Monday, January 19, 2009

Week Two: Base Camp & Building Blocks

Week Two... Check (!?)

This weekend was tough. I've had much harder training weeks before. Much harder rides and much harder runs. However, the long ride and long run this weekend wiped me out.

I wasn't going to say anything, but here's the truth. Many times this weekend, a heard a little voice tell me "you can't do it." It was not the usual "beat myself up voice," rather it was more of a resigned voice, one that was merely stating a fact and waiting to see if I'd agree.

I used to be rather obsessed with Mount Everest, so please pardon the following completely cliche analogies. Right now I am at base camp. I've put in a lot of time to get here, and I feel like it's an accomplishment in itself. Even with the accomplishment, it still hurts here. I'm cold, I'm tired, and I am rather unsure that I want to go back out, brave the cold and keep climbing. I know the summit will be amazing, but do I really need to go for it this time around?

Well, yeah. I do. I signed up for it. Of course it's going to hurt. But I will keep climbing. It's okay if I climb really slow, as long as I put one step in front of the other. It doesn't matter that the rest of my expedition is blazing by me, as long as I keep moving forward. (My sherpas help, I'll give you that!)

The second thing that kept me going this weekend was the idea of building blocks. During my run on Sunday, I kept visualizing a pyramid, with all of the blocks in place. Each block had something on it - this weekend's blocks said "50 mile ride" and "11 mile run." I imagined how shaky that pyramid would be if some of the blocks were missing. Honestly, this thought of standing atop a solid pyramid kept my feet shuffling forward. I think I'm going to hang on to this analogy - I find it very motivating.

So, this is what's up with me. I'm putting my thoughts out there, even though they are ugly and over dramatic. This is pretty difficult. It might get easier, but more than likely it will get harder. I just need to adapt and keep motivated. I took a page out of Elizabeth's book and stayed a hermit this weekend. Morphing into my couch seemed like a perfectly reasonable way to spend my days.

Week three... ready to keep climbing & building... Here goes!

3 comments:

Unknown said...

I like the pyramid thought a great thing to remember when some of us want to cut back on our mileage. I'm not talking about you;-)

I think one of the hardest things to remember is our goals are NEVER easy to achieve. It takes hard work and consistency to achieve them. If they were easy everyone would be doing it. No, you aren't being over dramatic.

my verification is warns???

TRI TO BE FUNNY said...

It's Week 2 and it's the middle of January. You're not supposed to be feeling good. However, I promise you'll hit your stride. Just keep smiling sunshine!!

Priscilla said...

If I can do it, you can do it :) Week 2 sucked for me, I missed workouts like crazy because of one thing or another. I too, thought to myself, "Why not try this out at a different time??" then I did a little reverse pyschology on myself. I can do this, we can do this, we just need to keep plugging along, one step at a time. Before you know it, it'll be June and we'll be crossing the line :)