What a day. That's all I can say. I had to concentrate the entire day and by the end of the day, my brain was "toast". The last thing I was looking forward to was training.When I got home, I was on edge, to say the least. I just wanted to decompress. All day I was dealing with numbers and phone calls.
The minute I walked in the door everything was bugging me, especially Reid asking Alice all kinds of questions and his friends constantly phoning. I just wanted peace and quiet and all I got was noise. Even on good days, I can't stand the sound of the phone ringing. On bad days, I want to throw it out the window.
I so much wanted to bail on tonight's training. But I didn't. Instead I did the next best thing, I went downstairs to the bar and poured myself a tall glass of draught beer. Alice joined me and I filled her in about my day. One glass turned into three and before I knew it I was "decompressed" and feeling even better than normal.
I had time pressures to get on my bike and on the road for my speed work session, the days are getting shorter. I barbecued some chicken skewers and I barely got out of the house in time. I was lucky tonight's session was just under an hour long.
As I left on my bike, I had a nice "glow" from 1.5 litres of beer. My legs now felt strong. All day, they felt sore. I had a major morning shuffle and I was dreading tonight's session. I knew it would hurt. Not surprisingly, I didn't feel the pain anymore and I decided to put the "hammer" down on them. Which I did.
It was the first speed work session of my Kona training schedule and it wasn't too difficult. It was a 15 minute warm up and cool down and a progressively tougher 15 minute long interval. I gave it all I had. It was one of my best efforts. I even added a non scheduled 4 minute hill interval at the end for good measure.
When I got home, it was near dark. I just made it back in time. Tonight I realized my Kona training is going to require some time adjustments as the days get shorter. It's also getting colder. I can see a lot more early morning and cooler training days in my near future. It wasn't something I even thought about before tonight.
After tonight's session, I felt great. The "beer glow" was gone and the "endorphin glow" was on. As I finished my ride, I decided not to have anymore beer when I got home. After all, it wasn't supposed to be "beer party night" tonight, it was "beer, give me a push start night" tonight.
Speed bike - 56:31 / 30.3 km / 32.0 kph avg
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4 comments:
That's the difference between you and I, and the reason you qualified to Kona. Each time I am in a similar situation I just bail on my training. Kudos to you that you have the willpower to do the right thing, and I am not referring to drinking 1.5 liters of beer. Ha-ha.
Seriously, I envy you for having what it takes to do your training when you just do not feel like doing it.
Not having an "A" race to look forward to anymore this year, training gets tough.
I was thinking about putting pressure on myself to make my last tri of the year my "A" Race. I have enjoyed my time off too much though.
Nice speed work. Shocked the beer actually motivated you to get out and train? Usually when I drink I lounge and relax... I guess that is the difference between us, you drink to party, I drink to "decompress" and when I "decompress" I am DONE!
Nice job man.
Good call on getting out on the training! Doesn't it suck, the days getting shorter already! Good call on the beer, you are on your way to the 'big top' the beer consumption is going to take a killing for the next few weeks! Good work!
D, it's not something you can't do, it's all about Alcohol Motivation Management. (AMM). When you get really good at it, you upgrade you're equipment to a Kegerator. haha.
M, What the Beer Run isn't your A race for this year? Blasphamy. Just refocus, HOP beer run is going to be your day, I can feel it. haha. Thanks for the props. You got to use what you got around you that works. haha.
J, hahaha, no kidding. My first 165 lb beer keg is near empty and I've only had it for less than a month. At this rate, I may just WIN KONA outright. haha
B
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