I know the words, I just have to sing along.
Okay, I think brevity is going to be my friend here, but I definitely know an update is in order.
Training was going mostly well. Good days, bad days, long, long days, etc.
Then there was race simulation weekend, 4th of July weekend. I looked at my schedule a few weeks before then, and it said that week was a 19 hour week. Then I realized Kelly had ONLY filled in the 3 day weekend. 19 hours of training for a long weekend. 26.5 for the entire week. The 19 were laid out thusly:
Friday: 2 hour open water swim, 70 mile bike
Saturday: 8.5 hour bike (>130 miles)
Sunday: 3.5 hour run in the morning, 60 minute run in the evening (faster than the am run)
Friday started well. 2 hours pre-dawn swim in Barton Springs, then an out and back from there to San Marcos with some Tobiases and friend.
Then came Saturday. This is where the brevity comes in. Let's just say.. it wasn't a good ride. I was slow. I wouldn't necessarily be super concerned about slow normally. I'm not a naturally gifted cyclist, I'm used to riding slow. The reason this slowness concerned me is because if I ride that slow for Ultraman, I will not make the time cut-off for day 2. Yeah, THAT slow.
And not "started out great and slowed down over time". Slow from the very beginning. Crying and yelling, "I don't understand! Why is this happening to me?!" And honestly, I still don't. Yes, it was muggy and warm/hot and chipseal and hilly and mostly headwind. But I've done this route before, I've done those conditions before, and the resulting slowness was never that slow. Yes, my legs were already tired, but again.. done that before. It's possible there was something mechanically wrong with my bike. I want that to be true. But without knowing for sure, I just need to get over it. Move on. I got my 8 hours on the bike, and while it got me nowhere near the miles I anticipated, I got the time in the saddle.
I was pretty defeated by Saturday. Very defeated. But I got my head on straight by Sunday and had a two pretty strong runs, despite continued crappy weather conditions.
Things were looking up.
And then I got a sore throat. Tuesday after my recovery swim.
Started feeling worse and worse, and by Wednesday night, I had a fever. Took Thursday off work and working out, took Friday off working out. Doctor's appointment Friday afternoon, telling me I still had a fever, but it looked like just a virus. Wait it out.
I felt too shitty to even care about the missed workouts. Exchanged text messages with Kelly, coming up with contingency plans for the weekend, depending on how I felt. Trying to balance my physical well-being with my mental.
3 weeks to go, and that's where I am currently. I'm feeling better. The fever broke Friday night, and hasn't been back since. I rode on the trainer Saturday and Sunday, and .. well, I coughed most of the time, but in a "body trying to expel gross stuff" sort of way, not in a sick way. I think.
And that's the problem. Trying to be sane. I know all the words. I would say them to others in my situation.
I've done the training.
I need to get myself healthy before race day.
All I can do now is OVERdo and make it worse.
See? I know.
That doesn't make it any easier to figure out.
3 weeks.
If I have any say, my next update will be a lot more positive. The list-making has begun.
Training was going mostly well. Good days, bad days, long, long days, etc.
Then there was race simulation weekend, 4th of July weekend. I looked at my schedule a few weeks before then, and it said that week was a 19 hour week. Then I realized Kelly had ONLY filled in the 3 day weekend. 19 hours of training for a long weekend. 26.5 for the entire week. The 19 were laid out thusly:
Friday: 2 hour open water swim, 70 mile bike
Saturday: 8.5 hour bike (>130 miles)
Sunday: 3.5 hour run in the morning, 60 minute run in the evening (faster than the am run)
Friday started well. 2 hours pre-dawn swim in Barton Springs, then an out and back from there to San Marcos with some Tobiases and friend.
Then came Saturday. This is where the brevity comes in. Let's just say.. it wasn't a good ride. I was slow. I wouldn't necessarily be super concerned about slow normally. I'm not a naturally gifted cyclist, I'm used to riding slow. The reason this slowness concerned me is because if I ride that slow for Ultraman, I will not make the time cut-off for day 2. Yeah, THAT slow.
And not "started out great and slowed down over time". Slow from the very beginning. Crying and yelling, "I don't understand! Why is this happening to me?!" And honestly, I still don't. Yes, it was muggy and warm/hot and chipseal and hilly and mostly headwind. But I've done this route before, I've done those conditions before, and the resulting slowness was never that slow. Yes, my legs were already tired, but again.. done that before. It's possible there was something mechanically wrong with my bike. I want that to be true. But without knowing for sure, I just need to get over it. Move on. I got my 8 hours on the bike, and while it got me nowhere near the miles I anticipated, I got the time in the saddle.
I was pretty defeated by Saturday. Very defeated. But I got my head on straight by Sunday and had a two pretty strong runs, despite continued crappy weather conditions.
Things were looking up.
And then I got a sore throat. Tuesday after my recovery swim.
Started feeling worse and worse, and by Wednesday night, I had a fever. Took Thursday off work and working out, took Friday off working out. Doctor's appointment Friday afternoon, telling me I still had a fever, but it looked like just a virus. Wait it out.
I felt too shitty to even care about the missed workouts. Exchanged text messages with Kelly, coming up with contingency plans for the weekend, depending on how I felt. Trying to balance my physical well-being with my mental.
3 weeks to go, and that's where I am currently. I'm feeling better. The fever broke Friday night, and hasn't been back since. I rode on the trainer Saturday and Sunday, and .. well, I coughed most of the time, but in a "body trying to expel gross stuff" sort of way, not in a sick way. I think.
And that's the problem. Trying to be sane. I know all the words. I would say them to others in my situation.
I've done the training.
I need to get myself healthy before race day.
All I can do now is OVERdo and make it worse.
See? I know.
That doesn't make it any easier to figure out.
3 weeks.
If I have any say, my next update will be a lot more positive. The list-making has begun.