july: a month to be merry
Due to the wild and crazy roller-coaster of insanity that was the end of June, I never recapped the month and set goals for July. The horror. I’m going to briefly check back in with June....
June Goals
More outdoor swimming. Check, at least until the OTP became consistently over 90º and my swim caps started exploding from my boiling brain.
Now that the peak block is over, get back in the weight room. Once, but then Sonja put the kibbosh on it during taper and I happily agreed.
Continue to steer clear of all things that cause IM anxiety (people, places, online training calculators, etc.). Except for one last round of stress immediately before the race, I had a pretty anxiety-free taper.
Make plans for July that include the words “beach” and “margarita” and “grill” and “drunk” and NOT the world “bike” or “train” or “heart rate.” As this posts, I am halfway to the beach. Yes, it’s August, not July. No, I don’t care.
Enjoy every single damp sweaty sticky second of race day. Let’s not talk about race day again, shall we?
If I had set July goals, they would have looked something like this:
Spend two entire days eating nothing but Double Stuf Oreos (check).
Work through at least three pretty serious hangovers (check).
Stay up past 8pm and sleep until waking (check).
Figure out the rest of the year of racing, at least roughly (roughly, check).
Make lots of dates with lots of friends to eat, drink, and be freakin' merry (check).
Have donuts for breakfast on the regular.
I usually kick off my monthly recap posts by talking a little bit about where my swim, bike and run stands. Here’s where it stands: I spent the month doing a little bit of all of it, none quickly or long. My cranky hamstring lingered a few weeks after ironman, and I spent about a week complaining about it before I decided to actually DO anything about it. But two days of icing and stretching coupled with getting back into the weight rooms seems to have calmed it back down pretty well (surprise). In general, I’m happy with the amount of time I’ve taken away from training, and I feel pretty sluggish in all three sports right now. I’m looking forward to getting back in the swing of training in the month of August.
As for life outside of triathlon, I certainly feel like mine has been discussed on the internet enough times that I don’t need to repeat any of it. We will continue to let gratitude for the assistance we received to keep Graham alive triumph over all other things. I refuse to allow the rude and inappropriate comments tarnish the generosity that we have seen from so many. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion on any subject that they choose to waste energy becoming enraged about - and I certainly have my own opinions about all the things I have seen and heard and read in the past month. However, rather than waste my own energy by getting all worked up about it, I am making a choice to instead focus on being thankful. As they say, those who matter don’t mind. And here's what actually matters.
July
Miles run: 29.16 (yeahhhh buddy)
Rest days: 8
Hangovers: 4
Dollars spent on race registrations: $15
Runs or swims long enough to require calories: 0
Rides done without the company of friends: 0
Best friends seen for the first time in a year: 1
Mornings I turned off the alarm and chose another rest day: 8
Mornings I got up but instead ate pancakes for breakfast and then got back in bed: 4
August
Diligently follow whatever crazy regimen of medicine is handed down from the breathing doctor. Do not neglect the nasal spray just because it’s weird and gross.
It’s time to do some more cooking experiments.
Do not get sucked into end-of-summer swimsuit sales.
Do not become addicted to expensive running shorts.
Spend more time with the 3D people in your life and less time worrying about the 2D people that live inside the laptop.
Do not buy any more nutrition until the cabinet is EMPTY.
June Goals
More outdoor swimming. Check, at least until the OTP became consistently over 90º and my swim caps started exploding from my boiling brain.
Now that the peak block is over, get back in the weight room. Once, but then Sonja put the kibbosh on it during taper and I happily agreed.
Continue to steer clear of all things that cause IM anxiety (people, places, online training calculators, etc.). Except for one last round of stress immediately before the race, I had a pretty anxiety-free taper.
Make plans for July that include the words “beach” and “margarita” and “grill” and “drunk” and NOT the world “bike” or “train” or “heart rate.” As this posts, I am halfway to the beach. Yes, it’s August, not July. No, I don’t care.
Enjoy every single damp sweaty sticky second of race day. Let’s not talk about race day again, shall we?
If I had set July goals, they would have looked something like this:
Spend two entire days eating nothing but Double Stuf Oreos (check).
Work through at least three pretty serious hangovers (check).
Stay up past 8pm and sleep until waking (check).
Figure out the rest of the year of racing, at least roughly (roughly, check).
Make lots of dates with lots of friends to eat, drink, and be freakin' merry (check).
Have donuts for breakfast on the regular.
I usually kick off my monthly recap posts by talking a little bit about where my swim, bike and run stands. Here’s where it stands: I spent the month doing a little bit of all of it, none quickly or long. My cranky hamstring lingered a few weeks after ironman, and I spent about a week complaining about it before I decided to actually DO anything about it. But two days of icing and stretching coupled with getting back into the weight rooms seems to have calmed it back down pretty well (surprise). In general, I’m happy with the amount of time I’ve taken away from training, and I feel pretty sluggish in all three sports right now. I’m looking forward to getting back in the swing of training in the month of August.
As for life outside of triathlon, I certainly feel like mine has been discussed on the internet enough times that I don’t need to repeat any of it. We will continue to let gratitude for the assistance we received to keep Graham alive triumph over all other things. I refuse to allow the rude and inappropriate comments tarnish the generosity that we have seen from so many. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion on any subject that they choose to waste energy becoming enraged about - and I certainly have my own opinions about all the things I have seen and heard and read in the past month. However, rather than waste my own energy by getting all worked up about it, I am making a choice to instead focus on being thankful. As they say, those who matter don’t mind. And here's what actually matters.
My attitude about racing for the rest of the year, at this point, is a bit more relaxed than it was going into ironman. I’m still going to make sure I’m getting in quality sessions and emphasizing the importance of recovery, nutrition, etc. However, I’m also going to make spending time with my friends and my family a bit more of a priority than it was during my build up to ironman, and if my races suffer because I have a couple of beers one night and don’t always eat perfectly every day, I’m okay with that. It’s not like I’m setting the world of triathlon on fire in the first place, and I think I could do with a nice strong dose of relaxed balance. Like I’ve pointed out so many times before, this is not my job. It’s merely a hobby that makes me extremely happy. And I certainly think that my life right now could use a little extra spoonful of things that make me happy.
July
Miles run: 29.16 (yeahhhh buddy)
Rest days: 8
Hangovers: 4
Dollars spent on race registrations: $15
Runs or swims long enough to require calories: 0
Rides done without the company of friends: 0
Best friends seen for the first time in a year: 1
Mornings I turned off the alarm and chose another rest day: 8
Mornings I got up but instead ate pancakes for breakfast and then got back in bed: 4
August
Diligently follow whatever crazy regimen of medicine is handed down from the breathing doctor. Do not neglect the nasal spray just because it’s weird and gross.
It’s time to do some more cooking experiments.
Do not get sucked into end-of-summer swimsuit sales.
Do not become addicted to expensive running shorts.
Spend more time with the 3D people in your life and less time worrying about the 2D people that live inside the laptop.
Do not buy any more nutrition until the cabinet is EMPTY.
What are your goals for August? Any big races coming up? Did you completely blow off July like I did?