Breakdown

"Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go." - T.S. Eliot

Well, it happened. I started training in Tinman on February 1st and have been slowly adding milage and adding time and putting a ton of training in the bank. Two weeks ago and originally this week were over 16 hours of training, a level of training I had never done before, not even for the two HIMs I did last year.

I was holding up fairly well until the end of two weeks ago. That Saturday had been my first ever 70 mile ride and it was followed by a two mile jog. I actually felt pretty good after it. The next day, however, it was very cold, windy, and rainy so I was forced to do two hours of running on the treadmill to avoid getting sick. It sucked, but I got through it by reminding myself that recovery week started the next day.

Now, usually on recovery weeks, I start getting antsy about halfway through. This time, I wasn't myself until Saturday, day six of recovery week. This gave me two days of feeling normal again before another 16 hour week started.

And "start" it did with my first flat of the season. A flat in which both CO2 cartridges were used up before I realized that I had put the punctured tube right back on my bike and had to call for a pickup. (Lesson learned: Never put the two tubes next to each other when changing a flat.) I was already extremely cranky about the condition of Route 86 BEFORE the flat and this did not add to my mood.

The next day, my run went well but I completely and utterly blew up on the swim, which was 3500 of speed work. I usually find short, fast sets a fun, quick way to blast through lots of yardage, but I had to get out of the pool halfway through. That's two out of three workouts only partially completed.

Wednesday? ANOTHER flat, this time on my front tire. I did manage to change it successfully and finish my ride, but STILL. No breaks this week.

And yesterday - carnage. I dragged myself through a run that should have been easy but felt hard. Then I hauled myself to the pool for a workout I didn't feel like doing. I did complete it, but my times were 10 secs/100 off what they should have been. I spewed a lot of negative thinking in my logs. (Which, by the way, is a most excellent way to ensure a call from your coach.)

In retrospect, I should have communicated my exhaustion to my coach earlier in the week. LIke I said, stubbornness and that never-ending quest to get a "gold star" and do everything perfectly got in the way of listening to what my body needed.

Luckily, today is a rest day and tomorrow's brick has been knocked down to a shorter (but still pretty long) bike ride. My coach and I will see how I feel on Sunday afternoon and go from there. I'm hoping I'm mentally and physically ready for what she originally had planned, but I need to let go and be okay with her taking it down a notch if that's what I need.

And now for something lighter - stay tuned for this week's Friday Film.