Hello, it's me again. Yes, I'm still alive. Yes, I've gained more weight. Yes, I could spend a lot of time making excuses and telling you how busy I've been.
But I won't.
What I came here for today is some advice. Now, of course I write this from a place after I've already discussed it with a few "in real life" friends, but I trust my blogging community so much I'm bringing it to you.
WAAAAAAAAAY back in December I registered for my first race for the 2013 Triathlon season - the Cedars of Lebanon Sprint Tri (200 y swim, 9.6 mi bike, 2 mi run), which is now THIS Saturday.
And although I started out ok, I haven't followed any sort of training schedule for FOUR weeks.
Sure, I've done a run here, swam a little over there, and a bike ride here and there in the last few weeks. But I would say I've been on a bike less than 4 times in the last 4 weeks and I've been in the pool maybe half that.
To say I'm not trained is an understatement.
I wasn't really worried until I hopped on the bike Sunday and it was SO HARD. The lack of training combined with the 40 or so lbs I've gained in the last 8 months had me walking up THREE hills. And they were piddly little hills. Now, I could blame it on the run I did the day before - 2 miles - since I haven't been running much more than 20 minutes a few times a week and my quads felt a little sore, but that's a cop-out.
So what do I do?
I'm really conflicted because I've never NOT completed a race I registered for. For awhile, I was confident the short distances at the race wouldn't be a problem for me, but MAN I've let myself go. After that bike ride on Sunday (during which I had my first bike crash), I just don't know if I CAN.
Which is better?
Do I go forward with my plan to do the triathlon knowing I'm not trained and I'm sorely out of shape, with the chance of either hurting myself or having to quit during the race?
Or do I bow out gracefully, plan some other moderate activity in place of Saturday and re-evaluate my health and fitness goals?
What would you do?
Tuesday, May 14, 2013
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2 comments:
I have been in a very similar situation with a half marathon last year. I asked myself two things: 1-can I reasonably finish within the time limit and without injury, and 2-will I have a reasonable good time doing it. I had to be brutally honest and answer from the place that I really was physically and not where I wanted to be. I did not end up participating as I could not answer "yes" to both. Good luck with whichever way decide.
This is tough. Whenever I had some activity scheduled, and I don't follow thorough with it (too tired, too busy, not in good enough shape for the task, kind of scared of whatever I said I'd do, etc.) I always really regret not following through. And often, not following through results in a bit of a sneaky hate-spiral that makes it harder to keep moving and easier to indulge in bad-for-me foods. Can you go really slow, give yourself permission to stop and walk if you need to, but just push yourself to finish the triathlon? I never regret it when I do go out there, but I always regret when I don't try.
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