One workout at a time

One workout at a time is how I am going to approach my training for the next few months. If I look ahead to the entire week or the entire month I start to feel overwhelmed. Everything is becoming a little more real each day. I know the distances I must cover for each leg of the race and I know the cutoff time. When I look at the big picture and put all these pieces together in my mind my heart starts to race and I start sweating (literally). Baby steps...that is how I need to approach my training. By focusing on each individual workout as a "baby step" towards my goal training seems more manageable.

To help me structure my training I started working with a new coach, Peter Kotland, a few weeks ago. He has the task of helping me prepare physically and mentally while at the same time making sure I remain injury free and do not overtrain. The line between being training and overtraining is a thin one and I need his guidance and experience so I remain on the training side of the line. This, I assure you, is no small task. In addition to Peter I am fortunate enough to have many other people willing to help me achieve my goal. From a ready and willing support crew, to friends and training partners willing to swim bike and run with me, I am lucky to be in the company of such good people.

The intention of this blog is not to share all the details and data of my training. I do not want to get into specifics of heart rates, paces, speeds and distances but rather I want to focus on what this training is doing to me physically and mentally. I am doing this race because I don't know if I can. That said, we will all find out together if I can do this and what I learn about myself and others along the way. Ready, set, GO!

To bring you up to speed I am now three complete weeks into training with Peter. Over the past few weeks I have been building up my endurance in all three sports. This past Saturday was the longest workout to date and I now have an idea of what it feels like to be beyond exhausted. Between waking up in the wee hours of the morning, training for almost nine hours, and doing so in hot and humid conditions I certainly felt tested. When I got up to train on Sunday I was already tired, irrationally angry, I couldn't think straight, and I was so hungry that I couldn't eat. That was frustrating to say the least. I woke up famished but nothing sounded good to me. Everything that I thought about eating made my stomach turn. Since I had a long workout ahead of me again on Sunday I knew I had to fuel appropriately or I would be reduced to nothing and be left out on the road for the vultures. I know what Peter is trying to do. I can see the logic behind pushing yourself when you are already exhausted. I am teaching my body to continue to move forward when all it wants to do is shut down and stop moving. It was just as hard mentally to train yesterday as it was physically. I am so thankful for such good friends who are willing to ride all morning with me and keep me motivated when all I really wanted to do was stop and throw my bike at an oncoming car.

Today I rest! The first rest day I have had since May 28. No recovery run, no strength training...complete, much needed rest!

"It is easier to quit then to endure." - This is nothing new and you have heard it before. It applies to so many aspects of one's life. What do you really gain by quitting though? If there is something I have learned this week it is that there will be many times during this race when I will want to quit. Quitting will be the easier option but it will not get me to my desired outcome. That leaves me with only one option...keep moving forward.