Shift

First off, I must apologize for the ridiculously long delay since my last posting. Life has truly shifted around from squeezing in training where it would (or would BARELY) fit and focusing on coaching soccer back to full bore training again.  For the first time in a VERY long time, I am not in charge of my schedule. And by that, I don’t mean that I’m married and the ole’ ball and chain tells me where to be and what to do. I finally surrendered to the notion that I don’t know what it takes to be any faster than I currently am. So I hired a coach, Paulo Sousa, in November to see how far I can take this triathlon thing. The blog title is one I’ve been meaning to write since January, as it’s pretty much aimed at what has gone on in my mind and body since the shift from being a self-coached schmoe to a schmoe that can no longer think for himself when it comes to setting up the training.

First thing that I noticed is that people are creatures of habit, me especially. I did my long run on Thursday, swam 3 times a week (including masters’ swim class), and I rode my damn bike a lot. I refused to ride the trainer (Hey, I’m single with few responsibilities. That means I can ride outside!), and the winter was made for easy cruisin’.   Running was all aerobic chatty Kathy runs 3 or 4 times a week max. If I ran at lunch, or after a ride, it was 30-40 minutes max. And I was CERTAIN that I was training enough. Well, Paulo said no. Within 2 weeks of his schedule, I was at my breaking point. I couldn’t complete the training with soccer. There was no possible way to fit it all in. I failed for the 3^rd or so weekend in a row, and tried to tell him that I couldn’t do all of the training he required. He didn’t accept my attempt at a break-up. He said I needed to re-evaluate, and shift my thinking. Finally a weird thing happened, I just accepted what he sent me. No more looking down the road on training for the weekend, or 2 days from now to adjust and fit it all in. Just look at today, and get it done. If that meant getting up at 4am and running, then that’s what it was. If that meant swimming while all my buddies were riding, it was time to smell like chlorine. I had to shift my habits, and either accept the training or not. There was no picking and choosing of what I did, or melding his schedule with what my established order was. I had to accept that maybe I didn’t know best, and just shut my mouth and do what was on the paper. This meant riding on the trainer, swimming so much that I smelled like the pool when I sweat, and running volume that I only saw during most of my heaviest Ironman buildup. The funny thing was that there were no epic sessions on tap. Just a healthy dose of work to do every day. The healthy dose of daily work came with a choice; either shut it and do the work, or  bitch out and don’t do it.

There were a few times this winter where I bitched out because I was so shelled, and just slept like 14-15 hours on Saturday or Sunday. But that’s all part of the shift, I guess. I’m finally fully accepting of what is before me, and really excited about the 2009 season. Paulo had an interesting quote on his website that he jacked from a Starbucks cup of all places, and it summed up the shift and commiting to this training pretty well. Here it is:

“The irony of commitment is that it is deeply liberating - in work, in play, in love. The act frees you from the tyranny of your internal critic, from the fear that likes to dress itself up and parade around as rational hesitation. To commit is to remove your head as the barrier to your life".

I’m on a plane right now to Tuscon, Arizona for a triathlon training camp with Paulo and all the professional triathletes he coaches. There is a little apprehension, as the people I’ll be training with do this for their livelihood. But I’m looking forward to booking a seat on the pain train, and hopefully absorbing as much as I can from these guys. I’m going to try and keep the blog updated throughout camp for two reasons. First, so you can follow along at home, and  second when I am old and grumpy and play shuffleboard, I can read back and remember the time I went to Tuscon. To find out how good I was, what it took to get better and some guidance on what I’ll need to do to be invited to Hawaii in October. Whatever it is, I’m sure it’s gonna be a killer journey. That is all based on the hope, of course, that someone actually comes to pick me up from the Tuscon airport….

Livin’ the Dream!