8/30/17
Workouts for the week:
Monday: strength in the morning, swim in the evening
Tuesday: yoga in the morning, run in the evening
Wednesday: morning ride, yoga in the evening
Thursday: strength in the morning, run in the evening
Friday: long ride
Saturday: long run
Sunday: rest day
I usually try not to favor workouts, but I have to say, this week my favorite workout was definitely my long run. I went home for the weekend and ended up doing my long run around a lake by my house and it was absolutely glorious! I love being in nature, especially in and/or around bodies of water, so I was happy as a clam during my run. It was so quiet and peaceful, I just couldn’t resist to take a few moments to sit down and take it all in and meditate on training so far. Anyway, a little more on that later…..
For anyone paying super close attention to my workouts of the week, this week was a little different and I had to shift some things around. One *major (* – it’s really not actually that major, just feels that way) change was that I didn’t do a brick workout this week, just a long(er) ride. I went home for the weekend for a baby shower and knew I needed to shift my longer workouts back a day, which meant doing long ride on Friday morning before work. Which meant if I wanted to get to work showered and on time, something needed to give – and in this case, it was my run off the bike.
Normally something like this, so close to race day, would give me a lot of anxiety, but in all honesty, I was one thousand percent okay with it. Since I started training I’ve done a run off the bike after every single long ride, so I think it’s pretty safe to say that my body knows the feeling and what to do at this point. In the next 2-weeks I might try and get one or two more shorter brick workouts in, just to make sure my body doesn’t forget too much, but if it doesn’t happen then so be it.
It’s weird to be in taper mode now – usually when I’m tapering for a marathon my body is so ready for a break by this point. Tapering for a triathlon feels so much different though – while I’ve had some long, intense workouts that have certainly kicked my butt, my body doesn’t feel like it’s beat up. I’m guessing that’s because swimming and riding aren’t really high impact activities like running is. So, it’s actually been hard to dial back the intensity in my workouts now because I still feel great – but, I know I need to save some up some energy reserves for race day!
What’s been the absolute hardest about being in taper mode though, is the mental aspect of it. All season I felt super strong and completely capable of completing a half Ironman. Now though, those pre-race nerves are setting in. Over all, deep down I know I will finish, but I still have those moments of “Oh sh*t, can I really actually do this?” This is where all my yoga and meditation comes into play – I just take a few deep breaths to center myself and take a moment or two to visualize myself out on the course.
I know it’s going to be hard, I know there are going to be moments when I’ll want to stop; but I also know all those moments will pass. I have a yoga teacher who always says “The moment you want to get out of the pose, is the moment the true yoga starts.” What he means by that is it’s about being comfortable in the uncomfortable knowing that there is a light at the end of the tunnel – some tunnels may be longer, some may be shorter, but they all eventually lead to another side. It’s how you deal with being in the tunnel that makes getting to the other side better or worse.
So needless to say, I’ve been doing a lot of yoga and meditation this past week and will continue doing so up until race day. So, if you need me and I’m not in the pool, on my bike, or out in Central Park, I’m most likely on my yoga mat calming my nerves 😉
