Road to Kona: Week 10
Week 10 started out with good intentions - most weeks usually do for a lot of us. Then Tuesday rolled around and as I was driving home from a day that was filled with back to back meetings (literally I was in a meeting from 8:00 am to 4:30 pm) and mentally gearing myself up to either bike or swim it hit me like a ton of bricks how exhausted I was. I barely had the energy to get myself home and all I could think about was how badly I wanted to lay down and stare at the television not thinking about anything. I knew going into week 10 that it was maybe going to be a tough one for me as it was the last week of my current job. Yes, I don't believe I have mentioned it but starting on Wednesday the 19th I will be beginning a new adventure working with Northwest Legal and Associates the law firm that helped of my me through the aftermath of my accident. While I am very excited to begin this new adventure I have been working really hard to button everything up and deal with the stress of a leaving a current job and starting a new one. So, as I went into the week I had a feeling it was going to be a mentally tough one however come Tuesday it hit me that I was mentally, physically, and emotionally exhausted and I needed a break. The realization that I needed a break came in the middle of my drive home and instantly I made the decision that I was going to throw the weekly training plan out the window and just make it an easy week.
To start off my easy week I took Tuesday completely off. While I have had some lighter days I hadn't had a full day off in about a month which would make sense because it seems that once a month my body tells me it needs a full day off. On this day off I spent a few minutes throwing the jolly ball (a big red ball with a handle that my puppy loves so very much) to the Gage dog to wear him out a little than promptly went inside and snuggled up on the couch for the remainder of the evening.
The rest of the week I just did whatever I wanted. I made sure to get at least one day of each of the disciplines such as swimming on Wednesday, running on Thursday, and biking on Saturday.
Making this week a low key week ended up being a great one to do it on as Thursday was my 28th birthday and it allowed me the ability to spend more time with my husband during this time. We went to the gym the day of my actual birthday did some lifting and I followed it up with an evening run into the sunshine, it was a great way to celebrate. As it was a work day (that whole being an adult thing is a bit overrated) we decided to wait until Friday to officially go out to dinner for it.
Right now in Spokane the river is raging due to all the snow melt we are having at the moment so we took advantage of a gift card we had to Anthony's Seafood Restaurant on the river to enjoy a nice dinner right next to the waterfalls in Spokane. It was extremely peaceful and relaxing.
Saturday the weather cleared up enough to get myself outside for a ride that turned out to be a lot colder than anticipated. Summer could show up in the Pacific Northwest at any time now I wouldn't mind at all.
I rounded out my low key week with a nice long run on Sunday in preparation for the Bend Half Marathon which is this coming weekend.
Taking a low key week is very difficult for me when I am supposed to be in season or in the middle of training. I don't know about anyone else but I find myself feeling guilty almost the whole time, as though I am doing something wrong. These feelings showed up a few times this past week however I must have really needed the week off because they didn't show up as much as they normally do. Looking back on it I am very glad I listened to my body and my mind because taking the week was great for my brain.
Now that week 11 is just starting it is time to get my brain wrapped back around training as it hit my really hard on Saturday that Couer d'Alene 70.3 is only two months away and I believe I am almost exactly 6 months out from Kona. So it is time to get my brain back on track to a routine of training. That being said if I was to take a break last week was a great time to do it as I feel a lot more mentally focused towards the next couple months. A new blank slate to see what I can do and how much I can grow!
