Count down...

I’ve been sweating my upcoming triathlon. I haven’t been training well or consistently, so given I only have 3 weeks before race day, I know I’m racing against an unfriendly clock… it may be too little too late for me… but I will do it anyways. I’ve committed. If I’m last across the finish line, I’ll have to be okay with that… at this point, finishing within the time limit will be a win for me. And if I don’t finish? Well… I’ll live and learn and carry on to a new day… Theodore Roosevelt put it best;

It is not the critic who counts… not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena; whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself for a worthy cause; who at best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement… and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat.

                                                                                               

So, I’ll keep going… swims… bikes… runs… all strung together like a beautiful symphony for the hard of hearing… because, what I do isn’t so beautiful… yet! But with each swim session… each bike… every step of my run, I’m getting better… and maybe my great enthusiasms and devotions will prove to be wonderfully beautiful in my minds eye...

Bad Funk...

I’ve been in a funk the past few weeks. Some people call it a mild case of depression, but I won't go that far... I may be a little more irritable than normal... a little less jovial... but depression?

It started with catching a bit of the crud the weekend I volunteered at the Oceanside Ironman 70.3. At least that’s when I think I caught. I went into the weekend a little run down and tired, but I made the commitment so I went. Great day despite being tired…  I got to amerce myself in the world of the Ironman series and see pros like Andy Potts, Michael Raelert, and Mirinda Carfrae finish. I was a finish line catcher and my primary job was to congratulate each athlete and make certain they were okay after their 70.3 mile ordeal. Suffice it to say, I had to carry a lot of people to the medical tents… sweaty, exhausted and smelly bodies… very literally a catcher. I spent close to 11 hours at the Ironman… 8 of those hours catching athletes (did I mention they were sweaty and smelly?), so I guess it wore on me. I came home that night feeling a little crappy. That was a little over a week ago.

This past week I somehow tweaked my back. I suspect I strained a muscle doing nothing out of the ordinary… nothing I can recall anyways. I’ve woken up the past few mornings with back stiffness and pain. Shooting pain that makes itself known when bending over to tie my shoes or breathing too deeply. I enjoy breathing, so I have to keep from enjoying it too much… so no deep breaths. Can I just say, back pain SUCKS! I’ve never had back issues… can’t explain why I would have issues now, although my wife has hinted that it could be related to age… “Hey old man, you’re not 18 anymore!” still painfully rings in my head.

So why does this all matter? From being sick to back pain now? Why the funk? Because I haven’t been able to train in the past 2 weeks. I’ve not gotten a decent swim, bike or run in that means anything. In the meantime, May 22^nd is quickly approaching… an Olympic Distance Triathlon that I am not ready for… at this rate, I have very little hope of posting a half decent finish time. In fact, at this rate I may not even be able to finish. But that doesn’t bother me as much as not being able to get out and grind out miles. I haven’t sweat in weeks… no sunlight on my skin… no endorphins… I’m in bad shape… yes, I call this a funk.

So hopefully the weekend comes and my back pain subsides… swim, bike, or run… I’ve got to nail a session down. Maybe a run Saturday morning… an open water swim on Sunday…  maybe… hopefully… prayerfully… all I know is I've got to get out of this funk... and a little sweating should do the trick...