On A Roll

I solved my lack of planned race and therefore lack of motivation problem.  Last week at the monthly Tucson Tri Girls meeting, I manged to get my hands on a free race entry.  As much as I wanted to walk away from the race, I just could not turn it down.  The raffle prize spoke to me, challenged me, and honestly freaked me out.  But, alas, I picked it up.  Which race could cause so much anxiety and trepidation?  It is none other than the Deuces Wild Olympic Distance Triathlon.  That's right.  It is the race that was the last nail in my racing coffin last Fall. Here is the recap of the disaster that happened in Show Low last September.

I swore off this race.  It was a terrible experience.  My toe is still not 100%.  Why on earth would I go back?

I am going back to do it right.  Last year was such a mess.  My racing was terrible and I just got by with the bare minimum required.  This year just feels different.  I feel like training for Tinkerbell proved to myself that I have the ability to do what it takes.  In this case I think it takes proper nutrition, training and rest.

I am a bit biased because of the classes I have been taking.  I never realized how important good and purposeful nutrition is to getting these races done.  Now I'm taking an exercise physiology class.  I don't know why I never realized that there was a method to training.  Up to this point, if my training schedule said "60 minute bike ride" I thought is was adequate to just ride for 60 minutes doing whatever route or intensity sounded good to me.  Apparently, there is some periodization that needs to take place in the course of training.  There are specific workouts that help to achieve a specific purpose.  It sounds so dumb when I say this all back to myself.  I suppose I am just sort of lazy and figured my body would magically figure it all out.

I know better now.

On the flip side, this might become the case where a little knowledge is a dangerous thing.  I'm just learning all this exercise science stuff and each little bit is proving to me more enlightening.  It almost feels like I am my own coach and taking ownership of my training.  It is going to take work to avoid over thinking, over analyzing and complete burn out.

Okay, back to reality.  I am only a week into this adventure but I've had some really good training sessions and feel like I have a focus.

I have simple goals.  I will go into this event with calm purpose.  I will take each training session as an opportunity to build my endurance, strength, fitness and knowledge.  I will not regret this experience.  I will work hard to embrace it all.

This brings to me to another reality I have come to face.  I am so tired of fussing about my weight.  I feel like I am just over it.  In all honesty, I am 15 lbs from my ideal weight.  Would I like to be 30 lbs lighter than I am  now? Heck yeah!  Is the wasted time, frustration and confidence worth it?  No.  For too long I have allowed this issue to be my Achilles heel.  I have used it as an excuse for not throwing myself into challenges.  How often have I used my weight as an excuse for doing everything in a mediocre way?  I'm done with it.  Really. There is nothing physically wrong with me.  I fit into decent size clothes.  I don't have any lingering medical conditions.  My nutrition isn't perfect but perfect is not a goal.  Perfection is an excuse.  I want to focus less on calories and more on nutrients.  I want to quiet that critical voice that makes me a victim.

I am ready to measure progress and success by a different standard.

And so, I'm off to try something new.  It could be a bumpy ride.  I just hope I don't kick any of those bumps along the way...again.

"That which we persist in doing becomes easier - not that the nature of the task has changed, but our ability to do has increase" ~Ralph Waldo Emerson