Conflicts in Training

<--- Firstly, check out the countdown on the left. At this point, I'm not sure who is more excited... me or Terron. More on his triathlon to come!!

My comeback from injury has been as much of a roller-coaster as most other things in my life. Exciting because out of the process of recovery, I became a triathlete, and love the sport, but frustrating due to limitations. Having to start over, again, with some new rules. Some common to running that we should all know by now (10% rule, not increasing speed and distance at the same time, stretching properly, etc), some self-imposed, some suggested by others.

These rules include:

• Running 3 times/week rather than the 5 I was doing
• Not running back to back days
• consistent cross-training --> Non-issue now that I'm doing the tri thing!

It wasn't until after my horrible run during Saturday's triathlon that I really gave much about my running because I was actually feeling great while running in the weeks before. But from the minute I switched from cycling shoes to running shoes, my legs burned. I couldn't get into a stride. It sucked. I walked, a lot.

HM training + Triathlon Training has presented me with an interesting challenge. Well that, and being a mom, and being thankfully employed full-time, and other life stuff that training seems to help me manage a little more clearly.

If it weren't for being selected in the Nike Women's lottery, (ok, and the firemen and Tiffany necklace and the chocolate aid stations and a week-long trip away to San Francisco), I wouldn't be training for a half marathon. It's really the last thing my body and mind needs right now, but the flight has been booked for months, my portion of the house we're renting is already paid, and I've been counting down the days since it was well over 100 sleeps away. It will not be a PR, but a fun event, with friends, in a new city, that yes, I'm looking forward to.

Then came triathlon training. During our tri clinic, Sundays were our rides, followed by a short run. The occasional Tuesday, I'd also go for a short run off the bike, but these short runs would always be dependant on when I last ran. If I was planning a run the day after, or had gone for a run the day before, I stuck firmly to my rule of not running consecutive days. So these short runs off the bike became insignificant while trying to cautiously increase my mileage to train for the half marathon. In other words, I'd opt out of the brick work so I could follow the 'rules', to afford a bit of a longer run on another day.

I'm thinking now that the bricks were not only significant, but important, and without them, made the last leg of the tri very difficult even though it was only 4k. Yesterday I went out for my first run since the triathlon, a feel-great-nothing-hurts-wow-i'm-running-fast-for-me-wish-i-coulda-done-this-saturday-cuz-the-finish-line-would-have-come-a-lot-sooner run!

In an ideal world, I would have recognized this, realized the importance of keeping at least one solid brick workout per week in the schedule, and worked my other solo runs around that.

As there are no more triathlons this season, I can now focus a little more on solo runs to get me to the half marathon while still cycling and swimming, and once it's done, I can re-evaluate my goals, which will very likely lead to more triathlon than distance running. Yes, I've said it.

Now, please rest assured that I'm not beating myself up over anything, it's only my first year of triathlons, I have much to learn, and I'm proud of what I've managed to accomplish. I'm only getting this out there for my own 'speaking out loud', being able to look back on it and possibly to help others or get help from those more experienced.

I had been toying with the idea a while back to seek out a coach. Not because I'm elite, or have the notion that I could be. I'm a realistic person... I have a very good grasp of who I am, and who I'm not. One of Jay's football teammate's girlfriends is a triathlete, and said that her training completely changed when she got a coach. I read a lot of bloggers that have one, and have often wondered... would i possibly get less injured? Could I get better? How much of an impact would following a more personalized plan, having structure and purpose to the workouts have, and having someone that would keep me accountable? Would really thinking about an actual goal and having someone help me towards that be worth it?

I started thinking about this again more in these last few days because of the difficult run during my triathlon, but remember my awesome swim coach from my last post? She mentioned that she also coaches for triathlon! I have no idea about prices, and obviously that will have a large impact on my decision, (especially in light of what's been going on in my world lately), but what do you guys think? Worth the investment even though I'm not a competitive person, and am, what I guess you'd consider a recreational athlete? There are a lot of generic plans out there, yes, but I'm having a really difficult time figuring out which one is best for me, and don't have the experience to start modifying them; clearly my history confirms that.

Discuss :D