Frustrated

Do you ever have days where you just want to give up? Throw in the towel? Wave the white flag? Well today was one of those days for me.

Like I said in my previous post, my shin splints have come back, which has put a kibosh on running for a little bit. Granted, I can do the eliptical trainer, but that's not the same as pounding out miles on the pavement or the treadmill. And like I said in the previous post, if I keep getting shin splints because of how I run, am I going to continue to get shin splints every couple of months? If so, will I ever reach my goal of completing an Ironman? I've got a 1/2 marathon in about 6 weeks and I've got shin splints. That's not a good combo.

All of this got me thinking about other aspects of the triathlon and how I'm doing as far as improving and am I EVER going to improve.

I'm really frustrated with my swimming right now. Hell, I can't even do a flip turn. I can't even dive in to a pool. I have a hard time staying consistent with my swim time. One day I'll be able to swim 100 yds in 2 minutes and I'll be able to do that 4 times, but the next day, it'll take me 2:10 to swim 100 yds. On Friday's, my swim workout is 200 swim/kick/pull and then a long 1000 yds. I want to be able to swim the 1000 yds in 20 minutes (30 seconds a lap). One time I was able to swim it in 21:10 and I was proud of myself. I've never been able to do that again. I'm always at least 23:00. It's just VERY frustrating.

The bike, that's the only part where I feel like I'm doing ok. I still seem to struggle with hills some times, but other times, I seem to do ok. I want to get to a point where I can climb hills without a problem, but the bike is the only part where I'm not too frustrated.

I know the only way I will get better at triathlons is to keep doing them and to not give up, but today, I just felt like giving up. Even now that it's 8 hours later, I'm frustrated, but I don't feel like giving up. I just need reassurance sometimes.