Rude Awakening

Chasing strength is a good name for the way I'm feeling today, although I don't even have the energy to find it let alone chase it. Point blank, I feel like shit. I've taken the last two days off and I'm still completely exhausted physically and emotionally.

The alarm has gone off at 5am three times this week and I only mustered the strength to rise and shine for one of those occasions. I do feel however, that last weekend included some break throughs with distances and how I felt during my workouts. I rode and ran further than I have in the last few months. On Saturday I went for a beautiful 30 mile bike ride through Concord and on Sunday I took Zion for an awesome 8.5 mile run which included 3 miles of trail running in the fells. Monday I swam and Tuesday I took spin class. One of the trainers at the gym even commented on how I'm leaning down and how my efforts are starting to pay off. The part that sucks is that I felt so good on Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday and yet for the last two days I've felt terrible. I am hating this feeling.

I'm finding that my "recovery day" is consistently the worst day of the week. Yesterday I took the day off and ate candy and drank beers and today I ate even more candy and I can hardly move from my bed. Ugh. I suppose it doesn't help that I have been a little naughtly lately with going out and eating poorly. The problem is that the more tired I am, the worse my behavior is. What I really need on tired days is to eat healthy, go to bed early, and take it easy. I'm effectively doing the opposite.

I can't even imagine how difficult this is going to become when I get into the "build" phase of my training. Let me share with you what my second and third week of "build" training will entail:

Sunday July 18
Bike 1 hr 15 min
Run 1 hr 11 min
Core work

Monday
Recovery Swim 30 min 1500 yards

Tuesday
Bike 1 hr 40 min
Run 35

Wednesday
Swim 1 hr 6 min 3300 yards
Bike 1 hr 16 min
Run 23 min

Thursday
Bike 1 hr Tabata Intervals
Run 1 hr Hill Bounding
Core Strength

Friday
Resistance Swim 52 min 2600 yards

Saturday
Bike 3 hrs 26 min
Run 35 min

Sunday July 25
Bike 1 hr 15 min
Run 1 hr 15
Core work

Monday
Recovery Swim 30 min 1500 yards

Tuesday
Bike 2 hrs
Run 40 min

Wednesday
Swim big set 1 hr 14 min 3700 yards
Bike 1 hr 15 min
Run 21 min

Thursday
Bike Tabata Intervals 1 hr
Run Hill Bounding 1 hr
Core work

Friday
Resistance Swim 1 hr 2 min 3100 yards

Saturday
Bike 3 hrs 40 min
Run 40 min

I look at this schedule and wonder how I'm going to do it. The biggest issue is fitting in sleep. I can knock out a swim in the morning and do an hour or two after work but the problem is the next day when I try to do it all over again. The alarm goes off at 5am and it's a rude awakening. I found out a couple of months ago that to be able to workout day after day I will have to be disciplined about sleep and managing my diet. Unfortunately, I have a massive sweet tooth and I love beer, so I've got that working against me.

Tomorrow I'm going to force myself out of this slump and take Zion for a nice long run. I'll let the endorphins kick back in to support my spirit and I'll feed them all day long with caffeine. My suffering will only last until I get pumped up again since it'll be Friday night and I'll be going out with my girls. Saturday will come and I'll be only half rested with lack of sleep but hopefully I will not have indulged. I'll spin out 40 miles, take a quick rest, and get ready for Saturday night. Oh yes, it's becoming more obvious where the problem is, but quite hard to avoid nonetheless.