I knew returning to training would not be easy this year, but my vacation a couple weeks ago actually made it easier. By having a week of no stress and no work, I was able to begin to find a little bit of consistency, so maybe my run time will be under 45 minutes in Chattanooga at the end of June.
I have always preached that consistency is the key to successful triathlon training, but whether or not I have successfully applied this concept has been hit or miss. Since my one full distance race in 2016, my training has not been organized, and at times I have not trained at all. The last two weeks of training have probably been the most consistent training I have done since somewhere in the middle of 2017, and that is okay. One of the masters swimmers I used to coach put it best when he said there is a time in your life for everything, and for me that meant the last few years were not for training and full distance races. In the last few years I started a new career and learned a lot about myself instead.
Vacation training was all about just getting out and doing something, so my first workout in South Carolina was actually a beach run, with no shoes, and I think it was probably my best run I’ve done in a while. There had been rain the day before, and it was low tide, so I had plenty of beach to run on as long as I avoided the shells. One other thing I noticed with this run was that my stabilizer muscles were more involved, because my abs were sore the next day. The rest of my consisted of two more runs on the road directly in the sun where I just ran based on feel and tried to enjoy it.
Cycling was a little different than riding at home, because I was riding on flat roads, which gave me the opportunity to really use my aerobars. I got in a couple 20 mile rides, and the biggest goal was just to go ride and enjoy it, and nothing more.
Swimming on vacation and now has pretty much been nonexistent. I did not have access to a pool, and I slept poorly all week, making 5 am practice a struggle, but I am hoping to get back to it soon. I did swim for 30 minutes in the small pool at the beach house, and I ended up with motion sickness at the end of it, so I don’t recommend swimming in a 15 yard or less pool.
Post vacation it has just been my goal for the last week has been to just maintain some consistency with training most days. I ended up making it four runs, on strength workout, and three bike workouts, which aside from not swimming is falling in place where I want things to be. I’m not overly fatigued, but I am just a little sore form Friday’s strength training right now. The biggest thing I have learned has been to take small steps when getting back into things like this, because I frequently try to make big jumps and end up right back where I started shortly after. It is kind of like starting training from the beginning. You don’t just go out and start with an hour run. I started with 20 minutes, and am running around 40 for longer runs while I work on building up some speed again.