sel166's group - CLOSED!! (Page 2)

Chris-

What does your race schedule look like for this year? Do you have a schedule yet? Basically the idea is to list out all your races, and then prioritize which races you would consider your "A" race, your "B" races and your "C" races.  (Not sure if you're doing enough races to have C races or not, but trying to explain the theory).  Then you plan your training based off your
"A" priority races.  This means planning your training so that you are in the best shape for those races that are the most important to you-- this is called a peak, or peaking.  The idea is to try to peak at your A priority race. 

If you'd like to post your race schedule, or PM it to me, I can help you come up with a plan for after your race.  Also, a book that explains this in more detail is the Triathletes Training Bible by Joe Friel.  This is a very helpful book-- some parts are a bit technical, but it gives you a great idea about how to plan your training, along with tips for racing, nutrition, weight training, etc. 

Also, I don't know if you would be willing to make your logs public or not, but it would be helpful to me to be able to see what training you're doing now, etc.   

If you don't see the "inspires" link, you're probably looking at our "planned" calendars instead of our "actual" calendars.  If you go to the the top of the page and highlight "blog" and then click on "actual" you should see the inspires there as an option.

Yeah, I'm definitely sick and getting more frustrated by the minute - grr! :-P  

^{Hi guys! Sorry I disappeared for a while, my husband just deployed and I know most of you know what has been going on with my injuries, plus work has been absolutely insane for the past month or so.}

But I  have been checking in on your logs, trying to give you all as much feedback as possible.

I know that some of you are headed towards your first IM this year and joined the group to benefit from my experience at IMAZ.  As you may or may not know, I decided not to try to race in April at IMAZ, due to injuries, so while you won't get the benefit of my experience in completing the race, I did want to at least give you the benefit of my training experience and my thought process behind my decision to drop out, so that maybe that might help you get to your races :-)

My injuries started towards the beginning of my training program, with a shoulder injury, back in November. Went to the doctor and was told to rest for 2 weeks, no swimming.  Did that, went back to swimming with no real improvement, but wanted to suck it up because I figured it was only 2.4 miles and I could deal with the pain through that.

Then towards the end of January, I had some major knee pain while I was running, so I rested and when it didn't go away, I went to the doctor, got diagnosed with ITBS and was told to rest and took steroids to reduce the inflammation in my knee and my shoulder.  After resting and reducing the inflammation, went back to the doc because the pain continued.  

I may or may not have been able to train and race through these injuries, but I decided I was not willing to risk my season and my tri career for this one race.  While IM is a goal which is important to me,  it is not my only goal, nor do I view the IM race as the be-all-and-end-all of triathlon.  I decided it was more important to me to be able to continue racing and training than to finish an IM race.

While many people race IM just to finish the distance, and I may have been able to go to the race and gut it out through the swim, have a decent bike, and plan to walk the majority of the marathon, this wasn't what I really wanted for my IM experience.  I did not want to go to the race knowing that I could not give it my best shot.

One of the things that this experience did make me realize is that IM racing is intensely personal.  Throughout your training you will discover things about yourself that you didn't know.  For example, I found that I really didn't enjoy the amount of training required for an IM.  I did not like that triathlon suddenly took over my life and I had no time to spend doing anything else I enjoyed.  It became a chore for me to go do my workouts, which is something that I normally love.  I realized that I really appreciate the HIM distance, and prefer that amount of training. For me, it's really important that triathlon is still fun.  Why do something if you don't truly enjoy it?

If you are going for an IM, definitely make sure you know WHY you want to do it.  And be prepared to be surprised at what you find out about yourself while you're working towards that goal.

The main reason that I decided not to try to race though, was that there will be other chances, and when it comes right down to it, an IM is still just a race.  I don't mean to diminish the accomplishment in any way.  An IM is a HUGE race, and a HUGE accomplishment no matter what.  But in the end, I had to be realistic and choose whether this one race was more important than any other race I might do in my career, and the reality is that, for me, it just wasn't.

Hope this helps those of you on your journey towards an IM this year.  And for everyone, REMEMBER TO HAVE FUN! :-)  

Hi!

I feel you made a very smart, informed, and heartfelt decision.

I know how you feel about training becoming your life.

You have a full plate and injuries don't help.

Like you said, it is just a race....and there will be many, many more.

Get well and stay strong.

Steve