Since 2/15/15 (two weeks ago almost) Tennessee has been essentially in a state of stupor. Rain, Sleet, Ice, and Snow have made impacts on our beautiful city of Nashville. And although in the past two weeks there have been improvements on the roads, people have been able to get out of their driveways and groceries even have bananas stocked again. There continue to be slippery spots on the roads and sidewalks requiring a caution but not consistent enough for yaktrax.
Thankfully being from MN I'm somewhat prepared to run in the snow and ice and in fact had quite the invigorating run on the date of greatest snow/sleet Presidents Day. The mayor issued a warning to drivings - don't and most businesses were closed because of the ice. The run was slow but filled with fun, I found myself smiling despite all the ice pellets hitting my arms. Even a water induced blister on my right foot couldn't make me hate this run it went from a planned 3 or 4 miles to 11 joyful and carefully slow miles. I felt accomplished.
Then the cold continued and with it cancellation of most group runs - in both of my running groups. It was the right decision for safety. The YMCA was closed or open very unique hours, making it difficult to get to the gym especially with my increased hours at work due to cold weather. I've worked a lot of overtime being paid in comp time (leave, hour for hour). This is part of the job of a homeless outreach worker, being flexible when their are identified needs, it makes planned trainings difficult with early work hours and late evenings. But think of the vacation I can take in the future.
I refocused my training realizing that Ironman specific training begins in just over a week. On Friday, I made a point to get to the gym on time. The YMCA is a beautiful place on Fridays the few and committed people that are there on a Friday make me feel both motivated and thankful that I'm one of "those". I must admit it was a tough workout for me. I was looking forward to Will returning from a business trip later that night and felt tired with all stressors of my job, it seemed particularly rough this week. But I started with a 5000m Row, and I thought of my good friend Amy B. :) we use to row together on Saturdays prior to the farmers market downtown in Minneapolis. I felt great by the time I was through and almost left it at that. But I just knew that I do need to get into the routine again of multiple workouts. So I sat on a spin bike and did sets of climbs for just over and hour. Felt pretty good.
Today I sit in Starbucks smelly and sipping a small coffee. I'm the girl in the corner hurriedly typing before I head out to the gym to do some basic lifting sets after just completing a 9+ mile run with my training group. I struggled today on the course with glutes that felt tired and I know that there is more to come.
At night I am beginning to read Triathlete again to get me back into the mindset of training. Every morning I wake up and it's freezing temperatures I struggle to remember that last year the Country Music Half was 62 degrees, I let myself think about how training in the cold may not prepare me for the conditions on race day. I certainly hope we get a spring warm up soon.
I guess here begins the real Ironman Journey, I am feeling encouraged and excited to embark. I'm ready and looking forward for the training (call me crazy and you can, I am), races, and day to day life as an Ironman in Training. Last night after reading I thought to myself, "am I an Ironman?". The answer is simple not yet but I'm on my way.
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