it's all good

Yes, that's a coffee mug in my hand.....

It was one of those mornings I cherish so much as a North easterner, more specifically a Rochesterian. For over a week they have taunted and warned: it will be the coldest Rochester has been in YEARS!!

Well, it is. It's damn cold. But that didn't deter us from hitting the pool at 5:45am.

As I have said before I adore my team and I adore my lane mates even more. We all just click together, every single one of us. I've been reading so much about lane drama .... I am lucky because our biggest drama with Ken out of town this week (lane mate and clock keeper) was whether we'd leave "on the top".... or "On the bottom.". When you find a team like this to swim on, honestly I never want it to end.

These are the days where you walk around with a few layers, start your car a bit earlier, and cherish when the sun comes out. You are grateful that you spend 6 hours a week in a room that is 90 degrees. You are grateful when you run for 80 minutes on the treadmill and don't mind it, because you are warm, you can look outside and you've got good tunes playing. Even a little Violent Femmes to add some old school spice.

I think the best quality of being a Rochesterian is that we tend to find the good part of just about anything. Weather, and one another.

Training is going very well. I am ranging between 12-15 hours and right now it's all endurance. In a few weeks I will start to turn it up a notch but my immediate goals have been met. I am running 6 days a week, I am increasing my mileage over 30 miles and heading to above 40 (remember if you train your run correctly you won't get injured.... knock on wood!). My weight is not too far from the race weight I want to get to this season, and my nutrition is better than ever.

Most importantly I am feeling relaxed. And with everything that goes on in my life, that's a great place to be.

As I sit here on the brink of turning 35 I am excited. Having a birthday in January is like having a double New Year. A double chance to have a clean slate. A double chance for new opportunity. I move up an age group and I am excited about that as well.

That's the thing about triathlete.... we get excited with age.

I feel like my best seasons are still ahead of me. 30-34 was pretty rocky in terms of performance. It started off good and then it seems that I have had all sorts of lessons to learn. Consider them learned.

As I approach 35 I feel a sense of clarity, dare I say maturity. I feel a clam sense of excitement and a strong sense of possibility.

So here's to 35..... and if the temperature was even close to that around here today.... I'd call it a heat wave!