Tri Training Week 12 - Almost there!

Since my vacation cut into the biggest weeks of my training, I'm repeating the two peak weeks.  Overall, week 12 was a VERY good week - I hit 51 total miles and boy did I feel it by the end of the weekend.

Monday 7/23/12 - Scheduled OFF - Completed Run 3.15 miles in 34:49. I needed this run - it was my first non-walking run of this distance since I got injured.

Tuesday 7/24/12 - Scheduled Swim 0:30/Strength 0:30 - Completed 1000 yd swim in 29 minutes and a very hard 30 min Nike Training Club workout (this app is awesome if you have an iPhone or iTouch).  The strength workout killed my hamstrings and they hurt all week.

Wednesday 7/25/12 - Scheduled Run 0:30 - Completed 3.15 mile run in 34:11. 

Thursday 7/26/12 - Scheduled Swim 0:30/Strength 0:30 - Completed Bike 10 miles in 44 minutes.  I hadn't been on my bike since before vacation and was itching to ride.

Friday 7/27/12 -  Scheduled OFF - Completed OFF

Saturday 7/28/12 - Scheduled Bike/Run Brick (1:05/0:20) - Completed a great Bike/Run Brick! I biked 15.19 miles in 1:05:22 (13.9 mph average) and then knocked out a 2 mile run in 21:03 (10:31 pace!).  I felt great through this whole workout.

Sunday 7/29/12 - Scheduled Bike/Run Brick (1:00/0:25) - Completed Bike/Run Brick but struggled a little. I biked 14.66 miles in 1:01:30 (14.3 mph average) on a hillier course than Saturday.  I also had a near-miss baby crash where I hit a curb and twisted my foot and ankle a bit getting my foot out of the cage (which I did before I tipped over).  The run after this was also a little hilly and mentally I was not into it.  I ran 2.21 miles in 25 minutes but I had a couple walk breaks and mentally just felt drained.  


Four runs this week, including back-to-back bricks, and nearly crashing on Sunday really knocked me for a loop.  It doesn't help that I haven't been sleeping well (for many reasons and none that I can really do anything about) and I'm starting to feel run down.  Yesterday I was more than willing to respect my rest day and not work out.  This coming week is going to be another hard training week with back-to-back bricks again but the workouts are shorter and one is a swim/bike brick.  


I'm getting excited for my tri, but also nervous.  I still know nothing about transition and I'm starting to stalk weather.com already (so far it looks warm but dry).  Any veteran triathletes have any advice for me?  One thing you wish you had known before your first tri?

Monday Motivation: Finish What You Started

My BFF, Angie, sent me this today. Feel free, everyone, to remind me of this on 8/11 when I compete in my first triathlon :)

Have you started something great?


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Fitness Friday: Dedication

Today I made it all the way to the gym for a swim, only to realize my gym bag was still on the counter at home. I could've stayed at home when I got back there but instead I grabbed my bag and drove back to the gym. I spent more time driving to & from the gym today, but I still got in my workout.

What choices will you make today to show your dedication to becoming the most fit you that you can be?

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3 for Thursday: Thea's Question (@ItsMeVsMe)

You might recall that before I left for vacation I was working through a bunch of questions - tidbits of randomness about myself you could say.

In honor of my girl, Thea's, birthday (Happy Birthday, babe!), today I'm answering HER question(s)! She came up with 2 questions, but one has more than one answer so I think I'm still good on the "3 for Thursday" theme. How's that for alliteration!

Thea wrote, "HAPPY BLOGIVERSARY!!!!! 

I have two questions: 

1)How much do you love me? 

2)If Disney was wiped off the face of the Earth, after an appropriate mourning period, where would your new "go to" vacation destination be?"

Well, easy question first.

Thea, to paraphrase the words of the Little Nutbrown Hare, I love you to the moon and back!  You have always been one of my biggest supporters and you're never afraid to sic the Weightloss Mafia on me or tell me to love myself just the way I am when I need to get my head out of my ass.  For that, I love you to the moon and back :)  SMOOCHES!!! 

The second question is so much harder!

First of all, if Disney was wiped off the face of the Earth, I don't think there would ever be an appropriately long mourning period!  It would be absolutely devastating.  (And since I have plans to visit in November and run Wine and Dine, Disney isn't allowed to disappear until AFTER that race, cuz I'm selfish like that.)

