Sometimes it rains...

Today's workout out had a less than spectacular start. And an even less spectacular finish.

I left my house at 7:45 am with bike in new bike rack on back of my little Ford Focus, headed for a nearby park with a 7 mile loop, and with plans to ride 20ish miles. I get to the park and find it's closed for some type of event. Grrr. I turn around and start heading back to another park with a 1.25 mile loop - nothing wrong with riding in circles for 90 minutes, right? I drive about 50 yards and come to a dead stop. I sit there for about 15 minutes. People are getting out of their cars to investigate. There is no apparent reason. We are on a 2 lane country road. Ugh. So, I turn around again and start going the long way to the plan B park. More traffic. Yuck.

I finally arrive at said Plan B park to start my ride...when I should have already been an hour into it. Sigh. Then I find out they now charge an admission fee. I work for the County and am already taking my 5 unpaid days off. Isn't that enough of a contribution to the budget problem? I fork over the cash, air up the tires, and take off. That's when the ridiculous clunking begins. My bike has become possessed apparently (or possibly just needs a tune up) and now changes gears on its own whenever it feels like it. And my front brakes need adjustment and are dragging on my tire. As I finish my 5th mile, the clouds roll in. Then the heavens opened and it began to pour. Really!?!?! So not an ideal start to my day, but SOMETIMES IT RAINS.

We get wet. Our plans don't work out. We don't get to finish what we started. We have to go to plan B. Or Plan C or D. And to be honest, I like things to go my way. And preferably to be easy. Not that this triathlon stuff has been easy for me so far, but I was just starting to feel like I was getting in the groove and could do this...until the last 2 days of crappy workouts.

Like I said, sometimes it rains. I usually love the rain and can find the bright/positive side of things, throw on my cute polka dot rain boots, and splash around in the puddles for a bit, but I'm not feelin it today. I feel like I'm sitting in the puddle surrounded by my stuff. As much as I want to jump out quick and be done with that, I think it's important to sit for a bit. And feel.

This triathlon training is a journey about more than finishing the race on February 7th. It's become a bit more emotional lately and has a lot more to do with life and me than I'd like to think.

67 Days

Well, the first 3 weeks of training are done. That means we are 1/4 of the way through the training plan. That also means there's 3/4 of the way to go...67 days till the Triathlon. As discipline in the areas of fitness and nutrition has never been a strength for me, I'm honestly a bit surprised that I've kept up with all of the workouts so far. 21 days of Becky being ridiculously disciplined?!?!? Really? Really. But believe me, that doesn't mean it's been easy. There have been MANY a morning that I've dragged myself out of bed to the gym or trail or pool to do what I know I need to do. And I know what I need to do for the next 67 days...keep looking at that training plan every week, plan out which workouts fit when around my crazy work schedule, and do them.

"Rest up. Workouts intensify" - the super (not) encouraging motivational thought from the training plan people. That SCARES me. I looked ahead at the next few weeks. That scares me more. Especially the back to back bike/run workouts that start next week. I'm not sure I can do it. Confidence isn't one of my strengths either. Something else to work on, I guess...one workout at a time.