Thursday, September 23, 2010

A Blessing or a Curse?

There it is. In BRIGHT PINK. Written in Sharpie on my calendar-Saturday, September 25th:
The Mainiac Triathlon 10 am




Yup, it's here. It's time. And I am feeling excited, nervous, unsure of myself, anxious but excited. Did I mention excited? My first triathlon.


This week has been strange to say the least. I got out for an easy ride early Monday morning before hubbs left for work and when I stepped off the bike I got this strange vertigo-like feeling. Like my head was spinning. I sat down for a few moments and this feeling subsided.


Then while reaching for a shirt to wear, I felt all the muscles in my mid-back start to spasm. OH NO. Sure enough, I have been dealing with some annoying back pain all week. Nothing a little Aleve can't handle but this certainly put me on "alert" being sure I did not push it too hard.


Then later in the day on Monday I could feel the starting of a head cold coming on. Are you kidding me?? For real? I started pumping the Vitamin C and green tea. Took it easy (well as easy as it gets chasing after Lola) the rest of the day and took Tuesday totally off from any workouts.


By Wednesday I was dealing with the normal mental struggle I have whenever I take any time off from training. I felt lazy. I felt bloated. I felt guilty. SO I swam. I ran. I lifted. And it felt SOOOOO good to sweat.

I am attempting to put this all in perspective. Was the back issue and the start of a head cold actually a blessing?? Was it forcing me to rest a bit before the tri??
or

Is it a curse? Will taking it easy this week effect my performance at the tri? Is my body tired from fighting this cold?


I don't know but being the optimist that I am I am going to go blessing. I tend to go a little crazy sometimes and maybe this is a good thing. Maybe this down time will do wonders for me. Who knows! But I do know that I wanted to go into this first triathlon experience with an open mind and no expectations.


Today whatever little traces of a head cold are gone~luckily it never really turned into anything (see! Vitamin C and green tea folks!! laugh but it works!!) My back is still tweaked out but I can work with it.
I am heading out for an easy run soon and I am sure that all kinds of crazy will be running though my head about this triathlon.
I am freaking out a little about transition. I am questioning my decisions about what I am going to wear. I am not sure if I am even going to bother with my Garmin.
So there it is in a nutshell. Crazy week. Crazy thoughts. I am just hoping I have a Crazy good time on Saturday.

8 comments:

SparkyFox said...

Listen to your body Jen. I think we all need a little break from time to time. You will do just fine. I will be thinking of you on Saturday. Just do your best, and most of all, enjoy it!

Emz said...

YAY for your first Tri!

Enjoy it!

Aimee said...

It sounds like your body needed a rest and it found a way to get it! I think it's good that you took some time off to get better!
Don't stress too much about your triathlon! Just go out there and have fun!

RunToTheFinish said...

I bet the cold is a total blessing as it will keep you from over taxing yourself this week!!

Anonymous said...

Jen: I totally agree w/Cheryl. Do your best girl! That's all you can do. I'll be cheering you on!!
Sharpie64 (susan)

Melissa Cunningham said...

OH WOW!!! how did i miss your first tri coming up so fast???? you do have to post a detailed recap of how it went!!!! i am thinking my first tri will be in april and i always love to hear others experiences so i can kindof know what to expect????

i do think your body does need those few days of rest in order for your body to feel GREAT on game day!!! i remember in college when my coach would taper our training weekright before nationals,all of us gals were freaking out-our speed days consisted of 1x200,1x400,1x800 ,1x1200 and a 1 mile cool down....that was so short and not very fast and we all though we would be so slow on race day..well turns out that was the best race of our lives,despite the weather...we became nationally ranked(8th!!!!)

anyways,you will do much better than what you expect...sending positive vibes your way,cant wait to hear all about it!!!!

oh yeah and just email me@ runninghard85@hotmail.com and iwill send you those plyo routines!!!

Tara Kate Vetrone said...

I hope it went awesome for you!!! I did this tri last year, and the scenary and race in general was just amazing, and you had great weather too! Hope to see you in the store again soon! Thanks for checking out mainesweats.com! ;)

Lynn Hahn said...

Hi! My daughter is a big tri competitor. She loves it. The transitions took her a bit to get but she can now go between events with ease.
The cold wasn't too great for your event...maybe stress? The rest before it is good. You need to build up some glycogen so you can fuel the fire well. Training too hard the week before events is not a good idea.

Take care and thanks for signing up for my DVD giveaway.