So, where would I choose to go?  I think it depends on many factors.  Am I going alone, with my friends, loved ones, kids?  I think the destination would change.  Let's pretend, for the sake of needing to come up with 2 more things for Thursday, that I'd be going with my kids for one trip and as a romantic get-away for the other.

I would love to take my kids to Europe.  Probably England, Germany, and Belgium (because I like their beer - sue me).  I think it would be amazing for them to experience some different cultures but the areas aren't so foreign (like going to Cambodia or something) that they'd still be able to find foods to eat and we'd be able to communicate without too much difficulty.  These are also countries that I've never visited, so we'd be experiencing them for the first time together.

If I was to take a romantic trip somewhere (or even go someplace alone for that matter) I'd want it to be a tropical, quiet, private beach where I can sit under a palm tree because I'm pasty, there will be no tanning going on and sip some rum punch while the ocean breezes wash over me.  I've always thought Fiji would be nice, or maybe the Galapagos Islands.  Somewhere there is good SCUBA diving or snorkeling would be nice, too.

So there are my 3 Things for Thea Thursday answers :)

1. I love her to the moon and back
2. I'd take my kids to Europe
3. I'd love to escape to a secluded beach somewhere

Now, everyone needs to go over to Thea's place and give her some birthday love!

Where is your dream vacation destination?

Wordless Wednesday: Sore or Sorry?

I choose sore, what do you choose?

Tri Training "Mid Cycle Taper" & vacation photos

Since I was on vacation last week, I'm combining weeks 10 and 11 of training today (and let's face it, the "training" while on vacation was minimal at best so it doesn't warrant it's own post).  Here's how it all played out:

Week 10 Build/Recovery
Monday 7/9/12: Planned Rest - Completed Rest
Tuesday 7/10/12: Planned Run 0:25/Strength 0:30 - Completed Run 0:35 min and about 3.4 miles. Stopped and took a break at the midpoint that wasn't included in the time, plus my app didn't record in right so the data is a total guess.  Not sure what happened with strength training, but I didn't do it.
Wednesday 7/11/12: Planned Swim 0:25 - Completed Swim at Lynn's Lake 0:29 minutes (the OCD in me is a little perturbed that I didn't keep swimming for another minute)
Thursday 7/12/12: Planned Bike 0:40 - Completed Nada.  I spent the morning cleaning house before I hit the road for vacation.  We'll call vacuuming "cross training".
Friday 7/13/12: Planned OFF - Completed many hours of walking around the memorials in DC. This was my favorite picture of the night and I'm not even sure which memorial it is. Sad, huh?

Saturday 7/14/12: Planned Swim 0:25 - Completed An awesome meetup with 4 of my best girls.  We spent the day at the National History Museum laughing and catching up, while trying to keep track of the 5 children we had with us.  You'd think the 1:1 ratio would have been easy - it wasn't!

Sunday 7/15/12: Planned Bike 1:00 - Completed a shit ton more walking around DC.  I don't even remember where I went.

Week 11 Peak (oops!)
Monday 7/16/12: Planned Rest - Completed more walking.  I think this was the day I went to the National Archives (where photos are not allowed) and then the American History Museum. Does anyone know if there is an easy way to tell when photos on your camera roll were taken because I feel dumb when I can't figure it out.

Tuesday 7/17/12: Planned Swim 0:30/Strength 0:30 - Completed a bucket list watchless run around DC :) 1 mile warm up/cool down walk between the Metro and Marine Corps Memorial, then about a 4.5 mile run/walk from the Marine Corps Memorial, past Arlington Cemetery, along the Potomac, and out to Roosevelt Island and back.  It was hotter that Hades and mentally I really struggled with feeling like I "needed" to take walk breaks, but the scenery was awesome. The bonus to this run was running into a very friendly runner before I left who clued me into a ceremony that was to take place at the Marine Corps Memorial that night.  I got to see the Marine Corps Drum and Bugle Corps Marching Band and the silent drill team.  Mostly I took video to show the kids when I got home.

Wednesday 7/18/12: Planned Run 0:30 - Completed a 3+ hour drive to meet up with Kirsten at the beach! On the way I stopped at Dogfish Head Brewery for lunch and had probably one of the best crab cakes (not to mention the Namate Belgian-style white beer) that I've ever had.  ZOMG!

