July 1, 2009

The Ironman Balancing Act

It's truly amazing how quickly I went from my best week ever to barely getting by. Such is the delicate balancing act that Ironman training makes your life. Some days you are energized and driven and will let nothing get in the way of training. Other days you find yourself searching for excuses to let some training slip or get an extra hour of sleep.

Coming back to New York has temporarily crushed the motivation I built up in Lake Placid and Madison. I think it's perfectly normal, it's like coming back from a great vacation and finding home so ordinary and uninspiring. I wasn't on vacation, but I was in training fantasy land for three weekends making the Ironman the biggest priority in my life for a bit. But now that I'm home I have work, commuting, errands and other responsibilities competing for attention and I'm forced to make choices.

Monday was rest and Tuesday got off to a good start with a solid swim before work. The evening plan was to have the bike mechanic get my bike back together, then do the ride on my schedule. But I worked late, the bike mechanic couldn't make it and my motivation slipped away. When I found out friends were getting together, some that I haven't seen for months, the lure of training evaporated and I opted to do something social instead. I don't regret it. I got to spend time with a friend who moved to LA back in January and others I haven't seen in weeks. In the scheme of my life, that's more important than an hour on the bike.

But I should have known this bump in the road would spiral into a training disaster. I was too tired to get up super early this morning so I slept until 6:30, leaving only time for the shorter run originally scheduled for tomorrow. I barely had time to fit it in. I hoped to make up the bike tonight but by the time I got home and the mechanic was finished it was 9:45. Motivation gone.

I've now missed a bike and swim this week. I'm thinking of doing the bike tomorrow since I'm heading out of town again and won't have access to my bike until next week. If I make up the bike, I'll still be out a swim and run. Will it really matter in the end? Probably not, but it eats away at me nonetheless so I'm hoping to stay on track the rest of the week.

Swimming (Tuesday)
Distance - 3,000 yards
Time - 58:06

Running (Wednesday)
Distance - 5 miles
Time - 43:50

3 comments:

  1. Sometimes you need to do something other than training. They say a change is as good as a rest. Enjoy the break, and look forward to getting back to it feeling refreshed and motivated again.

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  2. Look at your volume last week - and I'm not sure if making up missed workouts is the best thing.

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  3. don't worry about it...nobody hits all their workouts...sometimes you gotta live life. Just forget them and keep on moving.

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