Comfort Zones

I like most people have spent much of my life living within or even below my comfort zone. Those zones are different for everyone and choosing to push or get out of them is very personal. We have comfort zones at work, in relationships and of course about our physical abilities. As I have said before I could not run one lap around the track in high school and I HATED gym class. Running, playing soccer, tennis, hockey on the frozen tennis courts or Square Dancing (yes right before Thanksgiving break we had a week of Square Dancing) were all way out of where I felt comfortable. I was always overweight and being well endowed from a young age are not a good combo for loving gym class. We had the President's Physical Fitness test every year and the year I had Mono I was so happy because I was not able to participate. Does everyone remember what this "test" consisted of...running a mile (UGH), the long jump (yeah right), pull ups (HA HA OK), sit ups (I was overweight what were abs?), and the sit and reach (FINALLY something I excelled at). Why all this talk about high school gym?? Well recently I have been tasked with pushing myself out of my comfort zones through my training.

If 20 years ago someone had told me that I would not only have completed 11 half marathons, 1 full marathon and several trialthons but that I would be training for not one but two half Ironman races I would have laughed in their face. Let's also be real here 20 years NOBODY in their right mind would even suggest any of this to me. Needless to say I have come a long way in recent years. I have been asked lately by different people why I would want to do a half Ironman or even an Ironman (Nov 2011) distance race...was I crazy?? Well kind of but the real answer is "because I can".

Last year I started doing triathlon and training with the Rye Y Tri Club but I was not as dedicated to it as I should have been after all life happens but I learned that I LOVED racing and I LOVE tri. At the end of the 2009 race season I was super depressed about not having anything to train for and since the season ended with such a high I really got to thinking of what the next step would be. Part of the "off season" is spent planning your calendar for the following year...oh I could do that. I spent time talking to friends who I had raced with and friends who have done half and full Ironman races all of whom told me that I could do these distances. That got the wheels turning and without talking to Ray I convinced two of my friends from the Rye Y Tri Club to sign up for our first half Ironman in Michigan. There was NO way I was going to do this alone as we all know that misery loves company.

I am admittedly not a strong athlete. That is a true statement, I am in no way a natural and in order to race well I really do need to focus and train. Some people can just wing it and do well sadly I don't have that luxury. Oh and at heart believe it or not I am really lazy...I need to be pushed. With this personal knowledge I approach Ray about personally coaching me for the 2010 season so that not only would I finish the half Ironman races, yes there are two since I am terrible at standing up to peer pressure, but that I would finish strong. I have a personal goal of finishing the Michigan race in 7 hours or less, I'd be happy with 6:59:59. Sounds like a long time but it's a long distance.

Every day I get an email from Training Peaks with the workouts that Ray has plugged in for me to do. My entire training schedule is in by Sunday so that I can plan my week ahead. The plan started with about 7 or so hours of training, this week I am up to 9 hours and 15 minutes. Did I mention that I work full time and in the not so distant future there will be some 14 or 15 hour training weeks...YEAH talk about getting out of my comfort zone. I have 2 days of strength training and 6 days of swim, bike & run and sometimes more than one a day. Two a days have become my friends.

I have an indoor bike trainer which I love and recommend to anyone in a cold place who wants to ride their bike all year round. I ended up getting the Cycle Ops one and I have never looked back. I spend many mornings during the week training on Trixie, something that I would not have been able to do without the trainer. There is something about training on your actual bike that really makes going outside once the weather gets warmer not as daunting. Although I am still uncomfortable clipping and unclipping at least I can practice in the comfort of my apartment. I am always so nervous when we're out on the road that I literally panic but I push myself to do it...totally out of my comfort zone. Running outside is another thing that sometimes causes me a little anxiety. Something about people watching me plod along. I always feel like they are judging me and how slow I am. Being slow is bad enough but with this heart rate based training sometimes I feel like I am standing still. Unfortunately for me none of the races that I have entered for 2010 are run on the treadmill so I have to once again bust through my comfort zone and force myself to run in public no matter how slow. At least I am out there right?!?

Swimming has always been my strongest part of the triathlon. I seem to be pretty good at it and fortunately or unfortunately Ray knows this. Part of the base phase of training is to give yourself a test so that you can have a base and then try to take time off. I have also been doing descending 100's where my 7th 100 should be faster than my first. Somehow I end up doing ascending 100's because I push way too hard out of the blocks for lack of a better explaination. So I did my test while I was away in Michigan for Martin Luther King weekend and it was terrible - oh and I did 4 extra laps - so that certainly did not help my time at all. Well I was comfortable swimming slowly and not getting my heart rate too high after all I was training while on vacation isn't that enough?? Ummmm no. When I got out of the pool and had to email my time to Ray the disappointment I felt came through loud and clear to him. He was equally disappointed in my test time and with my 100's time. He told me in no uncertain terms that I am better than these times. You know what...he's right! I wasn't pushing myself at all during my swims because I know that I am good at this but at the same time I can GET BETTER. Isn't that the point of training and being coached? So this weekend I kicked butt in the pool and took almost 10 seconds off of my fastest 100. He is giving me 3 seconds to add to that time for now and I will work from there.

This race season I am seriously testing my soul and my body. I will be pushing not only physically but emotionally to my limits but I cannot let those limits stop me or get too comfortable. I know if they do then I will not only disappoint Ray, which would be bad but I will disappoint myself, which would be worse. I am done being disappointed in myself and have decided that with every workout and every opportunity I am going test my comfort zones.

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