Thursday 7/19/12: Planned Swim 0:30/Strength 0:30 - Completed Run/Walk 0:40. Kirsten and I got up early (after a night of booze - awesome pre-run strategy) to attempt 3 miles.  I think she could've done it.  I crapped out after 1.5.  We walked and had a great talk on the way back to the beach house. Then we spent the morning on the beach (that's her dad in the picture watching the ocean - isn't he so cute?!?) and were treated to a storm and DOUBLE RAINBOW that night! We also headed to the beach at sunset for a bonfire and s'mores.  YUM!

Friday 7/20/12: Planned Rest - Completed 0:30 min Atlantic Ocean Open Water Swim :) The waves and dark sky were insane and for a lot of the swim I felt like I was on some kind of weird aquatic treadmill because I'd look up and realize I hadn't moved, even though I'd been swimming. The day was capped off by more beach lounging, a trip to Ocean City, MD for Thrasher's fries, and a few more beers.

Saturday 7/21/12: Planned Bike/Run Brick (1:05/0:20) - Completed a long-ass drive to a hotel just outside Pittsburgh through torrential downpours (um-the Bay Bridge is scary on a GOOD day!), with a stop in Baltimore to have lunch with my friend Meg at a funky little place called Papermoon Diner. ZERO exercise unless you count sitting on your ass for almost 12 hours.

Sunday 7/22/12: Planned Bike/Run Brick (1:00/0:25) - Completed the rest of my drive home.  Another 6 or 7 hours in the car and then I crashed on the couch so another day with no exercise.

Needless to say, I will be repeating week 11 of tri-training since my race is in 3 weeks (eeekk - technically less than that now!) and I need to be more prepared than I am.  The plan I've been following has a 2 week taper, which seems a bit excessive for a sprint tri, so I'm going to cut out one of those weeks.  It'll work itself out. I hope.

Overall, I didn't do too bad on fitting in workouts over vacation.  I actually completed 3 official workouts which is much more than I would have done 5 years ago on vacation.  Plus, if you count all the walking around DC, there was even more.  Sadly, the scale was not too kind to me yesterday morning (up 2.5 pounds I think), so I am getting back on the bandwagon because my weight before I left for vacation was bad. Now it's even worse.  Oh well, I had an amazing time and got to spend a lot of it with some of my best friends.  What more could I ask for?

Road Tripin' Part 2

I'm heading home from Delaware today.  I highly doubt I will be able to make the 13-14 hour drive home without needing to sleep somewhere, so if any Pittsburgh or Cleveland bloggers wanna let me crash for the night, hit me up, tweet me, let me know! Just kidding not really.

Wordless Wednesday

Today I drive from DC to the Beach.  Only about 3 hours, so definitely not as bad as Friday's drive!

Menu Plan Monday: On Vacation

One of the best parts of vacation is not needing to grocery shop and plan a menu.  I don't have to think much.  I have no idea what the hubby and kids are eating this week and frankly, I don't care :)  My goal is to not be 5 pounds heavier when I get home next week. In the meantime, my brain is still on vacation.

photo credit

Do you plan your meals out when on vacation, or just wing-it and eat where ever and whenever you're hungry?

Road Trip!

This is me today - I'm spending about 12+ hours driving. Alone. On Friday the 13th. So if you could shoot up some prayers for a safe trip I'd appreciate them!

What's the farthest you've ever driven alone?  Do you have a "driving limit" - as in anything over a certain drive is an automatic plane ticket?  I used to be that way, but couldn't swing the airfare this time.

Thankful Thursday: VACATION

Later today I'm leaving for a little bit of "me" time.  Here's my thanks for the day:

• I'm thankful my children are pretty much self-sufficient so they can take care of themselves (for the most part) while I'm gone while the hubby is at work.  But if anyone wants to drive my daughter to diving practice all next week let me know since we haven't figured that out yet.
• I'm thankful for a job that lets me have summers off so I can go away for a week without worrying about work.
• I'm thankful that I will get to meet up with a bunch of friends this week and then spend a good chunk of my vacation with my best girl.  On a beach. At the ocean.  SQUEEEEE!!!! Now where did I put that sunscreen?

Things will be pretty quiet around here.  I might have a few posts set to pop up just so y'all don't forget about me, but basically I'm taking the week off from blogging too.  Even though I have the technology and can blog from my phone, I don't plan to use it.

I'm sure lots of pics will be posted to Facebook, twitter and instagram - so follow me if you're the stalker type a friend!

See ya in a week or two!

Wordless Wednesday

Beautiful day for a swim. Or to hang out on the beach :)



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Tri Training Week 9

A little look back at week 9's training.  Overall - a VERY good week.

