Progess

Yesterday I ran the slowest I've run since my first week back. Ok, was actually a bit faster than that week, but not much and definitely slower than I've been running in the last several weeks. My comments about it on my training log for Coach were as follows:

"Legs didn't feel fatigued from yesterday's long run as much as they just didn't have any go juice. Didn't like that I was going slow, but also had no will to pick it up."

Fortunately, the goal of yesterday's run was just miles on the legs. I absolutely appreciate the necessity of relaxed runs, especially after something of an injury scare, so if it means my pace is a little slower than I'd like, so be it. 

Of course, it did make me go back and look at the exact paces I was running at the end of August when I re-started the madness. As it turns out, my "long" run pace even just over a month ago was slower than yesterday and a couple of miles shorter. Not bad considering it was the day after a solid 90min long run with some fast-paced pick-ups mixed in. 

Overall, I'm really happy with how my body is responding. I wasn't sure it would handle running on top of 2+ hours of hiking every day. I don't exactly have a body that was made for running. Never have. But things are really going great and I'm hoping my mind doesn't get the best of me when I finally get racing! 

I almost did something stupid

The last few weeks there's been a lot of "What am I doing?" going through my head. Let's stick to the athletic "what am I doing?"s, shall we?

I love triathlon. I really do. I've made a lot of amazing friends that I've been lucky enough to hang out with in-person (mostly in Kona so helllllloooooooo... awesome) and the training itself is made for an overuse injury whore like myself - love me some cross training! So with 70.3 Worlds just around the corner as I got my groove back, of course I got the itch.

I started to look at what the "local" 70.3s are and got reminded that Victoria is a branded event next year. That race has been around for many years and is awesome. I got a little buzz going, especially with early registration discounts. My penny pinching ways were confused... Register now and get that discount! Don't register for a race a year away, idiot! DISCOUNT! Don't do it! It's tough being in my brain.

Then Worlds happened. Insert paragraph here about all the drafting at Worlds talk over the past few days since the race. Ugh. Discouraging, to say the least. I will talk no more of it, but... cheaters suck. And why are there so many?

Anyway.

I got a bit discouraged about it and then someone posted on Instagram that they had registered for Vic. Eeeps! Me too! I wanna too! And I almost did, but something told me not to.

The next morning, this shows up in my inbox:

I don't believe in signs, but COME ON.

It's probably the fact that I'm planning a work trip next month that will cost me about $3,000 and that I have over $7,000 invested somewhere else that is contributing my penny pincher ways, but the cost of triathlon just seems over the top for me at this point. I seriously have no idea how y'all afford the sport! Though, I'm learning more and more that people use their credit cards. A lot. (stop it)

I've got another plan for next year that still involves lots of local racing within a really fun, supportive athletic community so I'm glad I didn't register for Vic.

Yet...

Let's do this!

A self-help book, that's much older than me, determined that a habit can be created in 21 days. Not sure science has backed that up, but people have really glommed onto it over the years.

Today marks day 21 of being back training 6 days/week and I'm feeling AWESOME about it! Fortunately, 2-3 hours of daily hiking for the past 5 years has kept the legs somewhat ready. But more important than anything, my head is in the game. This is huge since all those naggy things that have made me back off in the past (like the breathing issues, elevated exercising heart rate, chest pains, hip issues, foot pain, and the worst - the GI problems) are still very much around.

I'm being smart - the mileage is low and the progression is slow because I don't need any stupid overuse injuries to show up (especially considering how important a functioning body is for my job), but I can't help but want to plan some goals.

Will triathlon be in my racing future? I'm just not sure yet, but I do know that biking and swimming are playing roles in my training so it's probably inevitable. The one thing I do know: 140.6 does not appeal to me at all! ;)