9/17/13: Is This Making Me Happy?

A strange awareness has been dawning over me lately.  I am realizing that my decision to become a competitive triathlete is making me happy.  When I made the decision to become competitive in this sport I knew it would take a tremendous amount of time and effort.  It has been a little over three weeks since I made this decision and I now realize that I underestimated the impact that the decision would have on my everyday life.  This decision impacts everything from what I eat, to how much I sleep, to the time I spend planning workouts, to scheduling (well deserved) rest days, to the actual time and effort spent training.  I am just beginning to understand the meaning of being "in-training."  Being in-training doesn't mean that I exercise 5 or 6 or 7 or even 8 hours a week.  Being in-training means considering how everything I do will influence tomorrow's performance.  I have to get enough sleep,  I have to eat enough protein, I have to shed the extra fat from my body, and I have to carefully plan my weeks so that I can fit in all of my workouts.  None of these things - and there are many I haven't mentioned - are optional if I want to compete in this, or any other, sport.  As this realization dawned on me I initially thought I would get overwhelmed by it all.  I am finding the exact opposite to be true.  As I get more focused and more disciplined, as I structure my workouts better and start to actually measure progress, and as I become more conscientious about how every decision will impact my ability to train effectively; I am becoming more energized and, dare I say, happier.  I am surprised by this.  I wasn't expecting this feeling of happiness.  I was expecting a sense of achievement and, perhaps fulfillment.  I expected a sense of satisfaction, but happiness?  I have never associated extremely hard exercise and discipline with happiness before.  But here I am.  Working harder, physically, than I have ever worked in my life and feeling happy.  Wow.  I know there will be weeks when this will be a slog.  I know I will get tired and frustrated when progress is slow.  I am prepared for that and I will push through those weeks.  I am not naive and I don't expect to be happy every day, but this feeling of happiness is bubbling up from somewhere deep inside me and it is being unlocked because of my commitment to excel as an athlete.  I didn't expect this, but I'll take it.  I'm surprised and I'm marveling at it, but I'll take it.  I am not about to argue with results!  Is this making me happy?  It sure is!!