Monday 7/2/12 - Scheduled OFF - Completed OFF (I'm trying to be a little better about taking rest days).

Tuesday 7/3/12 - Scheduled Run :40/Strength :30 - Completed B-double E-double R-U-N BEERRUN!  Today was the 2nd Grand Rapids Marathon beerrun and it just so happened to fall on one of the hottest days in history (I wanna say it was in the mid to high 90s when we ran).  I managed to finish 3.4 miles in 40 minutes and I skipped strength training that day.

Wednesday 7/4/12 - Happy Independence Day! Scheduled Swim :30 - Completed Swim :30 by swimming laps in my girlfriend's pool.  Still freaking HOT here and the pool temp was in the high 80s.  Not exactly a refreshing swim.  Also did some walking at the 4th of July parade and later to watch fireworks.

Thursday 7/5/12 - Scheduled Bike 1:00/strength :30 - Completed Bike 34 min (8.2 miles)/Strength :40.  Not sure why I cut the ride short today.  Maybe I spaced on it or something. No clue.

Friday 7/6/12 -  Scheduled OFF - Completed OFF

Saturday 7/7/12 - Scheduled Swim/Bike Brick (0:15/1:10) - Completed Swim/Bike Brick! I swam for 15 straight minutes in my friend's pool (so maybe 500 yds) and then biked 16.18 miles in 1:10 :)  I learned that my Ride Glide washes off a bit in the pool cuz the lady parts were a bit sore after the ride (sorry, TMI) but overall I felt great when I was done.

Sunday 7/8/12 - Scheduled Bike/Run Brick (1:00/0:30) - Completed Bike/Run Brick!!! This was one of the best workouts I've ever had.  The temperatures dropped and were in the low 70s when I started out - to the point I even felt a little cold on the bike for the first few miles.  I rode 13.5 miles in an hour and then hopped off my bike and off I ran.  REALLY RAN!!! I clocked the first 1.5 miles in just under 16 minutes!!! Oops - WAY TOO FAST cuz I pretty much died after that :)  Still finished 3 miles in 31:24 (10:24 average pace).  I obviously need to work on my pacing for these bricks so I don't go out too fast.  My shin really never bothered me at all, but was a tiny bit sore and my arch hurt A LOT on Monday, but overall and excellent workout.  Totally kicked my butt, though - I ended up taking a nap after dropping K off at track camp that afternoon.

To summarize:

Woo-hoo!!! I made it through the first week with scheduled brick workouts!  I also had a follow-up with my sports med doc on Monday and even though I'm not 100% healed from my stress reaction and I've started to develop some planar fasciitis-type issues, he's discharged me from regular checks.  I'm to continue to ice and roll, go to the chiro for active-release technique therapy, and progress my runs as tolerated.  We also spent a good deal of time talking about my 1/2 marathon training that will start in August.  Basically he put the kabosh on a 4-5 day a week running training plan and has encouraged me to look into the plans outlined in the book Run Less Run Faster.  I used a similar plan when training for my full marathon, so I think I'll like it.  The gist is to run 3 quality runs per week (speed work, tempo, long/slow distance) and cross train 2-3 times per week. I picked up the book yesterday and hope to start reading today.  Come August I'll be ready to dig into my training for the Wine and Dine Half Marathon at Disney World!! :)

I also answered a few more questions about myself this weekend in case you missed it :)

This coming week is a nice, easy recovery week in my training and then I'm on vacation.  I'm hoping the time away does me some good mentally but doesn't put too much of a dent in my training because my tri is only about a month away - EEK!

How was your week of healthy living? Tell me one thing you did this week to make you stronger, faster or healthier...

Something About Me Saturday

Welcome to a new feature here in my little corner of the blogiverse :)  I just celebrated my 3rd blog-iversary and as part of that little milestone, decided to add to the 20 questions page I already have.  Sort of Another 20 questions or so :)

I'm going to start with questions some of my readers and twitter followers submitted a long time ago but I never got around to publishing.  I answered a few of them about why I got into running last week.  Yesterday I answered Erin's winning question, and this week I'm going to tackle a few of the other random questions I received last fall. (I apologize that I don't remember who asked these questions - I'll do better giving credit with the next set!)

Here we go!

