at work today, before I could come home, crawl in bed and give up. It cost 100 dollars, so that in itself is motivation to train.
I was nervous at first that I would need all sorts of fancy equipment, but I did alot of research today, and most websites say that if you are doing it for the experience and not neccesarily to win, then it doesn't matter what kind of bike you have or if you have a fancy wetsuit, you can do it in a bathing suit and on a hybrid bike (which is what I have). This eased my mind a bit, because 100 dollars for the registration fee is alot for me, and the thought of having to shell out a bunch of money for equipment is just overwhelming. So I am going to invest in a bathing suit or 2 and a good pair of running shoes. I'm sure I will also have to get a water bottle and cage for my bike for the long rides, but other than that I should be able to make do with what I have.
So anyway, I have decided, that in order to give my blog some direction, and to keep me motivated, I am going to start using my blog as a training log that you can all read. I am going to check in each day (or mostly each day) and talk about how I feel, what I did that day, and sometimes what I ate and how it made me feel while I was training. I will share my ups and downs during training, and on the days when I feel like I can't do it, I will blog and I expect you guys to motivate me! I'm really looking forward to this experience, and I think it will be really really hard, but I also think it will be good for me to have a focus that is positive, because lately I have been feeling pretty negative about things in general. By the way, I found a training plan online, and since I have never done more than a 5k, I am going to follow it and see what happens.
So...here goes nothing.

Day 1:
Run: 9 minute warm up (5 minutes walking, 1min jog, 1 min walk x2)
6 minutes running/walking (2 min. running @5.8 on treadmill, 1 min. walking @3.5 x2)
1 minute cool down walking
15 minutes total

~60 minutes strength training (I'm not gonna put down all the exercises on here because I have them written in my other log, but essentially I hit every muscle group with light weights...the goal is endurance and strength, not bulk.)

After my workout I felt: strong...tired...hungry! I had baked halibut with cannellini beans, spinach, diced tomatoes and a few little new potatoes on the side for dinner. It was delish!

Now I'm ready for bed! Tomorrow....bike 5 miles.