Progress is being made... week by week :)

Sometimes it's hard to recognize your successes and it can be so easy to begin replaying those old tapes in your head...you know the ones I mean... the out-of-date, meaningless messages of inadequacy and lack of self-confidence tapes...

This past week was challenging from the perspective of health issues (nothing major - more just niggling, annoying things that kept me from doing the things I wanted to do) and the resultant mental noise (chaos) that stemmed from that.

I found myself questioning my abilities and wondering if I was able to continue the progression I'd been seeing thus far or if I'd hit my limits with how far I could go with my training. 

On Sunday, I was actually disappointed that I 'only' swam 1500m.  I'd been hoping for more.  My husband (Eric) just laughed!

So, in an attempt to quiet the demons in my own mind, I looked back over the workouts I had completed from the time I started with my coach (JJ) in October 2009...



Time for a REALITY CHECK:

• In October, I was swimming 700m on my Tues night 'long' swims... and running 2:1's
•  At Christmas I was running 9:1's... long swim was 900m....
•  By New Year's Day I was swimming 1200m
•  On my birthday - January 26th - I swam my first 1500m and then within a week, hit 1650m at the pool on Sunday...
•  I'm now able to run 30 mins steady and my long runs have increased to about 90 minutes in length while I train for the Around the Bay (2-man relay) on Sunday March 30th.

WOW - when I look back, I guess I am accomplishing a lot!!  I really hope I can stay positive and recognize and celebrate my successes without worrying about the 'wanting more'... it will come... when the time is right.  Yoga has taught me that much! :)  Keep moving forward... or, in the words of Dory (Finding Nemo) "Just keep swimming..." 

  

Proof that life can get better after 40...

Proof that life really can get better after 40:

• I got engaged to Eric... then married him!
• I took up running and met great new friends at the Running Room
• I completed 2 half-marathons
• I learned to swim
• I swam in the pool, the lake and the ocean - and didn't drown :)
• I surfed in Costa Rica (I had wanted to do that since I was 5 years old!)
• I swam with the green turtles in Mexico
• I got my first road bike and learned to ride clipless
• I joined a triathlon club and made new friends
• I joined a second club - and made even more new friends
• I started yoga training with Shiva Rea and met some fabulous new yogini friends at Kripalu
• I learned to laugh at myself in a wetsuit
• I did a couple of small triathlons (and survived the swim leg!)
• I came in dead last in an Olympic distance duathlon – and survived to laugh about it!
• I upgraded my Trek road bike to my custom Guru
• I took up photography as a serious hobby
• I reconnected with my old classmates via Facebook and at our high school reunion and it was wonderful
• I got a triathlon coach
• I signed up for a half-iron distance race: Timberman 2010
• I’m currently training for same... and each week I surprise the heck out of myself with my abilities (who knew??)
• I got accepted into the Sugoi Brand Champions program
• I started volunteering with the kids’ triathlon program and felt my heart open to these amazing young people (ages 7-13) who are doing all of the things that it took me 40 years to start doing...

 All this in 4 years...??

 

On this day, my 44th birthday (!) I am completely blessed with great friends and family and looking forward to see what the rest of my Fabulous Forties have in store!!

The journey continues... how exciting!!