Catching up, or Riding that Train Revisited.

More than any race I've trained for in the past, training for this race has become a way of life.  An absorbing one too, in a life that was full to begin with.  The last three or four months have been a complicated juggling act, and I just hope my loved ones and all the other shareholders in my life have the patience to put up with me for two more months, when I will shake this temporary insanity called Ironman triathlon.

The training is, there is no other way to put it, a grind and a chore at times.  A constant cycle - wake up early, train, do life, go to bed, repeat.  It is going fine on paper - the numbers are going up.  In my distance/endurance training, my long swims, rides and runs are approaching race distance. 

For example, I recently rode the race distance in just over 6 hours and 40 minutes, which was just an absurdly long ride.  We were not racing, but finished exhausted nevertheless.  To think of running a marathon after that long trek (all the way down to the entrance of Everglades National Park, past "Panther Crossing" signs on the road, plus several 10-mile loops through Homestead farm country) puts into the spotlight how challenging race day will be despite all the training.  And how much more work there is to do to build that endurance.

To the readers of this blog (if any), I apologize for my radio silence since July.  It's not that I don't have anything to say, it's just that the routine has become so ingrained, so intense, and so demanding that it is hard to get it out in writing, polish it up and post it.  I was going to write that I've been too busy and/or tired from training to write, but that's not exactly true.  It's partly true, but when I logged on to the blog, I see I have started about seven posts and not finished or published any of them since my last post in July.  So the real truth is I have been too busy and/or tired to complete my thoughts!

Here is one example pulled from those drafts - for the sake of journaling the experience - polished up a little for publication:

July 25, 2013:  "Do No Harm:"

One thing I am having trouble distinguishing is "listening to my body" when it needs rest, but not listening to it when it wants to be lazy.  It comes down to a high level judgment call, really:  is anything wrong?  Soreness?  Higher fatigue then normal?  Or is it just "don't feel like it"  Because I have to override the latter every day!  Confession time:  after x weeks of doing high volume training, I hardly ever "feel like it" anymore.  I don't wait for the motivation - I just do it (apologies to Nike). 

Here's a contrasting example of not listening one day and listening another - test case is the same, a pool workout.

1.  I had a pool workout last week (2.2 miles), where I felt good, but kept getting the impulse to stop, a powerful impulse from my mind, and at least 9 or 10 times, I overrode it and made myself finish the workout.  I had no basic reason to stop other than inertia, getting bored of the workout, feeling uncomfortable and unmotivated.  All of that = override. 

2.  This week, the day after my race on Sunday, I had a pool workout, and it was supposed to be 3200 meters (2 miles).  I was smoked and beat.  I did 1000m, and my body just said "no more" and there was no room for doubt.  I got out of the pool, showered and went home, without a pang of guilt or a second thought.  It was good to flush out the lactic acid a little and move a little, but after PR'ing at an International Triathlon on Sunday and running 15 miles on Saturday, something had to give, and it did.  = Listen to your body.  

The tough part is making that call.  If nothing hurts I will err on the side of doing the workout.  But the bottom line, the reason for this post, is that with the fitness level where it is now, the only thing that could really keep me away from the finish line is Injury.

Comment:  Yeah, I am still making that call every day.  Time will tell if I am right or wrong.  At this point, I am erring on the side of never missing my weekend workouts, which I call "money in the bank" but not stressing if I opt for sleep over a tempo run or lap swim here and there.