Hello Hello

Hi everyone, my name is Melanie.  I've been pondering doing a triathlon for such a long time it's ridiculous, but now I'm committed to going to Miami in November to meet up with a close friend from the Army and we're going to do the Miami Man (olympic distance) together.  Tomorrow I'll be starting the "16 week run focused" program for the olympic distance.  This'll be my first. 

I was an athletic little kid, and played soccer until volleyball took over my life in high school and college.  Then I spent several years as a wildland firefighter, and discovered that I'm not the speediest runner out there, trying to keep up on crew runs.  Those guys were 6-minute-milers, and I'm much happier closer to 8 1/2 or 9.  After that there was the Army, which was physically quite easy compared to fire- in fire, the physical standards are the same for men and women, regardless of age.  

These days I xc ski in the winter, bike in the summer (actually I'm more partial to mountain biking than road biking, truth be told), and I'm still not a very good runner.  A couple years ago I trained for and rode a 200-mile road ride, and though the event wasn't a race, they still kept track of places, and I was the second woman to finish.  I'm also a pretty mediocre swimmer, but I'm quite strong, so I suppose if I ever learn proper technique, that will help.

Ever since I started trying to improve my speed and endurance 12 years ago (when I was getting ready to start on my first hotshot crew), I've wondered about something:  I have a freakishly slow heart rate, and it is VERY difficult for me to raise it.  Brutal, hard effort for me is 155-160.  Once, when I was 25 years old, I saw my HR make it all the way to 173 on a crew run, where I was running so hard to keep up with the guys I was beyond pain.  I'm 36, and have a big, muscular build (which probably explains the running).  I weigh about what I weighed in high school, which is 168-173...I think I could stand to lose 10 pounds, but much below 160, I'm pretty skinny.  Anyone have any thoughts on the slow heart rate?

Thanks in advance; I'm enjoying the site.
M