Mental Image meets reality

This morning I decided I was going to switch it up and give my backside a rest for a day, so I chose to walk. Now the longest I have walked in the last 20 years might have been a mile. This morning I decided 2 miles was going to be no problem. My mental image had me cruising around my little one mile route and maybe even occasionally breaking into a jog just for fun. The reality is my body isn't ready for that yet.

I started out good and decided after the first 1/8 mile or so that I may have been a bit optimistic to think that I could throw in some jogging, but I felt strong and was confident I could do the 2 miles and maybe even 3. This feeling pretty much persisted until I approached the 1 and a half mile mark. At that point I started realizing that a good pair of correctly fitting shoes was definitely required. I also realized that It was going to be considerably more of a challenge to complete the 2 miles than I had ever dreamed.

The good news is that I did in fact finish the 2 miles. I actually didn't have much of a choice as I was a half mile from home when I was really starting to feel it. The bad news is how weak my legs felt after the last few steps into the house! I was also sweating much more profusely than I have been on the bike. I realize now that I really did start off with a much more aggressive distance for the walk than I had for the bike. The other thing that hit me was how slow it felt completing the 2 miles in just over 37 minutes which equates to better than 3 miles an hour, but still since its the same course I ride, it seemed very slow.

I have now realized that I can't be as casual with my training for the run/walk portion of the triathlon as I was thinking. I had this mental image that said 3.1 miles is no problem. I can just wait until much closer to the race to work o nit and I'm realizing now that I need to start working on it right away.

I am going to have to adjust my training plan accordingly. I need to be walking and then walking/jogging at least 3 miles a day, 3 days per week in the near future. I'll need to analyze the plan and see how I can make my adjustments. The other thing I need to get working on is my swimming, but that's a whole other post.