Where art Thou Training Partner?

Obviously from the title of our blog we are a couple that trains together, since we train together so often it is really difficult for me to train alone, I mean who wants to do that?!?! It is just super boring!!! Well that is what I used to think anyways.
Last week Brady had surgery on his chest to remove a mass of tissue and will be out for at least three weeks! Don't worry he is fine, this wasn't a cancerous mass or anything it was just some tissue but he just needs time to heal. This was not good news to me that his recovery was going to be this long because I hate training by myself! And really it wasn't for Brady either but let's face it sometimes I can be a little selfish and I may have been more worried about me. I realized that I would be training solo for three weeks... THREE WEEKS! I was the girl that used to say I would never run alone, or that I would never ever swim alone. I was going to have to get used to this transition, I mean where was I going to get my motivation and support? Now this is going to sound a little cheesy, alright I won't lie this is super cheesy but I found the motivation that I needed to exercise alone was in myself! That's right I pulled the good old stinky cheese out but it is true I just needed to make a decision that I wanted to complete my goals and I wasn't going to let Brady being out of commission stop me. So last week and this week I have been doing my workouts solo and I have discovered something (don't tell Brady) but I actually have come to enjoy it sometimes... well maybe not enjoy it but not hate it completely. Yes, it is much harder to wake up early alone when your spouse is laying in your comfy bed but if I do it and get my workout in I come home completely happy and content. I came up with 4 reasons why working out alone can be fun and here they are:

1. You only have to work around one schedule.
It can be challenging sometimes having to work around school and work schedules to get our training sessions done, but when I go at it alone I can do it whenever I want. That I would say is a plus because sometimes I don't have to go to work until 11:30 a.m. and it is nice getting my training done before work.

2. I can catch up on all my creepy T.V. shows Brady doesn't like to watch.
I LOVE crime shows or cop shows or shows about serial killers, but my newest favorite is Stalker that is on CBS, man I just love getting a little creeped out. Brady on the other hand does not like these shows, so whenever we watch T.V. together I can never watch the shows that I want to watch... well problem solved I can watch all my creepy shows on the treadmill when I have to run solo! Bonus is that I tend to run faster when the stalker is chasing after the person or when something pops out so it totally helps my pace right? I should tell my coach that...

3. I can do early morning workouts.
Brady is awesome, has many talents, and I love his guts but he was not given the gift of being an early bird. I am not a self proclaimed early bird but when I try to wake Brady up in the morning it is like trying to wake the dead! No matter how many alarms I set Brady has a way of making me stay in bed... he is a sly dog. Well now that I have to train solo it is not as big of a deal for me to wake up early to go workout because I don't have to worry about waking the dead.

4. I get some time for meditation

Now this is one reason that I never would have thought of before but every once in awhile everyone needs some quiet time with just their own thoughts, and learning to run alone has taught me that it is ok to be alone with yourself. I'm not going to lie and say that I enjoy running alone more than running with Brady because that is just not true, 9 out of 10 times I will choose to run with Brady but every once in awhile it is nice to go at it alone. This was one of the toughest things for me to get used to because I hate running anyway and running alone seemed like the worst possible thing but this has taught me that it is alright to be by yourself.

Even though being alone lately has taught me a lot it has mostly taught me that I love having a training partner to push me and help motivate me. I cannot wait for Brady to get better so that we can resume our training sessions together again.