The sport of triathlon is a juggling act. One sport would be so much easier. I tend to want to do all 3 sports full-on and want to feel great in all 3 sports at all times....Sometimes it's not that easy. Injuries happen, winter happens (trapping my bike inside) and sometimes you just need to focus on one sport and neglect the others to make gains in that sport.
Right now I'm on a 'swim focus'. It started primarily due to my stress fracture that sidelined my running, weather that is not very conducive to logging long hours in the saddle, and the fact that my swim was so hit-and-miss last season. So to the pool I went. At the start I was struggling with my new group; fading during the last half of workouts (all 5km+), being last on every set and had days were I felt I was actually going backwards. But I stuck with it, made it through the dreaded "Christmas training camp", have energy left after a 7km workout, have been asked a couple times if I "wanted to go ahead" in the lane, and yesterday I was even told that I was getting "way faster" by a fellow swimmer! Finally the hard work in the water was starting to show!
While swimming, I was still spinning on the bike and starting to build my run back up--but they haven't been my priorities. Last week, I jumped back in with my super run group to start training some harder intervals. What a shock to the system! Coming back from injury is always a challenge, it's a long road back and there have been lots of ups and downs. Last night I checked my ego at the door and slugged out some 2km repeats. They hurt, I've forgotten how to run fast & hard, my legs screamed, my lungs burned and my times were slow....but it felt oh so good to be back on the road. My run coach assured me.."every workout will get better & better, don't worry, you'll work your way back".
Once again; I'm struggling to finish run workouts, I'm last on every repeat, and I'll have days where I'll feel like I'm running backwards.....and once again, I'll put my head down and work my way up the pack and hopefully sometime soon, I'll get asked if I "want to go ahead".....it always seems like a such a long road back until you get ro the end......
Time to juggle the sports; keep my swim fast, kepp up my bike fitness (until I can get back on the road), and build my run back up.....with a plan that they'll all come together for race season!
Lisa
A plus to running around the oval ice is that you get to watch the speed skaters. With the Olympic games in Vancouver so close, lately Olympic fever has taken over the oval:
There have been all sorts of speed skating elite at the oval. Last week there were the Russians & Japanese Olympic teams working out during our run practise! No sign of the Dutch team yet, I've been keeping my eyes out for them!
That's all for now. Back to swim-bike-running. I'll report any other sightings....
Other than that, I've been busy planning out my upcoming season & training camps. Big things to come! Will let you know when I finalize everything