Slornow and Wannabefaster's Summer Group-CLOSED (Page 41)

Staurt-YOU FINISHED! Appreciate what you accomplished in spite of feeling ill. The more I do triathlons the more I realize/appreciate it is a process....especially on race day. Don't guage your success by how things went yesterday.....think about what you have gone through over the months to get to the point that you could get back out there. Sure, it wasn't the race you wanted to have but you are back at it and sounds like you have even more motivation. Hang in there.

I had my first DNF yesterday at Sandestin. I'll have to admit that I felt pretty burned out heading into and during the race. I had a pretty good swim and kept the bike pretty moderate to allow for the heat. Headed out of T2 and about 300-400 yards into the run my hamstring locked up. Walked a bit and it wasn't getting any better. So, I walked back to the finish and turned in my chip. I suspect that if this had been an early season race I would have tried to push through.....but the hamstring kind of gave me an "excuse" to quit. Of course now I'm pissed at myself for not being stronger mentally. 

OK, some self analysis. My season started in early April and I was pleased with my results all the way through my races at the end of July....7 races. I was sick heading into AG Nationals and feel like I have lost alot of fitness due to a combination of the illness/medication and minimal training. Now, when I'm training or racing I'm still guaging my effort/performance against where I was at my strongest in late July rather than my current fitness level. That's just stupid and likely why I feel that I am "burned out."  I have two more races left this year.....a sprint in 2 weeks and another sprint in October. The race in two weeks is a short sprint that I'm doing with a buddy who has only done a couple of races....so it will be a "fun" race. 

I have not decided what my schedule will be next year but given the long race season down here I'm thinking of breaking it up into two "mini" seasons. April through early June 3-4 races. June and July modderate training and then August-October 3-4 races. I'm thinking a little break from the intensity of hard training and racing in late June and July might make it easier to stay motivated through October. Of course this sounds reasonable right now but whether I will take my own advice remains to be seen.

I've been kind of bummed since yesterday and thinking alot about it so just wanted to try to put it into words. Not likely helpful to anyone but me but I guess the moral of the story is that we can't always have the race we want or think we "deserve" based on our training but we have to mentally recognize what we can give physically that day and go with it.  Sometimes I think our mental effort level is more critical on race day to having a good race than our physical readiness.

Have a good day folks!      

Riding on the bulge in my tire yesterday royally pissed off my knee. It was swollen and locking yesterday after my nap. Still swollen this morning but I thought it would loosen up during my run. Ran 3 miles this morning and it wasn't getting any better and felt really tight. Decided it would be STUPID to continue to run 8 more miles on it at this point in my IM build cycle. A part of me thinks that I should have been able to push through it. But having done that in 2013 and losing a season to being stubborn I decided to try to be smarter this time. 

HaHa! How does that Kool Aid taste? Just kidding. Hats off to all of you IM folks. Not sure I have it in me to do the work through a long hot Summer to stay motivated for a Fall IM. Although I do understand that you have a score to settle in Lousiville. Go for it!

Jamie- Do you think the swim is fast at IMLOU compared to other IM's?

Pretty quiet weekend planned here. Solid weekend of training on the schedule. Definitely looking forward to watching some college football. Both of the kids are back at school so getting back into empty nest mode. Kind of glad to have a long weekend at home.

Only workout for today was 3000 swim. Got up early and got it done as weather looked iffy around lunch time. Hopefully, my legs will appreciate a rest day and be ready for bike and run both Saturday and Sunday. Trying hard to regain some fitness I lost.

Hope everyone has a great weekend!