Heroes

Okay, I really am almost done with posting videos.

I heard about Team Hoyt from a friend and if you want some inspiration, this is where you should look for it.

Wow....just wow.

Just a few of my favorite things...well videos really.

Just a little Ironman motivation to get you through the day. Enjoy! (So what, I just learned how to post videos) :)

Bike Baby Bike

Holy Moly.

The bike continues to be the hardest of the three sports for me. Yesterday we did about 27 1/2 miles, and my quads cried like babies. Actually, come to think of it, I thought about crying like a baby myself. It was just one of those days where I struggled, swallowed a lot of pride, and ate my fair share of humble pie...neither of which is particularly appetizing.

I went on a new route, which was fantastic, the lake is starting to feel a little stale. I have to admit though, this will be the last triathlon I do on my hybrid/road bike. That stinker just wears me out completely. Thank goodness for fabulous training partner ( a.k.a. "Speedy" as I call her) keeps me motivated and laughing.

I had a lot of time to think while I was on the bike (Seriously two hours to kill, and I had to do something besides think about my quads). The one thing I have to share is that pushing yourself is part of the game of life. I have noticed since being completely thrown out of my comfort zone (college) that I have been doing more growing than I have done in a few years. Is it comfortable? No. Is it worth it? Absolutely.

I say this because I am sore, and I am tired from our cycling "adventure," but I can feel myself getting stronger. Not only physically, but mentally. I was talking to someone on my run this morning (6 miles!! 2 months ago I could barely run a mile!) and she was telling me how much of her struggle is mental. Her mind is so ready to give up long before her body is exhausted. I started to do a check this morning during our run. When I wanted to quit, was it because my body was really tired, or was it because mentally I wanted to be done?

10 out 10 times it was mental.

Think about that next time you are out of your comfort zone. I know I will!

Swim like a fish...oh how I wish

Let me impart on you some nuggets of wisdom that I gleamed from swimming.

1. No one looks good in a swim cap, especially if you have goggles on. You look like a bug, guaranteed. Not a pretty bug, like a preying mantis on steroids sort of bug.

2. Swimsuits show off your beautiful bike short tan. Mine is directly in the middle of my thigh, so yay for horizontal lines.

3. Spitting in your goggles helps keep the them from fogging up. I have yet to comes to term with spitting into something and then putting it directly on my face. (I usually end up spitting in them by mid swim practice just because I can't see through them anymore...)

4. Expect to panic in your first open water swim. If you don't, great. If you do...well seriously it is freaky how you can't see a dang thing, who knows what in heck is lurking in the water. I ran into a tree twice on our last open water swim.

5. I don't dehydrate easily during swim practice. I figure this has something to do with the 8 gallons of water that end up going up my nose.

6. Conditioner in the hair before getting in the chlorine is supposed to keep your hair from drying out. So far, it just makes my swim cap shoot off my head.

7. No man looks good in a speedo. Enough said.

No Shame

I had something of a revelation a few weeks ago...again, been meaning to blog about it.

Anyway it dawned on me that in general I consider myself to be pretty hard on myself about things. There is always that general fear of failure/embarrassment in the back of my mind...except during training. I have reached this place that I call "No Shame" and it has become my training mantra (and I have pounded it ad nauseum onto some of training partners as well)

So here is my list of things that I was worried about and how my mantra helped me overcome it:

1. I was worried that I would be last in training:

• On those days I am last...I am still miles ahead of the person sitting at home on their couch watching TV...so No Shame

2. I was worried that I would look silly in front of people:

• Again, regardless of what dumb thing I do...still miles of ahead of the person on the couch.
• I realized that when you try something new, something totally out of your comfort zone, you are going to make mistakes.
  
• Everyone in my rookie training group has done something silly/mortifying in their mind. And yet we are still out there...so No Shame.

3. I was worried that I would fall with when I bought clipless pedals:

• I did fall, and I landed on my rear. So did 5 other people in my bike group that day, we checked to make sure everyone was okay, we all laughed, brushed one another off, and got back on the bike...so No Shame.

4. I was worried that I would be the only one who didn't know what on earth I was doing:

• I'm not, most of group is made up of rookies who have never done this before. The most humbling part is even though you are good at the run, someone in the group is kicking your bum at swim practice, or bike practice. Everyone has a different strength, everyone is completely new to some part triathlon...so No Shame.

5. I was worried that my coaches would be uber unapproachable athletes:

• My coaches are uber athletes having competed in ironmans around the country, but they are completely approachable. They love to go to Happy Hour with us, joke with us, push us, and be inspired by us as we fall in love with the sport that they are already passionate about. They love coaching us and mentoring us...so No Shame.

6. I am worried that sometimes I forget to slip into my mantra of No Shame:

• Sometimes I still forget, I was definitely developing a complex over the bike portion of training. (Seriously I expected to suck at swim...no surprise, but the struggle with the bike portion caught me completely off guard) And then one of my favorite training partners reminded me...No Shame.

I love the question, what would you do if you knew you couldn't fail?

What would you do if you could make mistakes, act silly, and be yourself with No Shame?

Actually, I didn't fall off the face of the Earth

Okay, I have to be honest, it's been awhile since I blogged. Mostly because I am so busy with training for the triathlon I didn't actually have time to blog about it. Yeah, yeah no whining, I know.

Here is the thing though, I finally hit a mental block. The great thing about triathlon is that you train for three sports, and for the first 4 weeks of training I think I ran purely on endorphins (I am beginning to understand why fit people are so cheery) and excitement of doing something new. Aaaaaaand then we did our first brick workout, which involves biking and then running.

No biggie?

Oh, you are so wrong. Let me back up to say that normally we do about 20ish miles, and I ride a hybrid bike. Which means I have to work a little harder than my road bike compatriots...mentally I try to imagine how much faster my muscle fibers are growing than the people I ride with. I found that to be far more effective than straight up cussing inside my head as I am getting passed.

Anyway, we ride around the lake and it has hills here and there, and we work hard...but it was nothing compared with Celina Loop. Or Hades as I have come not-so-affectionately call it. (Just doin' my best to keep things PG) :)

-25 miles
-Hill after hill, with no downhills in site (That's ride I rode up hills both way...no really I did...somehow this place defies the laws of physics)
-And the wind...oh the wind...there are not even words to describe the headwind we were riding through most of the way
-The pavement...I considered riding in the grass/dirt....I think it would have been easier.

And then we ran 10 minutes, no I am not kidding, seriously ran 10 minutes. Needless to say it was tough, and then on Wednesday (We rode Celina on Saturday) we hopped on the bike to go our usual 20 miles around the lake. Too bad the winds were gusting at about 40 MPH and there were whitecaps on the lake. It was a bad ride.

The point of all this was to say that I hit a major mental wall on Wednesday and was disgusted with all things triathlon. As were many people in our group, so I scheduled a Happy Hour and told everyone we needed to do something together that did not involve biking/running/swimming/sweating/or being stinky. To quote a friend, "Hurray for bonding time that does not involve required head gear!"

And you know what, I am totally refreshed...it is also an easy training week which is helping. Moral of this very long story? Regardless of how much you love anything, we all need a break mentally and physically. It gives you a chance to regroup and recoup, and you come back stronger. Don't beat yourself up, I decided my body and mind were trying to tell me that we are tired, we need rest.

No Guilt, No Shame.

Also, I am, and will forever be a marketer at heart and I love a great commercial. Below is a Nike Commercial called Need Motivation? No, I am not endorsing the Nike product, I don't even own what they are selling.