First Weekend

My first weekend back at full time training is done. I survived. No one got hurt. A few people got glared at and several times I really didn’t make a whole lot of sense (putting my comments into context just took too much effort) but it all worked out in the end.

Executive Summary

• Bike
  Complain
• Run
  Complain
• Core workout
• Stretch
• Wonder why the heck I'm doing this
• Find inspiration online
• Sleep
• Swim
  Whoopeeeee!
• Run
  Whine
• Stretching is for weenies!
• Attend board meeting
  Minimize accumulation of action items
• Decide I love doing this
• Sleep

The Long Version
Due to snow and a little bit of laziness I didn’t start my Saturday ride until well into the afternoon. The first fifteen minutes were shocking – how could I have gotten that out of shape (um, maybe by sitting on my butt doing nothing for two weeks??) and how could a small hill be that hard? Then I got into a rhythm and all was good in the world, for another 45 minutes. Sadly it was a 2 hour ride and boredom set in at the hour mark, shortly followed by painfully cold fingers and toes. Next time I ride on my own I need a clear destination that will take me the time allotted for my ride rather than circling around at random.

The 20 minute run after my ride was another shock. In two years of triathlon training I had never, ever experienced the post-ride “dead legs” phenomenon. For the first few minutes I was running totally flat footed and I felt like my legs weighed half a ton each. It was the hardest 20 minute run I’ve done in a very, very long time. Just to cap off a fun day I did 20 minutes of core work, 20 minutes of stretching then spent an hour trying to remember what made this all worthwhile. I looked up the IMC 2006 TV coverage on YouTube to try and bring back the love.

Sunday morning was the first swim of the year with the group and the wonderful new time of 8:00 am. I was hyped up for the swim and didn’t want to have to listen to all the talk required at the start of a new session I just wanted to swim. Swim and get into a workout and get my heart rate up and start on my way to becoming fast fast fast!

Of course I overdid it on the swim and died early in the long run after. My heart rate was through the roof and after 45 minutes I just wanted to go home. I made it through a 1.5 hour run and decided I would consider the fact that I didn’t whine and whimper the whole way a victory and leave it at that.

Usually I spend the bulk of a post workout Sunday on the couch either watching/snoozing through football or reading a book. This Sunday I had a three hour board meeting, which I was not looking forward to. Luckily the tri club board is full of awesome people and the meeting was actually the best part of the day. I had about 5 cups of coffee and managed to be awake and to contribute although, as mentioned above, I didn’t always make a whole lot of sense.

I know that I’ll get back into the swing of training and it will get easier, it will just take a little time. And patience.