Make it Hurt !!

So Today i raced my first race of the 2011 season after a 5 mth off season break of no racing... yeah, probably wont do that again. meaning, take such a long time off from racing. Looking ahead ( no looking back :) ) i will definitely take a small break but then jump in to some running or bike racing over the winter mths.

So yeah , it was a bit of a shock to the system ( total understatement ) , but a much needed one, which in turn made me so excited for the races ahead. I was just reminded of how much they hurt, which for some reason i forgot that would be the case. But it's a good hurt...

For me, hurting that much means that i am giving it my all. Which is really my only goal i have on race day, Irrespective of where i place, how slow or fast i am, i gage myself on that one thing. Did i make it hurt ???? And once that is answered i then assess where i can improve.

Looking at this particular race, and what my times have been in training the last few weeks, i definitely would have expected or at least hoped for faster times accross the board when considering the amount of pain that was felt in relation to the times achieved. Ideally we all want to be able to get faster so that it doesnt hurt as much, but that is never the case. The only chance of it not hurting as much is if i dont want to improve my times,and i could just get fitter to make my current times easier. But whats the point of that.. I am always going to be pushing the next boundary once i reach my current time goals, put myself back in the pain cave, and see what else this mind and body is made of.

This is why i love this sport, There is always going to be room for improvement of mind, body, attitude, the list could go on and on, but the process of growth is an amazing journey that i look foward to every day.

An Ironman ... not yet ...

Its been 5 MONTHS since my last race ... 5 months !! Man does time fly.. And i will be racing this weekend at the Champions Olympic Tri held by Red Licorice events at Lake Pflugerville. I will be rocking my new Tri4Him kit ( check out elite team at www.tri4him.com )and am excited to be apart of their inaugaral elite team this year.

This will just be a good benchmark to see where i am at after the Off season which it very much was for me. I am not just saying that, trust me :).I had injuries and life priorities to get back in place before i was going to jump into my 2011 training, and after doing that the last 2 mths of training have been the most consistent than ever before. Amazing when you put triathlon and training last on the priority list, which i have done, and am actively doing - that it frees up more time, clarity, focus, and even greater joy than ever before.

my first A race will be the 70.3 in galveston, which i am also looking at as a starting point for 2011, since i have a long way of progression ahead of me, and i have to start somewhere ...

I ended 2010 with a big victory at the Austin 70.3 race. I didnt get dibilitating cramps during a 70.3 race for the first time. So to me, this was a big deal going fowards. I had finally figured out nutrition at this distance, well i think i have, and now i can just focus on racing as hard as i possibly can.

I had a weak moment and thought that 2011 may be my jump into the Ironman distance, but after some wise council and a reality check, i realised that this is not the smartest or healthiest thing to do for my mind or body since this will only be my 3rd season in the sport and my body still needs adapting to being an endurance athlete. The 3 mile "REALLY LONG" run i did once a week during my tennis days hardly quanitifies as endurance...

Patience, seems to be the ALWAYS prevalent theme that keeps resurfacing, and i have finally succommed to it and fully happy about my decision.

so when will be my first Ironman ???

i will know when i am ready, and i have a feeling it wont be anytime soon. I want to conquer the 70.3 distance first !! And i am nowhere close to doing that, but i am moving in the right direction :) and i am so excited for the new chapter in this journey to start.

Blog Monday's

This is my attempt to hopefully blog more. I am putting this out there for you all to see and keep me accountable if i dont write something( that means you mom )

Blog Monday's it is - i will attempt to write something every Monday !! which is usually my recovery day from the weekend of training, so this day made sense to me :)

2010 i only wrote race reports but this year i will try to share more.
Updates on life happenings, Epiphanies ( yes they happen every so often if i am lucky ) , experiences, Training, Nutrition, basically whatever...

If any of you have a question, subject line or idea for me to write about , bring it.

This will count as my first Blog to start out Blog Monday's ...