The Perils of Recovery Week

Two years ago someone in the tri club told me that training for Ironman made you manic/bipolar. I remembered that this week as I'm doing everything to prove their words.

Last week I was tired, cranky, had moments of rage and got pretty unhappy. Laundry and dishes piled up (although that's somewhat normal). On my training journal I ranked most of my workouts as "Bad". At work I forgot how to spell.

This week, life is rosy, things are great and I'm making plans. Lots of them. And not just for me! I've finally done all my dishes, cleaned the kitchen and reorganzied the tri gear section of my closet. My workouts have been "Great" (even the evil spin session), I had a breakthrough in the pool and I've been blogging like a crazy woman. I've finalized housing for Ironman. I've read two Raymond Chandler novels (I should pace myself as he only wrote seven). At work I've tackled my filing and finished up a bunch of dull Joe jobs that have been sitting around forever. For the tri club I've sent about 500 emails to my fellow tri club Board members, come up with new projects (we need a newsletter!!), and updated, sorted and generally made pretty the shared spreadsheets.

What makes me truly realize I'm in a manic state is that I've started pondering what would be involved in organizing a triathlon. A half iron, to be specific. Not that I'd really do it, just a thought excerise of course. But it would be great if there was one in the Lower Mainland so that lazy Vancouverites wouldn't have to deal with ferries or mountain passes. I even got as far as picking a possible location and getting excited because I think I could easily get a good core of 50 volunteers there without too much effort. Once I started thinking about sponsors I realized I needed a serious time out. Reality check - my organizational experience in triathlon involves three hours holding up a stop/slow sign and 10 minutes picking up cones.

Reminds me of that time in Penticton, August 2004, when I stood on Eastisde Road watching bikes go by and pondering what would be involved in racing in a triathlon. Ironman, to be specific. Not that I'd actually do it ...