Finding Friends

The past week or so has been a puzzle to me. I feel motivated. I am still doing all of the planning and prep. I am waking up early to get going and sticking with the plan (and hello!!! Me waking up early??? I feel like I deserve a medal just for that alone!). But some of the workouts have just kind of sucked. Sucked might be a too strong of a word. Maybe a more accurate description would be to say that everything hasn't come together.

For starters, I no longer have a master's swim class. I went from having an Olympian as my coach on deck to absolutely nothing. I was seeing huge strength gains in my swim and my motivation was sky high, as was my yardage and overall quality of the workouts. And now, nothing. No coach- no class. Just a nasty, 86+ degree pool.

The run seems to be suffering a tad bit as well. My long run last week to my parent's home did not roll as well as I would have liked (understatement) as I suffered through the heat and humidity. That tempo run yesterday? I think my marathon pace is faster.

Okay, so maybe the run didn't turn out to be so great this past Sunday, but hanging out with my parents was fun! Here is a picture my mom took of me post run with Cayenne. She took this on her new Ipad, which is so weird to me as I hate technology and I think it is so weird my mom has more technology than I.

So, finding friends...

The other day, I got a great phone call from a teammate, Steve, who said he noticed I looked "droopy" at the pool. He called to encourage me to stay motivated, and to say that a small group of swimmers will meet with me and help me get through my workouts with a little more pep for the next few months. I appreciated the thoughtfulness more than I could express. I do need some friends to push me in the pool. Left to my own devices, I will stay the same speed for-ev-er.

And after a very sub-par tempo run, again, I realized what I needed. Friends!!!!! I can't do every bit of training by myself, and that is exactly what I have been doing for the past 2 months. All of my swims and runs have been solo.

This morning I made sure to meet up with some guy friends for my bike intervals. And yes, it was a lot easier and more fun than going at it alone. It is not just about the company, I think I need that little push. I don't need any type of push for aerobic work, I can do that all day long by myself. But, sometimes I do need that push for the tempo-type work, especially when the heat slows me down and takes some of the zip out of my step.

So, I am going to try to plan a little more time with some groups and friends. It is sometimes tough to plan with others because I am limited by my own work schedule, but I am definitely going to try to plan my next tempo run with a friend (any takers?), and I am not going to give up on the swim!