Sunday, May 20, 2007

Team Workout #1 - Getting Started

1. Welcome to my training blog.

2. Consider yourself warned: this is my first adventure in blogging.

3. I owe a big thanks to my friend Heather for making this Team Workout #1 for me. Without her help, I wouldn't have made it down to the LLS headquarters on Saturday morning. When I was little, our family (I think it actually belonged to my dad, but I'm not sure) had a small Peanuts book by Charles M. Schulz called "Happiness is a Warm Puppy" that had a comic frame on each page with a different "Happiness is a ..." sentence. I have one to add to the back of the book (even though it would have to be written in tiny font to fit on those pages):

Happiness is having a friend that gets up early on a Saturday morning after an exhausting week and drives to your home to hang out with your 9 year-old nephew and little black dog, makes fruit salad, reads with them and then takes them to the park all so you can go to your Team in Training group workout.

The workout for my ability level group was pretty much what I expected ... 4 miles (an out and back course) at a steady jog. I felt good until somewhere around mile 3.5 where I was forced to confront a couple of facts:

1. I am REALLY unfit compared to a year ago this week when I was starting my taper for the 2006 Rock and Roll Marathon ... and I am okay with that.

2. 26.2 miles is a LONG way so I'm going to need to come up with a plan for fitting in my mid-week workouts.

3. My feet are already aching so I'm going to need to shed a few pounds if I'm going to make it to race day without injury.

(I'll keep you posted on 2 &3 over the coming weeks.) By the time I made it back to the start/finish I was onto a different focus and just thrilled to see Liz was still smiling and when I heard about her shin splints I remembered how glad I am to have the right shoes and equipment for the months and miles ahead. Hearing our coaches and mentors talk to Liz about getting fitted for shoes in the same tone of voice that they tell me I can make my fundraising goal is definitely encouraging.... of all the challenges ahead that is the one I am most unexperienced with and, therefore, the most nervous about.

No comments: