Tag Archives: running

I Must Confess

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So, my first triathlon is a little over a month away and at this point in my training, I should be ready to go.
In theory.

This is where the confession part comes in. Now I’m sure you probably think I’m going to tell you that I didn’t do my training. That maybe I skipped out on the last five months of bike, swim and run workouts. BUT…no. I did them. No, not all of them. Sometimes life gets in the way. (I know, right!)

But I did follow the plan. I got my training hours in even when the last thing I wanted to do was sit on my bike in the dark basement on a blizzardy day.

My confession is this…I don’t feel ready. Not. One. Bit.

I have mere weeks before I’m supposed to swim, bike and run my way through an Olympic tri course and I’m scared. But only seriously scared of one part. (I’m also scared of the other parts, just to a lesser degree.)

I must confess, it’s the run that terrifies me. Many who know me, think this is strange. After all, I was a runner before I ever joined swim club. I was a runner long before I even considered purchasing a road bike, let alone actually hitting the road with one. I am a runner.

pinkshoes

These shoes are made for…running?

So, why am I terrified of the run?

Well, there’s the small detail that the run portion of a triathlon is conveniently located at the end of the race after I’ve already exhausted myself in the lake and on the bike. So…there’s that. It’s a wee bit scary to think about.

There’s also the small matter of my knees to consider. I have the knees of someone at least ten or fifteen years older than me, and a new tear in the meniscus of what was my ‘good knee’ doesn’t help. My crappy knees have never held me back from running before—although they do keep my physiotherapist in business—and they’re not stopping me from running right now. Not really. Although they do hurt and I can be a bit of a suck when something hurts. Which means I haven’t been all that excited to hit the road when I know it’s going to result in ouchy  (yes, that’s a technical term) knees.

But, no…that’s not the problem either.  Since I’m going for confessions here, I might as well admit what might be the real problem is when it comes to the run.
I’ve been thinking a lot about what it’s terrifying me, and I think it comes down to my last triathlon experience. I really, REALLY don’t want this run to go the way that one did. It was two years ago and when it came to training, I wasn’t worried about the run so I didn’t focus on training very hard for that portion of the race.

MISTAKE.

The course was hilly, my quads cramped, and let’s just say it was a terrible, horrible, no good, crappy run.

What if it happens again?

So, there it is. My confession. It’s all out in the open. We’re only weeks away from my first triathlon and I’m scared. Backing out isn’t an option, so I’ll spend the remaining training time I have, staying as close to the plan as possible and focusing on the run. I will do it. Hopefully it will be a tad prettier then last time.

Phew, they say that confession is good for the soul. I feel better already. Now, who wants to go for a run?

What about you? What do you want to confess? AND…seriously, who wants to go for a run?

elena-aitken-signature1

 

 

composing myself blurb**Hey, in case you missed it…my new novel, Composing Myself, is now available! You can find it at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo and Apple.

It’s A New Year, So Move It!

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The best intentions…

Last spring I blogged about Ripping Up The Workout Schedule. It was the end of June, I was tired. I’d been following a schedule for so long that nothing was fun anymore. I didn’t want to do any of the workouts I normally enjoyed. I dreaded every trip to the pool. Every run was a slog. So I made the decision to rip up my schedule and only do what was fun.

How did it go?

It was excellent. I went for walks, I did a few hikes with my kids, I threw in a few runs with some people I never get to spend time with, paddled around on a board and in a kayak and I even got back on the knee board a few times.

As far as taking it easy and not following a schedule…total success.

Can’t beat a kayak in the Pacific Northwest

I didn’t feel bad about not getting up early to go for long runs. I didn’t feel guilty because I missed a workout on the schedule. It felt awesome.

BUT.

And of course there’s a but.

I do have a tendency to put off my workouts if they’re not scheduled a little bit. And I know I need to be active in order to feel good. SO…

It’s September and it’s back to reality. For me, September has always felt more like the start of a new year than January. And that means it’s time to set some goals.

It also means it’s back to some sort of routine.

Now I just have to figure out what that is. Setting new fitness goals is exciting but it’s also scary because after two months off of scheduled activity, it’s kind of like starting all over again. And that sucks.

I’ll be honest, I have tossed around the idea of not scheduling any workouts and continuing with my ‘do it if you want to’ theory. It would be easier. I wouldn’t have to go through the period of suffering as I build my fitness level up again. (And after two pool workouts this week, I am suffering.) Plus, you can’t burn out if you’re not doing anything. Right?

But I know that’s not the answer either.

So, I’ll work on my schedule and I’ll set some goals and then I’ll work my ass off trying to reach them. Because who am I kidding? That’s what I do.

So, who’s with me? Are you setting some fitness goals for the ‘new year’? Come on…join me. There’s accountability in groups. So state your goals, stay accountable. You know you want to…

Ripping Up the Workout Schedule

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Exercise and working out have not always come naturally to me, in fact, ten years ago…heck, even six years ago, it was a VERY different story. But even now that running, swimming, cycling and other stuff too, have become such a regular part of my life, it still doesn’t always come easy. And to be honest, for the last few weeks, I’ve been struggling more and more with getting in my workouts.

Is it because it’s the usual June madness and I can’t find the time? Nah, I can’t really blame it on that. Although it is a convenient excuse. But the real reason is that… I’m done.

Usually I thrive on a schedule. I like to have it planned out for me how much I’m going to run, how far I need to cycle and when I’m going to fit in a little strength training. In fact, I’ve written before about how I might not ever get off my butt or get away from my laptop if I didn’t have a schedule to keep me on track. I love the schedule. I embrace it. And my training partner does the BEST schedules, complete with stickers and motivation. But lately, I want to tear it up and burn it.

 

Even with stickers…I need a break

Dramatic maybe, but…

It’s taken me a few weeks to figure out exactly what the problem is, but I think I’ve got it now. I’m sick of running because I ‘have to’ or getting on my bike because I ‘need to’ get in thirty km. It’s not fun anymore. And what exactly is the point of doing all this exercise if I don’t enjoy it?

I want to go for a run without my Garmin tracking my pace and distance. I want to take my bike out solely to enjoy the feeling of it. So…that’s exactly what I’m going to do.

I’ve finally made the decision to throw the schedule out. Surprisingly this was harder to do than you might think. But along with this decision, I’ve also decided not to do the few triathlons I was going to do this summer. I’m not excited about them. I’m not even remotely enthusiastic about them. So it’s the perfect time to take some time off from events and get back to basics. Enjoyment.

The turning point for me was this past weekend, when I went out to the mountains (my happy place) with some great ladies to participate in a bike ride. It was a scheduled event, but not a race. Just a ride. There was no pressure and the only goal was to enjoy ourselves. And that’s exactly what we did. Ripping down the mountain on my bike, at 60km/hour I had the biggest smile on my face. It. Was. Fun.

Mountains + Bikes + Friends = Happiness

So, here’s to a summer of fun and no schedules. We’ll see how it goes. Maybe it will be a huge disaster and I’ll gain forty pounds. Maybe this will only last a few weeks and I’ll be back on a schedule and signed up for an event…BUT…maybe, just maybe, I’ll rediscover the love of it all and be ready to go again in the fall. We’ll see.

How about you? Do you need a schedule for working out? Have you ever boycotted workouts?