Determination, endurance, mental and physical toughness? Yes. That’s the race I signed up for, and that is what I have trained for.
Patience? Acceptance? Maturity? OMFG, no. Get me out of here.
About ten days ago, I put out my back. Same old S.I. joint acting up, nothing new there. Except the clock is ticking, and I already had to take nearly a week off training because of a nasty chest cold that threatened to turn into something more serious.
I suppose the good news is that my lungs are fine now. And hey, swimming is going well BECAUSE IT’S THE ONLY SPORT I CAN DO WITHOUT PAIN. The trouble is, there are two other sports that need attention and I am running out of time.
Last week I took a three-hour walk, with very short bits of jogging thrown in, just to cover some distance. A three-hour run would have been glorious. Three hours of walking? Not so great. And tomorrow I get to do it again, only longer. That’s where the patience comes in.
I have had to forego riding completely. I tested it out on Monday and quickly knew it wasn’t going well. It’s only lucky that I put so much time into bike training before this happened.
If I make it to the start line, this race is going to be rough. It is not the training I wanted, and I’m fairly sure I won’t have the results I wanted either. That’s where acceptance comes in. And humility, did I mention that one? Oh yeah, Ironman’s a blast.
I’m not doing too great in the maturity department, but anyone who knows me won’t be surprised by that.
In a strange coincidence, I stopped in at the library to pick up a book that I’d put on hold that had finally come in. It’s called The Obstacle is the Way, by Ryan Holiday (who also has a great blog). He says a lot of interesting things in this book.
Like this: “We decide what we will make of each and every situation. We decide whether we’ll break or whether we’ll resist . . . . No one can force us to give up.”
My daughter reassures me that I can still safely take one more week off riding without any damage. She has also threatened physical violence if I don’t race with her. My physiotherapist, who is usually booked up for months, has squeezed me in for weekly visits to make sure I get healthy on time. I’m on a daily regimen of core and glute strength, and I basically walk everywhere and sit as little as possible.
I’m doing everything I can to get to that start line. I only hope it will be enough.
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Happy training!
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