Identity Crisis

The summer has been interesting so far, to say the least, and at this venture I'm having a bit of an athletic identity crisis, part of which can be blamed on my putting Vic on hiatus until marathon training starts back up (next week). Clearly, I need someone to coach me. I wonder how much I'd have to pay him to move in with me, come to work with me, and coach every minute of my day...

Basically, I've been floundering around since April, just kind of making up a running/biking/swimming/strength plan, and not particularly excelling at or enjoying any of it. Here are the facts:

Fact 1: I suck at biking. Like, WHOAH. Noah and Vic both reminded me that I'm a runner, not a cyclist, and that picking up a new sport is never easy. My quads reminded me that I hate hills. The alleged "slow" people I've been trying to keep up with when I ride reminded me that I need to ride alone until I can build some more stamina (They didn't actually tell me that. I figured it out on my own).

Fact 2: Pool swimming and open water swimming are NOT the same thing. I do OK in swim class on Fridays and mid-week when I swim in the pool on my own. I pretty much hyperventilated not even a tenth of a mile across the lake this past weekend. Thank God Noah was following me in a kayak.

Fact 3: I'm crazy jealous of my own boyfriend. I hate to train, but I love to race. Noah loves to train, but could take or leave racing. What that means is he passionately works out for anywhere from 10-14 hours a week, is dropping weight and gaining muscle like mad, and is getting faster in all three sports week-over-week. Meanwhile, I'm in between training seasons and feeling lazy, slow, and pudgy, all while not particularly excelling at any one sport. Except maybe 12-ounce curls. Man, am I good at those.

All this is boiling down to an identity crisis. I don't feel like I train hard enough to consider myself a serious athlete. Yet I'm not happy just zen running with the casual athletes. I'm suffering through my mid-distance runs and not feeling much like a marathoner these days (even though I have 3 under my belt and am about to start training for a 4th), and I am struggling so much with the triathlon training that I'm pretty sure Timberman will be my first and last (if I even do it).

So who am I? Where do I fit in? Not hard core enough for the hard cores, but not relaxed enough for the "fitness" crowd. Is there such a thing as people who train hard but aren't obsessive about it, and aren't necessarily gifted in their chosen sport, but are OK with it?

Harpoon 5-Miler Race Recap

Back in May, I technically ran the M.O.M.'s Run, but I wouldn't say I raced it by any stretch of the imagination, as it fell the day after my birthday party which consisted of heavy drinking and salsa dancing in 3-inch stilettos until midnight.

What that means is today was my first race since Boston. And believe it or not, I'm REALLY happy with how it went.

The Harpoon 5-Miler is hands-down my favorite race of the year. It starts and ends at the Harpoon brewery, the course takes you by Boston Harbor in Southie, it' well-organized, the volunteers are friendly, the T-shirts are always awesome, and your race fee gets you several free beers. So what that means is once a year I run 5 miles as hard as I can, then I drink my face off with my friends for the day. What's not to love?

This year it was darn humid, I was darn tired, and I was feeling pretty darn under-trained. At the start, I told my friend Beckett that I'd be happy with anything under 40 minutes. The gun went off, I raced as hard as I could, I thought I might barf in the last 1.5 miles, and when I finished, the Garmin said 38:15. Even better, the official race results said 38:14. Garmin calls that a 7:44 average mile. Somehow, the official race results call that a 7:13 average mile. Either way, I'm pleased. Humidity has a tendency to destroy my running ability and the last couple miles were tough, so to break 8 by a solid 15 seconds/mile was a minor miracle. Then, I may or may not have had one beer for every mile I ran today. In my opinion, I earned it.

The big takeaway is that my fitness is not nearly as pathetic as I thought it would be, and while I certainly have my work cut out for me before Timberman and Baystate, the situation isn't as dire as I thought. Hopefully Vic agrees :)

Uphill Both Ways

You know that "When I was your age..." diatribe that our grandparents' generation is stereotyped for giving? The one that references walking to school "uphill both ways?" That's kind of how my weekend of training in New Hampshire felt.

Noah and I took off Saturday morning to spend a couple days on beautiful Lake Winnipesaukee, graciously hosted by some friends of his. Another couple on his tri team drove up, too, and the 6 of us spend the weekend, swimming, biking, and running around the area, in between great meals and funny conversations.

It was only my third time outside on the bike this season (maybe my 6th or 7th time ever), and while the chosen distance of 28 miles seemed harmless enough, I quickly learned that the local hilly terrain was more than I bargained for. Lucky for me, the girls I rode with were extremely patient, understanding, and helpful, and while there was no salvation for my poor quads and hamstrings, I did learn a few tricks that gave me a little extra oomph on the climbs. It was one of those workouts that is tough while you're in it, but then you feel really good about yourself when you're done. Being the glutton for punishment that I am, I joined one of the girls for a 10 minute run immediately after hopping off the bike (what's known as a "brick" in the triathlon community), then the next day ran another 9 miles on those curse-ed hills.

I never got in the water that weekend, but I guess I still have some time to get into a regimen. Although, after training in the same region my upcoming tri is in, I'm almost tempted to give my number away and stick to marathoning!