Training While Traveling
This past weekend I traveled to West Seattle to time a running race. I had so much stress leading up to it because I am not super comfortable in Seattle, and I had a 3-hour bike ride followed by a 1.5-hour run on Saturday.
I was having a rough week last week. I talked with an advisor at Whatcom Community College about getting pre-reqs for dental hygiene and she just was not very helpful and kind of made me feel bad about majoring in French said things like “Well at least you got to go to France”. So, I felt shitty about that, added with extra emotions of being on my period combined with the existential crisis of not knowing what I am going to do to make a living to be able to be happy in a job and be able to generally afford the things I want to do. AND caring so much about doing a workout correctly that I hated the idea of traveling to an unknown place in fear that it would compromise my training. Anyway… many tears later and lots and lots of calls to my mom, bless her, it all came to a head and things started to feel better.
Awesome office views on Saturday and Sunday morning. Photo by Sarah Ellis
I was getting ready to leave Friday evening for an early call time for work Saturday morning and I called my mom all stressed out and she said, “I am doing it.” I am living the life I want to live, and I am going to get somewhere to do the things I love to do. Whether that be professional triathlon or not, just being passionate about my passions will get me going somewhere. Which it is, even right now to some degree. That talk with my mom made me feel a lot better because it feels like all this time and energy I am spending on triathlon is extremely indulgent and not what I am supposed to be doing with my time right now. But it is because it is what I want to do. I am not rich, but I am also not doing awful money-wise, you know what they say. At the same time, I still want to be able to afford stuff of course! Saturday at work was great. Then came the long-awaited 3-hour bike ride. All the stress was not for nothing, but I ended up just doing the ride on the trainer because the weather was wet, and I knew I wouldn’t get the same stimulus on the ride if I were to go outdoors. I would have to stop and check my phone to make sure I knew where I was going, and all that crap and I just didn’t want to do it. So, I sat inside, sweated a bunch, and watched My Cousin Vinny. Then ran outside along the beautiful coastline and had dinner in town. It was wonderful. The sun even came out! Next time when I travel for work, I will reach out to the local tri clubs and see if they have any suggestions and just have trust that everything will work out, even though it is so scary sometimes!
Mid run selfie near Alki Beach. Photo by Sarah Ellis
I got back on Sunday afternoon after the second workday Sunday morning and swam with a good friend. We both had a rough week, so it was nice to be on the same page and just be together for a nice open-water swim. She is also super smart and said she’d help me with a coffee shop plan. Which has been an idea/dream of mine for 5 years now. It is now Tuesday, and I am feeling a lot better about everything. Just relaxed, more emotionally regulated, and sore legs from hard bike rides. How nice is that!
Here’s to another week of solid training in the books.