Suck It Up And Move On!

It took me almost a full week to work the soreness out of my legs; the high antioxidant pomegranate juice helped. I did not use compression tights to accelerate my recovery, or at least reduce the stiffness however watched my nutrition and rested for about five days. On the fifth and sixth days I did swimming; Friday was 2 hours of pool drills, and Saturday was a 75-minute, open-water session.

At Monday Tri Swim, we had a total of 22 swimmers. Our menu by coach Dion was: 200 Warm up > 100x3 Front & back kick/Free > 100x2 dolphin kick breaststroke/Free > 100x3 Paddles w/fins > 100x5(4) Sprint 75 jog 25 & 25 dolphin dives 75 freestyle > Treading. Plus, 25m butterfly stroke/75m freestyle. I felt fitter and able to hold my sets, although I was fatigued towards the end.

After a dismal finish at TNF100 last Saturday and a DQ (apparently, I missed the second timing-mat) was just a result, and I have moved on. If I was reinstated, my partner and I could have been on the podium. Such is life!

I have signed up for Sunday’s Newton 30K Run, and I think I may just race in it. My last foray took me about 2:35 for the distance. If all goes well, I may just equal it. This will be my last long run until the 4 December Singapore Marathon. I hope to do better than my 2009 PB of 3:36, if the weather is not too hot and humid. I also signed up for the Berlin Marathon 2012, since I missed out on Boston. I have not decided which Ironman would be my 13^th and Switzerland would be an option, however it would be smack before the London Olympics 2012.

My approach would be to suck it up, and just do it. It is so easy to make excuses, and procrastinate from work. I had enough rest and a painful recovery and it is time for me to start engaging the Ironman triathlon training mindset. I have about 16 weeks to get into competitive shape and a sub-12 hour PB. I owe it to myself to achieve that. If push goes to shove, I will embrace the suck. If I want to earn a personal best, I will have to brave the tough days ahead. After 11 Ironman races later, it is business as usual. Tonight I will do a tempo 10K run and tomorrow I will do a short ride just to reinstate my riding legs; it will be science meets my senses strategy.