Survived Day 2

January 11, 2012

I see that I have a few followers now and that excites me. I know that blogging about this journey will help keep me accountable for my training schedule in order to be able to complete this event (as brought to my attention by one of you intelligent followers ;) ). I hope that you guys will stick it out with me and help motivate me when needed with quotes, music lyrics, spiritual verses, advice, information, and anything else that might add some spice to our journey.

Today was a great day. I was really excited to put the bike rack back on my car. I can tell you that I am definitely not in triathlon condition and I realize that I should not be at this point. I mean, after all it is the off season and I took the term holidays literally. I definitely had a wake up call today though. I loaded all my biking gear and running gear and headed to Hattiesburg this morning. It was overcast and the temperatures were in the mid to low 40's. There was nothing pretty about how the skies looked because they were gloomy, but I was really happy just to be back on my bike.

My training schedule was to ride 50 minutes on my bike followed by a 35 minute run (brick workout). That should be really easy for me, but I will say that brick definitely made me realize how far I have to go in terms of preparing my body. I actually was struggling on the 50 minute ride which normally would not be challenging at all for me. Keep in mind that I have not ridden my bike since October, so my legs are definitely not prepared at this point. It is safe to say that I have lost my biking legs. After getting off the bike, I ran 35 minutes. This part was pretty easy for me. I have continued running since triathlon season ended unlike biking and swimming. As some of you might know the "noodle" leg feeling experienced when completing a brick workout (a brick workout is riding your bike and directly following the ride begin running) or in a triathlon, I definitely felt that today. I also had some hip pain while riding and running. You will hear of that throughout this process and I will probably have to get a few injections between now and the race. I have major hip pain in both sides, but my right side is the most painful. This will become inflamed at times especially as the training amps up. It will more than likely be one of my sore spots during the race. The important thing is to learn to train with the pain to hopefully prepare me for the pain that I will face during the race. There are some positives to feeling a little pain, it takes your mind off of distance and times!!!!

I want to be honest about my most recent experiences in my life. I have always been on a spiritual journey, but felt distance between myself and a higher power. Lately I have really been trying to connect with my higher power and gain a better understanding of my own spirituality. It is amazing how during a ride or a run something just comes over me, a sense of peace, a calmness strikes me and I feel as though I am right where I need to be and doing exactly what I need to be doing in that very moment. That feeling came over me today while I was riding. I guess it hit about 30 minutes into the ride. I just had a moment of pure happiness. Serenity is a great word for the feeling I had. I guess for me this is one of the main ways that I connect with my higher power. It allows me to be directly in nature and view my surroundings without interruptions or noises. The only noises that I could hear were the birds chirping and the wind blowing. It was quite peaceful and the grey skies added to the calmness that I felt. For me, today was spiritual and that is what I hope this journey will be for me- a personal journey towards the FL Ironman, but also a spiritual journey to learn more about myself. I have no doubt that I will be challenged, but I hope that this opportunity will also allow me to understand the inner strength and mental strength that I have stored away inside. I have no doubt that my physical, mental, and inner strength will be tested on the road ahead. I have a feeling that I will get exactly what I am hoping for if not more.

My friend sent me a quote today and I figured I would insert it in my blog. It was just too perfect in terms of timing based on creating this blog.

"If we write our dreams and goals down, we dramatically increase our odds of realization. If we share them with others, they become potent and alive."- Kristin Armstrong

Thanks for following my progress!!! Carpe Diem!