Whew. Holy, holy, hoooollllyyyy cow. What a summer. An amazing, wonderful, freaking-fantastic summer -- but one that has made me so darned ... tired. Wiped Out. Toast. Fried-fried-fried. Like lots of folks, I've been juggling triathlon training (which I only began in May, so it's pretty darned new, really) and a new relationship (Sweet Johnny V -- see previous post) and a new job (which will be described soon, I hope) and friends, and marathon training -- and I have to say -- it's been rough. So I've been less than great about posting. Which stinks -- I love to share what's going on with me, and this is a great forum for that...
What the heck! What a wonderful problem to have, huh? To have to complain about having too much fun in a summer!?! An embarrasment of riches, I suppose, but it's left me with very little in the tank, and with one more race to go.
That race is the Triamerica short course in Michigan City. I looked online, and apparently TriA has a history of only having a handful of ladies sign up for the short course in whatever city they're in. Coupling that with Ironman Wisconsin this weekend, and the fact that Accenture has come and gone, and I have a feeling that there will be very few of us... For the first time, I'm thinking that I might need to actually look at the bike course map (just in case I'm the only chiquita out there, you know?). It's made me appreciate what it must feel like to think that you may be a leader. Perhaps, someday, that could be me... but for now I'm happy just to do better than my goal time. (That's something I've not yet done -- I keep missing my goal by a stinking minute! Seriously! A stinking minute. *sigh*) Of course, I'm still pretty slow, but maybe if I crank it up a little bit, I'll hit the top ten in my age group... (there may only be 10 of us, but in case there are 11, I should try for that top 10 spot, don't you think?)
Race report to come, but two weeks ago I did the SuperSprint here in Chicago. Fun race, really -- but really short, and the darned bike portion was a straight one-mile line up and down simmonds drive -- with a hairpin turn on either end. (Nothing like having to come to a complete standstill to slow down your overall time.) Still, the swim portion rocked for me -- even though it was darned short, I exited the water in about 3:40 or so, and honestly sprinted the whole time. That's the first real sprint that I've done in the water - so it was great for training. The run suuuuuuccccckkkkkkeeeeedddd. And that's weird, but the same thing that's happened to me in every race -- my strength should be the run, as I'm a runner. But every time, there's just no go-power left in the tank. Zip-o, sister. And so I limp along at a 9:30 or 10:00 (two years ago that would have been a blazingly fast time, by the way) and end up missing my goal time because I can't go any faster...
What the heck! What a wonderful problem to have, huh? To have to complain about having too much fun in a summer!?! An embarrasment of riches, I suppose, but it's left me with very little in the tank, and with one more race to go.
That race is the Triamerica short course in Michigan City. I looked online, and apparently TriA has a history of only having a handful of ladies sign up for the short course in whatever city they're in. Coupling that with Ironman Wisconsin this weekend, and the fact that Accenture has come and gone, and I have a feeling that there will be very few of us... For the first time, I'm thinking that I might need to actually look at the bike course map (just in case I'm the only chiquita out there, you know?). It's made me appreciate what it must feel like to think that you may be a leader. Perhaps, someday, that could be me... but for now I'm happy just to do better than my goal time. (That's something I've not yet done -- I keep missing my goal by a stinking minute! Seriously! A stinking minute. *sigh*) Of course, I'm still pretty slow, but maybe if I crank it up a little bit, I'll hit the top ten in my age group... (there may only be 10 of us, but in case there are 11, I should try for that top 10 spot, don't you think?)
Race report to come, but two weeks ago I did the SuperSprint here in Chicago. Fun race, really -- but really short, and the darned bike portion was a straight one-mile line up and down simmonds drive -- with a hairpin turn on either end. (Nothing like having to come to a complete standstill to slow down your overall time.) Still, the swim portion rocked for me -- even though it was darned short, I exited the water in about 3:40 or so, and honestly sprinted the whole time. That's the first real sprint that I've done in the water - so it was great for training. The run suuuuuuccccckkkkkkeeeeedddd. And that's weird, but the same thing that's happened to me in every race -- my strength should be the run, as I'm a runner. But every time, there's just no go-power left in the tank. Zip-o, sister. And so I limp along at a 9:30 or 10:00 (two years ago that would have been a blazingly fast time, by the way) and end up missing my goal time because I can't go any faster...
And now for my personal revelation -- I have not worked out in a week.
A week! And this from a woman that follows her plan (whatever that may be) religiously. One week ago today I took a half day from work and ran my 18 miler for marathon training. I was beat even before I began, and it was hotter than blue-blazes, but I did it. John met me at mile 11, mile 15, mile 17 and 18 -- and my IT band let me know it was not happy with the day or the distance, but I still finished. Then, Saturday, I flew to St Louis, and went to my mom's in small town Missouri to help her paint her queen anne victorian home (it's literally 5 colors, and you have to use a wee little bitty paintbrush to get the detail in), which I did until Tuesday, when I came home, totally wasted by the combination of the week's activity. I thought that Wednesday I would work out, but no -- I was so tired that I could barely stand, and I honestly wasn't making much sense. Thursday came and went with me happily munching my way through the day. Today? No chance -- this morning was too snuggly to wake up, and after work I've got plans with Johnny and some friends. Tomorrow is The Day Before The Race, so maybe I'll have a little tune-up, but nothing serious -- my arms are feeling flabby already...
So I suppose that's it, huh? Maybe at this point, and after the summer of schlepping and running and generally having an amazing time, I need rest more than anything else. Perhaps I'll do the TriA and go faster at this farthest distance I've raced, simply because my body has had time to repair. Perhaps with this sleep that I've had, I will have more fun during the race itself (is that even possible?). But in any case, it feels good and delicious, and I'm surprised with myself that I'm allowing it... Oooh Baby It's good to be bad!
Have to get off to work, now -- soon I'll post stories of all the trials and tribulations, as well as my background, so that you can see why this summer was so much better than all of the summers before...
Best to you!
Belly...
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