Reasonable Expectations

I've spent the last couple of months thinking or rather feeling like I was in better shape than I really am. Don't get me wrong, my strength far exceeds what it used to be, but my endurance however, is in the tank right now. If you look back into older blog posts you'll see me mention going down to the river with Molly to workout. The great thing about those workouts was that it always kicked my ass, but I could do them. I could keep up and I always felt great after. These workouts consisted of a lot of step-ups, some running, lunges, squats, running up steps sideways, stuff like that. Things that got my heart rate up, made me sweat and were different from the every day swim, bike, run routine. Last night I attempted to a similar workout. The difference was that fifteen minutes into it I was bright red, gasping for air, sweating like a pig and just about ready to puke. That doesn't sound like the Jenny you know, does it? It sure doesn't sound like the Jenny that I know.

It was a huge wake-up call. I'm glad that over the last several months I've been able to focus on strength training, the kind of training that I never had time for before. Now I need to rebuild, from the ground up, my endurance. The run that I did on Saturday was great, but it was nothing compared to what I expect my body to be able to do. Last night freaked me out, to be quite honest. In a matter of months I went from being as strong as a horse to, well... not. I need to increase my endurance training and somehow decrease or augment my strength training. Getting back into the pool will have to be a big part of that. Time to evaluate where I am, take a good hard look at what I need to accomplish and do my best getting there.