Time

After I got back from my trip to Washington, DC I took the rest of the week off work, cozied up to a long holiday weekend I have been out of the office for a full week for the first time in more than a year. We had a couple of beautiful weather days followed by a couple of crummy ones. I am enjoying the time with the girls and the opportunity to do my workouts with fewer time constraints than I normally have. It's been an odd week with travel and time off, but a week where I've managed to do a lot to put my mind a little more at ease about this upcoming weekend's triathlon.

Monday and Tuesday I had two lovely runs in Washington, DC. I got in a number of brick workouts, plus two open water swims before the rains swept in. This morning I did a 13 mile bike, followed by a 2.5 mile run. I've crossed over that place in my mind where I question 'can I do this?' which is a nice place to be.

I've started to contemplate what I hope to get out of this triathlon next weekend, to set some goals. I am going to try to avoid setting time goals for myself, instead I hope to gain the following:

1) More experience with the event in general.

2) Smoother transitions between sports.

3) To push myself in the bike/run portions of the event. (You'll note I said push myself in the bike/run portions. My only goal for the swim is to be comfortable, not panic, get in, get through, get out. )

I think the first two goals will help to inform #3. As I reflect on my first and only triathlon experience I think I held back more than I'd like. Maybe because it was my first, maybe because I wasn't willing to push myself through some discomfort, maybe it was because I wanted to be sure I had gas left in the tank to finish. Whatever it was, I'm not trying to be hard on myself - I just want to use this weekend's event to push myself harder than I did before. If I run out of gas the last half-mile then at least I'll have learned something for the next event.