Long Day...

Sometimes it feels like my life is just one long day. -- John Mayer

Yesterday was my first "long day" of training.  I've had other long days, but there are two on my schedule that are LONG days of training.  Mini-IM days.  Unfortunately, I was going into this one hurt...my foot is still not quite right and I hadn't worn a real shoe on my right foot until yesterday.  But all in all, I should be pleased.  I learned some things and got a little bit of confidence - which is the whole point of this training.

The good news is that I'm feeling a lot better about my swim.  I swam about 3/4 of the IM distance, in a pool...talk about brain numbing..., in about 1:12.  This gives me 1:08 to swim the remaining 1/4.  Obviously it won't take me as long to swim 1/4 as it takes to swim 3/4, so that's awesome.  Of course, in the open water, I tend to be a little slower - but hopefully IM MD will be wetsuit legal, which helps a ton.  I'm feeling much better about my swim in any case, and that's a huge plus from yesterday.

The bad news is that my foot is still funky.  I was supposed to go 6-7 hours and get in around 100 miles on the bike.  But I hadn't ridden outside since I got hurt and I was worried about the stopping that you have to do when you ride outside with cars and stuff.  So I opted to ride inside.  I made it about 5:15.  And it was horrible.  Boring.  Tedious.  And of course, when you are bored, you can focus on how much everything sucks, like how much your foot hurts and how much you want a cheeseburger.  Seriously.  At about 4:30, I needed to go get some lunch meat because I was fairly certain I would die if I ate another sweet thing and I was super hungry.  So I learned I will need to put something in my special needs bag that is savory.  I had joked about it, but now I'm serious.  It will be so much better than a candy bar.  :)

And then the run.  Er.  Walk.  Well, I walked for over an hour.  And not a leisurely stroll, but it didn't feel great and I am kind of bummed about that.  I'm hoping to get a chance to try out running this week...it's a recovery week, which means I have a lighter load.  A little more time for my foot to heal.  Less than 7 weeks!

It Will Suck, But You Will Do It.

Take chances, make mistakes.  That's how you grow.  Pain nourishes your courage.  You have to fail in order to practice being brave. -- Mary Tyler Moore

Well, I'm not just scared - I'm flippin' terrified.  Because my training is going to hell.  I dropped a kitchen drawer on my foot on Friday (bone bruise, not broken), but it meant that this weekend was a wash and I still can't run.  I swam last night and I'm hoping I'm able to get my bike shoes on tonight.  This coming weekend is supposed to be one of two long training days...and I'm really anxious to do it - mostly for my peace of mind but also to work on my mental toughness, which is what I am most terrified about.

Even if I have to walk the run part of my long day.  Even if I have to do all of my bike ride inside because I'm nervous about stopping on my foot.  Even if the day sucks.  I will do it.  Because that's the best practice for IM MD of all - know it will suck.  And do it any way.  Because I'm going to do something really, really brave.

Backing Out, Stepping Up, and other Random Thoughts

If you just, pretty much, take a random 15-month-old, just sit and watch them for 10 minutes and count out how many experiments, how much thinking you see going on, and it will put the most brilliant scientist to shame. -- Allison Gopnik

So, it's been a long week since last post - and I don't have any coherent thoughts.  A 15-month-old would put me to shame with how much it thinks.  :)  (Actually, I just really thought that was a cool observation, so it has nothing to do with my thoughts, or lack thereof.)  See, here's the deal...I knew I was going to say random stuff, so I googled "random quotes" and then I read them until I found one I liked.  That's pretty much what I do every time I post, but usually the post and the quote have something to do with each other...

*  Backing Out - I sadly had another DNF this past weekend.  I was doing a hilly century ride as a training ride and I got terrible pain in my back.  So horrible that I was walking up every hill because it hurt too much to ride...and that was really bad because it was all hills, all the time.  I made it over half-way, but I had to get sagged in, and that was a bummer.  On the other hand, the race had some organizational issues that I avoided by not finishing...so, well, there is a small silver lining.

The bad part is that my back hurts because my hips and hammies are too tight.  And so I get loose and then they tighten up again.  I'm spending way too much time with a heating pad on my hips and back (and probably not enough time rolling and stretching, but I'm working on it...).

*  Stepping Up - I stepped into the role of Communications Coordinator for our triathlon club.  Not a glamorous job, but I'm excited because I've wanted to
become more involved...and now I am.  I posted the first monthly newsletter of my tenure as Coordinator this week.  I feel so accomplished!  :)

*  The 2-month to IM MD mark passed this week.  I'm stressed but confident.  That seems to be an appropriate level of anxiety, right?  I am having a hard time comparing last year's training to this year...for some reason I can't square whether I'm having a better training season or not - but I guess it really doesn't matter - it is what it is.

*  I need to eat more carbs.  I've been doing some research on endurance-training and racing nutrition and I don't think I've been fueling myself adequately for what I am doing...so I'm experimenting with adding some carbs in.  Oddly enough, it could be the magic that I need to drop a few pounds before MD.  (Oh, and I shouldn't drink as much wine, but what kind of fun would that be.)