Its a matter of numbers.

I was thinking of what I wanted to write about today--my awesome ride last night? The darn cold weather again lately? The upcoming heat wave expected for the weekend? But the matter of numbers kept creeping into my brain.

Everything we do to reach success is a matter of numbers. I learned early in marketing and sales classes that its a matter of numbers how much you sell. Not necessarily in terms of dollars but in number of sales. It takes at least 10 contacts to make 1 sale. I told this to my sister when she was trying to get a hair salon business going. Send out 100 flyers and you likely should get 10 new clients. It worked.

Same thing goes with triathlon or marathon training, or any athletic training for that matter. Its a matter of numbers. Number of-- rides, runs, swims, bricks, races--before it starts to click. Then you can break it down into individual parts of your training: so many miles before the rides start clicking; so many running miles before it gets easier and you get faster; so many swim laps before you finally reach a mile. I might not be explaining it very well or very clearly, but clearly it is a matter of numbers.

Put in the bike, run, and swim miles and the races will take care of themselves. But remember, most of us are not pros. While time is of the essence, we should not lament any effort to achieve completion of any race just because we aren't as fast as someone else. If you do the best you can under the circumstances with the amount of training you have under your belt, the results will be shown in the outcome.

So while I am thinking of that advice, I know I must apply the same philosophy to my own training. Yesterday I came to the conclusion that with my upcoming Olympic distance triathlon only 25 days away, I needed to start putting in the numbers. No more heading to the gym for a spin class when it was only 55 degrees. No getting to the gym late in the morning and cutting off my swim. And no skipping the runs because: its cold, its hot, or I can do it tomorrow. Its now or never.