Wrestling With Wicked Weekends

Since last week, every weekend will involve a race; beginning 28 August and ending 18 September, I will have three runs and one long-distance triathlon. This was deliberately decided since I withdrew from Ironman Canada. I intend to put my focus on Ironman New Zealand next year and score the PB that eluded me last year. In February 2010, a taxi knocked me down during my ride, one month before my 226K-race in the beautiful Maori country. So, I have some unfinished business with myself.

Tomorrow, at 5.15am all those doing the Army Half-Marathon will be flagged off. Most of my sleep would have been invested two nights before; anyway, I race better with less sleep and it keeps me edgy (in a good way). I hope all goes well, and I aim to maintain a consistent pace throughout the race.

For most people, weekends mean a time to enjoy purposeful rest. Instead, for endurance athletes, weekends are opportunities to partake in races and competitive racing. It may sound ironical that we subject our bodies to physical assault, and derive some pleasure from it. Mass sports leverage on weekends to draw the numbers, thus the large congregation of participants and congested roads. We are much maligned by motorists on weekends because of our occasional priorities to own the roads and route for a few precious hours. Thus, clearance for new race routes that intersect major thoroughfares and roads take a long time. The new Mega-Tri long-distance triathlon will take place next week at reduced and diminished road circuits, therefore six loops of riding was designed, plus three loops of the 9K run route.

I was tickled by Matt’s post about triathletes. Enjoy the perspectives. To wit, I add the following to the ‘list’: 

1)    I walk slower behind my partner when I am not training.

2)    I worry about the ’30-minute window’ after training where I must get quality nutrition instead of taking a much-needed shower.

3)    I am more concerned that my Garmin watch collected my training data than it telling time.

4)    I get excited being tagged by somebody on Facebook about a racing photograph I appeared in.

5)    I get self-conscious when wearing my finisher ‘M-Dot’ t-shirts in public, wondering what messages it conveys.

Have a great weekend all!