POST RACE (PAIN), REFLECTIONS AND UPCOMING TRAINING.
Now that I have gotten the monkey off my back and have gotten my biggest running goal out of the way, it is time to reflect on the experience somewhat and move on to the next training goals.
One of the benefits of having completed a goal such as this is the reward of accomplishment, being able to cross it off your list. And the fun of sharing war stories with other veterans of the race--having a sense of belonging to an elite club.
But first, my legs are so sore, I felt like I had run a marathon, which to me it was almost. But I can tell you, NO WAY COULD I HAVE RUN ANOTHR 10 MILES THAT DAY! Steps will not be my friend again today, and guess who works in an office with 6 flights of steps? It definitely will be elevator time today.
Second, I can't help wonder how much better I might have done if I had actually trained longer for this event, but I have to also not let this put a shadow on the fact that I finished. I know, I did have a setback period after the accident, and had to start from zero to get this far, but before I start thinking of myself as special or a hero, I remind myself of lots of other people doing the same thing, who may have had worse things happen in their lives while they were training. Like the woman who had brain surgery in December and still managed to run an hour faster than me; or the kid whose father collapsed and died at the finish line last year, so he was back running this year in his memory; or the countless others who suffered through cancer, or other life threatening illnesses or injuries, out there happy to be alive. The main things that got me through this were: (1) my fear of failure at the Steelhead 1/2 IM in August if I didn't get this accomplished. To me, I just had to have this goal. (2) another thing was what I call muscle memory, meaning I think my body adapted to the distance easier having done it several times in the past. And (3) knowing you guys were on the other side, waiting for me to finish. I just did not want to have to say I didn't make it.
And for all my stressing and anxiety during my training and the days before the race, I feel okay with what I did, slow time or not. For once, I don't feel apologetic to anyone for my time, and I would guess that's because I actually made it, which is more than I can say for someone who didn't at least try.
So, now it is time to move on to the next goal: Olympic distance triathlon on June 17. I have found a training schedule on the bike shop website. The guy who owns the shops is married to a woman who either wins races overall or her age group every time, and they have a tri-club, which I have decided not to join just yet. But they have links to training schedules, from a sprint to a 1/2 IM, so I will focus for now on the Olympic training schedule.
It is a little aggressive for me right now, right after this race when my legs and arms and neck and back and every other part of my body are so sore, so I will try to modify it slightly for this week and then pick it up from there. I was surprised to see that there are only two biking days a week, lots of swimming, and more running than I normally do, so I do think it will take me a couple of weeks to get in the swing. I just don't think I can do all the running this week yet, so I will focus on my swimming, building up to the hour the schedule calls for twice a week! Yikes! That's a lot of swimming, and I really don't know that I need that much, but I'll at least start with a mile, see where my time is at, and build from there. Today's swim: 1 mile, 41:08. I started out slow, still moving slow from the race. By the time I had completed 1/5 of the distance, it seemed like I might not make a mile in under 48 minutes, so apparently I sped up somewhere. My 1/2 mile split was 20:13, so I can't complain too much. I figure if I swim 1 hour, I will be at about 1.5 miles. I will need almost all of that for Steelhead, so I'll push it up over the next 2 weeks.
And I'm a little torn on the biking issue, since my plan was to do a 50 miler Memorial Day weekend, yet this schedule doesn't get that far ever. So do I just do my own thing occasionally, or follow the schedule completely? Maybe I will look at the 1/2 IM schedule and see how I can incorporate that 50 miler in within a couple of weeks. With the long weekend, I would have more time to recover, so I might treat that as my long bike marathon weekend, like this has been my long run weekend, and rest the day after and then start up again. I am most concerned about my lack of biking skills, and what they say is true: its all about the bike (but it does come down to the run if you are racing against someone). Even with a good swim time and a so-so run time, with a mediocre bike time I will be lucky to break the time of my last Oly distance race, which was 3:50. I would really like to get back to the time I had back in 2003, which was about 3:20, but it remains to be seen. And here is good news about one of our biking trails: http://www.mlive.com/news/grpress/index.ssf?/base/news-36/1179150449186190.xml&coll=6
And then I have to realize I'm looking at another short training time: 5 weeks, and taking into account recovery and taper, more like 3.5 weeks. Oh boy! Here we go again.
Now that I have gotten the monkey off my back and have gotten my biggest running goal out of the way, it is time to reflect on the experience somewhat and move on to the next training goals.
