Week 5: Dude, where's my breakthrough?

I'm coming off six consecutive days of either running, swimming or weight workouts, something I haven't done since ... well, ever, probably. I should take a rest day tomorrow, but I feel pretty good, and it's awful tempting to take the bike out for an hour or two, especially since there's a chance of rain, which might keep the path out by the Beaches a little less crowded. Game-time decision.

I'm now five weeks in, a quarter of the way through this nonsense. On the one hand, I feel pretty good -- very good, actually -- about the progress I've made. On the other, it's still a daunting prospect. In a little more than three weeks, I start the proper training program for the race. Where am I?

Running: I can run 2.5 km. In fact, I've done four, with the occasional bit of walking. There wasn't much of a distinction, though, between "warm-up pace" and "race pace" until I started breaking up the runs into segments. There was a bit of improvement alternating running 1k and walking 100m. But I really saw a difference Thursday, when I did weights. I ran 500m to warm up -- and if you told me a year ago I'd be running 500m to warm up for something, rather than in total for a year chasing buses, I'd have laughed myself silly -- and cool down, and found I was traveling at about a 4:30 per km clip, rather than six-minute-plus pace I was keeping running the sessions uninterrupted. I think breaking the runs into segments is definitiely going to pay dividends.

Swimming: At the beginning of this process, I could not swim. I wasted two weeks on denial. Since then, I've developed a head-out-of-the-water breast stroke that will probably get me through. But it's inefficient and exhausting; if I can learn a more effective front crawl, I'll have a better time (not a primary concern) and should, in theory, be less exhausted when I finish the swim leg (very much a primary concern, right behind not drowning).

So I'm trying to work the crawl in, slowly, the way I got comfortable with that weird stroke I'm using now. I spent most of today's swimming session doing 10m stretches of front crawl, focusing on arm motion and breathing. I did a couple 25m lengths of breast stroke with my head under water, and did a couple 50m stretches with my head out. My plan for next week is, do the 25s front crawl, the 50s head-in breast stroke, and the 100s head-out breast stroke. The following week, the 25s and 50s are front crawl, the 100s head-in. And the week after that, it's all front crawl. Which takes me right up to the beginning of training.

There's still no appreciable difference between warm-up and race pace. And I haven't done any outdoor swimming, which is intimidating because, frankly, I loathe cold water. But there'll have to be a splash or two out at Cherry Beach, apparently.

Riding: I've been out once this year. Not good. Once the training starts, I'll probably have to do much of the bike stuff on a stationary at the gym, which does not appeal to me; a 40-minute session on a stationary bike is about enough to bore me to tears. The gym has spinning classes Monday nights, right after yoga, and it might behoove me to take those.

In summary: Going into Week 6 cautiously optimistic.