Fitness has always been a large part of my life. My dad seemed to do basically every sport growing up, but as he got older bicycling became something he'd always do. I learned how to swim and bike from a very early age and did not realize until high school that some people couldn't ride a bike or swim. Both of those sports played largely into my life.
My mom danced her entire life and while I disappointed her (I'm kidding mom, I know I didn't disappoint you) with my lack of dance ability and my lack of desire to be on stage, I found my passion in other sports.
I played soccer for a while but eventually quit because I wasn't competitive enough, but as a midfielder I knew I enjoyed running.
I tried gymnastics/tumbling which I did on and off for a bit, mixed in with some attempts at hip hop dancing...but that really isn't relevant to the story because I was terrible at dancing.
My parents forced me to sign up for the neighborhood swim team, even though we went to the pool every day (and I mean literally every day) in the summer, I was scared to join the swim team. Somewhere between 3rd-4th grade I got involved and became obsessed with it. This was the one sport that I found a connection with. I tried a competitive swim team in 8th grade but hated it because it took the fun out of it. In high school I swam on my high school's team through my junior year. I ended up having a falling out with swimming, which you can read more about if you search my YouTube channel or blog.
After my freshman year of high school swim season wrapped up, I joined the High School Triathlon Club. This became an obsession equal to swimming for me.
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| My first triathlon at age 14 (but because I was turning 15 by the end of the year I competed with 15-18 year olds). This was at Trizou in Columbia, Missouri, I placed 5th.
The triathlon club is something I was involved with throughout all of high school and something I plan to revisit this summer when I'm home from college. I feel like it's the nostalgia of swimming and biking from when I was younger, plus running which I've always enjoyed, but I have been hooked on triathlons since that first practice in 2013.
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| At the Lake St. Louis Triathlon my junior year of high school I placed 3rd. |
My success in triathlons gave me the confidence I did not have before. I love everything about the training and the competitions. Okay, cycling stresses me out, but when have I ever been 100% not stressed.
Fitness-wise, coming to college was an interesting transition. For a while I would do a one-mile loop around campus, but eventually it got too cold and dark to do that. I would occasionally work out at the Drury gym but I was terrified of everyone judging me.
This semester my Monday-Wednesday-Friday classes don't start until 11 and my Tuesday-Thursday classes start at 9:30. If you know me you know I can't sleep in so by 8 or 9 I was already awake on MWF. Around two weeks in I decided to try to get up before my classes to work out. Now MWF I get up at 8:15 to head to the gym and workout. Tuesday/Thursday I get up at 7:15 somehow, because I didn't even get up that early for my 8 am last semester. I've found, though, that I feel so much better when I workout in the morning. I feel like I can properly start my day, and I have a lot more energy than if I just laid around in my bed until 15 minutes before my classes. It can definitely be hard to get up and walk to the gym, there have definitely been a few days where I just wanted to stay in bed, but every time I go I'm definitely glad I did.
I'm still learning my way around the gym and it took until last week for me to do a core/arms workout in the gym because I was scared. The first time- I did my normal run on the treadmill (usually 2-3 miles) and forced myself over to the open area to do 20 pushups. I've built on that now, and while I'm still not doing the full ab workout I want to do, I've built my confidence in the gym which I'm proud of.
My next goal is to start lifting weights. It's hard because even at 8 am there are people there who actually know what they're doing and I don't know where to start. I hope that when I go home for spring break, I'll get a trial for a personal trainer so they can teach me the basics, and then I can return to them over the summer when I'm home.
I'm just now realizing how long this is and if you read all of it, I'm super impressed. I guess I just wanted to document that I'm proud of how far I've come physically and mentally. I've been handling my stress and gaining focus for each day through running and now I look forward to running every morning. I definitely still need to work on my diet but for now I'm proud of my progress. I cannot wait to see how much progress I've made by the end of the semester.
Until next time,
Taylor xx
Ps: here's a photo of me (far right) on my soccer team. I was a very happy child...
Who needs a trainer when your dad and brother could both show you proper lifting technique? Either way, so proud you are building confidence in the gym. That can be the scariest place in the world, but also the most rewarding... Stick with it sis!!
ReplyDeleteThank you! And yes Hunter needs to help me out because him and my dad are great at lifting!!
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