Over a New Bridge and Vigor

I don't know how else to describe the way I am starting to feel other than "like myself." The past 5 years have been a whirlwind of life changes--parents passing away, coming into my own as a long-course triathlete, and now I'm on the verge of my next big life decision which is when and where to retire.

Why does that make me feel "like myself?" I suppose because it feels like I have a semblance of control over where my life goes right now, and I've reached another 5-year mark (I have observed a general pattern of 5-year cycles for myself) where I feel I've achieved a high level of competence at something (triathlon) where I can now just sort of go on cruise control for a bit.

I am just now realizing that I have reached another echelon in triathlon. I know that sounds crazy to a lot of people who think that happened years ago. I still do not consider myself particularly fast or better than anyone else, but I now know that I am able to do things that I once thought of as pretty out there just 5 years ago. One way I can tell is how I've recovered from a marathon just 5 days ago. I feel more than ready to get back to running--there is no muscular soreness, I was able to ride pretty hard a few days ago and I've been a bundle of non-training activity. My brain feels wired up to begin pretty heavy training again, too. Since UMC, I've had numerous offers to engage in some pretty wicked events, but I have had to decline (except for NothingMan IV) for the sake of letting my body get used to what it just did in the last year, or my idea of an off season.

I'd been pushing my personal envelope for the last 5 years in terms of the amount and intensity of training I've done. I know some people think all has been pretty much the same during that period, but that's not true. Each year I try and incorporate something new, something more challenging and something harder. Sure there are a few events that I like to repeat from year to year, but that list is too big for me to do everything, and I'm just like the next person in that I like to try new things.

Part of me thinks I am too old to keep up my training level and part of me feels like I'm 25 years old! Something came to mind the other day that made me think of one of the things that drives me: I want to live vigorously as long as possible. My definition of vigor consists of:

• better than average benchmark numerical measurements like blood pressure, cholesterol, blood sugar. This is achieved by diet and stress management.
  
• lack of need for prescription meds. See above! Unless proven that I develop a condition that is genetic requiring meds, I will do everything possible to avoid them. I do use Nasonex before swimming in a pool, as I appear to have minor allergy (enough to send me into sinusitis) to chlorine/bromine.
  
• better than average body composition, which is needed not just for me to remain competitive in triathlon, but as well to ensure my skeletal health, staving off arthritis and discogenic issues. I know too many people who are carrying 10+ extra pounds around that will be surprised when they begin experiencing chronic back, hip, knee or foot pain due to those extra pounds, so yes, size does matter! For me, as I already have joint issues (lack of some knee cartilage from a skiing accident and some disk degeneration which may be from the same accident or possibly just wear and tear), I have made and kept a promise to myself to not have any excess weight on my joints.
  
• ability to engage in day-to-day infrastructure maintenance including yard work like gardening, mowing, basic tree/shrub trimming, shoveling snow, occasional gutter cleaning and generally hauling stuff around, as well as grocery shopping, cooking, driving, taking out the garbage
  
• general state of personal and social content arising from connectedness with family and friends
• financial security--enough money to cover my basic needs and then some and the ability to keep it that way barring unusual events. I could have left this off as it defines financial vigor, but for some people this interacts with the other components so I left it in
  
• ability and desire to engage in deliberate moderate to intense exercise at least 1 hour per day on a consistent basis. Here I'm suggesting something where you are burning 500+ calories per hour, which is a good amount even for a small person, but I suppose that figure needs to scale somehow based on sex and weight. Note that I included desire here. While it appears to some that we have evolved to the point of not needing or wanting to exercise, I believe it is the other factors above that may interfere with desire. So I truly believe that a person who does not want to exercise has other areas of their life that bear examination.
  

I think that's a good, basic definition of vigor, yet when I look around me, the number of people that I know my age and older who meet it is quite small. As time marches on, we may be forced to relax some of these standards, but it need not be a noticeable drop. Maybe I just have high standards, or maybe people are just OK not being vigorous. I watched my Mom lose her vigor beginning in her 40's, and I just do not want to go down that path. If any of my personal components begin to decline, I will know that I have a problem. So when you are thinking of what constitutes health, I would say consider vigor instead. We are not designed to want to sit around typing into phones and computers in a temperature-controlled environment while we blissfully ignore tending to our physical and psychic vigor. So until we evolve into a small blob with a huge brain, I think we need to attend to our overall vigor.

Anyway, I feel pretty vigorous! During the last year, I became accustomed to a level of training that is pretty high. I have become used to it now physically and mentally, and yet I am able to maintain my other components of vigor. How great is that? I'm not saying I'm great--I'm just saying I feel great. And honestly, I wish everyone could feel this great. Too often, I am viewed as just this triathlon machine when in fact, I have to tend to the other areas of my life just like everyone else. I've had my moments where I feel unbalanced, lacking in one thing or another, but I'm completely OK with where I am right now.

