Perseverance

The last 2 training days have been challenging and rewarding. Perseverance was the theme for these days. As the Synchro Team is preparing for Nationals - the pool schedule has been demanding and busy. Caffeine and "digging deep" has been where I've been finding my energy. As I've been working power shifts (8pm-4am) and then getting up to coach/run (at 9am and 8am - Sat/Sun respectively), lack of sleep and muscle/joint soreness was trying to stand in my way. On Saturday, myself and future sister-in-law started her journey to the PEI Marathon 5km race in October. I love the feeling of starting a journey - anticipation, doubt and adrenaline all combined in one. We got through the run/walk and I must say - she did fabulous! Then, today - Bec and I continued with our training plan and ran a longer route (3mins run, 1min walk - 30mins). After 4 hours sleep, coaching 3 hours and hunger setting in - I was unsure if I was going to be able to complete the training for the day. Not to mention my sister's self inflicted illness - we were in a sad state of affairs. After a 5min focusing time (ie. sitting on the couch and complaining) we got up and headed outside. We established that we'd run on the residential streets - in case of an emergency "matapiko" (google swahili matapiko)and keep going under any circumstance - at one point, Becs had a severe stitch in her heart region that I was sure she was going to collapse. Note to stitch sufferers - count over and over to 10 - tried, tested and true!I'm sure you're wondering why we would torture ourselves? To me, persevering is a crutial part of the training process. If we don't run when we don't feel like it - we'd hardly run. It also makes the better times much sweeter:)