Saturday, April 9, 2011

Tough decisions

Tomorrow is the Go! St. Louis Marathon and Half Marathon. Last year this race nearly consumed my life, but this year I’m not running either race.
It was a really tough decision and I’m still not sure if it was the right one. After an amazing marathon in New Orleans, it did occur to me that I could take a couple easy weeks, do a few 16 plus mile long runs with hills and have a good shot of actually making the time cutoff this year if I could just stay strong mentally. Or I could do some maintenance mileage and run a good half. But I opted not to and to start focusing on triathlons more.
Shifting my focus has been very difficult. I wrote a pretty ambitious training schedule for my May 1st triathlon and wanted to focus a lot on the bike, but the past few weeks I’ve had some major burnout and trouble following my schedule. And to say that I’ve spent the time I was going to spend on the bike would be a complete joke. I really do not enjoy the bike as much as swimming and running, and it really shows with my training.
So now I sit here wondering if I made the wrong decision. I know that next year I want to run the full at Go! so I can prove to myself that I have overcome that race. I also want to race a Half Ironman this year (September), but I know I need to get out of this funk that I am in. For the first time in a long time, I can’t decide what my goals should be now.

2 comments:

  1. Very cool about the Half Ironman! You made your decision what you thought was best for you so now just train hard and rock the tris.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I can absolutely understand about readjusting goals. I was two minutes to a Boston qualifying time this time last year for the marathon and I have been in a funk ever since trying to get back to specific goals (and dreams). I know that I am competitive and it sucks to watch my body just be that one step closer to middle-aged. But YOU are young and ambitious! I don't think any decision you make right now in terms of your "athletic life" is a bad one! Best of luck with your upcoming tri! Have fun with it!

    ReplyDelete