An Early End to a Great Year




Running on empty

  "The best laid plans of mice and men aften go awry," is a great desciption for the end of my 2014 racing season.  I'd love to tell you I have a great reason for ending things sooner than expected.  I'd love to tell you I have a great excuse.  I'd love to tell you anything.  The truth, I'm tired.  I'm not tired in the, I need a day off, way.  I'm not tired in the, that was a great workout I'm exhausted, tired.  I'm tired in the total body, I'm exhausted to the bones, my skin is even sleepy, kind of tired. 

Two years ago when I started this journey I never expected to achieve a quarter of what I've achieved.  My goals were simple, I wanted to lose weight, I wanted to get healthier and I wanted to run a 5K.  In the past year I've run a 5K, run a 10K, run a half-marathon and finished my first triathlon.  I've lost considerable pounds and I've decreased all of my health metrics into healthier ranges.  I've accomplished everything I've set out to do and my body is demanding a break.  I'll happily oblige.  My heart isn't in training right now and I'm afraid of half assing a race prep because I don't want to injure myself. 

I've been spending a lot of time horizontal, bonding with my couch, watching television, splurging on some bad food choices and even finding time to get back into my love of photography.  The break is doing me well.  My body is starting to feel good!  I enjoy not living my life by the schedule in my Training Peaks calendar.  I enjoy sleeping without an alarm set to get up for training.  I enjoy pizza! 

Like all good things this break too, will end.  I'm starting to miss the structure of a training schedule.  I miss the regimen of planned meals and healthy nutrition.  I'm starting to carry a few pounds and my face is bloated with some extra water weight.  All things that will go away as soon as I start training again.

I've been on my break for three weeks now.  I had three more races on my calendar but they are out of my picture now.  One I have deferred to next year.  Right now the Raleigh Half-Ironman and the Lake Placid Ironman are directly in my cross-hairs.

I'm happy to report I'll be changing shifts at work this coming Monday.  I'm going to stop working night shift and change to dayshift.  I'm excited to start sleeping at night!  With this change in shifts I expect I will also change back to a more structured lifestyle of training and eating.  I like things neat and tidy and making the changes at the same time seems to make sense.

My short term goals are to start rebuilding my endurance on all phases of the triathlon (swim, bike and run) while also incorporating some strength training back into my plan.  I'm going to follow a nutriton plan based on the principles of metabolic efficiency and nutritional periodization.  (see I've also been using my time constructively doing research!)  Planning will still be left to my coach, I'll just show up and do the work, as usual.

Overall I'm happy I decided to end things and take a break.  I won't miss the races I didn't race and the rest will probably benefit me more than the races.  The last two years have put a lot of miles on this body of mine and I'm happy to reward it with a break.  I'll be back to training soon but for now I'm going to enjoy the rest -- and maybe a couple of beers!