Follow the yellow brick road

Dear Toto,

We're not in Ironman training anymore. Click your heels three times and the workout is already done!

No more 3 hour training sessions. A good 45 minutes is plenty. And its so much more than most "normal" people do. Granted, we all know that athletes, specifically triathletes, aren't "normal people", but still.

When we go for a 3 mile run, that is still a good workout.

When we mix up the stairmaster, elliptical and recumbant bike, that is still a good workout.

When we decide watching the game tonight is more important and we do 12 oz curls instead, that is still a good workout, er, evening.

So dear Toto, keep this in mind when you feel like a big slacker. You don't have to push yourself as hard as you did this time last year. There is no $550 entry fee weighing on your shoulders, pushing you out the door on your bike in 45 wet degrees.

Working out and training can simply be fun. Enjoyable. A hobby. True, it became part of our lifestyle over the past couple years, but it doesn't have to take over our life. It can simply be a part of it.

So Toto, enjoy the cold beer and cookie dough tonight, and know that the run we'll go on tomorrow will make it all even out.

Love, Dorothy.