1. How did you decide on your chosen profession?  I am a Speech-Language Pathologist and I sorta came upon the profession by accident.  Back in high school, I had to take one of those "career" tests and this was one of the professions that came up.  I didn't give it much thought, other than observing a therapist in a hospital once.  In college, I took a speech/language class as part of the psychology program and loved it.  Never looked back.  I worked in a private practice seeing a variety of clients doing neurologic rehab (think strokes and traumatic brain injuries) then took a job in a large a rehab hospital.  For the past 9 years or so I've been in the public schools working with kids who have speech and language disorders, Autism Spectrum Disorders, learning disabilities, etc, and I love it.
2. Have you ever chosen Dare in a game of Truth or Dare and what was craziest dare you ever dared? Yes, I've chosen the dare and probably the craziest dare was skinny dipping. (Sorry, Dad, if you're reading this.)
3. If you could PR any distance by 20% which distance would you pick? Aka, which distance would you love to excel at? These are really great questions.  Tougher to answer now.  When I received this question last fall, I was healthy and training for my full marathon.  This was the answer I had in my files. "I've been chasing the elusive sub-30 5k, but if I had to pick, I'd want to PR the 1/2 mary by 20%.  It's a challenging distance and I'd need to take a lot of time off per mile to do it. A 20% PR would put me under 2 hrs, which would freaking ROCK."  Since getting injured, I know this is extremely unrealistic now.  I have a goal to PR my next 1/2 marathon (Disney's Wine and Dine in November) but the PR won't be anywhere close to a 20%.  I think if I work my ass off, I might see a sub-2 hour 1/2 marathon, but it will be a couple years off.  At this point, my best hope for a 20% PR would be in the 10k (assuming I can get my mojo back).  My 10k PR is 1:09:57.  I'd need to run about a 56 min 10k for that 20% PR if I've done the math right.  When I've been healthy, I've hit right around an hour in training runs, so who knows. Maybe I'll see it in this next year (or two).
4. What is your favorite distance to run? This goes with the previous question but isn't necessarily the distance I'd want that 20% PR at. My favorite race distance is probably the 10 mile.  It's challenging but doesn't totally kill you.  It's also the distance I set my pace PR at last fall (racing a 10 mile race near the end of marathon training will do that for you - in case you ever want to set a crazy PR) and beat my husband in last spring (it's the little things in life).  Neither of those events will happen this year.  I might try the 10 mile Bridge Run again in September if things go well, but I won't be running it in under 1:40, I can guarantee that. Stupid injuries.

Anyway, there you go - a few more tidbits about me and I'm almost caught up with last fall's questions.

Now a question for you!  Pick one of my questions and answer it in the comments.  I'd love to know more about my readers as well :)

Blog-iversary 20 Questions Winner

Thank you to everyone who submitted questions for my Blog-iversary giveaway!! Without further ado...the winner is...

ERIN!!!!

Erin is seriously one of my best girls and biggest supporters.  I even got to run my favorite race EVER with her this spring.

Her question:  "When are we going to do another mud run?"

Answer: I'd say whenever the next Down and Dirty Mud Run comes to town!  We need to set a serious PR next time, although I don't know how we could possibly have more fun than we did this year :)
Congrats, Erin! And that you so much for all of the love and support here, as well as IRL.  Someone asked a while ago about how blogging and social media have affected me - I'd say developing friendships with women like Erin top the list.  
So, go out and give Erin some love.  She blogs here and you can find her on twitter here!

Thankful Thursday

I'm thankful for all of you who submitted questions for my blog-iversary post! I'll announce a winner & answer a few more questions tomorrow :)

I'm thankful to have logged 405 miles by the midpoint of the year, even with my stress reaction injury. Granted, they are mostly biking since April but still. I won't make my goal of 1000 running miles this year or my 12 races on 2012 but the year will still end on an epic note. I'll make sure of it.

I'm thankful for a car with awesome AC & a responsible new driver who can drive while I blog!



What are you thankful for on this beautiful 98* day?

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Happy Independence Day!

I puffy heart love those Google Doodle folks! (If you can't read this it says "This land was made for you and me")

We are off to watch K march in the 4th of July parade (D misses this each year cuz he's at music camp) and then I think we'll be spending a quiet day by the pool until it's FIREWORKS time (cuz if my ankle is any indication, y'all know I love fireworks).

weird pic, what's up with those black bars and I swear that isn't a growth on my leg, I think that's my heel or something

Today is also the last day to get in on my blog-iversary giveaway! Go here to enter!
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Tri Training Week 8

I am now officially over half way through with my Millennium Triathlon training!  How the freak did THAT happen?  Sadly, this also means I'm 1/3 the way through summer vacation, but that's a topic for another blog post. As you can see from the recap, I didn't really follow the plan this week.  I'm still tweaking it to make it a bit harder and starting to add in some extra workouts, but not running as much as I need to be.  Too bad my diet this week sucked or maybe I'd be seeing some results on the scale, too.

