Sunday 18 September 2016

Post Ironman blues

For the last couple of weeks I been going out for some runs.  No schedule has been set yet I'm gently reintroducing my body to exercise although I'm looking forward to get back into a routine, but not yet.  I tweaked a muscle in my shoulder a few weeks back which means swimming and yoga are out just now and I'm not fit enough to go cycling with the group.  I'm setting my turbo trainer up so I can increase my fitness without the pressure of keeping up with my pals.  The good thing about the winter months is this is where the hard work is done.
Yesterday I went out for a run with my coach Genevieve and we were out for just over an hour.  But it was "a game of two halves" as they say in football.  In the first half I ran at the same pace that I had for 10km the following week - but I forgot to take into account this was hilly whereas the previous week had been flat.  The second half wasn't much fun and my heart rate monitor was saying I was at 195 bpm which isn't possible as I could still talk!  But we walked a few parts to let me recover and it showed me just how much work I need to do to get back to a reasonable level of fitness.  But as Genevieve said it was a poor good run and it would take a couple of them before I became more comfortable - certainly it put me one step closer to my goal than sitting on the couch would have done!  Everyone says I am "looking better" with my weight back to 156 lbs although I'm not so happy carrying that around with me!
To summarise I am returning to exercise slowly.  I don't feel motivated despite aiming for a half-ironman (I retired from full ironman) in May next year followed by the Grand Canyon in September.  Most people go through post Ironman blues and I've been here before so I'm not concerned about my lack of desire to be back to training 5/6 days per week.  That will happen within the next 4 weeks and that is a promise!