I friend said to me that she is trying to change her way of thinking and so asks herself when making decisions “what is precious to me?”, essentially re-framing negative comments into positive reinforcement. So for the heading of this post, yes I had chocolate for breakfast but isn’t it great that some was left over from last night!
It has been a hard couple of weeks. Mainly because work has gotten busy and is taking up more of my time. However, my ironman training has ramped up a bit too. This has left me feeling tired and a little unfocused.
In saying that there has been a number of positive training outcomes over the last two weeks.
Those who follow in the running club circles will have known and maybe even run in the National Road Relay Championships (RR) on 3 October in Christchurch. I run for Scottish Athletics Club and over 100 club members usually take part in this annual event. Next year it is in Rotorua, so I’m already asking myself can I fit in some lake swimming, mountain biking , zorbing, and luging? Maybe a long weekend is on order!
Last year the RR were also in Christchurch and I did lap 7 for our senior women’s team and we finished 3rd in that grade. Lap 7 is a brutal lap and I literally smash the lap and my body when I run.
Brutal!
You gain 92m, only to then drop over 530m in the last 4 or 5km. It is unrelenting and steep. The only way to run it is to give in to gravity and free-fall all the way down. This year I managed to knock a little bit of time off and my feet were not on fire when I handed over the baton! Win-win.
“Hey, that grass looks really nice to collapse on”
The Club also won the Top Club title, with a number of our teams finishing with podium placings.
I then followed up this run with a 40min tempo on Monday. My quads were sooo sore and I was waddling around the office like a penguin. But I still ran. I knew what happened last year when I didn’t take it easy after Lap 7. But I still ran.
On Thursday I did hill reps on the bike and then did hill reps for my run. I couldn’t run properly downhill as my muscles were still tired from the weekend. My hamstrings started to scream “STOP!”. But I still ran.
My coach’s feedback was “tisk-tisk”. Yes, I should have known better, but I still can not get my mind around missing training. However, work was/is stressful, I wasn’t eating properly as a result and everything was getting on top off me. The only thing I felt like I could control was my training.
Luckily there was no real harm done. No strains or tears, just a bit of old fashioned rest. Plus I’m sure the Scottish 100 Mile Relay at the Newtown Track today also would have helped 🙂 (I did do a PB too).
So I need to ask myself “what is precious to me?”. Is it qualifying for Kona next year? If so, then it is time to re-focus and start preparing and training like that goal is precious to me.
It is hard working and training for something like an Ironman. My training is going to be harder this year because I am not going back to Taupo just to compete in another one. Therefore, I need to make decisions that align with my “precious” goal i.e:
Get enough sleep – working and training harder mean more sleep (sigh – and no social life).
Eat good food to keep me properly fueled – this is important not just for training performance, but also performing at work.
Listen to my body and ease off sometimes.
Cut myself some slack – I train hard and should recognise that.
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