Sunday, Jan. 3rd, 2010

I woke up today earlier than I normally wake up to go to work. And it was a Sunday! Moreover, the Sunday after New Years! Was I really waking up to my alarm buzzing at 6:15am? Yep. This would be my life. I wasn’t just getting up because I made some crazy New Years Resolution to try to get in shape, etc, etc, that only lasts a month max. No, this would be my life for the next 8 months and I was ready for it. I mean, I actually took the 1st off of working out completely and on the 2nd just went mountain biking and hiking, so this wasn’t me trying some crazy plan just because the date changed to January 1st.

I drove the hour to practice, watching the sun rise and jumped into the swimming pool for practice starting at 8am. Since I’m fairly strong at swimming, I swim with the Advanced group. We did over 3000 meters today (more than I think I’ve probably ever did in my life), and I loved every minute of it. I love being in the pool and the feeling that swimming gives me. I hate not being able to breath (which is about every second), but I love gliding through the water. Not gonna lie, my arms did get tired today, but I just kept on pushing through. It’s crazy when I swim because every stroke that I feel like I’m going to die from being out of breath, I somehow manage to make it to the wall and feel revived after only a few seconds rest. It’s all I need to get back on track. Swimming is the one event in this crazy sport that I finish and want more of!!!

On to the bike—a chill 20 miles through the valleys. The wind was tough to push through at points but when Coach Simon let me draft off him at the end, I was flying at 25 miles an hour. I fell off his pull when the last hill came and my legs and endurance died out. Flat out, I was tired. I haven’t done the bike workouts and it catches up to you. It was only 20 miles yet I was counting the seconds to get off. After changing, off to the 3 mile run. The first mile was uphill and I felt like a turtle. Or a banana slug. After twisting my ankle the day before and not running consistently over the past couple months, my endurance lacked its skills. All I thought about was, how the hell can I ever run 26.2 miles (a marathon) after biking 112 miles and swimming 2.4??? I’m tired already going about 1/10 of that distance! Shoot man, am I really doing this?

Yep, I’m really doing it. I just tell myself to keep on putting one arm in front of the other in the swim and one foot in front of the other on the bike and run. If I keep moving forward, I have to get somewhere, right? It’s all about keeping it going.

We also did core work today, which reminded me that I need to start doing that also… I’ve let too many things slip already and feel so behind a lot of people on my team—people who went to all those practices that I missed. I’ve got a lot of work ahead of me and a lot of work that I cannot just let slip past. But, just because I’m behind, doesn’t mean that I have to let it slip anymore. I still have plenty of time. I’ve got to keep a positive attitude and keep going. Like what my friend said when she was first diagnosed with Leukemia: PMA—Positive Mental Attitude. That is how you survive and that is how you beat any battle or struggle you go through. If she can keep that attitude while battling cancer, I can keep it while training to become a Vine(wo)man.