Tuesday I learned that one of my fellow tri-wannabes was giving up the dream, at least for the rest of the season. She had lost her ambition, and was not feeling well besides and so doing a tri went back onto the "to do" list. This is a feeling I, too, have been wrestling. While my cycling has been going well, back problems aside, swimming and especially running continue to be points of frustration.
As you might imagine, when it came time for tri practice I was less than inspired, to say the least. I had left my bike at home, telling myself it was so I could focus on running, but thinking in the lazy parts of my brain that I would probably just swim and come home. Everyone else was tapering for Superior Man Tri, anyhow. Who would know or care if I mailed it in? My inner Blerch was coming out.
The swim was a weird of mix of win and fail. I have slowly but surely started to fix my terrible form in the water, and I'm finally starting to see the dividends from that. I'm still not fast by any means, but I'm not as painfully slow as I once was. Despite this, I wasn't feeling the swim, and my goggles constantly fogging over didn't help matters at all. When the gentleman I was swimming with told me he was going to turn in, it was more than my fragile will power could withstand and I went in too.
Once out of the water, my back started acting up, shockingly. Sitting on the picnic bench, dripping in lake water and algae with my back cramping I pretty much decided that I was done. I hadn't run in longer than I cared to admit, and starting this evening seemed like a poor choice. Despite this, I slowly put on my socks and running shoes and waited for the long distance swimmers to come in.
As suspected, most of the folks doing the 1/2 Ironman on Saturday were doing easy bike and no runs. This was my chance! As I started to make my excuses (read: whine about my back some more), R. said he was going for an "easy" 5K. Then, he asked if I was running. Damn. Faced with a direct question, peer pressure set in and I caved. "Yes," I said, cringing. And out we went.
Now, R's easy 5K is about twice as fast as my fastest 5K time. Which, honestly, was okay as I was (and am) not in shape to run right now. As I watched him quickly stretch the distance between us, I tried to come up with some way to force my body into this run I had tricked it into. Suddenly, I recalled reading something about intervals, and using poles as markers. As it just so happened, we were on a road with nicely spaced poles running the length of it. So, I started run/walk intervals using the poles. Normally, my intervals are pretty slow, but since it was such a short distance, I decided I needed to really go for it.
R passed me headed back in at about the one mile mark, which is where I had intended to turn around. However, that little kick of peer pressure hit again, and I kept going another 1/2 mile to make it a three mile run. On the return I was done. Out of gas and hurting, I started to walk more and more, with my intervals getting slower and slower. I was just about to give in and walk back when I saw someone was running towards me. "Crap," I though, "he's coming back!" And he was. Having already finished his 5K and presumably bored, R. came back to run in with me. That was a very nice thing to do. I was not appreciative--at first.
The thing about training with people much better than yourself is that they inspire you to be better than you are. While I could have throttled R when he came bounding up to me fresh as could be, as he settled in next to me I couldn't allow myself to be the tired, defeated person I had been a few moments before. We finished my intervals at much faster pace than I would have done by myself...and they only sucked half as much. It was embarrassing (I sounded like a bellows while he wasn't even breathing deeply), but he was as gracious as could be and in the end I got a better workout for it.
I'm still not sure that I'm going to do a tri this year, but I have every confidence I will next year, and probably be better for the delay. All with a little help from my friends.
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