Thursday 26 March 2009

All indicators are up, but I'm no Iron Man

Today, while driving into work I looked down at my dashboard and all the indicators were all in the upright middle position. The gas indicator was exactly at the half way mark, my speedometer was at 100km, and the thermostat was at half way....not too exciting, but it was kinda of freaky because I'm exactly midway through my marathon training. Yes, can you believe I've go two months until the Ottawa Race Weekend? All my indicators show I'm on track for the marathon run and the Rideau Lakes Bike Tour.

One thing is very clear to me though, I'm getting tired and it is taking longer for me to recover from my heavy training on the weekends. Combine that with an extremely heavy work load, I'm craving my sleep.

Yesterday, I had every intention of running my 10K right after work, but I was starving because I had missed lunch. So, I thought, I'd make dinner early and go for my run around 7pm. Shrimp and veggie stir fry was sounding pretty yummy so I turned on the stove element to cook up some Basmati Rice and turned on the other element to start the stir fry....I had placed my cutting board on the stove so I could cut up my veggies and fire them into the wok. One thing was perfectly clear, I was so tired I didn't notice I'd turned on the wrong element and my cutting board was now almost on fire!!! Holy Yikes! I grabbed the cutting board and threw it into the kitchen sink and turned on the water full blast, then I had to open the patio door and kitchen windows to get the smell of melting PVC or whatever it is made out of out of the house. Luckily I was right there to divert the potential disaster, but that is when I knew I was too tired to run. Instead of running at 7pm, I was in bed and sound asleep.


With all this training it has truly shown me that the possibility of an Iron Man is out of my agenda for this year, so Judi, John and Wes, I bow at your feet! However, it has made me realize that the Canadian Half Iron Man on September 5, 2009 is within my grasp!


Life's fun if you don't weaken,

Lily

24 comments:

Marcy said...

It's cool, there is always next year right? ;-)

Kim said...

Yes...sleep is just as important of a factor as your training in. If you don't get your sleep-your training and everything else suffers.

And a HIM??? That's too cool! That would be great.

Tanya said...

I just wanted to tell you thanks for sending me your marathon plan. I almost had a stroke when I first glanced at it, then I remembered you said it was in kilometers, not miles!

Marlene said...

At least you have an excuse for your brain fart - you are working your butt off.

I took a wrong turn on the way home from work the other day (the same route I take EVERY SINGLE DAY) and I can't use that excuse. ;)

Allen said...

Dumb mistakes like you and Marlene made are one of the signs of overtraining and/or sleep deprivation.

My wife turned on the wrong grill the other day, and her pasta didn't get cooked and the meatballs were burned :(

Anonymous said...

It's a good thing the emergency was averted.

Well done, listening to your body. Running should be there to be fun and make you healthy, not exhausted.

Runner Leana said...

Wow, I'm glad nothing overly serious happened and it was just a cutting board that got hurt in the incident. Sounds like you made the right call to sleep. It is hard to fit in all of the training, work (and maybe even potential social life) and sleep. Trust me, I'm there! Happy Thursday Laurel!

Unknown said...

a half iron man, huh? you are a rockstar!

Wes said...

That is definitely one of the things training is for... to teach you to do this stuff when your muscles are tired and sore. Race day is almost anti-climatic :-)

Nancy said...

Gotta take care of you.

Unknown said...

I almost BBQed myself by turning on the wrong burner. Glad to hear you are alright.

Sleep is so important when you are adding up the mileage. Nothing wrong with doing a half IM rather than beat yourself into the ground.

Amy said...

Oops! That was a wise decision to scrap the run and listen to your body's need for rest! Sometimes a little break is all it takes...keep hanging in there!

Anonymous said...

middle age.... it truly sucks!

But smart for you to figure it out and take of yourself as well.

Seriously. Half an iron man still is impressive.

i've burnt stuff on the stove. Ruin a beautiful pampered chef stoneware baking thingy...

HUGS
T

Mel-2nd Chances said...

You're doing amazingly well in your training, half Iron is still a HUGE accomplishment, looking forward to watching your journey, You totally can do it!

Chris said...

What??? Only 100km/hour? I figure you can at least double that if you try.

Anonymous said...

Way to listen to your body! I am sure you are feeling better after a nice sleep. A half ironman is still amazing!

Groover said...

LOL, it happened to me all this week that I was looking for things and they turned out to be right in front of my eyes. I just couldn't see them that's how tired I was. So I know exactly how you must have felt. Make sure you get enough rest and sleep. And then train hard again... you go, girl!

Judi said...

we HAVE to rest when our bodies need it. sometimes we don't want to listen, and then bad things happen. like almost setting the house on fire. lol. glad you got some rest. i need it too. i am feeling super drained these days. dominic can't sleep at night so he keeps me up watching tv.

bluecolnago said...

ya gotta listen to the body, young lady! :)

100 kph? hmmmm..... mash the gas and go like hell! :)

Black Knight said...

Many years ago I read: listen to your body. If you are tired or you are not in the right feeling better you rest. One workout less often helps to get better performances. I know that it's hard not to follow the schedule but sometimes we must.

C said...

Like others have said, there's next year. Your plate is full right now, concentrate on that first.

And try not to burn down your house in the meantime. ;)

Jess said...

I love my sleep too!

Vickie said...

I know just how you feel! I'm half way through my half training and had a very crabby week last week! I think it gets easier, they say its true!

Vickie said...

P.S. I think maybe you, like me, always have in the back of our minds whether there will be a next year for accomplishing goals so tend to push ourselves just a little more.