Anticipation

In a little over two weeks I slash through my second and hardest race to date, the Half Ironman. While not down to the wire yet, I have to admit that I'm getting nervous. The distances in training are getting long enough now that they take up more time and energy and I have started to have to pack nutrition and carry more water. I actually get hungry on the ride! This past weekend, 35 miles of biking followed by 9 miles of running, I had to do the race after working my night shift. The weather was overcast and rainy. Half of the bike was achieved in a torrential downpour with some scary lightning. I was soaking wet. I was also surprised to see cranes and wild turkeys sitting on the trail. That was kind of cool.

It's interesting. I had set out to do these 5 Races in 5 Months, one of which is an olympic distance triathlon. What I didn't count on is that in training for the Half Ironman, I am essentially doing more than the olympic distances on the bike and run every week. It is regular and unavoidable.

I think of the regular bullying that kids endure in school. It comes out of nowhere, there is no special circumstances that cause it to occur, no path that you can avoid. I think about waking up in the morning to get ready for classes knowing that you have to go, wondering if today will be the same as before, wondering if there will be a reprieve. I think of the additional armor that kids have to take with them or build in front of them, not unlike the additional water and nutrition that I have to take to get through the long ride. I can understand how some kids, when faced with an additional torrential downpour just decide to quit.

By clicking on the donation page on the right, you can help me help GLSEN end the downpour of bullying that kids everywhere endure on a regular basis.

The Difference a Week Makes

Training for the Half Ironman, my second race of the season, continues. To boot, I'm in week 4 of Marathon training which will be my 5th and last race this year. It's the ultimate in physical multi-tasking. So the only way to do my long runs on the weekend and manage the bikes is to combine the two for a killer brick. So this weekend was a 90 minute bike followed by a 5 mile run. Essentially close to what I did poorly the week before with the Capitol tri. I finally fixed my bike shoes and inaugurated them on this set. Wow, what a difference that made. I felt good at the end which gave me hope that the weeks to come are going to sail by.

Capitol View Triathlon

It's generally good to have goals. As you know, last Sunday, I participated in the Olympic distance Capital View Triathlon. My goal was to beat my time from last year's Pleasant Prairie race.

For a moment it looked like the tri itself wouldn't get its feet wet. The DNR was reporting high levels of e.coli in the water making it too dangerous to swim. But luckily the state gave the green light and before I knew it, I was face first in the seaweed, paddling toward the first bouy. I'm not the most efficient swimmer, I'm pretty dizzy by the end. But as I emerged from the water, I was happy to note that I was right on track.

The CVT prides itself on being a tough course. The bike has alot of hills - big ones. And the downhills end in curves so you really can't enjoy them without braking. Unfortunately I still didn't have my bike shoes ready and so had to go it alone without them. I thought I was doing Ok but really petered out after the 10 mile marker. After I realized that my goal to beat last year's time was slowly running out, I just wanted to put my head down and make it to the run.

The run is my strength. Always has been. Just like the bike, the run is rife with hills and it's all on grass which was something I wasn't used to. I maintained my habit of walking through the water stations but had to walk up some of the hills. Overall, I blasted it out at 9 minute miles.

I didn't beat my time from last year. I came in at 3:11, about 20 minutes past my old time. It's easy to say that the two races were different. I would say vastly different. It's tough to compare one apple to a different orange. But in the end, it doesn't really matter. The thing about goals in races and in life is that they provide us with vision. They allow us to create a picture of ourselves that we want to be. And should we fall short of our goals, that picture still remains for the next time as we are ever changing, ever evolving, ever striving for something better for ourselves.

My next time will be the Half Ironman in Door County next month. I'll train harder and get those shoes fixed. And it will make the difference. If you want to make a difference in the lives of kids who are at risk for being bullied, donate to GLSEN by clicking on the button in the sidebar or go to https://my.glsen.org/leschke

Coming Full Circle

So this weekend is my first race: the Olympic distance triathlon. One year ago, my mission was simple - to run an Olympic distance triathlon to raise money and awareness for the fight against school bullying. At the time, the idea of doing an Oly was beyond comprehension for me. I proved to myself that I could do it, one stroke at a time, one hill at a time, one step at a time. And along the way, I remembered the kids that I was running for.

And here we are, one year later, on the verge of my planned 5 Races in 5 Months Challenge starting with the race that I thought was beyond comprehension last year. It's not an accident that I'm doing the Oly right out of the gate. I'm starting off where I ended because there is nowhere to look but forward. And now, a Half Ironman and a Marathon are the impossible feats though I'm attacking them with a different spirit.

I'm running this race this weekend for those kids like Derrick Martin and Constance McMillan who endured really hard years last year. They wouldn't deny or compromise who they were. They refused to live in any other world than what they envisioned for themselves. And they paid dearly for it. But the price of growing up is repaid when we realize that the toughest thing that we endured in the past allows us to climb even tougher hills now and in the future. And that what we thought was impossible last year now seems easy.

GLSEN wants to eradicate those impossible roads of bullying to clear the path to a happier and healthier education for all students. You can help GLSEN and kids like Derrick and Constance by helping me raise money for them. Click the donate button on the right or go to https://my.glsen.org/leschke

Brick Days

Brick days are tough. A brick day, if you didn't know, was a day that you pile two disciplines of a triathlon on top of each other. Usually it is a bike followed directly by a run. Some say it comes from the idea of laying bricks on top of each other. Others say it comes from the way your legs feel when you start to run after getting off the bike. I vote the second.

I started brick days this week. And they are always disconcerting because just when you feel as though you are making a ton of progress, a brick day knocks you back a few rungs on the proverbial ladder of success. After running consecutively for 90 minutes last week, it's hard to have to stop to take a stretch after only 4 minutes this week. But eventually things even out and legs get moving. a 30 minute run might be tough but eventually you get through it.

There have been alot of people speaking out against school bullying lately. Chris Colfer from Glee was on the View talking about getting bullied. Jason Mraz (man, i love him) spoke out against it. Russ Feingold and Al Franken introduced the Student Non-Discrimination Bill in Congress. All of them are people who, despite setbacks, kept their eyes on the prize to reach success. And when stuff is piling up, that isn't always easy to do.

GLSEN wants to help kids learn and grow in an environment where being a kid is tough enough without piling on the extra burden of bullying. Please help me help them by donating to my 5 Races in 5 Months challenge by clicking on the donation link in the right margin. We'll solve it together, one brick at a time.