what doesn't kill ya….

I made the mistake of opening up my training peaks calendar the night of the race. I laughed, read some of my workouts out loud to friends who also just did Oceanside, then tucked it into the back of my mind so I didn't over-think it.

I don't have good muscle tissue. Or, at least I don't think I do. I can look at a hilly run course and get sore. It always amazes me seeing people run or bike or swim or even WALK post marathon or God for bid, Ironman. I get sore. Like so sore I can't walk, or even sleep for that matter. The thought of getting a massage after a big race makes my skin crawl. OUCH.

Something was different about Oceanside. Sure I was gimping around and the 6hr ride home the day after race didn't help, but by Monday I no longer had any soreness. I was in the pool (sans watch) doing a 2200m workout, riding 2hrs Tuesday and by Wed back at it with an 8 mile run and some speed stuff in the pool. I would look at my workout for the day and think, how am I going to do that? I can't do that, I just did a half Ironman.

And you know what? I did it. I did everything the coach asked and am now looking at my biggest long workouts since last year pre-IMCDA. Tomorrow I will ride ~80 or so miles, with a 30min transition run and Monday is a 2.5hr run.

It gets even better as Friday afternoon I got a little love note on Facebook from my coach that said something like, "I had too much caffeine and am hyper so I wrote your schedule out for next week and you are going to PAY. Go put on your big girl panties." Ok, maybe that's not exactly what she said, but her words did scare me and I had to take a moment before opening up my schedule to see what I was in for.

I saw it, I laughed…and that was that.

I'm truly amazed every time I see these 'impossible' schedules and then each day I check each workout off my schedule as completed. It just goes to show why we hire coaches and why we let them do the thinking, the planning and just do the work. And we trust…

I know the "real work" is coming. I know the next 8 weeks are going to really test me. I might find a breaking point, or I might not. Either way, I'm all in & I can't wait to see what I can really do!

Next up, revisiting Mt. Lemmon. I'm crazy excited to go back to this climb stronger, and with permission to just GO at it up the Mountain! I plan on crushing my 3hr ride to the top, then rewarding myself with one of those infamous cookies, Hillary Biscay is always talking about!

Comments

Molly said…
I love to see you crushing this year!!!! Our coaches sure know how to give us just what we need :)
April 9, 2011 at 3:13 PM
Michelle Simmons said…
I feel rather confident that your limits are pretty far beyond where you think they are. :)
April 9, 2011 at 4:38 PM
Jennifer Harrison said…
AWESOME AWESOME - enjoy MT Lemmon!!!
April 10, 2011 at 3:07 PM
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