Give 107%

It sounds like a cliché that a coach would say, but this is the result of the Team in Training fundraising I did for The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.  With a goal of $5,000 the generosity of so many friends and family helped me to reach $5,373.86.  The donations and the sources of them was truly inspirational ranging from my Mom’s jar of change that resulted in the highest donation of $375 to Steve Price who was my first donation of $50.  Along the way I learned so many stories of people touched by cancer in some way and many specifically by Leukemia or Lymphoma.  Although this is not the first time I have raised money for this worthy cause, this is by far the largest amount I have ever raised and it is even more incredible given the tough economic times we are in.

So as a result, at the race on Sunday, I am going to do my best to give 107% effort.  This is my second Olympic distance triathlon.  In the first, the Loveland Triathlon, two summers ago, it took me a total time of 4 hours 14 minute and 15 seconds to finish. Not a blazing speed, but I don’t do these because I am good at them, but because they are good for me.  So since my donors gave 7% more than I needed I am going to work to have a 7% improvement in my time, which is roughly 18 minutes.  I wanted to break 4 hours anyhow so this will really push me.  So stay tuned and we will see if I meet this latest goal that all of my donors set for me.

3-A-Day...Exhausting

If you check back on my January 23 post (“Master Schedule”) you will see that Wednesdays always were a two-workout day, but with three possible non-conflicting workouts it also could be a 3-A-Day.  So with my triathlon, the Lavaman, only a month out and this being the time to push my training a little harder I took on this ambitious set of three workouts.

It started at 6 AM with my Rock fitness class.  These generally mix a little bit of P-90 X type of exercises with whatever else the instructor comes up with that morning (if you go to one of Cherianne’s classes you would understand what I am talking about).  Today’s class mixed work with exercise bands, kicks and punches on the bag, sprint and jogging along with some dips and arm bicep work.  After a pretty hard track workout Tuesday night, my legs were crying, but I pulled through.

Then at 6:45 PM I headed to kickboxing.  However, with the large crowds we get at The Rock, you don’t just work on the bag, but you also get the “opportunity” to do a lot of work off the bag.  Since the Rock Body Challenge is entering it’s final weeks, we pushed it there with probably tougher work off the bag, as on it, and not a lot of rest.  The exhaustion continued which meant that with swimming next I had a good chance of drowning.

So at 8 PM it was into the pool.  Again since the Lavaman is a month away, all of the triathlon workouts are a part of our “peak” or hardest phase.  This meant after a set of drills we headed into a tough set of sprints followed by longer lengths (2 X 100 m building to a 150 m, to a 200 m) with little rest between the next set.  By this point I am fighting a nice set of leg cramps and toe cramps.  How in the heck do you get toe cramps?  Anyhow I fought through it all, but I am not sure if I am going to repeat this 3-A-Day fun again.

Mama's Boy

Growing up, it is hard to hear on the playground that “you are such a mama’s boy.”  But today I feel a little different about that and let me explain why. 

With my Lavaman Triathlon about a month out, I have been making a big final push to make my fundraising goal of $5,000.  Of course my retired mother asks how she can help and even promises to “try to make up the difference.”  Well that is way too much to ask, so my Mom who is not easily discouraged, turns to a new strategy.  She heads down into her basement where she finds a treasure she thinks might help out.

Now my Mom’s basement has a lot of things that might be regarded as “treasure.”  If we ever could convince her, we might have one heck of a garage sale.  But what she found was easy to translate into a donation, a jar of coins.  So with the jar in tow she heads to the bank to cash out, but when she is there the teller alertly tells her that some of the coins are pretty old and might be valuable.  Next stop a coin dealership and low and behold the jar of coins yields a donation of $375.

The jar of coins from the basement now makes my Mom my biggest donor and has helped me to cross 82% of my fundraising goal.  Some days I would have resented being called a mama’s boy, but today I couldn’t be prouder.