Time to kick some a$$!!

This past weekend, I decided I needed to kick some a$$ ... MINE, of course!

One thing about training is that it is too easy to fall out of routine. In fact, I fell out of my routine last year, right after Ironman. And now, miserably "out of shape" with a growing little Buddha Belly pushing the limits of my waistbands, I am truly missing it.

Sure, there have been a few haphazard short-lived frenetic spurts of training but I think they were more so due to "sloth guilt" and definitely not at all to discipline and determination.

(Hmm, well, I can't say I've completely faltered on the determination part since, looking back, I was able to complete a marathon with almost nil training ... guess that takes some sort of guts ... on second though, maybe that was plain old stupidity.)

This makes me think ...

Interesting how perception plays such a large part in things. I remember my first marathon, for which I was the best-trained of all my 12 marathons ... I feared that I wouldn't be able to finish it.

Fear of the unknown. It can break us if we let it.

There have been countless times that I could no longer endure the pain and fatigue while running a marathon but I always seem to get through it, because *I believe*. I'd be cursing at myself, once even incredibly angry at myself that I had elected to piggy-back marathons, when I ran Niagara after Hartford, only two weeks later. Ouch! No ... OUCH!!!

In that memorable race, my quad had seized up right after the half-way mark and it would not let go. I hated to have to take walk breaks but I needed the 30 or so seconds (okay, maybe longer) to try to massage out the cramp, working the muscle so hard I left my leg black-and-blue.

After I crossed the finish line, I looked at the volunteer who had put my finisher's medal around my neck with big eyes and asked her to *hug me*. And I then proceeded to shed loud tears of anguish and relief as my frustration and anger from the pain and my stupidity finally found its cathartic ending.

This weekend, I decided to give myself a kick-start to a new training regimen.

1) Saturday evening - ran 5 k in the icky hot and humid weather, tough but I got through it somehow

2) Sunday morning - ran 10 k in the cooler humid weather ... thought I was gonna d-i-e, I am sooo out of shape

3) Sunday afternoon - cycled 21 k with the kiddies, not super fast but it was still good to be on my bike again after this long training hiatus

4) Signed up for a marathon. Nothing like a race to motivate my lazy a$$ ... well, that didn't really work for Ottawa, but heck, it has in the past ... Yes, yes, I know the race is just a month away ... that's the challenge.

5) Sunday evening - cycled another 22 k, this time without the kiddies

6) Monday morning - cycled 22 k again before heading to work. I felt the weekend's furious kick-start in my legs. Ouch, lactic acid!

Now, let's see if I can keep up with this pace. I just have to figure out a way to train around the 10-12 hour work days I've been encountering ...