Day 78

Have you ever heard anyone talk about how if they don't workout regularly they get grumpy? I have excercised pretty regularly all my life and have always thought of excercise as a chore- something I have to do to stay healthy and balance my romance with food. If  missed a day or two (ok- or three or four), I can't recall every being grumpy about it, except for the fact that it was twice the torture once I went back.

Until lately.

As many people of you know, over the last year or so I have changed how I work out. Endurance was never my focus- I was more of a weight-training girl who did some cardio here and there to even things out. But what started out as neccesary has bloomed into a part of my life that I wish I would have found earlier.

When the 10-year old started playing football, practices were 5 nights a week, at the opposite end of town from where we live. Parents were supposed to stay on-site during practice, and I didn't have time to drop him off, go to the gym, and get back on time to pick him up. So, I compromised and started running on the track at the football field.

At first I literally couldn't jog around one lap without major distress. But every day I made myself go a little farther, and I completed my first 5K at the end of football season. I had never ran or walked in any kind of "race", and was almost stupid-happy at the end of it, even though my name was far from the top of the list of finishers.

And so it begun. I don't even know how I got it into my head that I wanted to complete a triathalon, but I spent the winter in the gym at work, continuing to run but adding the bike to my workouts. I also tackled the pool- another huge hurdle that started out much like my running...

Last summer I completed two triathalons. Both were "mini" triathalons, but I still had that stupid-happy feeling at the end. I decided that this summer I would do three triathalons, two of which will be "sprint" distance. The Sprint is twice as far/long as what I did last summer, so I started looking for some resources to help me figure out the best way to train.

I found websites, and several books. But my favorite is Your Best Triathalon. Why, you ask? Because it has lists. And charts. Training grids that tell me what I should be doing and how to do it. My inner OCD freak (ok ok maybe it's more of an outer OCD freak) loves the pattern of triathalon training, and therefore now I truly do look forward to my workouts. Now don't get me wrong or be fooled too much by the cover of the book- I wouldn't say I do "Advanced" training or am a "serious" triathlete, but the general idea this coach uses to train is one I really like.

And I get grumpy if I miss them for more than a day. Which was the case the last few days as we have been busy at work and I wasn't willing to sacrifice time with my family to go to the gym. But tonight I got to be on the bike for 47 minutes, and although I am not stupid-happy, I am not grumpy.

So I think the trick to staying in shape is finding something that motivates you and makes you stupid-happy. Maybe it's Crossfit and watching muscles you didn't know you even had start to emerge. Maybe it's Zumba, letting the music whisk you away for 30 minutes and feel a little sexy. Or maybe it's training for your first triathalon. Don't do what I did for so many years and let it be a chore- in the end you will in better shape and yes, hopefully stupid-happy.