The Beach and the Big Chainring

       I have a confession.  I'm scared.  Like really scared that I'm way behind on my training.  I have a coach, and he assures me I'm not behind on my training.  At all.  But here's the thing, I joined this Facebook group (I know, I know, nothing good ever happens on Facebook) for Ironman Florida, and those people, well, they're crazy, I tell ya!  They are out there doing 4-5 hour rides on the weekend and running marathons and swimming 2-3 miles/workout.  And I'm, well, not.  My coach has me focused on shorter workouts right now, building speed.  But I'm scared that because I'm not doing these long workouts now, I won't be able to do them come November.        My coach says we aren't doing the long workouts right now because we are trying to prevent burnout.  I get it a nine month training plan (as it would be if I started race-specific training right now) would burn me out, no doubt about it. ...

    Sometimes I wake up in the morning and the last thing I want to do is put on that bathing suit laying next to my bed, put on another pile of clothes, and go to the pool to get my swim done before work.  Actually that's the case most of the time on swim mornings, not just sometimes.  And on those days, I'm tempted to whine and complain about how getting up early is hard, and I'd rather sleep, my body exhausted, and I'm freakin' starving.  But here's the thing.   I signed up for this.   No one is making me do it.  If I wanted to, I could absolutely stay in my bed and take a shower in my own shower instead of at the gym.  But I don't, because I want to do this.  I signed up for this.      I think it's kind of the in vogue thing for people who sign up for endurance events to take to social media to "complain" about how hard their workout or their life is.  But I don't really get that and I don't want to be that pers...

My best running pal.      Tonight I had a 45 minute run on the schedule.  Steady pace, with a few 20 second accelerations.  Since it was raining, I decided I would go to the gym for my run.  There are people who dislike the treadmill.  And then, there's me.  I despise that machine with every fiber of my being.  But, I know, everyone complains about hating the treadmill, so I'm going to leave it at that.      Suffice it to say that the belt of the treadmill sucked my will to fight out of me and I walked out of the gym 25 minutes later feeling defeated.  After a bad workout yesterday on the bike, I was feeling pretty bad about my training.  I drove to my parents' house to pick up Dooley.  As I was driving, I realized something.  The night wasn't over, and therefore, it's not a failed workout unless I decide to quit.  Sure I quit on the treadmill, but I hadn't quit on my run yet. Drenched an...

     Right now, there isn't a lot to say about the day-to-day workouts.  As I've mentioned before, these aren't landmark, record-breaking workouts.  They are just more of the "get it done, work hard, and move on" variety right now.  And I'm good with that.  But when you are blogging about your training, and your training is completely unremarkable, I guess the blogging will be a little irregular too.      I've been getting back in the pool more often and doing more focused workouts there.  Oh hey, out of swimming shape, nice of you to join us.  But I know that this is what it takes.  And also, I forgot how much I enjoy swimming and working hard in the pool.  I think by the end of last season I'd done a bit too much black line staring and was ready for a little break from structured workouts in the water.  And I got it.  And now, I'm ready to work hard again and I look forward to the little blue boxes on Tr...

     Last night, I opened up my training schedule and my first thought was, "this can't be for me.  My coach must have put the wrong schedule up.  Maybe it's for one of his other athletes."  After going through my list of excuses for why this couldn't possibly be for me, I took a step back and realized, not one of those workouts is  that hard.  Sure some of them are going to be difficult but certainly not impossible.  And yes, there's a lot of running in there for someone who has recently been dealing with an overuse injury (yes, I'm working with a doctor, and no, this isn't me "running through" an injury).      But as I was dreading these workouts and processing my excuses, I realized something.  I was thinking of myself as the old me.  The me that had trouble running a mile. The girl that balked at the idea of any kind of activity short of sitting and watching TV. That girl. I hate this picture of me (left), ...

     This week has brought no big revelations in training.  Just more running, biking, and a little bit of swimming.  Oh, and lots of focus on my nutrition.  It's amazing the difference focusing on your nutrition makes on your workout.  But, 5 days does not an expert make, nor does it even really give a true sense of whether the changes are sustainable (they seem like it, because they aren't HUGE changes...but again, it's been five days) and whether they will work long-term.  But I guess that's the nature of training.  Some weeks are great and are huge milestones, some weeks are awful and it seems unclear how everything will get done and every workout is a struggle to get through, and other weeks, like this week, you just put in the time, log the miles, and move on.        But this week I made time to do one of my favorite things in the world.  Take my dog for a run with me.  I usually try to take him on runs 1...

     Nutrition.  That's a loaded word.  Well, it is for me.  And my lack of being concerned with anything having to do with that word is how I got started on this journey, but that's another story for another day.        In my training comments last week, I noted that a particular workout "felt pretty hard."  My coach's response?  Not exactly what I wanted to hear.  Dream world scenario he would have said "great!  Rosalyn, that means you are doing this exactly right."  What he really said:  "[this workout] should be challenging but not difficult...depending on the day. ... Your current state of fatigue from previous days of training plus rest, nutrition, hydration, motivation all come into play."  And all I kept thinking in my head is "my nutrition?  Well that explains it, since what I've been putting in my body recently (past month or so) is essentially anything but nutrition.  In fac...