First Post! Let's review the details so far...

Well, here I am, blogging it up 2 years later. Sadly enough, this is not to document my adventures through Europe. Hopefully it will be just as exciting, though! I was telling Ben about my decision to sign up for triathlons and he said "you should make a blog about it!" The more I got to thinking about it, the more I realized what a good idea it is. This way I don't have to bore everybody with details by word-of-mouth and you can read along when you feel like it. Aren't I nice?

So, first thing's first. The first triathlon I've signed myself up for is the San Jose International Triathlon (http://www.japroductions.com/sjit/). Talk about expensive! These things cost a lot more than open-water swims. $100! Nothing like shelling out one hundred smackers to make you motivated to train well.

Some people have recommended doing a sprint Tri for Fun first. I think I might do this, and that one's a bit less expensive -$45.

For those of you not too in tune with triathlon distances, here's the lowdown:
Ironman (um, no way jose) 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike, marathon (26.2 mile) run
Half-Ironman (i'm still thinking no, not yet) 1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike, 13 mile run
International (also referred to as Olympic and okay, more reasonable)
1.5k (.9 mile) swim, 40k (approx 24.8 mile) bike, 10k (6.2 mile) run
Sprint (something I could do tomorrow, but still not super duper easy) 1/2 mile swim, 10-18 mile bike, 5k(3.1 mile) run

Here's the potential lineup for summer:
6/18: Tri for Fun #1 - sprint distance - Pleasanton, CA
6/28: San Jose International - Olympic distance - San Jose, CA
7/10: Tri for Real #2 - Olympic distance - Sacramento, CA
7/17: Donner Lake Triathlon - Olympic - Truckee, CA
8/7: Tri for Real #3 - Olympic - Sacramento, CA
8/14: Escape from the Rock Triathlon - Olympic; I'd love to do this one because of the location, but it's also $190!!! I can't afford that!
9/10: Pacific Grove - Olympic - Pacific Grove, CA - BEAUTIFUL!!!
11/5: Treasure Island - Olympic - middle of the SF Bay, CA. We'll see how much it costs...

I know, that's a lot of tris and a lot of money. I'm hoping to get some funding from supportive family members (HINT HINT for those of you reading). We'll see. Those are the ones I'm interested in doing, in addition to a few key open-water swims that are always awesome (Lake Berryessa, Donner Lake, Lake Sonoma, etc.). I'll probably end up doing 4 or 5 of them.

Phew. Talk about sounding like an overachiever. Oh and did I mention that in August there's a century ride I want to do over in Sebastopol? It's called the Tour d'Organics and it sound fabulous! http://www.tourdorganics.com/index.php?option=com_frontpage&Itemid=1.

But that's in August. Back to the matter at hand, which is training. I've joined an informal traithlon team with Lombardi Sports but have yet to practice with them. Timing hasn't been right. Hopefully I can get my act together and make some time for them, at least once a week.

Right now I've just been training on my own, and from my swims yesterday and today, I think I'm completely overtraining at this point. When you've been in the pool for 10 minutes and your muscles are already screaming at you that they're tired, that's a sure sign. I want to get in some good bike rides this weekend, especially since next weekend is the Lake Berryessa swim and I'm doing both the 2-mile and the 1-mile. Next week is taper time for swimming! I think I might take tomorrow off to rest. I never realized how difficult it can be to tell yourself to rest, but I'm having a hard time acknowledging it.

Well anyway, that's good for now, I think. I'll write bits and pieces when I can. If you have any good triathlon tips to share, websites of note, or books to read, please post them! I'm trying to get as much useful information as possible.

Onwards!