Update on my life…

I know this is about two weeks later than I said it’d be, but time flies as it tends to do.

I’ll get to the point.

You know that I changed my full ironman race to a full aquabike a few months ago based on time constraints and general life things such as a new girlfriend, school and work. It was a difficult, yet easy decision to make due to several reasons but the bottom line was I knew I couldn’t get the training in both physically and mentally to finish the ironman successfully.

Well, it’s been a few more months and guess what…I’ve decided to drop the full aquabike.

I could give you a list of reasons and/or excuses why I dropped my big race of the year, but once again, all I can say is that life happens, and sometimes its unplanned. And perhaps the biggest lesson I’ve learned is to be flexible in my goals and go with the flow. Sometimes life goes according to plan and sometimes it doesn’t. I’m young, I have plenty of time of reaching my goal of an iron distance race, it just won’t happen the year I turn 25 like I had hoped.

You all know I’ve had a rough few months maintaining motivation to train. I had a hard time getting distance training in earlier this season and I’m having a hard time with it now. Even without having to run, I still had a hard time getting proper swimming and biking in. Time to train was not an issue, but motivation to train was.

So instead of focusing long this season, I’m staying short. I’ve got at least five triathlon (without the full) and four of them are sprints…three of them will be raced with my new training buddy, JC! The fourth race is a half aquabike that I signed up for on a whim…but that race will stay. I’m completely confident in my ability to be prepared for that race by mid September.

Part of the reason why I’m staying short is wanting to work with JC, and I am so excited. You may remember she got a new bike last month, (it still has no name) and she enjoys training with me. Not only is she my training buddy, but she’s my racing buddy. Our next race is just over two weeks away, it’s a perfect second race for JC…a pool swim. Training and race with JC is fun. She’s new to the sport and is excited to learn about racing and being a sherpa, which makes it fun for me to train again. Also, it requires me to train regularly because I want to make sure she’s prepared for the races!

I’ve been following a number of my blogger buddies on their way to their first ironmans and it has been exciting to see their training and preparations progress. I’m so excited for their big races coming up soon. I promise in a few years, I’ll be back to the long distances and will be suffering the same (if not more) than they are right now. BDD, Mandy, Jon, Kevin, Derek, you guys are my heroes! Molly, KC, and Rachelle, you guys continue to rock my world with your stellar training skills and dedication!

Otherwise, my time is spent working on research projects, my biggest is about how gun marketing influences female gun ownership rates from 1972-2010. Another project involves writing a chapter about the history of torture (that was not always pleasant to write about) and a final project compares violence in movies from the 2000s to movies from the 1950s. Ah, the joys of being a graduate student!

What’s new with you?