Monday 6/25/12 - Plan REST - Completed SWIM 500 yds

Tuesday 6/26/12 - Plan Run :40/Strength :30 - Completed SWIM 1/2 mile open water. Then 30 min Shred DVD.

Wednesday 6/27/12 - Plan Swim :30 - Completed BIKE 12.6 hilly-ass miles in 56:17 (ave 13.4 mph).

Thursday 6/28/12 - Plan Bike 1:00/Strength :30 - RUN/SWIM brick.  Ran 3.25 miles on the hottest day of the year (41:43) and then swam for 22 minutes (maybe 600 yds) in the Millennium lake. The run didn't really bother my leg much at all, but the heat about killed me.

Friday 6/29/12 - Plan REST - Completed 30 min Shred DVD.

Saturday 6/30/12 - Plan Run :40 - Completed 3.2 miles in 36 and change. 1/2 mile walk to warm up (7:xx) then 2.6 mile run in 29..  The run felt ok, but I still couldn't complete the entire distance without some walking. I'm not happy with the walking parts but I'm walking because of the heat, not because my leg hurts.

Sunday 7/1/12 - Plan Swim :30 - Completed BIKE/SWIM brick. BIKED 15.1 miles in 59:10 (15.3 mph) - SQUEEE!!! This was basically the Millennium Tri course and I biked it with a friend. He pushed me and helped me get comfortable riding on the roads.  Lots of hills, too, but not as bad as earlier in the week.  Then SWIM 30 min in Millennium Lake.

Overall, this was a very good training week.  I'm getting more confident in the swims and faster on the bike. The running isn't hurting as much, but as you can see, I'm only running twice a week right now instead of 3 times a week like I should.  I need to add another run in but I want to see how this week goes with a couple 3 mile runs first. I also ended the week with some stomach issues and a lot of fatigue.  I'm going to make sure to include at least 1 rest day this coming week.

PS: In case you missed it, this past weekend was my 3rd Blogiversary!  I have a little giveaway going on over here to celebrate and than you all for sticking with me the past 3 years.  My readers really do mean the world to me, so thank you for being here and commenting. 

Monday Motivation

One of my friends asked yesterday "why did you start a running blog"?  I never intended this blog to just be about running, but in many ways it evolved into that.  I started the blog as a way to keep myself accountable as I attempted to lose weight.  It worked for the most part and I made some of the most amazing friends (who are now IRL friends as well) through blogging.  I even post some other stuff too on occasion :)

But back to running.  When I got injured, I felt like a part of my identify was being taken away.  If I couldn't run, then what the hell COULD I do?  I moped and bitched and moaned a lot (and I'm sorry many of you got to experience that here but then, this is my space to do with as I choose).  Someone else asked me to write a guest post about my injury.  Maybe I'll still do that, but at the time I was afraid all I would be is negative and down and I didn't want to write another post like that.  (I'd so much rather write a motivating, comeback, pick-yourself-up post when I feel like I can call myself "healed".)  Because of this injury, my workout life has evolved a lot like this blog has.  I'm now training for my first triathlon - something I said I'd never do.  I've done 3 open water swims and biked the triathlon's 15 mile bike course (in a very respectable time even).

One of my friends called me a triathlete the other day and I said I wasn't one - that I wouldn't be a triathlete until I had that bling around my neck.  He basically called bullshit on me - reminded me that I didn't need the bling to hold the title. I was a runner before I ran my first race and I'm a triathlete now. I swim. I bike. I run. The running is still not up to snuff, but it's getting there. Tomorrow I'm attempting my first 3 mile run and I REALLY want to run the entire 3 miles without walking.  But if I have to walk, I need to be ok with that.  The leg has been feeling pretty good (not perfect, but better).  The worst right now is my head and the mental games it's playing.  I need motivational reminders too.

photo credit

I hope whatever you are doing today to help make yourself a happy, healthier YOU gives you strength and proves that you are a fighter.  This song/video have been making their rounds and I can assure you it will be in the rotation on tomorrow's run.

You still have 3 more days to enter my giveaway for some of my favorite things to celebrate my 3rd blog-iversary - still undecided what they'll be - but it'll be good, I promise :)