Strength and Growth

Over the last week, I have become pretty amazed with the growth I have made as a person, woman, and triathlete. I literally can remember my first 40 mile ride, and how hard I thought it was. Or my first time swimming a 5k. Now, I do it almost on the daily and dont think anything of it. Remember those days when you thought you couldnt do your workout or you are almost scared of your coaches workout? What about all those thoughts right before you race? You end up doing it and realizing how strong you are. 

Last weekend I participated in the Woodlands Half-Marathon.  This race was a "C" race, which means I would train through it and I got no taper. In fact, the day before I swam, bike and ran. After an exhausting week at work, I admit I was pretty nervous about how my body would feel come race morning. I decided to play it by ear. Well Friday night came around and I was literally in bed by 730pm. Due to my early turn-in, I was WIDE awake at 4am and felt much more rested and ready to run. I originally wanted to run around 1:23, but given a non-taperered body, I knew this would be a challenge.

The race was awesome and catered to the Elite athletes with top priority. It was a cold morning and I was lucky enough to be able to stand in a warm place before heading out to the start line. Score! Fellow teammate and Pro Triathlete, Sarah was also racing, and so we started out the first mile pretty fast. I was feeling good...at the time. We ran together for a couple miles and then I reminded myself I needed to run my own race, and my body didnt want to keep that pace. The wind and cold made the race a challenge, and my tired body was yelling at me by not letting my heart rate get very high. However, I was already half-way through the race and found myself saying "look how far you have already gone".

 I knew I would never quit, but I was determined to keep pushing the pace. I finished the race in 1:24:59!

Not too shabby for a full week of training. The next morning I went off on my long ride and couldnt believe I was doing a long ride after a PR half-marathon. I was amazed at my body and its recovery. It has come a long way in this endurance sport.

Needless to say the body does have some limits and sunday night I ended up running a fever and having night sweats. I knew this was its way of saying you have pushed it a little far. I decided to take Monday COMPLETELY off. Sometimes, as triathletes the hardest thing is to bail on your planned workouts, but I knew with the training schedule I had this week, that was the only thing that was gonna let me finish the rest of the week. You HAVE to listen to your body. After about 15 hours of sleep, I woke up Tuesday lively and kicking. I still took it easy but was able to complete all three disciplines.
Wednesday I was pretty nervous because I was heading out on a 100 mile ride. Before you knew it the ride was over and I was again, Congratulating myself. This morning I had a progressive 8-miler scheduled and thought I would be slugging it. I ended up running about 30 sec/mile faster than what I thought I would do. Its amazing how strong your bodies IS. Treat it well and seek your goals. The sky is the limit!