Couch to ATHLETE!

No one can ever get too much inspiration. About six years ago I passed out on the YMCA pool deck after the BEST swim workout of my life. I totally forgot it was the best swim workout because I was blinded by the incident which included my face and body planting on the metal bleachers and finally on the hard tile pool deck. It was one of those moments you would only expect to see on TV: Person passes out, doctor is present to be the good Samaritan, Pool staff has banana in back pocket, and another swimmer gives me Gatorade. I recovered quickly; as a matter of fact that same night I was at the bar getting drunk with my bestest friend! It took me years to get over that incident. Every time I went to the pool I was worried that I was going to pass out again, every time I went out for a run I thought I was going to hurt myself, and every time I hopped on my bike I thought I was going to get hit by a car or fall off. I still went to the pool, hit the trails and rode my b...

After last week's misery I can tell you I have accomplished a lot this week. Aside from the sore knees both four mile runs and the six mile run were FANTABULOUS!!! Let me start by breaking down my week for you. On Monday I went out after work with my running buddy to run our four miles and I approached that run with dread. All I could think about was the fact that I had failed miserably on Saturday and I was starting to think running should be left for the elite. After the first mile I realize that it wasn't all bad. I ran through the flooded portion of the path and felt like I was getting my 'hard core' nature back. Mile three and four felt amazing!  On Wednesday I had to squeeze in four miles again between a conference, finishing my preparation for a presentation, baking bread and cleaning my house for company the following night. I went into work at 5:30 and set out for my run at 7:00 in the morning. I was having one of those clear your head kind of runs. Nothing...

Whenever I am in doubt about my blog topic for the week something presents itself and fills in the blanks very nicely. Well this story isn't so nice but the learning opportunity I'm sure will be nice... My running buddy and I went out for our long weekend run. We both admitted within the first mile that we were hoping the other person would cancel. We both have huge amounts of pride and wouldn't cancel just to cancel. We both admittedly need a very good excuse like lightning, major illness, car accident etc. as our excuse before we would even consider cancelling on the other person. We were running, I was in a negative place making comments such as this run sucks, I can't find my groove. On top of it we both kept checking our watches or ipods respectively to see where we were in our run. We were melting down, well actually I was melting down. We got to the turn around point for our run when I told my running buddy to go on. I started walking and promptly the tears beg...

Ever heard that term before? Nope I didn't either... I was contemplating whether I would blog about this problem or not because it is kind of a sensitive issue and I don't need every person knowing what is going on with my body, however I have learned that not enough people are talking about this problem... So now you may be wondering what I am even talking about. I'm talking about Poop, people!!!  Perhaps I should buy one of these bags! Oh and this is a 100% REAL product.  First I want to point out that there are always TONS of porta potties along race courses and I now understand why. My running regimen has amped up a bit over the last few weeks. Last week I ran about 15 miles, this week I will run 21 miles, and the mileage is only going to increase throughout the year. While out for my four mile run last week I had to take a side trip to the bathroom. The next day (3 miles) same thing. Then again the next day during a short 2 mile run. There is nothing m...