Getting ready ready....

 I have been reading this book entitled "Slow Fat Triathlete- Live Your Athletic Dreams in the Body You Have Now". The author is absolutely hilarious! She started her mission to become a Triathlete when she could barely walk around the block and weighed over 230 pounds. I think that the common misconception about the sport of Triathlon is that you have to be in tip top shape and already be the elite athlete. This is the furthest thing from the truth. What one must realize that, like most things in life, it's completely mental. The mind is more powerful than almost anything else in our body. Becoming a Triathlete is all about the desire, commitment and the belief that you can.

I am in the process of preparing myself mentally for my race in 16 days. I know that I have put in the necessary time to train. At times I trained too much and probably put more time into swimming than anyone else that is training for a Triathlon. But that extra time has me in the pool swimming like someone who learned when they were a kid. I have spent some time on my bike, but not as much as I would have liked to. You know, I realized that the bike that I recently purchased was the first bike that I have ever had in my life. As a kid, I used to ride my brother's bike and the memories of that are constantly falling, hurting my girl parts and skinning up my knees. I did know how to ride, but I was probably on the ground more than on the bike. I have to say that I did manage to stay vertical for the most part during training. I did have a goofy fall on Sunday and hurt my knee, which I am hoping gets better really... really... soon!

Triathlon is an endurance sport. It's all about going a long... time in 3 sports. It's not necessary to do all 3 really fast, but to keep going. All of my friends think that I am a fast runner, but that is the furthest thing from the truth. I actually need to work hard in all 3 sports, but running is my strongest since I have done it more in the last year. When I started this mission to become a Triathlete, I didn't do it to loose weight, although I thought that it would be a byproduct of training. It's disappointing that I haven't lost weight. I am however, more stronger and have increased my endurance. If running was a bigger part of the 20 week training program, then the weight would have melted off. I am confident that once this race is behind me, I will be able to run more and since I can swim laps now, I will be able to work on the weight loss. I won't label myself as a Slow Fat Triathlete, but I am close to that description. I guess what's more important is that I have the endurance to become a Triathlete on June 20th. That's the plan. I have written it down and I'm making it happen!