Emily Sutton: Pump It Up & Don't Drink the Water

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Hello, friends! I hope you are gearing up for a fun, safe 4th of July weekend! U-S-A! U-S-A! I've had a pretty good training week and have a few things to share.

Monday: 2700 m swim at OCCC, averaging 10 mins/500m

Tuesday: 1:20 run around Lake Hefner. Due to a cold front, we were a few degrees "cooler" and the winds were light. I slept in a bit since it was storming that morning so I didn't start running until 12:30pm. It was very HOT by the end of my estimated 6 or 7 miles. Thankfully a TNT friend, Taylor, spotted me along the way while cycling and let me have a drink of his water!

I may need to invest in one of those water bottle belts. Apparently Fergie did. Awesome.

Wednesday: Cycling at Lake Stanley Draper

One of my new TNT buddies, Heather, and I met up for a ride at Lake Stanley Draper since we go about the same pace. Afraid of falling again (read the last entry!), I only clipped in once and didn't clip out until we finished. Each loop around the lake is about 14 miles of hilly terrain and we did a little over 2 in a little over 2 hours! 30 miles! That's the most I've ever done! YAY! I couldn't have done it without a buddy. I likely would have stopped before then...either from my butt hurting, boredom, or both. We talked almost the entire time, except steep hills when we were out of breath. Towards the end of the ride both of us were hungry. I am going to practice using those 100 calorie gooey gels next ride since we will have to refuel several times during the half Ironman.

To celebrate our 30 miles, we stopped at 7-11 for gummy bears and slurpees! Okay, so it's not healthy but the sugar helped after burning a lot of calories! We agreed to do this again after her wedding and honeymoon. We may even go for an extra lap the next time around!

Thursday: Pro Bike & Open Water Swim

Last entry I talked about "Astronaut John" at Pro Bike teaching me how to use clipless pedals. This time I returned to the shop for several items and a free tutorial on how to change a flat tire.

In this picture he's attaching my new bike computer. It cost around $30 and tells average speed, max speed, distance, ride time, and time of day. I intentionally chose the one without temperature because in Oklahoma summertime, I don't want to know! John says from his experience, wired computers have less problems than wireless...so wired it is!

I also purchased a bike pump for around $35. The first one we used kept flying out, making a loud noise and freaking me out! Thankfully he found another one that worked like a charm. He says I should check the pressure on my tires about once a week.

This is not a picture of my purchases but quite similar. I bought a flat tire repair kit, including plastic sticks to help pull the tire off, a mini CO2 bottle for quick inflation, new tube (hidden under the rubber to actually inflate the tire - I did not know this until I got a flat!), and bag to put all of this in along with my car keys, cell phone, and possibly snacks.

In a recent entry I wrote about my first flat. Thankfully I was with a group of cyclists so they fixed it in a cinch. If I had a flat riding alone, I would have been screwed! So I had "Astronaut John" teach me how to do it. It's too long of a process to write about here, but there are plenty of tutorials on youtube or just ask another veteran cyclist. The only intimidating part for me is figuring out how to properly put the chain back on and off. John suggests first putting all of your gears on the lowest resistance setting before fixing your flat. I will try to remember all of that! Hopefully I don't get another flat anytime soon. Before heading out the door, John hooked me up with 2 gels (chocolate agave and raspberry) and Chamois Butt'r on the house! THANKS!

Open Water Swim

So I read on TRI -OKC's facebook wall that there was a splash'n'dash (swim and run) practice at 6:30pm in Edmond Park. I have never been to Edmond Park, so I am not familiar with the area. I paid my $6 park entry fee and could not find the club for the life of me!

I found 2 beaches and neither one of them had triathletes. Triathletes are usually easy to spot by 70.3 stickers on their car. Defeated, I decided to make the best out of the situation. I knew I couldn't bike or run because we were experiencing record heat that day and the temperature was still around 100 degrees.

So I decided to grin and bear it! Open water swim time by myself! I'm not going to lie, my biggest concern was the water quality of Arcadia Lake. It's mucky looking and I've heard some horror stories of people throwing trash and dirty diapers into this lake. I just made sure to keep my mouth closed swimming!