Puttin' in the Time

Some training sessions are memorable and remain forever etched in one's mind because of a milestone, a breakthrough, positive encouragement or something special that happened.

This was one of those days where none of the above occurred.

We've all been there though. It's the rule rather than the exception. Just another workout. Nothing spectacular to report. Taken on its own, no progress was made.

Puttin' in the time.

That's the quick summary of my training today. I spun at home on the trainer in the morning, watching Sportscenter to catch up on all the sports I've missed from this demanding training regimen. Once again, I shaved off a good portion of my rear tire. I really need to fix that. And once again, I noticed the dead spot in my pedal stroke during my isolated leg training segments. Need to figure out how to fix that as well. All in due time.

After a long day in the office, I trudged through a weightlifting session for my legs. I made it through the workout of squats, leg extensions, step-ups, calf-raisers, lunges and abs work with enough sweat to know I put in effort, but still thinking I could have pushed it harder. Then again, that's not what this training is about. It's about puttin' in the time, not going hard-core with each workout. I need to constantly tell myself that during training.

I suppose that's the irony from training for an Ironman. The training itself is an endurance test. Not every day can bring an epiphany. Not every day can be memorable.

The trick is to find the zen in the monotony and repetitiveness. The mundane can still be sublime if you open yourself up to that possibility.

343 days and counting.