Training

Training: Week 2, Day 4

Length: 1.5 hours

Distance: 15.4 miles

Weather: 67 and sunny

I decided to participate in Get Your Guts in Gear on May 7. I had been in Chicago with my friend Danette to see Lenard Cohen perform (amazing show!). While we hoofed it around downtown Chicago, we talked about Danette training for a marathon. I'm not a runner. There is nothing I like about running. B.C. (before colitis) I was training for a "triathlon", but hated the running so much that I only swam and biked. Talking with Danette did make me realize how much I had enjoyed endurance training.

However, I'm not someone who just jumps on a bike and goes because I enjoy the ride. No, I really do much prefer sitting on the couch with a dark chocolate bar watching Bones marathons. I need a goal to pedal towards. After Chicago I was on the Crohn's and Colitis Foundations of Amercia's ( CCFA.org) web page to see what was new in the Angry Ass community and came across the Get Your Guts in Gear site. That was it. I registered and jumped back on my bike.

Get Your Guts in Gear was kind enough to send me a training program, which is great, because I really did sit on the couch, eat chocolate and watch Bones marathons for most of the winter.

Last week, my first real training week, was brutal. My thighs felt like fish hooks were latched into them slowly putting the muscle fibers apart, I was tired and hungry. But I slept really, really solid, which had my husband humming Hallelujah. Normally, I'm a tosser and a turner.

Now that I'm into Week Two my body is actually starting to enjoy the time on the bike. The first 15 minutes are always the hardest for me, during any part of those first 14 minutes 59 seconds I could turn towards home, my couch, chocolate and Bones. But after the 15 minute marker my body just goes, and my mind opens up.

It's during this open time that I gain peace with how colitis has and continues to impact me.