I am also very grateful for everything that I have achieved in my life. I am trying to spend more time paying it forward in my own unique way, but I hope to do something more formal--I'm just not sure how/when that will occur. Some sort of volunteer work, perhaps. Apparently I am blessed with a capacity for a lot of output, and so it would be a shame to keep spending it just on triathlon!

I know that something can happen to me at any moment that could derail many of the plans I've laid out for the coming months, but for now, I am truly happy with where I'm headed and feel super ready to hit my training hard. It makes me laugh that I have wavered over the last few years about turning down the volume, when in reality, I think it was just my mind and body learning how to get used to it! So I can say that training for and finishing my first Ultraman has been a truly life changing event. But I don't see myself reaching higher and higher at this point, for I feel like I have crossed over a bridge into territory that many people will never see. I'm very grateful to be where I am and have a renewed sense of wonder about the next phase of my life's journey. What a wonderful place to be!

And Now the Fun Begins!

I have confirmed with 100% certainty that the orthotics that I began using in May were the cause of my last 8 weeks of sub-par running.

I ran about 27.5 miles at IMFL on Saturday with no issues! I also now checked that I am almost back to 100% ROM on my left hamstring. I am really excited now about returning to good, fast running, as I've got some fun things coming up for Thanksgiving weekend.

Oh, by the way, that "marathon" at IMFL was my 25th. How about that?

I just found out that the town of Schaumburg is hosting back-to-back 1/2 marathons on Sat/Sun of Thanksgiving weekend. But I am an idiot and didn't sign up for Saturday, which has closed. So I signed up for Sunday. And I also registered for my local 5K, Bonfield Express, that is on Thanksgiving Day. But I really wanted to do 2x2x2 (2-hour swim, 2-hour ride, 2-hour run) during the holiday weekend, so I will do that on Friday. Saturday will be a rest day ;) I hadn't planned on running a marathon that weekend, but I guess I will get a broken one in, huh? How great! This will kick off my "official" training for Ultraman Hawaii 2011!!!

I am still plotting what to do about change of plans since I am no longer going to Japan for an Ironman next year. I could spend some $$$ and get into IMWI, or I could do another NothingMan. I kind of like the idea of another NothingMan, since that would be #5 for me, only this time I would do it the week before IMWI which is guaranteed to be good weather, as has become a tradition!

I had so much fun at IMFL with my friends Brad and Morgan, and Brad's parents (that I'd met last year at IMLP and saw again at Goofy Challenge), and now I met Morgan's Mom, Melinda, that also does IM. Brad and Melinda raced IMFL and both set huge PR's, so I was honored to be able to help them any way I could with pre-race nonsense and also a few race day tips. I'm not sure whether I was of any help, but I sure enjoyed witnessing their race.

I began running just before Brad came out onto the run course. I didn't expect to be able to run very fast, but that was just fine, and I almost regretted that I'd run a 1/2 marathon the week before, but oh well, this was just for "nothing" so it didn't matter. Once again, I realized just how much a "just" marathon sucks, as it hurts and it was cold, and I just HATE the IMFL course--it's totally flat with just these speed bump things that are just plain ANNOYING. After doing 1/2 the course, I really wanted to just stop, and one of the other kids in our entourage asked me how I felt and I said, "like crap," which was true, since I had eaten a bunch of things I don't normally eat and my stomach was doing flip-flops, and my legs weren't quite in shape for a marathon. But I just turned and kept on going.

When I finished my marathon, I saw that Brad and Melinda's entourage (I stayed with Morgan and Melinda) had migrated to the finish line, and I knew I wouldn't be able to find them in the melee, so I began walking back to the condo because I was freezing. But that was just agonizing, so I started running again. You should have seen the looks on people's faces because I did have...um...race-ish paraphernalia on my body, and I was running more! But it felt fine to run, and if I had put on warmer clothes, I would have run another 13.1 miles just because. But, I'm still glad to have completed a marathon plus.

There is something else really special that happened over the weekend to Morgan and Brad but I can't say just what publicly--it will come out soon enough (tonight). They are going to crew for me at UMH, but that's not the news ;)

Anyway, I'm just really excited about having had some time off from work and a great time with friends, and I'll see many of them again in February at Gasparilla Pirate Festival to run a bunch.

I am still pretty tired today (I forget just how much a "just" marathon tires me out), but coming around and am looking forward to getting back on a bike tomorrow. I did swim today, which felt great (I never did swim in Florida--just didn't feel like it), and also lifted a little bit, so I should be back on my game in no time.

I am renewed about beginning some hard training--my body and mind are ready for it, and now even my legs!