The rhythm of life drums on the same day in and day out. My life is pretty much consumed with working, training, eating, and sleeping. I don't do much else right now. Training has returned to being a bit more enjoyable, my bike rides less burdensome than before. I still have fear on the roads with traffic, and at times I am a bit held back by this. But I'm no longer worried about race day and whether or not I will finish the ride in time. What will be is what will be.
Right now I'm very focused on my nutrition and listening to my body.
As for my nutrition, I have been working with a dietitian to help me with my daily intake as well as my sports nutrition around my workouts. Having never trained for anything at this kind of intensity before, I felt I was sort of spinning my wheels in that department. I wish I had reached out earlier for help, but seeing how I will be training for a marathon starting as soon as my triathlon is done, I thought it was wise. So far it has been so helpful, and I look forward to making progress in that area.
Learning to listen to my body is hard. You want to get in the necessary training sessions, but not push yourself to the point of injury. I trained through a nagging Achilles issue last week, and as soon as I finished my 12-mile run on Thursday I knew I probably should not have done that. I have issues with training through pain when I shouldn't. So this morning before my workout, I promised myself that if I started my run and felt the pain, I would stop.
I swam my sprint intervals and felt great. So I changed into my running clothes, excited to start my run. And I felt it... just barely. But the twinge of pain told me that if I kept running on it, it wasn't going to just get better as the run went on. So I turned around and decided to go to bed early. A little extra rest never hurt anyone, and it's better to be safe than sorry. Even as I walked into my apartment, my mind was yelling at me to get back out there and finish that workout, dammit! But I knew I was doing the right thing for my body.
It may seem silly that it's so hard to do this, but when you're in training and wanting to prepare your body for the stress of a race, it's actually a lot harder to skip workouts than you might think, regardless of how you feel. I'm proud of myself for listening to my body and holding back when I knew it needed a little more rest. I will plan on doing that run tomorrow.
I am not going to lie. I look forward to June 26, not only because I am excited to race, but I am also going to be ready to have my life back. Will I do another 70.3 next year? I don't know. I think if I actually enjoy the race itself, I might. I know training for a marathon will be no easy feat either, but my training plan for that incorporates 2 rest days plus 1 cross-training day each week. And on top of that, I simply enjoy running more than swimming or biking.
Well, perhaps I shall be back on here to write something besides triathlon talk. Once my life gets back to "normal," that might be the case!
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