The less you do, the less you can do. I’m in the beginning of my IronMan Florida taper. It’s not that there is no training, but comparing to what I’ve just been through, it’s nothing. And well, nothing does not motivate me.
I simply was not in the mood for my 40 mile bike ride Sunday. I struggled on Saturday’s 13 mile run, was still sore, and it’s been a hard week. I was on my pity pot, in my bed, at 7:30am on Sunday morning. I laid there with lots of company: Joe, Dreamer, Fearless and Penelope (the cat).
I was telling everybody I had to get up but didn’t want to and Joe told the boys how there was a little angel voice that said “Mami, go ride your bike” and a little devil voice that said “Oh Mami, but the bed is so comfy.” Immediately Dreamer told me with a sense of urgency: “Mami, you need to listen to the angel voice, you need to go,” and nearly pushed me off the bed. I had no intention of going and Joe was ruining it for me.
I kept telling Joe to stop, and he would say things like “I’d rather laugh with the sinners than cry with the saints.” I figured, it’s still too early and he hadn’t had coffee yet otherwise he would’ve surely agreed this is NOT the message we want to give our kids.
My thought process was: show Dreamer it’s important to listen to the angel voice because his dad is clearly not on the same page today. So I got up, got dressed and headed out the door. My legs were dead, my body heavy, Miami was ridiculously hot. Dreamer had no idea how LONG I had to ride, so I cut the ride short after 25 miles, all proud of myself for the wonderful example I was giving my children.
Fast forward to the afternoon. We were going down the stairs and I said “my legs are mad at me today” since they were sore. Dreamer responded: “that’s what you get for listening to the angel Mami, should’ve gone with the devil.”
“Don’t think the devil will get me to finish IronMan though.” That was the only comeback I could muster, and Dreamer was not impressed.
But I am happy I went out, even if for a little bit because this week I have felt extra tired, slow and heavy. I even began to think that maybe I wasn’t ready after all. Then I got this article:
Ah! When you read something that describes you at this moment it validates your feelings. I am fatigued, and my run on Saturday left me feeling like there was no way I was going to finish the marathon. Knowing these thoughts are common help me feel validated, normal, perhaps even understood (at least by some out there). So even if Dreamer thinks I should’ve listened to the devil, I remain strong in my conviction to at least try to do the right thing. And when I finally cross the finish line in 2 weeks (OMG 2 WEEKS), I’ll circle back and tell him something witty about why you should always listen to the angel. I don’t have it down yet … but I have 140.6 miles to figure it out.
Week 21 did not look like what was on my training plan but life is life. This is what I was able to do:
Monday: OWS. Nice and easy.
Tuesday: STRENGTH at Fitness Together. Core and arms.
Wednesday: RUN – Tempo, fast for me.
Thursday: STRENGTH at Fitness Together. Core and more core.
Friday: OWS. 2 miles
Saturday: BIKE 25 miles, RUN 13 miles
Sunday: BIKE 25 miles
How about you? How was your training week?
