'Cause Everyone Else is Doing It!

As a kid, that line never seemed to go over too well with my parents. Predictably, it was countered with a "who's everyone" or even worse, the standard "if everyone were to jump off a bridge. . .". That line annoys me, even now.

But, the last two weeks, I've been fortunate to find myself in the company of athletes that set nothing but the best examples, giving the line--"because everyone else is doing it" new life. I find myself repeating it in one form or another as part of my inner monologue lately (thankfully not in that whiny kid voice). Not as an excuse. Not as a justification for something that I secretly know I shouldn't be doing, but as motivation. With a training squad full of such accomplished athletes--including multiple Olympians, Ironman and 70.3 champions--and all of them crazy fast swimmers, bikers, and runners, I am constantly surrounded by inspiration to up my game.

There have been several sessions these last two weeks that have seemed pure craziness, even to me, a self admitted mileage junkie. Moments where my legs have felt so heavy that i if I was solo, it would be easy to tell myself that it's ok to back off. Or that I really do deserve that those extra few seconds on the wall in the middle of a swim set. That it's ok to lag a bit in transitioning for my run. Or wait a few more days (err, weeks?) to clean my bike. At times, I have wanted to question whether or not I'll actually make it through the day's workouts. Instead, I look to my training partners--i.e. "everyone"--who have been there for all the sessions and are nailing all the details and think: well, if everyone else is doing it, then it must be possible.

Yesterday's workout was a prime example of this phenomenon. 5 by 8' all out hill repeats on the bike (in the pouring rain) followed by a 40' TT into the fierce island headwinds that we are all coming to know and love. Combined with the race pace run intervals off the bike, it was a killer workout that I simply could not have done at the same intensity solo. Not even close. But with "everyone else" with the same hard workout in their legs and still flying around our grass track, busting out mile after mile at race pace, I had no choice but to ignore my concrete legs and just give 'er (that's Canadian for "go hard").

off to bed. . .i'm sure everyone else was asleep hours ago; )