A Change in Attitude

After the Nike Women's Half Marathon I  was looking forward to a few days of not running. I had trained hard for the race and my body was really feeling the effects of training. By mile 11 of the race my hip was really hurting and the pain only got worse once I crossed the finish line. I knew that the pain was not equivalent to an injury though. I just needed to take a few days off to rest.

On the way to a 13 min PR!

For the rest of the weekend and the following week my twitter feed was full of all the incredible races everyone's been having. All I wanted to do was run. I knew I needed the week off so I resisted but all I could think about was lacing up my sneakers and hitting the pavement. With extra time on my hands, I started daydreaming about the NYC Marathon this fall. I was still riding the endorphin high and wanted to fast forward to August straight through triathlon season.

Despite every intention to spend the summer training for triathlons I wasn't loving the idea. I just wanted to run, run, run. Well something (thank god!) changed my mind over the last week. I'm not sure exactly what did it, but I suddenly went from wanting to sell my hardly used road bike to planning routes that would best get my ready for my planned races. I was checking the temperature of the local lakes to see if there was any chance they were warm enough to swim in without a wetsuit (they aren't).

The past two weeks of training were a struggle. I was not motivated and questioning whether I really even wanted to pursue this triathlon thing. I have noticed that I do better recovering and staying motivated if I take a few weeks off after a big race to recuperate mentally. I think this might explain why these 2 weeks have been less than stellar.

Either way, at this current moment I am SO excited to start training. I am ready for new challenges and pushing myself beyond what I think possible. I am also excited for all the new adventures that come along with a new training cycle.

Who else is training for a triathlon this summer? Are you as excited as I am?