An Ironman takes approximately 30 weeks of training. One to two workouts per day, one day off per week. Some do more, some less. The one thing I can tell you for sure is it becomes a lifestyle. It isn't always easy to get out of bed, it isn't always easy to go the extra few miles, the sacrifice, arriving late to family events a little late and a lot stinky (chlorine or otherwise). The race approaches and the excitement takes over. It's finally here. Hands grab water, bike tires heat up against the pavement, feet pound out exhausting steps until they cross the finish line. Minutes, hours, days.... Of absolute pride, accomplishment, fatigue, soreness. Friends, family gather around. Rally to support their athlete and carry them through it.
Then it's over. It's so fresh in memory, but it's over. Workouts are less than a quarter of what they had been. That injury that had been ignored so that the finish line was possible, can no longer be ignored. Depression sets in.
That's where I am. It hurts more than the pain in my butt when I rode those 112 miles. It's hurts more than the giant blister on my foot. It even hurts more than my knee. Having to not only slow down, but stop... And not know when I'll be able to start again. Ouch.
My own pride has soared for my friends as they cross their own finish lines. A first time half marathon for one, a PR in a marathon only one year after having a baby for another, a first time marathon for another. My heart has swelled for them, and my eyes have brimmed with tears. The first thing that I want to do is run, and then 8 steps in I know I can't. I swim and twist off the wall... And can't. My knee pinches on the bike at the 11 o'clock position, and I can't.
I have never said that before. Stupidity maybe... I always pushed through. Now it's time to fix it so that I can. In the meantime though, holy moly.
Training becomes a full time job, an outlet, a therapy of sorts. When it is on hold you get to the point where you aren't sure what comes next. So I plan next season. My next move. My next race. And I look forward to the very first workout.... Because unlike for many many people, I will have another, and for that I know I am blessed.
