Karen writes: Change, you can't avoid it
Haven't written for a couple of weeks, having a bit of a quiet time after the Wellington marathon and I always find that after an event I feel unsettled and lose my confidence...should I run, should I rest more before the next big push, am I losing 'it', how could I ever have been that fit?
Also, things have changed in our house due to my partner's work commitments. Having school-age children, the weekend hours, and most weekday evenings are no longer available to me for training. This is either the end of my fitness aspirations, or impetus to do things differently.
Change is inevitable, but in the middle of winter with the days being short as well as motivation, the bad weather adds its strength to the lure of the couch, and now with the time available being severely restricted, it's understandable that I might go through a period of OH WHY. Fortunately however I have now moved on to OK HOW.
So how. Bike riding, the next event is a 70km ride in 3 weeks. I have been on the bike twice now and had an enjoyable 20 and 30km, both slow and easy. The bike seems to have forgiven me for the long neglect, a bit of air in the tyres, some chain wax which went on in lumps because of the cold (reminder to self, get some non-wax based lube for winter riding), and she rode like a dream. Surely I can find 2-3 hours during the next two weeks if I use a bit of annual leave? I figure that if I can get up to 50km at least once that will be enough so I don't bomb out completely on this ride, but I don't really need to kick up the real long-distance cycling until probably September when it is time to get ready for the 160km round Taupo challenge.
Ok, no more running down to those enjoyable spin sessions on Thursday evenings. Well, I'd only had a couple of those anyway so it was hardly an established habit...hang on, there is a Monday evening spin class and I do have at least some Monday evenings, problem solved. And of course there is still that torture instrument on the deck, my own spin bike. I'm not quite desperate enough yet though to sit outside in the dark on the thing at this time of the year, but it is an option. If anyone else has tried to do 'spin' by themselves at home...you will know it is the most uninspiring thing imaginable. I did read about someone who trained for Ironman using a spin bike, this man was stationed on a ship and he did all his training onboard, he said he "watched a lot of movies", now that is serious commitment.
Cant run with the Te Puru runners on Sunday's as I have for several years now ...sad...but...who say's my long run has to be Sunday, especially if I have an intensive spin class on Monday? I know, I can drive to Te Puru and the kids can play in the playground or sit in the car for half an hour, I can meet up with the runners at 8am, have a catchup, then when they head off to exciting places I can run round the field keeping an eye on the children and saying hello once every km. Haven't figured out what to do about the weekly long-run, but with the Zaragosa marathon still 11 weeks away I don't need to be doing too much mileage yet so a couple of 10km plus runs during the week either very early in the morning or late at night will do the trick for now.
Swimming, ironically that is probably the easiest thing to manage, I could go and do a lunchtime swim in the Otara pool over the road. I decline...I have no desire to swim until I absolutely have to, somewhere around September methinks. The girls and myself did get in the water at the Maraetai Midwinter swim a week ago, for all of a few seconds so I'm not sure that really counts!
This sort of thing is what could be called a 'glitch', and hopefully it's a temporary one. It is really so easy to let yourself feel that it's all just gotten a bit too hard though. The magic thing about having events booked (last count I had 4 going up to Ironman in March), and having someone else you are planning on doing the events with who you wouldn't dare let down (Kate), there is no choice really but to be a bit innovative and go round any problems. I also find when I think about the possibility of stopping that I have actually reached a point where there is no question about letting myself go too far backwards, I've worked far too hard to get to this point and love all the advantages of being fit. Not to forget Ironman 2014, just 7 months away!
Also, things have changed in our house due to my partner's work commitments. Having school-age children, the weekend hours, and most weekday evenings are no longer available to me for training. This is either the end of my fitness aspirations, or impetus to do things differently.
Change is inevitable, but in the middle of winter with the days being short as well as motivation, the bad weather adds its strength to the lure of the couch, and now with the time available being severely restricted, it's understandable that I might go through a period of OH WHY. Fortunately however I have now moved on to OK HOW.
So how. Bike riding, the next event is a 70km ride in 3 weeks. I have been on the bike twice now and had an enjoyable 20 and 30km, both slow and easy. The bike seems to have forgiven me for the long neglect, a bit of air in the tyres, some chain wax which went on in lumps because of the cold (reminder to self, get some non-wax based lube for winter riding), and she rode like a dream. Surely I can find 2-3 hours during the next two weeks if I use a bit of annual leave? I figure that if I can get up to 50km at least once that will be enough so I don't bomb out completely on this ride, but I don't really need to kick up the real long-distance cycling until probably September when it is time to get ready for the 160km round Taupo challenge.
Ok, no more running down to those enjoyable spin sessions on Thursday evenings. Well, I'd only had a couple of those anyway so it was hardly an established habit...hang on, there is a Monday evening spin class and I do have at least some Monday evenings, problem solved. And of course there is still that torture instrument on the deck, my own spin bike. I'm not quite desperate enough yet though to sit outside in the dark on the thing at this time of the year, but it is an option. If anyone else has tried to do 'spin' by themselves at home...you will know it is the most uninspiring thing imaginable. I did read about someone who trained for Ironman using a spin bike, this man was stationed on a ship and he did all his training onboard, he said he "watched a lot of movies", now that is serious commitment.
Cant run with the Te Puru runners on Sunday's as I have for several years now ...sad...but...who say's my long run has to be Sunday, especially if I have an intensive spin class on Monday? I know, I can drive to Te Puru and the kids can play in the playground or sit in the car for half an hour, I can meet up with the runners at 8am, have a catchup, then when they head off to exciting places I can run round the field keeping an eye on the children and saying hello once every km. Haven't figured out what to do about the weekly long-run, but with the Zaragosa marathon still 11 weeks away I don't need to be doing too much mileage yet so a couple of 10km plus runs during the week either very early in the morning or late at night will do the trick for now.
This sort of thing is what could be called a 'glitch', and hopefully it's a temporary one. It is really so easy to let yourself feel that it's all just gotten a bit too hard though. The magic thing about having events booked (last count I had 4 going up to Ironman in March), and having someone else you are planning on doing the events with who you wouldn't dare let down (Kate), there is no choice really but to be a bit innovative and go round any problems. I also find when I think about the possibility of stopping that I have actually reached a point where there is no question about letting myself go too far backwards, I've worked far too hard to get to this point and love all the advantages of being fit. Not to forget Ironman 2014, just 7 months away!
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