So, I'm doing the Du again. It's Iron Girl time already at the end of this month !

( The Iron Girl duathlon is an all female event. 2 mile run / 22 mile bike ride/ 2 mile run )

I finished up my Iron Girl 2008 blog post with these famous last words...

Ok - so now what? Now, I recover and recuperate and support Peter for the Twin Cities Marathon. I'll be chasing him around Minneapolis and St. Paul with a double stroller and a "Go Daddy Go!" sign in two weeks. And then….we all collapse in a heap on a couch for awhile.

That was all fine and good. But after all of the training and completing that big event - I collapsed on a heap for more than awhile. Sure I went to work out sporadically but nothing like the training I had been doing.

I always apply Newton's Law to exercise:

Newton's First Law of Motion states that a body at rest will remain at rest unless an outside force acts on it, (like getting kicked off the couch) and a body in motion will remain in motion unless acted upon by an outside force. (like a couch being thrown in one's way)

Movement begets movement. You begin to crave it. Couch begets couch. You begin to crave it.

When I decided to register for the Iron Girl again this year I looked at the 12 week training schedule.

Day one: Run 40 minutes.

Oh.

I realized I really needed to start training in order to start training... if that make sense.

I remember the last time I trained for the event Vivian was still a baby. My memory is foggy, but I think I made up my own revised sleep deprived mom training schedule.

Aha -then I found the answer. 5 weeks before the Iron Girl training program was to start, I discovered a program at the YMCA - The Lazy Man triathlon. You had 5 weeks to complete the equivalent of an Iron Man triathlon. (that those crazy hardcore people do in one day). It consisted of a 2.5 mile swim, 112 mile bike, 26.2 run. Plus, you got a grey and orange (one of my favorite color combos) t-shirt for your trouble. Oh, the things I'll do for a cute t-shirt.

That broke down to about 5 miles running a week. Doable. 22 miles biking a week. Doable. And about 32 swim laps per week. Sounded doable? It had been years since I'd done laps. (Yes, you can sweat in a pool - this I learned.)

But put them all together in a week and well, that's a lot.

The hurdle for me this year is that the kids are in this in-between stage. They are too big for the Burley bike trailer and WAY too big for the double jogging stroller - and still too little to bike/trike along with me.

That means my summer had been dedicated to alternating early morning workouts, lunch hours and evenings at the Y to get out there and move.

Let's just say the people at the Y know me (and my kids ) by name. But it was a win/win I was able to work out and the kids got their ya ya's out in the gym and play area too.

This summer has gone by in a blur and body in motion has been remaining in motion.

Phew!