Well back to reality after such a lovely Christmas break pretending to be a full time triathlete...emphasis on thee 'tri' I think!!!
So this week marks an important milestone in my journey to Ironman. Friday 15th January marks the date when I am either 'all stops out' or 'all stop'. I had a traumeel injection in my calf last Friday in hope that it might settle down the tightness and pain I am still getting. It is now 14 weeks since I've run, and with a little over 7 until my legs are supposed to belt out a marathon on top of everything else....
Last week was a 'recovery' week in the 20 week programme, the last in the race build up. It included an easy 3 hour ride on Sunday. Emm, Soph and I commented on the way round that it actually made us realise how far we'd come in our journey - the ride really was easy compared to the past few weeks. We cruised through over 90km, which at the start of this campaign would have been a 'long' ride!!! Your perpective changes a little when you become entrenched in Ironman training.
So after 'recovery' week (it still included about 16 hours of training) you'd think I'd be feeling fresh as a daisy..mmmmm well if yesterday was anything to go by then I didn't spend enough time recovering. After a really good strength wind train and water run session with Emm yesterday morning, I did some massages and then went to core strength. What I omitted in that was the 2....yes 2 sleeps I had. One quick 20 min on the massage table, and another 30 mins nap in the car before getting stuck into push ups, prone holds, squats, more push ups, arm weights, tricep dips, lunges, more prone holds, 50 varieties of crunches, and more push ups..(thanks Jacqui!!).
This week it is back to a full on training schedule. My friend suggested maybe I needed an easy week based on yesterday's napping marathon, 'but Nessy I had that last week and this is supposed to be a garfish one'. Have you every forgotton to check predictive text before you send it...well yes my 'garfish' week also represents my state of mind I think. Confusion is setting in, is my legs store because the injury is still bad, or because there's scar tissue that has tightened everything up, or a mixture of both? Or am I in that tired all the time mode and not thinking straight about anything anymore?
Well anyway, I decided that this morning I should really give my leg a run out before I made my decision whether I'm in or not. So I did the squad track session and am now sitting on ice for a while...and maybe I'll sneak a little nap in before work..it's all a bit too hardish!!
Faye
x
Monday, January 11, 2010
Monday, January 4, 2010
My Life as a Fulltime Triathlete ;-)
Well it is back down to earth this week, after having a full week off work I am now back into the normality of daily routine!
For one week, I have been living up the coast, no work, lots of training, relaxation and just total time out. It made me think about the demographics of triathletes and the commitments and sacrifices each put in to pursuing personal goals.
The week of training, relaxing, eating, sleeping, (OK and a fair bit of drinking!) more training and not having to get up too early because there was no work to come after training - made me feel like I was living the life of a pro-athlete :-). But then I was reminded of the realities - unless you really are top of your game, then there's not much money to be made in racing for a living, and you still have the expense of it all (bar a bit of kit sponsorship) - supplements, good food, massage, physio, living in general - all without a regular income. The plus side is that you life becomes a training, recovery, training cycle; you can sleep when you need to and not worry about the fatigue from training 20+ hrs a week and holding down a full time job; oh, and that you have the best opportunity to fulfil your athletic potential!
Compare it with the life of a wanna be full time triathlete:
Up at anywhere between 4am and 5am for a training session of 1-3 hours, grab breakfast on the go or get to work and have breakfast at the desk. Work for 8hrs, feel like falling asleep mid morning, feel like falling asleep again at about 3pm, go to another training session of 1-2hrs, get home about 8pm, cook, eat, pack bags to repeat the day again tomorrow, sleep....
But, earn money, have great training buddies who also will have a drink now and again; still have to pay for kit, physio, massage, supplements etc....but have money to do it. The negatives; constant fatigue, prone to injury, always striving to reach potential but in reality unless you are some kind of physical freak (Scott, Natalie and Charlie spring to mind!)- you will never quite fulfil your athletic potential.
However, we'll all have a great time trying!!!!!!!!!!!
Happy New Year! Happy racing, Happy socialising! And keep it all in perspective!
Faye
x
For one week, I have been living up the coast, no work, lots of training, relaxation and just total time out. It made me think about the demographics of triathletes and the commitments and sacrifices each put in to pursuing personal goals.
The week of training, relaxing, eating, sleeping, (OK and a fair bit of drinking!) more training and not having to get up too early because there was no work to come after training - made me feel like I was living the life of a pro-athlete :-). But then I was reminded of the realities - unless you really are top of your game, then there's not much money to be made in racing for a living, and you still have the expense of it all (bar a bit of kit sponsorship) - supplements, good food, massage, physio, living in general - all without a regular income. The plus side is that you life becomes a training, recovery, training cycle; you can sleep when you need to and not worry about the fatigue from training 20+ hrs a week and holding down a full time job; oh, and that you have the best opportunity to fulfil your athletic potential!
Compare it with the life of a wanna be full time triathlete:
Up at anywhere between 4am and 5am for a training session of 1-3 hours, grab breakfast on the go or get to work and have breakfast at the desk. Work for 8hrs, feel like falling asleep mid morning, feel like falling asleep again at about 3pm, go to another training session of 1-2hrs, get home about 8pm, cook, eat, pack bags to repeat the day again tomorrow, sleep....
But, earn money, have great training buddies who also will have a drink now and again; still have to pay for kit, physio, massage, supplements etc....but have money to do it. The negatives; constant fatigue, prone to injury, always striving to reach potential but in reality unless you are some kind of physical freak (Scott, Natalie and Charlie spring to mind!)- you will never quite fulfil your athletic potential.
However, we'll all have a great time trying!!!!!!!!!!!
Happy New Year! Happy racing, Happy socialising! And keep it all in perspective!
Faye
x
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