JULY 2006 Bike Odyssey--Virtual Trip to Traverse City, MI--Day 5--3.5 miles (103.5 total)

Friday, finally. Today I didn't have to think as much about what I was going to do, didn't have to bring the bike or hustle to the park in the dark. Just run. Three miles. Inching forward. Enough. While I didn't feel like I needed a rest day (that's good!), I wanted to have an easy day before the weekend's long ride. And today it wasn't raining either. Just 72 degrees and 98% humidity. Almost like a sauna instead!

My left hamstring has been acting up a little. Its not tight, but it is twinging. I couldn't figure it out until this morning--its from when I fell off the bike the very first day onto pavement. That's what gave me a backache the first day too. Little things that can mess up a training plan and haunt you for a while.

I figured I might feel it running, but with my new Chi form, nothing hurts, so it wasn't an issue as long as I didn't overstride, which you aren't supposed to with Chi running.

Everyone who saw me heading out to run today said, "Its too hot out there" "its too muggy out there" to run. Better now than later. I have to get this done. So I headed out through the downtown area to the park and along the river. Better there than on the streets with the traffic and exhaust in the air. It seems much worse in the morning, and I remember hearing years ago that air pollution is actually worse in the early morning hours. You can taste it, so its got to be true.

This was going to be just a "mindless" run, where I just follow the river and don't think of anything else. Its been surprising to me to see my endurance for running improve 100% this week, where I thought it might be the opposite. Again the words "you need to do the longer stuff to make the short stuff seem easy" rang in my ears. This was easy. Only 30 min. max today. Put on the shoes, head out the door, go for 15 min., turn around. Easy.

Crazy thoughts have started forming in my head too about the possibiity of an IM next year. I talked about it last year, I've hinted at it maybe for next year, but then got away from the idea completely. Now I am headed toward it again. This week has been a discovery about what I can do if I put my mind to it. As they say, anything is possible.

I am one of those people who wants everything lined up before I make a decision to do something. Its my nature. I'm not impulsive generally. Impulsive moves have always led to disaster for me. But here I am, thinking of doing an IM, and just because I have undertaken this self-imposed contest this week!

What changed me? The knowledge that even after 5 days of tripling my normal workouts, I am still at it and willing to keep going until I finish this thing. That's the same thing with IM. You have to train until the race. You have to commit to keep at it every day until the race to avoid certain failure. So I have discovered that the thing that scared me the most wasn't just the race itself, but the commitment to train. I didn't think I could. This has showed me I can if I want to.

Run done and decided to do a half mile swim. No more time, and I had to keep reminding myself to keep it easy today. Tomorrow's another day!