Success, recovery

I feel like Vineman was eons ago! I can finally do an intense workout and not feel the affects for two days! phew. I don't know what I was expecting, but it certainly not four weeks of recovery. For some crazy reason I thought I'd be good to go after maybe two weeks. No No crazy Kristi. I am in fact human. HA! Fortunately I listened to my body (coach and friends) and took it easy for three weeks. Last week I did a few intense workouts and felt great! It's time to ramp things up for Applefest! Then I will take a few weeks off of running! Something I have not done since I injured my foot in January. I am enjoying my workouts and my fitness level. This week I am back up to my normal intensity. No ironman intense, but two workouts a day a few days a week with intervals intense. I have taken time and relished in my accomplishment. I am proud of myself and still kinda get shivers when I think about that finish line.

In the last month I have done a lot of thinking about the importance of fitness and activity in my life. Clearly, my degree of training was elevated to a whole new level in the last year. I remember receiving 4 months of training via e-mail and completely freaking out. I could not fathom how I could possibly do that much in a week AND work AND see my friends and family, o and sleep. After said freakout I started taking it day by day and week by week. Before I knew it, doing three workouts in one day was do-able. It made me appreciate my down time. Then suddenly it was all over. I was not suppose to do anything and when I tried it was hard as hell and I felt it for days after.

I'm not saying that I need to be training 12 months a year for the rest of my life. But what I have realized is that I need and want to be active 12 months a year at some level. When I am not active I am not the person I want to be. I get all grumpy, irritable, and unhappy. I don't eat as well and therefore have less energy. Maybe its because I am using it to deal with some stuff I don't want to deal with. Maybe. I missed the camaraderie of training with friends, the accomplishment of doing 6 miles of running or 60 miles of riding or an hour of hard swimming. I love challenging my body and seeing how it responds. It's what I do and it is what makes me tick. Maybe its a combination of all of these things.

What I do know is that I love triathlon. I love all the people I have met in my training and all of the friends I have made. I love that I can now call myself an Iron(wo)man and that I want to do many more. Is using triathlon as my drug really such a bad thing? I think it has unleashed self confidence and energy to allow me to do anything that I want to, attempting what was once unfathomable; both athletically and non.