One of the benefits of having completed a goal such as this is the reward of accomplishment, being able to cross it off your list. And the fun of sharing war stories with other veterans of the race--having a sense of belonging to an elite club.
But first, my legs are so sore, I felt like I had run a marathon, which to me it was almost. But I can tell you, NO WAY COULD I HAVE RUN ANOTHR 10 MILES THAT DAY! Steps will not be my friend again today, and guess who works in an office with 6 flights of steps? It definitely will be elevator time today.
Second, I can't help wonder how much better I might have done if I had actually trained longer for this event, but I have to also not let this put a shadow on the fact that I finished. I know, I did have a setback period after the accident, and had to start from zero to get this far, but before I start thinking of myself as special or a hero, I remind myself of lots of other people doing the same thing, who may have had worse things happen in their lives while they were training. Like the woman who had brain surgery in December and still managed to run an hour faster than me; or the kid whose father collapsed and died at the finish line last year, so he was back running this year in his memory; or the countless others who suffered through cancer, or other life threatening illnesses or injuries, out there happy to be alive. The main things that got me through this were: (1) my fear of failure at the Steelhead 1/2 IM in August if I didn't get this accomplished. To me, I just had to have this goal. (2) another thing was what I call muscle memory, meaning I think my body adapted to the distance easier having done it several times in the past. And (3) knowing you guys were on the other side, waiting for me to finish. I just did not want to have to say I didn't make it.
And for all my stressing and anxiety during my training and the days before the race, I feel okay with what I did, slow time or not. For once, I don't feel apologetic to anyone for my time, and I would guess that's because I actually made it, which is more than I can say for someone who didn't at least try.
So, now it is time to move on to the next goal: Olympic distance triathlon on June 17. I have found a training schedule on the bike shop website. The guy who owns the shops is married to a woman who either wins races overall or her age group every time, and they have a tri-club, which I have decided not to join just yet. But they have links to training schedules, from a sprint to a 1/2 IM, so I will focus for now on the Olympic training schedule.
It is a little aggressive for me right now, right after this race when my legs and arms and neck and back and every other part of my body are so sore, so I will try to modify it slightly for this week and then pick it up from there. I was surprised to see that there are only two biking days a week, lots of swimming, and more running than I normally do, so I do think it will take me a couple of weeks to get in the swing. I just don't think I can do all the running this week yet, so I will focus on my swimming, building up to the hour the schedule calls for twice a week! Yikes! That's a lot of swimming, and I really don't know that I need that much, but I'll at least start with a mile, see where my time is at, and build from there. Today's swim: 1 mile, 41:08. I started out slow, still moving slow from the race. By the time I had completed 1/5 of the distance, it seemed like I might not make a mile in under 48 minutes, so apparently I sped up somewhere. My 1/2 mile split was 20:13, so I can't complain too much. I figure if I swim 1 hour, I will be at about 1.5 miles. I will need almost all of that for Steelhead, so I'll push it up over the next 2 weeks.
And I'm a little torn on the biking issue, since my plan was to do a 50 miler Memorial Day weekend, yet this schedule doesn't get that far ever. So do I just do my own thing occasionally, or follow the schedule completely? Maybe I will look at the 1/2 IM schedule and see how I can incorporate that 50 miler in within a couple of weeks. With the long weekend, I would have more time to recover, so I might treat that as my long bike marathon weekend, like this has been my long run weekend, and rest the day after and then start up again. I am most concerned about my lack of biking skills, and what they say is true: its all about the bike (but it does come down to the run if you are racing against someone). Even with a good swim time and a so-so run time, with a mediocre bike time I will be lucky to break the time of my last Oly distance race, which was 3:50. I would really like to get back to the time I had back in 2003, which was about 3:20, but it remains to be seen. And here is good news about one of our biking trails: http://www.mlive.com/news/grpress/index.ssf?/base/news-36/1179150449186190.xml&coll=6
And then I have to realize I'm looking at another short training time: 5 weeks, and taking into account recovery and taper, more like 3.5 weeks. Oh boy! Here we go again.
3 comments:
Vickie I'm glad you had such a great race. You are quite the woman! Just look at how far you've come in the last few months. You are awesome and a great example as a mother!
I know about sore legs and stairs -they suck.
A training schedule is mearly a guideline. You new to adapt it you and what you can do without injury. Any time that you can do a little xtra(without injury) -it's a little more in your training bank, Good luck!!Time flies when your having fun!
Awesome job completing that race - I know it wasn't easy but you dug deep and gotter done. I'm sure you'll be ready for the Oly - geez you've got five whole weeks ;)
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