Save Us From Ourselves! ;-)

Today's topic is somewhat related to yesterday's in the terms of, that as athletes (sometimes, I still feel funny to use that word to describe me) we have to listen to our bodies. And you all know, how I love me some training plan, but following a plan to the "T" without taking other factors into consideration is just not going to work out. Sometimes, life happens and interferes with the training, sometimes weather conditions dictate to slow down or just bag a workout and sometimes your body is going to tell you that it's sore, it's tired and had enough.

Athletes are often referred to as "Type A" personalities* and things like accepting that life happens, and weather happens and your body is only that of an human too, is not always easy for a type a.

*Here is a portion of the wikipedia explanation (to read the whole thing, pls click on the link above): Type A individuals can be described as impatient, time-conscious, controlling, concerned about their status, highly competitive, ambitious, business-like, aggressive, having difficulty relaxing. They are often high-achieving workaholics who multi-task, drive themselves with deadlines, and are unhappy about delays. Because of these characteristics, Type A individuals are often described as "stress junkies."

I don't think I mentioned it before, but my left shoulder is giving me some trouble lately. Nothing major and especially now that tri season is almost over (last tri for me tomorrow), I didn't really worry about it. I haven't been in the water since AOC, but also thought that I should be able to squeeze out 300 yards tomorrow no matter what. And going to the pool probably would just have aggravated the area, so I just skipped it.

This was a looong introduction for my actual point:

So early this week, I get an e-mail from Coach Katie telling us that there is a 2 mile swim in Lake Murray in September. No swimming in over two weeks and a sore shoulder? Of course a 2 mile swim sounds like a fabulous idea! I almost signed up for that puppy and probably would have, if I hadn't noticed before that the Blue Ridge Relay is on the same day.

I mentioned it one of my tri buddies and all she wrote back was: "It's good when we save ourselves from ourselves!"

True that. True that.

On a similar note: Lindsay over at Chasing The Kenyans mentioned in today's post that there is a half marathon in Spartanburg on Oct 9th. While Brian at Start Slow Than Taper mentioned a trail half marathon in Charlotte Sep 25th.

You see where this is going? I know, that I am planning on doing the Spinx Half end of October and really want to focus on it... but you know.... a dress rehearsal never hurts right? ;-)

Happy weekend everyone!