To triathlon or not triathlon...

I've been going back and on something this week.  I was looking at the schedule of summer races on the New York Road Runners website when I noticed that there was a sprint triathlon in Queens on the 23rd of July.  As you know, I've been incorporating a lot of biking and swimming into my exercise routine lately and I've been running since last November.  So I figured, why not attempt to do all three in one race?

I've been thinking this might be a good new challenge for me.  This particular sprint triathlon is a 400m swim at an indoor pool, then a 13 mile bike ride through the Flushing Meadows Corona Park and finishing with a 5K run.  I've been able to do all of these accomplishments on their own (well, still building up to the swimming distance, but I'm close to doing it without taking a break!) but I haven't yet attempted any of these together.  I know I could do it, but I'm honestly a bit worried as to what this will do in terms of my weight loss.  I've taken a look at the training schedule and honestly I'm currently doing more than what the training calls for.  I guess I will just have to be super strict with my diet during these eight weeks to make sure that I do in fact lose weight.

I also just have to reiterate how much I am absolutely loving swimming.  Today was my fourth time going and I can already tell how much my endurance has improved.  When I first went, I could barely complete a few laps without having to stop and take a breather.  I was fine with it, because I knew I would get better.  I honestly just didn't realize I would get better at it so quickly!  I think I finally found a groove today because I cut down on my number of "breather" breaks significantly.  I knew that the swim for the triathlon was 400m, so I had that as my goal to do before I took a rest.  I came close!  I got 3/4 of the way finished before I just couldn't move my arms anymore. 

Doing these laps reminds me of how much I used to love to swim when I was kid.  All summer long I used to love to go to the neighborhood pool and swim and jump off the diving board and just have fun.  By the time I was in high school, I had become so self conscious of how I looked in a swimsuit, that I pretty much refused to ever go swimming.  I think that from the beginning of high school through this past year, I probably went swimming 10 times.  Maybe a little more, but certainly not much.  I am loving it so much, I'm actually curious about finding a person who could give me pointers so that I can improve my form and strengthen my different strokes.  I've been doing primarily freestyle thus far, and I would really like to get better at the breast stroke and back stroke.  Butterfly I don't really feel the need to perfect.  Anyone know of someone who could help me become a better swimmer?  I think the gym as adult swim lessons, but I think that might be for people who can't swim at all... Maybe not.  I suppose I should look into it.

OH!  Also, I have decided that I'm going to chop all my hair off.  I've been growing it out for the past year and I'm at that point that I always get to...  I just pull it back everyday into a ponytail because it just takes too long to do.  And it never looks as good as I want it to, so I'm chopping it OFF!  How short you may ask?  You'll just have to wait and see!  I'm getting it done on Saturday, so I'll be sure and post pics afterwards!