So You Wanna To Be A Triathlete

This was so awesome that I had to post it here.  I find it a little motivational as well because it reminds me why I need to get my ass to the pool... heading there shortly  :)

Fact: you will not become efficient at swimming, biking or running over night. Sorry to burst your bubble. This is NOT an easy sport.
Check your ego at the door because chances are someone fifty pounds heavier than you will lap you in the pool. Not to mention she will be ten or fifteen years older than you.
You will be passed on the bike many times and you will never be the fastest runner in your town.
You will have early morning workouts. Really early.
You will plan your weekends around your swim, bike and run.
You are up while others are sleeping.
You are training while others are sitting.
You will discover others who also follow this blood, sweat and tears cult.
You will eventually get a flat tire... and have to change it all by yourself.
No matter what you hear, triathlon is NOT an inexpensive sport.
Warning, it is extremely addictive, hence the impulse spending on wetsuits, bikes, running shoes, aero bars, aero helmets, speed suits, power meters, GPS heart-rate monitors and many other ‘gotta have items.’
You will hate swimming more times than you like it for the first year.
You will suffer through road trips with whiny fellow triathletes.
You will suffer set backs.
You may experience an injury.
You will develop a love/hate relationship with a foam roller and ice baths.
You will at some point realize you need a coach.
You will hate swimming for the first year.
You will wear tight clothing.
You will not like how this tight clothing fits or looks.
Your age will take on a whole new meaning.
You will discover a whole new meaning for tan lines.
Food will become an extremely important part of your life.
You will learn new words such as GU, cadence and brick.
You will hate swimming for the first year.
You will spend more time on your bike than on your couch.
You may lose a friend or two because you spend too much time swimming, biking and running, and they could careless about your heart rate training, foam rolling pain or 20 mile bike ride.
You will learn patience.
You will be humbled.
You will start to realize you are paying money to put yourself through pain and suffering, but for some odd reason, you LOVE it.
This sport called Triathlon, becomes a part of you. You start to plan your entire year around sprint, international, half-iron or full-iron distance races. Your vacations become racing, and you start to realize that this sport called triathlon could become a life-long adventure.
Many people settle for things in life. They settle for a crappy job, marriage, friends, food, place to live and overall fitness and health.
Those who desire more or those who want more out of life than a drive-thru window and boring sitcom, will choose triathlon or an activity that makes them happy. An activity that will change their life. Triathlon will change your outlook on life, your career, your marriage, your goals, your friends and many other things you thought you had figured out. It’s not just crossing a finish line or a boring finisher medal. It’s the countless hours that got you to that point. A moment in time that you will NEVER forget. A moment that you will discuss with your family and friends for hours if not days after the event. These discussions will most likely be about how you could have done better. At what point could you have swam faster, biked harder or ran more efficient? This is what will go through your head everyday until you get the opportunity to suffer again.
So you wanna be a Triathlete? Enjoy the ride and train hard!

http://www.trifuel.com/training/general/so-you-wanna-be-a-triathlete#.UovxQWEo7L8

Rise and Shine!

... or maybe not.  Yesterday I did not rise and shine.  I was supposed to either do a Master's swim at UT or drive out to Pass-A-Grille in St. Pete for a group OWS.  I looked at the weather forecast for Wednesday and it looked like there would be thurderstorms in the AM.  So, I said, "I'm just going to go ahead and sleep in and I'll go later.  It'll be more fun to go with a group and do open water training anyway."  But... driving through 5 o'clock traffic for 40 miles is no bueno.  What did I do.  I talked myself out of it.  Too far, I don't want to waste the gas for 30 minutes, Daniel is probably going to want dinner, my new laptop that my super awesome fiancé bought me so I would stop complaining about the current crappy one is supposed to be here right around that time and it needs to be signed for (of course it didn't come until 8 PM and the driver never asked for a signature).  I mean, the excuses were almost endless.

 Today, I was this close >< to going straight back to bed.  My alarm went off at 5:00 AM and this is what happened over the next 25 minutes:

- "what is that noise? Oh, my alarm..."
- go to the bathroom and sit on the toilet for 5 minutes trying to decide how tired I REALLY am
- decide that I'm too tired to get in a good swim and will just put on my run clothes and get in the 40 min, not easy, treadmill run because if I don't do it now I won't have time to do it later.  Lunch time is taken up by a meeting with Jon and after work is the Bucs game -- priorities!
- put on clothes and think, I'm going to go lay back down on the couch for a bit.  I am going to get done with my run and come back too early and be sitting here twiddling my thumbs wide awake
- get downstairs and think, "well, I'm awake now.  Might as well just go swim and run after"
- go back upstairs, change and grab my gym back to throw my run clothes in it
- 6:25 AM - left home to swim at LA Fitness and run on the treadmill after.  SUCCESS!

My thought process and activities of the above 25 minutes are pretty common.  I've been known to just lay back down on my bedroom floor as uncomfortable as possible while arguing with myself on how tired I really am, how good an effort I can put in to my workout for the morning and is the extra 40 minutes of sleep worth missing my workout.  That is usually the deciding factor for me.  Sometimes I've already missed a workout for the week.  Like yesterday.  So, if I miss another one, I am all sorts of grumpy.  If I get into the workout and it's just not happening, then I scale it back and do what I can because a shitty workout is better than no workout in my mind when I've already missed one. 

Are you wondering what happened with today's workout? 
All that fuss and it was awesome. 

2400m swim - MS X 2, 30 seconds rest between each 200 and 2 min rest after 1st time through MS:

• 150 steady, 50 fast - total time 1) 1:41, 2) 1:34
• 100 steady, 100 fast - total time 1) 1:35, 2) 1:32
• 50 steady, 150 fast - total time 1) 1:31, 2) 1:30
• 200 fast - total time 1) 1:27, 2) 1:25

BOO-YAH!

How did the run pan out?
Let's see:
race pace = 6:31 min/mi, easy jog = 10:00 min/mi
10 min w/u @ 9:15
2 min @ 5k race pace, 1 min easy jog
3 min @ 5k race pace, 1 min easy jog
4 min @ 5k race pace, 1 min easy jog
5 min @ 5k race pace, 1 min easy jog
7 min @ 8:34
5 min c/d @ 9:15

WOOT-WOOT!

Love this video which kind of sums up what my mornings are like 99% of the time when I have to get up early to workout ... which is most days; and what usually happens when I get past the morning struggle.  Enjoy!

"Probably the most motivational video you'll see this week!"