Long time no chat

Hi everyone, remember me? The co-creator of this blog? Yeah, I'm still here.

Our sick troubles of February/March are well documented and the effect it had on our workouts for those two months does not need to be rehashed by me. Instead, I want to talk about what I want to do about it, and how I found my new motivation.

As T wrote in her last blog post, we basically were able to BS our way through a 5K in early April after getting very little sleep the night before, having run very very little in the previous month, etc. This should have served as a nice springboard to jumpstart our training and get us ready for the terrible tasks that lie before us in May, June, and July, right? Yeah, well, the excuses kept coming.

She and I were on a bike ride the other day and I expressed my thoughts, that I was thinking of pulling out of Boulder 70.3. Flushing 325 bucks down the drain, money that I saved up for a long time for this event and will clearly be the culmination of my triathlon career thus far. My simple justification for pulling out was that I don't think I can be ready by then and that I refuse to have a DNF on my record.

T and I spent nearly half an hour arguing back and forth, her position being that aside from the endurance right now, which will come back quickly, my body is in excellent physical shape (except the small gut I cannot shake :-() and that I, in no uncertain terms, am a proud, determined, angry son of a bitch who does not back down from a challenge.

I took her words to heart, thinking about it for awhile. Then the best thing that could have possibly happened to me.

I did a two-a-day workout.

On Thursday morning, I spent 30 minutes on the trainer swearing at Coach Troy (I really hate him and look forward to punching him in the face someday, followed by me kissing him for keeping me on my bike when the weather is cold) and then after T came home from doing some community service, we had a few hours to kill before I headed to the airport. So I asked her what she wanted to do, and she said lift. Off we went to the gym to execute the Mark Allen lifting plan, which we last did March 7th (eek!).

I felt alive and amazing.

This week has been my best week of training yet this year. I haven't run much this week (less than 6 miles), only one time cycling outside (stupid weather) and got in the pool once, but you know, the whole thing that is different is my attitude. My focus right now is laser-like. My determination is more then its ever been. Sure, I only have 3 months to get in 1/2 Ironman Shape. And someone one told me you can't will your way through a triathlon.

Bring it. I'm going down swinging. No matter what, I will go down swinging.

The final thing that has motivated me is a new song that is making the rounds on my iPod. It's by one of my favorite bands, Disturbed. It's called Warrior. Look at these lyrics:

I'm one with the warrior inside
My dominance can't be denied
Your entire world will turn
Into a battlefield tonight
As I look upon you through
The warrior's eyes now
I can see the fear that will
Ensure my victory this time

Sometimes, the kicks in the ass that we need are unexpected. But dammit, a swift kick has turned this ship around.

As I said...bring it.