The Journey Begins

Yeah, after the marathon, I dropped off the face of the earth.  I need to stop doing that.

After the marathon, my training went from full throttle to maintenance mode. I slept in every morning (which means no 4:30am wake up calls), had a work out here and there, did a muddy obstacle race in Austin, completed  a tower climb (and came in 4th in my age group-woo hoo!), had an amazing volunteer experience at the finish line of the Texas Ironman and yesterday I struggled through the Combat Triathlon in Texas City.  I say "struggled" because on top of not training at all the week prior, I was dealing with another stomach bug during the process.

I had blast during this time.  Plus I needed the break.

But that goofing off  is about to come to an end since I officially signed up for my first 70.3 race in October.

I hired a coach and will start my journey June 1, 2011.

I am excited about the journey to this goal I have had in my head for quite some time now.

Exactly a year ago to this day, I could not swim freestyle.  Not a single stroke.  I had never done a triathlon before and I was petrified of the swim.  I had signed up for swim lessons and I had vowed to conquer my fear of the water.  The first two weeks I felt like I was running in place, no progress what-so-ever.

When...BAM!  I had finally had a break through.

A moment suspended in time where something finally clicked.  And as quick as I realized I was finally mastering something, that moment was gone, and I was back to my floundering ways.  But that taste of victory was all I needed to keep going.  The rest of that season was a series of setbacks and breakthroughs, but that is the part that fascinates me the most....it is the process and the journey of getting to the goal that truly is the beauty of it all.

And so it goes...a new destination and a new sea to conquer.

 1.2 mile lake swim.  56 mile bike ride in the hill country.  13.1 mile run.

A 70.3 mile race in Austin, Texas.

There are a few other side items I would like to accomplish along the way; like work on my nutrition habits, drop 10 more pounds and work on my strength training.  The coach I hired is will be testing me every three weeks to do a litmus test to see what is working or what needs to change. I plan to share this progress in a series of posts with the hope it may help someone else on their journey to a goal. I intend to capture the small victories to look back on when I want to give up.  It would also be amazing to see where I came from when I finally get there.  

I am fastening my seat belt.  I have a feeling it is going to be a bumpy ride