Monday, November 15, 2010

An Award Winning Weekend

This morning: 321#; 22 pounds & 46 days to go. I went a tiny bit backwards over the weekend, which is obviously not the ideal situation. But for once I feel completely justified in the reason behind it.

This weekend was Wheelworks Multisport year-end party. We celebrated by getting together for food and drinks at a bar here in Boston. Other than the very occasional Friday evening beer while sitting on the couch watching hockey, I've been abstaining from alcohol. Not that I'm a big drinker when I got out anyways, but I like beer, and so it is something I sacrifice as part of the training and weight loss process. But this weekend was special as it was an opportunity to look back fondly on a season full of special events.

Most importantly, we got to do it with the people I've come to consider friends. Some of them we've trained with, some we've raced with, and some we just stood around, drank a beer and complained about how much training sucks with. But it's still great to see them, and having an opportunity to enjoy the year we spent together was nice. I also had a terrific Belgian white ale, the name of which I didn't learn. And did I mention there was cake? Normally I don't like raspberry, but whoever made this cake made it just right, and the chocolate cake combined with the raspberry filling was the perfect balance.

Now, that award I mentioned. We do team awards every year at the year end party. Some of them are serious, like our "Mr & Mrs. Triathlete" awards, or the awards for the folks who spend all year leading training rides. Some are less serious like our "Best Cheerleader", or "Person most likely to stop you from swimming the wrong way across Walden Pond". Though it was rumored (and for once, it was not rumored just by me) that I was nominated for multiple awards; the club was kind enough to give me "Most comfortable in their own skin" award.

I believe this is the inaugural year for this award. It was given in recognition of being out there, racing at my current level of fitness and well, fatness. Apparently, they think it takes courage to race at the size I am. And I agree, it does take some courage to toe the start line, at any weight. Every athlete who dares themselves to train, to push themselves outside of their comfort zone, and to give everything inside them on race day to realize the goals they train for is someone with courage and dedication.

I will admit that to race at my size you have to make an agreement with yourself that you might not be suffering the most, but you might be suffering the longest. I think it does take some courage to make that bargain. But to be completely honest, I'm fueled far more by fear than by courage. Fear of being this fat for the rest of my life. Fear of health problems that either impede me from enjoying my later years, or worse maybe even killing me. Rachelle is already 13 years younger than me, and women outlive men by about 5 years on average here in the US. I might not be able to do anything about the age difference, or our genetic pre-dispositions to reach a certain age. But I'll be damned if I'm making her go through 18 years at the end of her life without me.

I was really honored to receive any award, let alone one that was so personal. A nice cap to my year. Now, back to training for next year.

Notes:

- While I ate and drank in celebration on Saturday night, I didn't throw away the whole weekend. I took Friday as a recovery day, as my legs have REALLY been feeling my return to exercise since being sick. Saturday afternoon, I got my front wheel fixed and got out on the Esplanade. I have to say I think the roller workouts are paying off already. I did almost 40 minutes of pedaling time in a 50 minute workout, and averaged over 15 MPH. There are a lot of starts and stops, and places where you have to slow due to road crossings, path congestion, etc. Usually, we'd average around 13.5 for an interval of that size. I was able to get to cruising speed much faster, and was spinning my way out of my middle chain ring. I wound up spending the majority of the ride in my big ring, even when on the short inclines. Cruising speed was around 17 MPH, and felt pretty easy.

- Sunday, I went back to day one of week five of my Couch to 5k plan. I'll be running that same workout this evening, and then moving through the rest of the weeks plan to finish with a 25 minute run on Friday. This coming Sunday Rach and I are racing the America's Hometown Thanksgiving 5k in Plymouth. This is the race where I set my PR last year, and I'm hopeful to better that time this year on a fast and flat track.

- In other news, I have volunteered to join the club board as the person responsible for PR and Media. I'm not sure what the position fully entails, as it's a new position. I'll be helping with the sponsorship newsletter, and maybe getting notice out to outlets on club events. It'll be nice to give back in a way I am easily comfortable with.

- Oh, and I still have pictures to post of me on the rollers. And somehow the title of this post doesn't mention rollers.

3 comments:

  1. I also enjoy Hoegaarden. Sam adams spring beer used to be a nice Belgian white but they changed this year to something not quite as nice.

    Congrats on the award, hope the run goes well tonight.
    Derek

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  2. Derek - I'd never had it before but it was REALLY good. That run didn't go so great, but they all can't go perfectly I guess.

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