It's been a busy month! The moving process is finally complete and we are fully settled in our new apartment. There's still the matter of a futon and an L-couch to figure out, but it's perfectly livable and with new pictures of both of us up on the wall it feels like a real home.
Why'd it take me the better part of two months to move? Well that's easy -- it turns out triathlon training is somewhat life-consuming. I've swam more in the last month than I have since I was a lifeguard in high school, and I've gone further on my bike since I was a paperboy... in high school. Hm. I guess this explains where all my weight in college came from.
That weight is going away, ever so slowly. My holiday belt line bloat has been strongly reversed between some vigorous physical therapy and TNT training. Physical therapy was really great for me and I'm sad I couldn't continue it; losing access to my Orange County apartment means I have nowhere to shower afterward and I don't want to be stinky all day at work. Fortunately training is making up the slack: two days a week on my bike and two days in the pool means my legs are strengthening up and my shoulders are broadening out. I feel better than I have in six months and I know it's only going to get better.
Since my weakest event is running, I've been trying hard to keep pace with the intermediate group in the water and on the bike. This morning's swim was 1800 meters and I finished it feeling like I could have gone further if I would've needed to. It's a stark contrast to just starting out running last summer where I felt completely spent by the time I was done. I feel that I will be fully able to do the distances even if my time isn't great; I have more of a problem with pace than with endurance. Right now my oxygen efficiency is a huge problem: my lungs are the weak point. I'm constantly gasping for air and I have to take frequent short breaks to let my body catch up.
The slack weeks to start the season are rapidly going away; this weekend we're hitting Griffith park for some hill climbing and my lungs hurt just thinking about it. I do have a silver lining waiting for me after chugging up a hill in my granny gear: flying down the other side at rocket speeds. Getting a straight line shot down San Vicente last week was an amazing feeling and I never wanted it to end. The trek back to the car after it was far less miserable than it would have been to do it the other way first!
I spent a lot of time focusing on making sure my form is correct when I'm running or swimming or that I'm in the right gear on the bike, but inevitably my mind has some time to wander. I often think about how remarkable my own life is and how lucky I really am. I also try to remember why I'm out: it's not because I'll get in shape or because I want to be a triathlete, it's because cancer sucks and I'm helping to fight it. We're about a month away from the time when my Uncle Tiny passed away after his long fight with cancer. It was very hard to see him fall from being the strong man he was to the frail person that the disease left him. Even at that, I have to remember that his fight with cancer was long. A decade earlier the same treatments that prolong his life and let him see his daughters grow up in to the young women they are today wouldn't have been as effective, or even available. The research and treatment provided by organizations like the LLS who run the Team in Training program provide tangible changes in people's lives. Even if we're not yet eradicating cancer from the world, we're chipping away at it and sooner or later people will remember this terrible disease in the same way they remember smallpox: as a memory or a footnote in a history book. Your support for my campaign goes straight to LLS and will make a difference in the fight against cancer, and in the life of someone fighting it head on. Donate at http://tinyurl.com/RunLittleBuddy and be the one who makes the difference.
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