Amy works on her stroke and endurance to ready for triathlon

My training schedule is a work in progress.

I've been loosely following an online beginner's schedule that focuses more on building endurance than on speed, which is my goal. But I'm also flexible, and on any given day, I'll do whatever activity I feel like. In the course of a week, I'll try to bike, swim and run at least twice. Not that I always reach that goal.

Since training started, I've been working out five or six days a week. During the week, I head straight to the gym after work; on weekends, I work out in the morning. I try to do some cardio each session and strength training twice a week. Not that I always reach that goal, either.

But with training about halfway over, I'm starting to get scared -- particularly about the swimming portion of the race. By June 22, I'll need to be able to swim half a mile, or about 16 laps in my gym pool. Up to this point, I've only been doing 1½ laps.

During my strength session, I ask my trainer Matt Bailey if I should hire a professional swim coach for a few lessons. (Matt helps me with core-building workouts; while he swam in college and has once reviewed my stroke, he isn't a swim instructor.)

"Your stroke's not bad," he says. "I don't think you need to hire anyone. What you need is build confidence. You just need someone to kick your (butt). You just need to go in and do it. Just do it!"

Matt, it appears, is getting a bit impatient with me. But he's right. At any given time, whining and complaining is much easier than just doing it.

His words ringing in my ears, I hit the pool after our 1-hour session, swimming three laps, or six lengths of the pool. That's about double the distance I'd been doing, and it's not as bad as I thought. When my legs felt like they were going to explode, I switched to breaststroke for a quarter lap.

With the increased distance, I can feel my stroke improving; my head doesn't tilt up anymore when I breathe and I point my toes when kicking, which forces my hips to do more of the work.

When I finish, I feel a sense of disbelief. For the first time, I feel I may just be able to get 16 laps! Not anytime soon, mind you, but eventually.

I swim two more times this week. On Friday, I do six laps and Sunday, I do eight. I'm halfway there! Had I known the answer to my swim problem was to just stop being a baby, I might have dug in earlier.

For me, swimming, like running, is always hardest the first few minutes. But once I establish a rhythm, it gets easier. And when I finish, I never feel I'm going to pass out from exhaustion.

Other reflections on my overall progress: Working out is starting to feel and come more naturally. During this week's rest day, I actually -- dare I say -- miss working out.

I've noticed I have more energy. Always a problem sleeper, I'm not waking up multiple times during the night anymore. And I just feel happier.

The past few months have been full of change for me and working out has been an anchor. It's something I can count on, and it's something that always makes me feel better. While there are many, many days I don't feel like going to the gym, there's never been a day I worked out and wished I hadn't.

Plus it feels awesome to be training for something much larger than me, for something many people will never do in their lifetimes. And I'm doing it they only way I can -- a tiny bit of progress day by day, week by week.

Eating is the area in which I haven't been as consistent. While losing weight is not my main goal -- finishing the race is -- I still would like to shed a few pounds. I'm 5 foot 3 and weighed 127 pounds when I began training; I'd like to get down to about 120. But despite working out for the past month and a half, I haven't really lost any weight.

Next week, it'll be time to zero in on (or should I say, away from) food.

Daily Herald staff writer Amy Boerema is training for the U.S. Women's Triathlon Series race on June 22 in Naperville. You can also follow her progress at www.dailyherald.com.