Random Musings

Day shift life.  I have to say, it suits me well.  I have pretty much transitioned completely.  I'm happy to say I no longer need to take anything to help me sleep!  Which is a huge victory for me after struggles with insomnia for almost two years.  Since I've been off the sleeping meds, I've noticed my energy levels are much better during the day than they were before.  Yay!

As for an update compared to my last post, I'm doing better than I was then.  Not that I'm past it, but some days are simply better than others.  Taking a break from running was great for my mental health in some ways, but I think when your body is used to those endorphins, it's hard to not have that when they're gone.

Unfortunately this week my right achilles has decided to flare up for no good reason.  Well, maybe training for a marathon is a good reason, but it is extremely frustrating as I now feel I am at a standstill with my training.  I'm currently debating whether or not a long run is even in the books for me tomorrow, which absolutely kills me.  I'm five weeks out from my marathon, and at this point if I'm having to opt out of long runs I'm just not sure this is something that I should continue pursuing for now.  I'm not really sure what I'm going to do.  If the best decision for my body is to take a break--a real, prolonged break-- then I need to swallow my pride and do what is best for my long-term fitness.

There's part of me that feels if I can just push through the next couple weeks, which are the peak of my training, and make it to tapering, then I can worry about this issue after.  I pushed through my left achilles issue for a month during my half IM training, and although I didn't see many gains in my speed during that time, I still was able to finish my race strong.  Do I do that this time around?  I don't know.

This is probably sounding like the silliest problem one can have, but I'm torn because I have trained for 9 weeks since my triathlon, and so to just STOP is really hard.  I'm SO close and have worked so hard.  And so I don't know what I should do.

In other news, on Sunday night I went and watched the Ironman Coeur d'Alene finish line for a couple of hours.  Inspiring!  Seeing the emotion on athletes' faces as they approached the finish line was incredible.  I could relate to it on a small level from my half Ironman.  As I watched them finish, I felt inspired that maybe someday I will do a full Ironman myself.  I don't know when, but I know I want to do one now.  (I know... I know.  I said I would never do it.)

I'm thinking about 2017 and what I want to do as far as races go.  After doing Spartan a few weeks back with friends, I've been asked by them to do a Trifecta next year (do all 3 Spartan races in a calendar year).  And honestly, I don't know what I want to do.  I feel like there are too many options! Do I want to race triathlons?  Marathons?  Half marathons?  Spartan races?

Or do I want to just take 2017 to enjoy life with people.  Go on spur-of-the-moment coffee dates with friends.  Make last-minute travel plans.  Explore more of the PNW as I haven't gotten to do much of this year.  Go on hikes, go camping, backpacking.  Take care of myself.  Work on my relationship with food and my body image.  When I'm "in training" those things are less possible.  They take a back seat to a training regimen.

There's plenty of time to decide of course, but these are all things I am thinking about right now.  On top of that, I'm starting to see my time here in Spokane becoming more limited as I'm not sure what the next step in my life is going to be.

Biking Blues

Post long bike ride... I am always amazed at the all-day hunger that ensues!  It seems no amount of food completely satiates me on these days.  It's difficult to justify eating all day long, even with the amount of activity I'm doing and yes, even if it's healthy food.  Of course I don't literally eat all day, but every few hours is quite often for most people.

Biking just isn't my strength, which I think is part of it.  It is so incredibly taxing for me.  I keep waiting for some sort of break-through, where I'll kill a ride and be a total badass doing it.  But mostly I just feel like I'm struggling through every ride, and I can't figure out why.  My nutrition both before and during is pretty on-point.  I have been training now for twelve weeks (crazy right?!) and spent the entire winter in high-intensity spinning classes 2-3 days a week to prepare myself so I wouldn't start biking season with weak legs.

I'm a fairly decent swimmer, especially for someone who has never swam competitively.  I have cut my swim times to probably 2/3 of what they were before last fall.  My running pace has improved, as well as my endurance.  What gives with the bike?  I can't figure out if maybe it's mostly my attitude (which has been incredibly discouraged) or my legs just aren't biking legs.  I don't know.  I'm strong, I have muscular legs, and cardiovascular-wise I am very in shape.

I'm trying not to be discouraged by this.  I know I have been giving it my all, especially given the schedule I work.  Being on night shift is one of the hardest things to do when you're trying to train for something like this.  Add to it the long runs of 12-hour nights, trying to squeeze workouts in between, running (literally) on very little sleep... it's been really tough.  I've made many sacrifices to do this, and I shouldn't downplay that.  I've worked damn hard and I will own that.  But I am still frustrated with the biking.  Perhaps next week I will be back with a better report there?  That big break-through I'm hoping for?  ;)