I have immersed myself deep into training now, and things
are beginning to get a little chaotic between working, coaching, training, and
resting – but that’s the way it goes, and I wouldn’t have it any other way!
This week I was able to put the most run miles in since
training for Boston in April. The foot
is holding up ok, but not without some minor pain and discomfort and a lot of
focus on technique and stride. I find
myself still gimpy in the beginning of a run, but after a few miles, I feel
like I can settle into a nice low pain effort.
ALWAYS ADJUSTING.
Training for an Ironman often requires a lot of adjusting
along the way. Interestingly enough, the
race itself can require a lot of adjusting along the way as well. Things seldom go as planned (in BOTH training
and racing), and the reality is when you push the limits, crazy things are
bound to happen. If you have mentally
prepared yourself in training to handle those circumstances when the pop up in racing,
then you are prepared to make the proper adjustments to overcome and
succeed. I suppose life is like that
too. Adjust and move forward. Always.
Keep on…
There is no cookie cutter recipe to prepare for an Ironman. Sure, there are books, generic training
principles, armchair coaches…but each individual’s set of life circumstances,
their bodies, and each race presents its own set of challenges. Managing them is part of the challenge and
one of the things I LOVE about coaching and my own racing – it’s not just about
achieving goals. It’s what you (or I)
had to overcome to achieve that goal. What
was learned along the way? Was the price
paid worth it?
WEEKEND TRAINING.This weekend started a bit rough. Friday was my day off and I woke up feeling a lot of pressure to accomplish a lot of things I put off during the week so I could get training in. All day I felt this crazy pressure, but continued to remind myself to relax, let the day play out and JUST do what I could. The day turned out pretty well, but honestly, I had a hard time calling it a rest day…
Saturday morning, 4am.
The alarm goes off. At this
point, I actually wondered if I had it in me today to do my long training. I was exhausted. This is NOT how I want to feel after a day
off, but it is what it is. I suppose the
difference between me and someone not like me is that I got up to train anyway.
I admit, I did sit on the side of the
bed for a moment and considered changing the weekend up a bit so I could go
back to sleep, but that voice in my head said go – overcome, and get it done. It’s a funny thing, and perhaps something I
should not admit, but I often take motivation from hearing the negative excuses
from others who don’t achieve BIG goals.
I see how they fall short – I don’t want to fall short. I will not fall into that trap. GET UP, AND GO.
The day started off a bit rough. I was a little late for my ride, kinda crabby
(who me?? lol), and the first 20 miles were mentally rough. I suppose most folks would have used every
ounce of crap I had in the first 3 hours of my day as a reason to go home,
quit, and call it a day – but I just went with it. Just go out there, get the miles in and see
what happens. Sometimes you have to get
through the muck to get to the glory. Yup,
just keep on…
Sure enough, as the ride unfolded, I began to find an
awesome grove and got my 100+ mile ride in followed by a 4mile run and a 3k
swim. It turned out to be a strong
day. And to think how it started…
I don’t know why I am surprised, but today (Sunday) started
out rough as well. Before my alarm went
off, the thunder had me up. There were
some serious storms rolling through…I was hoping they would be done by the time
I was ready to run. We haven’t had much
rain in months – surely this would just pass.
It did – but then another one rolled in.
I started my run at 6.
No rain and just a few clouds.
The thunder started at about mile 1, the rain about mile 2, the
lightening about mile 3, then at about 3.5, the tree that got struck and the
car alarms that were going off sent me for cover in the garage of a stranger’s
house. Ok, so I admit, running in
puddles of water while soaking wet near a marina in a lightning storm started
to scare me a little. I stayed there for about 20 minutes watching
the storm -- the electricity was like something I have never seen. After a while, it seemed like it was passing,
but no, I was wrong. It was only getting
started. It was HUGE. I ran back to the car as fast as
possible. 4 miles. That would be as far as I go this
morning. Perhaps God was telling me to
go home this morning, adjust, and regroup.
I kept thinking it would pass as I was running in mile 2-3, but it was
funny that as soon as that thought would come – a HUGE clap of lightening with
simultaneous thunder would occur – lol.
Ok, can I take a hint? This little
mental game happened a few times until I thought – I’m gonna get struck myself
if I don’t heed this warning – I mean, how many times do I need to be
warned? Ok, I CAN take a hint, but I may
need to hear it a few times. Hard
headed? Maybe. But not stupid.
So here I am. 3 hours
later, on the computer, having a cup of coffee listening to the thunder and
rain STILL. I would have loved a long
run in a little rain, but maybe if I did it I would have (1) been struck by
lightning (2) gotten some nasty blisters (3) aggravated my foot injury (4)
something else bad. Time to adjust. And move on.
No dwelling, just move forward.
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