Done!
I was going a little nuts the last few days. I ate waaaaay too much. On the plus side, it wasn’t junk food, but it was still too much. I need to learn how to survive tapers. Continue reading
Done!
I was going a little nuts the last few days. I ate waaaaay too much. On the plus side, it wasn’t junk food, but it was still too much. I need to learn how to survive tapers. Continue reading
/me taps foot impatiently
Last night was a four-mile, “easy” run. I definitely had the “easy” part down! As it turns out, my easy pace is a little slower than my endurance pace. š https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/1062569766Ā Continue reading
And this really isn’t tapering!
I’m trying to take it easy this week, hoping to have rested & ready legs come Saturday morning. Lots of sleep. Sticking to my run workouts and walking, nothing else. No swimming at lunch. No bike commutes. No getting up early to swim Thursday morning.
I am not handling this well. I’m genuinely antsy. Fidgety – more so than usual.
Part of this is probably because my 11-mile run went so well that I’m in a hurry to run that half-marathon and get it over with. The rest of it? I am incredible impatient. <insert .gif of me, hands on hips, tapping foot, looking annoyed> Continue reading
Today was supposed to be an interval workout. My legs are still sore from running Badger on Saturday. (!!!) I hoped the mile warm-up would be enough to convince them to bend to my will. My hopes were dashed.
My first half-marathon is this Saturday. I did my last long workout on February 12th. The workout schedule listed an 11-mile, endurance pace run. I opted to run the route of the race I’m doing, minus a loop. I also made a few changes in strategy, and it really paid off: I felt better at mile ten than I did at mile two. Given that success, I decided my next long workout, a six-mile run, would be Badger. https://connect.garmin.com/modern/course/5405918
I promise, this is not an existential question.
Several years ago, I decided I would celebrate my 50th birthday in September 2015 by completing an Olympic-distance triathlon. For those who are unfamiliar, or who have some how escaped my nearly-continual blather about multi-sport over the past three years, an Olympic-distance triathlon is a 1500-meter swim, a 40-km bike ride, and a 10-km run. All in a row. On the same day. By yourself.
At the time, I weighed approximately sixteen stone. (I’m 5’6″.) At my heaviest, I weighed nearly eighteen stone (I stopped weighing myself after 17.5 stone). I’d lost a stone or two cycling a lot. I commutedĀ bike a few days a week, and I went on long rides on the weekend. Every year, I’d set a goal of riding a century (100 miles) by the end of the season. Every year, boredom or over-use injuries would stop me from getting there. One year, in mid-October, I was on a long ride. At 76 miles, my rear tire flatted. I gave up and called for a ride. Twice, I’ve ridden 76 miles in one day; that’s the closest I come to my century ride.
At the time I decided to take up triathlon, I viewed running as something one does to avoid getting too fat in the winter. (Clearly, at 16 stone, I was not as successful at reaching that goal as I thought I’d be.) And I didn’t swim. I flat-out disliked swimming.
There were a lot of ups and downs, which is getting me – albeit, slowly – to my answering the question posed by the title of this entry. In Summer 2015, I was lucky enough to have a coach. In the “interview” process – it’s as important for the coach to know she wants to work with an athlete as it is for the athlete to know she wants to work with the coach – I wrote very detailed descriptions of the events I’d raced in during the previous season: what went well, what went not-so well, what things I think I could change, as well as my challenges with cycling and trying to train around commuting by bike.
Throughout training, I wrote lengthy emails describing workouts, what I hated, what I liked. CC commented that it was helpful, because it gave her a good picture of what was going on in my head.
We both miss those emails! And that’s why I’m doing this blog. I found writing about the workouts to be helpful for me. I keyed in on specifics where I could improve. When I tried something new duringĀ a workout or a “B” race, I had a good explanation for why I’d do it again during a race that mattered or why I would never ever ever do that again ever.
I’m now training for my first half-marathon – it’s in five & a half days – and I’ve decided to go back to my endless blather about my workouts. If you’re reading this, here are few things you should know:
Thanks for reading!