What's Next For Me?

It's not a secret I've been struggling with losing weight lately. And by lately, I mean since October which is when I got down to around 241 and then proceeded to gain and lose the same 2 pounds over and over and over.

But through the roller coaster, I've continued to exercise 3-4 times a week. Even the week after the half marathon last month, I made it to the gym twice. At this point, my exercise routine is just that, very routine. And I love that. As I was running my 8 miles yesterday, I realized I may weigh the same as I did 4 months ago, but I AM FIT. I can run 8 miles. I can do a 60 minute yoga class. I can ride my bike 10 miles at a time. And pretty soon, I will find out if I can swim.

I like goals to keep me on task. Even though my exercise routine is second nature at this point, if I don't have something to work towards I start to skip workouts.

So I signed up for my 4th half marathon.

Yep, I am crazy. There is a big Rock n Roll race in Nashville every April. This is the event I did my first half marathon at and hated it. Hate. Hate. Hate. So, I have a lot of anxiety and negative feelings towards this race. The hills are unforgiving on this course and the weather in Nashville can be brutal (it was 85 and sunny when I did it 3 years ago and 2 years ago there were severe storms and they had to cut off the marathon). But I am going to conquer it this year.

But there's more...

For awhile now, I've wanted to change up the half marathon running. It just gets to be monotonous to keep training and running 13.1 miles in my book. SO - after a Twitter conversation with Skinny Emmie, I picked up Slow, Fat Triathlete and was sold on doing a sprint triathlon this summer.

A sprint triathlon is usually about a 1/2 mile swim (750 yards), 12.5 mile (20K) bike ride, and 3.1 mile (5K) run. And I plan to do this in 2012.

I am targeting the Innsbrook, MO Octomax Triathlon on June 23, 2012.

Which, would mean serious triathlon training would begin at the end of March so for four weeks between the end of March and the end of April I will be training for both a half marathon AND sprint triathlon AT THE SAME TIME.

I feel a little crazy, but invigorated. It's a new challenge, it's something I've never done before, and it's exciting. It is also majorly scary because these thoughts are going through my mind:

- I haven't even gotten in a pool to swim laps in 20 years.
- I've never ridden more than 10 miles on my bike at once.
- I don't own a road bike.
- I have no idea what to wear.

But I will figure it out, because I want to be a triathlete!