A Windy Wednesday

When I say windy on a run today - I mean windy! It was crazy out there as I tried to quickly get in a run before the storms rolled in. The wind was so rough that a few times it was hitting me dead in the face and almost completely standing me up on the run. I had to forcably lean forward to keep my momentum going in the right direction. I don't ever remember running in wind this severe. It was a beast!

However, I had a wonderful one-on-one time with the Lord and my thoughts today on a run. He seemed to impress on my heart that no matter what I do in life, He is a gracious forgiving and merciful God. I feel that He has given me the strength to continue to make it through a dark period in my life and because of that, I feel He's given me a new lease on life. He spoke to me through a song this morning by an artist named Howard Hewitt. The name of the song is, "Say Amen" and the chorus says;

"I wanna thank you God for giving me one more chance, to raise my voice and to sing your praise. I'll sing it out loud. I'll sing it all day. This song is my prayer I give to only you. I know this can't compare to the gifts from you."

For some reason, that really spoke to me and impacted me in a major way. I think it was the Lord's way of speaking to me and saying, "I'm going to give you another chance. This time, use it to further MY kingdom rather than your own." And that's exactly what I intend to do.

As for my run - I went just below 25 minutes and was trying to beat the impending storms that are currently rolling in. I'm glad I made it and glad I got a run in for the day. . . even though it was short.

Me & The Colonel

Of course with this being the weekend and having time to do some serious training, the weather of course doesn't want to cooperate. It's about 45 degrees outside and it's raining and it seems like it's been raining for the last 2 months. It's ridiculous and I'm more than fed up with the middle Tennessee conditions. I'm so ready to train in some good weather. It makes things miserable. However being cooped up in the house, made things much worse. Today I had had enough. I decided to go for a run at the track in the rain. I did much the same routine as I did the other day at the track. It consisted of:

- 1.5 mile warm-up
- 5 minute stretching
- 10 100 yard sprints
- 1.0 mile easy run warm-down
- 8 hill sprints
- stretching
50 minutes total

Overall, was a good workout. No real spiritual revelations today. I guess I was too concerned with battling the elements. They were tough to get through on their own, much less having to run and train in them. A very tough day overall. Tomorrow is another day.

A Lazy Tuesday

Today was one of those "good intention" type days. By that I mean, I had every intention to do something totally different than what my final outcome was. This morning I was going to get up with the twins (as usual) and take them to the swim complex for their practice while I get in a training swim of my own. That didn't happen! I took the girls to practice, and instead of staying to swim, I dropped them off and drove back home to sleep for another hour or so. Out of guilt for not staying and swimming like the twins do, and guilt for not training at my allotted time, I woke up and forced myself to go for a short 20 minute run. The run was short but intense at a relatively quick pace. I still feel as if I should have stayed a swam, but oh well.

I guess the reason for this personal lethargy so close to our race is due to the weather. The weather has slipped into the fall stages where the leaves are turning colors and the temperature is a brisk cold at night and in the mornings. That makes for a lazy demeanor. . . at least in my case. This morning was especially difficult due to the added overcast and rain in the forecast. It was tough making myself do anything physical related. Plus, Troy is feeling under the weather and sick so I knew that he wouldn't be training today. Therefore, I knew I wouldn't have that accountability that I so highly lean on to push me.

The end result was that I forced myself to do something and pushed through the "lazy" wall. And in the end, that's the stuff that'll pay dividends come race time.

Night Time Swim

We're currently getting a ton of the residual effects of that hurricane Faye that past through Florida. That doesn't make for very good training weather outside. Nor does it really get your spirits high to do anything physical. For the past two days, I've really struggled to make myself work out and stay on my schedule. With work in the studio and the pressure that's going along with that, combined with what's going on outside, I haven't wanted to train at all! I've even toyed with wanting to just throw in the towel and do NOTHING! However, I don't want to let down Troy and I know the longer I stay with this, the more benefits I well receive long-term - both physically and spiritually.

Today ended up being pretty productive on the training side. With being in the studio all day and pressured by the deadlines, I managed to sneak in 45 minutes in the pool as I was picking up Shelby from swim practice. It felt good and it was extremely cathartic. However afterward, I cheated by Shelby and I treating ourselves to a huge monster burger from Hardee's! It was so magnificent and tasted so wonderful! Why do all the bad foods taste so freakin' good? It's just not fair!