Monday, May 23, 2011

This puts it back in to perspective:

After my silly whinefest yesterday, I had a chance to catch up with some other bloggie friends.

I got to Betsy' blog....

Reading about her brother put it all right back in to perspective for me.

I'm grateful; I'm lucky; I'm ever-hopeful.

I'm also a contributor to her Team In Training effort. And you should be too.

Sunday, May 22, 2011

Feeling sorry for myself....

I'm going to whine a little bit.

Not that I'm really in any position to whine at all.

I'm healthy. I have a great husband, friends and family. I have wonderful cats, a job I enjoy and am pretty good at and no financial stress.

We've had super bad weather here, including a tornado that took a life, and here I am....

So I'm probably going to just sound like a big whiny baby as I reveal the reason for my rant below:

I can't figure out why, after all these years of training and working out, I still as as slow as molasses, and I feel like stamping my little feet and just screaming about it!

Why whine/rant NOW??? Well, it was kind of a big weekend for races. Fargo events, Gear West Duathlon, Superior Trail races, something called the Triple T, etc.

I ran the Fargo 1/2 and got through it "okay".

"Okay" means that I finished, but didn't PR. To be honest, this was expected. I have been plagued by nagging injuries, -- one right after each other -- ever since last fall. I ran 10 miles on April 3rd and that was it for long training runs prepping for Fargo.

My Achilles flared up, taking me out of the running game for a couple of weeks and then limiting my miles when I started back up, so actually finishing 13 was in question.

But I did.... I ran the first 7.35 almost straight though and then had to stop for a potty break. The line was long and people were dawdling in the porta potties. My mile splits went from a pretty consistent pace to adding almost six minutes to mile 8. Then I really slowed down.... took more walk breaks; got in to that very dark spot again (Hello, IM WI memories.....), but was able to get out of that mindset pretty quickly -- which certainly is a good think.

So, the good news is that I finished and feel pretty good today.

The whine starts as I start to compare myself to other friends. I looked up the results from the Gear West Duathlon and most of every one I know is at the top of the list of finishers. Many took podium places in their age groups. No one is near the bottom. Not ever close to near to the bottom.

I train with a lot of these people. It is one thing to do strength training together, where we are all lunging together in the same room. Or, even doing spin training during the winter, where we are all sitting on our bikes, strapped on to stationary trainers and then running together on treadmills. That is all fun, and kum-by-ya, and we are all "equal" because we are all the same "pace", which means we are all in the same place....

Now, with warmer weather, during spin, we are still strapped to the trainers, but running is outside. Used to be running around the facility parking lot but now we head out on a 2.75 mile loop.

I don't mind the distance but I have to admit is it is very humbling and some what humiliating that I get dusted by the group before we even leave the PARKING LOT and head out on to the road!!!!

Okay, so most of these people are considerably younger than I am; Most of these folks are or seem to be naturally gifted from an athletic perspective. Yes, I can improve -- to a point. There is not really a chance in heck that I'll run an 9 minute pace as an easy does it pace. (And a 9-minute pace would still mean I get dusted in the parking lot).

Don't get me wrong: I am very proud of their accomplishments. I am in awe of their abilities. I am really glad I get to train with them and participate in lots of the same events, because they are really wonderful people to know and I'm thrilled to have them all as friends.

I just get angry at myself for not being up to the same level. Usually, this fact isn't such a big thing to me. I'm generally just happy to be participating in the event and challenging my body and doing it all just because I can.

For what ever reason, today, I just feel like whining.

So, here I sit, licking my ego, BUT still plugging along.

I'm going to Madison for a couple days next weekend to so my annual solo trip down memory lane. I'll also do one loop of the Ironman Wisconsin bike course and one loop of the run course. Maybe riding up those three torturous hills in Dane County will chase the whine right out of me.