Holy moly, it's the end already? Seriously, where did the time go? I don't want to say goodbye to my team (G4!!), I love my team! I think we're going to have to have an afterparty, girls...
This week's loss: 2 lbs
Final tally for the challenge: 6 lbs! Squeeeeee!!!
It'd be more if I buckled down a little more and stayed consistent, but I had ups and downs the whole way. Things really started moving though when the training picked up, which fittingly culminates on Sunday into the tri I've been training for all winter!!! And for that reason, I cannot picture my life without some sort of fitness/race goal, without a training plan, and without an eating plan. I have only been loosely following Weight Watchers, but I still go there for guidance and I have a rough idea of what I should be eating in response to the amount of activity I'm doing and vice versa. Turns out, I am one of those people who needs a goal, written in stone with a hard and fast race date, and the goal cannot just be "lose weight." For the next challenge, which is right around the corner, I will be focused less on weight and more on body fat percentage. I am only a pound or two from goal weight, but now I would like to shrink the rest of the flab and turn it into muscle!
For my first Olympic distance triathlon (.9 mile swim, 24 mile bike, 10k run), I picked sort of a famous race (St. Anthony's) and it's on Sunday. This week, I am in the middle of my own personal "Tri, Don't Quit" week where I am spending the week trying to remain zen-like, looking ahead toward Sunday positively and trying to tell my little inner panicky voice to remain calm in the water so that we can get through that swim. "Tri, Don't Quit" has become my mantra this week. There is only one way I'm getting out of that water on Sunday and it's by swimming out, all by myself.
Here are some more things I'm thinking about as I head into Sunday:
- There are more than 3,000 people doing this race. I have actually heard 5,000. Which means, that many people will be swimming that course.
- I don't know how many have swum the course before because they've done the race before, but at least I know I have! (On Sunday, it was rainy and rough.) And there are plenty who haven't! So feather in my cap for that.
- There are 15 YEAR OLDS DOING THIS RACE! I am going to be 35. What 35 year old is this wimpy? I could be their MOTHER! If I were 15, would I want my mom to be badass and fearles? Or wimpy and the type to give up?
- I ran with a wonderful Ironwoman this week who has done 3 IRONMAN races, including Kona. Even she says the anxiety in the water never fully goes away. And she's been doing this for 20 years. It's just finding what works for you.
- And by the way, if I keep doing triathlons, by the time I reach her age, I will have been doing it for almost 20 years myself. I may even find myself running with someone like myself one day, who's younger and still learning, and I would want to tell her I've been doing this for 20 years too and that I kicked some ass in my day.
- Because even now, in my 30's, I'm shaping the person I want to be in my 50's. And 60's. And beyond. My legacy is whatever I am doing right now.
- While watching my Ironman 1999 video a week and a half ago, I remembered something one of the awesome Ironwomen said. She said, (and I paraphrase here) that when you're going through the swim, the bike and the run, and you're finding yourself running into different conditions that are difficult either mentally or physically, you look for something in it to love. If the wind is blowing real hard, love and appreciate the wind. If the sun is real hot, love and appreciate the sun and the cloud that eventually comes out. In other words for me, love and appreciate the waves, the water on your skin, your body gliding through the water, the fish and all of God's creatures in the sea...
- My tri-club president was sidelined most of last year because of an injury. He trained with us last year, but he only volunteered at the races last season, so a week and a half ago when we all did the first one of the season, this one was his first one since before his injury and he was so happy to be back. I'll never forget standing on the beach getting ready for it to start and he said out loud to no one in particular, "This is my reward for all that training I've done." He wasn't nervous for this race. This race was his reward. And he kicked ass, too. What a comeback.
Have a wonderful weigh-in Wednesday! Hope you did great things this week and cheers for the week ahead!!!
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