HILDEKQ'S Magnificently Motivational Mentor Group - CLOSED!! (Page 6)

HMPH...that's not very nice Shawn! I suppose I could find a tank to lay under.....as long as it isn't moving it wouldn't hurt!

Can't say the same about you though headed to the pool tomorrow w/o any spandex to cover your extra fluff!!  LMAO!!
That might hurt.....

I'm off to the pool tomorrow too and cannot say that I am looking forward to it. I have been watching this Total Immersion information though and it makes sense. Going to try some of the drills and see if I can get my body to cooperate enough to make it worth my while. Have any of ya'll seen/heard of it?

How Training for Triathlons Helped Me Build a Snowman

We’re snowed in today and I realized that I’d never built a snowman. Really? I grew up in NYC, went to college in Central NY, lived in Philly for the winter of ’93, lived in Alaska for 3 years and never built a snowman?  Today was going to be the day!

#1 You need a good base.  Forget about trying to complete a tri without proper training unless you’re one of those gifted athletes.  You need a good base for the snowman or he’ll topple over.

#2 Rome wasn’t built in day.  You have to train consistently to see results. I had to fetch my snow one bucket at a time and after a few hours, I had something to show for it.

#3 Make due with what you have.  I don’t have a fancy road bike yet but I have a hybrid bike. We left all of our winter stuff with various families in AK. We never thought we’d need it in GA.  I used the girls summer shovels and pails to get the job done.

#4 Expect the unexpected and work through it.  Who knew that it takes talent to drink while on a moving bike without falling!  I’m still working on this one since running while dehydrated was not cool last season.  I had to thaw out a few times not because my hands or feet froze but because my arse froze.

#5 Don’t discount your small accomplishments because over time, they add up to something much greater.  Swimming is tough for me, not being a natural dolphin like Hilde :-).  Each lap in the pool got me closer to finally being able to work through my fear of being in open water.  That was huge for me.  My 6 year old was “helping” me with her small pail.  I turned around and she had filled a 5 gallon Home Depot bucket with snow and was dragging it toward me!  She only weighs 45 lbs!  She was quite helpful.

#6 Step back, assess and correct your course if necessary.  Trail and error led me to change my swim goals, my workout times, my workout days, in order to juggle my full-time job, being a wife and mother.  After getting my snow man structure erected, he looked like the Leaning Tower of Piza so I had to make adjustments to get him looking erect.

#7 Accept your mistakes, keep your cool and be kind to yourself.  It’s very easy to get frustrated and discouraged about not progressing as rapidly as I’d like to,  so I remember from whence I came and rejoice in what I’ve accomplished.  My biggest mistakes have been my best teachers.  My snowman almost needed a facial reconstruction because I took off too much snow.  I stopped for a minute, got a new game plan, got the face and head stable again, and all was well with the world.

#8 Have fun! What’s the point of training if you don’t enjoy it.  It’s not always about achieving a PR. Race day comes and goes much faster than the time it took to get there.  Enjoy the journey.  Through the construction of my snowman, I ran around chasing my daughters, rolled them down the hill, we and the neighborhood kids went sledding down the hill, threw snowballs, ate white snow and built a fort.  I would have missed all the fun if I’d concentrated only on the endgame.