I Got Spoiled

"Once you have established the goals you want and the price you're willing to pay, you can ignore the minor hurts, the opponent's pressure and temporary failures." Coach Lombardi

Being off work last week spoiled me in more than one way. I enjoyed "sleeping in", which for me means sleeping until I wake up on my own. No alarm clock. But I usually can't sleep past 7:00am. Last week I think I even slept until almost 8 one day. But the real way I got spoiled was that I got my workout in first thing and then was done for the day. This was good for two reasons.

First of all, getting my workout in first thing in the morning means that I had no excuse later in the day to not do the workout. It was already done. And while I'd love to get in some workouts first thing in the morning on any given day, I'm not to the point where I'm willing to do that - YET. I know that day will come, but not now. I get up at 5:30 as it is. I'm not willing to get up any earier until I get into the heart of Ironman training.

The second reason getting the workout in first thing has to do with the weather. We have had some unseasonably cold weather for us. The day after Christmas my run was in 29 degree weather. And that's the weird thing. If I get up and get dressed to run in the cold, and go out and run in the cold first thing, I don't mind. I know that I'll warm up as I go and that when I get home I can take a nice warm shower and then I will be warm the rest of the day. But, if I get out in the cold and know how cold it is and then get warm again before doing my run, it feels so much colder getting out in it. I can't explain it, but it's hard to make myself run in even 50 degree weather after being at work all day. Knowing I have to get back in the cold is tough, but that's what I did today. I got home from work, got dressed for cold weather running and headed out for an hour long run in the low 50s. I know that may be warm for some of you, but it's cold for us. And it's only going to get worse. Thursday and Friday we are suppose to have high temps only in the 30s. And it's suppose to get down to 19. You won't find me outside running in those temps. Go ahead and call me a wimp. That's why I own a treadmill.

And back to the quote at the top - when I was out on my run today I got a side cramp about 20 minutes into the run. Normally I would have stopped and walked to see if it would go away. But I know that when I stop to walk, I have a hard time getting in that running groove again. Knowing that I will face cramps, pain and doubt during the Ironman, I kept going. I slowed my pace some, but I kept going. That cramp stayed with me for probably 10-15 minutes before it finally went away. But I ignored the minor hurt because I have a goal. And that goal is always on my mind.