Today was a good day. I received some positive feedback on my new television series project, wrapped up some loose ends on the radio show project as we head into production hiatus and the weather - ohhhh the weather was amazing! Sunny, blue skies and 70 degrees. Just lovely and oh so fitting for the first day of summer. It's still warm and bright out at 10pm. If only it weren't for those damned mosquitos everywhere forcing me to move inside.
I took an extra rest day this week because I just felt like crap from training so hard. Instead of resting Monday as on my schedule I rode 12 miles and during the whole ride it felt like my legs were made of wood. And my throat was sore the next day so I didn't train Tuesday or Wednesday and tried not to feel too guilty about it. Even though I definitely did feel guilty, and also pretty discouraged.
So, the extra rest turned out to be a great decision because today I felt like MAGIC! I rode to the gym, ran/walked for 35 minutes, did legs and glutes on the weight machines, swam 1000 yards and then rode home. I felt great, not wooden or fatigued at all. Today was a real confidence booster for me - to be able to feel and see my hard work paying off in that these slightly longer workouts that felt like they required less effort and I enjoyed them - that was such a spiritual lift and a relief, too.
The running has been a challenge for me just because I've never been a runner. But it turns out that it was mostly a mental obstacle. When I first started this training schedule almost 4 weeks ago, my newbie triathlete directions warned against overexertion and running only every 2-3 days, encouraging walk/run cycles. So my first day out I was doing 1 minute walking/1 minute running and I was DYING on the running minute. Almost four weeks later I'm really excited to say that I can run for FIFTEEN minutes without getting tired! That makes me feel really encouraged and really proud. I know that I will only get better, too.
Ironically, the swimming has been the toughest challenge of the three sports for me. As a former swimmer I thought I had this part of the tri licked, but actually no. I think because I know very well what my former times and my former workouts used to look like it's really easy to judge how slow and how not very far I'm swimming now (compared to when I did this as a teen 6-10 times a week. Ha!). Again, it's a mental challenge to overcome, changing the way I think about it - I'm doing good for not having swam for years. I enjoy totally blanking my mind out in the pool as I do laps - it's one of the only parts of my life in which I can do that - and then whatever "floats" to the top of my brain is what I think on. Today it was ways that I can be good at my job, a professional and amicable person whom others want to work with.
Cycling has been awesome - rain or shine. I got beautiful new cycling shoes to clip in to my pedals and they really have made a difference I can notice - being able to pull on the up-pedal (??) as well as hammer on the down stroke is great. The day after I got them I rode 15 miles, last Saturday, and never clipped out once - mostly because I was afraid of stopping and not being able to unclip, slowly falling over with my feet attached. I'm really excited to learn about working on my bike, changing a tube and other routine maintenance. Jim will teach me. I'm also looking forward to swapping out my hybrid tires for some skinnier road tires so I can go faster during the race.
I think it's super tedious to read about other people's workouts, so apologies. This is really just a way for me to remember my progress. And, too, I hope it could be encouraging that there is obvious progress to be seen in the 4th week of training for a sprint triathlon. I'm glad I took that extra rest day because it let me see that progress - and the wider implications of this as a metaphor is not lost on me. Sometimes when I'm exhausted and not performing well, just pushing myself and miserable, it pays to take a break and let my body/mind/spirit recover just enough to reap the benefits the next time out, and to be encouraged by those benefits so that I can keep going strong, believing in myself.
No comments:
Post a Comment