Quick Update

I continue to be pressed for time!

Last week I got in about 22.5 hours of training, including 5 hours of combined water running/elliptical, a 9,000 yard swim on Friday and a 92-mile ride on Sunday that had 6700 feet of climbing. I am still tired!

On Saturday, I wanted to ride 3 hours, and started on my MTB. About 3 miles from home I got a flat, and the tire was toast, meaning walk 3 miles home. I am not supposed to walk unnecessarily due to my injury, but what am I to do? Luckily, I was rescued about 1.5 miles later by a fellow cyclist who lived on my route home. She drove me and bike home, and I got back out on LGL and ended up getting in about 2.5 hours of riding. Eat, hydrate, finish packing and drive about 3 hours to Dodgeville, Wisconsin for my ride on Sunday.

I ended up getting some cheap frozen Chinese from Walmart ($4 total!) for my dinner, and I watched most of "Encino Man" which was so stupid I couldn't look away.

Sunday I was on the road by 7:50 to ride and it was a beautiful day for it. All the hills were still there, too! I had intended to ride all 100 (or 103 whatever it was) miles, but since I added on some group lostness at the beginning of the ride, and I had a long drive home and I wanted to be coherent on Monday, I decided to skip the extra loop for the 100-miler. Still, 92 was plenty!

I had big training plans for this week, but predictably (or not), I was absolutely trashed on Monday, and so I did nothing.

Since now I need to do my "running" along with my swimming, that means early wakeup calls to get the pool time in, which sucks. Plus, doing swims and runs back to back makes me a whole lot more tired than when I split them up by 3 or 4 hours. Oh well, hopefully this is temporary.

Today I find myself very fatigued, cranky, and with a sense of doom. Next Monday I try and run again, and if I can't without pain, I am not sure what I am going to do. Cry first, probably. My mood has become foul due to the lack of daily sunshine and fresh air and extra pool time with extra dry skin. I cannot hobble 52.4 miles in UMC. I may ask if I can convert to a relay. I may just drop altogether. I have followed Doctor's orders in terms of not trying to run again until then, but I am just not in a good place right now.

On the other hand, if I CAN run, then it's 12 more weeks of hell...I tend to forget how the final build even just for IM sucks, only it sucks even more for me now, since I am extra paranoid.

But I'm just stating how I feel, which is why I write this blog, after all.

Next week I have a rest week which is sorely needed, since this week makes FIVE weeks since my last full rest week, although obviously I have rested my run legs and my swimming partially along the way. Still, stack up 20, 17, 21, 22 and this week should be another 17 hours, and I guess one would be tired and cranky.

From here on out, assuming I continue moving forward, I will be making up my training volume as I go. The stuff I originally planned is ludicrous with a fulltime job, even WITHOUT a life beyond that! But there are a few humongous weekends planned that I will still try and execute on, and then just need to be careful on the recovery end.

As I have learned to date, training for this beast is all about doing as much as you possibly can with the time you have available. Which is how I thought of IM training, only back then, I had more "free" time compared to now. Even with what I am doing, if I get to the start line, I will only finish by sheer will and my overall aerobic capacity. Which I think is tremendous. I think my heart rate lately is like 5. At least sometimes it feels that way!

Anyway, that's all I have time to write about now...must go and get some food in me!