So I have passed the half way point of my training plan and I’m starting to feel a lack of motivation. I think the main factor for this motivation issue has been work related. For the past couple weeks, work has been stressful, including long work days and non-normal hours. To help balance out work and training, I have backed off a lot of the hours from my training plan in order to not add additional stress of having to keep 100% to the training plan. I’m hoping to get back onto the training in a week or so once work calms down a bit.
In addition to the long, crazy work days, I have completed my Final Training Race Stepping Stone. This was the final installment of the LA Tri Series, which was an Olympic Distance Race (1500 m swim, 40 km bike, 10k run). I was hoping to complete the race in 3 hrs 45 mins, which is definitely with in my capability. The swim went okay, with one minor issue. The swimit, which I purchased to allow me to feel safe in the water, kept sliding down my leg and trying to fall off. I had to stop my forward motion of swimming several times in order to try and adjust it to keep it from falling off. I think this probably added on about 4+ minutes to my time.
Side Note from the swim: As I was exiting the lake, there was an older gentleman in the water. I couldn’t figure out if he was okay or not so I asked him, and he responded he couldn’t stand up. So I went back to help him with another lady who was finishing up the swim with me. He told us not to worry about him and to keep going. We both looked at each other and said, does it look like we care about our time? (Note, there weren’t many people left in the water at this time). Anyways we helped him get up out of the water. I’m not sure what happened to him after we left his side, but it felt good to help someone in need out.
Next came the bike ride. As soon as I got on the bike, I could tell this was going to be slow ride. I just felt as if I was riding through sand. I was over 1 mph slower than I was in the last race. The bike consisted of 3 loops and before finishing the first loop I was already dreading the run. Prior to starting the race, I was hoping to run the 10k with a nice and easy 11 min pace. Definitely doable. I was on track for the first mile, but it was all uphill after that. My legs felt like they were tied down to bricks. I just couldn’t get them moving. I also thought I would do a 3 min run 1 min walk. It seemed to work out okay for the first few miles. But it seemed like every uphill, was blacktop in direct sunlight. So I wimped out and decided to walk the hills as well. Which then brought my pace to a 13 min mile. 2 minutes off my goal pace.
In the end, the race took me a total of 4 hrs and 8 minutes. Almost a half hour slower than what I had hoped for. I’m guessing my work week helped play a key part to why I was so much slower than I had expected (10 hr days, bouncing between second and first shift makes for tired melissa). However, it does not give me a warm and fuzzy for Barb’s race. I am hoping to finish Barb’s race between 7 and 8 hours, however with this weekends race time, it would be over 8 hrs. So I think the path forward is to start focusing on my biking and running. I have focused a lot on swimming because that is what I’m most uncomfortable with. However, I definitely need to pick up my focus on the other two events. Hopefully I will be able to find the time to stick to the training plan for these next 6 weeks.
