For example, one of my workouts was to do 100 sit ups, then ride my trainer for 30 minutes, then do a 100 crunches, that was workout number one. Workout number two was a 30 minute trail run. I don't consider either of these really time intensive, but to fit them into my day it took some planning. Since I work downtown near the trails it only makes sense to change down there. Well in the spirit of efficiency what else would you do, but wear your running shorts under your work clothes. Yes you get some funny looks pulling off your pants in the parking lot, but normally people just shrug it off and go on their way. Other weeks I have showered at the Tech pool more than I have showered at the house. In short you just do what you have to do to fit in your workout. Forget the excuses just get creative, and find someway to get it done so that everything stays balanced.
When you have picked a race that you want to complete, depending on your goals, you find that you have to do some level of consistent work or readjust your goals. This is where determination comes into the picture. During your journey you will have to find something that helps you keep going forward no matter what. A couple of great examples of this came from our workouts this weekend.
Susan's run club, which is coached by the great Leigh Cordes at Cardinals, is one of the most dedicated groups that I have ever seen. The core group of about 10-15 has consistently trained together straight for a couple of years. A lot of you that are around these type of groups know how rare it is to see that type of dedication. All of that being said even that group has a faulty Saturday sometimes, and this Saturday it was raining and nasty and the group had every right to skip. It ended up being Leigh with her baby Carson bundled up in a stroller, Susan, and Theresa. Susan told me that Leigh said that she forgot to add on the schedule that no matter what they run (except maybe lightning). You never know what your race conditions will be, and it rarely is perfect conditions. So there are days like this past rainy Saturday that you have to go through in order to reach the finish line. As soon as Susan got back from her run I went out on my long run, and just made sure that I wore my old shoes. The option to not go was never there.
When I first started training for triathlons I remember one really cold snowy winter day. It was around 5 am and I was not being very quite with my objections about not wanting to go run, and then I hear from under the covers, "Will you quit being a such a girl and just go run!" So I did. Susan was probably not trying to encourage me as much as she was trying to get me to leave so she could go back to sleep. Either way she got me out there, and it was so calm and quite running through the snow. That was the first time of many that I was glad I went out instead of finding that easy excuse to stay in. It sometimes has seemed that the worse the conditions the better I feel at the end. We all will have those weeks that are bad, but you just forget it go to the next one.
Now I am three weeks out from the big race, I am feeling a little fatigue from another long weekend of training and life in general. Tim has really been focusing on back to back workouts on tired legs, and making sure that I am working on turning my legs over no matter how tired I am. This race is so out of my element that the only thing that is keeping me from freaking out is that after 3 years Tim knows how I will react to this kind of stress better than I do. So here is to another week of just putting in the time, because I know in the long run it will be worth it.
Thanks for reading,
Keebler
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