Monday, June 17, 2013

This week: Livin` like an athlete!

As my first race of the season is just around the corner, I have ramped up my training!  Last weekend I was in cycling heaven - Parry Sound!  So awesome there!  My second family always welcomes me there and I got some awesome training in.  As I still did not get the go-ahead to run yet, I just cycled.  I rode 110km one day followed by a tough but great 130km ride the next averaging 175W.  Not bad, not bad!

Saw the sports doc midweek and he seemed a but baffled as to why I am in more pain after the 2nd PRP injection than before.  Ya, me too!  I am pretty sure he hit a nerve though because of the pain I went through.  Well, I asked about Ironman and he told me it was not a good goal to have anymore.  I am not quite ready to accept that though.  He told me I can try running again and to start at 1km every other day.  I asked him if I could make it worse by running and he did not think so.  So with that, I made a new game plan!

I have decided that if I could get up to 15km of running before MT 70.3 then I was going to go for it. I want to finish this race as I took a charity spot for it.   I am willing and ready to pull out of the run at the Calgary 70.3.  And I do not want a DNF at Ironman!  I want another finish.  However, I am not expecting any new PBs this year and I won`t kill myself trying to get one.  My purpose is solely to finish and nothing else.

I discussed this with my chiro and to my surprise, he said he was on board with me.  I know - I am just plain ol`stubborn and determined!  That mixed with stupidity and this is where I am.  I think I need to go to a sports psychologist or something, for real!  There are apparently five stages of emotion during an injury: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance.  Well, I kind of got to acceptance but I backtracked to bargaining! Hehe!  That is where I think I am at now.  Oh oh!  I know I should be patient and wait, and I got some good advise but I cannot help myself.  (Sorry, Duncan!  But I am going back to shore and going to try to swim across later!  I know - wrong!)

So with this, I ramped up my training big time.  I am currently in Lake Placid for the week to train and then heading to Mont Tremblant to race.  This was the plan for a while now since I thought I was going to be able to run by now.  After my chiro and doc appointment, I ran 5km and then 10km the next day.   Yup, from zero to 5 to 10!  I recognize how stupid that is.  Then I ran 16km!  I did it!  Good news: I did not make my hammy any worse.  Bad news: it is still painful.  My pace is pathetically slow but I will take it.  And I am being very diligent with icing it too!  Anything to help me get there.  The first day in Lake Placid  I rode 90km, did a 10min run off the bike, and then a 2.5km swim.  Yesterday I swam just over 5km in the lake and then followed that with the 16km run later in the day.  Today was a hardcore type of day!  2.6km swim followed by 150km bike in the pouring rain where I even got a flat and then a 5km  run off the bike.  I can do this! I will be careful!  I promise!

Living like an athlete is pretty fun though!  All I have to do is eat, sleep, and train!  Not a bad set up for now!  Then back to real life by next week.  Gonna enjoy it in the meantime!

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