Catch-Up

Well, let's see. It's Tuesday, and I haven't blogged since Friday. Whoops. A quick recap of the week/end:

Friday: Ran 3 miles in 35 minutes. Only stopped once!
Saturday: First group swim at Greenhill School- at 6:30am. Went really well- improved enurance and enjoyed learning some drills.
Sunday: Rest
Monday: Ran in the morning- shaved 15 seconds off my mile, and ran for 20 minutes straight! Whoo hoo! The run was make-up for missing Sunday's workout and that may have been a poor choice on my part. While yesterday's run went really well, I had to swim last night and it did NOT go well.

Last night's swim was my first official "bad" workout. I felt like I had the lung capacity of an 80-year-old smoker. I took in alot of water and sputtered down the lane just like I imagine the poor fish in the Gulf are these days. I'm so thankful for the supportive coaches and mentors of TNT - they really helped me stay calm and focused even though I was about to have a breakdown in the pool.

I'm not sure why I got so upset. I mean, it's not like I wasn't able to complete the laps or drills. I just needed to rest a little more than some other teammates. And that's the issue- I was playing my favorite game of "let's compare" and that's never, ever a winner for self-esteem.

Last summer, a friend gave me a great tip for those times when you're really feeling down on yourself- whenever you say something negative to yourself you must counter it with two positives. This is what I thought last night in the pool:

Negative: I look like a contestant on "the biggest loser."
Positive: No, I really don't.
Positive: I am a good gardener.

Yes. Those were my two positives. But they got me to the end of lane.

Claire