No Excuses Here.

I am really getting sick of blogging about lack of motivation and piling the excuses on, so hopefully this post will be different. I have decided to give myself a grade over the first 2 months of 2014. It is not going to be pretty either. I am going to break it down into 5 areas. 1. Strength 2. Rest 3. Swimming 4. Biking 5. Diet  and 6. Running. So here we go...

1. Strength- A

• Normally I do not do strength workouts except for maybe some crunches, but this year I signed up to workout with a trainer, and I have been for the last 5 weeks. The workouts have been tough and more focused on balance, core and triathlon related exercises, so I have loved it. I have loved it so much that I am looking at doing an additional 7 weeks! The only downside that I can see is that I am not dropping weight like I hoped. I think I am adding muscle tough and my grades on the other categories will have something to do with the weight.

2. Rest- A

• Nailing it! I think I have been in bed before 10 more this year than ever before. I have enjoyed the Saturdays where I do not have to get up at 6 to ride or run. It has been great!

3. Swimming- B

• It really has not taken me long to get back into the swing of things. 2,000 yards is pretty easy right now and my pace is about where I want it. I know I could focus on my swim and drop my pace down even more, but I am solid, and can come out of the water not winded.

4.Biking- B

• Today was the first day I got my bike out on the road and I loved it, all other times have been on the trainer/drainer. My longest ride has only been 18 miles, but again, I have felt good afterwards. I finally removed all the Redman stickers off my bike today, which was kind of sad in a weird kind of way. It felt great hitting 26 mph on the road though, for real!

5. Diet- C

• Shocker huh? I went on a 3 week kick without Cokes awhile back, but other than that, I have not really focused on my diet. I think I eat smart, but I know I can eat better. Really not a whole lot to say, other than I just haven't been hitting it coach.

6. Running-F

• My relationship with running is so bad right now that I do not even want to type about it! The treadmill sucks. The weather sucks. I am not sure what I need, but it just does not interest me at all. Two of my good friends are running their first marathon this month, and while I love to talk shop with them about it, I can't get the excitement to transfer over to me. So I am looking for answers, or suggestions. I am thinking of ditching my training plan (that I haven't really been following) and making this next week a run focus week. The next race (which I have yet to sign up for) is an Olympic, so it is only a 6 mile run, so I have plenty of time to prepare for it right?

Recovery Week Blues? You Ever Get Them?

Sometimes I do not get myself. I feel like I am so focused on my goal of Ironman, yet it also seems so far away. For instance, I am in a recovery week this week, which ends tomorrow, and I have no desire to go on my run. I set everything out, I even got out of bed, but as I came downstairs, I was not there mentally. Not even close, so I made me a good breakfast, and sat down to type this out to figure what my deal is.

Now I know I JUST BLOGGED about not hearing the voices in my head, but this is different to me because half of me want to go running like I should, the other half doesn't. The other day I posted on my Daily Trainings FB page that I was supposed to does a 2.7 mile run, but my first thought was "2.7? Why bother?" Yeah, I was that guy!

I know rest/recovery weeks are important, but I wonder if they throw me off. I wonder if anyone else has these issues with the recovery weeks during their training. So, I Goggled it!  (You can find everything on Google! A biddy and I replaced a fuel pump on our van yesterday following a YouTube video!)

Anyways here is a good article I found that says what I need:

So I get the recovery part. What I am NOT quite getting (or maybe what I am not quite appreciating) is how downright terrible I feel during recovery weeks. I can barely make it out of bed in the mornings and I feel lethargic, sleepy, and puny the rest of the time. I ache and hurt to the point that I think I may be injured and I even experience moments where I feel feverish and think I am getting sick. I run three miles and can barely knock out a 9:30 pace all the while feeling like I'm dragging a bag of bricks behind me. I should have tons of energy. I should feel great and invigorated, strong, and super enthusiastic...so why don't I?

The answer is simple. Once again, my poor body is trying to recuperate from the heinous beating it has taken for the past three weeks. I am on the razor's edge of overtraining and my body is in shut down mode, so expecting to feel great and invigorated is like telling someone who is recovering the day after surgery that he should feel great and invigorated. It is always during recovery weeks that I begin to have self doubts. Too much free time and feeling like dog doo is a deadly combination for triathletes; it is when we are at our most dangerous. We begin to question our training and goals and then before we know it, we start tweaking our programs and screw up everything with our training. I find that I constantly have to reassure myself that feeling beat-up during a recovery week means one thing: IT'S WORKING! I usually don't appreciate my recovery week until it is over and I am already halfway through my new build week. That is usually when I suddenly notice just how good I am feeling and realize, "Oh, I get the point now!" So, take full advantage of your recovery week; while your body might not seem to appreciate it at the time, it will thank you come race day! 

So Thank You Google! I have been working on a post about looking at my training one workout at a time so I do not get that overwhelmed feeling, because this journey has been a rollercoaster of a ride so far! It is so funny to me how I can go from being confident to being scared straight about a race I know I am not going to even come close to winning.

About the only thing I can say about today is that at least I got out of bed and had a nice quiet breakfast. Tomorrow is going to be a great swim day!