Let the Fun Begin! Triathlon 2011!

"If you are going to doubt something, doubt your limits" - Don Ward

This years training has begun! The first of many weeks of biking, running, swimming, stretching, icing, yoga-ing, and endless piles of laundry is here. I'm really excited to announce that Adam is training with me this year! After calling me crazy all last year during training, something clicked when he saw me race...he could do that! We already share a quite active lifestyle, and we have been swimming and running together for months now. The teamwork and motivation of having both of us doing it is fantastic.

This week we signed up with a Masters swim program at a local high school alongside our other friends and "teammates" that we know. Talk about an ass-whooping! Having an on deck coach and being surrounded by swimmers far, far better than us was a new experience. We went straight from being big fish in a small pond to being teeny tiny tadpoles. It's the quickest way to improve and we both are very dedicated to our swimming.

This is the third day this week that we've watched the sunrise while huffing and puffing in the chilly (40-50 degree) morning air. The reflections of orange and purple sky in the Back Bay with a backdrop of Saddleback Mountain are truly breathtaking. It feels so brutally early, so jarringly cold, and in some ways quite possibly insane when you wake up and thrust yourself out into the dark. Yet, there's life and beauty happening in the silent hours of morning. There are other people outside, bundled up and forging ahead with focus and purpose. Rabbits bound across the trail, hawks circle for prey and long legged egrets stalk and stretch in the marshes while we ride or run past.

I can't say enough about the magic in triathlon training. It's as close as I can get to a religion. It is a daily devotion to something real, tangible, and personal. Somehow the process of clearing, cleaning and honing my mind and body, my soul follows suit. I'm thrilled to have a partner to share this morning ritual with. I'm not much of a team-player but I feel a real sense of community and bond between the 3 other people we train with and a deep sense of camaraderie with every other person who's out there trying to better themselves.

2011 Races:
2/6 - Surf City Half Marathon (not a real focus, just running as much as I can - want to avoid injury)
4/2 - Warrior Dash
5/22 - OC Tri
6/2 - Escape From Alcatraz (R only)
9/11 - Pac Coast Tri