Oh yea… whoooops! Bloggy blog! I say that like I haven’t thought about writing here for days. It’s just been a very busy week with other stuff and I haven’t quite made it back here.
I have made a deal with myself that I am not going to beat myself up about things until after my first race on March 17. From there, I have about a month until my first sprint triathlon. I know I can finish without a problem right now. It is how I will do that is an issue for me. I have now skipped two days (Thursday and Tuesday) in the pool and still haven’t spent a lot of time on my bike. But I feel like after this first race, I can switch things up and spend my weekends where I would typically spend 2-3 hours running on my bike, and I can focus more on my swimming because I won’t ache as much because of super long runs. I think that works.
So… the run. It’s going pretty well. I ran 15 horrible miles on Saturday. I say horrible not because I couldn’t do it, but because it just started out terrible and I never got my mind around it. I have learned, as my mileage has gone up, that running is a seriously technical and mental sport. It is technical because you have to think about when you are going to try to speed up or let off some gas, when you are going to take water and nutrition, or when you are good to go. And mental because sometimes you just have to force yourself to start, knowing it will get better, sometimes you have to run through some pain, and sometimes, it is just going to suck.
Saturday, it just sucked, almost the whole 2:15. I kinda felt like I had to go to the bathroom from the start, but wasn’t really sure, I was pretty much over (kinda sorta) my groin pull, but it was still ridiculously tight and I know I was treating it gingerly, and the wind was blowing like absolute crazy. But, I started off about 5:45am down the W&OD trail, blowing around. I just didn’t feel…. right. Pretty much within the first 2-3 miles, I knew I should have turned around and found a bathroom, but too late. And then my Droid started doing something funny and the book I was listening to started kinda pausing every once in a while then starting again. Not a big deal, but when you are trying to zone out, knowing you have 2 hours to run, annnnnoying!. I could still feel my groin, and it worried me. So, it just wasn’t right. Nothing felt right.
I kept going. It wasn’t until I was about to turn around that things got a bit better. And it is because of some deer. Yea, deer. The trail runs through a nature preserve and I saw a group of 5 whitetails by the side of the trail, just watching me. Then about .25m up, about 8 crossed the trail. And it was heartening. So pretty. That really helped me out.
For a little while.
Things started going to hell again about mile 11. Cramps, then I swear my groin. I just felt like I couldn’t keep going. I actually stopped my GPS, which I haven’t done in months. I stopped on the path and seriously considered calling Hubs and telling him to come get me. It was only about 45 seconds, but right ahead of me, RIGHT ahead, I saw a mile marker. And wouldn’t you know it? 3 miles left. THAT’S IT! And I said, out loud, “That’s BULLSHIT!” and off I went. 45 seconds of a personal pity party.
The last 3 were fine. Except it started snowing, which really made me laugh. Because seriously, what else could go wrong with that damn run??? But, I finished. And my time really was pretty good, considering.
I had my recovery drink in the car, went home and promptly fell asleep on the couch for an hour. I was a bit sore the rest of the day, but nothing unmanageable. And fine the next day. So, all in all, I consider it a really BIG success because I conquered myself… and I’m my own worst enemy.
Only thing left is a little change in races I’m considering, but am not sure yet. I’m actually considering two changes, one short-term and one long-term. But we’ll see. I’m not always very smart…
~ R
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