Run Run Run Run...

Day 6 of training:
Group rides: 1
Resistance training: 2
Spin classes: 1
Pool Swims: 1
Maintenance Runs: 1

Today I ran. I was going to wait until later in training to start adding runs in order to save my joints, but it was too dark to ride when I got out of work, I had lifted yesterday and a swim or spin class was out of the question.

I spent the day at my desk, hunched over and sore from my first workout in the pool yesterday. All that pulling did a number on my shoulders and the kicking left a deep ache in my thighs. I'm sure that lifting yesterday afternoon didn't help much either. Though I'd packed clothes for spin class in my gym bag, I'd decided that today would best be an easy day. If I'm going to make it through three months of training, I have to not blow it all in week one. Do too much and I'm liable to spend next week in bed with a bad cold.

It's hell getting old.

I used to be a runner. I used to glide easily for endless miles along road, trail and track at blistering speeds while my mind floated and dreamt. It was easy then. It's not so easy now. Now my joints ache and my limbs flail out at odd angles at inconvenient times. My breathing is harsh and when I think I'm hitting a pretty hot pace, I come to find I'm running slower than I've ever run before. I'd laugh at myself if I had the breath. Mostly, it's a struggle, but sometimes still-- for briefer and briefer moments-- I find that place and I drift off in my head while my body ticks off the miles. Today was like that. I wrote in my head while I ran and so, when I got home, I started this blog.

I'll post updates here as often as I can for those who care to follow (and even for those that don't). Please come back and check on my progress. If I don't write for a few days in a row, maybe drive around San Diego and see if you can find me-- lost, tired and scared-- wheezing by the side of the road.

In other news, fundraising started yesterday in full swing with the creation of my donation page:

http://pages.teamintraining.org/sd/lavatri09/dtuffy

Please visit and support the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's mission to fight cancer. I really need your support. This triathlon isn't going to run itself you know (or swim itself, or bike itself, for that matter). The support of people like you will be the fuel that keeps me going. Please share this link, and this blog, with your friends and encourage them to donate as well.