Training Without Borders

As I swam my 1000 meters today in the lake I train , I remembered where I was one year ago today. Not exactly what I was doing but where I "was".

I might've been doing a training swim last year at this time right before Memorial Day; I was training for the same triathlon I'm doing this Memorial Day. Last year I did it only 3 weeks after being diagnosed with breast cancer and having my first lumpectomy. I hit that anniversary a few weeks ago.

In a few weeks in June I will pass the anniversary of th second lumpectomy and the start of radiation. I did three more triathlons in June, July, and August last year. It seems like the cancer happened a lot longer than one year ago. I swam strong tonight and I have run and biked strong this week and these past months. I have had a great training year.

Not that all this training will shave hours off my finish-times, it won't. I'm a 42 year old weekend warrior, I won't be carrying home any hardware that every other finisher doesn't also have. The damn 40-44 year old women's age group is always huge. And there are ladies in MUCH better shape than me getting the top spots. That's fine. There might be one good thing about turning 45...or 50...smaller age groups.

So once I was done with radiation last August I got my energy back within a few weeks and I started training. We had an easy winter so I never stopped riding and running.

My social world revolves around mostly working out and races. I love that about my friends.

DONE~ two half-marathons, a 10-miler (I know I blogged that it sucked but it was still running 10 fucking miles!),and biking the Pedal Thru the Pines 55 miler, the Rosedale 45 miler and several other long training rides, including the two-day MS150 last month. All since just this past December. I even did a 5-miler with my Sinatra.

My basic training run went from 2-3 miles to 4-6. I signed up for two Olympic tris and am contemplating a half-iron, either relaying with my team or doing it outright myself. I decided the Sprint tri and the 5Ks were not necessary even though as I get better I could maybe place in my age group at the smaller races. Its not about winning. Its about the challenge.

If I dare compare myself to the great Lance Armstrong....I've gotten better since the cancer. As he said, "I hope it sends out a fantastic message to all survivors around the world. We can return to what we were before – and even better.” In Paris after taking his first Tour title in 1999