Saturday, February 24, 2007

Suck It Up, Princess!

I haven't been blogging a whole lot lately. That's because I was in a serious funk. SERIOUS. Ever since the GI bleed I felt like total crap. No motivation, I gained 7 pounds, felt like garbage, tired, lethargic, crabby. The thing that I've hated the most is swimming. Friggin swimming! It's like the one thing I've always been able to do to make me feel better. So last Sunday I was in a funk again. I couldn't run because of my foot and I was crabby. I was scheduled to do a 3500 yard straight swim, last 600 race pace. I HATE these swims. There is just nothing in the world more boring than a 3500 straight swim in a 25 yard pool by yourself. So I started whining:

I hate swimming. I mean, this is so retarded. Why would I need to do 3500 straight? The IM is 4 months away. It's not like I lack confidence in the water. I can swim 2.4 miles in my sleep. This is retarded. Fine, I'll go but I'm not doing the workout. I'll do some 500's pull or something. Yeah, that's what I'll do.

So I went to the gym, got my pull buoy and jumped in the water to warm up. I thought about how I was going to post a bitchy blog about how I didn't know why I was doing this, how I just didn't want to do anything, just basically negative. 500 yards in I started thinking

Ya know, this isn't really that bad. I mean, look over in the lane next to you. See that guy who keeps pacing you on his 50 sprints. He's working way too hard. And check out the butch lady doing the militant breastroke with flip turns. And here you are, swimming smoothly and bitching about how tough your life is. Geez. Suck it up Princess!

And then it all turned around. At 1000 yards I decided to keep going. To make the time pass I alternated 10 lengths breathe every 4 strokes to the right, 10 lengths breathe every 4 strokes left, 10 lengths breathe every 3 strokes. Before I knew it, the 3500 was done.

So if you're ever in a funk and feeling sorry for yourself, just think about how much better you have it than everyone else at the gym. You're fit! You're training for something extraordinary! You're not doing the militant flip turning breastroke! And it will all turn around...

So as an update- My swims this week were phenomenal. My 100 time has come back down to right around 1:20, and I'm loving the pool again. The bike is still amazing and the fit is just wonderful. I did a 3 hour bike / 45 minute brick this morning with DaisyDuc and it was so fun. I've never had a 3 hour ride go by so fast. It literally felt like less than an hour. And my run is improving by leaps and bounds. My Zone 2 runs have come down to 9:30 miles, which is a speed I can live with. See, life is pretty damn good.

:-)

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

You betcha! Luv ya :-p

Kate said...

AWEsome! Great to hear you're feeling better :-)

9:30 in zone 2- great work! It's great watching this HR thing take off for you- I'm going to do it "properly" after this marathon

Lauren said...

Best wishes and thoughts! I'm glad you are finding new strength! It's interesting how life can offer us such contrasts so we can be grateful when we get back on the path.

Trisaratops said...

Progress rocks!

I'll send you all my fast vibes for the run. I sort of have to learn to love the 10 minute mile for a while.... :)

teacherwoman said...

Glad to hear things are going better! And thanks for the help with the bike adjustments...I think it really helped!

JeffM said...

Great 100 time! 3500 non-stop is awesome.
What happened with your foot? I didn't see a mention of that in earlier posts.

Jodi said...

Ah, the foot!

During my long run 2 weeks ago, I developed big toe tendonitis because my laces were too tight. I got some great topical antibiotic and now it's better!

Jodi

Jodi said...

Damn, it won't let me edit that. I meant anti-inflammatory. I have antibiotics on the brain (my thesis!)

Charlie said...

Life is pretty damn good!.

Funks are a big part of long distance training.
A funk now will help you during the race.
My expeiance with any race over 3 hrs includes some sort of funk. Having the tools to overcome it really helps.
Do you mind if I print a copy of this post and put it my special needs bag for the run. Or a least the words "Suck It Up Princess"?.

Anonymous said...

You have a charmed life compared to others and it's great to see that you recognize that.

Steve Stenzel said...

Well done! It's never as bad once you get started - that's just hard to remember when you don't want to get out the door

Lance Notstrong said...

I think I was that guy swimming next to you :-)