My Honorees

Although doing a triathlon has a dream of mine for several years, I am doing the Lavaman in HI for not only myself, but for everyone who's effected by Leukemia, Hodgkin and non-Hodgkin lymphoma, myeloma and myelodysplastic syndromes. With this in mind there a few few people who I will be specifically honoring during my race on March 29, 2009.

First: My cousin Katie Mueller. We thought she had beat the Leukemia the first time it hit at six, but a few years later it came back and she lost her long hard battle. I wish I had known her better...

Next: The brother and sister of a good friend and coworker: Cheryl Knowles, and Mike Walby Both lost to Leukemia

And then there are the Team Honorees: Lauren Bishopp, Henry Gruen, Mark Zafra, Maya Wiegel-Murphy, Michelle Arnau, and Ulysses Basconcillo

I will do everything I can to honor you all.

Wow...

Day two of training. It's currently taking all I have just to type this. I'm pooped. Beyond pooped! My arms are shaking right now. It's good thing I can type this and I don't have to write it by hand!

Why am I so tired you ask?

Well today was a swim workout and I decided to go all out (again). Since swimming is my strongest sport my thought is to use my swim workouts to push myself as far as I can. I'm also putting a lot of effort and focus into perfecting my stroke - all in all it requires a lot of concentration and it's a lot of work. But man will it pay off! :)

So tonight I went in thinking I wanted to better last week's workout. I did. I swam 2200 meters (1.4 miles) AND (for anyone who knows something about swimming) I brought my strokes per length down by about 3 strokes! All I did was make a few minor changes and POOF I was swimming more efficiantly. I know as my endurance improves and I get used to this changed swimming style that I'll be able to shave off a few more.

The only 'mishap' of the night was at the end. I was trying to be all 'macho' and 'pop' out of the pool onto the desk. Problem was as I launched myself out of the pool my left calf cramped... BAD! I had to dump back into the pool and try and get it worked out. I did work it out but MAN did it hurt - it still hurts now and will probably be sore for a few more days :|

Well - I should get to bed now! Thanks to everyone for their support and donations so far!

If you want to leave a comment on my TNT donation page

If people would like to how to make comments that will appear on my TNT donation page, which is:

http://pages.teamintraining.org/sf/lavatri09/smuellerboddy


Comments will appear at the bottom of the page, and there are three steps to doing so.


1. Select or enter your desired donation amount in the donation area on the left hand side of my TNT web page.



2. A donation page will appear, and you can fill out all of the required data: name, address, phone, e-mail address, and credit card information. Towards the bottom of the form, just above the "donate now" button, is a checkbox that says "I want to edit my privacy options and/or send a message. Check this box.



3. A new data entry area will open up where you can specify additional data, including:

A message that will appear on my TNT web page at the bottom
Making your donation anonymous (but I won't be able to send you a thank you note)
Hiding your donation amount
Changing the way your name is shown on my web page
Specifying a name that your donation is in honor of or in memory of (you can also e-mail me honoree names using a link on my TNT donation page.

I want to thank Art (http://racn4acure.blogspot.com/) for letting me 'borrow' these instructions from him. They were so much better then I could have come up with on my own!

The start of training

Yesterday was the team in training kick-off.  I got to meet my team, my mentors, my coaches.  I'm even more sure then ever that I'm going to hit this challenge head on and that I'll be seeing the finish line with a smile on my face come March.  I just can't see myself failing and that's an awesome feeling.

The other nice thing about yesterday was talking with all the participants and finding out that most of them are just as freaked out by the fundraising portion of this as I am.  It was great to get to talk to people who've been through this before and who could tell me things like "Most people don't respond to the first email you send out"  and other helpful things.  Not that I'm not still freaked out :)  After all, I pledged to raise $5000!  I've got a few more ideas I need to push through.  A letter writing campaign, so food sales and the like.  What I would like to do is figure out a way to do some sort of big 'event' - I'll have to think about that for a bit (although not too long).

Today was my first day of actual training (as set out by my coach).  I was really excited to be started at last and headed out the door for my run first thing this morning.  What I wasn't expecting was how hard it was!  I mean, the workout was relatively easy as written.  And I followed it, but I had a serious case of 'lead legs'.  I don't know why but it seemed to take everything I had just to put one leg in front of the other - like I was running through molasses or something.  But I made it through, got my workout in and logged a few short miles.  (1.4)  My Route I do know it'll get easier over time.

The rest of the week should be really busy

Monday is a swim, Tuesday I have choir, Wednesday is a 'coached' workout (run and weights), Thursday is a swim, Friday is a bike ride, Saturday a coached swim/bike workout, and Sunday a coached run.  Even though that sounds like a lot, it's still very short mileage and very reasonable speeds.  we've got a ways to go and the coaches are taking it easy - giving people a chance to build some endurance.  It's great! :)

Alright - off to get some rest

Focus now

Right now you have available to you everything you need to take one step forward. Once you take that step, you will have even more available to you to keep going.

The more persistently you move forward, step by step, the more momentum you build. And it is a process that you can begin at any time.

Focus on the one step that you can take right now. Let go of all regrets and resentment about what has already happened.

Let go of all fears and anxieties about what may be yet to come. Put your energy into where you are, and use that energy to do what you can in this moment.

Though there may be noise and confusion all around, you can transcend all those distractions. Decide to focus on the task at hand, for that is what will move you forward.

Think of how great it feels to be moving in a positive, productive direction. Focus your energy right now and make it happen.

Copyright 2007   Ralph S. Marston, Jr.  http://www.greatday.com

Swim Swim Swim

I decided to try a real actual swim workout tonight instead of just swimming laps. WHEW! what a workout. I ended up doing a total of 1900 Meters (almost 1.2 miles) at the end of it all but each and every lap was a challenge. I'm completely toast! But happy and excited!

Mmmm Fall

I made it through the week without incompasitating myself.  I consider that a huge plus.  Now it's late Sunday night and time to start all over again with a Monday.  I'm ready though.  I've got my workouts posted on a new board that I bought over the weekend.  It lets hubby see what I've plan to do throughout the week so that I don't always have to answer "What are you doing tonight?"  Should take a bit of stress off of both of us.  I've also brought out that age old fall/winder companion, the crock pot.  We had pot roast out of it today and MAN was it good.  Fantastic stick to your ribs food perfect for keeping warm as the weather cools down (we got our first rain of the year over the weekend).  And for keeping the energy up for training.  I'm watching my portion sizes so as to keep to my WW plan and keep on track for weight loss.  I'm looking to Wednesday's weigh in to be a big deal...

Otherwise I'm just hanging in there and waiting for 'official' training to start.  I'm ready for it - tired of feeling like I'm treading water here.  Let the good stuff start!