Cheering on Others

My track workout was indicative of how my overall day ended.  Panting.  Relieved.  Spent.  Relaxed. A renewed bout with asthma and allergies, along with not having my orthotic inserts for a week due to resizing is taking its toll on my body.  Though I pushed on through both Ray's Fortius-coached track workout and Megan's Fortius swim session.  I've been using the asthma inhaler more than usual lately, but somehow I'm finding the energy to still perform well (by my standards) and feel like I'm still growing.  Though I'm in sort of a plateau state with my running and swimming.  My 400 and 800 run splits are almost always falling at 1:27 and between 3:19-3:22.  Granted, I've only participated in three track sessions now, but I can't yet see the time decreases just yet.  That's OK though, I'm confident it will happen.

The same goes for the swim.  No matter how much I'm in the pool, my timed 100 stays consistently between 1:30-1:32.

Have I hit my progress threshold?  What will it take to make another breakthrough?  Can my body handle more?

I'm hopeful and somewhat confident the answer is no, I don't know and yes.

But starting tomorrow, we're going to put those questions on hold.  I'm driving back up to Santa Rosa, back to Vineman.  This time I'm supporting some friends and not actually racing.  I'm going to cheer on Rusty, who graciously made the drive from San Jose 10 days ago to support me.  I'm going to cheer on Caleb, an age-group pro who works in my building in Burbank.  He's really made me feel good about myself and my training.  When someone with that kind of skill and kindness tells you he reads this blog first thing every morning, it truly fuels me throughout the entire day.  I'm eager to help return the karma.  I'm going to support Bob (@RCMcoach on Twitter), who is a fellow Fortius teammate and one heck of an inspiration.  He always encourages me in my training and supports the blog as well.

I truly can't wait to be on the other side of the chute yelling as loud -- or trying to yell as loud -- as Stephanie during my events.  It will be a strange and welcome break to not have the stress of racing on my shoulders while still experiencing the drama of it all.

I'll blog intermittently when I can the next few days reporting on my experiences.

Until then, keep training and encouraging others, my friends.

114 days and counting.