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.