Lazy Bones

I'm lazy.  I'll admit it.  I always want to park in the closest possible spot to where I'm going (I try to make myself park on the far end of the lot, and I don't wait for the closest spot possible, but when it's available I take it).  I will drive a mile to the market rather than walk.  I will stay in bed all day if allowed.  Yes, I'm lazy.  But, here's the thing.  Training for an ironman distance triathlon doesn't really allow for laziness.  I'm doing some kind of physical activity seven days a week.  When I come home from work I can't just plop down on the couch and watch tv and play with the dog.  Nope, everyday I've got to swim, bike, run, or do some kind of core/strength workout (or a combination).  I can't sleep in on the weekends, I have to get up and swim, bike and/or run.  If I want to complete this race I have to do the workouts.  Laziness doesn't really work with this schedule.

I started writing this post about 2.5 months ago, and then got distracted (or maybe lazy) and it lived as a draft for a long time.  But, in that time, something has changed.  I have changed.  Training for an ironman, and my coaches, have basically beaten the laziness out of me (or at least beaten it in to submission).  Now, I not only do the prescribed workouts, but I'm also doing the extra work, the longer workouts, the bonus workouts, and I kind of look forward to them.  WHAT?!?  I want to do EXTRA workouts?  Not normal.  I'm the girl who did everything she could to skip PE in high school - seriously, I protested my PE classes and got classmates to join in on the not exercising bandwagon.  I was finally excused from having to take a second year because I was so ridiculous (and probably disruptive).

A few months ago I was fighting this.  I wasn't doing extra workouts (well, in the beginning when we got extra swim workouts I almost always did those, because I love swimming, but no other extra stuff).  I still sometimes want to stay in bed.  I still occasionally want to skip workouts.  There are days when I just want to do nothing.  But, I get my ass going and I do the workouts.  Now I do all the workouts plus the extra stuff.  It scares the hell out of me to skip workouts.  140.6 is no joke.  This isn't like marathon training where you can get away with skipping runs and still finish.  I know quite a few people who have faked a marathon - hell I've faked my way through a half marathon - but an ironman is a whole different animal.  I'm pretty sure you can't fake an ironman, actually, I know you can't fake an ironman.  I know that. I do what I'm told.  

There's a part of me that a few months ago was terrified that I signed up for all of this, but not anymore.  Now I'm excited for the long workouts, the hard work that lay ahead, because the rewards, they are like nothing else.  I know that I will be able to do this. Part of why I blog about it is because the more I talk about it the more I feel like I'm held accountable for my actions, or lack thereof.  If I skip workouts I'm only hurting myself and I know that.  Some days its easier than others.  Actually, most days its easier to do the workouts than skip them.  I feel better, stronger, happier.

I enjoy the workouts now.  I enjoy the hard work that is coming with every impending training peaks email (how we receive our daily workouts).  I am seeing my body (and mind) change in amazing ways - more so than it ever did when training for a marathon.  I am strong and powerful and capable of anything I put my mind to.  I knew that before, but this training, it reinforces that regularly.

It's funny, because now I feel lazy when I do just the regular workouts and not the bonus ones.  Now I feel lazy when I have short workouts.  Lazy has changed.  It is not the same thing for me anymore.  And, while this can all, at times, be exhausting, I love pretty much every minute of it, even the super hard stuff.  And, a lot of that is because of the team.  They are incredible and I love being with them and going to group workouts.  I get sad when I miss a workout with them (seriously).  When I was training for marathons I almost never felt like that.

My goals, they don't seem all that crazy or far-fetched anymore.

Its funny how a little time and a lot of hard work can change things, can change you.  I'm looking forward to seeing what's around the next corner.