Sarah McGee's Team In Training Page
Racing to Save Lives
I am training to participate in the July 12, 2008, Lifetime Fitness Triathlon as a member of The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's Team In Training. All of us on Team In Training are raising funds to help stop leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin lymphoma and myeloma from taking more lives. I'm completing this event in honor of all individuals who are battling blood cancers. These people are the real heroes on our team, and we need your support to cross the ultimate finish line - a cure!
I'm very excited about participating in this triathlon, raising funds for a good cause, and meeting new people. I am also excited about challenging myself with the vigorous training schedule and learning exactly what my body can handle. (I can, in fact, run more than 1 block!) I have been lucky enough to have never experienced the effects of leukemia, lymphoma, or myeloma myself, but I have heard survivors tell their stories. The impact these cancers have on patients and their families is emotionally and financially devastating. I am training in honor of those patients who cannot.
My personal goal is to raise $2500 for LLS. If you donate on this web page, you will receive a confirmation email and I will be notified as soon as you make your donation. Your donation is tax deductible and 72% of the funds raised go directly to research, education and patient support. I am still accepting donations and appreciate your contribution! I hope you'll visit my web site often. Be sure to check back frequently to see my progress. Thanks for your support!
Training Updates June 22 - With only a few weeks to go, our workouts have been so much tougher! In the last 8 days, I've had 4 trainings where my heart rate monitor registered over 1000 calories burned!! The first of those was last Saturday, when we did a mock triathlon, where we did about 80% of the final distance, including our second swim in the then-freezing Lake Nokomis. It was so great to practice both transitions and biking while wet was not the problem I envisioned it to be. It was a great confidence booster. Then on Wednesday, I biked to Lake Nokomis for our swim (the lake got much warmer in just a few days), and then I biked home at sunset on one of the longest days of the year. Thursday night was a run around Lake Harriet on a humid, stinky night. After the loop around the lake, we did repeats of the hill between Harriet and Calhoun. I made it 3 times and was absolutely exhausted when I finished. Then this Saturday we did a 10 mile bike - 5k run - 10 mile bike along the River Road in St. Paul. I have to say I didn't push it on the last bike session, as I had a wedding to photograph in the afternoon! Today I took it easy by just walking around Calhoun and swimming a few laps at an outdoor pool. I bought new running shoes today and stocked up on goo and shot blocks. I'm getting nervous and excited for July 12! April 6, 2008 - Wow! After this week's workouts, I’m limping around. I missed a few trainings last week, because I headed out to Colorado for a 3-day ski weekend. The snow was fantastic, and the powder was a very different workout for my calves & hamstrings. My legs had barely recovered when I challenged myself by attending the advanced spin class on Thursday (662 calories burned, according to my HR monitor). Saturday's run was fantastic -- it was above freezing and I shaved about 6 minutes off of my previous 3 mile time. All this work is paying off. March 12, 2008 - The race is now just 4 months away! My endurance is definitely increasing ... Swimming 500 yards without stopping (and then repeating it!) and running for 10 minutes, before walking for one. I have a long way to go, but it's encouraging to see the improvements! Plus, we hit 40 degrees here in Minneapolis, for the first time in over 6 weeks. Spring is a'coming. February 27, 2008 - Just back from a fantastic two -week trip to Kiev and Israel, but that meant almost two weeks without training. (I did sneak in a swim on Shabbat in Jerusalem) There are still four and a half months to go, so I'm sure that missing 5 workouts won't matter in the end!
