My Niche

Well, good news is I found a niche, bad news it’s at a terrible cost to ME!

I’ve been assistant-coaching a tri-group.  I am not very good at the bike or run part, but I’m an ok swimmer.  I wouldn’t call myself a swim coach, but as a divemaster, I am trained to help people with fear, anxiety, and other issues with the water.  I’ve turned that into something useful for triathlons.   My specialty isn’t to teach people to swim, nor is it to teach people to swim fast.. But to teach folks to swim efficiently and without fear of their face in the water, without fear of fish, seaweed, and to just slow down and enjoy it.  As a good friend once told me (and its repeated in my head over and over and over and over..) STROKE AND GLIDE…..

I’ve had the pleasure of seeing a remarkable change in several folks, and it has been special.  I’ve seen SEVERAL people not be able to do one lap in the pool and within 1 hour be able to do a ¼ mile swim!  It really is rewarding in itself! 

HOWEVER! I’ve spent this summer worrying about other people, volunteering almost all of my free-time helping others that I forgot about me.  I went for a bike ride on Sunday and it was PATHETIC.  I feel like I totally wasted the last 8 months of training, and the thousands of dollars I’ve spent on personal training. I feel like I just let it go! 

I have my first Olympic triathlon just around the corner, and sure I can hustle, but I don’t have the luxury of spending the $$ on the personal training again, nor do I really have the luxury of the time anymore.  I was volunteering almost 40% of my free time to the tri-group, then another day to PT, and another day to Pilates.. There’s my week - no real time for my training. (now of course I didn't push it either).

I love to dive, and I had anticipated that I would have time to spend diving the 2nd half of the summer. I'll have to decide which I want to do, dive or tri!  I have to rush back to get into the shape I was in back in May!  It’s sad really!  Sure I can do it.. but had I planned a little better, not just ‘given’ myself, I wouldn’t be in this situation!

I guess the moral of this is to not forget about YOU! – because no one else is going to remember YOU!