My Triathlon Adventure

The last 9 months or so have been difficult in terms if schedule. I got a new job, bought a new house, and tried to sell my old one.

There was a lot of work stuff, remodeling, moving, and general hard work. It looks like we have finally sold our house. With the last of the stuff moved out, and the pressing projects at the new house all done, I finally got a chance to work out.

I had a nice easy swim yesterday. It is amazing how far back you can fall in terms of fitness in a short time away from it.

I couldn’t help thinking back to my first swims. I didn’t have the aerobic capacity to finish a single length. Even now, as out of shape as I am, I can string together a few laps with ease.

I’m really happy to be back, and hopefully this will be the start of something big.

On a side note, my left foot has been bothering me for a few months. Mostly when I squeeze it. Have no idea what the issue is, but am going to the doctor to get it cleared before I start any running.

This week we’ll see if I can get a nice bike ride in.

Sometimes I wonder if strength is mostly physical, or mostly mental?  I know that in reality you need both, but which is most important?

I say this because today I feel strong.  I feel like I could pick up a car, then run a marathon strong.  Of course so far all I’ve done for physical activity is pick up the phone, and walked a few blocks (does typing count) so really I haven’t put this feeling to the test.  But I also can’t exactly figure out why I feel as strong as I do today.  I didn’t do anything special yesterday.  So is it the weather?  We are expecting an unusually warm 70 degrees today, or is the training kicking in?  I don’t know, but whatever it is, I hope I can harness it for a long time to come.  I’m going to need all the strength I can muster to get to my half marathon goal.

There is power in this feeling, what I do with it matters more than anything.

Back in ancient civilization there was always talk of various demons, monsters, dragons and other mythical beasts.  The names changed, but the ideas remained constant.  Some unknown beast lurking in the shadows patiently waiting to tear you to pieces.  I’ve often wondered where these ideas came from.  They were such a constant over time, and now a days they just seem to be Hollywood stories.  Good for a few scares and no more.

I was thinking this morning about demons, and I realized that they are still with us every day.  The ancients would give names to their fears, the things they didn’t understand.  These irrational fears or issues in their lives had to be caused by something, must be demons.

Well, our demons are our fears.  Fear of heights, public speaking, death, etc.  Like the demons of yore, our fears keep us from doing the things we want to do.  Fear of failure stops us from starting that business we always wanted to do.  Fear of flying stops us from seeing the world.

My current demon is the pool.  It taunts me and makes me lose my form.  It makes me anxious when the water gets too deep.  It lurks in the darkness and tries to make me give up.  But, like the knights of the middle ages, I will slay this demon, and I will swim.   No guts, no glory.

I wonder if  Speedo has an armor line?  Maybe one that floats?

I have been reading Triathlon Training Blog and various other sites and see how much these athletes depend on data in order to improve performance.  I feel like I am way  too early for most of the data to be useful.  I am still at a point where I have little technique, and even less endurance.  However, I think that it will be fun later to be able to look at early data.  That way when I get down about how little progress I’m making I can look back and see how far I’ve come.  And they say I’m not proactive!

Now I need to figure out what data is the most important so that I can make sure to track that.  What?  I’m a computer programming geek, what do you expect?

Oh, and my Pose Running book should be arriving today!  Yay!