Friday, July 24, 2015

Race Week!!


     Seven months and the day is almost here. It's been a journey. Getting up at 3:30 am. Riding my bike in Pacific NW rain and cold. Lap after lap in the pool. Running in 90+ degree weather. Hours of training. I did it! Hardly did I miss a workout. I worked 40-45 hours a week at my job too. Crazy? No. Just determined. 
     With this past couple of weeks of tapering I can't but help thinking if I could have done more. More yoga and stretching. More core. More strength training. I always say "If I only had a couple more hours in a day." I will probably still wish I had done more. I can hear coach Mary's response to all that as I write this. Relax. Breath. You'll be fine. Yes I will!





First race in another country, other than rowing. I haven't even races out of the state of Washington! 

Friday, July 10, 2015

A bad swim is still a dip in the water









     Tuesday I went to pool for recovery swim. The sky was hazy due to several fires burning particularly a big fire in BC Canada.  Started my warmup and right away realized that my inhaler did me no good. When the air is that bad lots of people not even close to the fire suffer. My asthma kicked in. I had arrived at the pool with great confidence stemming from my fantastic OWS the past two Saturdays. Awful how quickly that confidence can go away. I usually portray my bad swims as feeling like a cat thrown in the water. Tuesday felt like that cat had been a smoker for over 40 years and the oxygen tank was in the car. I decided to use my fins. I jammed through and finished! Even though it was not the best swim I did not give up. A bad workout is still a workout and I have not had a bad one for a while. 

     If you have something that is not turning out like you had planned, hang in there! Being a triathlete has helped me to not give up. There will be those days that makes you feel uncomfortable. There will be those days that puts you in a bad mode. Sometimes there will also be those days were you just want to crawl back into bed. Hang in there. Pray and have hope for tomorrow. 

     Back to the fires. The BC smoke is coming from fires in the Pemberton area in Canada and are being blown not only to Washington but also to Whistler. Social media has provided pictures of Whistler area with that haze covering the lake. I was not worried till my Tuesday swim and the chatter on Facebook about the possibility of canceling the race. This is a picture of Alta Lake today. Oh joy!!! It's beautiful! I can not wait to swim there in two weeks! I know I will be fine. I will have to deal with my asthma the best I can. I will now keep my inhaler close to me in the race. I was not planning on it before. 

     Now to try to feel better for today. I have hope. Thanks for reading.