This week has been a doozy, a definite reminder that things don't always go swimmingly, despite my best efforts. It all started a week ago last Thursday when I woke up feeling that eerie tickle in the back of my throat. I demoted my double swim day to a single flop and by noon I knew it was time to just head back to bed. I headed to bed Thursday afternoon....and I got out of bed Sunday morning. Yup, Thursday, Friday, Saturday...all a big blur. I was sick, sore throat, headache, and I had that "I've been hit by a truck" feeling. Sunday I emerged from our 90 degree bedroom, ready to rejoin the land of the living.

We started inching back into training, easy short stuff, moving into easy longer stuff, moving into some harder swimming, and lastly adding back some medium running and harder biking at the end of this week. It's always hard to emotionally recover from a set back, especially this close to Kona, but physically, you have no choice but to lay off and let the body heal.

I used to think that when you are in the best shape of your life you are a little unhealthy, like maybe your weight is your "fighting weight" and your life is out of balance, you are teetering. I don't believe that any more. After training for almost 2 years with Chuckie, I am a big advocate of health first, fitness follows. If you make the right decisions for health, you will always be making the right decisions for fitness.

So when illness creeps up on me, it's a big sign. I'm doing something wrong. 10 people can be exposed to a virus, but not all 10 will get a cold. As athletes it's easy to think that our colds are just bad luck. I think not. There are always precautions that can be taken and stresses that can be reduced. Getting one should be a wake up call that your health is taking a back seat.

After the sickies left my body, I thought it was back to recovery, but when I look back on this past week, the main word that comes to mind is suffering.

Troy left town early Tuesday morning for a business trip. He was supposed to get back Thursday evening, but his flight was delayed, he missed his connection and ended up stranded in Chicago until Friday. I miss my husband and it's been an emotional week. I may seem strong, but I need my rock, or else I loose my way.

As you can see I posted that Annie started Kindergarten on Wednesday. She had to go to the school for pre-K testing on Tuesday. This was a major point of stress for me. How will she do? She doesn't know all her letters (we have been doing flashcards every day this summer, but V/Y, C/S, etc etc are hard for her). Will her teacher be nice to her? Etc Etc. Kindergarten is harder on the moms of the world I think.

So between missing Troy, the Kindergarten, training in the 100+ degree heat we have had all week, and recovering from a cold, I'm pretty down. It's easy to go down that path. It's easy to get mad when things aren't going your way. For me I usually get sad. I felt really alone this last week.

Chuckie sent me some reminders recently and it has helped. Some of them put me at ease, and others remind me that I brought this all on myself, I have no one to blame but myself. We do that you see, our lives are a product of the decisions that we make. Make different ones, get different outcomes. Unhappy with your current situation? Suck it up, or change your choices. It was a good reminder.

So here I am, finding my way back to health. Physical health, emotional health...all that. I guess I started down this path to get fit, to do my best at Kona, but when it's all said and done, it's the stuff you learn about yourself that you will hang onto. It's the lessons, and the appreciation. Training hard forces you to live with more intention in your every day actions, and that intention weeds out all the lies you try to tell yourself. It's time for a big fat attitude adjustment.